"Dr. Connors, are you sure nobody's ever been possessed by this thing?"
Dilos eyed the pitch-black mass of liquid in front of him, then asked Dr. Connors uncertainly, "You didn't let it attach itself to any living creature, did you?"
"Of course I'm sure. I saw this symbiote land with my own eyes, and it had just crawled out of its egg. To keep anyone else from finding it, I immediately scooped the little miracle into a container I had with me."
Dr. Connors stared wide-eyed at Dilos. "This is an extraterrestrial life-form visiting Earth, a once-in-a-century—or even once-in-a-millennium—event. How could I act like those shallow scientists and do something reckless just because I was curious?"
"You haven't been possessed?" Dilos asked, the corner of his mouth twitching. He pointed at the black liquid, which had been moving toward Dr. Connors inside the container ever since they arrived. "I've noticed this symbiote seems to like you a lot."
(ps: Dr. Connors didn't yet know that this single-celled organism was a symbiote, not a parasite that harmed its host. To keep Dr. Connors from getting suspicious, Dilos could only pretend he didn't know the Venom Suit was a symbiote.)
"Of course not."
Dr. Connors smiled and shook his head. Then he leaned toward the container and gazed at the liquid inside, almost entranced. "When this little thing was born, it was only about ten milliliters in volume, so it was pretty easy to collect. Later, I fed the little darling some nutrient solution, and it just kept growing. It must think of me as its father now."
Dilos nodded. As he recalled, this kind of single-celled organism on Planet Battle was born from an egg. That meant a symbiote in this state had no negative emotions on a mental level beyond