by Greg Ramsay
A massive archway shaped hole was being actively torn away from the entire vessel, regardless of the countless walls and armoured exterior between where the device impacted and where Lia found herself. James’ self-repairing metal was useless to halt the multiple breaches that were required to form an almost etheric looking boarding tunnel from which emerged nightmare fuel. A being, multiple feet shorter than any alpha with sleeker predator-like proportions emerged commandingly. Unlike the shifted, it had no obvious exoskeleton. Instead a hardened coating of the living etheric substance, currently subverting the ship’s structure, covered most of its body.
Looking closer at the armour was like staring into the void she once shared in her mind, but with muted grey-blue tones flowing in place like a galaxy. It had countless limb like structures that all moved independently on its body and appeared capable of reshaping themselves, as Dr. James had so aptly described. Most limbs were very small in proportion to its body like the arms of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but all were seemingly usable. Not to mention its multiple, powerful, octopus-like legs, seemingly boneless but serrated where Lia imagined suction cups should be. The being’s overall shape was that of a more humanoid alpha, with sunken eyes blacker than her mask. Its exposed flesh was smooth with lines etched through it in uniform patterns almost like a tattoo.
With a quick glance, Lia could see similarities in the patterns on its flesh and the patterns that dictated the interlocking plate-like appearance of her own seamless armour. Proportionately its head was large, but not overly so. Rather than curve toward its neck at the back, it extended out slightly before angling inward gently, giving the head a small elongated extension. The slit below its eyes, that Lia assumed was a mouth, opened into a massive horrifying cavern when the beast noticed her. Muscles overlapping like slats pulsated all the way down its throat to force whatever it shoved in, down into the depths of its gut. It let out a series of intricate sounds from its gut like a whale’s call, then simply stood.
Lia faced off with the entity, both likely sizing up the other. Lia watched disgusted, her mask perfectly emulating her expression for its benefit. As if challenging her, it started modifying its body, first to look more human to an uncanny result, and then more specifically to look just like her. She raised her blade in warning, thoroughly disturbed. What bothered her more were the screams of death all through the ship. Mercifully, they faded fast. In response to her aggressive stance the alien bellowed menacingly like an alpha. Countless shifted poured from its ship as well as from the halls of Utopia Prime. Those from Utopia Prime looked to have bathed in blood. Inwardly, Lia spared a moment to wonder if Chadwick was okay before she set about slaughtering shifted with professional efficiency. Meanwhile she allowed her tendrils free reign to absorb their corpses to bolster her strength. She knew she couldn’t afford to underestimate something that had apparent command over the shifted.
Not allowing it a second to react, she charged with her blade raised. Calmly the entity raised a limb while emitting a sound that stopped her dead in her tracks. Horrified, Lia realized her entire body was immobilized save for her eyes. No matter how hard she thought or struggled she was imprisoned by her own body as though every muscle had been replaced with concrete. Enraged, she was left watching as the alien wandered around her almost mockingly. It called to something distant. An alpha took off into the ship. Moments later it arrived clutching a small child in its fanged jaws by the back of his shirt.
The entity circled around Lia, seemingly comparing her to the child, then the child to the alpha. Disappointed by whatever it saw, the entity gave a command. The boy was dropped as quickly as a loyal dog drops a bone. He cried loudly until one of the alien entity’s tendril-like arms shot out of from what still appeared to be Lia’s chest. It wrapped around the boy’s neck like a snake. He was effortlessly raised from the ground while the serrated appendage tore a massive gash around the front and sides of his neck. The boy was then dropped like trash, bleeding and choking on the ground, clutching at his neck desperately. Once he finally died, the entity gestured. Its pet alpha snatched the boy up, tearing him into bloody ribbons before eating him. Finally the entity seemed to stare at Lia as though it enjoyed her rage. Lia wanted to scream, but she couldn’t. Perhaps sensing this, the entity modified itself once more so that two alien legs protruded from its sides to meet the ground beside its legs still appearing to be Lia. Lia wished she could vomit.
