“Everything sounds great! Can I get them all?”

(BASED ON READINGS FROM THE UPCOMING SHIELD, THE RADIATION PROTECTION WILL PREVENT YOU FROM BEING ABLE TO REMAIN ON THE SHIP WHEN IT TRAVELS THROUGH THE SHIELD TO THE STATION. I WOULD RECOMMEND YOU WAIT UNTIL YOU ARE INSIDE THE SHIELD OF THE STATION BEFORE INITIATING THE EVOLUTIONS.)

“Alright, initiate them as soon as we’re inside the shields.”

He watched the shields getting closer, and suddenly worried that maybe he wouldn’t be able to get through them anyway. It looked like the ships were sliding through them without a problem, but the shield was flush on the ship. Would it hurt when they touched him? He tightened his grip and tried to make himself as small and flush against the ship as possible.

The shield slid over him, without any problems. He didn’t feel a thing, in fact.

(INITIATING EVOLUTION)

Dustin suddenly felt waves of energy in the space around him, almost like the waves in water. Letting go of the ship, he was able to swim through the space around him, just like he could in the water down on the planet. It was the weirdest thing ever.

(EVOLUTION COMPLETE)

Flying over to the station, he reached out to touch it, and felt such a pleasant tingle, that he immediately clung to it, soaking up the warmth. He hadn’t realized how much he craved this, until he found it.

(HOST, YOU ARE LOSING YOURSELF IN THE SENSATIONS OF THE SPACE WORM. IF YOU CANNOT PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER, I WILL NEED TO REMOVE THE ABILITY TO CONSUME ENERGY.)

“Can you lessen the ability?” he mumbled, too overwhelmed to really care if it could or not.

(INITIATING EVOLUTION)

Suddenly the desire to kiss the station wall faded and while he still felt a pleasant warmth, he was no longer trying to eat the station itself.

(EVOLUTION COMPLETE)

Shaking his head in embarrassment, he spied a maintenance port off to the side.

It must be used to make outside repairs, because there was a keypad to get back in. He studied it for a long time, knowing that once he opened it, there would be someone inside notified. He didn’t mind the idea of fighting and killing every damn Josagn in this entire station, but he was a little worried about what weapons they might have to use against him. He still wasn’t full proof against everything, he was sure.

The keypad was a simple thing to hack, it wouldn’t take him five minutes once he had the face plate off, but he wasn’t sure about the inner pad. What if it needed someone to open the second door from the inside? With a sigh, and a shake, he decided it didn’t matter. They had to get inside if they were going to escape the Josagn. There was no going back know!

Peeling the panel off with his fingers, thank you crystal plates, he quickly started messing with the wires. If Olivia was awake, he was sure she would be sighing in impatience, or checking her weapons in preparation for a fight. The best thing ever, was when he figured out, he could change the shape of the crystals on his fingers to the tool shape he needed. SO much easier!

The door slid open and he popped inside, pulling the robot with him, before the door shut and amazingly, the chamber started going through the process of compression, and then opened the inner door automatically.

The hall before him was empty, so he wasted no time getting out of the air-lock. Looking both ways, he wondered which way to go. There was an air duct that ran along the ceiling, and he thought about climbing into it, but amusingly, his flight ability didn’t want to work here, on the station. Shrugging, he went up to the nearest door and checked the handle. When it opened, he peeked inside, to see it was a storage room with space suits hanging on hooks.

Once inside, he closed the door, and wedged a piece of one of the suits under the door to keep it shut. He didn’t want to stay long, because he was sure someone was going to come check out whoever just entered their ship.

“PED, release Olivia, so I can check on her.”

(EVOLUTION INITIATED.)

(EVOLUTION COMPLETE)

He lowered her slowly to the floor, and looked her over carefully. She wasn’t breathing, but technically she shouldn’t need to in that form. Knowing that she should heal from any damage she had acquired, he debated on what to do.

“PED, grow me to my six-foot form, and return to my left arm.”

(EVOLUTION INITIATED.)

(EVOLUTION COMPLETE)

He couldn’t connect wires from his PED to hers, because of the layers of crystal plates protecting it. Scratching his head, he wondered what to do. Why couldn’t this be as easy as machines?

Finally, not knowing what else to do, he started prying off one crystal at a time, but it was very labor intensive, and he wasn’t sure how much time he had before anyone showed up.

“PED, can you remote connect to her PED and see what’s wrong?”

(INITIATING AN ATTEMPT. ATTEMPT WAS SUCCESSFUL, IT APPEARS AS IF SHE HAS FALLEN INTO A COMA. HER BRAIN SUFFERED DAMAGE DURING THE EXPLOSION, AND THE PED IS WAITING FOR CONFIRMATION TO INITIATE AN EVOLUTION. IT ALSO SEEMS TO BE DAMAGED TO SOME EXTENT.)

“Well, initiate a change, so I can access it and fix it.”

The scales slid away from the PED, but she remained in the small space form. Dustin wasted no time getting into the PED to try and fix it. Some of the important components were damaged. Sitting back on his heels, he realized that if he couldn’t find parts to fix it, she could die.

Looking around the room, he didn’t see anything that might help.

“PED, can you hack the system of this station?”

(NO, THE SECURITY IS TOO HIGH.)

He nodded, glancing over at the robot. It was busy scanning the suits. Could there be any parts in it he could use? But as he thought about it, he had to shake his head. There was no way. It turned his way as he thought this.

“We should probably leave this area. The security system has sent biobots to investigate the activation of the space port.”

“You can access the system?” Dustin asked in surprise, picking up Olivia’s small body. It wasn’t that heavy. In fact, it was almost like carrying a child. Since he had memories of having sex with her, he shook his head hard at the ensuing mental images. He wanted to scrub his head out with steel wool. Whatever he may have been like in his life before the Josagn, it definitely was not a pedophile.

“Affirmative. Is there something in specific you would like to know? The system is exactly the same as my own.”

That sent warning bells through his head, and he wondered for a moment if this was all a trap. How could the Josagn station system be identical to 200-year-old human tech? That didn’t make sense.

“Well, we need a safe place to hide from the security, or biobots, whatever those are, and then I need parts to repair Olivia’s PED.”

“I can show you the way, if you open the door.”

Removing the piece of armor, he made sure to put it back where it had been, then grabbing the loose scales he had pried off Olivia’s back, he opened the door.

Floating in the air, on the other side of the door, was a black spider thing. Its body was oval, with spikes sticking out in every direction, ranging from six inches to a foot in length. It didn’t seem to have a face, but Dustin knew it was looking right at him.

Without thinking, he punched it.