I stood there baffled for what felt like an eternity; my mind racing as I tried and failed to understand why their server room looked like this.
No, seriously, this looks like a jungle or some human slobs' cluttered room. Everything just flug here, there and everywhere! No organisation, no tidiness, nothing! It's as if they don't even care. Some space-faring civilisation this is.
I hereby rescind whatever respect I had for them as a species.
Well... regardless of their... clutter. Finding the necessary information about me would not be difficult in the slightest.
Turning one of my Conductoid arms back into that of a Mechamorph's, I stuck both of them into a nearby server. The Conductoid into the portholes, and the Mechamorph's melding with the system.
My plan?
Well, it was quite simple, you see.
Overload the entire system. Or rather, more specifically, overload their circuit boards.
Not to mention how I'm going to crash their servers.
Why do both?
You see, overloading and destroying the circuit boards will corrupt and destroy most, if not all, of the information on it, in the case it wasn't recovered, nor was it salvageable. Not to mention that overloading it acts in a similar way to cutting its power source. Possibly causing failures in the machine and short-circuiting it. Which, again, corrupts if not outright destroys the data stored within it.
Now the reason for my use of the Galvan Mechamoprh's integration and upgrading capabilities is also, quite simple. Melding with the systems allows me to get a clear read and pathway towards my records. Not to mention, it allows me to do further damage to the systems from the inside.
It would absolutely kill any of their development and research that is not backed up, copied, or stored elsewhere.
Naturally, of course, when I had attacked the system the drones that were maintaining it stopped what they were doing, dropping wires, and cables and retracting any tools they had back into their metallic bodies, and locked onto my location after recognising me as the threat.
Don't know why they'd have the same robots used for maintenance be the same ones used for security. Perhaps they are strapped for resources like Inspector 13 was.
Granted, he was fired from being a Weaponmaster of Techadon after his scuffle with Tennyson. But that is neither here nor there.
Well, regardless of their efforts, it was for nought. My work was already done and it was time for me to make my exit.
Removing my arms from their respective ports I returned them back to their normal, Citrakayah, state, and quickly sped off back down the hallway, back to where I had laid the Tamaranean down.
Such fights were below me anyway. And besides, I was on a time crunch. There was no time to battle some worthless drones when the exit was mere meters away.
Besides, Koriand'r was still lying outside, and every second I wasted here put her at more and more risk. I spent too much time getting her help and fighting her sister just for all of this to be for nothing.
I soon arrived at where I had laid the hapless damsel. Well, technically damsel would be the wrong word here as the better term would be defenceless but that's just me being an ass.
Given the groans and slight movement, she would wake up relatively soon. Relatively.
Sweeping her off her back I once more sped down the hallway.
And, sooner than I had originally thought, I reached a cavernous room the size of a regular-sized human football field, several different ship models littering the space. A large section at one end opened up to the dark, starry vacuum of space.
Now, one might wonder how such a thing was possible, how could you have open access to the cold and deadly vacuum of space and have nothing be sucked out. In case such a question was asked, that person would have to remember that various types of technologies and forcefields that space-faring civilisations have access to, to filter what could and couldn't pass into an area. In this case, air and gravity are in, and the cosmic void of death is out.
Lucky for me, I also managed to spot the ship I had seen while interfacing with the mainframe a while back, about the size of two American city buses in length and its loading ramp already lowered.
Unluckily, it was also at that moment another of the lizard people's security team caught up and entered the hangar from 20 meters away from the other end of the hangar, screaming at me and opening fire. I won't lie, I'm a little surprised they managed to get here so quickly, but I digressed.
I didn't even bother to return fire, it was more imperative to just head for the ship, zig-zagging to throw off their aim. A few blasts got closer than I liked given that out of all the species I had access to while in this accursed human form, the speedsters were not one of the ones I was accustomed to, but, regardless, I made it to the ramp and slammed my tail into a button near the hatch.
It did what I knew it did and closed the hatch behind me, and I could hear lasers striking the hull a few seconds later. I quickly found my way to the cockpit and looked at the console as my back into the red and black of a Galvanic Mechamorp. Primus I've been doing that a lot today.
I found a spot I guessed was far from crucial systems and melded my hand to it, the nanites quickly took over the systems as the entire machine was covered in black with the signature red lines of my mechamorph form, only slightly changing in shape from the natural, passive ability of the artificial species to upgrade machinery as I mentally command the vessel.
