I Became an Evolving Space Monster - Chapter 289
Episode 289 – Director (2)
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Gigacracker, a 2km spherical mining ship, is so huge that it ranks among the top five megacorps.
Not only is it large in size, but its structure is also very different from a typical spacecraft. First of all, there are almost no facilities for sailors. If you look at the facilities inside the ship, most of them are facilities for operating ion cannons or storage areas for storing mined minerals.
Since the facilities that need to be managed are so large compared to the number of passengers, about 80% of the entire ship is managed by machines. Crew members take control of these machines and are responsible for maintaining and maintaining them.
In fact, it only looks like a spaceship on the outside, but in reality, it can be thought of as an automated factory floating in space.
Because there are so many facilities that each individual must manage, a lot of professional knowledge is required from passengers. Noble Capital St. K does not strictly manage Giga Cracker’s crew for no reason.
Those who are not upper class like Noble Capital or Prime Capital, but have received equivalent education.
The ship’s managers are walking inside the restricted living quarters.
Large dolls were moving around diligently in the dark hallway. They all wore advanced reinforced suits that were a mixture of a reinforced exoskeleton and a space suit, and held plasma rifles in both hands.
The plasma rifle, developed as the standard weapon of the Earth Defense Force, was the lightest plasma weapon until the introduction of the pistol. Although it has less firepower than a plasma bolter, it has the advantages of excellent safety and light weight.
The green translucent energy gauge mounted on the exterior of the silver gun, which had a clean, streamlined design, glowed in the darkness of the hallway.
“Is faster-than-light travel still possible?”
The leader of the heavily armed group opened his mouth. The team leader, who checked the computer pad on his wrist, answered the question of Giga Cracker’s captain, Tyrone St. Kay.
“yes. “An unidentified electrical signal from outside is blocking remote control.”
“In the end, the only way is to go directly.”
Having been in an emergency situation while in the conference room, they took out the necessary equipment from the emergency armory, put it on, and headed to the engine room.
Communication completely stopped after the last emergency broadcast before the collision occurred. As you can see, remote control between facilities is impossible.
It was a crisis I had never experienced before while operating Giga Cracker.
“What do you think is causing it? “Magnetic storm?”
“The phenomenon itself is similar, but the scope is too small. The route is unnatural and the origin is also inaccurate.
“If you see an electronic device failing, it could be a bunch of metallic gremlins.”
“well. Probably not Metallic Gremlin. “They don’t have enough power to rock a 2km boat.”
As the team leaders moved around, they used their respective expertise to give opinions on the cause of the situation.
“Could it be an out-spacer? “Isn’t the biggest one among them the size of a battleship?”
“Now that I think about it, there are recent rumors that there are signs of a major offensive from the empire as well. “Maybe there’s a group of outspacers here…”
“Probably not.”
The team leaders suggested that the out-spacer might be unreasonable, but Tyrone immediately denied it.
“Outspacers cannot travel at faster than light speeds like regular battleships.”
“Is that so?”
“They contaminate a planet and then build a special device that allows them to jump into hyperspace between star systems. “You can only move if you have that device.”
“The captain has a point. “If you look at the records of past major offensives, they say they poured out from contaminated colonies.”
Tiers below Noble Capital and Prime Capital have limited access to the Megacorp database. So, like now, there were often cases where there were differences in the information acquired.
For example, Outspacer’s unique means of transportation, ‘Bio Portal.’ This is treated as top secret information as it relates to their true nature.
Captain Tyrone is a member of St. K. I have more knowledge than the team leaders in this position.
“Sailing team leader. When was the last time you had contact with a base in a nearby system?”
“It was two hours ago.”
“Regular contact takes place every three hours. “In just one hour, the other side will know that something has gone wrong with the Giga Cracker, so let’s not lose hope.”
Tyrone made it a point to remind the team leader of course what he knew. This was to give hope to the team leaders by again mentioning the fact that a rescue team would come if they only had to wait one hour.
