I sighed as I finally stood before the elven ship, finding my estimate had been about right. It was roughly forty feet long and had a roughly pear shaped design, being wider at the front and narrower towards the end. Paired with a dull orange paint job and countless scuffs, dents, and scratches. It had more in common with a piece of old construction equipment than anything I had thought it’d be like, having assumed it would be as flowy and elegant as the elven script I had caught sight of earlier. Comparing the ship to the armor I had seen earlier I was beginning to get the picture of who the elf was, some sort of scout for her people sent to map out possible resource and colonization zones. And likely a poor one at that.

I did a few laps around the ship, building up my territory around it by making a rough cobble path, noting little else other than a differently painted section at the front that may have been an addition, possibly some sensor gear if my assumptions about the girl were right. Finally, sure my path was good and having my fill of enjoying my first spaceship view, I approached it.

It took some more looking around to find a hatch, though I was sure I could go straight through it, as I wanted to go straight to the living area rather than wander blindly through a bunch of unlit mechanical spaces. Finding it at the top, I dropped into a small space that must have been an air lock. I could see a port that might fit the weapon she’d brought, and a second beside it that was also empty. The space was barely enough for me to ‘stand’ and turn around so I decided it was bare bones and slipped through a doorway that finally led to the living space.

I gazed around for a moment, taking it all in, before sighing. “This is about the most depressing shit I've ever seen.” The space was painfully small. There was enough room for a bed, what appeared to be a cooking space and counter, then the area that appeared to be the bridge. A single seat, a slim bed, and enough space to cook a simple meal with, perhaps, six feet of walking space between it all. Above the bed was, what i assumed, the space her suit had been stored. The only thing in the rough interior, all a drab grey color, that made it seem homely was a single plant that had small green buds and sparse leaves. It was almost as bad as Charlie brown's Christmas tree.

I frowned in disappointment, having hoped for something a little more high tech than a trucker style sleeper. Hell, even I had the chance to get out and get some fresh air, stretch my legs, or even be home every couple weeks. I couldn’t imagine having to live in this thing for who knows how many weeks or months at a time. I looked back and sighed as I saw, through the door, a shower head. At least the poor thing could keep clean, hopefully there was a toilet in there somewhere.

With a final shrug I set out to do what I had planned, loot the ship. Shockingly there was an abundance of nothing in the little sleeper area. Clothes, all of a bright orange color save for the undergarments and, assumedly, sleep wear. There were a bunch of plastic tubes in the kitchen area cupboards, reminding me of string cheese packs, that I assumed would be rations of some sort. With no utensils or cookware I had to assume that she’d forgone more perishable options so she could pack in as many calories as possible to extend her stay in space. I noticed a tap under one of the thin counters and assumed that she had some kind of water tank on board, something I'd have to look into.

With no apparent gadgets anywhere, or anything else to catch my interest, I moved to the bridge area that seemed to hold nothing at all. No secret compartment, no pistol under the dash, just a flat screen readout that was in a semicircle around the command chair. A long look at the screen showed more of the elegant writing flowing along the screen in segments, possibly readouts showing a million different things that I couldn't hope to understand. Though, I did believe I wouldn't have a ship detonating over my entrance any time soon, or nothing beeping or approximating any countdown that I could make out.

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With the sleeper inspection done I tried out my last option and started using information on everything, though nothing good came from what I was provided. Just steel, general mineral, polymer, something called clear steel, and fabric. Nothing piqued my interest until I tried it on the plant, or more accurately, the dirt it was potted in as I only got ‘plant back from it.

Soil

Organic matter necessary for supporting complex plant life.

This was something I could dearly use. If it was anything like dirt from home then it would have micro organisms that would be necessary to break down the bio matter i had been stockpiling. Even if the pantry on the ship was depressing as all hell, I could possibly grow an abundance of the plant the girl had inadvertently brought me. The little buds might be some sort of fruit I could use and, god willing, there just might be natural yeast on it. It might be a long shot but this little plant might just be my best shot at getting a beer.

Carefully I reached down and took a small scoop out of the pot to store in my inventory, almost laughing as I got a new storage indicator showing the small soil sample I'd collected. Next I put my hands on the pot, not daring to try and lift it and risk accidentally absorbing the pot, soil and half the plant if it just seeped through my fingers like the soil. “If this works i swear, i’ll build a whole damn temple just for this one little plant.” I closed my eyes and willed the entire thing into my storage space. Feeling the texture of the pot leaving my fingers I risked a glimpse, then smiled. The whole thing had been stored just like the helmet and armor.

Satisfied, I turned my attention to the cabinets, deciding I ought to claim some of the food so my elf wouldn’t starve, or try to subsist off of moss and vines, or bug meat. I took about half of her inventory, having identified them as rations, then did the same for her stock of clothes, figuring her suit must chafe like hell as she hadn’t been wearing anything under it. With my plundering done I started my adventure through her ship's mechanical spaces, finding exactly the same thing whenever I tried to get information on anything. It seemed I wouldn't be able to just see a part and get information on how to make or use them, only getting steel or other metals as I looked.

Disappointed that I wouldn't be able to get any blueprints, or new materials from the ship just by looking, I followed the tap to a very small water tank. I had to guess that she could harvest water from asteroids, or her recycling system just had to be that efficient. Whatever the case, I managed to get about twenty five gallons out of what appeared to be a hundred gallon tank, the inefficiency bugging me to the point I almost dropped a slime in there. I held off though, both not wanting to entirely drain the tank and not wanting the ship to think a slime was some kind of contaminant and flush the whole damn thing into space.

With my disappointment, and annoyance, only climbing, I almost went right back to my dungeon before having to stop myself. The girl had managed to find me by seeing a manhole sized door half hidden in a crater. If that was enough to bring attention to a scout then a ship on the surface might as well have been a towering inferno in the dark. I had to do something to cover it up, and even better hide my entrance. Or did i?

Not long ago i was stuck imagining living hundreds or thousands of years in isolation, so why was i so worried about another visit? In truth i’d like more people to visit, more people to interact with and keep me from going insane, so why did i have a nagging desire to hide myself away. I contemplated this for a few minutes before i came up with a decent sounding reason. I was too small.

One girl with inadequate tools managed to beat three of my monsters after blundering right into them. She had no idea that a threat awaited her and was relaxed, expecting centuries old traps left by a dead race, and it took a horde of my hoppers to ensure her defeat or death. Just what would a properly armed and armored group of soldiers manage to accomplish, would my spiders even scratch the paint on their armor.

I frowned to myself as I got to work, building up stones around the ship. I hated to admit it but a core might be a valuable item, even if only to a collector. Or it could be a power source, or any of a million other things that would end with me biting it for the second time in my existence. I’d need to gather information from the girl and solidify my position before I was found. I’d need to go deeper, gather more defenders, and make the cost of gathering my core, or destroying it, such a high price to pay that even the mad, or desperate wouldn’t attempt it.

Leaving behind a ship covered by a hill of rubble, a dome built around it first to protect it from being crushed, I had some goals. I’d have to put together a solid plan and I'd have to leverage the resources I'd built up to drive my expansion. I left the ship behind more determined than ever.