The residue was stickier than anything I'd ever encountered. thicker than oil, clingier than tar, but somehow... alive. It still coated the exterior of my ship, ever so slightly moving into the seams despite the cold atmosphere I was now in. I'd scraped a sample into a containment vial earlier, its jellied weight still quivering slightly from the agitation of the ships atmosphere exposure. The cabinet's containment scanner flickered pale green, Still inert. But there was something about it.
I sat in the cockpit, ship hovering just above the planet's upper atmosphere, fingers poised over the console. My eyes kept flicking back to the external scan, to that faint, almost imperceptible drift. After researching the slime I noticed something. The planet was pulling me. Or more the ship back somehow.
Not gravitationally—not in any conventional sense. No, this was 'biological magnetism.' The substance clinging to my ship wanted to go home.
It had almost worked, too. If I hadn't noticed the slight deceleration in the ship's orbit.
I watched the mirrors scan again seeing the slow movement with no red dot appearing, my jaw tensed. My fingers ran over the panel and stopped of a switch. I didn't need much of the slime, just enough for study, maybe testing. The rest? Too dangerous to leave unchecked so close by. Fungal super-adhesive with a hive-like pull? No thanks.
So I flipped the red switch.
Twin barrels unfolded from the portside panel, each glowing with a low thrum that I felt through my boots. "Target locked," the AI droned.
"Firing in 3… 2…"
I blocked my eyes.
"…1."
The sky tore open in a sharp crackle of reddish-orange beams. They pierced the planet's surface like blades of fire, burrowing deep into the crust. Molten plumes curled into the stratosphere. The air shimmered in the aftermath.
When I opened them it was clear to me
"This is gonna be slow," I muttered to myself. "But inevitable."
And then I turned away.
---
Beta Seven's territory was further out than I'd like, a lonely dot orbiting the lower quadrant of there own solar system. Traveling on a minimal power reserve meant I had to coast in sublight, which gave me plenty of time to think. Too much time.
The stars passed like ghosts through the window of my cockpit. My reflection wavered there—pale skin against the control lights, left with random thought filling me.
Rotating on the chair, my eye landed on the vials.
The slime was more than a substance. If that thing could bind to machinery and slowly reel it back, what else could it "connect' to? Minds? Networks?
There was a term I remembered from my past Pre-transmagration, symbiotic directive. A system of control masked as cooperation. And now it was on my ship.
My hands flexed on the controls. No time to be shaken. I could be infected just by coming into contact, but knowledge always came with risk. It was better than ignorance.
---
Beta Seven's planet rose before me like a giant bruise dull blue and gray, striped with rusted industrial scars. His planetary headquarters shimmered just beneath the clouds: a series of boxy black structures rising from the flat plain like forgotten tombstones. Cold and Geometrical
As I approached, the ship's systems strained against the minimal energy output, and I could feel the whole vessel stuttering like it wanted to sleep. One more trip like this and I'd need an entirely new core if I dont get it charged. Maybe Beta Seven could help with that too.
But first.
I landed just short of the main outpost. The air was dry here, sterilized to near nothingness. Dust swirled across the glass of my helmet. I stepped out, my boots crunching against the ground, then slid my helmet into the sanitation dock. It hissed as the residue burned off in ultraviolet light. A low beep. Clean enough.
I clicked the glass dome back over my head and began walking.
Ahead of me were two guards. Or at least, that's what they appeared to be. Their forms were humanoid, but stretched. Thin limbs, metal-fused torsos, with black spandex and green-tinted skin laced with mechanical lines. Androids like Beta Seven himself, only leaner, could be newer. They stood rigid, watching me without blinking.
"State purpose," they said in perfect unison.
"Morty. Looking for Beta Seven," I answered, straight-faced.
They didn't move. Didn't flinch. Didn't even breathe.
"Beta Seven's core processing is occupied with analysis. Purpose required."
Figures. Still hung up on procedure.
I took a step closer. "I have something better than purpose. I have another proposition. One I know Beta Seven will want to hear."
They stared. Somewhere in the void of that dual stare, something clicked. A mild hum behind their optics. Processing.
"You may speak."
I smiled. "Let me guess—still low on organic resources?" I'd scanned the planet before landing. 256 million. That's their entire biomass, that's not complete metal and for a hive mind That's low. Unsustainable for fusion growth.
Still nothing. But I had their interest now. So I pushed harder.
"I can give you more. Not just random bodies, you'll have options. I have the tech. And if you help me with something…" I leaned in, voice calm but deliberate, "you'll get access to a network that even Rick hasn't touched yet."
A pause.
Then, finally, both androids turned.
"Follow."
---
The headquarters was like stepping into an autopsy. Cold metal floors, walls pulsing with thin streams of purple energy, matte black coating absorbing light like a void. No color forming the walls. Every corridor turned like the inside of a tube but intentional, rigid along angles.
I walked behind the androids, watching their joint movements, almost synchronized but not quite. Something uncanny about how hive minds walked when they were still learning to be human.
Eventually we reached the central chamber. A door three times there own heights loomed ahead, overcompensating, clearly. With engravings of a spiraling symbol—Beta Seven's neural insignia.
The door hissed open with a thunderclap of releasing pressure. I stepped inside.
The room was circular, glowing with light that had no source. In the center floated a massive suspended frame—part machine, part organism with a round table of four identical looking people resting in purple, teal and black suits. A core spun slowly in the masses chest, an orb of light encased in wires like an artificial heart. Dozens of mechanical limbs hovered around him like metallic feathers.
"Morty," they said, voice modulated and squeaky, almost sing song. "Why have you come?"
"I bring opportunity."
A chorus of humming tones folding over each other. Tapping on the tech attached to their eyes they responded "Your proposition seems plausable. But theres not enough life around to collect. How do you intend on achieving a substantial amount.Warp speed?"
I folded my arms. "Sounds inefficient."
"It was" he corrected. "More simplistic minds tend to, get out of hand."
One drifted closer, floating without effort. "So tell me, what do you want? You're not a social visitor."
"No," I agreed. "I need to speak with Unity."
His body froze. Not in fear—but in evaluation.
"Unity..Unity..I have no one in my data base by that name."
"What?"
Beta Seven replied, tilting his head. "Is this person integral to the deal?"
I narrowed my eyes head hung. "Yes. But I'm sure we can work something else out."
"Let's begin with the amount you'll be providing."
I didn't answer.
What could have happened. Had Beta Seven not met Unity yet? And the fact she wasn't anywhere nearby..
Beta Seven hummed. "Fine. I'll compromise. But I want results. A way to restore my biomass input. You provide the bodies, I give you the leads. Deal?"
I nodded. "Deal."
And in that moment, I felt something harden in my chest.
---
Later, as I walked back to my ship, I stared at the black sky above the planet. The air here was still too sterile, the stars too quiet. Unity was out there, fragmented maybe, but not lost. She was too ambitious to disappear completely. Too much like me.
I paused before stepping aboard.
The deal was made 3 million for an assisted search.
I stared at the palm of my hand. Still a bit of shimmer. A smear of that sticky residue. It hadn't burned off completely.
I had questions to answer. A super-adhesive biological signal, enough to cover my hand
But I didn't feel afraid.
I felt ready. More so than before.
Because if this galaxy wanted to test me again-I'd be prepared I just need to adapt faster.