The ExMortis, Chapters 1-10

[Corsair]

CHAPTER SEVEN - UNNATURAL SELECTION

Blue haze surrounded Maryn'€™s feet as she walked through a dream. She had no physical body, but instead moved as a shadow. She saw other shadows walking through the mist, and they seemed just as confused as she was. Over head, a bright light shone down on them, pale green in color. Maryn felt as if the light was watching her. In its glare, she was able to look at herself. Her body was thin, smooth, featureless. A ghost given the bare minimum of physical existence.

Another shadow approached her. Its face was blank, and it stretched an arm out to her. She raised her own to grasp it, but their hands passed straight through each other. She felt a slight tingling as if she had been shocked, but the shadow gave up and walked away before she could try again. A pang of loneliness shot through her.

The light above flared in intensity, and she looked up at it. It didn'€™t burn her eyes to stare into, and as she did the light expanded to fill her vision. She realized that it wasn'€™t getting larger, it was moving towards her. She felt warm as the smooth ball of light approached her and she raised her arms to touch it. Her arms disappeared into it, and soon the rest of her was drawn inside.

Maryn jolted awake. She was lying on a warm, moist bed of the red '€˜moss'€™ that was covered the walls, floor and ceiling. She was back in her physical body, all four arms relaxed. Her legs were stretched out straight, her pale, leathery skin leading to a pair of taloned hooves where her feet had been. Her entire 9 foot (( // 2.7 meter )) body splayed out as if she had been sleeping comfortably. When she sat up, digging her claws into the wall to assist, she heard a voice in her mind.

[Good morning, sleepyhead]

Maryn froze, then looking around in alarm. Her row of one and a half inch teeth (( // ~4cm )) bared, ready to bite into whatever was nearby. The voice spoke again.

[Be calm, Maryn. There is no threat.]

Maryn felt her urge to fight and kill smothered. The voice in her head had the power to quash her instincts. Her body relaxed, and she stood up to begin walking the halls again.

[I am the Core.]

Maryn found herself walking back to the room where the Core was located. The red biomatter that it had originally been made of was now coated with a waxy purple material. Her ears were filled with a slight buzzing as she got nearer, and the voice was nearly overpowering.

[We have stopped moving through space. We must wake the rest of the crew and restore this craft to full functionality.]
Maryn could scarcely think of a response, and ultimately managed a nod. Before she turned to leave, the a section on the Core'€™s surface turned white and pushed out a drop of clear liquid. Operating on subconscious instructions, Maryn caught the drop on one of her claws and it immediately seeped into her skin. It took a moment, but clarity began to crawl back into her mind. Her presence to the Core no longer overpowered her senses. And when it spoke again, it was as no longer a deafening roar.

[Maryn, you are my chosen vessel. You must gather the rest of us and set them to work. Go now, and perform your duty.]

The voice exited Maryn'€™s mind, leaving her to bask in the warm, vibrating glow of the Core. But she did not stay long to enjoy it, and soon turned to lope out the door and into the hallway. Whenever she encountered a fallen crewmember, she knelt down and dragged one of her claws across their chest. Whatever Maryn had absorbed from the Core seeped into their bodies and woke them. Their eyes were wide for several seconds as the Core telepathically gave them commands, but they all eventually stood and silently shambled away to perform their jobs.

She noticed that she was the only one who had been changed by the Core. The rest of the crew just seemed stupefied, incapable of thought as she was. The Core seemed to sense her thoughts.

[You are special. You are my instrument. I need you free to think on your own in order to be effective. But the rest of the crew, they are merely bodies to exert my will. There will be challenges ahead of us that will require you to get us through. I am trusting you with this task.]

Maryn continued to wake up crew members, scratching them across the chest and moving on. The quarantine was still in effect, meaning she had to crawl through the maintenance ducts to reach certain levels. As she got to the lower levels of the ship, the temperature rose as she got nearer to the engines. The Jelkanar had powerful cruise engines that allowed it to maintain high speeds for months at a time. She knelt over another crewmember to wake them, but their eyes slid open and they grabbed her forearm before her claws touched them. The man'€™s mouth was open slightly and Maryn realized that he was not infected with the nanovirus. He was the last uninfected human on the ship.

The man had been hit on the head by a falling gas cylinder and was only now being roused. As he stared at Maryn, his face drained of all color. He was staring at a monster. His mouth stretched open as if he was screaming, but only a hoarse squeak came from his throat. Maryn pulled her hand back and stood at her full height over the man. She stretched her four arms out to their full length and brandished her claws and blades. Her taloned hooves dug into the metal floor and she bared her teeth at the small creature below her.

The man pulled a gun from his belt and raised it, but she had already brought her claws down and tore it from his grasp- along with half of his hand. As blood gushed from his arm, his entire demeanor shifted. He went from terrified to active, rolling backwards and springing to his feet. His left hand now brandished a knife. The fight or flight instincts had finally caught up to him, and there was nowhere for him to run to.

Maryn'€™s black eyes stared at the Order crewman unblinkingly. She wiggled her fingers slightly so that her claws made a steady snick, snack against one another. They paced around one another in the round room, and Maryn pounced first. She thrust her left arm at the man, who dodged under her attack and slashed up with his knife. The blade sliced through her tough skin and dragged through her bone. No blood came from the wound. She brought her other hand down but he jumped backwards, out of range. She was now pitched forward with both hands on the ground. The man tried noticed her extra limbs too late to move. Both of her extra arms jabbed forward, their blades sinking into his shoulder and gut. They passed right through his body and stuck in the wall. A look of surprise was etched into his face, which faded as the life drained from his body.

Maryn stood back and let the corpse fall to the ground. His blood pooled around her feet as she looked around for any other survivors. There were none. The Core spoke to her again.

[Maryn, you have performed your task. Enough of the crew are awake to operate the ship. I have another task for you now. You need to proceed to the command bridge of the ship and de-activate the quarantine procedures. I have assimilated enough knowledge from their minds to instruct you on their usage. Go, now. And I hoped you enjoyed the taste of blood. I anticipate you will be called on again to fight.]

As the Core mentioned the '€˜taste'€™ of blood, Maryn felt a stab of curiosity. She looked over at the cooling corpse of the Order agent and stooped over him, plunging her hand into his chest and tearing out a handful of meat. She picked out fragments of bone and cartilage and dumped the red matter into her mouth. Her teeth shredded it into tiny scraps before swallowing. The taste was pungent and bitter, but pleasing. Her perpetual grin widened with satisfaction as a dribble of blood dropped from her chin.

She proceeded back to the elevator and took it as high as possible before forcing her way back into the cramped maintenance tunnels, heading for the bridge. Events were starting to play out more and more rapidly, and Maryn felt ready to take on the next set of challenges.

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