Stellar Survival Quest

by Jalf Whitemage

  Commonly created with a skill set matching one of the core jobs, Biolifeforms are durable, cheap and utterly loyal to the bonded individual. They make the perfect labor force for those who cannot use standard slaves and want to save money over other employment types.

  Nathan looked across the room at the jar of grey goo. Standing straight he walked over to it picked up the flask and uncorked it.

  He half expected the thing to leap out and do something... Maybe something like Alien all RAWR eat my face off or something. But it just remained in the flask placid and unmoving.

  He turned the flask upside down over the floor. The Grey mass did not move.

  “Oh come on! Did you die? Or did I get a broken one?”

  He stuck a finger in the flask attempting to scoop some out.

  The moment his finger touched the cold grey putty like mass it surged. In an instant, it moved up his finger to his hand and covered it completely.

  Dropping the flask Nathan screamed as his hand registered both biting cold and something literally biting him!

  No sooner had the scream began to echo in a high pitched woman’s timber than the thing fell off his hand.

  Gasping for air and his dignity Nathan stared at his hand. The entire appendage was missing the skin. Muscle, bone and blood vessels were clear to the eye. Over it all was a thin clear liquid.

  Beginning to breathe rapidly in a panic Nathan flicked his eyes from his maimed hand to the now idle mass of grey on the floor.

  Before panic fully took control Nathan moved to the other side of the habitat. There he closed his eyes and focused on cleansing breaths.

  “It will not do anything to freak the fuck out. Sure the strange alien cum ball ate your skin off… sure it could be stalking you now as you lose your shit… But breathe.”

  Nathan repeated this odd mantra several times each time regaining a little more control.

  Finally when his heart rate was close to normal he opened his eyes. He half expected to see the blob leaping at him to take another bite.

  What he did see however was almost worse.

  There on the ground a mere foot from him was a grey hand. It was the same size as his own hand from the wrist down. It stood upright on fingertips and thumb as if waiting.

  “No fucking way! It’s THING! THING is going to fucking kill me!”

  Screaming like a girl Nathan ran, jumped, slid and flounced all over the habitat as the disembodied hand scurried after him on fingertips.

  After several minutes of this, Nathan finally tripped over his pursuer and fell face first on the floor knocking the wind from him. The handpicked itself up and remained a foot away from him.

  After catching his breath Nathan, lay on the ground staring wide eyed at the hand.

  “Uh good hand. Good little demon monster thing…”

  The hand for its part did not move.

  Slowly Nathan stood and began to edge toward the back of the Habitat. The hand followed never getting further away or closer.

  Reaching his destination Nathan lunged at the hand and grabbed it with both of his.

  ‘AH HA! I got you little fucker! OH HOLY SHIT YOU HAVE A MOUTH!”

  On the palm, there was a large circular maw. Many sharp teeth were clearly visible beyond the lipless entrance. Nathan almost lost his grip, but succeeded to hold on long enough to toss the hand.

  With a thunk, the hand landed in the habitats toilet.

  Slamming the flush button Nathan screamed, “I got you motherfcker! You’re gone now!”

  For its part, the hand spun around a few times as water swished over it and went down a drain that was much too small for the hand to worry about. Getting back to its fingertips, it turned to Nathan as if to say, “What now?”

  Opening his mouth and closing it a few times, Nathan frowned. Biting his lip a new idea came to mind! He would be free of the demon hand, if it killed him!

  10 minutes later Nathan was cycling the airlock of the habitat. He stood there in his spacesuit glaring at the hand. The hand just remained placid and unflinching in the face of the glares.

  When the colors indicated all clear to exit, Nathan jumped out heading toward the large crate below.

  The hand in a nimble movement followed.

  After prying the lid part of the way open Nathan grabbed the hand and shoved it inside. Then before it could escape, he slammed the lid down and began to reseal it.

  Breathing heavy Nathan leaned on the crate smiling.

