Ch.2Survive (2)

After the cargo hold, where should I go next?

Actually, I had already decided where to go.

‘Let’s head to the cooling chamber next to the reactor.’

Even in the space age, humanity’s methods for handling heat generation haven’t changed much from the past. Next to the ship’s reactor is a cooling chamber responsible for temperature regulation.

‘The cooling chamber is an important facility, so there aren’t many visitors.’

While it’s under strict security because it’s a critical facility, looking at it from another perspective, that means fewer visitors. It’s like the saying about darkness under the lamp. Unless you physically tamper with the cooling chamber, it’s a good place to grow while avoiding the watchful eyes of monitors.

Another advantage is that the cooling chamber is located next to the reactor.

If my existence is discovered, it’s an ideal location to use as a last line of defense.

‘If all else fails, I can damage the reactor and cooling chamber and escape.’

If the cooling chamber malfunctions, it means the reactor will also have issues, and a ship with heart problems has no choice but to stop operating.

When operations cease, all life support systems maintaining the internal environment also shut down.

At first, they’ll struggle desperately to revive the ship by running auxiliary engines and such, but that won’t last long. Just as a creature with a destroyed heart cannot escape death, the same applies to a spaceship.

If there’s no planet nearby for an emergency landing, there’s only one fate for the people on board.

A miserable fate of killing each other to survive just a little longer in the dwindling oxygen.

Of course, if the ship stops, I’ll have nowhere to go either, so attacking the reactor should remain a last resort.

‘Well then, shall we go?’

Before departing, I ate two more calorie bars. With my stomach full, I jumped up to the ceiling. The tiny suction cups between my claws firmly secured my body to the ceiling.

The reason insects can climb walls is due to protrusions called pulvilli that function like suction cups. These pulvilli secrete a highly adhesive substance that helps them easily climb up and down smooth walls.

The same applies to me. Thanks to the substance coming from the suction cups between my claws, I could move easily even while hanging upside down from the ceiling.

Walking lightly upside down on the ceiling, I spotted an entrance leading to a ventilation passage.

It looked like a window-type ventilator enlarged to the size of a small child, with a wire mesh secured by screws on the outside.

Inside, massive blades were relentlessly focused on their job, making a brutal sound.

‘Tearing through the mesh is still too much for me.’

It would be nice to break through everything impressively, but that’s impossible in the hatchling state.

This ship I’m standing on is made of specially alloyed metal refined with advanced technology. That thin wire mesh is the same. If I recklessly strike it with my claws, they’ll just break.

‘Here, I’ll need to borrow the power of intelligence.’

I raised my claws and turned the screws securing the wire mesh. If the humans on the ship had paid more attention to security, they would have done something about this too, but fortunately, they were the type to set cargo numbers to 1234.

The first line of defense blocking the ventilation passage was neutralized very easily. After the wire mesh, the next thing to greet me was the ventilation fan blades inside.

‘This is the critical point.’

There are two ways to pass through here. One is to time it right and avoid the blades, and the other is to bring something to break the fan blades.

Needless to say, the latter method is not an option.

I doubt throwing something at those hard alloy blades would damage them, and even if I succeeded in breaking them, it would be a problem.

If anything happens to the ventilator, the super AI controlling the ship will definitely notice. The AI will immediately report the new error to humans, and then my future will only consist of being tracked and killed.

‘Instead of breaking it, I need to pass through here.’

Now it’s time to rely on the AMorph’s abilities.

Since those blades would slice me into fine sashimi if I just went in, I stood in place and waited.

While waiting, my auxiliary organs began collecting various information such as airflow and energy flow from the blade joints.

It wasn’t just my auxiliary organs working hard. My highly developed vision focused on the repetitive movement of the rotating blades, trying to find a weakness in that precise machine.

How much time had passed?

My auxiliary organs detected ferric oxide components mixed in the air and fine metal dust particles blown by the wind. Additionally, my vision discovered that the joint of the rotating blade was worn out and slowed down for a very brief moment at a specific point.

My brain, after reviewing all the information provided by my eyes and auxiliary organs, was telling me:

Jump in right now.

‘!’

I trusted my hypersenses and leaped into the ventilator.

The merciless mechanical reaper raised its scythe. The air pressure created as the scythe cut through the air mercilessly struck my carapace.

