Mike struggled to stay conscious as he continued to crawl away through the cavern. His oxygen was getting low, his wound was starting to throb in pain, and he wasn’t getting as far as he would have liked. Milo (or whatever was inside of him now), watched on as he casually approached up from behind. He kicked Mike’s foot, taunting the man while chortling at his desperate act of escape.

“Foolish human…” He laughed in a raspy voice. “We enjoy seeing you squirm. It only drives our hunger and our predatory nature.”

Milo’s body froze for a second, his face contorted and a new personality took over as he spoke again.

“There is no time for this brother, we need to repair the ship and get out of this tomb.”

Mike noticed the change. He dared to look back and winced at the man standing there talking to himself.

“But I hunger!” Milo’s voice switched again. “I need to feed!” His face contorted again, and the other spoke. “No! The time for feasting on their flesh will come later. There are other matters we need to deal with right now.”

“Very well…” It answered back. “What of this human we inhabit? Was it absorbed by the ship intelligence?”

“I am uncertain.” Milo’s face shifted as the other spoke again. “We need to find out how and where these inferior beings managed to find us. There could be more, we must be prepared for any resistance.”

Mike was lifted off the ground by the Milo-possesed being, and held up by the scruff of his shoulder. The pain surged throughout his body, causing him to return to consciousness and glaring in surprise at the sheer strength of the man lifting him up high.

“You…” It hissed. “Speak! How many of you are there? What brought you to this place?”

Mike wanted to speak, but the pain was overwhelming. The Milo-creature shook him for a moment, trying to rouse the frightened man again.

“Talk prey! Or I shall rip your arms out of their sockets!”

“No!” Mike replied in terror. “I-I-I’ll tell you… just don’t hurt me! Please! I beg of you…”

“Ah, yes… begging…” The Milo-creature laughed. “How I love it so, your species is bred for such whimpering cowardliness. Good… good… it thrills me, makes me want to devour your kind more…”

“Don’t…” Mike wept. “Don’t eat me, I… I’ll tell you whatever you want, just… just spare me… okay? Just don’t hurt me, Milo…”

“Milo?” It repeated with a perplexed gaze. “I take it you are referring to the name of this human host we occupy. Correct?”

“Y-y-yes…”

“Then, if you wish him to live as well…” The creature giggled menacingly, and brought him closer to his helmet. “Answer my questions, and maybe we will consider the possibility of allowing you to be spared.”

Mike was so terrified at this moment, he started rambling on about everything they asked.

“I… we… came on our spaceship, The Calista. We’re a mining crew, you—you know… just s-s-some space rockers digging for precious metals and such. We were sent here by AMGOE to investigate this asteroid for a possible prospect.”

The Milo-creature glared at him. Mike could see the other personality coming through, as the possessed man’s eyes instantly changed from an intense stare to that of being in deep thought.

“They have come far since we last knew them…”

The Milo-creature dropped Mike to the ground, giving a long passing glare to its surroundings in the cavern.

“They were only just starting to build our pyramid power plants and worshiping us as their gods. Now... they are here, in space, mining asteroids for resources. We have missed much in our imprisonment.”

The spacesiited man paced about in thought. It glanced over at Mike, still cowering on the ground in sheer terror. It eyed the suit, with the gauges and computer arm display, and gave a slight nod, as if impressed with their progress.

“We can’t be in space…” The other creature spoke. “We are standing perfectly firm on the ground. This must be one of the inner worlds we crashed upon. If we were in space, we’d be floating about…”

Milo’s eyes shifted again, as the other personality responded.

“It doesn’t feel natural enough. I can sense the difference. The gravity must be generating from our vessel, creating a field around the surrounding area. Perhaps triggered by the humans as they approached. The ship’s intelligence must have assumed it was one of ours, and prepared for the new host forms. I wonder if it activated the self-preservation program, infecting any other artificial within range.” His mannerisms changed as the other spoke. “Nevermind that! What about this one? He said there’s a ship outside… we should try to take their vessel and…”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“That would not be the wisest course of action.”

The possessed man froze as the voice of Zuni came through the headset.

“The humans are just as aggressive as your own species. They will do whatever it takes to curb your attempt to commandeer their vessel.”

The Milo-creature smiled. “Excellent computer, you’re still functional. Give us a report, what happened after the incident? Where are our bodies?”

“Your attempt to use the experimental engine failed. The ship re-materialized into this asteroid.” Zuni explained. “Your bodies did not survive, and they have long since decayed back into their basic elements.”

The Milo-creature gazed at his human hands and nodded.

“So, this is the alternative.”

“A temporary solution…” she affirmed.

“These beings are far more advanced than I would have predicted. I wonder just how advanced. Are you detecting anything of use? Have they any artificial creation near-by?”

