Part 3: How to mark your territory like a G00!

At least 100 blobs were behind me… This was insane!!!

You don’t need to ask me how this happened. How these things react so fast and appear from nowhere is absurd!

Like hounds in hot pursuit, unflagging poke-pokes were almost nibbling at my tail. My virtual heart in mouth, whirling vision sensor strained, flagellum thrusting non-stop, hopelessness gnawing at my insides, fear that felt like a hand taking my breath away, and a body pushed beyond all endurance. This was a race for life, a moment of survival. One that made me feel…

Okay, in summary, I felt like really really bad.

All my thoughts were being done in seconds. From my previous experience, I knew that my maneuvers were way better than the blobs. If I was in a smaller space I would have the advantage. But the current tunnel I was in was too big and the spaces within columns weren’t enough to use as an advantage. They were catching up!

A18, give me a path, get us out of here!

Calculating the best route of escape…

My puddle, analysis suggests entering the tunnel at the right after maintaining a straight run towards the current one’s exit.

A18, that’s impossible, those things are faster in a linear run!

Unlike me, the blobs were mute-farting. They were using some sort of jet-water system which made them look like balloons that inflated and deflated.

These guys…

A18, I need something to reach the end of the tunnel!

Run, my puddle, run!!!~

Seriously! That 's what you call help?

Nonetheless, in a moment of discussion, I saw something unexpected. A blob pulled ahead from me! It used its tentacles to grab some of the columns in the tunnel, and with a slingshot maneuver, it added momentum to its propulsion.

Motherfucker!

The blob shot from one of my sides as I slithered doing a rolling maneuver. It sill bumped me throwing me off-course and blocking the path the AI choose for an escape route.

My puddle, current escape routes are blocked…

A18, quick, check for another place without signals.

Unable to calculate, signals are arriving from currently known areas.

In a moment of confusion, and seeing my rear and front blocked, I decided to go to the side. There were smaller tunnels connecting to the one I was in. However, they were unknown paths we haven’t had explored before.

The blobs quickly stalked me to the new areas I decided to enter. They were faster, yes, but I could counter that speed with better reactions and evasion. The side tunnel I entered, actually reconnected to the one I was before. It was a detour that allowed me to the AI’s planned route. However, it also allowed the monster to continue their pursuit.

AI-dviser! (Adviser)

Yes, my puddle!

Show me the way out! These fuckers want to eat me!

Recalculating route…

My puddle, continue forward. You don’t have to worry! We are arriving at the chamber before the next tunnel’s entrance.

Well, crap! They will catch me before we arrive there!

Knowing the same thing might happen if I moved in a straight line, I decided to remain near the walls of the tunnel. The blobs were reducing the distance so I had to do something. There were other passages, but the probability of being lucky two times in a row wasn’t part of my itinerary. I got a chance to return to the right path, I wouldn’t lose it!

A18, prepare a distraction!

Creating a diversion, preparing a trigger for aperture in the first sphere and releasing upon user order in 5... 4…

Preparations are done!

Great!

Awaiting orders for discharge.

Hm, Hold on, hold on…

Release it… now!

The first sphere was attached to my body, and upon giving a mind-order, it released its content following a little squish. A small aperture formed at a specific node in the sphere, it appeared at the same moment we passed over a tunnel’s opening. Then, with a slight contraction of its surface, it released a part of the potato potion stored in its interior. About 3~5% of the whole liquid reserve drifted around and stained the water with a shimmering glow.

It was like a perfume’s sprayer, an atomizer. It sprinkled the blob-attracting potion in every tunnel’s entrance that I faked to enter. Yes, I was marking my territory by using a well-developed animal-kingdom tactic to distract my pursuers, a bluff. Seriously, Mother Nature is teaching me some relevant yet weird stuff. Sprinkle here and there, and these blobs will go crazy for the dissolved magic powder.

Taking advantage of their confusion, I moved like a startled fish within the water and reached the end of the bigger tunnel. The diversion worked, but it wasn’t enough to keep all of my followers away. Some of the blobs kept closing in, unfurling their tentacles and squeezing their bodies. Their huge figures pressing down over the orb-brightened area at my surroundings, letting a darkening sky bob over me.

They were persistent stalkers, so I ordered the AI to keep the spherical pepper-skunk ready. That way I could release a portion of the potion whenever a tunnel I wouldn't enter appeared.

The second tunnel had smaller holes which allowed me to hide. But the things tentacles scraped over the structures I entered. So without an effective hideout, I run in slithering patterns, evading their glowy limbs, releasing part of my potion reserve as a distraction, and maneuvering within the small holes in the tunnel.

However, and after reducing the amount of available potion below 70%, around ten creepers continued their following unceasingly. Even after a series of hot-pursuit, evasions, and detour maneuvers they weren’t allowing me to escape!

A18, how far are we from the exit?

My puddle we still need to pass through four remaining tunnels to reach the exit!

Persistent things were labeling me as their most wanted food inside this cave. Seriously, this ‘high-speed’ pursuit in black and white vision was already weird, and even more, with everything happening inside a tridimensional labyrinth with so many varying paths.

