Experiment 4323: Tau

You had chosen your mixtures carefully based on the chart, curious what sort of being you might create that could then so strongly alter a person such as to control their movements. You probably should have started with only a few drops, to see if you could make a more suggestible person who maybe was less aware of the situation, but you felt like this combination would be a good midpoint to demonstrate what sort of influence this Syn-Biote material has over a test subject.

You document your chosen combination in the logbook at the end of Chloe's binder:

Experiment 4323 (codename 'Tau')

• Complete motor function behavior mod
• Symbiote and host can shift control back and forth
• Host is aware, but indifferent to modified actions
• Symbiote is a midpoint between obedient and independent to creator
  

As per the instructions, you found a little plastic cup with a lid, and you added the droplets from each of the vials and mixed in some water and sugar that you picked up from the store earlier. You're not much of a chef, but the sweet smell of the mixture as you stirred it lightly was quite pleasant, almost like some sort of fruit juice. This mixture wasn't going to do much in the near term, so you set it aside on your desk and went to your apartment, planning to check on the mixture in the morning before classes began.

The twelve hours went by quickly, fortunately, as you wondered as you came onto campus whether the result would even work. Were you supposed to refrigerate the contents, or boil it all together? Instructions had been vague. What if it needed oxygen and the lid prevented the combination of material?

It seems there was nothing to worry about as far as your instructions being followed, but instead you had something new to worry about: a blue ball of goop sitting on your computer keyboard, clicking through random videos on the internet.

"Whoa now, what's this?" you asked, wide-eyed as you hurried over to your desk. The slime had been looking through your browser history--something you probably should have cleared. You didn't search for anything crazy at work, but you did occasionally click on some sexier photos and videos, which for some reason the slime has found and has gone down quite the rabbit hole of search results. You saw tabs of mostly scantily clad girls doing fun, casual things. In particular, one woman you follow on social media likes to stream playing video games in lingerie, which you couldn't help but find fascinating while leading the bachelor life, for some reason.

The slime 'turns', in that it sort of wobbles in a spiral motion like it's looking at you, and it depresses keys underneath itself to type on a word processor app.

Education. I have plenty of knowledge, this is supplemental. And interesting. Provide name designation?

Name designation? That's right, these slimes are trained to listen to certain commands. You nudged the slime off the keyboard while reaching for the binder. "That's enough internet for you today. Okay, let's see here." You flipped through the pages, and then stopped on a page listing the auditory or written commands the slime could respond to. Somehow in these first few moments, it escaped you just how bizarre it was that Dr. Walker had made a sentient slimeball possible! "Ah, here we are. Syn-Biote instruction, name designation..." earlier you had glanced around, looking at a chart of elementary particles for inspiration, spotting the tau lepton in the corner on a whim, and put that in the logbook. "...Tau."

The bundle of slime shuddered, and rolled back onto the keyboard.

Designation received. I will respond to Tau in any communication you have with me. Activate absorption capability?

You looked back at the commands, scratching your chin. "I haven't picked a test subject yet, is that a problem?"

I can delay absorption even while activated, or if you wish I could find an absorption target after activation.

With a shrug, you looked back at the chart of words. "Tau: instruction, activate absorption capability."

The little gooey ball shuddered a bit.

Thank you, capability is active. Bring me within proximity of a suitable host candidate and I can handle the rest.

Tau rolled away from the keyboard, sitting on the edge of the desk, facing the door like it was waiting for someone to walk through it so the slime could absorb into them. Hopefully Tau was patient, as you still had to figure out a good candidate! You had four classes today, quite a few students struggled on their midterms, maybe one of them would be willing to do some extra credit. You had a couple professors who might help, some TAs for the labs, a cute girl at the campus coffee shop, and that's if you stayed on campus.