⫸ [ TIME: 14:35 LOCAL PLANETARY TIME ]
⫸ [ LOCATION: HORIZON SEEKER – EXTERNAL PERIMETER ]
⫸ [ STATUS: CRITICAL SYSTEM FAILURE (BIOLOGICAL) ]
The standoff lasted three seconds.
To the six insectoid creatures swarming the carcass of the Gravity Rabbit, Elian was meat. He was a slow and heavy biped that smelled of burnt ozone and fresh blood. He was a meal wrapped in a shell they could crack.
To Elian, the world was decomposing into geometry.
His vision was tunneling to a pinhole of clarity. The high-level functions of his brain were shutting down. His body was diverting every ounce of remaining glucose to his heart and lungs to keep him conscious. The complex equations of physics and calculus evaporated. What remained was the core kernel of his mind. The Engineer.
He did not see bugs. He saw vectors of attack. He did not see mud. He saw a friction coefficient of 0.6.
◤ TARGET ANALYSIS ◢
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⬢ Subject: Scavenger-Class Insectoids
⬢ Threat: High
⬢ Armor: Chitin-Iron Alloy
⬢ Weakness: Thorax Joint
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A.R.C. buzzed in his ear like static interference. It was irrelevant noise. Elian muted the world.
The lead scavenger lunged.
Elian did not think about dodging. His brain simply registered a Mass Object moving at 15 meters per second.
His body reacted on cold and hard autopilot.
Object in motion. Intercept.
He did not plant his feet because he chose to. He did it because the geometry demanded it. The dead suit was an anchor. It locked him to the earth.
He caught the creature in mid-air.
CLANG.
The impact rattled his teeth. His bones held the load without buckling. They were freshly mutated and reinforced with isotope-lattice. The vibration traveled down his spine and into the mud.
His conscious mind was screaming for him to run. His subconscious saw a structural flaw in the carapace of the creature.
Joint. Weak point. Torque.
Elian did not squeeze with rage. He squeezed with mechanics. He rotated his hips and used the hundred-pound suit as a counterweight to snap the creature down.
Fulcrum.
CRUNCH.
The shell shattered against the magnetic rock. Green ichor sprayed across his visor.
One threat neutralized. Five variables remaining.
[ Commander! Flanking maneuver detected! ]
Elian did not hear the words. He felt the air displacement to his left.
Two vectors were closing in.
He moved. It was not graceful. It was the jerky and efficient movement of a machine running on low battery. The unpowered servos of his suit ground together with the sound of metal on metal. Every inch of movement cost him calories he did not have.
He kicked.
Mass. Gravity. Destruction.
The steel toe connected. The head of the bug did not just break. It ceased to exist as a solid object.
The second one hit his back.
Parasitic load. Imbalance.
Elian did not panic. He simply corrected his center of gravity backward. He slammed his body against the hull of the ship.
Zero velocity impact.
THUD.
The creature fell off. It was crushed between the hyper-alloy armor and the starship plating.
Three variables removed. Three remaining.
The remaining creatures chattered. They looked at the broken geometry of their pack mates. The equation had changed. The prey was not soft. The prey was harder than the environment.
They retreated. The variables resolved themselves to zero.
Elian stood in the mud. The adrenaline dump ended.
The geometry faded. The pain returned.
He fell to his knees. The heavy suit crashed into the soil. The "Engineer" mode crashed. The "Animal" took over.
Fuel. Need fuel.
He crawled to the Rabbit.
He did not check for toxicity. The data did not matter. The energy density mattered.
He tore a strip of white muscle from the carcass. It was tough and dense like industrial rubber. He shoved it into his mouth.
It tasted like copper wire and ozone. It coated his tongue in a metallic slime. He gagged as his stomach tried to reject the alien matter.
Eat.
He chewed. He forced his jaw to work. He heard the fibers snap. He swallowed.
The reaction was chemical. The bio-plasma in the meat hit his stomach lining.
Absorption.
It was not a gentle warmth. It was a kickstart. The energy flooded his bloodstream.
The fog in his brain cleared. The tunnel vision expanded. The "Geometric World" filled back in with color and detail. He saw the violet sky. He saw the grey trees. He smelled the metallic rain.
He took a breath. A real breath.
"Status," Elian whispered. The word felt clumsy on his tongue.
◤ SYSTEM REBOOT ◢
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⬢ Caloric Deficit: Stabilizing
⬢ Cognitive Functions: Restoring
⬢ Bone Density: Integrated
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Elian looked at his hands. He flexed the gauntlets. The dead servos ground together with a harsh rasp.
"Too heavy," he murmured. "Inefficient."
He looked at the dead Scuttlers. He didn't see variables anymore. He saw resources.
"A.R.C.," Elian said, his voice gaining strength. "Scan the carapace."
[ Scanning... ]
[ Composition: Chitin-Iron Alloy. ]
[ Properties: Lightweight. High Tensile Strength. ]
Elian nodded slowly. He looked back at the dark looming hulk of the Horizon Seeker. The ship was dead. The Fabricator was offline. He needed to shed this heavy coffin of a suit but he couldn't survive outside without armor.
He needed to print new armor. He needed power.
His eyes scanned the wreckage. This time he didn't just see "metal." He saw the periodic table.
He walked over to the landing strut he had slammed the bug against. The panel was torn. It revealed the under-structure.
He saw a grey galvanized plate used for corrosion protection.
Zinc. Anode.
He grabbed the edge of the plate. He braced his boot against the strut and pulled. The metal groaned. Without the suit's power he had to use every ounce of his new skeletal strength. He roared with effort as the bolts sheared off. The plate came free with a sharp snap.
Next he turned to the severed servo-actuator conduit dangling from the fuselage. He used the hull shard to slice the rubber insulation.
He saw the thick braided wire inside.
Copper. Cathode.
He looked at the dead Scuttler at his feet. He looked at the green blood pooling in the mud.
Acid. Electrolyte.
The fog was completely gone. The Engineer was back online.
"A galvanic cell," Elian rasped. The plan formed instantly in his mind. "We can bridge the potential difference."
[ Analysis: A primitive chemical battery. ]
[ Calculation: One carcass equals approx 12 Volts. ]
[ If we run three in a series circuit we can generate enough amperage to jumpstart the Fabricator's capacitor. ]
"Primitive," Elian said as he grabbed the leg of the dead insect. "But effective."
He began dragging the heavy insect carcass toward the airlock. It weighed nearly two hundred pounds in this gravity. His muscles burned and his boots slipped in the mud but he did not stop.
He wasn't just surviving. He was solving the problem.
"We are not just scavenging A.R.C.," Elian grunted as he hauled the beast up the ramp. "We are innovating. I am going to turn these bugs into a battery and then I am going to turn their skin into my armor."
He stopped at the airlock door. He looked back at the dark jungle. The violet fog was rolling in again. Somewhere deep in the mist a roar echoed. It belonged to something far larger than a rabbit or a bug. A Titan.
Elian looked toward the cargo hold where Alara slept.
"And then," Elian whispered, "I am going to build a fortress around her."
He pulled the carcass inside and sealed the door.
[END OF CHAPTER 3]