My puddle, please change your course 15 degrees to the right, quickly!

Eh?!

Concentrating after a helpful alert, I barely evaded collision with a protruding crystal. My extreme action baffling me for a moment, since I didn’t know how I pulled it off. And yet, before I could throw a tantrum to my AI for making me do the impossible, I watched as one of the blobs splashed like fireworks against the tricky crystal a moment later.

Haha! Take that you bastard!

Nice job A18!

My puddle there was no data on that crystal, that area of the tunnel wasn’t explored completely.

...

Overlooking my explorational negligence, I entered another tunnel while withholding the advantage of my turning abilities. Kicking into another gear, I managed to get a distance advantage over the blobs. I even followed the AI’s directions and entered some small conducts that made them slow down by a lot. Some even crashed and exploded against walls or solid structures. They didn’t care for safety or so it seems.

Mindless things…

Following the AI’s directives was easy and gave me a sense of accomplishment while the exit appeared nearer. However, when I evaded a group near the 3rd tunnel’s exit, another little squadron appeared and blocked the normal course.

A18, recalculate, quickly!

Recalculating…

My puddle, there is no known path to reach the exit.

Damn! they are blocking the only way out! A18, check for signals and send me the place with the fewer signals perceivable.

Yes!

Calculating a new course.

Please enter the 5th passage at your upper left side. Fewer signals are being received from it and the sensors register differences from a dead end.~

Moving!

Creating a reference mark on the user interface.

The AI calculated a course that was shown through my interface, however, she had to use voice guiding when I lost track of it or whenever the path needed to be recalculated swiftly. She would add a mark afterward, yet the voice allowed me to lose less time. Something that I practiced with her for this exploration. Real-time positioning systems weren’t just a follow-the-line game, they were constantly monitoring and readjusting depending on the user’s action.

Continuing with the escape... I fled, and letting my hexagonal decorated tail bend in a whipping arch, I tumbled. The change in direction allowed me to evade a tentacle from a blob as I scurried through an irregular ovoid passage following an indication of a warm undercurrent. For some reason, the AI’s guiding system locked onto specific variables, like heat or some chemical gradient.

Is it just me or are these poke-blobs playing a chasing game while I follow the dotted escape lines made by the AI? The only missing thing in this would be an arcade score and a reversal power-up to complement the mindless ghostly balloons.

Part 4: The light at the end of the murky tunnel.

The labyrinth pursuit experience was never-ending. The bluffing and fast tumbling movements helped me save my skin by a hairsbreadth as I followed AI’s indications. It was repetitive. Except our current route was tilting towards a never-entered place.

In the end, and after lots of life-and-death occasions, I arrived at the AI’s so-called heaven. A ghastlier and sinuous passage where ‘signals were supposed to be fewer in numbers’. This random path was like a shredder. In it, the number of spikes increased the more I advanced making it almost impossible to evade them.

A18, this is bad, this tunnel is full of pointy stalagmites and stalactites!

My puddle, you can do it!~

Motivation doesn’t help at this moment- okay, it might.

However... this is nuts! A18, can we survive that?

My puddle, there is no other path available.

It wasn't the AI's fault, neither was it mine. The paths we knew where blocked so the only option was to seek a new escape route. At least, this one wasn't the most feared dead end. There was still hope in a path that had water-flow. So my flagellum’s rotation slowed down and I prepared myself for the last straw. It was possible if we reach the tunnels end no blob will be able to catch up to us.

As I neared the small spaces, parts of my surface were scraped by the copious spikes, yet I avoided damage to my frail and vulnerable ’weak-spots’. I won’t let anything else than myself to scratch these two spheres. The prevention also included the vision sensor and the glowing orb below it, yet priorities are priorities.

Fortuitously, the poke-blobs didn’t have intelligence. When they arrived at my already wormed path, they followed mindedly and crashed against the spears without a second thought—oblivious if their martyrdom and sacrifice, became valuable. I watched as their syrupy insides splashed and covered the walls near the spiky columns.

Bubbles emerged from the glowy sand near their remnants, a chemical reaction. I knew they may have something similar to my digestive enzymes inside. Good thing my previous sample wasn’t from one of those, though I might be able to digest almost anything now.

I felt a scratchy sensation, it wasn’t painful, yet it felt like a fast touch.

My puddle, we have lost 2 MMs.

I mind-gasped.

One thing leads to another, whether the enemies behind or the spiky field in front, all of this could bring me nearer the famous end called game-over. But I, I didn’t lose hope… I was almost, safe. Yes, I believed that the moment I reached the end of this fucked up tunnel, all those blobs would’ve impacted against the remaining obstacles and spears. However, the things used a sacrificial tactic to destroy the columns. Their chemicals corroded them like fast-acting acid. They died and opened the path for the ones that followed, something I realized after looking behind for a small moment.

Damn!

At the end of the tunnel, the spaces between the spikes were minuscule. I needed more time! I knew that even with the blob sacrifice tactic, they will probably be unable to follow.

