Planet Garcia - The Nest

The main computer's countdown was bone-dry. A mechanical drone devoid of any emotion battered my eardrums, as if our deaths were already set in stone.

The view through the viewport was pure despair. A nitrogen ice wall weighing hundreds of millions of tons blotted out the sky entirely, cascading down. Two kilometers wide left to right. No room to dodge. Too late to pull back with our descent speed, and the gravity-accelerated rocks were outpacing us ahead.

"Damn it, what a clusterfuck."

I bit my lip, veins bulging in my grip on the controls. If we couldn't evade, there was only one play. Punch through.

"Eve! Buckle up tight! Keep your mouth shut so you don't bite your tongue!"

I yanked the main lever in the cockpit and barked a voice command.

"System, reroute power. Shut down life support and auxiliary systems. Dump all surplus energy into forward-biased shields!"

"Shut up and do it! We're gonna get crushed before we freeze anyway!"

Whirr-! The ship's lights snapped off in unison, leaving only the spinning red emergency strobes. The engine's low, resonant hum sharpened to a piercing whine. Every scrap of energy in the hull surged to the Night Raven's prow—to the shield generator at the tip of its ram.

But shields alone couldn't tank that mass. They're for debris, not something that'd crumple us like a tin can regardless.

So, eliminate the mass.

"Activate thermal plasma vents. Halt engine coolant circulation. Vent reactor waste heat forward!"

This was insane. Cutting coolant from a fusion engine and spewing that inferno like a weapon. One slip, and the engine melts down in self-destruction. A desperate gamble.

But no time ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to be picky.

Kwaaaaa-! Blue plasma flames nearing solar surface temps erupted from the forward nozzles. The pitch-black crevasse lit up like midday.

And then—impact.

Kwa-BOOM!!!

A house-sized ice chunk hit the plasma stream. Normally, you'd hear the crunch. Instead, a massive hiss of vaporization.

Szzzzzzzzz-! The near-absolute-zero nitrogen ice sublimated instantly on contact—skipping liquid straight to gas. Explosive steam pressure blasted the falling debris outward.

"Punch through!!!"

I maxed the thrusters to the redline. The Night Raven became a blazing comet, surging up the rockfall waterfall.

Clang! Thud! Ungasified ice shards scraped the hull. The reinforced alloy screamed. Shield gauges thrashed wildly.

"Hold together! Come on, you pile of scrap!"

Visibility zero. White steam, debris, and red alerts scrambled my sight. One final massive ice wall loomed.

No breakthrough, no survival. I slammed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the last auxiliary booster.

BOOM! The ship lurched violently, spinning. Dizzying vertigo, world whirling.

But I clung to the stick.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

And then—Shoooo-. As shock faded and flight-assist AI kicked in, the shaking stopped like a lie. Roar and debris gone.

The ship hovered in open air.

"Hah… hah…."

I released the trembling stick, gasping ragged breaths. Cold sweat poured down my back like rain. Engine temps teetered on meltdown.

"Restart coolant circulation. Shields off."

Whine. Systems normalized; cabin lights flickered back on.

"……We lived."

I flipped up my helmet visor and glanced back.

"Eve? You okay? Hurt anywhere?"

Eve floated serenely in Nahibi's transparent slime, which had engulfed her who-knows-when. Perfect for shock absorption, but the wild maneuvers left her dazed—eyes spinning.

"Ugh… Kal… the world's… spinning…."

Eve stumbled out of the slime, wobbling. Thanks to Nahibi, no visible trauma.

I sighed in relief and eyed the white blob splayed on the floor.

"Hey, slime. Still alive?"

Nahibi's eyes all plastered flat to the deck.

[Ugh… urk….]

Its body jiggled, emitting a grotesque gurgle.

[Lowly human… can't you… drive straight….]

Motion sickness twisted its form. Who knew xenoforms got spacesick? Still, swallowing Eve protectively then gently regurgitating her? Loyalty earned a nod.

"Alive's good enough."

I faced forward again. We'd bottomed out not in the crevasse floor, but a colossal underground void kilometers deep—beyond imagination.

Spotlights on: grotesque terrain emerged from endless dark.

"Start scan."

"Organic compounds?"

My eyes narrowed at the monitor map. Upper levels were ice and stone; down here, the terrain shifted. Carbon, calcium, proteins…. Not minerals.

Then—Eve, sprawled from nausea, bolted upright, sniffing.

"Huh?"

She staggered to the cockpit, red eyes piercing the dark.

"Kal… I smell something."

"Smell? What kind?"

"Yummy smell! Super strong!"

