Some Years after our battle came to an "End" the Coalition of Sentient Beings, Awful name i know, begun to send Scout ships inside our improvised Truce zone.
As I are the only one who maintains faster than light chanels betwen my Galaxy's, cause I dont want to splinter my remaining conciseness into more parts to gather back together, they 5picked me as the last exploration target.
The ones that flew over to gather data from the Devourer got blocked by the stellar radiation which scrambles there scanning data. So they had no idea what was happening with it. Even i, only know a little of what is happening inside, but the constant decreasing of the Stars Radius suggests that this galaxy will go cold sooner than later.
The ones that have gone to the Krystal Hive splinter, had a worse fate. After they touched down on one of the Krystal Hive occupied planets, they were deccepted into a false sense of safety. Trapping themselves outside there ships inside a wonderful opportunity to gather data which ended with their capture.
The Hive splinter captured these individuals to better understand its new sense of selve. Comparing the captured subjects with its own Growing self, it has evolved itself to be capable of more than just pure calculation. It now has a hole lot of new frameworks to process his data inputs even if it dosent know the uses yet.
Yeah the mentioned subjects probably haven't made it out yet, or they are dead whatever comes first.
And lastly me, the reconstruction of my sense of self goes more Smoothly than anticipated, and my planets begun to trieve. With my increasing self awareness the ecosystems of told planets begun to change from pure predatory to a more balanced cycle of life and evolution.
Some planets even got walking little stubby mushrooms now, they even got little stubby arms and legs , but true to their origins they still connect to my roots. Wich feels kinda strange as a former Human male, but after milena of being true to my primal desires and instincts I now know myself probably better than bevor and as a Myzelium being that spans Galaxy's I do not have a traditional gender anymore. I am just myself now.
As for the ones that came to my planet they wore probably the thickest environment protection suits they could find and they equipped mobile scanning backpacks wich beeped increasingly higher pitched and faster the more data they gathered.
They even got a specialist frome one of the longer lived races among them, wich would make a fascinating research opportunity. As they bicker among themselves I tried to guide them away from their ships by slowly increasing my Bioactive responses, wich they could track. After some more bickering among themselves some go back to their ships and some including the one from the longer lived species decided to go deeper to gather more data.
Perfect come to me little ones, truth to be told, since gaining some of my personality back I grew more bored each day, they came Perfect for entertainment.
The ones I don't need may join the nutrition pools where I store nutrition for future energy expenditure, they lay betwen my roots. If they die before reaching it, it would be a waste of all the metals they carry. Only braking down their Biomass would grant far les nutrition then braking them down completely.
After some more time trotting along the increasingly aktive roots of me, they are now near my nutrition pools. Witch for them is an unresistable allure. Cause my stored nutrition solution, has the ability to increase biological cell activity and bolster the lifespan of carbon based bio cells.
Wich is why they love to steal it. These disrespectful shortlived People.
Except for one race among them which has kinda pointy ears and ages very slowly, couse they have true blue blood wich isn't iron based but something else. But these people think they are some kind of noble beings. Wich they are not its just diffrent evolution.
But anyway they nearly at the nutrition pools, let's focus on that.
After they found a natural path down towards the inner part of the planet, towards my roots and the nutrition pools I'm keeping, they begun to cheer only the long eared mixed blood still keeps his vigilance.
Couse they have reached only the processing pools, as the one in the lead leans down to grab a sample with an glass tube, my roots shifted beneath his foothold and he stumbles around trying to catch himself but gravity drags him merciless down into the processing pool.
He panicked trying to leave by grabbing the edge but my roots inside the edge shoved him back inside, I mean he tried to steal from me and now I'm stealing his nutrition. His protective suit and backpack begun to hiss as the corrosive property's of the processing pools begun to break his equipment down to flakes.
His colleagues tried to throw him an Steel metal rope, wich began dissolving the moment it touched the liquid inside the pool. Before they could swich ropes to try again, he let out an bloody scream the liquid breached his suit and now begun to dissolve his body.
His colleagues glanced at each other, one shakes his head and the other beguns to pray for him. His painful screams stopped 20 seconds later , only the rest of his suit and equipment slowly surfacing before even that sinks into the pool flaking into compounds and nutrition.
The one praying makes a strange gesture maybe a final prayer for his dead colleague, then they begun to bicker again, this time clearly about my processing pool.
Ah I forgot, they probably have no idea that this is not a nutrition pool but a processing pool. On most of my worlds they used to steal from most of the processing pools are already converted into nutrition pools, and I only retain big processing pools at strategic locations. I was maybe not realy self conciseness but at least I wasn't stupid.
