[PE-13527]

Ophiocordyceps Mortis

[Description]

Overview

PE-13527, scientifically classified as Ophiocordyceps Mortis, is an intelligent fungal organism capable of puppeting deceased organisms and nearly perfectly recreating them out of its own fungal material.

Appearance

PE-13527-01 is a blue-ish gray in color, and extends long tendrils of Hyphae into surrounding matter, including through solid steel in rare cases. PE-13527-02 appears the same as whatever organism it was before, although may have noticeable injuries that should have killed it, and may have an unnatural gait should some of the fungus be missing inside of it. PE-13525-03 appears the same as a healthy version of the PE-13527-02 it is copying.

Function

PE-13527-01 is a fungal organism consisting of a root-like structure of branching Hyphae, which mimics the appearance of Mycelium. The Hyphae initially burrows through the body of a dead carniferous organism, stripping that dead organism of all nutrients, before burrowing further, becoming able to breach even through solid stone, attempting to connect to any other existing Hyphae, as well as consume more dead organisms. This Hyphae can also connect to the Mycelia of other fungal organisms for an unknown purpose. Once reaching a further stage of maturity, after a timespan of 1-2 months, PE-13527-01 retrofits its Hyphae to mimic the function of that of a brain, alongside its intended purpose of spreading. This new artificial nervous system of PE-13527-01 is used to store any information it can collect, creating instances of PE-13527-03, as well as devise new strategies for finding sustenance.

Whenever a mature instance of PE-13527-01 comes into contact with the corpse of an organism that it deems both lacking in nutritional value and is capable of hunting better food, it creates an instance of PE-13527-02, which is a collection of Hyphae inside the organism that spreads along the nervous system, eventually reactivating the heart using what one might call a “muscle” made of strong, mobile fungal tissue, as well as injecting a fluid produced by PE-13527-02 that is meant to be a replacement for any missing blood in the dead organism. PE-13527-02 is also capable of interacting with the neurons of other organisms, meaning that any information that an organism may have had is sent into the instance of PE-13527-01, and stored. The instance of PE-13527-02, once having collected all possible information, and restoring all systems within the formerly dead organism to functioning, is separated from PE-13527-01 to increase the performance of PE-13527-02 in hunting and combat. Any prey that PE-13527-02 slays is brought back to PE-13527-01, and nutrients are shared between the two organisms.

The data of the organism collected by PE-13527-02 stored inside of PE-13527-01 is often used to replicate the organism out of fungal material once the carcass of the organism being used by PE-13527-02 becomes no longer functional. Based on Laboratory reproductions of instances of PE-13527-03, these instances are entirely unaware of the fact that they are composed strictly of fungus, and the instance will assert that it is the original organism, being able to recall as much information as whatever data PE-13527-02 could pull out of the original organism.

        Instances of PE-13527-02 and PE-13527-03 are known to start their own colonies of Ophiocordyceps Mortalis after typically migrating a distance greater than 500 kilometers.

[History and Discovery]

Recovery

Discovered on Earth in universe 1.9999, year 750A3. Initially, the Earth was thought to be your average 1.0000-1.9999 world, but that was disproven when an apparent human had gotten into a car wreck in front of the H.U.N.T. agent dispatched to the universe, severing off its head, revealing that beneath the skin there was a wealth of fungus. Further observation of the planet revealed that every living organism on the planet was an instance of PE-13527-02 or -03. Samples were collected, and analyzed, revealing all known of how PE-13527 functions, and the Shroominati, fearing that they may have a future competitor on their hands, destroyed the Universe.

History

The history of PE-13527’s origins are unknown at this time.

[Containment and Testing]

Test Log 01 - “Pseudo-Cerebral Measurements”

Electrical Diodes are connected to loose strands of mycelium on an instance PE-13527-01, and the main body is put into an MRI machine to measure any activity. Signs show that the instance of PE-13527-01 could, indeed, think, and was attempting to send out a distress signal to nearby instances of PE-13527-02 and -03 to attack what had disturbed it.

[Addendums]

“Petition to Change Classification By Dr. Weber”

        This anomaly needs to be changed to Divine classification. The ability of this thing to mimic any organism near-perfectly is uncanny, and the danger of it to human or Shroominati interests should be noted. Hell, I found an instance PE-13527-02 and it attacked me! It knocked me unconscious for God knows how long, and I still have trouble remembering parts of my past from that. If this thing managed to infiltrate the Shroominati network, or worse yet, the Shroominati biomass, it would be a horror to think what’d happen.