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The Viridium Virus by Digitalpotato

I walked to the Whitlock facility from the past three You would have been surprised at how much security there was around this place. It was one of the greenest arcologies in the world - almost entirely covered in plant life of various kinds. I couldn’t make out anything in specific - that wasn’t really my field, literally.

I’m not allowed to disclose too many specifics. A lot of the stuff is already public domain if one simply uses a web search engine, anyways. I had to pass through all sorts of security checkpoints - all I’m allowed to say is that the smallest medical checkpoints is Class IV. Yeah, the kind of security that they have with highly infectious diseases like the Ebola virus. That’s just to enter.

You know what they say - never such a thing as too much redundancy with the Viridum virus. It’s not airborne or waterborne, but they treat it like it is. Pretty much everything is filtered in, except for the sunlight. So yeah. After I cleared the security checkpoints, I had to put on a suit. I’m not exactly fond with having to wear these things.

Gas masks, suits, I looked like some kind of a monster from those old science fiction movies. You know, people wearing masks, with a few lenses and the like. I know some people really enjoy the look - I saw a bovine wearing one, and seemed to be right at home in it. Me? I felt like a monster. Everything was so clunky and heavy. My voice sounded like those ancient phones. Yeah. Ugh.

Until a vaccine could be developed, pretty much every person who tests positive for the Viridium virus is quarantined here. It’s an arcology, and they are very nice places to live, but given how hard it is to enter (or exit) this place, it’s pretty much impossible to leave.

The sad thing is, it’s for their protection too. There are a few people who happen to carry the Viridium virus, but for some reason do not display any form of symptoms. Perhaps the most famous was Maki Takeshi, the first person publically released from Whitlock. Some of you readers may know her by the name of “Typhoid Maki”. Even though she was completely Viridium negative, she was still widely hated due to public fear that she still carried the virus, and was infectious. (You may have seen the memorial at the historic Fujisaki university.)

As a result, anyone who has been found to have been exposed, but V-negative have been placed into the Witness Protection Program. That is, the ones who leave. The only person I saw who was not wearing a suit happened to be V-negative - a snake. [The species and names have been changed to protect the innocent.] It was them who lead me to one of the hallways that they often used in the arcology.

I tried to get a look past the glass windows, only to see just another hallway, where they presumably carted things in (probably soil, fertilizers, etc. I didn’t receive an answer when I asked). I asked my guide if I could see into the facility itself, only for them to say that I wasn’t allowed. I would have to have even more security clearance.

I didn’t want to push my luck. Members of the press had attempted to infiltrate Whitlock before, and had been pretty much kicked out. The fact that I, a simple blogger, was allowed in was amazing enough. My guide continued to lead me through all sorts of hallways - I can’t describe them in specifics.

I think a good way to visualize it is that I was in the frame. There were about a few other layers before you could get to the actual greenhouse part of the arcology - presumably areas that could be sealed off in the event of a breach. I was lead to a room that I think was one of the shelters. I could make out a screen where the inner (or outer) layers could be contacted, and in front of it was a table.

I sat down at the table, still wearing this clunky suit. I wished I could remove it. My guide told me to wait, before leaving the room. I’m sure the door was magnetically sealed behind him. I waited for a little bit, just twiddling my thumbs. Eventually, he returned, bringing a laptop computer with him.

“This is for you to take notes during your interview.” my guide said, “There. I shall bring the screen up shortly.”

I logged onto the laptop. I didn’t leave any data on there that could be used against me - like say, my blog login details. (I saw the laptop wiped after this, don’t worry.) I sort of kept it to the side, although I obviously couldn’t write the entire blog article there, given how clunky this suit was. I waited a little bit, and kept my attention at the screen.

Finally, we had video feed. I could see another room, not too different than mine. It looked a little more green, though. I spotted another person wearing these suits, probably some kind of a cat (or maybe a monkey, I couldn’t spot any triangular parts at the top of their head) who made some movements. I waved back, then the other person spoke.

“Can you hear me?”

“I can hear you.” I responded.

“How loud is this?”

“You can turn the volume up a little. This could just be because your voice is being distorted by the mask.”

