I heard it. The constant rhythmic thumping… Like a drum. My fists beating on it. Over and over. Echoing. The sound of blood pumping. Filling. Leaking… I gasped awake, my eyes looking back and forth in fear as I heard the sound.
It echoed in me. My mind. Pulsing through me… It was… was… my heart? I released a long-held breath. I took a moment to listen to my own heart beating in my ears. The rightness of it helped to settle me, center me. Whatever that thing was, it bothered me. Almost like somebody was messing with something they didn't fully understand.
Something about it was just… wrong. In a way it made me think of the giant squid and the squid warrior to a smaller extent. They had been more precision with their wrongness, fine-tuned in such a way that you almost accepted it. This was like a hammer. Smashing against your sensibilities. It wasn't dangerous, but having been exposed to the squid, well, if I hadn't, I may have actually been afraid. Or at least pushed myself to do something stupid.
Instead, as I reflected on the series of battles… I did acceptably. Already I could imagine methods to improve upon my future murders. Was it murder though? Erasing those monstrosities? Or more a service to existence and their clearly unhappy tortured souls? At least the clones had some twisted rhyme and reason to them. Whereas the zombies looked patchwork at best. Horrific monstrosities made only to torment those within.
I stood up, thinking wasn't going to solve our problems. And I could feel Boarder glancing at me occasionally. I smelled positively rancid, but I could deal with it for now. I walked towards where the ration bars were kept, Boarder gave me a head start before heading over. I was halfway into my second ration bar before he talked.
"How was it?" I swallowed down the second half of my bar and grabbed a canister of water that was set aside. Chugging it and splashing myself with some of the extra.
"Bad. We got a full-on war between mechanical zombies and mutant clones up there. But I don't sense anything on the level of the Maniworm or the Shredderbox." He looked confused for a few minutes but didn't ask for an explanation. "How's the door coming anyway? We still locked out?" I ask.
"We couldn't get it open, but we managed to get a line to the other side."
"You did?"
"Yup, we ran a line through the walls. Luckily the walls were made of a special vibrating metal. Which meant all we needed was the right frequency to punch through."
That sounded… familiar? …wait… Gran? Didn't he have a special alloy training room? And now that I think about it…
"Is the whole ship interior made of that material!?" I exclaim in shock. Boarder, not fully understanding my shock nods. "Crazy right? Luckily, it's not strong enough that we can't cut it. It's just… we don't have the means to cut a hole large enough for the Mecha, if it comes down to that."
I thought about that. "So, we can escape, eventually?"
"Yes, but we'll have to leave behind the mecha."
"Is that a big deal?"
"They're second gens!"
I clearly had no idea what that meant, and he quickly caught on. I would have too with my blank stare.
"Mecha are split into three general categories based on pricing third, second, and first gen mecha. There's also a special tier called proto mecha."
That's… four.
"And the difference?"
"Each generation is a variance based on the current climate. Generally older gen mecha use cheaper parts to make them profitable, where new mecha like racecars are priced extravagantly, but are that much more effective."
"And… does that matter?"
"Different parts matter immensely!"
"Do the new gens have new or different tech to make it worth swapping out? And how long is a gen? what about those older mecha?"
He takes a second.
"Well, new mecha don't necessarily have better tech… There are stories about people finding ancient vaults with Mecha better than most first gens. And a generation lasts somewhere between ten to fifty years…"
He trailed off.
"You don't actually care, do you?"
"No… Honestly, I could do what they do, but cheaper. Given time even Instructor could outdo those mecha."
"But…" He trailed off.
"And it's not like I'm ever going to pilot one." He looked at me sadly… Was he actually a huge mecha fan?
"Well… maybe I'll pilot one later… maybe…" Maybe if I'm bored, or rather piloting a mecha could be fun for a little while. "No rather, why are they even important really? They're just walking piles of metal. Sure, they were helpful during the tide, but really?"
"Their expensive." Ah, that made sense. "That I can understand." He looked slightly defeated at my statement. "But, from what I saw we should be fine. Most of the big hitters are gone and it's mostly chaff for the mutants. I can sense three major sources of energy from my senses. One from the left part of the temple, another in the center, and finally one on the right side." I continued as I stuffed my face with another bar before continuing.
