Survive (3)

Four days had passed since I became Amorph, and much had changed in that time.

First of all, my nest was complete.

Upon a corridor of hardened mineral, the fruits of unclean life had taken shape. The mucus I excreted ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had solidified into a tough shell, and parts of it had clumped together to form spores. From holes in those spores, mucus seeped out at regular intervals. Even without my intervention, the nest was slowly but steadily expanding its domain.

Now I can monitor the entire ship.

Everything happening aboard the oval research vessel, some two hundred meters across at its widest point, was relayed to me in real time. I couldn't surveil anything smaller than a cockroach, but as far as humans went, I could track the bulk of their activity.

And second.

While shuttling between the Cargo Bay and my nest, gorging on cockroaches and spiders, I had acquired one more trait.

Paralytic Sting was a trait I'd obtained from the spiders. Late in the game it became useless, what with monsters made of pure energy and creatures of living mineral crawling out of the woodwork, but for the early game it was a solid ability.

Perfect for someone like me, forced to hunt stronger prey with a weak body.

I focused my consciousness on my tail, the way one might clench a muscle, and a single drop of yellow fluid welled up from the barb at its tip. That would be enough to subdue a grown man without effort. The paralysis lasted only about five minutes, but five minutes was plenty of time to kill someone.

After offering my thanks to the spider, who had provided me not only with my daily bread but a rare gift besides, I turned my thoughts to the road ahead.

The conditions for hunting humans were nearly in place. It was time to pick a target.

The research vessel currently carried a crew of two hundred twenty-two. Ninety-six of those were soldiers and officers responsible for the ship's defense, and twenty-one were senior personnel belonging to the command staff. The rest were civilians—researchers, mechanics, cooks, and the like.

The question is, who do I go after?

At first I considered assassinating the captain to throw the chain of command into chaos. But after turning it over a few times, it didn't seem worth it. With first officers ready to step in, taking out the captain would hardly deal a meaningful blow.

Someone weak, yet irreplaceable aboard this ship.

Only two people satisfied both conditions at once.

The Medical Team Leader and the Research Team Leader.

The reason the Research Team Leader ranked higher on my kill list than the Medical Team Leader, who held every life aboard the ship in his hands, was simple.

Because she's a threat to my survival.

That was the conclusion I'd reached after days of spying on the Research Laboratory.

The Research Team Leader's name was Kisaragi Yujin. She was the only person aboard who could produce a tracking device the moment a kill was committed.

Two days ago, a lab specimen had escaped, and she'd built a tracking device in just two hours and successfully recaptured it.

That thing nearly got me caught too.

If it had escaped through the ventilation ducts, I would have been in danger as well, but luckily it fled elsewhere and I made it through the crisis unscathed.

After the specimen incident, Kisaragi Yujin shot straight to the top tier of my personal danger rankings.

And what's more, for a human, her intuition is uncanny.

Once, she'd looked straight up at the very vent I was hiding in, and I'd nearly been discovered.

I moved to a different spot to keep watching after that, but every time I did, she would sense my presence and turn to stare, forcing me to relocate again and again.

Could she have a talent for psychic power?

Psychic power—the same concept as the psychic abilities people usually think of: telekinesis, telepathy, mind control.

With psychic power, the possibilities were limitless, from simple feats like moving objects without touching them to miracle-grade works like bending light to render an entire ship invisible.

I hunted a ton of Cults for their psychic power back when I played the game, too.

The Cult had been my primary target for acquiring psychic power, because every member of that species was born with it as a racial trait.

That said, humans rarely carried the potential as well. It was entirely possible Kisaragi Yujin possessed some faint trace of psychic talent.

Either way, from a hunter's perspective, clever and sharp-eyed prey was a troublesome quarry.

Even without knowing my identity, the moment she found traces of me she'd surely build some contraption to hunt me down one way or another.

If I'm going to run a hit-and-fade strategy, I need to avoid being tracked at all costs.

Once Amorph evolved into a Juvenile, it would become exponentially stronger than a Hatchling. Even so, it wouldn't be ready to take the ship's soldiers on in open battle.

Until I secured enough Genetic Essence, I had to win through thorough guerrilla warfare.

Which meant Kisaragi Yujin had to be eliminated, regardless of my evolution.