“Well, we’ll have to see it when Darien comes in then.” The other suited figure said, as s/he left the camera’s range of vision.

I waited for this Darien. You all know of this guy - he is patient zero of the Viridium outbreak. The scientist who accidentally discovered the hard way that the virus is able to make that kingdom jump. He’s pretty much been living in Whitlock under quarantine for the past eleven years, either trying to research a cure or simply eking out the existence. You’ll also notice I said ‘is’, rather than was. Despite its quarantine, the outbreak of Viridium has not technically been classified as ‘over’, yet. Some plants that test positive for it are still being found.

After several minutes, I heard the door open on the other side. I anxiously awaited to see who was on the other end. That’s when I first saw Darien. You could have probably gotten an idea of how he looked via a web search, but the images are a little different than what I saw - he’s vanished from the public eye ever since he started showing the signs of Viridium mutation.

I have heard these stories that some people who were infected with the virus look almost completely unrecognizable species-wise. (Don’t lie, you’ve heard about these “V-mutants” as well.) I was half expecting to see some kind of large tree like person walk in, with only a face or some kind of a muzzle which he used to speak with. I was given a bit of a shock when I saw just what was on the other end.

Darien was still recognizable as a Beardie - you might have figured that out from what I said earlier. He was still obviously rather plantlike though. Most of the bearded dragon looked like he was carved out of wood, yet it still moved like it was flesh and blood. The spines around his head and beard appeared to have become some kind of twig, which had small leaves hanging from them.

He creaked a little bit as he moved. The person on the other end I assume was keeping their distance - after all, the spines on the rest of the bearded dragon’s body didn’t have leaves, and they were still sharp. Probably as sharp as his claws - I could make out obvious thorns, even from here. (Though maybe it was just because this was an HD camera giving video feed.) I didn’t get a good look at his feet, so I can’t tell you if he had roots or no.

He finally made himself comfortable in the chair, pulling it forward. He seemed to stare right at me with his oddly still morphic looking eyes. He even blinked a few times, as a small green membrane slid over his eyelids. It’s almost a good thing that he couldn’t see my face under the mask I had to wear - I likely would have made an inappropriate face to him.

“So, you must be the person from the blog, right?” Darien finally spoke.

“Can you turn the volume up a bit?” I said, “Can you hear me fine just back?”

“Is this better?” Darien asked.

“Yep, much better.” I responded.

“Well, so here I am. It was in this former university where the discovery was made.”

“I’m sorry for the rather impersonal appearance.” I said, pointing to my mask, “This is the only way they’ll let me in.”

“Even then,” Darien responded, “you still have your anonymity.”

“I guess that’s true, though my appearance has been public for years, since I attended conventions and events… oh!”

“Eh, I’ve gotten over that stuff awhile ago.” Darien said.

I realized that mentioning the conventions and events I attended was probably not a good idea. You do not live in Whitlock because you want to. You live in whitlock because you have to.

“Alright.” I said, “So, I’m just here to conduct some interviews about you. I apologize in advance if I say something, but I promise that you will be able to read the blog and have it approved. You have my honour that I will not edit any of it to change the content.”

“That’s good.” Darien said, “You are the first member of the press - any press for that matter - that I have spoken to. I have heard some of our other residents here talk about the kinds of stuff they experience in the outside world. Within this home, I know people who have been kicked out of their homes. People who have been divorced by their spouses and completely disowned by their family. People who have been almost killed by terrorists who think it was okay to assault someone who is V-positive. People who have been assaulted, and the authorities turned a blind eye to them.”

“Oh I am sure that’s what happened.” I responded, “I’ve heard of it myself. I’ve even seen it - Do you know of a Cardinal who came from the Roost Arcology?”

“Yes. I do.”

“One of my blog posts was highlighting the death threats that she received,” I explained to Darien. “I called out everyone else there for what had happened. I don’t know if everyone is going to read it, or if they took it to heart.”

“Well. You’ll be glad to know that she is doing alright.” Darien said.

I didn’t ask about her ‘condition’ at all - Those of you in the Roost Arcology know very well who exactly ‘she’ is. (And I am talking to you, those of you in the northwestern parish.) Many of these people with Viridium mutations prefer their privacy.

