- "Species is destructive, invasive, noxious, harmful to the whole.
What species?
Man... You are virus." - ―Quote from the movie
The Virus Life-form (aka The Intelligence) is the alien creature encountered in the 1999 film Virus.
Not much is known about this alien. It seems to be quite intelligent - even if it's only made out of pure, electrical energy. Its purposes appears to be the goal to wipe out mankind, although nobody knows what would happen IF the creature did really manage to wipe out the human race completely.
Anatomy
The Virus alien is a non-organic life-form and made out of living, electrical energy. As without a physical body, it's unable to interact with the physical world. Communicating and maneuvering requires a physical body and it knows it. Its true form looks more like a collection of blue and purple lightning bolts, capable of traveling in outer space without the need for oxygen. Another ability it possess is to travel through Earth's electrical systems in this form with relative ease.
While only a mere extraterrestrial energy being, the alien is indeed sentient and is highly intelligent enough to communicate with the crews and knowing its awareness and intention. The alien being is somehow accidentally transmitted down to Earth by a Russian space station while the crew is being electrified, and within a matter of hours, the alien has already absorbed the knowledge and technology on a Russian research ship. With a vast majority of the knowledge it has gained, its mission is to wipe out the entire human race as to its point of view, it sees humans as a "virus". By gathering enough materials, the alien gets around on the ship as well as perpetuating itself by means of the dead crew members it has killed, transforming itself into man/machine hybrids.
It can operate machines and anything mechanical, having several drones and workers handy. But to be able to maneuver around the ship, the alien uses many of its drones to lure the crew members down to the lower deck as that's where it resides within the mainframe computer. Composing its newest drones by using human body parts and machine parts, reconstructing into its own "kind".
The alien has many forms. Comes in many variable sizes and shapes, but all has been purposed to kill and using human body parts as part of the machinery it possesses.
Since humans are an essential portion of the creation of these cybernetic organisms, the primary requirements the alien harvests from its victims are neurological transmitters, oxygenated tissues, certain nerves and muscles, brain matter and organs.
Due to necrosis, all cybernetic organisms possess a decaying appearance and foul aroma.
Weaknesses
In its electrical form, it could be trapped inside of a computer that it was inhabiting, and by disconnecting it from the rest of the system and cutting off the power, putting it into a form of stasis or suspended animation. To stay connected to its drones, it must use a series of cables and wires that connect them to the mainframe computer, and if their cables are severed, they cease to function and the alien is forced to relocate to another drone. Despite the strength of its physical body, heavy explosives and water were enough to destroy its body and possibly killing the creature along with it, as it was electrical like lightning and could ground out if it made contact with water.
Forms
Aside from the primary form, the creature is capable of extending its consciousness through its servants and slaves, giving it many forms that include:
Gatherers
Scouts and supply hunters created by the creature in machine shops. They resemble various insects and were created to gather more materials. They have built-in weapons, such as small saws, drills and nail guns for defense. Some of these creatures are purely mechanical, with later ones incorporating organics.
Cyborgs
Creatures similar to the Borg of Star Trek. These creatures are a combination of machine parts and the corpses of the crew members captured or collected by the alien. They possess a coil or self-contained power source built into their brains that are kept alive by the alien.
Golems
Massive, 7ft creatures that protect the smaller servants. They possess fours arms and legs and have human muscles around their limbs. They can punch a hole in or rip a human in two and tear through metal with little effort.
According to a special feature on the DVD, these creatures' arms are covered in muscle tissue to give them a human feel.
Goliath
The cybernetic body the alien ultimately creates for itself. This 9ft monstrosity is a combination of machine, muscle and bone, is heavily armed and armored. Its lower half is made up of four mechanical, spider-like legs while its top half is more humanoid with four arms. Unlike its drones, which all had cables and wires to supply them with power, this creature is a self-contained monstrosity, possibly fueled by large battery packs built somewhere on its body.
According to the novelization, this vessel serves as the creature's new home.
In the Film
The creature is first seen traveling in space in its electrical form where it collides with the Russian space station Mir, killing the crew and being transmitted onto a Russian research vessel through the station and ship's satellite link. The creature takes over the ship, locking the humans out of the computers and machine shops while it learns about its new environment.
The conclusion may seem to indicate that mankind is a dangerous species as the alien sees, somehow you get the feeling the alien is some sort of an extraterrestrial "immune system defense" which destroys all forms of parasites or viruses which threaten the body, but on this particular case, it may see humans as the virus. It is unknown of where or which the alien originated from, but perhaps the creature may in fact be a bio-weapon engineered by another intelligent life-form where their purpose is to wipe out the human race or other foreign creatures of other worlds.