*(mood song: "Rupert Holmes - Escape")

A huge floating city appeared on the horizon, along with an enormous fleet of ships that seemed to fill the rest of the horizon.

Sarah: "what do we do now?!"

Rose: *...hmmm maybe they ain't coming for you?*

*BWORUUUU* a loud battle horn was then heard coming from behind them.

Rose: *...play it safe and go directly to that city... maybe, just maybe they haven't been informed it is you inside that boat...*

Sarah: "...great, well you are piloting, so go ahead"

Rose: *if it makes you feel better, our submarine will arrive in a week if we rush, you just need to hide for the time being*

Sarah: "hide for a week on an alien tecnobarbarian society on an alien planet, yeah seems so easy..."

Rose: *don't let them see you then, they won't even know where to look for you since they used this vessel as a surface ship, but... it can work as a submarine too~"

At that moment, the vessel decelerated, as the water level around it rose, soon covering the windows, and finally, it was underwater.

Rose: *see? now we just gotta pilot this under that city and no one will find you*

They continued underwater way slower than on the surface, and finally, the fleet of ships continued on their way over them.

Sarah: "they didn't even stop... seems like they didn't come for us after all"

Rose: *there are quite a bit of plausible scenarios for their apparition, first would be a call for help, second and most likely is that they saw the fireball in the sky, have a prophecy or something, and want what the fireball had for themselves...*

Sarah: "so... pirates?"

Rose:*no, you don't need to be a pirate to covet what others have, just to be stronger, if you are stronger they will just give you what you want out of fear"

Sarah: "hmmm... that's a good point, but nothing more than speculation for now..."

Three hours passed and they were finally getting close to the floating city, and finally saw it, how could such a huge city move? it just wasn't, a huge monster was chained under it to pull the city, like a huge ancient crocodile swimming under the waves, it had four eyes and huge scales, the chains having fused already with his flesh on some parts, with scales growing over them.

Sarah's face instantly paled: "what is that?!"

Rose: *hmmm seems like an armorlisk that mutated eating too many lizardmen to me"

Sarah: "what's an armorlisk"

Rose: *oh, just a name Erik gave to a big armoured creature that usually lives over the ice, they can swim but they are usually slow swimmers, not the kind of creature I would use to pull anything, though this one seems quite a bit more aquatic, maybe they selectively bred it... anyway, let's ignore it for now.

Sarah could see the tired eyes of the beast as they got closer to the city, and her fear was replaced by pity, the chains so dug up into the flesh of the creature that new flesh was growing over most of- them, forever locking those shackles inside as it grew... at that moment, Sarah gasped.

Rose: *what is it?*

Sarah: "...it... it looked at me..."

Rose: *the beast? that's impossible, at most it saw the submarine*

Sarah: "...maybe..."

The underside of the city was full of huge parts of spaceships, now covered in algae and surrounded by other small creatures lurking around, and from various pipes and from the sides large amounts of waste and excrement fell on the waters below, clouding the water as thousands of small creatures rushed to eat anything that fell to the waters below.

Under one part they saw an old spaceship hangar open, dark and covered in algae by now.

Rose: *see? we can park there~*

Rose put the submarine inside and parked it, the floor creaked under the newly added weight, but it finally held.

Sarah: "is it safe here? how much oxygen do I have left?"

Rose: *relax, it's safe, as for oxygen... huh? the sensors must be broken, this shouldn't... wait, since I reduced the internal pressure to the minimum, it seems that created a vulnerability somewhere while submerging...*

Sarah: "...and your point is?"

Rose: *my point... well, the point is that this spaceship is losing air somewhere, it doesn't seem to be a big amount thankfully*

Sarah: "well, if it's safe I could exit the spaceship and plug the problem with repair tape..."

Rose: *...I meant safe while inside the submarine, humans are so weak almost anything could kill you, and that repair tape you have won't work well underwater anyway*

Sarah: "you are the one who said it was safe, and I also have a plasma welder, so I could weld it shut then"

Rose: *through the cameras it seems safe but... you never know if it really is you know, organisms on an ark should never be taken lightly, as for welding it... well the defect could be anywhere, better take a break and explore the submarine for now*

Sarah: "...fine, I do need a break, can you connect me to Erik?"

