Space Time Worms

Space-Time Worms, or ST Worms for short as they are often called, are normal looking worms that feed on the Space-Time Fabric which makes up the reality of most Universes. This makes them a possible danger for the Universes where they occur naturally or which they are able to invade by passing from a neighboring Universe to another, through the Interdimensional Void in the Multiverse and makes them Cosmic Entities in their own right.

## Information

They start as microscopic normal looking worms like most other species of such sizes with the biggest difference being their feeding habits.

Their slow munching on the actual fabric of reality usually passes unnoticed and without any real danger or consequences inside said reality in most cases. Due to their sizes, they only very slowly consume said fabric and in minuscule quantities. They probably feed in close to Planck sized pieces of space and the equivalent of time.

Very specific and advanced technology is required to notice what is it that they are actually feeding upon. Otherwise all that would be seen is that they seem to be constantly chewing on something that appears to be in the air (only visible through microscopes as their mouths are quite small to begin with). Usually primitive theories are that they feed on microscopic organisms floating in the air or attached to dust particles.

## Growth Potential

The real problem is that, as they do so, as they consume space, they slowly start to grow with the amount of space consumed. And as they consume time, their life expectancy, which started at around 6 months, slowly increases with the consumed time.

They do not gain all the consumed time and space, fortunately. It starts at a rate somewhere around 10% of the consumed and it slowly decreases as they grow and have their life expectancy increased. This makes it harder and harder for them to continue to grow in size and life expectancy indefinitely as they need to consume more and more and most just aren't able to keep up with their increased needs. They are usually just unable to swallow enough amounts of the reality fabric in enough time and eventually end up dying of hunger or of old age.

For some reason though, most likely due to natural mutations and genetic variability, a rare few are just strong enough or fast enough to endure a little while longer, consume a little bit more or a little bit faster and end up growing to truly dangerous proportions while continuing to delay their natural deaths further and further into the future. It is theorized that they can last indefinitely while always continuing to grow as long as they can get continued access to new feeding material.

## Senses

It is assumed that they don't have the intelligence or even instinct developed enough to differentiate, much less make the decision, between space and time and end up consuming both in different proportions. The proportion of the consumed parts is dependent on several factors from the worm's taste and preferences to how easy each part is to consume. Gravity, by bending space, makes it easier to consume usually, while by slowing time makes the same amount of time have less value in increasing their life expectancy, therefore they need to consume more to have the same result. The amount of matter and energy on the part of the fabric being consumed also affects how easy it is do consume it.

They are both blind and deaf but they can smell different types of matter and energy and it is assumed that the presence of such things on the places they are feeding on changes the taste of the space-time fabric. It is perfectly possible that different worms will have different preferences in relation to taste and, as such, be attracted to different areas to feed. Their sense of tact is also very sensible and they can sense vibrations in the gravity fields as well as the smallest gravity waves and also use those to orient themselves.

## Movement

As the worms get bigger and bigger they start to have their own gravity fields of notice which affect the fabric around them but also allows them to get free of other weaker gravity fields and move around more freely inside the Universe. They do not need to breathe, taking all they need to sustain themselves from their consumption.

They are able to propel themselves by controlled and regular muscle spasms along their bodies as long as they are free of gravity fields trapping them against a surface. When trapped on material surfaces they move along those like normal worms, with the help of friction.

## Effects on the Universe

As the Space-Time Fabric of the universe is consumed, any side effects of such destruction of reality itself has side-effects proportional only to the amount consumed. That means that the usual small quantities consumed usually have no consequences of notice at all. The Fabric usually self-heals immediately and whatever small amount was tore apart, its neighboring parts immediately glue back together, closing the gap. Only when the worm's mouth is so large that it consumes macroscopic chunks of dimensions does it start to become a problem and, when that happens, it is probably already to late. The Fabric is not able to self-correct wounds of such dimensions and the result is a universe with openings on its reality. Even smaller holes in reality can be problematic. Small microscopic holes, even if invisible, can already be large enough that reality has difficulties and takes a long time to self-heal. In the meanwhile those wholes can already have consequences at a larger scale if the wrong conditions occur.

Things inside such gaps, matter and energy, they are not consumed or necessarily destroyed in the process. They continue to exist, just outside of any space and time, remaining isolated from any reality, they continue just as Verse Components, outside of any full Universe, possibly forming their own Incomplete Universes. They probably end up drifting into the Interdimensional Void which fills the Multiverse and where the Universes exist.

One typical side-effect of having large parts of the Space-Time Fabric being consumed are Versequakes that spread out from those locations throughout the surrounding space and can act as a warning that there are ST Worms close by (for an astronomical meaning of the word close).

## Breaching the Universe

When the worms are large enough to survive and reach over, they can pass through the wounds they caused in the reality they have been consuming and reach over to a neighboring one.

They can survive directly in the Interdimensional Void outside of any Universe but only as long as they can last without a food source. So they require reserves before they try to cross over. Multiverses where the Universes are closer to each other are more vulnerable to their infections because of this. Unless the Multiverse itself also contains space-time dimensions outside of any Universe, in which case it is also directly vulnerable.

The most extreme cases had worms growing to the size of actual Universes or even larger, sometimes being able to almost consume entire Universes very fast or even in a single go. Sometimes they grow so large to the point of actually endangering the entire Multiverse and maybe breaking out of it into higher verses.

If two worms meet outside a Universe, without several Universes close by providing available resources for consumption, they will usually fight each other for access to those resources until one of them, usually the smaller one, just leaves. This behavior is in contrast with what happens when they meet with lots of resources available, in which case they tend exchange genetic material for later reproduction or just ignore each other.

## Reproduction

They move through the outer Interdimensional Void into another Universe and continue the process along. In there they search for another suitable Universe on which to lay eggs. Universes where they have done so, they will not enter or consume at all but leave behind and try to find other Universes to feed upon. Because of this they tend to only lay eggs on a new Universe when they are within reach of multiple ones.

This is a require step in their reproductive cycle for they never lay eggs on the same Universe they where born. Those unable to grow large enough to escape their own Universe of birth will never reproduce.

They have no way of sensing if a Universe already has eggs on it though and because of that, having some eggs does not stop another worm from coming and start devouring it. Sometimes it is even possible that multiple worms select the same Universe for laying eggs. Both events are rare though seeing that worms of this size are extremely rare as well.

They are hermaphrodite but still exchange genetic material with each other whenever they encounter others of their species, as long as there are lots of resources available for consumption. They can keep the reproductive material received in their bodies for very long periods of time until they actually reproduce themselves.

## Dealing with them

After a certain size they are mostly unkillable by any weapon unable to also destroy an entire Universe. Some advanced civilizations without the technology to directly exterminate them have taken to using traps of some kind, mine fields and other hazards to stop or, at least, slow their progression. Unless they are completely denied of what they feed upon it is hard to completely stop them. A Hollowverse without even any Space-Time Fabric inside would be ideal for that unless, off course, they are strong enough to break through its barrier and get out.

There are some civilizations generating gravitational waves with frequencies that are distasteful for them. This will usually keep them away unless they are too hungry and there are no other food source around. There is also some research on a type of energy that is poisonous for them when the consumed parts of space contain it but this is still in the beginning stages.

Some others have created Space-Time Fountains which constantly produce new Space-Time Fabric to serve as feeders to farm the worms which they then can use for demolishing jobs or, more likely, as weapons to be directed against their enemies.