We have athro cars [Herbie the love bug]
Anthro toasters [Pop tars TV ads]
Anthro computers [Hal 9000, The Forben project, Dark Star]
Anthro Animals [Your soaking in it]
But what about an athro virus?

Thats what crossed my mind when I was sleeping...
When that happends... I get annother story...
I happend to have ND on the brain at the time...

I resisted posting this before becouse it's goth styled and ND is pritty much everything BUT goth...
However the current storyline seems headlong into the darkest... So in the the spirit of Blues dark side I bring you....
"The Queen"
 

Mid winter and Tippers really not happy. She has to shovel the snow. Snickers is sick and there was a unusually high amount of snowfall last night....

She procrastinates enough then looks at a preticular lump of snow.. She desides this is where she starts...

The shovle slides into something softlike just beneith the snow and slices it open.
Tipper is curreous so she opens it up a crack. The smell or the appearence might have done the job alone but something beats both. Tipper passes out sick.

Worryed about Snickers Blue shows up to find Tipper out cold in the snow. The object Tipper discovered is gone. Blue desides to carry Tipper inside where it's warm considering how cold Tippers body was. "Gezz cadavers are warmmer" comments Blue as she dumps Tipper infront of the fireplace with a nice fire going.

She spends no time with Tipper to even try and wake her up instead she walks over to Snickers bedroom to see how her friend is doing.

Deven drops by to look in on Tipper. Careless Blue left the door unlocked. Deven sees Tipper on the couch infront of the fire asleep and apparently sick.
Deven feels Tippers forhead. She's burnning up. To spite this Tipper reacts to Devens hand on her head by waking up and asking "Why is it so cold".
Tipper is very ill.

Snickers seems to be feeling better but Joy, Blue and even BoB won't let her carry Tipper. To keep Snicekers in bed Blue elects to take Tipper to the hospital Joy helps carry the sick Tip.

BoB is in the back seat with Tipper. Tippers feet are on BoBs lap as she lays accrost the seats and BoB sits upright. He makes a bad pillow. Her head on his lap could sink into him and sufficate and BoBs not smart enough to stop it.

Durring the trip BoB is hear commenting "You shouldn't soak your face is salt water or it'll do that." Blue asks "Do what?" BoB says "It stopped..." Joy looks back at Tipper who looks sicker than ever and then a BoB. She can not figure out what BoB is talking about. She looks back at the road. (She isn't driving.. Blue is) and desides to ignore BoB. When she dose.... Tippers face seems to melt for a moment... Then returns to it's normal shape.

Deven folows behind in his car. Deven would be in the seat where BoB sits however Blue and Joy are needed to carry Tipper and BoB can't drive. There wasn't room for BoB in Devens one seater. His ultra economy class car has it's advantages... It's cheap.. it dosn't use much gas. He couldn't afford to drive his normal car with current gas prices. At worst.. and right now it is at worst... Devens car can run on empty. It is. It's a Solar electric hybred with a gas engen just in case.

He's wishing he did have gas in the tank. The gas engen is faster. Not by enough for him to care normally but Blue drives faster than she should. Tapping and nudging the speed limit. He is in part greatful for Blues experence with speed as this means Tip will get to the hospital faster. He just wishes his own car would keep pace. He starts to consider how much lighter the car would be if he just tossed the gas engen right on the side of the road. Probably more than enough to keep up but it would take longer than it's worth. Maybe he and Tipper can do it later and make room for a second seat.

Suddenly.. maybe the sun is brighter.. who knows.. But what ever the reason. Devens car is now showing a little more available power than a moment ago. Devel uses that extra power and speeds up a tad.

Blue and Joy are guiding Tipper into the emergency waiting room. Tipper is half awake and walking in. Mostly on her insistence. Posably seeing Blue carrying her as a bad thing.

The Nurse asks Tipper some questions and she answers the best she can. She can't see very well. The world is all blurry to her. Her mind is hazzy. She can barely move. Motivated only by the notion that if she dosn't move Blue will be carrying her.