  “Holy fuck that was close! That thing was going to kill me! Eat my face off… nom nom nom…”

  The crate rocked a little.

  “ECK!!!!”

  Nathan jumped sending himself flying across the cargo bay.

  “SHIIIIIIIITTTTTT!!”

  Regaining control he floated slowly back toward the crate. As he watched, it thumped again, slightly lifting off the cargo bay floor to float upward very slowly.

  As his feet touched the floor, the crate thumped, this time bouncing up then down.

  Oh no fucking way!”

  To Nathan’s horror, the lid began to pop open, allowing a thin yellow-green seem of light to stealth through.

  When the sickly light began to illuminate steel grey fingertips in the narrow opening Nathan began to let out low meowling sounds of terror.

  “No… No… No… For God’s sake no!”

  As the crack widened his Moises of terror changed. The demon like mouth on the hand’s palm was gone. A small trickle of urine may have leaked out when the hand moved up revealing a neutral looking grey forearm.

  Watching in mute fascination Nathan stared as another hand join the first and together they pried the top fully off the crate. With a firm shove, the lid floated slowly up in to the dark bay.

  A figure stood up. Yellow-green light glowed softly from gunmetal grey skin exactly textured like the original biomass and Thing. Now though it had a remarkable resemblance to a human.

  Nathan’s mouth fell open inside his mask. The creature looked around until it’s fully gunmetal grey eyes met Nathans wide blue ones.

  The grey Human began to change and shift. First, it went from looking akin to a manikin to looking like a grey copy of Nathan. From there it shifted growing shorter or taller, skinnier and wider. Fat and muscular Male and female. The changes began to settle some.

  As the Grey Human watched minute details of body language, facial expressions, and other non-verbal clues, it continued to alter itself to please its new master.

  After settling on a female form, it made smaller changes. Some adjustments to height, muscle mass, focus on areas of the body where fat would be focused on a normal Human Female.

  Nathan for his part stared. It was creepy to watch this thing change like some kind of god was rearranging it like playdough. Then it settled on a female shape and Nathans mouth grew dry. Sure, it was grey. Sure, it had wanted to eat him. Hey, it was even reaching down every now and then to grab a handful of the glowing yellow-green stuff in the crate that looked remarkably like slightly glowing neon yellow shit and eating it.

  But she: yeah Nathan decided it was for sure a she: was naked and his mouth was dry watching her. The grey woman’s boobs was growing and then shrinking. Her Nipples becoming small pinpricks, and then expanding to large wide circles. Her Ass and hips plumped out like a porn star, and then tightened up as if it belonged to an Olympic runner. Her fascial features shifted too, going from clearly Asian, with slanted almond shaped eyes, to African, with thick lips and broad nose, and on to numerous others. Nathan watched slack jawed with one thought in his silent head… “Amazing!”

  Finally the shifting stopped. The Grey Human had just grabbed one more handful of Organic compounds to add a little more mass to her chest and fill out her long grey hair.

  Carefully moving out of the crate, she stretched up to grab the lid and secured it back. Turning she looked back to smile at her master with the bodily shape of his perfect mate. But, he was gone!

  Looking up she saw hi
m sailing through the cargo bay toward the Habitat’s entrance.

  Good she thought, Vacuum made it hard to communicate and most biological entities found it cold. Oh! Cold her sample of the masters DNA had something in it for a response to the cold. After checking she tighten the outer layer of her, to illicit small bumps all over, except the numbs on her chest, those grew much more ridged.

  Feeling she had the right response to the cold now, she jumped after her master.

  For Nathan’s part the moment he saw the grey sexy as hell monster getting out of the crate he Noped the fuck out! With a decisive leap, he headed for the Habitat.

  “There has to be something in there I can use to kill it.”

  He missed his jump up and fumbled around for a few moments to get to the airlock. Quickly, pushing the button to open the outer hatch. He stepped inside as soon as it allowed. Turning to close the hatch, he froze as she stepped in behind him.

