*(mood song: "Ian Pont - Chemical")

Erik pumped himself in the gym like never before, as whenever he started feeling tired, a comforting heat expanded from his stomach to his entire body, allowing him to train more and more.

--- Back on Earth ---

On the Southern part of Spain, where the desert of Almeria used to be, nor there were endless fields of greenhouses, but in an area near a mountain with views to the sea and floating cities on the ocean, stood a training center of the European Space Agency.

On the installations, Antonio, Elena, and Mónico had been called for a meeting, but were training to pass the time as they were making them wait.

Antonio practiced shooting in a hologram shooting range, Mónico practiced maintenance issues with a buggy AI, and Elena used virtual reality glasses to practice growing plants in different environments.

Antonio: "why do you think they made us come today?"

Mónico: "sigh no idea, but I was just fishing on the new mutant fish farm, and now they make us wait here for hours for an *urgent* meeting... shit"

Elena: "yeah, I was part of the development team for those, they produce a small charge of electricity that creates a biorock layer around them from the minerals on the seawater, and making them heavier, but at the same time they get bigger and accumulate hydrogen and oil inside, floating and negating that weight, ending as behemoths that can't move in the end and a source of building materials and meat both"

Mónico: "weren't you specialized in plants?"

Elena held her chin high: "of course! and that's why I designed the fatty algae that serve as this fish's food, Sara did help in the development of lots of rapid growth production animals though, Sara is the hope for this mission's success!"

Antonio stopped shooting, and his muscles uncontracted from his battle form "yeah, she was a genius, but that lad Erik wasn't too far off, the kid was a true survivor, as you didn't know how it started but even me who hated him in the beginning, ended up considering him a friend, that's way more important in my opinion, he was also a Jack of all trades too, he wasn't the best at everything but always had some idea what to do, if it was about fighting I would have been the one going".

Elena scoffed though: "what use is there being friendly as a skill if he will be alone?"

Mónico butted in then "who knows about that? Gliese -581c could hold life for all we know, what if Sara encounters hostile aliens? she had good aim but her close quarters combat was just above average-"

Elena felt offended, as she was a fan of Sara: "hmph! she would... she would teach them a better way of living if she can't fight them! and with enough motivation and time, she could sequence their DNA and create a virus to kill them all! I'm sure Erik can't do that".

Antonio: "yeah..., but that boy... he would observe them, find what motivates them and manipulate them till they consider him someone essential, he's... like a human virus himself jajajaja"

Mónico laughed along: "jajaja indeed! gotta remember this to see his reaction when we tell him.... see that?! first thing I thought about was getting his approval!"

Elena rolled her eyes: "So... you are saying he's like a mentalist?"

Antonio: "Nah, not that... if I had to say it's more like a parent, like when he made us breakfast or helped everyone around, but was super ridiculously strict with cleaning... it was frustrating, but... you know"

Mónico: "yeah that! like a parent, we have cleaners in the base, why need to clean really, but it wasn't just that, once I left a coding file open, and when I came back... he had added all the spacing and documentation for me, it was really nice of him but... also quite burdensome..."

Elena: "yeah and in my lab-" but she was interrupted as a middle aged bald man in a suit entered the room.

"Some of you might know me already, but for those who don't, I'm Paco Blezo, CEO of Ibero Space, the company leading this team to Gliese 581c in the name of the ESA. But as the leader, I've had to make a tough choice that I'm sure you will all understand... I will launch your spaceship next week"

They were all surprised, but Antonio recovered first.

Antonio frowned: "what?... why?"

Paco: "well, as some of you might know, the American's, Russians, and even the Indians are about to launch their mega spaceships, with all personnel and equipment in one go, and with their enormous crews inside, but ours are faster as we just use multiple small spaceships, so the higher ups have been asking for results to show, so... even if it's still not 100% ready... we will launch your spaceships next week"

All three were stunned "what?!"

