| abstract | - Once exposed to another organism, the virus begins mutating its host. The host becomes extremely aggressive and seemingly mindless as it attacks any living thing in sight. Geologist Fifield was exposed to the pathogen during the USCSS Prometheus' expedition of LV-223, mutating his appearance and causing him to attack his fellow crew members. He was also extremely resistant to physical injury, being able to withstand multiple gunshots. It took several shotgun blasts and being scorched with a flamethrower to finally kill him. The pathogen also mutated several worms found in the Engineer temple, turning them into the aggressive Hammerpedes. The Hammerpedes exhibited acidic blood and the ability to regenerate lost body parts, though the latter is an ability commonly found in Earth worms. However, the regeneration of Hammerpedes is much faster than that of normal Earth worms, suggesting that the pathogen can enhance a host's natural abilities. Holloway was also exposed to the pathogen and began mutating before Meredith Vickers killed him to prevent the virus from coming aboard the Prometheus. The virus appeared to affect his reproductive system. Prior to his physical mutation (while carrying the virus), Holloway had sexual intercourse with his lover, Elizabeth Shaw, impregnating her with the Trilobite. It is not known if his sperm was mutated causing an abnormal conception or if he was simply carrying a Trilobite that moved into Shaw, though the latter seems more probable given that Shaw was sterile. Whether Trilobites prefer to move into female subjects or if Holloway would have naturally given "birth" to the Trilobite is unknown. Although Shaw was exposed to the infected Holloway and had intimate contact with him, she was not infected with the liquid and only received the Trilobite embryo. This suggests that the black liquid itself is not sexually transmitted, although it can affect the host's reproductive systems. A likely theory is that the trilobite, in it's initial stage, was in fact one of Holloway's sperm, mutated. Like a sperm, the trilobite seems to have a single function, to impregnate. The "newborn" version of the trilobite extracted from Shaw's womb looks somewhat like a gigantic sperm, albeit with 4 tails instead of 1. The Trilobite carries a lone creature egg for impregnation.
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