Take Off/Exit System/Follow Programmed Course/Go
I will admit, I was nearly thrown off my feet as the ship lurched into the air but, as I was still connected to the console I was able to hold my ground, and from the viewports and screens littering the cockpit I could see that we were moving. In roughly ten seconds after the ship prepared itself we cleared the hangar and were into space, in another eighty-five point three seconds, the space station was shrinking in the distance behind us, and in another five seconds space and the myriad of stars that filled it up warped around the ship as the FTL drive roared to live and we were gone.
_________
I managed to find something I thought was akin to a small medical bay on the ship and laid Koriand'r down on the bed, checking over her as best I could. A good portion of the back of her suit was burned away, and the skin of her back looked burned. I had no idea how badly she was actually hurt though. I knew a little bit about human injuries, but how well did that translate to, if memory served correctly, which it did, genetically enhanced Tamaranean?
Not well.
Not well at all.
I scoured the ship for anything I could find, which as it turned out was a good deal more than I thought. I found any number of strange devices ranging from handheld to about as big as I was in size in Tennyson's form, plus a rack of weapons similar to the ones the security team had carried. Relatively large, semi-automatic type laser rifles. Though... as I get a better look at them I'm starting to notice something. These aren't their designs, or rather, they are stolen weapons from another civilisation. The design clashes with the other types of weaponry and the style of their technology.
These ones are coloured the typical dark black with a red and orange light peaking through the centre and barrel of the gun. I don't doubt that these are modified to fight the reptilians better but given the usual, white, greys and peach colours, they employ.
Anyways, back on track, given the size of the ship and the items inside... I'd say that this is a light cruiser style of star-crossing vessel.
I also think I found something akin to a first aid kit with a few different kinds of fabric and tubes that contained various liquids. Placing it on Koriand'r's back, I activated the device, and the machine hummed to life.
A red glowed under the device of the princess's back as a sound not too dissimilar to a photocopier was made as it scanned her back and began a diagnosis. On the side of the ship, where I had lurched the machine from the wall, various screens started to whirl online as each one began to display a variety of information, from the standard vitals to how damaged her back was.
Which, by the way, wasn't much. At least what the diagnosis is given, but then again I was never the best with medical knowledge. Don't be confused, I passed all my exams in the top 5% of Galvans. But for the Galvan equivalent of a doctor, physician and the like, I did fine.
Well... fine for a Galvan anyways.
Anyways, back to the injured Tamaranean. A soft, silvery, goo-like substance began to exude from the machine. Creating a small layer of itself over the wound. I could only assume it to be smart technology, given how it seemed to self-correct itself when it went over areas that Blackfire didn't damage.
The ever pulsating and sloshing layer of much was only interesting for a time before I eventually got bored and moved on to the other items on the ship.
The thing was that aside from the guns, I had a rough idea what any of the items in here did. Still, I did have a bit of a way around that, though I was hesitant to destroy anything that might be useful later, even if I didn't know what those things were. Such as it was, I decided to start with the handheld devices, as I had several of them on hand.
I picked one up from the pile I had made on the bench, a little pad with a screen on it. A moment later, a live feed of where the device was pointed (which was in front of me) was shown on the pad. Only in a strange greenish blue colour.
Moving the little screen around, I quickly found out what its purpose was. Mainly because I had pointed it over Koriand'r's body, as I twisted around on the spot.
The slight glow of the wires and of Kori herself, contrasted with the dark grey tone that everything else gave off, told me exactly what I needed to know about what this machine was used for.
Infrared.
Not a wholly unique, nor a wholly bad thing for such a species to develop. My only gripe was with the tool itself. Unless this thing could be attached to a device or weapon, it wasn't going to be used to the fullest. Not to mention that it wasn't very practical. Having to hold it as I was now was going to get tiresome after not too long. The weakness of the human body.
I was originally going to discard the object, but a thought ran through my mind that made me think otherwise. What exactly were the limits of this new application of my DNA alteration?
You see, Galvanic Mechamorphs had a unique feature to them. Due to the fact that their entire bodies were comprised of nanites, any information the nanites had obtained, so too did they. Meaning that they retained control functions to devices, blueprints and schematics of anything that they've interfaced with and, in the rare case, can form machines and weapons out of their own body that they've previously absorbed or linked with.
A unique case, a small off-shoot of a member of this species, Ship, could, as his (its?) name implied, could become a space-faring ship completely on its own.