Before her stood herself with two extra legs, like the bastard was trying to say something. Bored of whatever game it was playing, the alien reverted to its natural shape. It bellowed like before. Shifted dispersed, returning with all the humans they hadn’t killed yet. Lia noticed one of the lesser shifted hadn’t returned. The entity didn’t seem to care. A portly man in a smart suit saw the boy and burst into tears.
“Undefined entity, I am the President of Italy, despite the fact you ... killed... my lover. I would like to request negotiations,” he pleaded in fear.
“Stupid Intergenerationalist,” she heard President Zendeya Uwambe seethe nearby. The President seemed inspired by her bigotry. He launched into an emotional speech, “As an In-gen I fought hard for the right simply to live as myself among my own species like countless people before me. I have lived through prison, the stress of election, and now as a President, I cope with this loss... But I say to you, great being, we all will do what we must to survive, including looking past this slight. So please, give us your terms!”
Inspired by his request, all in attendance turned to hear the entity’s response, more curious than afraid. The entity simply stared. Slowly a gaseous dark substance seeped from its body. The substance spread outward blanketing everything in the room. An interface projected from its armour in front of its eyes. In a matter of seconds it seemed to quantify something between what appeared to be a human and shifted. The entity seemed displeased.
Lia wondered if it was bothered that these humans hadn’t converted like the rest of the species. Its focus seemed to slip from her just slightly. She channeled her will through the blade which was already facing her foe. Willing it to fire resulted in a wave of crimson energy blasting forth like a fire starting in a room full of gas. The entity was fully enveloped. Lia was overjoyed to move again and just as satisfied by its awful sounding bellows of pain. Wasting no time, she charged forward, slamming her blade into its already singed exposed flesh by what she assumed was a breastplate. In that instant the entity bellowed again. Intuitively, Lia screamed “Release,” focusing solely on her black energy. The already keen run of her blade slipped through the entity’s armour effortlessly, rapidly slicing apart what she hoped was its throat. The alien entity fell silent, still somewhat alive.
Lia could hear squelching sounds over the ongoing screams of the prisoners. She turned angrily toward the shifted believing them to be feral again. Normal shifted always went after the strongest prey unlike typical pack animals, so she knew deep down their prisoners would be disregarded. Her eyes widened in horror. Every single person had already fallen silent, claws as black as the void precisely severed each of their spines. Lia was horrified beyond words. Shifted were never that decisive or precise; nor did they previously possess the intelligence to execute such action without roaring first. Lia stood there like a marionette without strings, completely disregarding the alien that was now slithering its way back to its ship. I failed them all... Tory...I... she thought just as rage began to boil inside her. She changed her focus from speed to ferocity.
Slowly, precisely, and with great care to impart maximum devastation, Lia set about slaughtering the shifted. They surrounded her, tearing into her viciously, but she didn’t care. She was a failure upon her entire species. Lia was the very last human gifted immeasurable potential and abilities, yet she couldn’t stop one alien. Even in a tunnel vision of rage, Lia heard a man yelling a battle cry. Chadwick charged in behind her with a lesser shifted’s head in one hand and her makeshift cavalry sword in the other. He decapitated a lesser shif
ted about to graze her flank before he was sent flying into the wall by an alpha. Worried, Lia took down those surrounding her immediately. Out of her enhanced peripheral vision she saw him rise from the floor. The crazy bastard had essentially skinned his first kill. Still holding both his weapons, he proudly stood with a giant gash in his jumpsuit. His exposed skin below had been spared thanks to shifted armour plates he’d taped to his jumpsuit.
“Hey nice bitch, save me some!” he said, laughing like a child high with excitement before charging back in.
Lia dispatched another two shifted with slow vengeful strikes combining her clawed hand, enhanced martial arts background, and lethal blade. Chadwick threw his head-trophy, staggering a shifted’s clawed hand enough to help Lia cut down another shifted.
“I got these cunts, go get space douche over there!”
