“Fuck Martin Vedastus. I hope he gets cancer.” The time wasted on staking out the man’s house and watching his work was nearly worthless. I stood over a small metal barrel where I was burning the cash and notebooks from the safe. I wouldn’t be able to use it and I didn’t want anyone else to get in trouble for trying to. So burying the possible gold bars in a random park on the north side of town, and burning the cash on the east side. I proceeded to head southwest waiting to pawn off the jewelry until I was at least over the state line. While trying to figure out the best way to swap the hot cash without drawing attention or deciding to just wait for things to quiet down.
We should get going, we have spent enough time trying to earn cash. The other meteorites will be harder to find and any other possible species may be more acclimated or have already begun to spread.
“Alright, let's get going.” We headed off down the highway to Ohio. The ‘spaceship part’ that fell in a little town was one of the two most likely meteorites that could have been like Myc’s. There weren’t any pictures of the actual meteorite, so we couldn’t be sure. But the crash site looked close enough to Myc’s and it being something strange and metal was better than 99% of the other reported crashes.
We will have to think of a way to convince the owner to let us look at it. If they were unwilling to let the local news take a picture it seems unlikely they would let us near it.
“Unless the reason they won’t let anyone near it is because it isn’t a meteorite. Whether that is good for us or not will be up to chance.” I was far more worried about meeting another possible species than Myc. He believed it would be another intelligent species like it, far more advanced and capable of coexisting.
I wasn’t so convinced, if this other species didn’t have a mind of its own like Myc, then it was just a human being distorted or mutating. They may think they are sick, they could accidently pass off their infection to other people. Worst case, a psychopath could be infected and go on a massive killing spree.
Relax, only focusing on the negatives pushes out any room for the positives. This could be another one of my kind, or it could be a species of docile inventors. They may have decoded our containers or even remember something of our origin.
“I know, but it is hard to not expect the worst from humans.”
Yes, but they won’t be humans, they will have transformed into another species. I have limited my growth so that you can slowly acclimate to the changes. However, this species could easily undergo dramatic alteration over a short period of time.
“Alright, think positive. Or how about we just distract ourselves with something more productive.” Traveling through Pennsylvania and then through West Virginia before finally looping back up to Ohio. Let us dump the stolen goods in pawn shops along the way, although I still haven't figured out a way to get rid of the cash. I felt a little cheated, apparently I was bad at hiding the whole ‘I’m selling stolen merchandise’ thing. So the shops were stingy on the price, and we made away with barely thirty grand.
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During the several days trip through the North Eastern section of the U.S. we had continued our attempts to better augment my body. After hundreds of web searches and dozens of read articles by the both of us combined.
We found some basic goals to achieve, one of main ‘downsides’ to Myc’s abilities was that it needed at least the base materials to achieve. I couldn’t make bone tools if there wasn’t enough calcium in my body to expand the existing bones. So we tried to use the chemicals and elements in my body to create something not naturally occurring.
Unfortunately it seemed that Myc had difficulty making anything seemingly unnatural, if Myc was unable to feed nutrients and information into the little piece most things didn’t hold their structure for long.
So looking more into the human body, I came across the fact that apparently there are twenty major amino acids that the human body and most mammalian species need for daily function. While most mammals could create all twenty of these amino acids, humans could only create about half. So one of the first things Myc did was tweak my DNA, so that every new cell would henceforth create the enzymes for the other half of the amino acids. No need for Myc to continuously sacrifice from his mass or my flesh due to bad on the road dietary habits.
This was a small win, and Myc only really did it since if on the chance we had to go off the grid it would allow me to eat a few basic foods and not get scurvy. It didn’t really help in any defensive matter but it also let him practice tweaking DNA making more permanent changes to my body.
The excess materials and fat were used to increase my muscle density, while strengthening ligaments and tendons. His success in increasing my reflexes were mild, mainly due to his reluctance to tamper too much with my brain. We were still unsure of how much effect just his presence had on a human body, so we figured slow was the best way.
Myc continued his efforts on bettering the human component. This included his plan to increase the epidermis layer on the skin, gradually upping the collagen, elastin, and keratin. Attempting to find the most efficient and toughest combination of the major components. Using several patches of skin over both arms and legs, Myc figured it would take at least a week before it found the perfect ratios. So in the meantime Myc just generally thickened my skin, figuring it couldn’t hurt.
“You know I can just get thick leather clothes, or a bullet proof vest.” The general changes to my physiology were strange. Although humans had invented many of the things that we had created. Acids could be bought in stores, climbing gloves, lockpicking sets, even armor or a vest to protect myself.
Because they cost money and have their limits. What I create may not be better now, but when there are dozens of other people in our little cult. We will be able to create dozens of designs, testing hundreds of possible abilities. While short-term, it is a precaution if we are ever found out or imprisoned.
“True. I’ve been trying not to think about what will happen if or when we are imprisoned. I doubt they will be willing to treat us with any sort of dignity.” If some government knew of us, it seems unlikely for them to wish to peacefully communicate. They will try to find a way to weaponize us and if they are incapable of doing that. Killing us is probably the only other option.
Perhaps it would be better to leave the thought on the backburner. Focusing on the possibility of this being a new species we should prepare for another guest making this trip. They may wish to meet the other species that have found their way on to this planet.
“Them being a rampage killer, sounds like a better option than trying to squeeze them in here.” I looked around the little sedan, with the alien container in the trunk in a cooler. Some non-perishables and water, most of my clothes were in the back seat with other daily necessities. My laptop sat on the passenger seat with a few snacks. Trying to fit another person and their stuff in here was going to be cramped at best. Passing a small sign that told us we were getting close to the little town of Granville, Ohio. “Alright, here we go then.”