I don't really remember how it was capable of doing so, but given that it was the only Mechamorph outside of Malware that was capable of doing so, surely that would mean that Tennyson's DNA sample of a Mechamorph could. And even if his couldn't, that doesn't mean that I now can't.
Sure, originally, back when my DNA was simply fixed to his, I doubt I could, but now that my DNA has been altered to the way it is now, the possibility of such a thing is now open.
After a second of concentration, familiar red and black lines ran across my forearm as my fingers became larger and squarer as the tips of my fingers flattened out. Yes, squarer is, in fact, a word.
A moment later, the hand that was holding the device unfurled and consumed it, and I paid as much attention as I could to what was happening. The device seemed to dissolve into my palm as my hand wrapped around it.
Streams of nanites infiltrated the device, each one branching off into smaller lines that seemed to follow patterns in the hardware, physically mapping it out even as it took everything apart. The process took barely a second to finish, before I slowly but methodically returned my hand to its normal, fleshy form. I clenched and unclenched it repeatedly for a while before making some gestures and nonsensical movements with the fingers. Checking to make sure that my arm still functioned as normal.
As I was testing my arm's responses, I once again felt a strange sensation in the back of my mind and in my chest, like there was something I couldn't quite remember.
The feeling in my chest I'm familiar with, but not the one in my head.
Focusing on the one in my brain for a few seconds resulted in something... shifting(?) and forming in my head and-
I stumbled as I was suddenly bombarded by new sensations and impulses as pain shot through my brain like a laser, forcing my knees to buckle under the pain, with textures and sounds rippling through me as whatever was left of my brain tried to make sense of it all.
I desperately tried to shut it down and focus on one thing at a time, my hands shaking off the sides of my head, as I stared at the grating beneath my feet. With hitched breath, I started to get it under control, I felt my eyes undergo an abrupt change as the veins around my eyes bulged out slightly with a dim red glow, before everything in my vision switched shades and brightness. My body was glowing slightly compared to the metal around me, and as I looked up, I saw the same could be said of the resting Tamaranean in front of me and the lights above me.
Huh. Infrared. I thought to myself as I slowly drew in air.
A few more mental adjustments and I realized that I could switch my vison across a good deal of the electromagnetic spectrum, from what I guessed were microwaves to x-rays.
I didn't go any further than that as my eyes were starting to hurt with a passion, practically screaming for me to stop.
I guess they fooled me, though, hehe, who knew that that little trinket had more to it than just infrared. I gazed at my hand with newfound excitement. I can copy hardware of sensors… but not the software that would let me parse the data? That wasn't something I had to do in my full Galvanic Mechamorp form, though perhaps it was because of the sudden change to a biological interface that caused it. Maybe even how quickly I had assimilated the object.
Regardless, I would have to mess around with that later, as I still had an injured Tamaranean on my hands. I pick up another of the machines (i'll call it a tricorder) and this time only partially interface with it as I did the computer. I was mostly successful in that endeavour but it quickly became apparent to me that my body was not happy with how quickly I had started to try and assimilate with something else. I put down the tricorder and headed back over to Koriand'r.
A few minutes of poking and led me to conclude that she would probably be fine. I had used every mental command I could think of that went along the lines of "assess health of subject" with the tricorder, and everything I got back felt positive. I could also see interesting patterns of energy flowing beneath her skin if I switched my eyes to infrared, and to my untrained gaze, everything looked stable, so I went to sit down at the front of the vessel. I didn't need her to attack me suddenly out of instinct, and waking up in a new environment.
Still, though I tried to stay as focused as possible, I couldn't help but acknowledge, after looking her over, that she was spectacularly built. As in, I had never seen a woman both that attractive and that physically fit in my entire life.
Nor the average Galvan or human woman that I had seen had such a... unique balance of the traits like her.
She looked as good as models did after they went through all that photoshop magic, except she somehow still managed it while lying on a bed after getting the crap kicked out of her. I couldn't exactly tell what her age was. Logically, somewhere in her late teens, maybe easily twenties at a glance, but part of me knew that I couldn't rely on appearance. An easy example would be something like a Nemuina or Kineceleran. Despite their voice and looks, some of them can be quite young.
Hell, as a 10-year-old, Tennyson looked like the average teen or young adult of the Kineceleran species. Granted, that could be because of how quickly they age while on their home planet of Kinet due to all the gravity, but the point still stands.
...
Wait, what would I even count as?
Age, I should clarify age.
