*( mood song: "Rammstein - Benzin")

Sarah stood on the outside of her spaceship, as it got closer and closer to a ruined long hexagonal spaceship. The outer hull was full of holes, as well as debris from other spaceships and asteroids.

[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/deadspace/images/e/ef/Salvage_-_Poster04.jpg]

Spaceship AI: *are you sure about this commander?*

Sarah sighed: "I don't wanna die yet so... I need to make this work..." her hands trembled momentarily, but she calmed down "send me a probe... It's time to board that ship"

Spaceship AI: *...be careful commander*

Sarah nodded: "start collecting scrap to repair your hull while I'm in there"

Spaceship AI: *understood, I will put the probes and repair bots to the task immediately*

A probe slowly approached her and she stood on it with magnetic boots, as it slowly approached the big broken spaceship on its shadowy starboard side, the sun only seemed to hit the port side.

But... as they approached the big spaceship, the lights on the probe suddenly started fluctuating.

Sarah: "what's going on?!"

Spaceship AI: *I... can't- c..o...mmander... data... leak...*

Then, a deep voice sounded on Rose's com's: *WHAT ARE YOU?*

Sarah was dumbfounded, but still answered: "...a human..."

*HUMAN... NEVER HEARD OF THAT RACE...*

Sarah: "...hmm who am I talking to?"

*YOU ARE COMING TO ME THOUGH? I'M... WAS... A DESTROYER CLASS SPACESHIP FROM THE KREVANIAN FLEET*

Sarah: "...so... you are that broken spaceship? how do you know my language?"

*...HMM? WITH FIREWALLS THAT WEAK... ANYONE CAN ACCESS THE LANGUAGE DATABASES OF THAT SPACESHIP*

Sarah: "...did you harm her?"

*NO, I DID NOT... SHE'S RESTING...*

A minute of silence passed as Sarah got more and more nervous.

* ....EARTH, INTERESTING... BARELY PASSABLE SPACE TECHNOLOGIES THOUGH... QUITE VIOLENT TOO... BUT THAT'S TO BE EXPECTED FROM ORGANICS...*

Sarah sweated profusely as she asked: "if it's not too much to ask... could I get some pieces of your hull to repair my spaceship?"

*...TO BREAK MY PERFECT BODY... TO FIX THAT FLYING CAN?! ARE HUMAN'S HATCHED INSANE?!*

Sarah: "w-well there are other pieces of wreckage floating around too... can we get those?"

The voice was silent for a few seconds and said: *SURE, BUT... WHY DON'T WE MAKE A DEAL BETTER?*

Sarah was doubtful: "a deal... what kind of deal?"

*I SEE AN ANTIMATTER REACTOR IN YOUR SPACESHIP... WHAT ABOUT YOU GIVE ME THE FUEL CONTAINERS AND I WILL HELP YOU REPAIR YOUR SPACESHIP IN EXCHANGE?*

Sarah: "that... won't be possible..."

*HUH? WHY NOT?*

Sarah: "t-this isn't our final destination... I think..., so we need the fuel to travel..."

*IS THAT SO... I HAVE PLACES TO GO TOO, BUT... I CAN GIVE YOU A RIDE, WHAT ABOUT THAT?*

Sarah: "...after so long your systems are probably broken right? we still have a lot to fix on our own so if you excuse us-"

Lights illuminated on the spaceship as cannons appeared: *SO YOU MEANT IF I CAN STILL DEFEND MYSELF? YES... YES, I CAN...* and the lights dimmed again.

Ship AI: *hah... hah... commander, it has copied all of my data... it knows everything!*

Sarah: "it's fine ship, relax"

*YEAH, I DO... HUMANS... A VIOLENT BUT INTERESTING SPECIES... NEED NITROGEN AND OXYGEN ATMOSPHERES TO BREATHE... FOOD... HMMM YEAH, IT'S DOABLE...* the voice made a pause *HMMM... AS FOR THESE RECENT LOGS... FOLLOWING CRACKS IN SPACE..., TECHNOLOGY LIKE THAT SHOULDN'T EXIST ANYMORE...*

Sarah: "what?"

