They ended up walking around for a few blocks before [Frank the Beetle] found them a comfortable alley to stop by. He then emptied a cylinder full of decomposing biomass and put it near her, then did the same with a bigger one and sat himself on it.
"Okay, time to speak...We need to get some things straight." Said [Frank the Beetle] while waiting for her to move.
Should she also imitate him and initiate a pseudo-rest period? For now, she sat herself in the cylinder, it was refreshing for one not having to deal with the carcass of a square-shaped entity.
"When did you form your Core?" And [Frank the Beetle] started with a fast one.
His eyes seemed entirely focused on her, most of them. One of his [Stalk Eyes] seemed to watch every possible angle.
"You don't need to say a precise date, but if it was a few days ago and your parents didn't tell you anything we need to have a Talk." [Frank the beetle] seemed to want what was best for her.
She wasn't sure why she knew that, or what made her think that.
"[There haven't been any new commands sent from external sources and current brain chemistry doesn't seem to indicate manipulation of thoughts on the host.]"
[Main Core] seemed to think that she was thinking this by herself, but why?
"[Possible reasons: Frank the beetle fills a primal need caused by the current body of the host. Possible feeling wanted by host body: Approval.]"
Her body wanted [Approval]? She needed to do a full dive and fix it, if she had been compromised this easily it would be a problem. Maybe it was also a problem caused by her [Core]?
"It was...recent." She answered, "Why?"
[Frank the Beetle] nodded at her, "Thought as much since you didn't know much about them when asking..." Then he moved his [Human] hand across his chitin on his head as if trying to check for integrity. "Okay, the next one is harder...Do you know your way home?"
...Yes...She did...
"Can you go back on your own?" [Frank the beetle] asked before she could answer, it seemed that he had deemed her capable of remembering her way back. But...was that home?
"[Inferred meaning of Home from context clues: Safe place.]"
"I don't have a [Home] to go." The place she had come from wasn't safe. She was reminded of the [Teacher] that seemed to give her a card for a [Safe] place. Could she go there?
She didn't want to keep contact with anyone that knew her links to her [Previous Den] if possible, but it was a valid option should she find herself short of biomass...
She only needed to decipher the way to decode the information held within the square-shaped plant fiber object in which it was saved.
"*sigh* That makes it more difficult, if you have a Core we need to make sure it doesn't...devolve into something dangerous, you seem fine near me. So the Evolution must be going away from an [Insect Core]." ...The what?
"My [Core] was made today, what [Evolution] do you mean?" Alexa said before [Frank the beetle] moved too much away from that.
However what came next wasn't something she had expected, first she thought something had happened as [Frank the beetle] gave a battle screech and ran as far away from the alley entry as his body was able to.
She turned her attention towards the entry point and prepared herself for combat...only to find nothing, which was good. Since she wasn't sure that she would be able to fight that well in this form.
"Is something the matter?" She asked as [Frank the beetle] tried to move further into the wall, was he trying to phase through it?
She had never managed to do that with her crab form, since that form had too many materials, but maybe chitin and meat would make it easier?
"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAID THAT FIRST! I COULD HAVE INFECTED YOU WITH MY [Insect Core]!" [Frank the beetle] said back at her.
He what?
"[Target Frank the Beetle has been expelling unidentified energy, said energy has been absorbed and distilled into the same type that current Core has. Perhaps less capable Core Users can be affected by this energy and make it so they synch themselves to other nearby Core Users making more tight communities.]"
Was the analysis Main Core gave her, so should she [Shift] her form closer to [Frank the Beetle] to make it easier to integrate herself in his community?
She wouldn't mind having a chitin plating again...But she would miss the feeling of the wind on her [Skin]...
"DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FORM AN [Insect Core]!" [Frank the beetle] said from the back end.
"But wouldn't that make it easier to live in this area?" She asked back to [Frank the beetle], who seemed taken aback by her logic.
Had she missed some implications?
"...[Insect Core]'s are tied to more primal instincts, children rarely are able to control their feelings, and as such end up dead...I...I don't want to have to kill another kid, so no. I will not be responsible for this, here, take this." And then [Frank the beetle] threw another vegetable fiber thing her way.