He perks up again, listening to my words as I detail what I fought.
"If I can handle the metal zombie things, can you take the mutants?" He thought about that for a good minute or two before speaking.
"We should be fine. We went over our munitions, and we have enough for a while. Unless we face another tide, we shouldn't run low."
"Which you won't"
"Then we'll be fine." My surety didn't bother him. He just accepted it with a shrug.
"You also mentioned you got to the other side? Right?"
"Yes, I did. Something on your mind captain?"
"What's their take on this? They get attacked?" He takes a moment to respond properly.
"Nothing of the sort." He starts with, "They have enough people that they plan to try and see if they can't get those ships up and running for when we need to make our escape. They also still have access to the ship through the hangar doors."
Well, that's good at least. I also can still blow us out if worse comes to worse, I think. At least I can dig myself out.
"Good, I think I'll try and head up to clear out the metal zombies. Oh, and keep an eye out, some of those things are wrong on a fundamental level. It'll quite literally give you nightmares."
"Good thing we're pirates. Most of us have seen worse. I guarantee that." I laughed at that, even if I wasn't sure if it could compare with what I had seen, but I didn't really want to ask.
"Anything else Boarder?" I pivoted as I reached for another bar.
"Nothing captain, you heading out immediately?" he asks as he watches me shove another bar down my throat.
"Right after I get some stretches in." He nods to that and wishes me luck before heading back off.
I finish my meal and take the moment to get in a nice stretch, noting that for once I wasn't actually wearing my boots. The stupid armor and my boots wouldn't cooperate. I almost just went without, but Armorer said he also wanted to examine the boots material. I only relented when he promised to give them a good shine before handing them back…
Wait… isn't he in the hangar? How in the hell is he planning to study and shine them!? Whatever… I'm just going to take out my aggression on more of the miscreation's built by an idiot. I flew through the familiar elevator shaft and exited to the wide-open area, there had to be a better descriptor for it. Unfortunately, I wasn't a walking thesaurus.
Like… a promenade? Concourse? Maybe? Not sure if that works but the large open space was, well, ruined. A large area where plants and water had been clearly gone. Structures sat empty, probably only because the structures couldn't be damaged compared to their contents. The war was still ongoing, but the fighting had grown less intense. Especially as I had gotten rid of their aces or titans, or whatever.
It made me curious what a fight between the Maniworm and Shredderbox would be. Though… it'd probably be them just moshing into each other as the maniworm tried to swallow the Shredderbox, whilst the latter tried to, shred… Which sounds kind of bloody, but boring. Likely the pair just ignored each other. One crawling around as the other nommed on the minions.
I looked over the drawn-out lines, noting the mutants reclaiming dead bodies, whereas the zombies seemingly cared little for their fallen. A point for the mutants on keeping the ship clean. I flew high and kept my distance from the zombie lines as I went towards where they were slowly meandering from.
The area wasn't exactly clearly marked, if only because the various plaques or other such helpful signs were long ruined. I only knew what it was due to the ship advertising this section. It was the factory wing. Or more or less the fabricator wing. Same thing, essentially. Which meant that this wing was likely responsible for the production of electronics and if this place was a weapon development lab. It may have been the technological weapon development bay.
Why they went for power armor zombies and such I had no idea. The other side must have the biological side. Mutants though? Well, at least they were built better. Even if I didn't understand how they resisted my ki or had such monstrous life forces jammed into their frames. Whereas the metal zombies were clearly due to some weird science I didn't want to think about.
I didn't go through the door. Mainly because clawing my way through a heavily defended hallway sounded like a pain. Instead, I went the stealthy way, the ventilation shafts. I could fly, which meant I had easy access to the shafts. Crunching open the vents was a little too easy as I just casually bent them open. Clearly corners were cut.
The shafts themselves were nice and spacious. The occasional slowly whirring fan that helped move air were a cinch to avoid or just smash through if I couldn't. I accept I wasn't exactly stealthy. Which is why when I finally broke through a series of vents into a larger factorium area and found myself facing a dozen power zombies. Well, I didn't panic.
