[Cyan considers the both of you, narrowing her eye lens. She lets out a sigh.]
"I guess that's fair. Impostors are a relatively new phenomenon, since the expeditions for MIRA only began a few Zumiran years ago. Alright. I'll try to explain my theory as best I can."
[Cyan waves for you to follow into the specimen lab. She flips up a projector from a stand, and clicks out half the lights. A few taps on her MIRApad activates some slides.]
"From the limited information I've been able to gather- small sample size, and all... Impostors as we know them can only perpetuate as an offshoot of existing crew mates. They cannot exist in a vacuum- to put it simply, Impostors are a drastic transformation that Beans undergo due to external factors. Stress alone cannot trigger it, because otherwise we would have experienced outbreaks of impostor killings long before achieving space flight. Impostors cannot breed more impostors- at least, I really hope they can't- but they can spread their condition to uninfected members of the same species.
"Beans are not the only sapient race that have Impostors, it CAN exist in other species- but I imagine due to our genetic makeup, the differences in how it manifests must be quite vast. The common factors I've been able to deduce from my own research and sparse records across MIRA's database is that Impostors crave proteins, particularly fatty tissues, to an almost manic degree, and they kill to feed and satisfy that need. In our particular region of space, I have one known, documented source of Impostor genesis."
[Cyan clicks the slide, and her expression darkens as she looks at the image.]
"...a species native to Polus, which I dubbed a 'Boreworm'. Calling them a 'parasite' isn't entirely accurate. More like a symbiote- though not by choice. I thought they were exclusively burrowing polychaetes... but I was wrong. Turns out, they spend most of their life cycle sheltering inside an unwilling host for protection. Boreworm infestation does provide some benefits, like expedited tissue regeneration, improved flexibility and heightened senses. But I wish I'd never found the $#%& worms in that dirt."
[Cyan takes a deep breath, re-centering herself.]
"I don't believe there's some secret space coalition of Impostors out there. If there was, we Beans would have been wiped out as a species. Impostors are stronger and heal faster than normal Beans- if they could organize, we wouldn't stand a chance. I've also found that a sort of territoriality is present among my ilk. We don't like other impostors, for various reasons. I suppose for normal impostors, who succumbed to the borderline feral instincts, it's a simple matter of competition. More impostors means less 'food' to go around. For me- my crew is my family. I don't want any of them to die... even if they hate me."