It had the depiction of square-shaped forms and a few lines between them, "That's a map of this area, the red dot is where the bunker I took you is. Follow the arrows in the map, it will guide you to an Organization I work with from time to time, they will help you there to stabilize the [Core]. If you don't have anywhere to stay they should allow you into their daycare...If they refuse to give you a place to stay show them the letter I wrote at the back of the map. That should get you a place to stay, but you may need to work for a living." [Frank the beetle] started climbing the wall, "Do not come near this place till your [Core] has settled, and if you end up as an [Insect Core]...please do not leave the sewers."
And afterward [Frank the beetle] turned invisible once more, she was no longer able to detect him, and felt...
"[New emotion detected, Loneliness: The feeling of solitude.]"
Alone, she took the square-shaped object made of vegetable fiber and saw the depiction on it. It had more squiggle lines besides those that seemed to indicate the area she was or had been.
"[New Information detected, compared to mental map...Accuracy of 85%, map updated...Inferring information from extrapolating data...Squiggle lines may hold information....Starting translating subroutine.]"
So the squiggle lines were indeed information codified onto it, so all the squiggle lines she had been seeing all around were codified information of some kind?
The [Humans] were indeed a dangerous creature, for now, she would follow the [Map] and see what this was about, perhaps she could find a way to [Settle her core] and return to speak more with [Frank the beetle]?
That was her plan for later, but for now?
"I will see you later then [Frank the beetle], thank you," Alexa said to the empty air, she liked to think that [Main Core] would find evidence of [Frank the beetle].
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
But [Main Core] didn't find any sign of the [Human] in question, so with a sigh Alexa left the alleyway they had walked in. Following the approximate directions of the [Map] she got, she started walking toward that place.
The sounds of the fight between the [Scorcher] and [SuperForce] had started to slow down, and as far as [Main Core] was concerned:
"[Probability of structural failure within range of survivability to current form are optimal, current form has shown to be able to function without internal bone structure for long times, it is possible to alter the internal muscles to work and move without bones.]"
[Main Core] showed her a few examples of her under those settings, a few projections of muscles contorting and moving along the floor, for some reason she felt a visceral reaction to those images and didn't want to entertain the idea of them. Something about how her body looked and moved felt [Wrong], it came from the biological side of her body. So it wasn't entirely [Logical], but since she needed this side to function and work as a way to integrate herself in [Human] society, she couldn't turn it off.
So instead she shelved the idea altogether!
If the place fell on her head she would either need to turn off her [Brain] and let [Main Core] host her [Self] while doing what was needed or bite the biomass cost and do it manually.
But for now, she had places to go!
Such as...Whatever those squiggly lines meant!
"See? I told you it was safe, the tremors have stopped for almost five minutes already, so it means the fight ended." Alexa heard someone speak as someone opened a [Door] and walked outside one of the [Rooms] in the [Street]. "Oh, where is your Mother darling?"
Darling?
"[Emotion detected in tone, correlation...Love, care, protection.]"
The [Human - Female Adult Stage] said as she turned to look at her, Alexa wasn't quite sure why they all always reacted like this to her, was this some kind of genetic imprint on them to show these reactions to [Human - Child Stage]?
"I was told to follow these directions, do you know what it says here?" Alexa said as she hid the second letter [Frank the Beetle] had given her and only showed the [Map] with the [Directions].
"Is your Mother there? Let me see..." Said the [Human - Female Adult Stage] as she [Smiled] and put a pair of [Crystal]-like objects in front of her [Eyes].
"[Perception alteration object detected...Analysis in progress, seems to function to increase the fidelity of visual information, possible blueprint stored for further use.]"
She wasn't sure why [Main Core] wanted to save that one, she already had plenty of designs of [Cameras] from her time with the P1-P3 subjects, hell, her own time as her [Glorious form] had plenty use of [Cameras], and the [Human] Eye was a marvel of bio camera on its own, not the most efficient one in a single wavelength, but good enough with multiple wavelength.
"Oh..." The [Human - Female Adult Stage] said as her tone of voice dropped a few decibels, "...I didn't know..."
Now that reaction was different, it was closer to the one [Teach] had shown when she found that she didn't have anyone waiting for her in the [Reception], it was...