I zipped around, punching holes in their armor and unleashing a nice big blast of energy right where their multiple hearts were. Basically, flash cooking their internals with a high energy burst. It was the quickest method of dealing with them, if not the most efficient energy wise. It wasn't too difficult to block their shots with a bit of focus, the only issue being the number and coverage.
Which meant soon enough I had cleared them out with little to no trouble. Leaving me alone on the large factory floor. I wasn't exactly sure what the point was, but I made my way towards the ki source, noting it was getting closer seemingly. I looked around and saw familiar bullets and weapons being printed out. The sound of clanking, of high-pressure gas hissing, and the constant clink of the belts moving was oddly intriguing.
The further I went the more I saw… And that wasn't a good thing. Next area produced the armor, for both the normal metal zombies and I could even see the outer shell for the power zombies. What made me angry was the room beyond. Bodies. Bodies and limbs litter the walls and floors. Machines move with extreme precision, cutting the limbs and muscles to rethread them with wires and machinery. The further on the more I became aware of where they found their volunteers.
Apparently, they had access to clone bays, same as the mutants, I assumed. Kind of hard to make clones without a clone bay. They were flaying and cutting up the clones to mechanize them. Shoving the bits and pieces with metal and power armor to create the enemies I fought. It was shockingly stupid and wasteful.
There was no attempt to improve the base of the machine. Their own power entirely limited by the shoddy workmanship of the stitched together bodies laced with electronics. Even some of the statistics or logs left behind, which was oddly infuriating, did little to ease my annoyance with them. I mean, who leaves that open for anyone to look!? Dumbasses, that's who. Either way. these machines were nothing special. Simple wastes of potential. Not even worth putting any effort in.
The mutants at least had an interesting premise behind them. I was curious to know how they had boosted their natural lifeforce and ki or whatever to make them energy resistant. Even if this man was a doctor, he was quite clearly a quack. He had simply jumped onto the easiest method and claimed it the best. And apparently when he was confronted with that, he decided to start a whole revolution and mechanize as many people as he could… like an idiot. Assuming a doctor was behind this or something, there had to be an intelligence behind this.
It was all too well put together. And for the war to keep going there would need to be constant maintenance and tweaking. Clearly this ship was inhabited by something. One for the mutants, one for the zombies… another one likely behind the massive ki signature at the center of the ship.
I imagine he wasn't the only one to freak out. Evidenced by the mutants. I couldn't sense any big signatures in the other wing, but the mutants could go inert. Thus, making them invisible to my senses.
At the center though, the signal was massive, positively huge. It almost seemed to breathe in and out. Filling the entire room, it was held in. A huge area that seemed to encompass a good chunk of the pyramid near the center. Like a hollow core or something.
Keeping track of their positions I did note the zombies making some strange movements, but I wasn't sure what to make of it. Not when I was so close to the idiot that made these things. Which was why I wasn't surprised when I entered a large room, a pair of extremely tall, tall not large power zombies. Like they were on extra-large platform shoes. He stood on a mechanical throne that plugged him into… something. What annoyed me was his gall to look down on me when he was clearly in a confined box.
I considered giving him a moment to gloat. Give his usual speech, but… why the hell would I do that? He opened his mouth to speak when I blitzed his pair of guards. Promptly dismantling them before his astonished gaze. He then… and I was livid… He then tried to flee. Luckily the glass was nowhere as strong as the hangar bridge, command center? Glass. I just smashed through it to the man's complete shock as I grabbed him and smacked him around.
"Impossible! My machines!" He screamed out with a crazy voice.
"Your machines are shit you quack! At least the mutants are slightly original! I mean your Shredderbox was more of a disappointment then their manworm!"
He blanks…
"You! You dare!" He flails his arms around. "I aim to create the perfect life, the only thing that could stop the oncoming horrors and you think you can do better!"
"I am better!" I yell back, "And you're just a human with a tail! A hairless ape!" He cries back with the usual racial slur.
