Ubel stood in the sterile, dimly lit laboratory deep within the Blitzkrieg, a faint hum of machinery filling the room. He peered at something with a mix of curiosity, concern, and great interest on his face. The object of his curiosity lay on a sleek metal table under an array of sensors and scanners, encased in a containment field—a strange, viscous mass of synthetic material that was dark, almost oily, with a strange, undulating movement that suggested it was alive. Droids, each with specialized appendages, moved swiftly across the various workstations, analyzing, scanning, and breaking down the sample. His droids scanned the strange sample that they retrieved from the mysterious slime that crippled Blitzkrieg’s thrusters during his battle with the UGTR armada. Holo-screens flickered that projected data in real-time while multiple droids hovered and scuttled around the lab, processing the strange material.

One of his droids, a sleek, humanoid unit with multiple sensors, turned to him. Its voice was modulated but clear.

"Preliminary analysis complete, Captain. The material exhibits properties similar to some of the known traits of nanotechnologies but does not fit within any current classifications. It is reactive to electromagnetic signals and demonstrates autonomous movement."

"Autonomous movement?" Ubel raised an eyebrow; he didn’t look up immediately. His mind was racing with possibilities as the scans continued.

Another drone floated over, projecting a holo-image of the molecular structure of the sample. The intricate web of connections looked almost organic, but not quite.

"The material operates on a decentralized control system," the first droid continued. "Its structure suggests it can shift and change form, responding to external stimuli, but it lacks the full independence of true nanotechnology.”

“So, it’s more like... a controlled slime." Ubel narrowed his eyes, watching as the drone projected several holographic models of the material in mid-air. The blob continued to pulse within the containment field, changing shapes subtly as if testing the very container that restricted it. It wasn’t just reacting—it was trying to adapt.

“That seems like a potential precursor to reaching the very edge of nanotechnology. By the way, can you try to find a way to control this thing?” he asked the droid.

“It’s possible but it may take some time. We applied different ways to control or even manipulate its movement but had no satisfying result.”

Ubel’s fingers tapped on the edge of the table. He summoned more details from the holo-display. He tilted his head in thought, bringing his cigarette to his lips, the glow of its embers briefly lighting up his face. He exhaled, sending a cloud of smoke into the already hazy lab air. Ubel couldn’t shake the unsettling sensation that the blob was also watching him.

"Run a molecular analysis, cross-reference with known Terran tech," Ubel commanded, his gaze still locked on the material. "Let’s see what we're dealing with here."

The droids hummed in response, their appendages whirring as they processed the information. A holographic representation of the material’s molecular structure began to appear. Unlike anything Ubel had encountered before, it showed a complex, almost organic architecture—layers upon layers of intricate, interwoven components.

"Slime, huh?" Ubel murmured, intrigued. "So, the UGTR is experimenting with this... but for what purpose? Was it just for weaponry?"

“My current calculations highly doubt so.” The droid surprisingly replied with a denial of his assumption.

“Why is that?” he got intrigued.

“The potential adaptability and broad use of this material is almost infinite. If unlocked to its peak possibilities, it could challenge the current nanotechnology that was already applied to the commander’s body and the Nanoveramite of this ship.”

“What do you mean-”

Just as he was about to delve deeper, the door to the lab slid open, and Creed and Bastille walked in, looking equally curious but wary. Creed was the first to speak.

"You wanted us here, commander?"

"Yeah, take a look at this." Ubel pointed to the containment field. “Do you know what kind of thing this is?”

The two men approached cautiously. Bastille’s brow furrowed as he examined the material.

"Can’t say I have. Synthetic, though... strange stuff." Bastille said with a smirk, though his voice held an edge of unease. "That sounds like something you’d cook up, Ubel,"

"Not in all my years running with the Demonic Monkeys. We never tangled with anything like this. What is it?" Creed shook his head.

Ubel tapped a few keys on his holo-interface, bringing up more data.

"I also don’t know. But from the information that I gathered and from your reactions, this… is something new," he said cryptically. "Not nanotech, not exactly."

“N-nannotech?” Creed and Bastille were now both confused.

“You don’t know about nanotechnology?” Ubel finally turned to face them, his expression serious.

“Uhh… just in case you forgot, we are pirates. We don’t care about technology. The only things we care about are credits and loot.” Creed reminded Ubel.

“-and pussies.” Bastille added with a grin.

“I am sure that both of you heard about my regeneration abilities from Elpano and his goons, as well as saw me regenerate my lost limbs… how in the hell did you not know about nanotech?” he was even more confused at their confusion.

“Wait? You are using... that's called nanotechnology?” Bastille asked.

“Uhhh… yeah, because the crew thought you had consumed Ambrosia which was the source of your near-immortal body.” Creed's statement added more to his confusion.

“What?” Ubel was more surprised at their misunderstanding and immediately started thinking if he should correct the entire crew of Demonic Monkeys or not.

