The corruption suppression research took an unexpected turn two weeks after Victor's meeting with Voss, when a routine analysis of the contained Bloomborn sample revealed something that sent the entire research team into a flurry of urgent activity.
"You need to see this," Corvin said, pulling Ashworth and the group into the analysis lab without preamble.
On the display, magnified images of the corrupted plant tissue showed something Victor didn't have the scientific background to fully interpret, but the tension in Corvin's voice made the significance clear regardless.
"We've always classified the Bloom as an infection," Corvin explained. "Something that spreads, corrupts, and progresses the way a disease would, following relatively predictable biological patterns. But look at this structure here."
He indicated a section of the magnified tissue, patterns arranged with a precision that looked deliberate rather than organic.
