From publisher blurb:
Issue #14: AggregatesHaving another creature living on or inside your body is not a thought most would enjoy. Nor is the idea of having the same type of creature living inside a child and grandchild, joining generation after generation, until, over time, the two species gradually merge. But, this already happens. Humans and termites rely on intestinal bacteria to aid digestion, lichen are the synthesis of fungus and algae, and mycorrhizae are vital fungal symbionts in plant roots. Aggregates are composite creatures that result from the changes that develop from a host and a symbiont living as one. Rather than one individual host creature being infected by a single parasite, the aggregation process describes how two species merge over generations. Many aggregates do not survive the initial infection or bonding process, and it is only through large numbers of the host species and symbiont species combining that a new species eventually develops.