A18, now is what I’d call the perfect time for motivation!

My puddle, push harder! We are almost there!

A18... I'll invite you to a potato-soup dinner once we escape!

Almost there, almost there!

There were only 3 goo-body lengths separating myself from the heavenly hole and I just needed a little push to exit this hell.

A18, we did it—

My puddle watch out!

Alas, just when I was about to get out, one of the unfearful things managed to pass through a linear path formed by another’s sacrifice. The surviving blob quickly wormed one of its tentacles and slapped me. My soul almost left my body as I felt myself crash into one of the walls. A spike scratched me and another message telling me 12 MMs were lost distressed me.

I rolled and transitioned between the needle-like columns, yet luckily, I wasn’t impaled. It was due to my small size and my rotational movement that made it easier for energy to be conserved in an impact. It caused me to roll a few times before transitioning in different directions, which in the end, drove me to pound into every column around me. If this was a pinball game, I would have earned a good number of tickets…

I didn’t feel pain, which made my already holed and zombie-like… um, broken state... become worse, protecting myself without feeling the damage was difficult, pain existed for a reason.

However, even if the pain was not installed in my systems, dizziness was overwhelming. I also needed to check on my condition. My vision was working although some sectors were blurry. Nothing damaged the spheres or the orb, and my vision sensor's crystal resisted part of the bumps, yet didn't receive any scratches. G00-rilla glass wasn't a scam or I was that lucky.

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

My puddle! The number of MMs reached a dangerous level. There is not enough free MMs to repair the body in case a larger amount of MMs are lost!

A18... do something...

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

Project integrity is at risk. Further loss of MMs may result in the cessation of individual systems… Movement and vision might stop working…

My pu55l3, [email protected] are nee5e5!

S-shit...

I was still a bit groggy after the impact. My interface was connected to the equilibrium receptor. The awareness of gravity and orientation changing so rapidly made even my mind unstable. It was an oddity that the interface could create such sensations. I could separate myself from it, but I couldn’t when the situation needed me. This connection and dizzy sensation, caused my mind to stop reacting on time.

Thus, without having enough time to adjust, the surviving blob’s shadow shrouded the little light that came from my still attached orb.

My Pu55le, m0v3, you can d0 1t...

My A18 keeps me alive, but still, my anxiousness is rising knowing what will happen if I don’t do something. So I tried driving my mind controllers while pumping all energy to my slithering tail. However, it wasn’t reacting. My broken shell wasn’t responding and the monster’s tendrils were nearing…

A18, what are you doing?! The flagellum isn't working!

Warning, the movement device controller failed...

Finishing repairs in 10… 9… 8...

R3pa1r5hs...

No way!

My most trusted weapon and rotor failed me. Tentacles of the thing glided through the waters as I tried to evade them virtually. My mind increasing its response time and making the events occur slower—a nightmare—since it gave me a thriller sensation like an adrenaline rush. My thoughts, they demand I run, right now, without delay... please, Move! Alas, I was given a free hug... and for the first time, I didn’t like it.

The thing enveloped me. I knew what to do, but unless I get them off and move my helical tail, I won’t be able to escape. Despite my effort—and with my system retaining some of the sensor’s perceptions—the cold, wet, and eerie gelatinous limbs, constricted my body. My unwillingness didn’t spare me enough time as it continued to shout with anxiousness for my mind to do something. Think, do something, just move! Come on!

Trying to grab anything in the approachable soil, withholding my position with my flagellum the best I could, or even using my stunted limbs to attach to the soil, to crawl on the slipping ground, just to get a bit more away and gain a valuable and additional moment to prolong my surv… everything was useless!

Crap! I even intended to grab a rock or something with weight so that I could gain the time I lacked. But no, it didn’t work and I couldn’t find nor afford it. I just tried to resist and get away while the sticky ropes from the monster pulled me to its gooey jaws.

My visor kept facing the light at the end of the tunnel. Every inch closer was vital, but I knew it was impossible. I felt how the thing grasped my flagellum. The countdown at 0.

Repairs completed.

Current mode: secure mode.

Controller repaired. Awaiting user input…

A18, use the system to grab anything you can!

My puddle, the system can’t interact when in danger, the highest priority is to protect the core.

I also tried moving the flagellum, but this time it didn’t fail to start, it just remained motionless. The thing held the flagellum tightly, preventing it from rousing. I was totally trapped, like a flea enveloped in flossy threads as it awaited the humongous spider to devour it.

The blob's surface started to churn and transform, no mouth though. It was like a whirlpool or small cavity being made, similar to when my spheres enveloped experimental samples. This way of eating was like the first ability anything alive would adopt. Primitive, yet it never felt so terrifying to me, until now.

The tentacles released me near the blob and I was pulled by smaller strands to a newly formed cavity. I felt like a rat thrown inside a box. Gazing at the exit which disappeared like the closing of a ruptured waterfall. My vision of the world becoming smaller until I was jailed in an dusky spherical room.

I knew where I was. This...it was the monster's stomach.