After they finished their bickering among themselves, they tried to leave but the entrance has silently closed while their attention was on their diying colleague. Now forced to continue the exploration of my underground root system they scanned again for a nutrition pool and a posible escape route.
These hypocrites first the wanna steal but one of the team dies and now there is zero interest pointed at the pool. No they think this pool is corrupt now and search for another one not knowing that the stuff processed here is rerouted to every nutrition pool in range.
I wish I could tell them just to see there faces, but atleast that has to wait for now. I can't make a proxy body with a still unfixed personality, it's already in repair that takes more and more time already.
After some more walking the group reached a subteran rift, a jagged cut beneath the surface I covered. The darkness lays over it like a grim blanket and the only way forward is over my roots crossing the rift.
One of the group members throws a part of the wall down and shushes the group to hear the impact, while his colleges just rolled his eyes and used their equipment to chek how deep this rifts goes down. The impact was full 30 seconds after he dropped, and a sharp tone ringed from the walls, echoing clearly.
While that one tries to hear it his colleagues glanced at the open roots across the rift wich pulse softly inside the darkness, transporting liquid nutrition and compounds. The soft bioluminescent glow of my roots to the contrast of the harsh white light the researchers equipment brought. Most of the researchers begun to bicker again, some want to use a alternative route, but to bad other routes are not available.
So they begun to chain themselves together with some steel rope again, then they begun crossing over one by one lead by the mixed blood. It's like the one with most experience has to go first, very nice of you. The roots above them begun secreting processing fluids wich drips down on then hissing as it dissolves the outer layer of the equipment. And of course the rope got dissolved too so it's a solo act again.
I kinda feel hazily, some memories off a hounted house and horror movies, suddenly coming to my mind and an amusing twitching came over me. My roots pulsing with my amusement and the whole group of people crossing sensed it. Some lost their balance and slipped into the rift dragging most of the group down with them, the first two people reached safety shortly after I started to be amused. Well only one to get rid of now. The fallen ones can be scraped of the ground later for recycling.
I don't want to feed a short lived thief, after I take the mixed blood hostage. Damm it. How to get rid of that one single target.
A sudden pulse of bioenergy streaks across my roots like a light pulse of inspiration. I don't need take care of that one this problem solves itself, this place has atmospheric conditions that are toxic to nearly everyone as long as they seperate the short lived one would die anyway.
To bad they seem to stay together, maybe once they reach the prison area they will seperate.
As the last two of the team begun to follow the path ahead they tried to send some messages back to their ships, to bad I regained some mental capacitys. And i can now use my planetary sized conciseness nodes to block messages up to short range quantum communication. So the only thing the ships know that there are still some people alive down here.
The quicker it becomes one, the quicker I can put my whole focus back to repairing myself. The two people in question, reached the beginning of my underground root chambers, where the naked stone walls are covered with a gritty layer of roots. And here and there one can spot little liquid filled bumps along the walls. The pair moved closer together scanning one of the filled bumps and the little thieve got excited about the potential value trying to steal my nutrition solution with a little cylinder. The mixed blood sadly stopped him before my roots could squish this thive into paste.
He even encouraged him to not touch anything until they get out, maybe he want to steals from me to. But I can't remember to have seen any of his kind stealing from me before. His kind, if they show up, usaly only gathers data about me.
Probably only to add research data. Couse the one or another galaxy wide evacuation and hostile takeover, could be one or two of these, or multiple. You know I wasn't in my right mind.
Anyway I'm no longer a human I shouldn't be concerned abouts such stuff. The two researchers made their way deeper between my roots already stepping in the, as prison designated area. Inside the room layes a very large root containing a massive amount of nutrition solution, and both carefully scanned the room. After making sure there are no obvious problems on the scan results, they stepped inside, the cave slowly filling inside the distance darkness, trapping them inside.
The root placed inside the room should be sufficient to keep the mixed blood alive till my mind has healed, I even made a closed ventilation system so he could breathe.
The sudden alarming beeping of the scanners wakes them up from their stupid staring at my root, like little greedy thieves. One wants to steal the solution for credits the other wants to steal my biology data. Like a sirius breach of my privacy. The both of them checked their scanners, wich showed them the filling way behind them and the realisation that the only way out was now closed. It hit them like a physical blow.
They knew that this was a highrisk Misson, they now my bad history and they still came. At least they are currently not being processed like the fallen ones, God for them I guess.
For easy conversation my roots told them to "Survive" on the wall they are scanning, bevor my focus shifted back to self healing.