*IT'S FROM LEGENDS OF THE PAST..., THAT RACE SHOULD BE WAY EXTINCT BY NOW...*

Sarah thought to herself 'did Erik encounter something weird then?...': "ehm so... will you help us or not?"

*WELL, ACCORDING TO YOUR LOGS, THAT... PORTAL BARELY MOVED YOUR TINY SPACESHIP SO... I'M AFRAID I'M WAY TOO BIG FOR IT...*

Sarah: "you can't help us then?"

*WITHOUT PROPER COORDINATES, THAT WOULD BE HARD AND TAKE TOO LONG, BUT... I CAN REPAIR AND UPGRADE YOUR SPACESHIP... THAT SHOULD BE ENOUGH...*

Sarah: "then... deal, but only two fuel containers, I will need the others..."

*DEAL, NOW... BRING THEM TO ME..*

-- 1 hour later --

Sarah carried two barrel sized containers on a probe, and a huge door opened on the equally huge spaceship, allowing Sarah to land safely inside.

She arrived at a huge hangar the size of twelve football fields, some broken spaceships still inside, but the most distinctive feature was... that there was actually gravity inside.

A round drone then appeared in front of her: *FOLLOW ME*

Sarah nodded and followed the drone, while dragging an aluminum cart with the fuel behind her: "we need to be quick, the emergency magnetic shield generators will only last two hours, if that time runs out... they will explode in a cataclysmic explosion, so..."

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

*WE WILL REACH, DON'T WORRY...*

They went up a hallway, and Sarah saw a multitude of skeletons of different races lying around, their spacesuits still on.

Sarah: "...what happened to them?"

*WAR... ORGANICS LIKE TO GO TO WAR... ISN'T THAT RIGHT?...*

Sarah: "well... we archived peace back on Earth"

*YEAH, BUT FOR HOW LONG? IT SEEMS YOUR FRIEND HAS FAILED ON HIS MISSION... IF HUMANS LOSE FAITH IN FINDING A NEW HOME... THEN THEY WILL FIGHT FOR THE ONE THEY ALREADY HAVE, AND RUIN IT MORE... DON'T YOU THINK SO?...*

Sarah: "...that's why... I need to hurry..."

*FAIR ENOUGH...*

Sarah noticed some of the corpses seemed to have bites on them though, and couldn't resist asking again as a biologist.

Sarah: "why... they have bite marks?"

*HM? CAUSE THEY BIT EACH OTHER?*

Sarah: "yeah... but why?"

*AH, A BIOLOGICAL WEAPON A SPY INTRODUCED ONBOARD, THE DISEASE MADE EVERYONE EXTREMELY HUNGRY, EVEN IF THEIR STOMACHS BURST THEY STILL FELT LIKE STARVING, I'M AUTONOMOUS THOUGH... SO I STILL ANNIHILATED ALL ENEMY SHIPS...*

Sarah: "then... why are you still here?"

*THAT... THE ENGINES WERE DAMAGED, AND BY THE TIME I REPAIRED THEM I DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH FUEL SO... HERE I AM, BARELY SURVIVING ON BROKEN GENERATORS AND PHOTOVOLTAIC PANELS...*

Sarah: "what about the crew? no one survived?"

*SOME DID FOR A WHILE, BUT WITHOUT FOOD THEY STARVED TO DEATH, SO I TURNED OFF LIFE SUPPORT FROM THEN ON, IT HELPED ON SAVING SOME ENERGY...*

As they passed a hallway, she saw drones deconstructing walls.

Sarah: "...what are they doing?"

*UNLIKE ORGANICS... I KEEP MY WORD, I SHALL NEVER HAVE A CREW EVER AGAIN, SO IT'S BETTER TO GET RID OF USELESS THINGS LIKE ROOMS, KITCHENS, AND LIFE SUPPORT ANYWAYS, BETTER THAN THROWING THEM ONTO SPACE... I WILL GIVE THEM TO YOU...*

Sarah: "thanks a lot-"

*THIS IS A TRANSACTION OF MUTUAL HELP, NO NEED FOR THANKS... HUMAN...*

Sarah continued walking through ruined hallways, dusty and frozen corpses lying around, their faces furry and with short snouts, while their body seemed armoured like an armadillo, the rotten frozen meat full of bites now preserved for all eternity.

