Since the snake’s giant body was blocking most of the doorway, Phillip had to slice it using his arm that grew a chainsaw. And thanks to his newly discovered ability, he was able to continuously use the suit without getting tired as he was using it as food.

[Augment Suit biofuel conversion. Any edible source of energy can become fuel for the Augment suit.]

“It’s quite handy. I won’t have to worry about food for a while now too.”

After entering the room, he noticed something that was glowing on what seems to be a nest. It was next to what looks like eggs with the size not bigger than an ostrich’s egg.

[Hypothesis: The test subject was using the power core to incubate its eggs.]

While Phillip was walking towards the next, he noticed several broken eggshells around the room which meant that this wasn’t its first time laying eggs.

“I guess there’s more of them around. Gray, once the system is back online do a scan on the whole ship for these creatures and the rest of the test subjects that might still be around.”

[Affirmative]

Phillip digs the nest and then pulls out the cylindrical power core. It was longer than he expected so he had to take a few steps back before fully pulling it out.

[Captain, can you collect the eggs on the nest and the remaining brain matter?]

“What do you want it for?”

[As a Research AI, it is within my precepts to do research on life-forms that are not yet recorded in my library. Those eggs and brain matter are keys to learning the cause of B5-032’s drastic growth.]

“Well alright…”

Phillip puts the long power core over his shoulder and looked around.

“So where do I have to insert this?”

[On the left side of the room, there’s a socket that has a depleted power-core. Replace it.]

After he followed Gray’s instructions, the system immediately powers up and the lights across the rooms and the ship lights up. Since some are damaged, they flickered for a bit then stopped functioning altogether after Gray deactivated them.

[Power at 20% capacity]

[Accessing Bridge Mainframe]

[Initiating Perimeter Scan]

[Initiating Signal Camouflage]

“Give me status report.”

[Ship Integrity at 20%]

[Flight Systems: non-functional]

[Combat Systems: non-functional]

[Shield Core: Too low on power to reactivate]

[Research and Testing Vault Integrity: 80%]

[Assessing Ship Status: Non-Operative but some facilities can still be utilized]

After receiving Gray’s report, Phillip lets out a sigh of relief.

“So, what do you see outside?”

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[The ship hull is buried underground. Only the rear optics and scanners can operate. I can only see a limited view of the terrain.]

“Can we get something out of the ship?”

[If Protocol 11 is initiated, we can eject the lab vault outside the Gondola. However, we need another ship to transport the vault.]

Phillip falls quiet while thinking of a solution. When he looks at the ceiling, he could see that some lights are dimmer than others.

“That aside, have you retrieved your Memory logs from the mainframe?”

[Memory Logs are non-existent. The memory core has traces of data corruption from foreign software.]

When she said that, Phillip lets out another sigh. It was as if he was expecting that to happen.

“I remember something about a traitor among the crew. Whoever it was must be the same person who tampered with the memory cores.”

Phillip exits Compartment B3 and heads towards a certain direction of the ship. While picking up the things Gray requested.

“Gray, send me a route outside the ship. While I’m outside, check what we can salvage inside the ship. We need to know what happened and what’s happening right now.”

[Affirmative]

***

After a while, Phillip opens a hatch and climbs out of it.

[Notice: Atmosphere in Planet E17B is very dense and consists of more than 23 types of gasses that are harmful for humans.]

“Rather than a notice, shouldn’t that be a warning? And that’s kind of late.”

[Irrelevant, the suit already has started to filter oxygen to protect its host.]

“Do you have some sort of hate towards me?”

[Negative]

Phillip furrowed his eyebrows while looking at the projection of a scope of Gray’s voice.

He then looks at the terrain around them. He sees that everything is covered in thick and dense fog that dropped visibility down almost as low as arm’s reach.

“What time of the day is it here?”

[Calculating… Calibrating…]

[The planet takes 32.33 earth hours to do a full rotation. The time is currently 02:58.]

“So it’s still early huh.”

[Notice: Traces of Power Cores can be detected 5km away from the ship’s location.]

“What do you need it for?”

[There are only two active power cores powering the ship and my system. Since you have been awakened, I have operated at 100% capacity and the remaining power I have is only at 5% left since the ship had crashed. After rerouting the power from the second power core you inserted, I was able to recharge up to 30%. Without proper power source, I will fall back to hibernation mode and will not be able to provide assistance.]

After her explanation, Phillip was shocked.

“How could that even happen?”

[Most of the power went to debugging and diagnostics after the command “Status Report”.]

“Well I guess I owe you those Power Cores now.”

While trying to triangulate his position from the map to the point where the Power Cores are located, Phillip takes a few steps back and took a deep breath.

“I’m going to test out how strong and durable I am. Record the data and give me an analysis when I come back.”

[Affirmative]

After two strong initial steps, Phillip kicks the ground and launches himself upward and forward high into the sky.

[Bio-steel muscle strands have been synthesized. Increase in Elasticity and Durability has been established.]

[Adrenal Glands have increased metabolic system.]

[Bone Structure infused with Bio-steel increased integrity.]

“So I got stronger, huh. Then what happens when I do this?”

After saying so, Phillip kicks the air with such strong force that it pushes him further forward. Each kick made the air explode leaving shockwaves across the sky.

Phillip then looks at his map while on a free fall from 200ft at 300kmph.

[Scan complete: The area around the Power Core is a marsh land-like terrain]

[Warning: Traces of acid fog is detected]

[Warning: Unknown life-signatures detected]

After hearing those warnings from Gray, Phillip hides away his map and prepares himself for impact with his arms up and head down.

When he finally hit the ground, the earth explodes and the sound of the impact reverberated across the marsh land.

When the air has settled down, Phillip stands up while wiping off the mud on his suit.

“That was fun.”

[Captain, please refrain from doing something that relies on unknown calculation in the future.]

“You mean ‘luck’?”

[Such concept does not exist within my precepts. As your assistant, I cannot permit the captain to do something reckless.]

“Alright, alright, I won’t do that again.”

Though he said that, he was laughing inside his helmet.

While walking through the marsh, Phillip observed the trees and weeds growing around. Though he knows that these things were trees, he doesn’t seem to identify or recognize any of these.

“Gray, are these trees local?”

[Visual samples cannot provide data. Please retrieve physical samples for examination.]

“Okay, but do you recognize any of these from their appearance though?”

[Negative]

As he continues to tread the marsh land, he noticed that the surrounding fog has become really thick.

At first, he ignored it because it didn’t hinder his vision. But after a while, that carelessness came and bit him back.

[Warning: Acid Fog has become dense]

[Adaptive cells have failed to respond. Bio-steel armor coating has begun corroding. Please evacuate the area.]

-End of Chapter-