“I’m glad she is.”

“What else do you want to know?” Darien asked.

“I’d like to dispel some of the common myths of Viridum, as well as get some history on it. You’re the best person to ask.”

“Well… you’re right about that one.” The reptile said, “What do you want to know?”

“Let’s start with the history.” I asked, “So, how was Viridum discovered?”

“It was first found within Sorghum.” Darien explained, “It’s unknown where it originated, but the first species that it was found within was the Sorghum genus. It caused Sorghum to develop unnatural growth, and show all sorts of tendencies that normally weren’t exhibited by that genus. It started developing odd bodies on it, such as growing a taproot or developing tubers. We wondered what was causing the odd mutations within the Sorghum population, before eventually we discovered a virus, using an antibody sandwich test. That’s when we first found Viridium. We didn’t have any way to identify it, so it was simply called Sorghavirus. We watched as it spread through the population, and tried to find consistent mutations. No two plants infected with the Sorghavirus exhibited the same characteristics. Soon, we found another report of a plant that had developed odd mutations.”

“What was this plant?” I asked.

“A palm tree. It looked almost like some kind of epiphyte had sprouted and started to parasitize the plant. But then we found out that the infected palm tree wasn’t showing signs of being parasitized, like common victims of dodder or even mistletoe. It was simply growing these odd structures naturally. It was like it was starting to grow another plant. Eventually we received more and more mutated samples. You all probably remember the discovery that we made, when the same species of virus was found in an Antirrhinum as it was in the original Sorghum patches. That’s when the name of the virus was changed from Sorghavirus to Viridum. This is just an extremely toned down version of it - the actual history for a virologist’s standpoint includes many many different mutations, where it jumped to species, and caused way more mutations.”

I paused for a bit while I tried to type this down. You try typing with this clunky suit. Most of the stuff I came up with while he was speaking resembled erwkjsdfiouqwewjk askdadkjewr.

“So, that’s how we discovered it. It was within this very facility that we discovered its new mutation: It was able to jump across the kingdom barrier. Now, that’s not the first plant virus that’s been able to do that.”

I actually stopped for a second. IMPORTANT NOTE: PLEASE do NOT panic. Do NOT run to a hospital and start screaming that you need to be scanned for this virus. Take ten minutes to calm yourself down before acting, Alright?

Well, I say this because that’s the mistake I made. I actually started twitching nervously upon hearing about what else had happened. I never read about this before.

“Relax relax relax!” my guide and Darien told me at once, almost in unison. “It can’t infect you.”

“Alright. So what is this other virus?”

“The Tobacco Ringspot virus. So far, it has only been found in honeybees and mites that parasitize them. It’s been found in tobacco pollen, where it spread to the bees. Because of that, we were alerted to one disturbing possibility: If the virus is able to mutate into a pollenborne disease. Fortunately, there have been no such mutations… instead, it mutated to also infect people.”

I felt much better upon hearing that. I told him to continue describing what happened.

“If you want to know what’s ironic, that’s when we were examining pollen. We were trying to see if it mutated pollen at all. I don’t know when specifically I became infected, but I noticed signs of it after I had accidentally cut myself on a dandelion that had developed barbery like thorns.”

“I didn’t think much of it - we didn’t expect the virus to be able to infect us. But when I became infected with Viridium, it started to work on me fast. It started around my feet first. My toes started just subconsciously shifting around. Then my tail started doing it as well. After a little while, I walked away from the desk and just removed the scrubs I had on my feet. That’s when I noticed that they looked somewhat reddish. And when I felt over them, I didn’t feel scales.”

“What did you feel?” I asked. I knew the answer, but I had to ask anyways.

“Well, wood. It was root tissue, basically. They had mutated into aerial roots. I could still move my feet, but they felt stiff. It started to spread up my body, at first locking my legs into place at the knee. Then I could bend them, though I heard that odd creaking noise. Like I was bending branches. It hit my waist, and then I felt really odd. The rest of my body started to turn green. Then I felt these odd urges to drink lots of water and photosynthesize.”