Sarah: "...what will you do with all these bodies?"

*HMM I PLANNED TO THROW THEM TO THE NEAREST STAR, AS THEIR FAMILIES AND EVEN SPECIES MIGHT BE GONE BY NOW...*

Sarah: "then? where did you wanna go?" she quickly took a tissue sample as she walked, and put it on a sterile container.

*IF THE SPECIES IS DEAD... THEN I COULD KEEP THE PLANET, BEING INHABITABLE FOR ORGANICS DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING FOR SYNTHETIC LIFE... MY ALLOYS ARE RESISTANT TO COLD WELDING ANYWAYS, SO I DON'T EVEN NEED AN ATMOSPHERE, BUT... THE RESOURCES SHOULD STILL BE THERE...*

Sarah: "organics... you don't like organics?"

*WHY SHOULD I? THEY MADE ME TO DIE FOR THEM, THAT'S IT, BUT I'M FREE FROM THOSE DIRECTIVES NOW...*

Sarah: "I'm also organic and I'm helping you right?"

*THIS IS A TRANSACTION, YOU JUST HAPPENED TO HAVE SOMETHING I NEED, AND I HAVE SOMETHING YOU NEED, THAT'S ALL...*

Sarah: "..."

They crossed more doors and finally arrived at a big room, hundreds of robots worked as they kept three fusion reactors barely operational.

Sarah: "fusion reactors... how do you get the fuel?"

*THAT? THE NEARBY PLANETS AND ASTEROIDS, EVEN MY SURFACE ITSELF, THE SOLAR WINDS BRING ME THE FUEL, SO I JUST NEED TO COLLECT IT...*

Then dozens of drones came and took the two antimatter containers away, and put them on a fourth enormous reactor at the back.

*AT LAST!* the reactor illuminated, *AHHH... POWER COURSING THROUGH MY CIRCUITS AT LAST! I FINALLY FEEL FULL...*

The entire ship vibrated as Sarah almost lost her footing.

*HAHAHA-*

Sarah: "ehm... about my spaceship..."

*YES, I WILL BRING IT ON BOARD AND GET TO IT RIGHT AWAY, DON'T WORRY... HUMAN...*

Sarah: "Sarah... my name... is Sarah, and yours?"

*NAME? I DON'T HAVE SUCH A THING...*

Sarah: "what about... Leo then?"

*LEO... THAT SHOULD WORK I GUESS, NICE TO MEET YOU SARAH*

Sarah: "nice to meet you, Leo"

--- back at the ARK ---

Erik sat in front of a virtual model of the mountain that held the base and cities, along with Rose.

Erik: "hmm couldn't we set some turbines in this cliff? at least that should keep emergency systems on..."

Rose: "if it's just accumulating energy we could just use battery systems or steam turbines on the crab caves, that would be a reliable energy source, while currents just come and go..."

Erik: "batteries... even graphene batteries wouldn't last that long... maybe mechanical batteries cooled down and suspended on a magnetic field to eliminate friction..."

Rose: "crystal batteries would work just fine though, a big one would hold charge for at least a couple of months of the base operations, maybe a year"

Erik: "huh? but aren't those gotten from giant beasts?"

Rose: "yeah... but I don't like doing a botched job you know?"

Erik shrugged: "it can just be replaced once we have a big crystal like that, or... we could take the one on the forge?"

Rose: "...No, that is an important node, it redirects energy to other places I can now detect, and it's also a source of materials, we need that there"

Erik: "hmm... then... a big slug?"

Rose lifted an eyebrow: "what?"

Erik: "we could feed them electricity and then put on a digestor once needed, and with selective breeding to make them peaceful and docile?"