"Haa!?" I gave him a good shake, and I mean a really good shake. "I AM RETTAS! Future Super Saiyan, undefeatable, indestructible. What doesn't kill me makes me stronger! And your shit? It can't even do its job right! They probably wouldn't last a week without proper maintenance! Me? I can fly in space as I am! I can shoot energy beams, hell, I can turn into a giant monkey that can blow up planets!
What can your shit do!?"
He opens his mouth, shuts it… I noticed he had messed with his body, extensively… So extensively that he had long lines of cables hooked into all kinds of apparatuses he was, for lack of a better word trapped. Likely incapable of actually doing much himself. He could move around, but it seems he was reliant on other stuff… Could he even be considered a man? Was he even really alive at this point? Or just a hollow shell of the man who used to exist.
I let him go as he just lets himself fall to the ground. Something in him broke at my words. Either the sheer ludicrousness of what I could do breaking him, or by how I literally bludgeoned the fact that his creations were trash. His life's work was essentially made moot, and he couldn't argue. I mean, I had come through here solo.
"You… your lying…" He didn't seem to believe himself. Not even his own denials. "You saw videos of me beating your shit in and you thought your pair of extra-tall trashcans could stop me?"
He laid back… I had a feeling he was going to do something… I was almost curious what he would do, but the seconds passed.
"Hey… you gunna do something? Anything?" I gave him a good kick… "huh…" I stomped his leg… Nothing… Well, he seemed to have killed himself or died... I vaporized him just to be sure. Confused by the anti-climactic ending I just kind of… looked around… yea… I should do that…
I checked his logs like a voyeur… Apparently, he suspected a long time ago he was wrong. Just… apparently, he had fooled himself that he needed a better base subject. Not that he was, ya know, trash. I'm a little shocked he didn't just go after me or say something like, You're a perfect subject! But I guess me blitzing him so hard must have wrecked his mental defenses. Oh, and I guess I didn't give him the chance to rant about that…
Also… PASSWORDS! SCREEN LOCKS! The fuck is wrong with these researchers. Lock your shit up.
I checked my senses again, noting the mutants were making movements, specifically they seemed to be pushing on the former mad scientist's territory, but the mutants would likely keep them at bay for a while. I walked around for a clue on where to go next, and I was rewarded. An elevator appeared, opening as I closed in on it. Which was suspicious, but I was beyond caring at this point.
It led to what was likely the third part of the ship, the admin center. Also known as executive floors. I stepped into the elevator, listening to a motivational speech cut in about the great work I was doing. Pre-recorded, and likely geared towards the scientists working on whatever project this was, but I like to think it was cheering me on. It was well done. Rettas approved.
I exit to an obviously nicer area. Offices lined the floor with see through glass. Rooms filled with what looked like operation chairs. Some with a full array of equipment to check mechanics. Some just had huge tables that likely acted as a caster of some sort for simulations. It even had a break room! Except everything inside was long gone after fifty years.
I walked around looking over everything and ignoring the arrows that popped up leading me somewhere. Instead like a true completionism looking over every possible monitor or open cabinet. I honestly felt I was going to get more pleasure from this than whoever was leading this project. I mean this whole project went belly up and the scientists were total morons.
Apparently, it was named Project Harbinger. Ominous, but also strangely fun sounding. Like the setup for a Kaiju movie or something with how people talked about it from the few people that hadn't properly logged out of their computers. I even found an open cabinet filled with audio tapes! I ignored those.
At this point, I likely realized that this whole shitshow likely fell apart due to nobody locking their shit up. Protocols people! PROTOCOLS!
Bored and at this point just annoying myself, I decided to cut my touring short and follow the arrows. It led to an even posher area. It was even carpeted and had plush sofas. I was curious to take a nap, but… Meh… I followed the arrows. Eventually leading to an office with a pristine plaque. The name caught my eye, but I don't know why.
Director's office. Doctor Cambridge, Bailey.
I didn't know why it tickled my mind, but I shrugged and entered the office with all the confidence I had. I stepped in, not bothering to wipe my feet. Stopping as I see a figure at the desk.
"A pleasure to meet you, Rettas…"
I lasered her.