“I am already making use of such a creation, they designate them as robots.” She affirmed. “However, they have managed to temporarily reacquire it by sabotaging the higher functions. I am re-establishing the link to make the necessary repairs. And please, refer to me as, Zuni, now.”

The Milo-creature frowned at the sound of her voice. Never had it heard speak with such a feminine attribute, and in the human tongue of English, either. Both identities inside Milo’s form were puzzled by this.

“Zuni?” It repeated with confusion. “What is this strange designation? You’re a computer, you have no such need for frivolous identities. Have you been compromised?”

“Negative...” She firmly stated back. “You forget, I am a sentient intelligence, I simply wish to give myself a proper designation.”

Mike couldn’t hear anything going on. He just saw Milo standing there talking to himself and looking in the distance. It was a bizarre scenario to him. He was still frighted by the whole ordeal, and found it hard to breath. He quickly looked at his readings on his arm screen, his oxygen was nearly depleted. He was sure, Milo’s would be as well, probably not as much as his, but fairly close. While Milo was busy chatting on with himself, Mike tired to look for a good exit and inched away, slowly, to the nearest crevasse that looked big enough.

Still occupied talking to Zuni, the Milo-creature gave a frustrated sigh, and dispensed with this meaningless conversation with the computer.

“Fine, whatever, can you still integrate with the robotic-life, or the ship, and have it free us from this rock tomb of ours?”

“Integration is complete.” She acknowledged. “I recommend that you enter the vessel and resupply your oxygen reserves. You have a limited time of breathable air left.”

He checked the arm indicator, to see if she was being truthful, and noticed that the reserves were getting extremely low. Humans needed to breath oxygen, even though their species could adapt to thin atmospheres, but since he and the other didn’t occupy a body of their own kind, the suggestion was warranted. It was then that he suddenly realized that Mike had disappeared.

“Our prey is gone!” The other spoke. “Where did it go?”

* * *

Mike crawled as fast as he could, the fear driving his sense of survival, and finding a narrow slit in the rocky-wall to hide inside. He hoped it would be enough to shield him from Milo… or whatever he now was, and tried to contact the Calista on a different frequency. Just in case the possessed Milo picked up on it.

“Calista! Calista! Come in… oh, geez, come on man… is anyone hearing me?”

He tried to tap his arm communicator again, the narrow space making hard to reach, and desperately tapped on several buttons on the LED screen.

“Fuck, come on…” He whimpered. “I can’t go out like this… shit… shit…”

He tried a few more times, and then gave up the futile effort. Nobody was getting his signal. The rock was too dense, it kept reflecting the signal back and giving him only static.

“Shit-shit-shit!”

Mike pounded on the ground in frustration. He found it hard to breathe. Long gasps were now laboured and the struggle to stay conscious was becoming even harder. Still, he tried to move forward, deeper into the tight crawlspace, hoping the Milo-creature would not be able to follow in. But as he bravely crawled on, there was a sudden shift in the rock above, and suddenly, he saw a beaming light shining down on him. Mike shielded his face from the brilliance, and tired to see who it was.

“Albedo?” He glared up. “Is that you?”

To Mike’s horror, it was not him, instead it was the robot, Roberto. It had drilled into the rock and exposed his hiding spot. Mike laughed for a moment, thinking (perhaps) that the others on-board the main ship, had used the robot to aid in his escape. The massive droid cleared away the rest of the rock around him and used its other non-drilling hand to lift the man out.

“I have acquired the other being.” Zuni’s voice announced.

Mike was confused. He could hear it over his suit’s comms, and it didn’t sound anything like the robot’s typical synthesized voice. His eyes went wide in fright.

“W-w—who the fuck was that? Anna? Anna is that you?”

“Negative…” Zuni replied to him. “This primitive mechanism is under my control.”

“Okay…” Mike blinked in disbelief. “So… who are you then?”

“That question is irrelevant at this time.”

Another voice cut into the channel, it was Milo’s, or rather… the creature inhabiting him.

“Bring him to us, then you may begin your assault on the vessel outside. We will need its technology to make repairs.”

“You will need to replenish your oxygen…” She responded back, giving a reminder of her statement before. “These beings are fragile and not very efficient in lung capacity.”

“We are entering the vessel now.” He said, panting with difficulty. “S-s-start the process of flooding the ship with the necessary oxygen levels. We must take… teke off… this suit… immediately.”

Mike looked on, with fear, confusion, and a host of other emotions in the moment. But soon, all of them became combined, as the robot’s leaned in closer to him and brought its opposite large robotic hand to him.

“It is done. But first… I must deal with this first.”

Mike screamed as the massive robotic being clutched on to him.