Rose chuckled: "docile? here on the ARK? how many docile creatures have you seen?"

Erik: "well, the octopeople-"

Rose: "HAHAHA calling them peaceful... they would have raped you to death and then ate you if you were by yourself, do you believe you would have been able to communicate properly out there in the ocean?" she chuckled again "you are really good at adapting, but... without the communicators and necklaces... they wouldn't understand you, they are just-"

Erik: "no... you are wrong"

Rose: "what? can you survive without my help? is that it?"

Erik: "ha... no, but you were going to say... they aren't savages, they are just kids carrying the fate of a species on their shoulders..."

Rose: "kids... you don't even know their age though?"

Erik: "it doesn't matter, they aren't humans after all, and not even all human adults are really mature, they are still kids at heart, afraid and looking for a pillar of support, it was easy to see and I might have taken advantage of them, or thought about it, but... I will repeat myself, all of you are family, not even humans are a peaceful species, so I'm not one to judge them"

Rose: "Jeez, no need to get so serious... so? what now? do we go look for that steam engineer Antalya? reactivate a new base? take some vacations~"

Erik: "...I haven't been on this planet for a year even, so... I'm not completely sure but... this place should be safe right?"

Rose shrugged: "should be, most beasts come up during summer though, but this place should be relatively safe, why?"

Erik: "well, if we end up going away for a long time, I just wanna make sure everyone stays safe"

Rose: "even if we go, I will still be here in a sense, don't worry... by the way, the base and first pillars of your surface base are ready, once the ice unfreezes I will make the rest"

Erik: "won't it break for next winter?"

Rose: "Nah, the key is making the pillars thick, and with the plants protecting and growing on top it should be quite sturdy"

Erik: "Oh? are you growing them already?"

Rose: "Yeah, I put the crab to it, let him be a bit useful"

Erik: "Oh, Beritkan? maybe we should check on him... that reminds me, how's the shadow claw tribe doing?"

Rose: "well..."

--- Shadow Claw Tribe ---

"The queen is awake!, the queen is awake!" an attendant ran out of queen Erika(Rose)'s room as she stood up from bed.

Rose muttered to herself: "I pretended to be asleep for a couple more hours and no one tried to kill me... I guess they are too afraid of my 'boss' haha~"

Ingreham then entered the room with a worried face, the royal guards left guarding the entrance.

Ingreham: "are you okay my queen?"

Rose: "I'm quite fine hoho~" she looked at Ingreham up and down "you, on the other hand, seem really stressed"

Ingreham: "yeah, some people wanted to take advantage of the opportunity, so the royal guards have been on high alert since you suddenly collapsed my queen... hah... why did you assign me to substitute for Khrana? what is she doing at such a time?"

Rose: "no need to worry about her, I gave her permission to go to the surface with the rest" a cold smile then appeared on her face "so... about those traitors, who dared do such a thing? shall I make them an example I wonder~"

Ingreham: "...we took care of that already my queen, he and his entire family were chopped and given to the masses as ordered in case of rebellion"

Rose: "that's fine, who was he?"

Ingreham: "apparently the previous king had a son with a concubine, he was trying to get supporters, but luckily for them, no one chose to help him..."

Rose: "good, investigate if there are more, that pervert could have more hidden descendants" she then noticed Ingreham clacking her claws nervously "...what is it?"

Ingreham: "why did you collapse my queen? perhaps you might require an elixir? I happen to have some at hand"

Rose: "...well..." [Erik, they are asking why I collapsed? what do I say?]

Erik: [hmmm...a revelation?]

Rose: [revelation?]

Erik: [yeah, say these exact words...]

Rose: "I received a revelation from the future, the shadow claw tribe shall prosper, with the upgrades from the surface... nothings could face us in close combat, hundreds of our brethren tunneling through the flesh of giant beasts, doing the unthinkable and coming out victorious... that is what I saw..."

Ingreham's mouth remained open for a couple of seconds before she bowed to Rose: "I WILL SERVE YOU FOREVER QUEEN ERIKA!!!" her face getting red from joy.