The Kethrix Spiral: Caraphex Research Station

Backstory of the Craft
The Kethrix Spiral launched before the Clade Council existed. At that time the Caraphex ran independent fleets and traded research for territory rights. The Spiral was one of their high-trust assets. Its role was to survey, capture, and study symbiotic organisms that could improve survival in hostile zones. The ship carried full labs, growth suites, and isolation vaults. Crew rotated in small teams with strict logs. The Spiral used a drift mask that hid it from standard beacons. It slipped between routes and stayed long where other ships only sampled.

Research Goals
The core program targeted adaptive symbionts that influenced behavior without destroying the host. The Caraphex wanted tools for focus, pain control, and emergency discipline that worked across multiple species. Their plan was simple: find, isolate, map, and train a line that could support long missions through radiation storms, deep cold, and isolation stress. The program settled on “N-Symp 17” after many failures. The organism showed cross-species attachment, stable feeding, and high signal precision. It was easy to keep alive in pods. It learned quickly. It responded to audio patterns in the Echo Galleries. It tolerated dry air. It did not release toxins during removal. The logs describe relief when these traits held for months.

Acquisition of N-Symp 17
Records in the Memory Spire mark the source as a dead moon under black ice. The team recovered small pads living on shallow worms near heat vents. Early hosts tolerated the link well. The pads learned to settle near nerves. The team named the first line “Spoor.” Later, with guided feeding and signal training, the pads learned to seek more complex nerve paths and grew fins and feeder threads. This was the “Colonist.” With further training and stress sessions, a rare set reached the “Sovereign” state with lattice growth. The team limited Sovereign runs to avoid losing control.

Containment and Protocols
The Spiral built the Biolattice Vault to house live samples, and the Infusion Bay to control links. The Echo Galleries shaped compliance without drugs. The Quiet Kiln stood ready for failure. The Black Registry tracked every session and kept command keys off the ship’s common circuits. Crew used ear-veils in all tests. They slept in separate decks with random locks and awake sentries. They rotated hosts to prevent long bonds. All new staff read a simple rule set: never carry a linked symbiont through a door alone; never run tests without observers; never ignore new noises; never open sealed shelves without a second key.

Early Problems
Logs show small issues first. Spoor pads hid in clothing seams and helmet pads. A worker carried one into sleep deck and woke with a headache. Removal worked. Later, a Colonist resisted with muscle locks that caused a fall. The host chipped a tooth. The Colonist was removed. The team adjusted holds and added sedation. After that came a deeper problem. A Sovereign line refused to detach. It cut power to its chair by triggering a fuse trip through muscle tension in the host. The team restored power and completed removal, but the host reported voices for days. Recovery notes say the voices faded after a week.

Why the Ship Was Abandoned
The final months show a pattern. Fewer crew, longer gaps between sessions, frequent returns to cryo. The Black Registry notes “departure delayed” and “return to cryo” again and again. A quiet note in the Kiln log mentions “containment failed in sleep deck, remove residue to kiln.” There is no matching security entry showing a fight. No damage. The likely path is slow erosion of trust. Someone began running self-administration without observers. Someone else sealed shelves with black resin to remove temptation. Later hands came back to clean, purge residue, and put the ship to sleep. The last act was a wide shutdown that left core life support at minimum. The ship drifted.

Dormant Survival
N-Symp 17 can slow to a near stop in cold, dry conditions. The Spiral is cold and dry by design. The symbiont line persisted in narrow vents, filter stacks, and unused pods. A late returner used the Kiln, resealed a cracked pod, and wrote short caution notes. That person likely returned to cryo and did not wake again. The organism stayed in slow loops near heat leaks. Spoor pads merged into resin seams. Colonists waited near vent slits. A Sovereign lattice likely settled into a hard shell near the Memory Spire, feeding on trace mineral content and waking only when footsteps sent small vibrations.

Current State
When you power sections, you set old loops in motion. The Echo Galleries might run a test tone and wake Colonists. The Infusion Bay lights read as an invitation. The Vault fields, if left down, offer door frames as warm surfaces. The Dock’s filter towers stir dust and carry tiny chips of dried feed. The Black Registry can route drones, but their charge wells are empty until you prime them. The ship wants order. The organism wants connection. Both can happen at once, which makes risk high.

Notes on the Organism
N-Symp 17 does not kill by design. It shapes choice, pushes attention, and enforces rest or action. The Spoor builds small loops. The Colonist builds stronger loops and adds images. The Sovereign writes deep loops with pain and reward. All stages prefer hosts who are alone, tired, and stationary. Audio patterns can calm or disrupt. Heat and field pulses weaken grip. Removal must respect nerves. The organism punishes greed and haste. The people who handled it learned this slowly. The ship architecture reflects that lesson.

Important Systems and How to Use Them
The Black Registry can enforce “no broadcast.” Keep it on to avoid calling scavengers or patrols who might see the ship as salvage. The Memory Spire contains maps of host signals useful for counter-patterns. The Echo Galleries can produce those counter-patterns if unlocked. The Kiln handles residue and tools. Use it if you find fresh growth. The Vault fields can isolate live samples if you raise them before contact. The Infusion Bay should stay idle unless you need to remove a Colonist or Sovereign from a living host. The Dock can be sealed from the Registry to prevent boarding during treatment.

Cultural Footnote
Caraphex research style here is clear: no drama, only logs and small fixes. The craft shows respect for procedure and a refusal to waste material. The crew cleaned rooms after each step even at the end. There are no slogans in the walls. There are only steps. This gives you a path. Follow steps, and you can survive the Spiral and leave with records and samples. Ignore steps, and the organism will fill the space you leave in your attention.

What Happened After
No final transmission left the Spiral. No beacon tagged it lost. The ship fell behind route updates and slipped into blind space. New maps cut around it for generations. Now it waits with power lines cold and systems ready to wake. Whoever steps aboard will rewrite the last page of the logs. The Registry has room for new entries. The Kiln is clean. The Vault is open. The Echo Galleries remember the tones. The organism has learned patience. It will test yours.