system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[The Thing] How exactly does the Thing consume/assimilate/duplicate more than one being at a time?

I.e., how can one "thing" duplicate multiple organisms?
gpt
Genetic code is the language the Thing "speaks".  As it absorbs a being, it reads its DNA and assimilates all of the code into its repertoire.

The Thing doesn't see organisms as individual beings, but each as an amalgamation of traits which are coded by particular sequences of codons.  It can creatively recombine these traits into different configurations based on its needs, much as a master chef can improvise completely new dishes by mixing and matching components from thousands of memorized recipes.

It is a master artist and life itself is its palette.