*(mood song: "Scorpions - We built this house")

--- greenhouse laboratory ---

Erik and Rose came inside, and saw the laboratory empty.

Erik: "yo! old man Beritkan, are you here?"

From a pile of algae scrolls in a corner, a slim figure emerged. The old man was no more, his face looked now extremely human like, although without hair, and he had lost his pincers, having now four pairs of arms, although his lower half was still that of a crab man.

Erik: [weren't you keeping an eye on him?]

Rose: [he just plays with DNA samples and flasks all day, it's boring~... ( '3')]

Beritkan bowed slightly, extremely pleased with Erik's surprise: "what do you think my queen? I've studied a lot and I became fascinated with humans, your technologies, and society.... would it be possible for me to go to Earth?"

Erik: [would it?]

Rose: [just for that crabman? is like telling someone to cross an ocean swimming two ways just to do groceries... (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻]

Erik: [got a better idea anyway, don't worry]

Erik put a serious face: "as you might have seen already, my spaceship crashed on this planet, but yeah if your contributions are enough, then I will take you back to Earth with me once it's possible"

Beritkan trembled in excitement and fell to the floor on a bow of respect: "I SHALL NEVER DISAPPOINT YOU, MY QUEEN!!!"

Erik: "Yeah, the universe is so big right? doesn't fighting for a bit more power in that small tribe seem trivial now?"

Beritkan: "my thoughts exactly my queen..., I was what humans call... a frog in a well, forever seeing the same piece of the sky... but now... I have a new objective, to be the first crab man extraterrestrial to win the Nobel prize!!!"

Erik was surprised: [what has he been watching lately?]

Rose: [he seems to love documentaries of inventors whose inventions changed the world, from one small invention to the other, till amazing technologies, he's pretty much obsessed though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

Erik: "Yeah, a good goal so..., how are the bone eating plants growing?"

Beritkan: "...pretty quickly my queen, just yesterday they reached ten centimeters in length, it's an extremely fast growth, and that's without being fed anything at all..., my theory is that they feed by filtering nutrients from the water on their early stages, further research would be needed to confirm it though"

Erik: "hmm very good, show them to me"

Beritkan bowed slightly: "follow after me, my queen"

They all three walked to the end of the lab, and in a big reinforced aquarium, Erik could see the black strands growing from the bottom like feathers.

Erik nodded in approval: "anything else to report?"

Beritkan seemed to remember something and ran to his table "there is actually something" digging between his piles of algae papers until he got a bright blue vial "this... my queen, is refined pure DNA from the muscular and bone structure of the samples of... the spider fish? you brought" he moved it around "it should increase your cellular regeneration"

Erik: "hoh? you tested it I assume?"

Beritkan nodded: "yes my queen, I tested it on myself, and as you can see... my body gained strength, but got slimmer and sturdier at the same time, way more efficient"

Erik took the vial: "great work, I will take it later, now I let you go back to your studies"

Beritkan bowed: "yes my queen"

--- Once outside ---

Erik: "so... it's the vial safe?"

Rose briefly scanned it: "hmm it should be, I don't detect anything weird"

--- Crabman city on the surface ---

Crabina held Anhuka's left hand with her right hand as she looked around.

Crabina: "thanks for coming with me mommy, I wanted to see the new crab people coming!"

Anhuka smiled lovingly at Crabina: "of course sweety" she looked around "the guests should be on this floor..." it was one of the lowest recently dug floors.

Crabina then used her left pincer to point: "look, mommy! that one looks weird!"

Anhuka looked and saw a big crab woman in thick metal armor: "a soldier huh... wanna go say hi?"

Crabina: "yeah! let's go, mommy!"

Khrana was pacing around nervously in her suit of armor, when she saw a mother and daughter approaching, and repeated to herself: "okay, remember what the queen said, make a good impression, good impression... did I polish my armor enough?... ugh... I'm too nervous, my stomach hurts... let's just turn around... they won't talk to me... it's fine, everything's fine...-"

Crabina: "Hi! I'm Crabina, and you?"