Antonio got serious: "...that wasn't in our contract, we need to be told with at least three months of time"

Paco then raised his tone: "huh?! you think you are special to make demands now? those contracts ain't worth shit once you leave this planet! I can always replace you, remember that!"

Antonio: "Oh? that's such a relief then, that you have others you have invested millions on their training too, so? whose my replacement?"

Paco gulped: "well... let's not get ahead of ourselves here, although it's easy it would take time, and I need you here next week"

Antonio: "eh~... is that so~... well I need something too then, my wife was promised a low class passage to the new colony but... you know, now I think she deserves a high class passage with everything included..."

Elena: "Yeah, I think so too, my family is big after all, they will need big rooms"

Mónico thoughtfully nodded: "Indeed, it's only logical to give proper compensation for work"

Paco was boiling in anger though: "you guys have gone crazy or what?! you are employees trained by this company! you are assets belonging to the company! is it that hard to just do as told?! so-" but Antonio cut him off.

Antonio: "let me ask you Paco... what do you do every day? where will you be next week?"

Paco: "what does that-"

Antonio: "answer the question"

Paco: "...fine, I check evaluation data two hours a day four days a week, in my apartment in tower A00231 of floating city Almeria, are you happy now?"

Antonio: " so just a penpusher huh? but A00231 wow that's in a good area, what about next week? what world changing things will you be doing?"

Paco grit his teeth and whispered: "...fishing"

Antonio: "oh? what did you said? I couldn't hear you"

Paco: "I will go fishing with my family alright!"

Antonio: "well you see, I was gonna have a romantic dinner with my wife next week, but... now you are asking me to leave this planet forever in a possibly faulty spaceship just so that some bastards can say they can pee further away than others... does that even make sense? have the spaceships even been tested completely?"

Paco: "well no... but they should have done 70% of the testing already so... that's good enough"

All three facepalmed.

Mónico sighed: "how easy it is to risk someone else's life these days... tsk!"

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Paco: "So... I take it you won't do it then? I will inform the higher ups of your rudeness and-"

*crack!* but at that moment, Antonio crushed the rifle he was holding in his hand, interrupting him.

Antonio: "ups! well you can take that off my nonexistent high salary, we have stated our conditions for leaving our lives behind, and that is just for our families to be treated better when they travel there to reunite with us, so go ahead and enjoy that fishing session with your family... while you can, and meanwhile we will go create a new home for humanity... nothing much right?"

Paco stood there speechless for a moment and then just went away.

As he went away, both Mónico and Elena cheered.

Elena: "wow, you really didn't back down"

Mónico: "yeah! you really put him in his place"

Antonio shrugged: "it's nothing, I just can't stand those that make light of other people's lives for profit or other stupid reasons... we might get in trouble though, those VIP accommodations we asked for are at least one hundred times more expensive than the low class ones... maybe... sigh it's no use thinking about it now, let's see what will those greedy bastards say..."

--- Back at ARK 52836383637 ---

Erik was laying down on the gym's floor, enormous weights around him, as a pool of sweat formed on the floor, his hair already drenched and stuck to his body as he panted for a bit and quickly stood back up, the heat coming from this stomach finally subsiding as he had exercised for three days straight, but... once the heat subsided he felt hunger... a terrible all consuming hunger and ran to the kitchen wobbling with his tired body.

"Yes!" He opened the freezer chamber next to the kitchen, and happily exclaimed when he saw lots of meat stored there, most of it coming from the armorlisk and other prey caught by his four employees managing the palangres.

He wanted to cook it, but his hunger was too intense, so he grabbed a piece of frozen meat, and was about to grab a chainsword but... his fingers slightly sunk on it just from lightly grabbing it... 'then what if...' he pulled his arm back, and ripped the piece of frozen meat apart 'well that's convenient...' he then tried chewing it frozen solid, a to his surprise his teeth sunk through it as if through hard solid bread, with a bit of difficulty, but doable, so he chewed it down. The frozen meat didn't have much taste, as only some of it melted inside his mouth while he ate, but he kept filling his stomach, feeling colder and colder, as the icy meat absorbed heat from his body and unfroze inside his powerful stomach.

