Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Where to Go After the Cargo Hold?
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Where to go after the cargo hold?
Truth be told, I already had my destination in mind.
'Let's head to the cooling chamber next to the reactor.'
Even in the space age, humanity hadn't changed much when it came to dealing with heat. Right beside the nuclear fusion engine—the ship's heart, or reactor—there was a cooling chamber responsible for temperature control.
'Not many people visit the cooling chamber since it's a critical facility.'
It was under heavy guard as a top-priority area, but that also meant fewer visitors. The darkest place is under the candlestick, as they say. As long as I didn't physically tamper with the cooling chamber, the area around it was perfect for avoiding surveillance while I grew.
Another advantage was its location right next to the reactor.
Even if my presence got exposed, the cooling chamber would make for an easy last line of defense.
'Worst case, I wreck the reactor and cooling chamber and bolt.'
If the cooling chamber malfunctioned, the reactor would follow suit. A ship with a damaged heart had no choice but to halt operations.
All life support systems maintaining the internal environment would shut down too.
They might scramble to restart with auxiliary engines at first, but it wouldn't last. Just like a creature with a destroyed heart can't cheat death, neither could the ship.
If there were no planets nearby for an emergency landing, the crew's fate was sealed.
Just the grim end of killing each other to survive a little longer in dwindling oxygen.
Of course, if the ship stopped, I'd lose my ride too, so attacking the reactor would be a last resort.
'Alright, time to move.'
Before setting off, I devoured two more calorie bars. With my belly full, I leaped onto the ceiling. Tiny suckers between my claws gripped my body firmly to the surface.
Apparently, insects climb walls thanks to suction-cup-like structures called pulvilli. They secrete a sticky substance that lets them scale smooth surfaces with ease.
Thanks to the same substance from the suckers on my claws, I moved effortlessly even hanging upside down from the ceiling.
Walking lightly inverted, I spotted the entrance to a vent duct.
It looked like a child-sized window fan, with a metal grate secured by screws on the outside.
Inside, massive blades spun relentlessly, emitting a menacing whine.
'No way I can tear through that grate yet.'
I'd love to smash through dramatically, but as a hatchling, it was impossible.
Even that thin mesh was made of advanced alloy. Slamming my claws blindly would just snap them.
'Time to use the power of intellect here.'
I unsheathed a claw and twisted the screws holding the grate. If the humans had put more thought into security, they'd have welded it shut, but luckily, these were the types who set cargo codes to 1234.
The first barrier blocking the vent duct was neutralized effortlessly by my claws. Next up was the fan blades inside.
'This is the real hurdle.'
I had two ways through: time my entry to dodge the blades, or grab something to jam them.
The latter was obviously out.
Doubtful if anything could break those sturdy alloy blades, and even if it did, the problem was the super AI controlling the ship. It wouldn't miss a fan malfunction. The AI would report the new error to the humans immediately, leaving me with nothing but pursuit and death.
'Gotta get through this.'
Now it was time to rely on Aimorph abilities.
Charge in blindly, and those blades would mince me into sashimi. So I stood still, waiting.
As I waited, my auxiliary organ began compiling airflow, energy fluctuations at the blade joints, and more.
It wasn't just the auxiliary organ working hard. My advanced vision focused on the spinning blades, searching for weaknesses in the precise machinery.
How much time passed?
The auxiliary organ detected iron oxide particles in the air and fine metal dust whipped by the wind. My vision spotted wear at the blade joints, causing a brief slowdown at specific points.
My brain, processing input from eyes and organ, gave the signal.
Jump in now.
'All or nothing.'
Trusting my super sense, I dove into the fan.
The merciless machine god swung its scythe. The air pressure from the slicing blade battered my carapace.
Human instincts screamed to flee, but my tiny Aimorph heart showed no fear. As if thought were a luxury, every sense focused on evading the guillotine.
The blade grazed the tip of my tail by a hair's breadth. The reaper's touch had failed.
I survived.
'I made it! I'm alive!'
As a human, I'd have shouted and laughed, but my mouth wasn't built for it. All I could muster was a eerie hiss.
After savoring the thrill briefly, I pressed on.
The vent ducts twisted like a maze, but my super sense rendered them no obstacle.
The ship's veins, usually quiet, buzzed today with an unexpected guest. Fan hums everywhere mingled faintly with my claws scraping metal.
'Spider ahead.'
Spiders and flying insects I encountered became snacks on this not-short journey. Cockroaches, spiders—they were all well-fed on this ship, plump and juicy. No risk of hunger or energy dips en route.
Chewing a spider leg, I felt residual heat fading from the duct walls via my claw tips. Proof the cooling chamber was near.
Hurrying along, my auxiliary organ hit the brakes. Something important ahead needed checking.
'Hm?'
Not visible yet, but light waves rippled from not far off. After ten minutes of nonstop scuttling on all eight legs, a metal grate appeared in the duct floor.
I perched on it and peered below. People in white coats bustled between massive test tubes and incubators.
'A lab? Isn't this a regular ship?'