Rose: *...not yet, he's... cooking, I will tell you when he finishes*

Sarah: "...okay, I guess I will... have a look around then"

Sarah jumped down slightly from the huge captain seat, and took the defense machine gun with her. The submarine wasn't that big, and as she exited the cabin there were only two other rooms to check on both sides of a metallic hallway. Sarah tried entering the one on the left and she saw lots of preserved dried meat of various types hanging from the ceiling, even some fresh meat.

Sarah muttered to herself: "probably should test it first before eating alien sushi... but I have no tools-" her stomach grumbled "-and I'm quite hungry... I will try a little bit..."

Sarah got close to one of the meats and picked it up from a hanger, she took out a knife and cut a slice of what looked like tuna meat, and *PSSSHH* opened her helmet, breathing was hard as the air felt heavy, but it was easier than at the surface at least. She took a bite of the meat and... actually liked the taste.

Sarah: "not bad... kinda like jamón ibérico..." she sat on a nearby table, and started cutting and eating more, the meat was salted but not too much as the fats of the meat oozed with every bite.

--Back at the submarine--

Erik came out of the shower and saw Rose outside.

Erik: "oh, did anything happen?"

Rose smiled: "well yes, I see you also had fun~, Sarah was asking for you, you know?"

Erik was a bit ashamed but he quickly changed the topic: "did so much time pass? is she okay?"

Rose: "yeah, she okay for now, though she... I did sink a lizardman city~"

Erik: "what?!"

Rose: "yeah, it seems the lizardmen survived... or at least their descendants, they live in floating cities it seems"

Erik: "...how many?"

Rose: "I don't know yet, but anyway, Sarah is now under one of their cities, resting inside a crude improvised submarine vehicle that is very slowly filling with water as it's parked in a hangar full of waste eating creatures, she's fine~"

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Erik paled: "...what is she doing now?"

Rose: "eating the meat reserves of the original owner of that vessel, apparently she likes it"

Erik chuckled: "Yeah, if she likes the food she can eat quite a bit, but I bet she can't stop thinking about sequencing the DNA of that meat and testing it first, she always insisted so much about that during training I even remember the risk factors by memory, chemical incompatibility or unknown chemicals leading to food poisoning, and biological risks like unknown parasites and diseases, the protocol would be to examine the flesh under a microscope in thin layers, to observe possible biological activity, and then do an ICP-MS to know what elements does it contain..."

Rose: "....yeah, she's thinking about that right now"

Erik: "you can read her mind too?"

Rose: "yes, in fact, it's easier than reading yours, your mind is more chaotic, while hers is quite methodic"

Erik: "how's so? What's the difference?"

Rose: "you have a lot of random thoughts, it's like... searching a webpage and pop ads appearing one after the other, while her mind... it's like a quiet and organized database"

Erik: "okay... so will she mutate if she eats that meat?"

Rose: "hmmm most likely, but I don't know what animal that meat belongs to, moreover the meat is processed so the DNA won't be perfect"

Erik: "so she's kind of safe and well fed, does she have anything to drink?"

Rose: "hmmm let me see the memory of when she looked around... yes, there seems to be bottles of liquid there, some should be drinkable by humans"

Erik: "...fine, connect me to her"

Rose pointed at his face: "with that face?"

Erik: "...can you simulate my old face?"

Rose: "Sure, connecting on 3...2...1...."

-- Back under the lizardman city --

Sarah had eaten a lot of the oily salty meat and now she was quite thirsty, so she was looking for something to drink, looking through the metallic shelves, she saw lots of bottles, but the liquid inside was mostly murky.

Sarah opened one and took a whiff, retching instantly: "disgusting! that smelled caustic puaj!..."

She left the bottle on the floor, and started looking again, seeing also different containers, like a sealed snail shell that once opened smelled like alcohol, containing a bright blue liquid, she took a small sip and it was bitter at first, then slightly sweet, and then she couldn't feel her tongue.

Sarah: "isn't there any water... just some clean water..."

She looked at the bottom of the shelf and finally found a sealed metallic container, she grabbed a metallic cup from a wardrobe and poured some inside, the liquid was crystal clear, so she first dipped her pinky finger to make sure it wasn't acid, and then smelled it making sure it didn't smell like alcohol or some other substance.

