Maybe Logan shouldn’t have been too impressed. The first couple of chambers didn’t have more than a small stream of water leading through them, but eventually they came to a cavern that was divided in half, one was the stone that had been underfoot the entire time, and the other was a large pool of water.

Most surprising is that they saw a devourer worker slip into the water and swim away.

The first few they killed as a group didn’t seem too much different, but after looking more in-depth at the specimens, they saw that between the legs was a thin membrane, likely used to help propel the creature through the water more easily. Logan made a mental note to let Wendy know about this when things calmed down a bit more, as the species being able to modify themselves would probably be fascinating to her.

Thankful that their suits were sealed against the vacuum of space, they all jumped into the pool of water, eager to see what else was different about this small hive.

It wouldn’t take long to get to the next cavern chamber, and before they could take stock of what the room looked like, they were attacked by swarms of small creatures in the water from all around them. Energy weapons were fired wildly while Logan swung his blade through the water, noting that it wasn’t very effective as the water caused drag, meaning his swing was slower while requiring more strength behind it.

More than a few instances of friendly-fire occurred, but they couldn’t blame each other, as they weren’t expecting to be attacked by so many small creatures. It only took a few minutes, and the small beings didn’t hurt that much by themselves, but the party was definitely rethinking attacking this hive first after just this event. Jones and Meghan floated to the bottom of the room and found a couple of boulders to sit on for a short rest while Pat scouted the rest of the room.

Devourer Swarmer (Aquatic Variant)

Logan looked at one of the creatures that had attacked them, noting how small they were. Something tugged at his mind while he stared at the figure he held. It looked like a bulbous ant with fins on the sides, and a slight blue tint to the carapace instead of the rusty brown the others had. The fins spread as a membrane between the legs that all of the species had, but there were no crab claws or mandibles protruding from it, instead there was something akin to a turtle beak, hard on the front and sharp on the edges, it was no wonder that they hurt when being picked at repeatedly.

“Hey guys, we have two ways to go, whenever we’re done resting” Pat said over their comms channel. She swam back to them a few seconds later, taking the chance to lay down across the top of a large stone. “This isn’t so bad down here. Feels like a constant hug being in the water like this.” The others laughed a bit at that. The constant pressure of the water felt much different than the surface of the planet. It was just as barren, without any life hidden away other than the devourers themselves, but it was much darker and felt much more constrained.

The last hive they were in was much the same, but without the water, making it feel entirely different. Hopefully they wouldn’t be spending weeks at a time here as well, because Logan wanted to complete his new quest. After resting for a few more minutes, everyone got up from their positions, Pat flailing her limbs in protest before getting up, and they faced the wall with the two exits they could pick from.

“So, do we stick with the tried and tested rule?” Jones asked. The group knew each other well enough by now that the old tabletop role playing rule to dungeon crawling “Always Left” was used whenever they entered a new area. Logan was new to the group, but he had lived a life before meeting them, having been in a handful of groups before the accident.

“You know it!” Pat exclaimed before starting to swim down the opening on the left hand side.

—

The rest of the hive was much the same; open pathways between caverns with swarmers or workers waiting for them. It took a couple of hours before they found the small room with the lantern, knowing that the boss would be next. Logan still felt the pull in his mind to every devourer corpse in the cave, but he couldn’t figure out what it meant.

“While this has been fun, I have to head out until tomorrow.” Meghan said. They were still in the water, so everyone kept their helmets on. They could filter out the oxygen enough to be able to create a breathable atmosphere inside their suits, but they were all, mostly, still human.

“Yeah, I guess it is getting kind of late, isn’t it?” Pat responded, sounding a little disappointed to have to cut the session short. “Same time tomorrow?” Hope sounded cute in her voice, Logan thought.

“Might be a little later, I have a few projects to work on outside of here.” Jones said. “Of course, I’m down to play, but school comes first right now.” Logan understood a bit, having worked alongside plenty of college students while in his old job.

Megan swam closer to Logan and pointed at his face, almost touching his helmet. “No going off and killing the boss by yourself. I know you’re going to stay online for a while longer, but don’t get ahead of us, and don’t over do it, okay?” She was still annoyed from the last time, when he and Pat killed the queen after Meghan and Jones logged off.

Logan held both hands up. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll take care of myself, and I won’t fight the boss solo. Most likely try to figure out what’s up with the devourers in this hive, and see if I can’t figure out how to make some of those swarmers. Imagine being able to make a bunch of them fly!”

Clouds of creatures attacking ships in the sky appealed to him, probably due to Jackson and his crew making Logan’s introduction to the game world hell. The others brought him back into the cave, interrupting the idea of dominating the sky.

“We’ll be back tomorrow around three in the afternoon. See you later, Logan!” Meghan said, as they all disappeared into digital noise. Alone in the dark with nothing but his own thoughts, Logan swam back to do something to take his mind off of things.

Time to figure out why he felt a pull to these little guys.