Editing Pod infector

|height=Varies; between {{Convert|89.6|cm|ftin|sp=us}} and {{Convert|131.4|cm|ftin|sp=us}}{{Ref/Game|Id=Library|HCEA|Library (feature)|Library|Detail=Infection Form}}

|weight=Varies; between {{Convert|16.8|kg|lb}} and {{Convert|28.6|kg|lb}}{{Ref/Reuse|Library}}

 

Due to the balloon-like qualities of the pod infector, it could deflate itself to fit inside the victim's body.{{Ref/Novel|TF|10|Quote=If you peek through the hole in her chest you can see the remains of the infection form that deflated itself enough to fit in around her heart and lungs.}} Even if the pod infector is quickly removed, Flood cells in the wounds will slowly consume the victim and turn them into quivering, spore-packed blisters.{{Ref/Reuse|PLIF}} The Flood utilizes the hosts' nervous system and calcium store to mutate its body;{{Ref/Book|AoH|Page=50}} as such, if the infected host has sufficient biomass for self-sustenance, it will mutate neurologically and physiologically into a [[Flood combat form|combat form]].{{Ref/Book|Id=enc11p165|Enc11|Page=165}} The pod infector is capable of augmenting its new body and repair minor damage;{{Ref/Book|Id=enc22p408|Enc22|Page=408}} as such, combat forms typically possess unnatural physical strength, perhaps gained through the mutation of the host's musculoskeletal structures.{{Ref/Reuse|enc11p165}} Otherwise, sections of the host's body are consumed and converted into FSC, with much of their internal organs being consumed and replaced with FSC accretions that function as support lattices. Some limbs and sensory organs are retained on the combat form to enable use of tools, weapons, or vehicles; though the pod infector sees the environment using its own sensory organs—often the flexible fronds or antennae on the end of narrow tendrils—and whatever remains of the host's native senses are usually redundant and ignored. Combat forms tend to retain some of its host's characteristics; sapient hosts are generally made into the most basic version of combat form, simply known as an [[attacker form]],{{Ref/Reuse|enc22p408}} whereas non-sapient hosts are made into [[Flood thrasher form|thrasher]] or [[Flood swarm form|swarm]] forms.{{Ref/Book|Id=enc22p409|Enc22|Page=409}} Human attacker forms are notably known for its agility and swift movement rather than the heavy and dense frame of the its Sangheili counterparts.{{Ref/Game|HCEA|Library (feature)|Detail=Human Combat Form}} If its host has been heavily damaged, a pod infector may abandon its host to look for a new one. Conversely, if the pod infector inside an attacker form has been destroyed, but the attacker form itself is intact enough to continue serving its purpose, a loose pod infector may burrow inside the body and replace the one that mutated it, effectively "re-animating" the attacker form.{{Ref/Reuse|H3}}

While an effective vector of infection against armored and shielded organisms—including those equipped with atmospheric filters—a pod infector is not necessary for the Flood to infect a host; merely ingesting Flood spores or inserting them via a wound is sufficient to initiate Flood conversion—in two notable instances, Flood spores were introduced into the body through a bite wound. Such infection may occur several seconds or perhaps minutes later, yet the transformation will occur almost instantaneously once it has begun.{{Ref/Level|HW|Anders' Signal}}{{Ref/Anthology|Evo|Story=The Mona Lisa}}

*In ''Halo 3'', code exists for a deleted <code>flood_infection_banger</code> variant of pod infector, which would explode like a plasma grenade when destroyed.{{Ref/YouTube|R60geSLtnWk|Lord Zedd|Halo 3 - Cut Enemy: Flood Infection "Banger"}}