I typed stoically on my ship's systems computer.
On it was a display of a red dot zooming past blue empty space.
It was my main ship coming in.
I could finally travel properly without the extra bulk of this cargo ship. Unfortunately I did need to update the thrusters and fuel—it was simply too inefficient, effectively lasting 4 days. The same as the cargo ship, just at light speed pace.
It didn't matter much yet, but it'd be a major problem if I needed an escape route.
Zooming back out of the map of my ship and minimizing the tab revealed my deep planning in search for Unity. Beta Seven had already mobilized off its boarders.
I finished diagnostics on the mushroom and managed this, a purple potion.
It wasn't a guaranteed success—I didnt even know ifa flask size was a viable dosage. It might be too much for a human, but I wasn't sure how it would react with my collar, let alone my brain itself.
Grabbing a syringe out of the compact med kit I had, I extracted a quarter of the liquid into it.
This should be more than enough. The math was tough with no test subject that matched myself, but I landed on a gram per lb of body weight, or 2 gtt/hr per ml.
This would take a while to drip feed into my bloodstream, but it was potentially worth the hassle. Its boost was clearly not normal like something akin to caffeinated drink.
I did have a bit of a wait for my ship, so it was time to use this opportunity wisely. The slower the feed the faster I can react if anything goes wrong
Landing the cargo ship, I exited to my contracted planet and headed to one of the half-built structures the Meeseeks had began cg. Naturally, it was a medical bay. I could foretell I would need one eventually, and a portable one would soon become a necessity.
Passing by my guards, I arrived inside. I was met with almost entirely white and gray granite walls and Earth-like medical equipment. A Captain Meeseeks in a lab coat was ready for my arrival.
I promptly took off my gear and shoes and laid back on the stretcher.
"Start now."
The Meeseeks, who had seemingly been put in a resting state, moved immediately. It started up the medical machinery and took the purple fluid into an IV bag.
Attaching a medium length syringe to the IV's tube, it then began sinking it into my visibly bulging vein on my arm and placed a heart monitor on my pointer fingertip.
My collar was blocking a bit of the blood flow, but not by much.
A few minutes later, the first drip of the purple liquid flowed into me.
I didn't feel much yet, but it was only a single drop.
Thirty minutes go by and the bag was now half full. I've yet to feel much of anything. Maybe I felt just a bit smarter, but it wasn't noticeable enough to determine if it was just a placebo effect.
Once the bag fully drained into me, the Meeseeks came to take off the needle. My vitals remained the same.
I sighed. Maybe an up in dosage would've been smart. After all, the only thing I saw eat it was a small animal, and it ate the concentrated, raw version.
What a waste.
"Tell me, will my ship be arriving soo—"
My body froze.
I could feel it—the pain of every neuron firing a mile a minute, as fast as they could.
My body went limp back down onto the bed. I couldn't think straight.
My vitals began spiking through the roof. The heart monitor read 200 BPMs per minute, and alarms began to blare throughout the facility.
*Focus. I... have to stay awake.*
The collar on my wrist glowed a blinding bright orange hue, engulfing myself in light. That was the last thing I saw before completely blacking out.