I'm a few years shy of being 400 years old as a Galvan; my human influence is... coming up to 19 if I'm remembering correctly. And yes, it is just an annoying human influence, nothing more, nothing less. And I'm sure I'll figure out a way to get rid of it eventually.
So long as this Universe has the technology for it. Which I'm sure it does if the identity of my helper is true. Which, I'm sure it is, I'm just tempering my expectations. Can never be too careful with this stuff.
Actually, now that I think about it, did First Thinker ever delve this far into the Multiverse?
...I... I don't think he did, at least not mention it...
I stood up with more speed than I realised as I raised my fist to the sky and proudly exclaimed, "I've explored the Multiverse, if not explored further before First Thinker Azmuth ever has!"
I couldn't help but laugh at the idea, I bet that would cause the old fool to get mad for once in his long life.
Imagine that, your greatest failure is achieving more than you ever did or even could.
I laughed a bit more before a stray thought passed my mind, causing me to pause in my gloating: Am I even in the same multiverse?
I mean, of course I am, what other possibility is there? I mean, yes, sure, the star maps are incredibly different, Galvan Prime doesn't exist, and I might have Starfire with me right now. But that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm in a different multiverse.
...
...
On the other hand... I started to pace as more thoughts started to circulate my mind.
It wouldn't make any sense for such contradictions with the presented information, given that it doesn't make any sense for Koriand'r to be here if I'm still in my original multiverse. Variations be damned.
Such a situation, such events don't just happen because we're in a different part of the multiverse. For a species to evolve to the point where they look like she does, have the same powers, develop a language like the one Tamereanians have and give her the name Koriand'r.
I stopped my pacing as I looked back over to the injured woman.
As much as I hate to admit it, I very well could have ended up in a different multiverse.
I grunted at that and sat back down, noticing a mirror to my side as I did so.
I spent a few moments finally getting a good look at my body in its humanoid form…
Bleached white hair, sickly pale skin, red eyes and my ever-present bags that came with them mocked me in the mirror.
A black hoodie with dark red highlights, two dark red lines on the upper part of the arms where my biceps are. On the right side of the hoodie was a reversed number 10 coloured in the same dark red as the rest of the outlines, same as the cuffs. The hole in my shirt was still there, as were the bolts that were nestled in my skin.
It wasn't horrifying looking, but that was the best I could say about it.
I let out a sigh before I got to work, looking through any of the other machines that I had gathered as we flew through space. None of them were of any particular note, basic weapons and scouting technology, nothing I haven't seen before.
Unfortunately, it was then that I realized that I had run out of things to keep me busy. Koriand'r and I were safe, the ship was on its way to Earth, and there was nothing else to could do to help. Which meant… that it was finally time to start dealing with everything.
I pulled up a chair to the side of her bed and sat down, resting my head in my hands as I forced myself to recognize the obvious. I… was in the DC universe. Well, a DC universe, to be more precise, but that hardly made a difference.
I knew that such a thing was possible, was real, so long as it hadn't involved me being as so... first-hand with it. How was I going to get home? Do I even want to get home? I mean, if nothing else, my presence here proved that it should be possible to go back, but how long would it take to find it? I mean, I was blasted from one multiverse to another; you don't just 'go back home' like nothing happened. Hell, I don't even know how far or close the two expanded universes are. I could be right next door to a whole country away in terms of metaphysical space and multiverse travelling.
What must my human family be going through right now, me having disappeared without a trace? Did they even notice? How long has it been since my arrival here?
I felt my heart clench in my chest at that thought, and part of me wanted to sob. But I couldn't. I couldn't do that right now. No matter how that human side of me wanted to. It was meaningless to do so.
Yes, meaningless. Completely and utterly meaningless. I gritted my teeth as I pushed such thoughts and emotions down. I couldn't break, I couldn't cry, not right now or ever.
Such a thing was below me. And it will always be so.
Regardless of whatever influence the human side of me had on this body.
And that, in and of itself, was a problem all on its own.
Just what the hell was my new body? How did it do the things it did, and more importantly, what was it doing to me? This fusion was hampering my mental capabilities a little too much for my liking.
It had already taken or altered most of my mental sensations, and who knew what the long-term effects of being stuck like this would do to me. Hell, who's to say that it wasn't affecting me physically, too? Aside from my transformations going wrong, of course.
I had killed two (possibly) sapients and… even now I didn't feel anything about it. Sure, I was about as justified as you could get, but I would have thought that I would have felt something from ending a life. Is that how I always would have responded, or was something else at work?
