Excerpt from the Encyclopedia of Medical Science, 2152 A.D., “The Dochler Virus”

The Dochler Virus (also commonly known as the Wormbleed Epidemic)

        The Dochler Virus, named after Robert Dochler, head researcher at the German Disease Management Facility from 2112-2115, was the most deadly and dangerous virus ever recorded. Informally defined as the first "bacterite", an organism resembling both a bacteria and a parasite, it spread itself in an altogether different manner than other viruses. It spread by infecting the air itself, causing oxygen particles to evolve into parasitic viruses.

        The Dochler Virus was first discovered by an American Space-travel Emergency Rescue crew, who flew by spacecraft to Mars to investigate a ground base (EGR113) that had stopped sending and receiving signals from Earth. Upon arrival at the base, the crew knew something was amiss. Around all of the airlocks and ventilation ports there were thousands of small blue objects on the ground, and there were several small punctures in the ground station's outer hull. When they entered the station, the crew found that the entire base was covered in these blue objects, and upon carefully investigating one of these, they found it to be a dead creature resembling a worm or centipede, about an inch long. There were an estimated 15,000 of these dead worms in the base, whereas there were only 8 workers in the base. When the rescue crew found the worker's bodies, it was evident that they had been eaten alive.

        After some governmental controversy, it was decided that a few of the worms should be taken back to Earth in sealed sample containers. The rescue crew did this, and launched back to Earth, but when they landed, the worms had disappeared. All that was left in the containers was a strange red cloud of gas. It was concluded that the worms had disintegrated in the jars, leaving a cloud of particles behind.

        The red cloud was unable to be analyzed by American scientists, so the containers were shipped to Germany, where Robert Dochler, after intensive lab testing, discovered the true nature of the virus.

        The red cloud was composed of condensed, airborne, dormant bacteria that spread in stages. The first stage was reproduction. The virus infected nearby oxygen particles with microscopic projectiles, causing those particles to be corrupted and morph into a duplicate virus. The second stage was to feed on human flesh. The airborne viruses would float into the mouth or nose of a human being, and feed on the nutrients inside the body. It would take up to five minutes for the viruses to feed enough to move on to the next stage, and until then, the victim would not know that he or she was infected. The final stage was evolution. The viruses would transform into a small parasite using the nutrients that they had gathered, and eat the victim from the inside out. After the victim was dead, the worms would move on to another human, and another- until the entire human race was dead. They would stop at nothing, and seemed to have an uncanny way of telling where a human was. They could burrow through the ground, and through almost all substances to reach a person. And if the worm died or was deprived of oxygen, it would disintegrate into hundreds more dormant viruses, waiting for the right moment to strike. In each of those containers, behind half an inch of glass, was the power to destroy an entire planet.

        "The difficulty with finding an antidote for the Wormbleed Epidemic is it's rate of spread," said Dr. Peter Codell from Cambelton University. "Once released into the open air, the red cloud expands at a rate of two cubic meters per second squared, meaning that it could possibly destroy an entire planet in less than three days."

        The virus was contained by a governmental agency for five years under high security, safe from any chance of breakout, but in 2118 a terrorist named Stenlow Decain attempted to break into the building and open one of the glass tubes that contained the virus. It was a suicide mission, and Decain's reasons were unknown. The glass tubes were connected to a self-destruct of the building, so that if a container was opened, the building would explode, hopefully destroying the virus before it escaped the building's parameters. But Decain managed to disable the system, and he broke one of the containers. Rapidly the virus began to spread inside the building, and soon would have spread into the air, at which point it would be impossible to quarantine. Fortunately, a security guard named Aaron Parks sighted the terrorist, and shortly before being devoured by the worms, he broke into the Dochler Virus containment room and activated the self-destruct, exploding the building, and ending his life and those of the other guards and scientists. 

        Many say that this is the closest Earth has avoided destruction, and Aaron Parks will always remain a hero in our minds. Now we have no trace of the virus anywhere except our documents, although it is still not sure whether the virus has been exterminated. Upon returning to Mars to look for the dead worms, it was found that they had dissipated into the thin air of Mars, and whether dead or alive, no one knows. No one seems to understand much about where the virus came from or where it went. It's origin will likely always be unknown.