  Nathan’s animal brain did the only thing it could think of. Heck it worked in Jurassic Park… He Froze.

  Seeing her master unable to take his eyes from her made her smile. To help him she pushed the buttons to cycle the hatches and allow them into the habitat.

  When the lights shifted and the inner hatch softened to allow entry Nathan bolted. The Grey Human for her part carefully stepped in and looked around. She had seen the inside in her infant state, but it was hard to understand. Now though… Seeing a computer terminal, she stepped over and began to navigate the controls.

  Nathan spent the next thirty minutes hiding behind the habitats heater. He was cramped and uncomfortable, but there was only one narrow entrance to get at him from. Although when his legs began to spasm from the odd angle he had to admit to himself that, “Welll… maybe she wasn’t going to eat him?”

  Slowly extracting himself, he emerged from hiding and slowly crept down the short hall. Glancing around the corner, he looked in to the main room. She was hunched over the terminal, eyes moving rapidly.

  Pulling his head back, he went into his room and removed the spacesuit. It really wasn’t much protection anyway.

  Now dressed more comfortably he took his air tank to the habitats environmental controls. Plugged in a tube and began the refilling process. As his stomach let out a loud growl, Nathan bit his lip.

  “Shhhhiiiittttt…. I’m fucking hungry and that thing… maybe she is full from that glowing crap…

  Moving slowly as not to draw her attention Nathan went to the main room grabbed a MRE and bottle of water then returned to his room.

  Tearing in he began to devour the foul tasting spaghetti in meat sauce. After finishing his bottle of water, Nathan lay down on his bed to let his food settle.

  Within minutes, his breathing leveled out and he was clearly asleep.

  Chapter 04 – Getting Started

  “Master…”

  “Master…”

  Nathan slowly opened his eyes, and then blinked them rapidly to clear the sleep from them.

  “EEEEKKKKK!!!!”

  The Grey Human stood hovering over his bed with her face a mere few inches from Nathan’s.

  “Is making noises like that normal when a Homosapian wakes up?”

  She tilted her head confused, “Clearly this one needs to do more research. Perhaps the galaticpedia is not as in depth as this one thought.”

  Nathan kicked himself up into a ball near the top of his bed. Only drawing himself a scant few inches from his nightmare.

  “w… Wh… What are you?”

  “Master, this one is your Biolifeform. You have been asleep for twelve hours. This one did not care to wake you but, you have a message.”

  Nathan began to slowly understand this thing was not going to eat him. Looking at her grey emotion filled eyes. Eyes that looked so human except the lack of any color… “You’re not going to hurt me?”

  She smiled showing a bit too much teeth. “Oh no! Why, this one is utterly incapable of willingly hurting you, by action or inaction. This one is your servant, your tool. Nothing brings her pleasure like serving her master.”

  Nathan took a few breaths to process her statement. Then like any red blooded male who had gone more than 15 minutes his attention went to the naked breasts dangling above him and ideas sparked in his mind.

  “You like to serve your master? I’m your master?”

  She stood and nodded vigorously sending things jiggling. “Oh yes!”

  Then her eyes tracked where Nathan’s eyes were focused, “Oh! You mean sex! This one has read Homosapians spend a lot of their time attempting to reproduce. Do you want to reproduce with her, master?”

  Nathan began to shake his head, but a Ding sound echoed through the habitat.

  They both looked out the entry flap. “Perhaps the master should check his message first. This one has after all never reproduced and has no training at it.”

  Nathan nodded slowly. Moving around her, he exited his room and went toward the main room. The grey woman followed close behind.

  As Nathan entered the main room, he paused. The various items he had strewn across the room had been organized and arranged.

  Did you do this?” He gestured with one hand.

  “Oh yes! The master has slept for many hours and after she learned the language of English she made herself useful.”

  She paused tilting her head, “Now though this one has everything cleaned up. What would the master like her to work on now?”

  “Ugh, just hold on.”