"[Human Emotion: Sadness, defeat, pity.]"
It was tinged with those bad emotions, Alexa didn't like those emotions.
"It says... Second Chance Employment, it is..." The [Human-Female Adult Stage] said as she returned the [Map] to Alexa, "...a place that gives jobs to those that can't hold a normal one, are you sure your Mother is there?"
Well, she was sure her [Mother] wasn't there, as she didn't have one of those, maybe she should search what those words meant?
"I was told that I could get a place to stay there," Alexa answered, she wasn't sure why, but the [Human - Female Adult Stage] had drops of water form on the side of her eyes at her answer.
"Is it safe then?" Another [Human] spoke as the [Door] opened again, "huh? It is safe, they even let kids walk around huh...is something the matter?"
The new [Human] turned its eyes to the previous one and then towards her, and finally towards her [Map]. "Evan...This girl....she..." And while saying so she pointed to her [Map].
"She what?" Asked the other [Human] as he turned its attention to her [Map] "Oh that is four blocks that way."
The other [Human] said while pointing her in the same direction she had been walking. "EVAN!" The [Human-Adult Stage Female] raised her volume while hitting the other Human. "Don't you know what kind of neighborhood that is?!?"
What kind of what was what?
"I mean yeah, but it isn't like they don't have kids on it. Granted this one looks more high-end since she is dressed in expensive-looking clothes...." the [Evan] human eyed her as if calculating something, she in turn just prepared to run away, checking her stockpiles of energy and preparing her [Nanites] to reconstruct the ruptured muscles should she need to prepare a burst of energy. "But still has the same vibe as those on our side."
The [Evan] Human said at the end, "Move along kid. My partner is new to this part of the city, just ignore her and try to not scam her if you can, I will turn a blind eye should I see you again in exchange." And then made a motion for her to move.
She wasn't quite sure what [Our Side] referred to, but still appreciated the directions and translation services they had given her. She had a few words to match with those squiggly lines after all.
"[Our Side, may refer to an allegiance, either perceived or real.]"
Main core seemed to think that the [Evan] Human had misjudged her as someone from the same [Faction] as him, that was...maybe good? It may mean that she would fit in some of the [Factions] already, and that would make it easier to blend in.
"[Translation suite advanced, adding known meaning to lines in paper.]"
And that was also advancing, everything was going quite well, now she only needed to arrive at the location in the [Map].
And while comparing the squiggle lines around versus the translation on this [Map] she found plenty of repetitions of these [Letters], it seemed to be a very short code that they used seemed to only use thirty-six characters or [Letters] on it.
They grouped them to make the bulk bigger, and even if she took into consideration the thirty-six different variations, it seemed that of those, ten seemed to be particularly different, for some reason most of those codes followed a somewhat similar pattern than there were the characters [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0] that looked somewhat different. Also unlike the other twenty-six characters. These rarely showed in the middle of the other encrypted messages.
Take this untranslated cipher for example [Bistro Burger], it seemed to use a few of the [Characters] previously analyzed, but then on the side of this [Block] was another [Sign] that reused some of those in [Bistro Burger #3].
It added two extra characters, one she knew since it had shown in some parts of her code, so it referred to some [Designation] so the [3] would be said designation. But what did [3] mean?!?!
Why couldn't these [Humans] be more clear and integrate their [Language] into the [Brain] from [Inception]! Would it be that too hard?!?
Hadn't they enslaved another species?!? Surely they had the technology!
"[Emotion Detected, Anger.]"
She was angry? So this was anger, interesting...NOT, SHE WAS ANNOYED AT THIS!
"[New emotion added to database, Annoyance. Thank you for your help in the Emotion Database host.]"
..."New emotion detected, sassiness...Add it to the database." She wasn't sure if that was the correct way, nor if the emotion was correct. But she felt it was correct.
Who would have thought, she was getting the hang of this [Human] thing already!
"[...Analyzed evidence, correct. Adding Sassy to the database.]"
Small victories.
