It took roughly ten minutes for the medical nanites to heal the goblin, who’d called him ‘Antchaser’ for some reason, well enough to speak. He still wouldn’t be moving by his own power anytime soon, but at least he wasn’t at risk of dying anymore.
Alpha only hoped what information he could extract from the creature was worth using Alphantonso V’s emergency dose. Medical nanites were still expensive to make, and it didn’t help he needed to tweak them enough to be compatible with the antborg’s faux-flesh. With production of the IV-2s ramping up and plans to grow V-2s as well, Alpha would have to solve that problem soon.
When they could finally speak, Antchaser told his story. Alpha listened, recording the entire thing, of course, but grew more agitated with each passing moment.
Why the hell do these things keep happening here?! Alpha internally complained.
This wasn’t his first time in a lawless world. The ‘lost worlds,’ those worlds from the Second Federation that had been isolated from the greater galaxy, sometimes devolved into dystopia hellscapes or segmented feudalistic states. One constant throughout the galaxy was that power abhorred a vacuum. And just like any good collapsing vacuum, the damage left in the Second Federation’s wake sometimes didn’t heal, even after thousands of years.
Or at least not until someone with a bigger stick came along and beat things back into place.
Alpha was the Third Federation’s ‘stick.’
Alphantonso V tilted their head as Alpha thought on the matter. Eventually, he turned to the goblin and spoke. “So now your village is being held hostage, in effect?”
Antchaser nodded and looked away and nodded.
“Well, that’s none of my concern, if I’m honest,” Alpha responded.
Antchaser’s eyes snapped to the ant, and the goblin bared its teeth in a snarl, but the man quickly deflated. Alpha could imagine what was going through their head. Maybe they expected some kind of sympathy. Or maybe for Alpha to offer help of some kind. After all, he had just saved them from certain death.
Well, too bad for them; Alpha was tired of helping for free. That’s how he’d gotten into this situation in the first place. Granted, helping civilians was part of his job, but not if it interfered with his overall mission.
If I’m jumping at every group of bandits on this cesspit of a planet, I’ll never get any work done, Alpha thought to himself.
What the goblin did next surprised even Alpha, however.
With their body still broken and enduring what must have been horrific pain, Antchaser pushed themselves up and repositioned until they were sitting on their knees. Slowly, the goblin lowered themselves onto the ground in a kowtow.
“Sir, I beg you. Lend this one your support. Whatever you ask of me, I will repay you if it is within my power.”
Without eyelids to narrow, Alpha tilted the antborg’s head and asked, “Why should I? Don’t mistake my saving you for generosity. You had the information I wanted, and now I have it. I’m a busy… ant. What could you offer me that it would be worth my time?”
Antchaser paused, and without looking up, said. “The adventurers have made a mistake.”
“Oh?” Alpha responded. “Go on…”
The goblin spoke a little louder, a little clearer. “They raided the village to gain information about the area. They seek the treasures of this land for their own means. But the villagers seldom leave the village surroundings. At most, they’ll travel to the river and back as a group. This cavern is as dangerous as it is bountiful. The villagers aren’t the ones who know the secrets of this land.”
Antchaser paused before looking up at Alpha, a sparkle in his eyes, and finished, “The hunters are.”
Oh? I see…. Alpha was putting together where the goblin was going with this.
The goblin lowered their head once more and continued. “Not just me. The other hunters, both those still in the forest and those trapped in the village, all of us have been slowly gathering information about this place in our own ways. You ask what I can offer you? The same thing you desired originally. Information.”
“Hmmmmmm,” Alpha considered. That was a tempting offer. It would save him weeks, maybe months, of scouting and research on his own. While he doubted that some dinky village in the middle of a literal cave held much information, Alpha was sure he could find other uses for them as well. “So you’re willing to freely offer what these… adventurers are looking for? Why? Isn’t the entire point of your village’s resistance so that they won’t lose these ‘treasures,’ as you call them?”
The goblin sighed and responded. “That’s not untrue. But what use are treasures if you’re dead? That is the difference here. Adventurers… adventurers are like locus. They sweep in and strip the land, leaving scraps for those left behind. That’s what adventurers do. If they have their way, this cavern will be barren in a decade and take centuries to recover. Even if they don’t slaughter my people for sport, they will leave us with nothing.”
Alpha nodded but asked. “What makes you so certain I won’t do the same?”
“Because I’ve watched your people,” the goblin said. “I’ve seen how the ants treat the forest. You bend it to your will, but don’t destroy it. I never thought I would be… speaking to one of you, but I will also be the first to admit that life has proven me wrong before. Even so, I’m willing to take the chance.”
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Alpha nodded again. When confronted with such a situation, the goblin had chosen the lesser of two evils. Commendable wisdom, even if the man had made a fundamental mistake about who he was. Not that Alpha was about to correct him, of course. Not yet.
He did consider what the goblin had said, however. If it was true that these adventurers were as… opportunistic as they seemed, that could cause trouble for him later. Not even considering the loss of potential resources, if they decided they didn’t want to share with the ants and came after them, it would throw a wrench into Alpha’s plans.
The question was, was it a problem for future Alpha? Or was this something that he needed to nip in the bud before it grew?
Antchaser had gone silent while Alpha thought, and the minutes stretched on. After a time, Antchaser started sweating, and his breathing became labored. No doubt the awkward position wasn’t doing any favors for his condition.
Alpha sighed, taking one last look at the man kowtowing in front of him.
He really was too soft at times.
The goblin gave a yelp as nanite tendrils wrapped around his body and pulled him atop Alphantonso V. Alpha turned and made his way back toward the base, his ‘cargo’ tied down secure. By the time Alpha had reached the ant’s clearing, the goblin was already unconscious.