With all the food and weapons in the cargo hold, I'd pegged it as a supply or trade vessel. A lab?
If this ship was a research vessel, it wasn't bad for me.
"Hey, how's Specimen 026 looking?"
"Failure again."
"Tch, the team leader's gonna flip."
"It's from Earth. Even the captain's tiptoeing around it—what can we do?"
"Sigh, let's call it a day."
After the two men left the lab, I unscrewed the grate and dropped down.
'From the looks of it, Mega Corp folks.'
Mega Corp was a human faction thriving from the solar system, basically Earthlings as the base model.
By lore, megacorporations ruled instead of governments, and most members were extreme materialists.
Space Survival featured various human factions, mostly neutral, but Mega Corp skewed evil due to their setup.
'Only they'd mod healthy people into slave soldiers.'
Mega Corp grabbed the poor or aliens, cyborged them into war slaves via "employment"—a racial trait. In-game, the benefits were so huge you'd use it without thinking.
If the game was bad, reality was worse. The lab air reeked of lingering blood.
'What to do.'
My auxiliary organ pinpointed the gene sample fridge, but I couldn't decide rashly.
'Timing is key.'
For Aimorph evolution, it wasn't just collecting gene essence.
To pass hatchling, I needed to eat a living sapient being. To become a juvenile, I had to kill and consume a human.
'Killing a person.'
In-game, no issue. But in reality?
I might think it easy now, but hesitation up close meant death. My body was fragile enough for a child to kill, so one strike had to end it.
'Until I'm resolved, better hold off raiding this place.'
The samples tempted, but devouring them here would make evasion impossible. I'd tackle the lab after eating a person.
'Just scout what's here today.'
This ship's research focus would shape my path.
Mutant Hulk soldiers for land combat? I'd gain tough bodies and fighting skills. Space elves, Cult psychics? Powerful psy powers.
'Personally hope for Cult, but psy early on is unlikely.'
I scanned the lab with every sense.
Unlike the dim, grimy cargo hold, pristine white walls enclosed it.
Seemingly worlds better, yet behind the brightness lurked death and agony.
Test tubes held living human brains, abducted creatures in chemical solutions. Incubators hummed as AI checked embryos with electric signals.
Chemical fumes, buzzing EM waves, blood and rotting flesh smells, pheromones of pained creatures—all flooded my mind. Amid the auxiliary organ's data deluge, one oddity stood out.
'Help? Asking for aid?'
A lifeform signaled me via wavelengths humans couldn't detect.
Curious, I traced it to a test tube.
[026]
A pink droplet-like creature floated in the tube labeled Specimen 026.
'Bubble Amoeba.'
Bubble Amoebas inhabited ocean planets, non-player critters. They drifted as water droplets, ambushing prey with digestive fluids.
Too small—palm-sized—to threaten players. Cute and harmless, they were popular for healing in the brutal survival world.
Never thought a pet-like thing had intelligence, let alone spoke. As I approached, it pulsed again.
｢Pain. Help.｣
Couldn't translate precisely, but Aimorph senses got the gist. It was suffering and begging aid.
'What now.'
Could eat it, but its trait was useless to Aimorphs: 'Oxygen Storage' for oxygen-free zones. Handy for others, pointless for oxygen-independent Aimorphs.
'Pass on eating. Want to help, but no clue how.'
Probing the tube, I sensed circulating mixtures in the hose below, gauges checking liquid integrity, faint electric currents above.
'Electricity?'
A small sensor stuck to its body zapped periodically via wire.
Understanding its plea, I climbed the terminal beside the tube.
Bio-rhythms and AI results flickered on the screen.
'Those researchers earlier. Forgot to shut it down after griping.'
I pressed the button to halt the experiment. The sensor's shocks stopped; it perked up, flashing pink gratefully.
｢Thanks.｣
'Thanks, huh.'
Didn't feel like I deserved it. If it were useful, I'd have absorbed it without mercy. Just whimsy for a harmless, useless thing.
'Survive on your own.'
In a Mega Corp lab, doom was inevitable. Still, wished it some comfort in its final days as I left.
Thirty minutes into the ducts, temperature plunged. Water droplets beaded walls; thin frost coated the floor.
Finally, above the cooling chamber.
'Perfect. Time to build a nest.'
I scraped wall droplets and gulped them. Gargled briefly, then spat.
Pure water before; now, toxic to non-Aimorphs.
This gum-like slime extended nearby Aimorph life, boosted super sense.
Once I papered the duct above the cooler, I'd monitor half the ship.
I repeated the spit-cycle.
Soon, the duct transformed into an Aimorph haven.
Sticky, venomous, filthy contamination.
In this space any creature would loathe, I lay, cozy as a womb. Eyes closed.
'I feel it. The ship like my own body.'
What's key to winning war?
Information.
Mega Corp humans vs. me, the Aimorph.
They don't know me, but I know them. Where they are, what they do, conversations—all relayed via slime traces.
They won't realize.
War's begun; they're already losing.
In the dark nest, I smiled silently.