Sarah: "this seems like water..." she took a small sip and it finally didn't taste like anything "finally, some clean water... I hope..."

Sarah drank it all, and could finally feel fine after eating so much salted meat, by now her breathing was getting labored as her lungs were starting to hurt from the effort, so she closed her spacesuit again.

Sarah exited the kitchen and crossed to the other side of the hallway, opened the other door, and went inside, once inside she could see a huge bed, along with a shelve full of dried algae and pieces of beasts.

Sarah: "...a shaman maybe?" Sarah wondered, but then...

*plop... plop...* the sound of water drops was faintly hearable.

Sarah looked around, but she couldn't find the exact source, but it clearly came from below.

Sarah: "from the floor... there must be another deck below... but how do I get there..."

Most of the room was occupied by the bed, so she took off the cover with difficulty, and then tried to move the mattress, but she was unable to lift it much at all.

Sarah muttered: "what the hell is it made of..." and took out a knife, cutting the mattress open, and she found fibers of dried algae inside, so she pulled off the entire middle section and cut it apart, then using her power tools, she cut the frame of the bed, careful not to set it on fire. The bed was soon split in half, and she could now see a trap door on the floor.

Sarah: "I knew it!" she tried to open it, but her efforts were in vain, the door had rusted to the floor long ago "oh well, I will just cut it open then!"

It took some effort to cut through, as even rusted over the steel alloy was quite strong, but finally, she opened the trap door. What for a lizardman would have been a tight fit for her was a wide trap door, so she fit through without any issue.

Rusty bar stairs led the way down, Sarah descended and finally reached the bottom with a *chof* sound, as her boots sank into a layer of muddy water.

Sarah looked around using the flashlights from the spacesuit helmet, and everything around was a mess, the water level almost reached her knees by now, and the water had been leaking for quite some time already, as there was rust all around.

Sarah: "if that noble or whatever had mechanics he should fire them... this is a mess...."

Rose: [what are you doing?]

Sarah yelped surprised at the sudden voice in her head.

Sarah: "you scared me! knock or something first"

Rose: [sigh... beep beep beep..., better? now what are you doing, I told you to rest]

Sarah: "Actually, you told me to look around, and also I did already rest"

Rose: [...so? you are just looking around? 'cause there ain't much to see, clearly the septic system broke down long ago and they never repaired it, that made the pipes and electronics to short circuit, that's about it]

Sarah: "...so you are telling me this is all shit and pee around me?"

Rose: [yeah, pretty much, luckily you have your spacesuit on and closed, the gases there would have killed you...., you left the hatch open though, so the gases are contaminating the entire spaceship's air...]

Sarah was disgusted and quickly jumped up the stairs and closed the hatch.

Rose: [you aren't going out?]

Sarah: "I wanna repair this first"

Rose: [okay... suit yourself]

Sarah got close to a leaking pipe and closed the upper valve shut.

Rose: [you just cut the water supply to the battery refrigeration system]

Sarah: "...fine, I don't know what I'm doing, so please can you guide me?"

Rose: [sigh... if that makes you feel better sure, listen closely...]

-- Back at the base --

The critters had been taken by Anhuka to the insane scientist crabman that had made a serum out of them, and now the serum was being given to everyone. Both crab people and octopeople took it, as there were plenty of critters to process.

The changes weren't apparent on the outside, but all of them gained a new organ that added a bio antifreeze to their bloodstream, protecting their cells from the damage freezing does to living organisms, as it allowed them to freeze and unfreeze safely and without any damage.

Beritkan observed in the octopeople city plaza as the last dose was given to a small octopeople scout, and quietly cheered.

Beritkan: "this will allow us to live on the surface of the ice, and even to better tolerate outer world temperatures, maybe even freeze ourselves and visit Earth... kekeke~"

Megan was by the side along with Shana.

Megan: "so... this will make us stronger?"

Beritkan: "no... but you won't ever freeze to death!"

Shana: "hmm that sounds useful indeed"

Beritkan was annoyed by the lack of enthusiasm: "it is... when my lady Erik comes back she will appreciate my discovery much more"

Anhuka: "sure sure... now go back to your lab!"