Her eyes glowed red again. Nothing like her vague "Dunno" on the surface.

Instinct drew her hand to the viewport.

"Down there. Way down."

She pointed into the lightless abyss beyond spotlights.

"Sure?"

"Yeah! Gotta go there."

Eve smacked her lips, brimming with certainty. Like a starving predator scenting blood.

I glanced at Nahibi, now recovered, eyes realigning. A tentacle waved toward Eve's spot.

[Correct. Lady Eve's senses are spot-on. Down there… Mother's true traces await.]

"Alright."

I descended the ship. The deeper we went, the stranger the surroundings grew. At first, black rock—rough, irregular like any stone field.

But spotlights close-up revealed the truth.

"This is…."

I grimaced involuntarily. Not rock. Petrified flesh, frozen and fossilized over eons in brutal cold—but the horrific texture endured. Bulging walls like an eviscerated giant's guts; stalactites like jagged bones or teeth. Red veins like frozen blood webbed the surfaces.

[Ahh… Mother….]

Nahibi quivered in rapture.

[Behold, lowly human. This is the legacy of the great Nariant. She devoured the planet's crust, sculpting this vast nest from her own flesh.]

"……Makes me wanna puke."

Honest take. Military days, I'd seen frontier outposts infested by xenoforms—walls pulsing with meat, hellish. Comrades buried alive, digested as fertilizer. Gut churned; PTSD knocking.

But here, thankfully dead. Flesh hardened to stone, no twitching life. Just a preserved hellscape.

"Eve, you good? Not scared?"

Checked her—too grotesque for a kid.

But Eve was nonchalant. Comfortable, even.

"Nah? Not scary."

She tilted her head at the hideous walls.

"Just… familiar somehow! Kinda warm feeling too."

"Warm?"

In this -200°C underworld?

"Yeah. Cozy smell."

Speechless. Right—for her, this was home. Hell to me, womb to these monsters. The alien gulf hit bone-deep.

We were different species, never meant to mix.

But now, same boat. Swallowed the bitter irony, gripped the stick.

"Keep going. You lead."

We followed her gestures through esophagus-like tunnels. Deeper in, erosion worsened. Entry mixed rock and flesh; here, pure organics. Floor grained like petrified muscle; walls hung with shriveled egg sacs like grape clusters—some burst, some intact. Alien ship innards magnified a millionfold. Grotesque, overwhelming bio-architecture beyond human sense or beauty.

Then, gauges spiked.

"Getting close."

Eve's eyes sparkled brighter. She gulped, drool pooling.

"There! Past that door!"

A massive sphincter-like portal—shriveled half-open, just wide enough for us.

I nosed the ship through.

Spotlights pierced the dark ahead.

I nearly dropped the stick at the sight.

"……Holy shit."

A vast cavern—room for dozens of Night Ravens.

But scale wasn't the shock.

Center: a colossal flesh pillar linking ceiling and floor. Heart? Tree? Crimson-black surface sprouted thousands of vein-tentacles linking to walls—like a straw sucking the planet dry, or a collector funneling energy.

And at its core—through shriveled casing, faint but unmistakable purple glow leaked.

Thump. Thump.

Eve's tiny body trembled. Her heart synced, pounding in resonance.

"Found it…."

She murmured, entranced.

"That's it. That!!"

Nahibi groveled, sobbing slime-tears from its eyes.

[Great Mother…! This unworthy daughter who lived on after losing you dares not lift her head! I behold Mother's glorious miracle!]

"Hey, quit crying. That's the essence you mentioned, right?"

[Yes! That's the pure energy crystal Mother Nariant left after digesting the planetary core.]

Nahibi's telepathy brimmed with awe.

I swallowed dryly. That monstrous pillar held Eve's growth fuel.

To save her, absorb it.

But looting instinct screamed danger. No way something this huge lacks threats.

"Full scan. Bio signs."

"Really nothing?"

Doubt lingered; I eased toward the pillar. Spotlights swept its surface—honeycombed with holes hiding dormant shapes.

'Xenoform larvae, all of 'em?'

Desiccated, petrified now—but alive? We'd be bones.

Planet truly dead. Relief? Melancholy?

"Alright. Touching down."

I dropped landing gear on flattish flesh-ground nearby.

Thud. Dull metal-on-flesh impact as we settled on the quivering floor.

"Eve, Nahibi. Gear up."

I stood, heading to the armory. Plasma cutter, laser shotgun, high-explosives.

Dead tomb or sacred xeno-shrine—didn't matter. Armored to the teeth suited me better than etiquette.