Time passed as Erik tore down at least fifty Kilograms of different parts of the frozen armorlisk horse sized meat slices and stuffed himself, his belly now bulging with unfreezing meat, thankfully his body was still hot from the exercise, so he slowly reached his room and let himself fall on his comfy bed 'ugh... I feel so stuffed...' patting his belly finally satisfied.

Erik: [hey Rose, you done?]

In Shana's room, there were only Rose and Amanda now, as Amanda thoroughly cleaned Rose.

Rose: [yeah, just finished, I'm... cleaning now]

Erik: [alright, just wanted to let you know that I'm gonna take a nap ugh... I feel a bit weird...]

Rose: [weird? in what way?]

Erik: [I'm not sure... sleepy-] and fell asleep.

Rose: [Erik?... Erik!]

Back at Shana's room, Rose quickly got up as she pushed Amanda aside.

Amanda: "wha-"

Rose: "something happened to Erik, let's go"

Amanda seriously nodded, as she dressed with her skin tight dive suit quickly.

As they came out they saw Shana outside.

Shana: "finally, I thought I would need to change rooms at this rate"

But Rose and Amanda just strolled past her at a fast pace.

Shana caught up to them and asked "why so serious? did something happen?"

Rose: "something happened to Erik"

Shana got serious too and touching the communicator on her neck said on the elders only frequency "something happened to Erik, meet me at his room".

--- Erik's room ---

The room was crowded, as the Elders, Anhuka, Crabina, Inky, Rose, and Amanda surrounded Erik's bed.

All of them observed as Rose scanned Erik's body.

Crabina was holding Anhuka's left hand, and Inky's right hand, as she worriedly asked "is daddy gonna be okay?" her pincers clacking nervously.

Rose looked up and calmly said, "he will be alright, he just seems to have ingested tons of highly compatible DNA sources and is mutating in lots of different ways, it might take him a while..."

Inky observed Erik in bed, his body constantly twitched, and he was sweating a lot, and she frowned "but isn't that dangerous?"

Rose looked at her and then at Timberly: "well, you two should know how it is, his mutations might be internal, external, or both, but we should leave him rest, I will remain here so you don't need to worry".

Shana: "alright, we will trust your judgment... let's go".

Anhuka didn't leave though and stopped the group to ask: "anything I can do to help?".

Rose: "no there's-... actually yes, bring me some bags full of armorlisk shell into a powder, he will need materials to mutate".

Timberly: "if it's powder, I will put some teams into making some, anything else?"

Rose patted Erik's belly: "he seems to have stuffed himself already with food already..." she then noticed the transparent scales on Erik's forearms and shins seemed to have grown more opaque than the last time she had noticed "hmmm bring me some shark snake scales in a powder too".

Shana: "we will dismantle a couple of sets of armor, let's be quick!" and everyone left to help except Crabina and Anhuka.

Anhuka looked at Erik's body on the bed and said: "I can take care of him, no need to-"

Rose: "get out you horny crab"

Anhuka: "...yes ma'am..." and sighed as she went out.

Then, under the watch of Rose, Crabina climbed the opposite side of Erik's bed, and looked at Rose seriously in the eyes "would my legs help? I always saw adults eating legs all the time back at my old tribe... it seemed to hurt a lot but... for daddy, I can do it!"

Rose chuckled: "well, that's really brave of you little girl, but I'm afraid it wouldn't do much and your daddy would kill me, so no mutilations okay? go get some filtered cold water from the kitchen, I need to make sure his body doesn't overheat too much or your future little sisters could be in danger"

Crabina's eyes dilated and then she quickly jumped off with a determined face, returning just two minutes later, carrying a big metal bucket full of cold water with her pincers.

Crabina quickly set it at Rose's feet "water! now save sisters!"

Rose couldn't avoid teasing her "oh? not your daddy~?"