Beritkan: "...I go cause I wanna go"

-- Back at Sarah's location --

Sarah had restored the electrical system of the spaceship and activated the pumps, as they slowly pumped the waste water outside.

Rose: [congratulations on repairing this can, you should rest while life support clears the air, the smell will remain though]

Sarah: "...thanks I guess..., is Erik available now or still cooking?"

Rose: [huh? oh right, yeah I will connect you now, go to the bridge]

Sarah did as told and went back up, sitting at the captain's chair again.

A screen popped up, and she could see Erik, with the same face she remembered, but with a huge body, and wearing a strange power armor.

Sarah: "Erik?"

Erik chuckled: "yeah, it's me"

Sarah became tearful: "...I... I was so worried..."

Erik: "I know me too..., listen I heard about your situation from Rose, wait for us we are on our way there, and don't eat raw meat anymore"

Sarah: "raw meat? why?"

Erik: "this planet ain't a normal planet, anything you eat fuses parts of the DNA of what you eat to your own body, if the mutagen field considers that DNA as better than yours then... you will mutate"

Sarah paled: "wait... so that's why you look bigger, and... oh my god, I ate raw meat earlier..."

Erik: "indeed I mutated... quite a bit actually... as for you, eating a bit of muscle tissue should be fine, it's also cured meat so eat without worry, even if you mutate it will be slowly and only the muscle tissues, making you stronger, just like if you consumed myostatin blockers back on Earth"

Sarah became pensive: "that is indeed interesting... what are the principles behind it? have you tried setting up sensors?"

Erik: "no idea, and no, it was made by a really clever ancient civilization, that's all I know, and that if the DNA is damaged like from cooked food then it doesn't count much, so... if you don't like the traits of what you eat... just cook it, and if you do wanna mutate then sashimi is a good choice"

Sarah looked at Erik deeply: "how... how did you survive?"

Erik: "Rose, Rose saved me, and together we made allies, a base... weapons, equipment... progress"

Sarah: "Rose? the voice in my head...what is she?"

Erik pointed down: "this planet, the planet is Rose..."

Sarah paled as she looked down and back at Erik: "I... I spoke casually with such a being..."

Erik: "relax~ Rose is really cool and chill"

Sarah: "Erik, if she really is a living planet then... she's the closest to a god humanity has ever seen... and her name being Rose is even weirder, why would aliens-"

Erik: "oh that... I named her that and she liked it"

Sarah was shaking in unease: "ha... haha... you named a god... she can even bend space you know? you should be careful around her-"

Erik: "stop worrying uselessly, Rose is fine with me treating her casually, right Rose?"

Rose sat next to Erik on the screen.

Rose: "heh~ well, it would be nice if you were a bit more respectful and grateful, but... we are indeed friends, so talk the way you please~"

Rose looked at the screen: "as for you... Sarah, I spent a huge amount of energy to bring you here... hope you prove yourself useful"

Sarah: "I sure will! but... how is Erik proving himself useful?"

Rose put her arm around Erik's shoulders: "he does what I tell him, and he also has good ideas... sometimes, we help each other, that's what friends are for right?"

Sarah: "...are you... really fine being friends with a human?... it doesn't make sense..."

Rose: "...sigh... yes, it's fine, nothing is perfect from the get go, let's say my complaint was his longevity, then I can just make him live longer, and if I ever find him dumb, I just need to help him become more intelligent, see? your worries are meaningless~"

Sarah: "I see..."

Erik: "...yeah well, as I was saying, sit tight and wait for us"

Sarah: "well, I just repaired the electrical systems... I was thinking of connecting to the city's grid and see if I can find something out about those lizardmen and their society"

Rose: "oh, there's no need for that, when we repaired the ship I connected to the city and activated a repair bot, then fixed the bay you are at so..." the doors of the hangar closed, and the water started emptying "so it will be fine... oh..."

Sarah: "what is it?"

Rose: "I wasn't expecting it but... I think I triggered an alarm..."

Sarah & Erik: "what?!"

Rose: "oops! maybe they won't notice it but..." a rusty hatch opened on the hangar "better grab your weapons and hide somewhere inside... just in case..."