The Intelligence

""Who are you?" I AM AWARE. "We mean you no harm." LIFE-FORM ANALYSIS COMPLETE. SPECIES IS DESTRUCTIVE, INVASIVE, NOXIOUS, HARMFUL TO THE BODY OF THE WHOLE. "What species?" MAN. YOU ARE VIRUS."

- Richie asking what the Intelligence is and its response.

The Intelligence is the main antagonist of the 1999 science-fiction horror film Virus. It is a malevolent energetic alien entity that travels to Earth to destroy humanity and end the “virus” they spread, while also using their bodies as “spare parts” to expand itself and build an army of cyborgs.

History
A large electrical energy source flies by the Earth, inflecting the space station Mir. The source destroys the station, killing the cosmonauts, before using one of its antenna to beam itself down to Earth at a Russian research vessel Akademik Vladislav Volkov, which was communicating with the Mir. An electrical surge takes over the ship and attacks the crew.

Seven days pass when another vessel, the tugboat Sea Star, locates the Volkov following the week it went silent. The crew, consisting of captain Robert Everton, navigator Kelly Foster, engineer Steve Baker, first mate J.W. Woods Jr., deckhand Hiko, and crewmen Squeaky and Richie Mason, climb aboard the ship to salvage any cargo. On the Volkov, most of the electronics have been destroyed and its crew is missing. Steve and Squeaky restore the power, but notice all machines still active on the ship immediately activate and function independently without human input. The anchor suddenly drops on its own and sinks the Sea Star, leaving the crew isolated on the lifeless Volkov.

Steve leaves Squeaky to guard the engine room while he goes and find the others. Squeaky spots a spider-like robot crawl down a vent, which drags him down as well when his neck gets caught in wires. As the others tend to Hiko's wounds, who was injured when the anchor crushed the Sea Star, they are attacked by the sole survivor of the Volkov, Nadia Vinogradova, who has gone hysterical over "it" needing power to travel and implores the group to shut down the generators. Steve, Woods, and Richie search for the engine room, coming across one of the 42 labs of the ship on the way, building more of the robotic spiders.

The three are attacked by the robots and a gun-wielding Russian, revealed to be a cyborg who the three bring down and take its seemingly dead body to the bridge. Nadia explains that the energy that beamed down scanned the ship's computers on information on killing people, then used the workshops to convert the crew into hostile cyborgs. The crew decide to head for the computer room, coming across Squeaky, only to discover that he has been converted by the Intelligence. A second robot, the Goliath Machine, shows up and kills Woods, causing the survivors to barricade themselves in the communication room. Richie uses the computers to ask the Intelligence what it is; it tells him that it is aware and sees mankind as a "virus" which it plans to use as "spare parts". This sends Richie paranoid, gunning down Squeaky when he breaks in and runs off, leading the others to chase after him.

Meanwhile, Everton, who was stripped from his command after destroying the radio since he was unwilling to abort his salvage, announces himself as the "dominant lifeform" to the Intelligence, and offers to help the entity navigate to its destination. Foster identifies Lord Howe Island as the ship's destination, with Nadia assuming that the Intelligence plans to seize a British military station and control the world's military forces. Goliath ambushes them but they manage to escape it. As they plan a way to sink the Volkov, a converted Everton attacks them, which they defeat by planting a grenade in-between his wired body. As the group find Richie and spill flammable fluid in the ship's bilge, Goliath, now twice in size from before, shows up again and attacks them.

Foster is separated from the group and tortured by Goliath for the whereabouts of the detonator, though the others are able to save her. Richie is killed, while Nadia and Foster are separated from Steve. As they are cornered in front of a sealed door, Goliath obtains their detonator and crushes it, sarcastically declaring checkmate. It grabs Nadia and demands if their are any more detonators on the ship, but Nadia responds that there was just one and shoots a flare gun at nearby gas tanks to destroy the robot. However, her sacrifice was in vain since Goliath was still alive. Steve and Foster manage to avoid Goliath and escape from the Volkov by using Richie's ejection seat, which activates a grenade, triggering an explosion that sinks the Volkov. The energy substance disperses in the seawater, ending the Intelligence for good.

Trivia

 * When the Intelligence refers the humans as viruses, it is actually referring the entire ship as its body, with the crew as parasitic invaders.
 * The alien is not named in the film and referred to as the Intelligence in the novelization of the film.