Lia turned to see the alien entity had surrounded itself with some sort of console. She nodded her respect and thanks to Chadwick before charging full speed after it. Thankfully it had just arrived, only now beginning to do something. Just as it finalized some unknown command, Lia seized it violently. She slammed her blade through another soft spot before a strong urge compelled her to consume it. Lia smiled vengefully. “This’ll hurt, you disgusting bastard!” She seethed as tendrils raged from her armour, burrowing into its body slowly at her request. With methodical brutality her razor-sharp tendrils tore the creature apart from the inside out as its severed neck gurgled. Finally, tendrils burst through its eyes, those same voids that enraged her to no end. Then in her normal swift fashion, its entire body was consumed. Lia’s heavy breathing at her rage-fueled success sounded like ragged growling though her mask.
“Holy shit!” Chadwick exclaimed breathlessly, having successfully dispatched the three, wounded shifted she’d abandoned. He was bruised and bloody, most of his makeshift armour damaged beyond usefulness. Lia turned to him intending to congratulate him, but fell to the floor instead.
Chapter 7 – Evolution/De-evolution
Unconscious, Lia dreamed her brain was being hacked. Her whole body screamed in pain like it was one massive unhealed wound. Meanwhile Chadwick stood over her silent, convulsing, armoured body looking confused. Then she abruptly went still. Scared, he pulled at her mask to no avail as it wasn’t a mask when joined but part of her face. He felt for a pulse and found only armour. Suddenly she came to, abruptly sitting up face to face with him.
“If we accidentally kissed would I turn into a demon frog or something?” he asked randomly.
“Huh?!” Lia exclaimed, fully in control and healthy like nothing had happened.
“Never mind, that neon thing is flashing,” he said seriously. While he tinkered with the alien’s damaged armour, Lia rushed to the console. To her amazement she could read the shapes constantly in flux on screen.
“Bastard!” she exclaimed.
“Yes, scary nice bitch?” Chadwick asked jokingly.
“Not you... that fucking alien sent out a distress call!” Lia shouted.
“I like you lady; once I slaughter these shits we should go to a space-burger joint and hang.”
Lia was shocked at his sudden exclusion of the word bitch. However, she opted to ignore his comment entirely, too busy to be witty. A shockwave shook their whole ship from above. Lia watched from the alien ship’s cockpit as a giant wormhole opened in the empty space nearby. A larger alien craft slowly emerged. Lia braced for the impact of artillery. Instead the ship warped away. Lia waited anxiously for something to happen, looking for any clues in the alien display. There were none. Minutes later the ship returned. Before Lia could warn Chadwick, the new vessel slammed into theirs, immediately drilling a huge boarding tunnel. Seconds later they were surrounded by alphas.
Lia bumped her display which opened a message, “Heading to Earth for fresh units, we’ll avenge this anomalous event,” it read.
Chadwick charged to her for reinforcement as alphas menacingly advanced. Lia could use her energy to drill a path through, but then she risked killing her only ally. Worse still, he was already surrounded, so he couldn’t evade. They both sliced their way to each other, momentarily reuniting. Lia was too occupied to stop an alpha from impaling Chadwick’s side in one violent motion. He was thrown with amazing force into a wall. Lia watched out of the corner of her eye as his body slumped down, bleeding and silent. Enraged, Lia roared an ear-shattering bellow, her gaze set firmly on the alien entity hiding like a coward in its tunnel.
Suddenly all the alphas turned and charged their previous master. They savagely pummeled it like they want it to suffer as much as she did. Too focused to care, Lia charged past the now conflicted alphas. She seized the entity in one clawed hand, tossed her blade away, and used her now free fist to punch it so hard it flew through the tunnel to slam into its ship’s hull. Lia almost instantly stood before it, punching it over and over. The hull of its vessel moaned as the unknown metal broke under the force. With one final full-force punch she sent the alien crashing through the hull into space. Throughout all of this, Lia could only think how much of a monster she was. I failed the humans, failed my husband, failed my only friend, and now I’m what? A master monster? FUCK THAT! she thought her herself as she savagely wounded alphas that distracted her.
Lia heard the ship starting to repair from her damage. Abandoning all reason, she yelled with her alien voice willing all alphas to her. To her dismay it came out as a bellowing command which they obeyed. Master monster indeed. Fuck my fucking life, she thought as she willed her blade to release, using its sheer force to both destroy the alphas and propel her through the repairing hull toward the alien. Every single alpha was obliterated by her vengeful blast. Lia herself was blasted deep into the vacuum of space.