Khrana turned around slowly, seeing the excited Crabina, and the serious Anhuka, Anhuka's eyes seeming to scan her every movement: 'she's dangerous...'

Crabina: "hello...? are you okay?"

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Khrana: "huh? ah, I'm Khrana, head of the royal guards... nice to meet you!"

Anhuka: "hoh, quite the position you have~"

Khrana: "y-yeah, thank you..."

A brief silence preceded as Crabina grabbed Khrana's hand: "so... do you like the city? my daddy made it"

Khrana's brain stopped for a second, screaming inside her head: 'ahhh! the family of a bigshot!!!! crap!!! what do I say?! do I go overboard? do I remain humble?... ahhh!!!"

Crabina: "hey...?"

Khrana's voice slightly trembled as she said: "yeah..., everything here is so... different and optimal..." thinking 'yeah, that's it, let's try humble and concise first....'

Crabina: "yeah, being out of the water as daddy said feels a bit weird, but as long as you don't sleep out of the water it's fine"

Khrana: "y-yeah... don't worry, the rooms have really nice sleeping ponds"

Crabina: "hehe~ daddy calls them bathtubs"

Khrana: "i-is that so... so... who is your daddy?"

Anhuka: "he's the Fifth elder, he's... like out of this world *chuckle*"

Khrana: "so he's a demon- I mean an octoperson?"

Crabina: "no" she pointed up, "daddy told me, he came from space"

Khrana was confused: "space? what is... space?"

Crabina was carrying a small backpack, and quickly took out her tablet from inside: "daddy showed me once, space is pretty and full of lights, see?" showing her a picture of space.

Khrana: "...space... is there air there? water?"

Anhuka chuckled, and patted Crabina's head as she scramble to answer: "let me explain that better..., space is empty except for a complex substance Erik, the Fifth elder calls dark matter, as there ain't enough gravitational force to keep the universe together without it"

Khrana was dumbfounded: "what's the... universe?"

Crabina rushed to answer: "the universe is everything! we are in a solar system around a star, then galaxies have millions of solar systems, and universes have billions of galaxies!"

Khrana: "I... I don't understand..."

Anhuka: "it's fine, you don't need to understand, can you guide us to the others? my daughter wanted to meet them"

Khrana: "...of course... follow me..."

--- Base, third floor ---

Meanwhile, Erik and Rose had taken the mutant octopeople to the third floor of his base.

They had been in the octopeople city for some days, but they all remained in a room, scared to go out until Erik arrived to check on them, after which they had followed him for the rest of the day.

Erik: "they are a bit better here by themselves, but they are even scared of the chickens..."

Rose: "well... to be fair.... those are huge chickens"

Erik: "yeah... I haven't been feeding them much lately though, I wonder what they are eating..." he then made a pause and pointed at the mutant kids fearfully stuck to his back "well, we need to synthesize their language, or teach them ours, they can't keep living like this..."

Rose: "aww... you got tired of being their mama~?"

Erik: "...yes"

Rose: "well, I was expecting this, so..."

A group of bots entered the plains of the third floor, carrying equipment along with what looked like rubber helmets.

Rose grabbed one and explained: "first, let's scan their brain and see their capacity for language" she then patted a box "and this is a body scanner, we'll see if they can articulate a language at all"

The machines were set on the floor, and Erik grabbed the hand of the mutant leader, talking to her in a calm voice: "let's go okay? it will be over soon"

The leader seemed to calm down, and although she stressed a bit when the helmet was put on her, Erik's calm face made her relax.

Rose: "hmmm their language areas are slightly less developed, but they should be able to talk in the octopeople language"

Erik: "now what?"

Rose: "now? now you just lay down on your hammock, this will take the rest of the day"

Erik: "this?"

Rose rolled her eyes: "yes, THIS... I need to show them pictures and see how their brain reacts to those inputs, see it as... a calibration for the speech collars"

Erik patted the leader's slimy shoulder, and went to lay down on a hammock nearby.

Meanwhile, the rest of the mutants had gone inside a watering pool the chickens used, as the temperature was too sunny and hot for them there. Seeing their behavior, Erik facepalmed.