So how do I hunt her?

I lay in my nest, scratching at my head with a forelimb as I mulled it over.

The Research Team Leader was a woman, a civilian. In a one-on-one situation, killing her would be no great feat.

But there was one complication.

Her bodyguards.

Wherever she went, armed soldiers escorted her. Even at night, while she slept in her quarters, guards rotated in shifts to watch over her.

Weak as she was herself, she was surrounded by protectors—that was the crux of the Kisaragi Yujin problem.

Worrying alone isn't going to produce an answer.

I'd have no choice but to keep up my surveillance and wait for an opening.

Running that small body's brain at full tilt made me hungry. Leaving the comfort of my nest behind, I headed for the grimy Cargo Bay.

From the ventilation grille in the corridor outside the Cargo Bay door, I checked whether anyone was nearby. The coast was clear, so I opened the wire mesh ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and hopped down.

Landing softly on the floor, I crawled up onto the terminal beside the door.

I can't keep sneaking around the vent schedule every time.

I was no cat; I didn't have nine lives. Gambling ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my neck every time I needed a meal was far from ideal.

Besides, unlike the other key facilities, the Cargo Bay had no system monitoring who came and went.

My enhanced senses had confirmed as much from the nest—apart from the designated inspector, no one entered at all. The inspector came by once a day for a routine check, and as long as I avoided that window, I could slip in and out unnoticed.

Open sesame.

The moment I punched the code into the terminal, the heavy steel door swung wide with a hiss of escaping air. I slipped into the darkened Cargo Bay and made for the plastic box I always visited.

The residents of the Cargo Bay stirred at the sudden intrusion of a predator. The sour tang of corroding metal, the pheromones small vermin sprayed in frantic warning of their predator's arrival, the click of sixteen small, sharp claws treading across a lattice of alloy plating—it all blended into one.

Savoring the stimulation of that hidden world, a plane of existence only Amorph could perceive, I climbed atop the box. As always, I opened it and took out two Calorie Bars.

I devoured one on the spot, and tore open the wrapper of the other, holding it in my forelimbs.

Shall we, then?

Tucking the leftover wrapper neatly back into the box, I left the Cargo Bay. Returning to the corridor the way I'd come, I set my course for the Research Laboratory.

Upon arriving, I went straight to Specimen 26's tank.

The drooping Bubble Amoeba greeted me with a ripple of its waves the moment it saw me. It didn't stop at the greeting, either—it lit up its whole body in a sparkle of delight, enough to lift my own spirits.

Brought you dinner again today.

「Food.」

The little thing shivered, then glowed even brighter than before. I chuckled inwardly and prepared to feed it.

From staking out Kisaragi Yujin over the past two days and visiting the lab so often, I'd learned one thing.

The Research Laboratory was running experiments to artificially awaken some unknown trait slumbering within the Bubble Amoeba. I had no idea what ability that harmless mascot could possibly possess, but the researchers seemed quite confident there was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠something.

In the game it didn't have any special abilities. Either this one's different, or its species has changed.

For whatever reason, Specimen 26 was receiving special treatment. Which was exactly why I'd judged it worthwhile to build a positive relationship with the thing.

If not now, then later—it might prove useful when the time came to conquer the ship.

Though it's half hobby, honestly.

I went to the feeding tank connected to Specimen 26's enclosure and lifted the lid. Inside was nothing but nutrient fluid, the bare minimum to keep it alive.

Dropping the whole bar in would only clog the tank, so I snipped it into small pieces with my forelimbs and let them fall in. The fragments traveled down the tube linking the two tanks and were delivered right in front of it. The Bubble Amoeba wrapped its entire body around the piece of Calorie Bar. I watched it until it seemed to finish digesting, then repeated the process.

When it had eaten its way through one whole bar, the Bubble Amoeba blinked its light slowly, signaling that it was full.

Guess it likes it.

I never knew when I was playing the game, but now I understood why people sought out Bubble Amoebas. Watching one pulse light in a particular rhythm underwater, you couldn't help but lose yourself in it, staring on and on.

A person?

At that moment, someone entered the range of my awareness. Researchers, coming to enter the lab.

I scrambled up into the ventilation duct and hid myself.

Moments later, they stepped into the laboratory.