— — — — — — — — — — —
When Antchaser came to, it wasn’t in the forest as he had expected. Instead, he found himself floating in… something. He could breathe perfectly fine despite being fully submerged in the strange liquid. Was this a dream? His mind was still foggy, and it was hard to form complete thoughts.
If he was dreaming, it would also explain the weird distortion in his vision. Like everything was stretched and bulging from the center point. Slowly, his mind started to clear, and memories tricked back. Antchaser’s eyes bulged as he realized this wasn’t a dream, and he tried to sit up, only to smash his head against a clear barrier. The pain wiped away what fog remained, only to replace it with panic.
Antchaser struggled in what he now realized was some kind of liquid-filled glass chamber. It was then that he also noticed the various strange vines attached to his body. His struggling intensified as he began to pull at the vines invading his body. He banged on the glass walls as the clear liquid surrounding him took on a slightly red tint from the blood spilling into it.
A voice suddenly spoke, and Antchaser froze. “Good, you’re awake. Now stop pulling out your IVs, and I’ll drain the med-pod.”
The glass chamber rumbled slightly, and Antchaser felt the surrounding liquid slowly drain. A few seconds later, the chamber was nearly empty, and the top portion of the chamber slid away with a hiss. Antchaser shot upward and pulled himself over the edge of the chamber, his lungs emptying themselves of the strange liquid with wracking coughs.
The voice called out again, and this time, Antchaser recognized it as the mysterious’ Alpha.’ “Careful now. Your body’s healed, but adjusting to the implants might take some time; you’ll be sore for a few hours.”
“Im-cough-implants? What are you — ” It was then that Antchaser got a good look at one of his arms. While most of the flesh seemed normal, a thin strip had been fused… no… replaced by a metal band running up the length of his forearm. Several strange protrusions stuck out from it, a few of which were still connected to the vines he had yet to pull out.
As he stared, said vines fell out with a pop, and the protrusions folded into the metal strip until they were perfectly flush. His heart racing, Antchaser glanced at his other arm only to see the same thing. Further inspection revealed similar strips on each of his legs, one over his chest and two more on the back of his neck.
Antchaser tried to stand, only for a wave of dizziness to overtake him as he fell onto his back.
“What…what did you do to me?!” the goblin asked as he clutched his head.
Again, Alpha spoke from somewhere Antchaser couldn’t see. “Your injuries were worse than I thought. Those ‘adventurers’ did a number on you. I’m honestly surprised you hadn’t collapsed beforehand. Unfortunately, I designed the med-pods for the ants, not humanoids. That meant I had to make some rushed modifications. To the machine and you.”
Anchaser pushed himself into a sitting position, still rubbing his pounding head. “I don’t understand. What happened? What does that mean?”
Alpha laughed. “For you? Nothing. They’re minor things any Federation civilian already has. Technically, I’m not allowed to do that kind of modification without your consent, as you’re still a civilian, but extraneous circumstances forced my hand.”
A large ant walked through a nearby opening and pushed itself up against Antchaser. The man pressed their hand against the insect’s bumpy carapace and stood on shaking legs.
When he was standing on his own power, Alpha continued. “At most, it’ll mean you have access to any Federation med-pod in the galaxy if it’s needed again, so that’s something, at least. The medication will wear off within the hour, while the synth-skin will finish growing in a few days. After that, you’ll likely forget you even have them.”
Antchaser found he barely understood half of what Alpha was telling him, but from what he could, it was clear enough that the strange being had saved his life. At what cost would have to be seen later.
Antchaser turned to the ant and asked, “How long have I been out?”
The ant tilted its head and responded. “Roughly 18 hours. It would have been quicker, but again, modifications had to be made. Now that you’re awake, we can finally have a nice face-to-face talk and work out where we go from here.”
Antchaser tilted his own head and raised a brow, his mind feeling less sluggish with each passing moment. “Aren’t we already talking?” he asked.
Alpha laughed, and the ant turned away, not bothering to answer. It then quickly walked back out the way it had come.
Antchaser hesitated for a moment, unsure if he should follow. Too much of this didn’t make any sense. From the talking ant, to the strange glass chamber, to the other strange artifacts, he spied around the room, not to mention whatever the hell it had done to his body. Seeing no other option, however, he quickly followed after them.
Alpha led Antchaser down a series of hallways that struck Antchaser as oddly… well, he couldn’t quite place what felt so off about them. At the very least, they felt nothing like he imagined the ant colony to be like, despite the occasional ant they passed by. The other ants never even gave Antchaser a second glance as they went about their way, which he felt was also strange. Demon Ants were highly territorial, and to see the creatures so… apathetic to his presence sent chills up his spine for some reason.
Eventually, the hallway turned into a new chamber, and Antchaser was struck by how alien the room seemed. It was filled with dozens of strange artifacts, some that seemed to move independently as they sparked and whirled. Dozens of black vines covered the area, linking all the machines. As they walked deeper into the room, Antchaser followed the black vines to their source, only to freeze, his eyes wide and mouth agape.
There, at the origin point of all the wires, sat a large pillar. And atop that pillar sat what Antchaser could only describe as a giant metal orb.
As he stared, Alpha spoke, his voice not emanating from the ant this time but the orb. “You’ll have to excuse the mess. I wasn’t expecting visitors so soon. Mind the wires; we don’t need you tripping and ending up in the med-pod again.”
Of course, Antchaser immediately tripped over one of the larger ‘wires,’ having never broken eye contact with the giant orb.
The sudden fall was enough to break the man out of his daze, though, and he quickly scrambled to his feet, still staring at Alpha.
Softly, he whispered, maybe more to himself than Alpha, “It-it all makes sense now… you never were an ant. You… You’re a Dungeon Core!”