Remnants of my human past screamed at me to escape, but in the small heart of the AMorph, not a trace of agitation could be found. As if thinking was a luxury, all my senses focused on avoiding the guillotine blade.

The ventilator blade narrowly grazed the tip of my tail. I had survived.

‘I’m alive! I made it!’

If I were human, I would have laughed out loud, but my oral structure wasn’t suitable for laughter. I could only make a desolate hissing sound.

After taking a moment to enjoy the pleasure, I set off again.

The ventilation passage had a maze-like complex structure, but it posed no obstacle before my hypersenses.

The ship’s vessels, which would normally be quiet, became more noisy today welcoming an unfamiliar visitor. The sound of wind passing through ventilators everywhere faintly mixed with the sound of my claws hitting the metal plates.

‘There’s a spider.’

Spiders and flying insects I encountered along the way made good snacks for the not-so-short journey. Despite being on a spaceship, they all seemed well-fed with plump bodies. Thanks to them, I didn’t have to worry about hunger or energy shortage on my way.

While chewing on spider legs, I felt the residual heat in the passage fading through the tips of my claws. It was evidence that the cooling chamber was getting closer.

As I was about to hurry, my auxiliary organs applied the brakes. They said there was something important ahead that needed to be checked.

‘Hmm?’

Though not yet visible to my eyes, light wavelengths were detected not far away. After walking for about 10 minutes with my four pairs of legs without rest, a wire mesh laid on the passage floor appeared.

I stood on the wire mesh and looked down. I could see people in white gowns moving between large test tubes and incubators.

‘A laboratory? Isn’t this a regular ship?’

I thought it was a supply or trade ship because there was a lot of food and weapons in the cargo hold, but a laboratory?

If this ship’s identity is a research vessel, that’s not bad for me.

“Hey, how are the results for test subject 026?”

“Failed again.”

“Tsk, the team leader’s going to throw another fit.”

“He’s from Earth. What can we do when even the captain treads carefully around him?”

“Sigh, let’s call it a day.”

After confirming that the two men had left the laboratory, I unscrewed the wire mesh and descended.

‘Judging by their appearance, they seem to be from Megacorp.’

Megacorp is a human group that flourished around the solar system, simply put, a race modeled after Earthlings.

According to their racial setting, giant corporations rule the nation instead of governments, and most members are extreme materialists.

Various intelligent races appear in Space Survival, and most have neutral tendencies, but Megacorp, perhaps due to its setting, was closer to evil.

‘Only Megacorp would modify normal people and turn them into slaves.’

Megacorp captures people without money or other alien races and turns them into war slaves through modification procedures. It’s one of their racial characteristics called “employment,” and when playing as Megacorp, the benefits from employment are so great that you unconsciously use it actively.

If that’s how it is in the game, how much worse would it be in reality? The air in the laboratory was thick with the lingering scent of blood.

‘What should I do?’

My auxiliary organs showed me the location of the refrigerator storing genetic samples, but I couldn’t make a hasty decision.

‘When to eat is important.’

For AMorph, the conditions for evolution aren’t just about collecting genetic essences.

The essential condition to move beyond the hatchling stage is to eat a living intelligent being. In other words, to become a morphlet from a hatchling, I need to kill a person.

‘Killing a person, huh.’

I killed people without issue in the game, but could I do it in reality?

I might think I can easily do it now, but if I hesitate when actually faced with it, that’s the end.

‘I’ll put this on hold until I’m resolved.’

The genetic samples are tempting, but if I devour them here, I won’t be able to avoid being tracked. Attacking the laboratory will have to wait until after I’ve eaten a person.

‘Today, let’s just see what’s here.’

My course will change significantly depending on the purpose of this research ship.

If it’s a facility researching Hulk Mutants specialized for land combat, I could secure a sturdy body and combat abilities. Conversely, if it’s a place experimenting with the psychic powers of the space version of elves, Cult, I could gain powerful psychic powers.

‘Personally, I’d prefer if it were Cult, but getting psychic powers from the beginning seems unrealistic.’

I began examining what was in the laboratory using all my sensory organs.

Unlike the dark and dreary cargo hold, the laboratory was surrounded by clean white walls.

It might look incomparably better in terms of image, but paradoxically, behind the bright surface was full of death and pain.

In the test tubes were living human brains, forcibly brought creatures, all submerged in chemical solutions. In the incubators, AI was checking the status of embryos and sending electronic signals.