Joy "I didn't think Tip was very hevy but I feel tired"
Blue "wha?"
Joy passes out.. Blue suddenly is struggling to stand on her own feet.

The nurse admits all 4 of them. BoB is released 4 hours later showing no sign of illness. Deven is waiting in the emergency admitence room. BoB says something smart posably for the first time in his life. "You might want to see if your sick.. Blue and Joy are sick... You might be sick to".
BoB was right. Deven was sick.. He just wasn't showing it yet.

The hospital look proper precautions. Each is located in a diffrent room. Each issoleted from everyone in specal tents to prevent infection.

Joy can tell she is very sick. She recognises she is in a state of mind where she may see things. She makes an effort to sort it out. Reality from pink elephents.
She makes a strong effort. She sees something that seems more real than anything else. Tipper is standing infront of her. She asks "Where is Snickers?". Joy "Snick is at home... we are at the hospital". She looks again. Tipper isn't there. Silly girl Tipper never was there. She let her mind trick her into beleaving her imagination was more real than her blury senses. She however can not figure what in her psycology would make her conger the image of Tipper asking for her sister.

Blue is not taking this as well. She screams at the flying thingies over her bed to leave her alone. Then something scares the flying thingies away. Tipper. Blue weakly whispers "it's wedgy time"... Tipper seems to frown. Not like Tipper but like someone else. "What hospital is this?" Tipper demands. Blue "Stuff it.." realising she's talking to an image in her head "Begone enima" a quote from a comic book where the female wizard hero would cast away illusions with that phrase. Tipper leaves.

Deven is in his tent. He dosn't feel the slightest bit sick. However the doctors insist he has the sickness. For some unknown reason his immune system is fighting it off better.

He stands up to look out of his safty bubble. He sees people hard at work trying to issolate whatever it is that is making Tipper and crew sick. He backs up to his bed and sits down. He checks and everything feels ok. He isn't burnning up or showing any of the signs of sickness the others had. Maybe he just never had direct conact.

Tipper "Hello Deven... good to see your still ok".

Deven swings around to look where the voice came from. He sees nothing.

Tipper is laying in her tent. Apparently in the throws of delusions. She keeps saying "No please leave them alone" "What are you doing?" "Who are you?" "Why me?" "Why us?" "Please let me go".

Snicker seems ok. She is walking around. She sees someone in the house so she calls out "Hello... I'm still not fully coherent so forgive me.. who are you?"....

A bug woman is standing in the living room "Where I came from they called me Queen. I was exiled. Now I'm here."
The bug woman thinks for a moment....
"I am the virus infecting your friends... and now that your over your cold.. I've infect you... I didn't need the hassle of dealing with annother virus."

Snickers looking at what is now clearly a mental image projected by an intelegent virus says "A virus queen? Of a virus world?"

Queen "Not as such.. I rule in the same way that cold ruled. Only with me if I win you don't die. I just take over. If you don't do as I say on your own you become a puppet. It's just that simple."

Snickers sits down.
Queen "I have to focuse my efforts on your kid sister. She is a tough one. Blue and Joy are fighting as well. I've allready devided my attention to far. I'll deal with you in due time."

The image of Queen vanishes. Snickers dosn't know what to make of this.
She desides to take some cold medication and go to bed.

Tipper is sitting inside an imaginary world with her head.
Queen is in view and seems busy...