“To be honest, after what you did with Elpano and his crew, as well as during that battle in Cantina and your strange expertise in handling underground contacts… there was a strong belief in the entire fleet that you were a former noble in Terra.” Creed revealed their assumption of Ubel.

The boy breathed deeply for a moment as he closed his eyes as he processed this new information. Then he decided to ignore it for now and focus on the current issue. Although he doesn’t have any problem with them making wrong assumptions about his origin, it could lead to misunderstanding that could get them into trouble.

Then with this train of thought, he stopped himself. He started to discuss and argue within himself that this was actually a good thing as getting misunderstood would get him to more ‘fun’ encounters and events. He slowly grinned in anticipation as he thought of the possible consequences of not correcting the matter. Creed and Bastille who saw the young boy having a seriously disappointed face and then turning to a happy grin made them feel awkward. Both agreed with the same thought that this boy was truly weird as what their first impression of him was.

“Nevermind.” He sighed and continued. "In any case, this material isn’t nanotech. It's something like it, but also… more primitive, yet advanced in its own way. Unlike nanotech, it doesn’t have full sentience to operate independently and no self-replication. It’s probably controlled remotely, like a puppet on strings. But at the same time, this material is alive—sort of."

"Alive?" Creed raised an eyebrow.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Ubel nodded, pointing to the holo-feed.

"Look at the scans. The material reacts to its environment, adapts to stress, and regenerates minor damage, but it doesn’t do this on its own. It’s being guided somehow, probably through a long-range signal or was left with encrypted commands before it was released."

Creed stared at the hologram, his brow furrowed.

"The thing is, this could be a precursor to nanotechnology. Or... this could be something entirely different. Something new... or something worse." Ubel replied.

"What do you mean by ‘worse’?" Bastille crossed his arms, the eerie glow of the lab reflecting off his face.

Ubel hesitated for a moment, glancing between the two men. An eerie silence and chill filled the room, punctuated only by the whirring of the droids. Creed and Bastille exchanged nervous glances. The boy, now leaning against the table, gazed at the shifting mass of synthetic material with a mix of intrigue and caution.

"If they master this…" Ubel began."…imagine something like this, but evolved—materials that can be restructured on a molecular level, living weapons, entire fleets of self-regenerating ships… or worse, consume inorganic and organic matter. They could unlock a new kind of warfare." Ubel immediately remembered the old lore in the game which was about the old war during the Golden Age of Humanity.

"You're saying the UGTR might be developing something that could wipe out entire fleets with just one shot?" Bastille asked.

"Technically, there are already existing ways to easily wipe out an unsuspecting fleet by using redirected asteroids or even destabilizing their FTL systems that would lead them directly to the surface of a star. But for this strange slime, maybe..." Ubel replied. "Or maybe they're just scratching the surface for now that they didn't know yet the potential of what they just created. I can’t say for sure yet. But I do know this—if they perfect this, it could change the balance of power in the galaxy."

"Was this material retrieved from the previous battle?" Creed let out a low whistle.

"Yeah," Ubel nodded. "It’s the material that was struck to the hull of the Blitzkrieg—more specifically, both thrusters and disabled it, keeping Blitzkrieg from moving."

Ubel shook his head, flicking away his cigarette, lighting up another, and exhaling another cloud of smoke.

"This is a step in the direction of the worst-case scenario. And that's what worries me. It’s almost like a hybrid between nanotech and some form of bioengineered matter. From what we have seen, it was designed to disable ships, to paralyze them. But the potential use of this… thing, is vast."

"That’s definitely bad news. If they can mass-produce this stuff, they'll have a huge advantage." Creed rubbed his chin.

"That is why I wanted and need to find out more. How far along are they in their research? Who's behind it?" Ubel nodded.

Ubel, however, seemed more intrigued than fearful. His mind was already racing with thoughts on how to counter this kind of tech or even how to use it for his purposes. He snapped his fingers suddenly, the sharp sound cutting through the tension.

"This reminds me of something I came across in the archive I bought from Gold."

"Gold? The info broker?" Bastille raised an eyebrow, unknowingly uttering something that he immediately regrets mentioning.

“Huh… how did you know about him?” Ubel narrowed his eyes and suddenly stopped with his explanation. He was now derailed by another intriguing thing that immediately sparked his attention.

“Uhhh… well… ” Bastille scratched his head, looking at Creed as if signaling that he should be the one to open up this matter. Creed was also replying with a hesitating look, implying that he didn’t want to reveal something. Their exchange however was more than enough for Ubel to arrange every hint that he had encountered earlier. The sudden entry of Godright in his battle with the UGTR where they strangely knew where to shoot the freezing compound shells in Blitzkrieg to free him from restriction was not a coincidence.

“I see… you don’t have to answer.” Ubel then raised his index finger. “Hmmm… let me guess. That strange coincidence where you knew about Blitzkrieg’s ‘immobility’ predicament with the Terran Armada was connected with that info broker… I see… I see… now it makes sense why you were there in the first place at the right time.”