All sorts of information poured into my head: the smell of chemicals, electronic waves busily crossing the air, the smell of blood and decayed skin tissue, pheromones unconsciously emitted by creatures in pain. Amidst the flood of information being received by my auxiliary organs, I caught one unusual piece of information.

‘Help? Asking for help?’

Some life form was requesting help from me using a special wavelength that humans couldn’t detect.

Intrigued, I followed the wavelength and found a test tube at its end.

[026]

Inside the test tube labeled with the number 26, a pink creature shaped like a water droplet was floating.

‘A Bubble Amoeba.’

Bubble Amoeba is a non-player creature that mainly inhabits ocean planets. It usually floats around in water in the form of a droplet, and when prey comes close, it suddenly pounces and dissolves it with digestive juices.

Unless they’re large, most are about the size of a basketball, so they don’t pose a significant threat to users. I heard they’re harmless and cute-looking, so users seeking healing often visit them.

I didn’t know they had intelligence since they’re like ornamental pets, so it was surprising that it was even talking to me. As I approached, it shot another wavelength at me.

“Pain. Help.”

Exact interpretation was impossible, but thanks to the AMorph’s exceptional senses, I could roughly understand the meaning. It was in pain for some reason and was asking me for help.

‘What should I do?’

I could consider eating it, but if I remember correctly, the characteristic possessed by Bubble Amoeba was the most useless for AMorph.

The characteristic name was “Oxygen Storage,” which provides a certain amount of oxygen in anoxic spaces. It might have been quite useful for other races, but since AMorph can survive for long periods without oxygen, this characteristic was completely unnecessary.

‘I’ll pass on eating it. Even if I want to help, I don’t know what to do.’

I focused my senses on the test tube to find clues. I could feel the flow of mixtures circulating in the thick hose connected to the bottom, the movements of the gauge inside the machine checking if there were any abnormalities in the liquid state, and the flow of faint electricity over the liquid.

‘Electricity?’

Come to think of it, there was a small sensor attached to its body. The sensor, connected by a wire, periodically shot electricity into its body.

Understanding what it was requesting, I climbed onto the terminal attached next to the test tube.

Biorhythm graphs and AI experiment results were displayed on the terminal screen, appearing and disappearing repeatedly.

‘Is this what those two researchers were talking about earlier?’

They were grumbling about failure as they left, and it seems they forgot to turn off the machine.

I pressed the terminal button to stop the experiment. The faint electrical signal transmitted from the sensor was cut off, and it regained vitality. It flickered its pink droplet-like body to express gratitude.

“Thanks.”

‘Thanks, huh.’

I don’t think I did anything deserving of gratitude. If it had been a being I needed, I would have mercilessly made it a target for essence absorption too. I just indulged in a momentary whim because I judged it to be a harmless creature.

‘Take care of yourself.’

As long as it’s in Megacorp’s laboratory, destruction is inevitable. Still, hoping it would spend its remaining life a little more comfortably, I left the laboratory.

About 30 minutes after I started walking through the passage, the temperature dropped dramatically. Droplets of water were beaded on the walls, and thin frost covered the passage floor.

I had finally arrived above the cooling chamber.

‘Good. Now let’s make a nest.’

I scraped together the water droplets on the wall and gulped them down. Then, with a gargling feeling, I held the water in my mouth and spat it out again.

Until just now, it was pure water, but not anymore.

When the water entered my body, it mutated into a substance toxic to all organisms except AMorph.

This filthy mucus, which looked like chewed and spat-out gum, had the effect of extending the lifespan of nearby AMorphs and enhancing the hypersense effect.

Once I finish wallpapering the passage above the cooler, I can sit here and monitor about half the range of the ship.

I repeated the act of holding water in my mouth and spitting it out.

Before long, the passage above the cooling chamber transformed into an environment suitable for AMorph to live in.

A sticky, toxic, and filthy contaminated space.

In the middle of a space that any creature would find repulsive, I laid down my body. Feeling the coziness like being in a mother’s womb, I closed my eyes.

‘I can feel it. The ship feels like my body.’

What is most important to win a war?

It’s information.

Megacorp humans and I, AMorph.

They don’t know me, but I know them. All information about what they’re doing, where they’re moving, who they’re talking to, is transmitted to me through the liquid on the passage.

They won’t know.

That the war has already begun, and they’re already losing.

In the dark nest, I smiled silently.