Crabina didn't fall for it though: "daddy has sisters inside, so it's the same, helping daddy is also helping them"

Rose: "...yeah, it's the same indeed, but... what about your daddy dying and your sisters surviving?"

Crabina remained silent for a minute and answered "daddy, daddy can make more sisters, but sisters can't make daddy again..."

Rose: "Hoho~ quite the mature little lady you are, didn't even cry~"

Crabina: "I don't want daddy to die and get eaten, and siblings i've had before, dad and mom i've had before... but they didn't like me, daddy loves me, daddy can't die..." her little hands and pincers grappling the blankets, as she looked down with a sad face.

Rose: "ah... sorry little one for teasing you, your daddy won't die as long as I'm around okay?"

Crabina looked up: "really? so daddy is okay?"

Rose: "Yeah, he's just getting stronger right now, but it's such a tiring process he fell asleep, that's all that's happening right now little one" a soothing smile on her face "now please go and let me work alright?"

Crabina nodded and went away, but looked back one last time before exiting the room.

Rose then uncovered and extended Erik's body on the bed, and then she wet a towel in the icy water bucket, and slowly cleaned his sweat, reducing his body temperature, while wondering to herself "I wonder... what will you become, and let's see if that old crab alchemist is worth keeping or... a new puppet~"

The days passed, and Rose kept feeding Erik a mix if bio metal powders like a milkshake but with water, lifting Erik's head and making him drink them, and his body became harder to cool down, so in the end, they moved him to the bathtub and added cold water.

The first visible changes were Erik's nails and teeth, his teeth became slightly sharper, with a silvery white color, and way sturdier, while his nails became a metallic shiny grey with sharp edges.

But the biggest change came after after five days, as small metallic scales started covering his skin, covering the entirety of his limbs and back, while other sensitive areas were also covered but by tiny metallic scales, making his body have an overall shiny gray color, as even his hair became silvery, thankfully his eyes remained green when they opened.

Rose kept watch the whole time as always, and murmured as she observed "Its definitely an upgrade but... not sure if he will like his new appearance... we will see..."

And finally, after another week, Erik awoke.

His eyes opened as he laid on the bed, Rose sitting on a chair to his right with a bored face, while Inky laid beside him.

Erik stretched, and felt full of energy "wow, hadn't slept that great in a long while..." he noticed Rose's bored face "huh? did anything happen?"

Rose: "No, nothing at all, anyway, now that you are finally up let me take you to the submarine alright?"

Erik was confused though: "finally?" he carefully set Inky aside without waking her up, and stood up.

Rose: "oh right, you might wanna look at a mirror, you slept for two whole weeks after all, good thing your beard doesn't grow anymore~"

Erik was confused, but did as told and went to the bathroom, only to become flabbergasted when he saw himself in the mirror.

Erik: "wtf... is this... myself?!" he was in disbelief as he came out of the bathroom.

Rose: "if you finished with that then lets go!"

Erik: "wait, shouldn't I tell the others?"

Rose: "Nah, everyone has seen your body already"

Erik: "Oh... that works too I guess...so... did you scan my body already?"

Rose: "he! of course I did, even sequenced your DNA, no genetic malformations present, and even your insides have become more durable"

Erik: "so what level of strength do I have? stronger than you?"

Rose rolled her eyes: "of course not, now stop asking useless questions, the submarine bay access is below the third floor, now the new fourth floor beside my personal lab"

Erik: "fine, but since you said Nautilus I have high expectations..."

Rose: "careful what you wish for hehe~ my version is much better than some... French writer's book from centuries ago"

*(

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a1/0a/a3/a10aa33e5526b0cddd3b59d5c6510e9e.jpg

)

[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a1/0a/a3/a10aa33e5526b0cddd3b59d5c6510e9e.jpg]

Erik: "oh... I was talking about the one in the Hollywood movie, the one in the book might be a bit small"

*(

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49379301228_fdbb556257_b.jpg

)[https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49379301228_fdbb556257_b.jpg]

Rose: "...sigh, well mine is better okay? but I gave it my touch~"