Reflexively she held her breath while the exterior of her armour began to freeze in the absolute zero environment. Lia willed her armour to create wings. Surging her energy through them she looked like a lethal angel of death. Lia flew easily, her wings driven by crimson flames emitting from the wings whenever needed, propelling her whichever way she wanted. The effort required to modify the armour’s form was almost nil. Now completely out of air, Lia seized the remaining alien and consumed it. Once more her reality went blank.
When she eventually awoke she realized she was fine, not only that, she no longer needed oxygen. Her wings spread wide, expanding her surface area exposed to the sun. Being that close to its radiation brought her alpha persona’s information about absorption back to her conscious. Without even having to think it, she felt herself overflow with power. Lia now had no need to consume to survive unless she wanted to learn new abilities, and no need to breathe. Her last human constraints were broken. What should’ve been amazing to her only made her more depressed. The master monster no longer has any human traits left, she thought to herself mournfully. Unable to die even in the vacuum of space Lia shed the outer layer of her armour, letting it replicate rapidly with solar energy. She scanned the area around Utopia Prime.
The ship itself was repairing from multiple strikes that would’ve killed the occupants had there been any. Around it, only a few smaller alien vessels floated, repairing, but vacant. Utopia Prime hadn’t fallen without a fight. Examining one, through the hole created by damage to its hull, she could see an alien with its head ripped apart. A massive artillery shell was embedded in the cockpit beyond. One burst from her wings brought her back to the ship. She blasted her way in before sealing the shrinking breech with her tendrils for no one’s benefit. Lia was shocked to hear a desperate groaning coming from the back of the room. Chadwick was still alive! She ran over super-fast, cradling his head in her hands.
“Hello goddess of death,” he said with a weak joking tone.
“What happened to nice bitch?” Lia asked sweetly as she set about mending his wound.
“Nice bitch rejected my burger offer. Besides you’re something else now!” he said cheerfully, coughing with the effort.
“Am I?” Lia asked sadly, sick with sel
f judgement.
“Suck me up like ya do the Black Bastards so I can be reborn like that little girl. Then we can get burgers!” he said almost like a giddy child.
Lia was shocked. “I can’t do that, you don’t want to be a part of... this!” she said seriously.
He started to argue but faltered; despite her efforts, he was fading.
“Blood loss,” he said maturely like a seasoned medic. “Don’t bother, just suck me up. You owe me for saving your ass anyway...” With that he stopped talking.
Lia began to cry. Before he faded completely she let her tendrils begin fulfilling his final request. After the work he put in supporting her, it seemed like the most respectful thing to do. He whispered, “Thank you Lia,” before his upper body was consumed. Chadwick was gone. She listened in her mind for his voice, but no one spoke. Mournful, Lia collapsed into the fetal position, without amour and exposed, crying till she ran out of tears.
An hour passed with Lia contemplating, wholly aware she was as alone as possible now. She wandered aimlessly through Utopia Prime looking for any record of prison ships, ghetto colonies, anything to indicate she was wrong. She found nothing. The only thing left to do was peruse the various computer systems for a distraction. While in the Captain’s unlocked terminal she found reports on everything from waste management to her. She opened the mail with her name to find a report from Dr. Elon James, psychiatrist. Lia read it.
January 23, 2343
Patient 25 is feeling fine. She is calm in appearance but hides an apparent anxiety. Her demeanor is one of an aggressor hiding behind restraint. She appears to have depressive spells as evidenced by occasionally staring at her hand sadly. Her mood overall appears conflicted between sadness and anger, likely resulting from recent loss and past traumas. Her energy level is good. Her concentration is good. Cognitive functioning is intact despite circumstantial mutations. No hallucinations noted but a delusion of self-control and superpowers noted. She also seems to talk to herself in various emotional states. Her sleep and appetite are bad, she neither sleeps nor eats. She has no expressed suicidal ideation, but is overly eager to fight alien terrorism single-handedly, implying a death wish. Cell CCTV footage is attached to support these observations.