Lucy panted with effort, molecules rushing in and out of her heaving membrane as she finished her last circuit around the inside of the sulfur pit.

Her new symbiote-enhanced body had proven itself useful already, allowing her to pump out clouds of fungus-killing enzyme as she swam around the herd of microbes. It had taken a lot of work and more time than she felt was strictly safe, but now it was done, and after Rikorlak had helped push a couple of the microbes up the slope and out of the pit, the rest had gotten the idea and worked their way up.

All except for the ones who had been too far gone, whose corpses dotted the now empty pits, still clustered around the yellow geysers like rotted petals on living stems.

Lucy’s fungal cilia flooded her with energy, almost instantly restoring what she had used up, with no particular effort or concentration on her part.

So far, so good, she thought. Let’s just hope it’s enough to keep me alive.

As the herd of microbes finished clambering free and dispersed in little groups back into the tunnels, Lucy felt a small pang of guilt. The winged bug-creature was still out there somewhere, and there was a chance he would search them out.

But the doctor was dead and the guards killed or scattered, and she would have to hope that would be enough. Lucy had done what she could, and it was time to move on.

To where?

As she watched the microbes heading back into the tunnels, Lucy had a strong feeling that that was not the safest way for her to go. It was where she’d been found in the first place, and it’s not like the hunting had been particularly good there anyways.

She looked around, swimming though the water with her flagellum to get a better sense of the surrounding area, aided by her sphere of Awareness, which seemed to have expanded some since her Evolution.

Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any other way to go. The area around the sulfur pits was little more than a small stone cavern.

Lucy had nearly resigned herself to heading back to the tunnels and looking for new paths when she noticed that the flow of water was different in a certain area, a section of stone near to the ground opposite the tunnels.

She swam closer, focusing on the subtle flow of water against her cilia, on the resistance she felt on her flagellum as it gently parted the water behind her. She narrowed down the area by swimming back and forth, homing in.

Yes, something was different here. Rather than the slow, gently stirring current she felt everywhere else around the pits, here the water rushed away with definite direction, pulling her towards a section of stone. She let the current pull her forward until she was about to bump into the stone.

Then she stopped, as she saw a patch of stone that looked different than the rest.

It’s not stone, she realized, seeing a familiar weave-like pattern. It’s organic.

It looked like the overlapping tendrils that carpeted the sulfur pits, but aged and hardened to the point where they made an almost-solid part of the wall. As their shape became clear to her, she worked out what must have happened.

There had been a crevice or gap, once. But at some point the tendrils had grown into and filled it, and after who knew how long, they had solidified, blocking the crevice.

But water still flowed through, which meant there was something on the other side.

Lucy pumped a spray of fungus-destroying enzyme onto the structure, but nothing happened, so she made a spike and starting chipping away.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The tip of the spike eventually blunted to the point where she could only use it to pry, and then it broke altogether. The next time she made one, she focused as it formed on the proteins coming together as tightly as possible, strengthening the whole thing and doing away with the hollow tube at its center.

She was pleased to see that it was possible for her to control the particulars of how the spike was produced, even if it was in relatively minor ways. But she was even more pleased when her work yielded results, a large chunk of the hardened tendrils snapping off and opening up a gap through which she could get better leverage and work farther in.

By the time she had worked all the way through and cleared a hole big enough to look in through, she had reformed her arm twice as its structure failed and her spike once more when it eventually broke apart as well.

But, finally, it was done, and Lucy eagerly moved forwards, pushing with her cilia to wiggle as far into the gap as she could.

On the other side, a wide vista stretched before her, an expanse of water that extended as far as she could sense.

And farther, she thought. It was hard to tell for sure, but she got the impression from the strong, steady pull of the current that the open space continued. She didn’t think it was actually open ocean or anything like that, but it was definitely a larger area than she had been in so far. The feeling it gave her was one of an unfolding future, one where anything could be lurking just out of sight. And a little bit of vertigo. It was frightening, but exhilarating at the same time.

Lucy made her plan as she swam back to the pits to make sure everyone had made it out okay.

She would explore the new area by sticking close to the stone wall, using cracks and caves for shelter as she grew strong enough to explore farther in. Hopefully she could even find a good enough spot to set up a more permanent shelter of some kind, from which she could venture out to hunt.

When she got closer to the pits, she saw that all the microbes had indeed finished dispersing.

All but two.

Lucy looked in confusion for a moment at the red-membraned organism standing next to Rikorlak, who she swam easily up to, her cilia bringing her to a smooth stop in the water.

“You forgot to suck up some of the enzyme, didn’t you?”

Rikorlak nodded his whole membrane up and down.

“You sure you don’t want to keep yours? Mine is turning out to be pretty—”

Rikorlak shook his body wildly from side to side, and Lucy shrugged.

She might’ve been inclined to say more, but she could see fungal hyphae beginning to poke through his membrane in a decidedly un-symbiotic and painful looking way, and she had wasted too much time already.

One last act, and she would be done with this place. Despite the fact that the intense sulfur smell now reminded her of delicious cheeseburgers, she knew it was time to move on. Based on how it had performed so far, she thought her symbiote would allow her to travel farther away while still getting enough energy.

As a watery sigh of relief escaped Rikorlak’s membrane and he began to thank her profusely, Lucy formed a hand and waved it at him and the smaller microbe next to him.

“Don’t mention it. And good luck out there.”

Nice, that sounded good. Lucy started to swim away, only to see Rikorlak fidgeting behind her. She sighed.

She had worried about this.

“You do not need to follow me.” Lucy waved a hand, hoping for Jedi mind-powers to manifest.

“…right!” He nodded in a very unconvincing way. “It’s just, that, uh, I do?”

“You really don’t,” she tried. “How about this? If I die, I’ll just stay put! My soul will be right there, no fugitive-chase required. Just…sniff it out, or whatever, and off we’ll go!”

If Lucy died and retained conscious control of her soul, she had no intention of willingly going to Hell, but he didn't need to know that. And hopefully it wouldn't come up at all.

“My orders still stand,” he continued apologetically, before his voice turned grave.

“And you don’t want your soul to be hanging around for too long if you die. Simon’s not the only one who could take it.”

Well, that’s a little terrifying.

How could she explain that this was supposed to be a solo operation, her big test of whether or not she could hack it on her own in a world that didn’t care one whit for her survival?

“This is supposed to be a solo operation,” she started, “my big test of—”

“We won’t get in the way!”

Lucy stopped talking in surprise as the red-membraned microbe continued in a stream of molecules that sounded distinctly childlike.

“And we can help fight, too.”

At this, the microbe’s membrane wrinkled up in concentration, then nothing happened.

“Well, I’m still working on it, but…” the microbe looked to Rikorlak, who to Lucy’s surprise bowed low, his fin dipped in respect to Lucy as he spoke seriously.

“If you do not wish it, we will not come with you. But it is a sacred task to collect a soul, and not one I can abandon.” He paused. “If it helps ease your mind, it really is a totally different department that handles, uh, hurrying things up when that needs to be done, and Expedition is well outside the remit of my assignment.”

Lucy sighed, then grumbled.

“Since when were you two all buddy-buddy anyways?”