Tipper "So you can read my thoughts?"
Queen "I can read the image patters I can't interpret them. If you say something that is true I can find the image patern than see that it is true if you say something that is false I can find the image patern and see that it is false"
Tipper "Big white rabbit at a tea party..."
Queen "Alice in Wonderland.. Once I have a refrence I know what I'm looking at. Your brain may be hard to interpret it isn't imposable"
Tipper "I see... Big white rabbit"
Queen "This time your thinking of a play about an invisable white rabbit named Henry. Are you suppressing it's name? Ohh here I see.. You never bothered to rember the name. Blue was in the play and she did the part badly"
Tipper "Big white rabbit"
Queen "Tricky you are.. now your thinking of Joy... She is white right now she is pink the rest of the year"
Tipper "Your cybernetic?"
Queen "I'm making us equals. I can read your thoughts you can read mine. I could use your help."
Tipper "You didn't answer my question"
Queen "Partly.. I originally was a normal person. I was trying to bring to light some issues long neglected on my world. I even presented some posable solutions. They rejected me. Oh not for my answers but becouse they refused to admit the problems existed. I got tired of the arrogence. It was starting to impact everyones lifes and still the council fell sillent. I did the only thing I could think of. I transformed myself into a virus."
Tippers eyes are wide
Queen continues "You wanted to know.. now lissen. I made a micro robot.. a nanite... that could remake my cells into a virus. My brain etc. An army of thies robots makes sure the virus remains me. That each infection dosn't stray so that I remain in compleate controll."
Tipper "How importent are the nanites?"
Queen "Very... my cells are all organised by the nanites. If the nanites die I die. Thats why your all sick. I'm making more nanites."
Tipper "So you can't change"
Queen "On the contrary. With the aid of the nanites I addapt to your immune systems quite rappidly"
Tipper "But you can't"
Queen "Your reading my thoughts quite well... Yes.. I am having trubble. It's not just your immune system though. Your mind is some how fighting me. Resisting every effort. I can not control people who can resist me so well. I need to learn more so that my nanites may addapt me to overcome this obstical."

Tipper prepairs a plan while consealing thoughts of BoB.
Queen "What are you consealing about BoB..."
Tipper works harder to conseal BoBs "influence" in computers.
Queen "Ohh I see... BoB has a specal touch when it comes to computers. He's the computer genous in the group."
Tipper blurs out "Joys the computer geek"
Queen "Yes.. you all mistreat BoB so of course you take all your questions to Joy. But Joy dosn't have BoBs specal touch."
Queen retreats into her own thoughts "I avoided him becouse he is so simple. Easyer to infect than the rest and lacks what I need for nanites. Maybe that was a mistake. I need to know what he knows. His mind is simpler I can read it with great ease even now and he isn't infected at all."
She returns to Tipper "Yes... BoB is what I need to focuse my efforts on... I prommis you Tipper we shall rule together. You may fight me now but I won't leave you behind."

BoB "Hu oh...."
Queen "Hello BoB"

BoBs thoughts only conferm what she got from Tipper. BoB thinks he is really good with computers. He has no idea how pathetic he really is.

BoBs ideas on technology seem noval. Unique. A true genous perhaps. So she uses BoBs ideas to reprogram the nanites.

Joy "BoB!" she sits up... but she isn't in Queens dream world. Instead she is in the hospital tent. She looks around. Everything is clear and coherent.

Doctor "The blood tests conferm it... every trace of the virus is gone..."
He looks at Joy "If any sign of this virus shows up again I want you to call me at once".

Tipper wakes up.. Queen is standing inside the tent. "I'll get you..." Tipper stands up. Queen is half her size. "You'll what?".
Docter "Who are you and what are you doing in there. Don't you know Tipper is sick..."
Queen "I.. I..." The docter grabs Queen and throws her into her own tent and dose a battery of blood tests to conferm that Queen is 100% virus free.

Tipper "And after her Nanites crashes she recreated her old body so she wouldn't die."
Blue "Thats pritty amazing..."
Joy "I don't know... I think we all dreammed it"
Tipper "But she was there in my tent"
Blue "I've never seen anything as strange as Tippers story. But I have seen strange enough to believe her..."

Message on the answering machine "Hello Tipper.. sorry... forgive me? The habits of a virus die hard.. (nervous laugh) no hard fealings? It's me.. Queen... I'm going by my old name" Tipper "Ti-Se-vex" machine "Ti-Se-vex... I'll probably never see you again. But if I do.. don't hurt me please? (click)"
"Joy... help..."