Would I have killed Tennyson if given the chance?
...I'm... not actually sure if I would or wouldn't.
I mean, yes, I wanted to return to be a Galvan, which(!) I succeed at it by the way, only for Tennyson to end up ruining it. But would I resort to killing him?
As I pondered over the thought, an insidious thought wormed its way to the forefront of my mind as I remember how my body was melting and reformed by the bolts in my chest. How do I know that I'm the real me?
All this time, I've assumed that I'm Albedo, the Galvan that had helped work on the Omnitrix and had gotten stuck in Tennyson's form.
...But... what if I'm not Albedo? I haven't even returned to my Galvin form outside of my fight with the B-Bear.
I'm not sure how long I sat there, mulling over the possibility that I'm not even myself, but eventually a slight moan snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see Koriand'r shifting slightly before her eyes fluttered open. Her gaze locked onto me before she bolted upright, her head whipping around to take in her surroundings, the machine fixing itself back onto the wall in response.
I put my own thoughts aside once more before I held up my hands in a placating manner. "Easy, easy, we're safe now. I managed to get us to a ship and away from the station. I don't think anyone's pursuing us." I said with a somewhat jovial tone. Hoping to lighten the mood.
There was a long pause before she returned her gaze back to me. "I see… and my sister?"
I shifted uncomfortably at the question. "I… had to leave her behind. She wasn't being very cooperative. Attacking you and all."
A look of sadness crossed her face before she closed her eyes. She remained like that before she took a deep breath and opened them again. I instantly noticed a change in her demeanour as she sat up straighter before looking at me. Her eyes lost any sense of sadness and only hardened instead. Whether it was an act or something else, I didn't know. "My name is Koriand'r. We have fought side by side, and you have saved my life when you could have left me behind. Thank you for all that you have done."
Ah, I was never good at receiving praise. Especially from a woman who- "It-It's fine." I managed to get out. "I extended my hand to yours, and you did so in kind. Besides, you got me out in the first place. I couldn't leave you like that." A pause. "Oh, my name's... Albedo, yes Albedo."
She seemed to recognise the slight hesitation in my words, but didn't speak on it as her expression softened. "It is wonderful to meet you Albedo," She paused for a moment before she asked. "If I may ask, how did you end up in that facility? I was not aware that the Psions had anyone other than myself and my sister there for experimentation."
So that's their name, huh? Yeah, okay, checks out then with my human side's knowledge of her backstory.
I let out a breath as I leaned back in my chair. "I wish I could tell you. One day, I was just... doing something, the next thing I know, I blacked out, and I woke up on a slab with one of those lizards looking down at me. It's possible they abducted me, but I honestly don't know."
She tilted her head to the side. "Did you not find out when you interfaced with their systems?"
"I'm… It's complicated. I just barely managed to get the navigational data sent to this ship as well as find out where they kept the data on me before I went to go get you."
"Ah, I am sorry to hear that." Koriand'r blinked. "Where are we going?"
"A planet called Earth. It's my ho-" I cut myself off when I realized the idiocy of that statement. No, it wasn't true, not in the slightest. "Ah, I was stranded there for a time. It has a low level of suspicion due to it being such a backwater planet, along with its people. Though that does unfortunately leave it as a low-level tech planet. We should be able to at least get help there. If there's one thing I know about them, it's that they can generally be trusted (even when it would hurt them)." She looked away for a moment, and before I knew it, I blurted out, "I'm sorry, I didn't know where your planet was."
A pained look crossed her face, and I felt like kicking myself. I knew what her response was before she said it. "It is… fine. I cannot return to my own world."
"I'm… sorry. I didn't mean to-"
"It is not your fault, you could not have known." I felt a bit of guilt at that, but when she continued, her expression brightened. Again, I didn't know if it's genuine or an act "In any case, I will be happy to see this world you've chosen. If these people are anything like you've described them, it must be a wonderful place indeed."
I felt glad for my inability to blush as I responded, "Thanks, though you should know my species doesn't look like this. The place that we're going to, yes, but my species, no, we look quite different." I gestured to myself. "I… something was done to me to give me my current body and abilities."
Koriand'r gave me a curious look for a few seconds before she nodded and stood. "I see. Well, then you shall be a most exceptional person among them indeed." She said cheerfully.
"I'm not so sure about that…" I muttered under my breath.