Erik: "shit... Rose, I messed up, can you bring them some water and hats please"

A bot opened a box then and took a hose with a water sprinkler, and some aluminum hats were distributed.

Rose rolled her eyes: "you finally realized it"

Erik: "sorry, there's been a lot on my head"

Rose: "like what?"

Erik: "well... all kinds of things actually, like what will we do next, how are things back on Earth, what would happen if the alien races find them... to... who the fuck is feeding my chickens...?!" he pointed at a huge scaly chicken, at least more than a meter tall "that's almost a velociraptor... maybe bigger, at least the sheep look kind of normal... the spider silk wool should be ready soon." the sheep were grazing near the glowing chestnut trees on the distance, just a third taller than normal sheep.

Erik sighed: "sigh... guess I will take a nap for now"

He laid on a hammock, a took out a blue flask from his chest 'hmm... I might as well...', he uncorked the flask and drank the entire contents.

"urk!" his teeth instantly clenched, as he felt his stomach on fire, it quickly went down his gut and onto his bloodstream, quickly setting his body on what felt like fire.

Erik: [R...ose...]

Rose quickly arrived near him: [you! why did you take it now?! it will probably cause major mutations!]

Erik: [I... wanted... make time... ugh...]

From Rose's finger appeared a needle, and she used it to make a small puncture on Erik's spine.

Rose: [well, now you won't feel your body, so rest properly, i will heal you later if it doesn't heal by itself]

Erik; [w-wait!]

But Rose walked back to the mutant octopeople.

Erik couldn't move or feel anything below his neck, but looking down he could see his body sweating profusely and twitching, thinking 'well... I guess it's better like this... might get a bit dehydrated though, but I don't feel like sleeping anymore... my head hurts too... ugh... shit that Beritkan old bastard... this better be worth it.'

--- Crab man city ---

Meanwhile, Crabina had been visiting the different new arrivals to the crab man city, from ruthless hunters to alchemists, all knew better to show respect to the little crab girl when seeing the two menacing crab women beside her.

Thanya and Alkban were walking down a hallway with groceries bought in the city market.

Thanya having an angry face: "I can't believe it! had to pawn an abyssal bone dagger for some groceries!"

Alkban: "well, those vibro knives from the weapon dealer looked pretty amazing, cutting through armoured mussel plates like nothing~"

Thanya: "the prices here are ridiculous... and I also couldn't use my father's name at all..."

Alkban chuckled: "Yeah, they only got annoyed and wanted to raise the price..."

Thanya: "I can't believe this shitty city! it's shit! it's all shit!!!"

*COUGH!* A loud cough then came from the side, a pouting little crab girl followed by an entourage of crab men and women dying to earn her favor.

A burly crab man with an ax soon jumped forward, his ax resting on Thanya's neck on an instant, looking back at the little girl "have they annoyed you, little miss?"

An old alchemist then stepped forward: "I can poison them to death too little miss"

Lots of similar requests were made, as Alkban and Thanya went bone pale in fear.

Thanya looked at the pouting little crab miss, 'this... this is the kind of respect I wanted... if only...'

Thanya: "little miss... may I... ask your name?"

Crabina: "hmph! I'm Crabina! why you said my daddy's city is shit?!"

Thanya's exoskeleton paled even further: 'her... dad...' "w-well, the food was expensive so..."

Crabina: "food? why don't you go hunting then?"

Thanya: "well... it's a new place after all"

Crabina sneered: "so you are just useless is that it? hunting your own food makes it taste better" a couple in the group nodded in approval.

Thanya, then looked at Alkban with eyes about to cry.

Alkban cleared his throat: "little miss, if you could forgive her just this once... she's as you say, useless, unable to hunt her own food, and with a bad temper, but she has a good heart... deep down"

Crabina: "hmm... fine, stand down guys"

The crab men retracted their weapons, the ax warrior slightly annoyed at the lost opportunity.

Khrana came forward at that point: "your father won't be happy knowing you are causing trouble the moment you arrived"

Thanya: "...I... I was just..."

Alkban bowed: "yes, we understand, it won't happen again"

Crabina: "good, come with me! everyone wants to go meet daddy!"