And while feeling [Smug] about how she had dealt a critical hit to [Main Core] for getting out of order she continued her trek towards her objective, as she saw the time tick forward more and more [Humans] started leaving the [Rooms] at the side of the [Street], it was soon that the whole place was populated by multiple variations of the different [Stages] on their growth, from [Child] to [Adult] with some variations that she didn't have yet stored, there seemed to be a few [Larva] or [Pupa] stage here and there, she wasn't sure what differences existed in those [Blueprints].
On one side she could see a [Larva] stage human carried with its appendages flopping uselessly around, but from what she could tell from its [Face], it had about the same estimated [Biomass] as another [Pupa] stage that was covered in the same [Textile] material that her [Armor] was made.
If anything that one seemed more [Comfortable] than the one that had its appendages flopping around uselessly. Was the [Larva] stage variant one that hadn't managed to get the [Textile] armor? Did the humans also [Grow] the [Textile] armor and those [Larva] hadn't got enough [Biomass]?
Then we moved to those closer to her in size, it seemed that hers wasn't as standardized as she had thought, there were some variations from stage to stage, and it seemed that the [Humans] grew entirely in a slow and methodical way, but while the transition seemed to be...gradual, there were stark demarcations between stages.
She had captured visual data of at least two to three stages between her current one [Child] to the [Adult], and even between the [Adult], there seemed to be at least two variations on that one. And of course...there was [That].
"Have a candy darling." What seemed to be a decrepit [Human], giving small condensed [Balls] of bioenergy full of [Dextrose]. It was eerie, most [Humans] treated with deference, [Adult] stage humans gave way to this one. While [Child] stage humans keep roaming around it and doing their best to ingratiate to this one.
She just was straight up wary of that human, she of course took the bioenergy object and quickly ate it, it was free energy after all, and also there was a weird flavor on it that seemed to increase the production of [Serotonin] on her organic core. And while doing so she took as small a sample as she could from that [Human].
It was easy enough, and she was half sure the [Human] knew since it [Smiled] at her as their [Hands] separated from each other, hers with the [Bioenergy] object in her [Hand] and as much as dead skin she could manage to absorb from the other [Human] (And she had plenty to go around).
She got so much that she even managed to get a full [Blueprint] from her.
"[Blueprint acquired, added to database: Human - Female Elder Stage]."
"[Blueprint acquired, added to database: Disease - Diabetic]"
"[Blueprint acquired, added to database: Disease - Hypertension]"
"[Blueprint acquired, added to database: Genetic Malfunction - Cancerogenous Cell]."
Truly, the peak of humanity, so much hidden within the shell of decrepit and weakness, but hidden within the true [Evil] of what they were capable of, she had needed to [Destroy] a few organs when she tried to simulate some of those things. And others were outright biochemical attacks. Those she had been forbidden from developing, and after seeing what they could do to her [Unawakened Human Body], she understood why.
The first [Disease] would make it almost impossible for her to assimilate [Bioenergy] efficiently, the second one made a chaos to move her [Blood] with any degree of efficiency and made it almost impossible for her to [Fight] with any modicum of efficiency.
Even at their most [Senile] stage the [Humans] found ways to equalize the fight...
But the last one, the last one made her fear fully settle in her [mind].
"[Warning, further attempts to study new cell types risk destruction of the current body. Care is advised.]"
It worked somewhat similar to her [Nanite] swarm, only on a biological level, and it...It was horrific what it did, it turned the [Cells] within the body into uncontrollable entities that reproduced at an alarming rate and would cannibalize other parts of the body to fester more of their brethren.
For her, it was worse since her body was streamlined for her [Nanite Swarm], so most of her body followed the same template that made it easier for alterations, so should she get some of those cells without paying attention...
She may very well lose all her current biomass, and be left with only the [Mechanical] parts, and with only those, she would find it hard to get more [Biomass] without humans finding out about her.
Truly... [Humanity] was a [Monstrous] thing... And she walked around with that kind of [Weaponry]? And they allowed their [Larva], [Pupa] and [Child] stage [Humans] near?
She wasn't sure if she should applaud their bravery or their confidence. It meant one thing, though. Should she manage to fully integrate, she could very well no longer fear attacks, but should they ever find out about her...
"[Utter destruction]"
Yeah...So this [Map] better grant her what she was promised.