  Nathan paused in mid-step. A stray thought coming to his full attention. Would she be willing to do anything, for her master? Shaking his head he decided to test the thought later. The message may be important.

  Reaching the control terminal Nathan hit the flashing pink message icon. The neon pink icon that looked similar to a pile of spaghetti. The odd color schema and icons just further proof that this whole interface, heck the whole station was created by something other than humanity.

  The screen flickered and Bubba appeared there.

  ***SYSTEM MESSAGE***

  “I see you finally completed a milestone. You know it has been over a week and both my roommates have already leveled their Human levels to two. Sure, they are here in the Sol System, but still. Come on man!”

  A female voice said something from off-screen. Bubba just nodded a half acknowledgement, not taking his eyes from the camera.

  “So when you complete a milestone you gave percentage points to the Human level. When you level it you can increase one of your attributes max by0 .1. In effect allowing us the chance to become better than a normal Human could ever be. So get on that already!”

  “There are other benefits as well, but not enough time to cover them all. Although one is the ability for me to record a message like this for you.”

  Bubbas annoyed face softened a little, “So good job on skimming through the Galaticpedia. I do not have access to it, but the way you skimmed allowed me to slow the video stream down and read things in detail. And oh boy there is a lot of info in there!”

  “First stop being stupid! The entire Biolifeform species is created to serve a master that they bond with by taking a sample of their DNA. Once bonded the Biolifeform will actually die if they do not get to renew their DNA sample once every week. They are completely loyal and for the love of GOD! SHE WILL NOT EAT YOU!!!”

  ***SYSTEM MESSAGE***

  Nathan frowned, eyes flicking to the Grey Woman standing a few feet away, “Easy for you to say. You didn’t wrestle with the mouthy cousin of Thing!”

  ***SYSTEM MESSAGE***

  Bubba had kept talking, “I’m still going over a lot of details you skimmed, since after all unless you die again, most of my time not being you is spent sleeping, or doing other necessary real life things. I’ll give you more info if you ever get around to completing another milestone.”

  ***SYSTEM MESSAGE***

  Nathan was growing more and more disillusioned with this other version of himself. He was the one here after all figh
ting to just stay alive.

  ***SYSTEM MESSAGE***

  “Anyway, I’ve been given three more starter Milestones to aim for. Claim a Module, Restore Critical Systems, and Discover the Neighbors. That is all I got. No details just the names. Good news though… you can’t do worse than what you have been. But you better hurry from the Solar System Readout I have access to it looks like another 4 species have made it to the system and have been assigned their stations.”

  ***SYSTEM MESSAGE***

  Nathan’s bad mood just got worse. If Bubba thought this was easy then he should just come and do it himself, the ungrateful ass. It completely did not cross his mind that in fact Bubba already had.

  ***SYSTEM MESSAGE***

  “From what I can find there are a few other players who have gotten starts outside of Sol. Out of those players more than half have encountered hostile aliens species. Those that have encounter them have pretty much had to quit playing because once those species kill you they will camp the spawn point. Complete camping bullshit, but the admins are doing nothing about it. They respawn and get killed still naked and confused. Plus every time you die there is a 1000 QOBOP fee to respawn. At some point it is better to just stop respawning. Anyway got to run other me. Oh and stop thinking of fucking the Biolifeform… I know you are because I have thought about it and you are me! It’s like rape she literally can’t say no.”

  ***SYSTEM MESSAGE***

  With that last jab, the screen went dark before returning to the normal home screen display.

  Nathan took a moment before he raised his eyes to the very sincere and unblinking eyes of the grey Biolifeform. “So umm…. You need a name.”

  For her part the Grey Human was happy that her master was no longer screaming and running from her. She had learned that it was not normal behavior and was glad to see the change. Oddly she was also sad to note that he was not looking at her chest. She had tried really hard to find a form that would please him. It wasn’t too late to change it, although with each day her form became more permanent as her DNA adapted and settled.