The silence and awkward crumpled look from both Bastille and Creed was the answer that he needed to confirm what he thought. Ubel didn’t think much of the mysterious timing of Godright joining the fight... until now. He made an immediate assumption that the Godright crew must have made a deal with Gold in exchange for a strange cost that he doesn’t know yet, as well as their silence. But Ubel also knew that Gold already expected Ubel to realize the truth later on. So, it's probably that Gold threatened the Godright crew with something but in reality, he was just toying with them. Ubel could only shake his head in pity as it was known to most Pitch Black Void players that Neuromancers love to toy with others, with the current living proof that was now with them; himself.

Well, I guess this is why players would call us ‘cyber-sadists’. Ubel thought.

"Don’t worry, I won’t him nor will even continue with the matter," Ubel replied. He turned to another holo-terminal and pulled up a floating section of data.

"Anyways, about Gold… yeah, I made a deal with him back in Banedog’s Backyard for an entire archived 10-year history of this cluster. You don’t have to ask why or ‘what is that’ because it will be another long story and discussion.” Ubel brought up a classified archive the one he had purchased. “But for now, the important thing is that I found a fragment of information buried deep in the archive, referencing some sort of research facility on Terra. It was vague, but from what I could piece together, they were working on classified experiments related to advanced synthetic materials. Something about ‘adaptive molecular structures’ and their applications. Which is most likely referring to this." he gestured to the material on the table.

Creed narrowed his eyes at the mention of Terra.

"Terra, huh? That’s UGTR's heart. They wouldn’t be running any experiments there unless it was serious."

"So, this isn’t just some tech they’re developing out in the frontier. This has roots back on Terra, in one of their most secretive research programs." Bastille crossed her arms, frowning.

Ubel nodded slowly.

"It’s possible. I don’t have all the details, but it makes sense. Whatever they were doing back then has evolved into what we’re seeing now."

"So, what now? Are we going to dig deeper into this?" Creed scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"Not yet," Ubel replied, "I need more data before I make any moves. But I want you two to keep your ears open. We’re going to need more than speculation if we’re going to deal with this."

“It’s going to be very dangerous then if UGTR realized that a pirate ship survived or somehow witnessed the results of one of their top secret research,” Bastille spoke out loud his thoughts.

Ubel turned away from the sample, lost in thought. The idea that the universe could become even more unpredictable, and more dangerous, filled him with both excitement and dread. He grinned, despite the gravity of the situation.

"You’re right," he said quietly. "But that’s what makes it fun, doesn’t it?"

Both men looked at each other and then returned their gaze to the boy who was now looking in great anticipation at the mysterious slime sample. They were reminded that Ubel loves challenges and things that hinder him.

As the conversation shifted, Ubel turned his attention to a lighter matter.

"Speaking of things to deal with, Creed, Bastille—I need you to come up with a new name for the Godright."

The two looked at him and blinked in surprise.

"Wait," Bastille said, blinking. "Does this mean you're accepting us back into the fold?"

Ubel smiled, that mischievous grin of his flashing for just a moment.

"Not exactly. I haven’t decided yet. But if you want to stay, you’re going to need to rename that battlecruiser of yours. It’s too much baggage with the old name if I ever reject your application to join." He playfully replied. “Discuss it with your crew. And make it something good.”

“Of course! Hahahaha!” Bastille made a fist bump with Creed.

"Well, damn. Guess we better start brainstorming." Creed gave a low chuckle.

“I will announce my decision later with others.” Ubel waved them off, still smiling as they left to discuss the matter with their crew. Once alone, however, his expression shifted into something darker, more thoughtful. He stared at the synthetic material on the table, a strange sense of anticipation building within him.

This wasn’t part of the "vanilla" game, he realized. Something significant had changed—something he either caused or was a result of the universe adapting around him. It felt like the universe had diverged from the original path, creating new challenges, and new possibilities. The unknown excited him, and as he stared at the living, semi-sentient slime, he couldn’t help but grin.

Kiryu once again, appeared in the corner of his sight, leaning on the wall of the laboratory, still puffing a cigarette in his mouth.

"It seems that you're becoming more frequent in your attendance." Ubel mocked him.

"Are you sure about this?" Kiryu asked, Ubel knew what he was referring to.

"What? Didn't you question and even oppose the possibility of me leaving them behind earlier?" Ubel answered his question with a question, smirking at Kiryu's reaction to his decision. Kiryu however, just ignored his teasing. "Besides... it's no fun to be alone in the black. Isn't that why we would always scour the galaxy with others?"

"True...."

"Their addition would increase the unpredictability of this universe that we both thought that we already knew about." Ubel shrugged. "The jamming technology, this mysterious slime, the changes that we didn't think would exist in the game... all of these just harshly reminded us that this universe had become a stranger. Isn't that what we wanted and why we sought chaos? A different taste in life from the mundane and repetitive boring life as a former corporate slave?"

Kiryu then flicked the cigarette from his hand, pulled out a box, and took another, lighting it up.

"Unpredictable," Kiryu whispered to himself. "Yeah, I'd like that too."