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She had cried out in the shared ecstasy of that moment

Food!

The gaiaphage’s terrible hunger was gone In its place a rush of power Rage unleashed

Noould become!

The billions of crystals that foran to rush like ants Rivulets beca rivers What had been little more than scum on the surface of rocks formed into mounds and peaks Here and there, sharp points Here flat and there peaked, here pliable and there stiff

Crystals folded in endless dimensions, layers within layers Even at this wild speed it would take days to finish, but already the barest outlines were beginning to reveal themselves

The gaiaphage that had been spread through a thousand feet of the subterranean cavern now condensed, caether, like stars drawn into a black hole

Lana could feel it all, as though her own nerves were part of the gaiaphage And er a line between them Maybe she was part of it now

It was all around her In her ears and nose, in herevery square inch of her

And yet, she had begun to feel a sickness inside her A feeling that was her own and not the monster’s

What fed the gaiaphage was blasting her apart, cell by cell

She had to hide it Couldn’t let it see She had to die to stop it, had to die of the radiation that churned her stomach

Around her the crystals were hardening, foran to shine, like steel No, like a mirror

A tree

Lana opened her eyes and saw the reason Three