‘If the nearby dwarf planet or asteroid was a bio portal, it would be a different story…’
In fact, Tyron did not tell the team leaders all the information he knew.
For example, bio portals and pollution have nothing to do with each other.
The portal is not created by Pollution, but by an Outspacer Queen entity. It only seems like there is a correlation between the two because usually the planet the queen stays on gets polluted quickly.
If there is a queen somewhere here and it has created a bio-portal on a nearby meteorite or something, their forces can pour into this place without a contaminated planet.
Moreover, although it is not registered in the database, there are rumors circulating among Noble Capitals. There is a rumor that one of them has evolved to be able to travel at faster than light speeds.
‘There’s no need to bring that up here.’
Team leaders walking through dark hallways are able to maintain their composure because they have received intensive, long-term training. If the hope of survival disappears, this order will quickly collapse.
The team leaders, unaware of Tyron’s thoughts, moved diligently.
“Which direction should I take to get to the engine room?”
“Facility team leader?”
“The captain’s cabin line is faster than the dining car line. However, the situation room is connected to the dining car line. “You can join that team on the way, so it’s a plus.”
“hmm. “
To hold out until the rescue team arrives, you must first secure control of the engine room. Whether the enemy is an outspacer, a metallic gremlin, or a magnetic storm.
After hearing the explanation from the facility team leader, the captain thought for a moment and made a decision.
“The more people we have, the safer and faster we can reach our destination. “Let’s go to the restaurant car line.”
“yep.”
According to the captain’s decision, they moved along a route that passed through a restaurant car in the middle.
A hallway as devoid of light as the universe. In the extremely dark space, the plasma rifle’s gauge bar twinkled like a star.
As they moved through the eerie hallway toward the core of the mining ship, there was something blocking them.
“It’s blocked here too.”
The entire group stopped in front of the thick shielded door.
The ship AI, which sensed a crisis within the ship, took protective measures and the shielded doors in the restricted residence area were closed. It seemed like he couldn’t use his hands in the situation room, perhaps because the remote control was blocked.
“I will disarm the automatic shield door.”
The good news is that it can be released by directly connecting the computer pad of the reinforced suit and the terminal of the shielded door. The technical team leader and the research team leader cooperated with each other to open the shielding door.
The moment the door connected to the terminal was opened, a loud noise was heard from afar.
“!”
“Did you hear?”
A noise like something sharp tearing a metal plate. Judging by the small sound, it was clear that the distance was far away, but I couldn’t rest assured.
This is because the ominous sound did not stop all at once, but continued to be heard.
“…We need to move faster.”
“yep.”
At Tyron’s urging, everyone’s movements became faster.
As soon as the door opened, what blocked them as they quickly crossed the dark hallway was another shielded door.
“The next one is the dining car.”
While the technical team leader and the research team leader were opening the door, the captain and other team leaders were alert to the surroundings.
‘The sound stopped.’
The annoying noise that sounded like water flowing through a pipe behind the wall stopped a while ago.
The silence made him anxious. Concerns that the problem, rather than being solved, had become more serious crept into the back of my mind.
The door opened again with the sound of air being released.
Inside the restaurant car, the lights were blinking as if the lights had completely gone out.
However, because of the remaining light, they could not help but see with their own eyes the devastation that had occurred there.
The dining car is a place where you can enjoy a little fun inside Giga Cracker.
The place that would be familiar to anyone on board this ship is now immersed in death.
The pure white floor was covered in blood, and pieces of flesh and bone were stuck to the metal table and chairs.
It was not possible to confirm how many people died. All the corpses were so fragmented that it was difficult to guess their original condition.
And beneath the flickering lights was pink death.
Something that was constantly boiling looked at the new sacrifice with hundreds of eyes on the altar of corpses, blood, and bones.
“Ughhhhh!”
Did he lose his composure under that gaze? The medical team leader let out a bizarre scream and aimed his plasma rifle. Just before the green energy was released, something mixed of white and red struck him from the ceiling of the dining car.