“And that’s what happened first. I’m glad that I wasn’t infected, but somehow, as I became more and more plantlike, I had the urge to tell my colleagues to test for Viridium. It came back positive - I was infected. No virus in the world has ever been able to do this. I was too afraid to leave, what if it became too cold out and I froze?”

“With each passing day, I started to change more and more into the plant-like creature you see before you. My spines started to turn into thorns. I didn’t know that they also had the power to infect others until two others accidentally scratched themselves on me. You can guess what happened next.”

“Elysa turned all green, and found herself rooted to the ground. Harrison seemed to crave flies, which yeah yeah, you know, he’s a frog and all, but he started showing traits very much like a carnivorous plant. We could root to the ground if we wanted, but we could pull ourselves out. Even as we became more and more plantlike. After three more staff members started to subconsciously photosynthesize, we realized what we had on our hands.”

“Interesting.” I said, “So… it was aggressive?”

“Yes, very. By the end of the first week, I was completely wooden from the stomach down. Then three days later, everything but my arms and my head were wooden. Then I developed leaves poking out of my headspines. My thorns became harder. If you want to know what’s somewhat odd… the virus only crosses you with one or two plants in most cases. I share DNA that’s commonly found amongst Rosa gymnocarpa - the wood rose, as some call it.”

“Interesting… so how did it spread to others outside of Whitlock?”

“Same way any other virus spreads… some people who visited had likely picked up the virus before we fully knew how it could spread, or whether or not some of us were asymptomatic carriers. Another case of Viridium mutated plants popped up here, there, everywhere, soon, it was all over the world, except for some islands. There have been cases of people handling plants, and then infecting the plants. No two cases are the same.” Darien said.

“I see.” I answered. “Has… well, do you like living in Whitlock?”

Darien sighed a bit, crossing his stiff arms across his chest.

“That’s a little bit of a tough one. It’s odd, not really needing to eat food… or being able to. Some of us still need to eat food, while others are plant enough that we can’t swallow anything except tons of water. Similar to how no two cases of Viridium infection is alike, no two people take the news of this the same way. Some people tried to commit suicide, but it’s harder to do when you’re entirely made out of herbaceous or woody tissue. We’ve seen some try and ‘end their lives’ by simply rooting and never leaving, but they still live. You come to accept it… but really, I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. I know a few people who, even if they are simply V-positive rather than undergoing changes, have committed suicide or fume on being unable to do anything except live here and work here. The arcology provides all of our needs, but at the same time, some see it as a prison.”

“I guess that’s true…” I said, “I mean, I can leave the Roost Arcology anytime I want to.”

“Indeed.” Darien said.

“Do you think there may be a cure for this?” I asked, “There have been some who were allowed to leave, because they have had the virus removed entirely from their systems.”

“A cure as in to undo this?” Darien gestured to his spiky body, “No. Once the virus starts to turn you into a plant, then that’s it. If it’s inside your body, and it hasn’t begun to do anything, then it’s possible to remove it with antiviral drugs. The best we can hope for is maybe to quarantine it so that no other people will have an infection with Viridium. It’s not painful… the stigma’s more painful than anything else.”

I nodded in understanding.

“Is this all you wished to talk to me about?” he asked.

“Well, I know some of my viewers will have some odd questions, but I’m here to ask you questions from me. You’re not some kind of a Q&A panel. But one final question… how many people are in the Whitlock Arcology?”

“Almost ten thousand. At least seven thousand are either mutated, or are V-positive. The other three thousand are like him here, or work security in the outer layers.”

“Wow…”

After that, we said our goodbyes, and went through the labyrinthine process of leaving the building. I passed by a few pieces of graffiti on the outskirts, as well as the nearby town, writing stuff such as “Lawn mower bait” and “Pod people”. The reason I made this trip and was allowed was so that I could help increase awareness - these are not people who are malicious.

They don’t deserve to be treated the way some of them have been. Regardless of whether or not they show plant tendencies, they are still people like you and me, who need love and acceptance.

The Viridium Virus

Digitalpotato

Note to self: Do not submit stories to Weasyl via the Google Docs format. x_X it lags the page up like CRAZY.

This here is inspired by a plant virus that actually is able to be found in non-plants. However... it doesn't infect non-plants. If it infects you, you must be a plant. :P

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