Tyrone thought it was a blood-soaked tablecloth. But you are wrong.
Nowhere in the world does a tablecloth suck up human blood with its tentacles.
“Kwaaaaaak!”
“Everyone start shooting!”
The area that was thought to be soaked in blood was not a tablecloth, but rather a monster’s wing. A monster with a white body and four red wings was crushing the medical team leader and eating him.
Instead of watching the scene blankly, the other team leaders heard Tyran’s command and quickly started shooting. As the energy gauge next to the rifle filled up, a cylindrical energy bullet was fired from the muzzle.
An energy bullet flew towards the white and red ghosts. The moment it was about to touch its body, the red color of its wings covered the impact point like spreading paint. The energies that touched its red body were neutralized like a lie.
“So, it’s no use…Kaaak!”
When the crisis management team leader saw this, he screamed and then bent his arm in a deformed manner. Some invisible force had twisted his arm. He was able to protect his arm thanks to quickly activating the shield built into the advanced reinforcement suit.
However, it was his misfortune not to know that the being that tried to break his arm had a high output of ‘invisible power’ that could overwhelm the shield.
“I survived…!”
The moment the crisis management team leader was about to shout out that he was alive, his limbs were torn off in all directions. His fragments were scattered throughout the dining car, as if the strings that tied the puppet had been pulled all at once, breaking it.
“Aaaahhh!”
The equipment team leader screamed at the horrific sight that would make even a veteran who had been on the battlefield for a long time cringe.
In the meantime, Tyrone barely kept his composure and tried to find the culprit who made the crisis management team leader like that.
‘It’s a bastard!’
Tyrone’s eyes turned to the giant pink jellyfish sitting on the corpses. He fired his rifle at the guy, hoping to get at least one hit.
Did his wish come true? One of the green plasma rounds collided with the pink monster’s tentacle. The guy is wincing as if in pain. Other energy bullets follow suit and rain down on his body.
As if it were just a coincidence, the green energy chunks did not reach their target and melted in midair. It’s as if it’s blocked by a transparent barrier.
｢■■■ ｣｢■■■｣
｢ ! ■■■!｣
The pink monster that destroyed the energy bullet in the air did not fight back. The red-winged ghost also showed a completely different reaction from the agility it had shown just a moment ago.
‘I don’t know what it is…!’
“Retreat! retreat!”
“Yes yep!”
Tyrone and the team leaders hurried out into the hallway they came from.
The two monsters did not chase them.
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｢Just now｣｢That｣｢What is that?｣
｢I don’t know! When I thought about it, I said Pavat and that’s it!”
“Pabat?”
“Yes.”
“Try it again.”
No. 26 grunted and concentrated on Aadhai’s request. Then, a purple energy stream suddenly appeared in the air. It covered the area around No. 26, rippling like waves in the deep sea.
Aadhai tapped the purple wave pattern with his paw wearing ‘red armor’. Then, something like a semi-elastic force pushed the front foot strongly.
｢This｣｢Star power｣｢Similar｣
｢Star power? What is the power of a star?”
“Strong” “Head” “Symbol”
“Wow! Studying paid off!”
“Agree” “Disagree” “Star Power” “Study” “It doesn’t matter”
“No! “They said that if you study, you will become smarter and stronger!”
Number 26 confidently waved his tentacles and sent waves. Adhai could not refute this as he had heard similar stories. Instead, he purred and grunted the tentacles around his mouth.
｢This will be enough to protect the older child, right?｣
｢Probably｣
｢Good! That’s good! I’ll eat more so the older one won’t get sick!” ”
Agree” “Elder adult” “If it hurts” “I know” “It’s hard”
After saying that, the two started eating again to build up their strength.
The reason why we did not bother chasing those who ran away was simple.
The eldest child and adult declared.
This ship is his.
Their expert leaders never miss their prey.