Chapter 601: Another Beast
Jace slowly flew into the gap. It was not a hangar. It looked like a section of the base had been torn off by something. The remnants of which were the field of debris he just flew past. He landed just on the surface of the asteroid outside of the hole. Once he was down he opened the fighter and climbed out. When he stepped onto the asteroid he activated the magnetic locks in his boots and he could hear the clang as they functioned as they were supposed to.
He remotely activated the remote lock on his ship as well. Just in case.
He slowly walked across the surface until he got to the gap. Then he sat on the edge before pulling himself forward and he groaned as the gravity flipped on him.
This gap in the asteroid only cut into the first two surface levels of the station. He could see from his position that it mostly cut into a pair of corridors on each level and several rooms that were mostly gone. Still stuck in time at the point when they were exposed to space.
At the end of the corridors were sealed doors. Likely a security measure that was triggered when part of the station was exposed to space. It made sense if the facility was created or abandoned during the era when the United Explorers of Earth were present.
Once he got a good look around he started to move toward one of the doors. But as he got close he noticed something strange. The corridor was taller than it should have been. There were also doors and panels above him that were a mirror on the side he was walking on.
It almost seemed like when this place was functioning you could walk on both the roof and floor. Which was a pretty unique idea in itself. Then again the few things he saw back in the other destroyed rooms were unique as well. They arrayed from floating pieces of computers and mechanical clocks to empty specimen jars.
When he arrived at the sealed security door he looked up and checked. Confirming that there were a pair of panels above him as well. The design of the building might be in favor of conserving space. If that was the case, Jace figured they did well in the overall design. But clearly they forgot about the possibility of the decks being breached.
Because if they thought about it they would have the decks, corridors, and rooms more contained. Like they were on his galaxy’s ships and stations. The only exceptions to this rule were the open air stations. But even they had measures in place to seal off parts of the station or buildings in the event of a major breach.
He moved to the panel and tried to interact with it but quickly discovered it was not being powered. Which he supposed made sense in a way. There was no power running through the station. The signal was not even being broadcast anymore. The only reason they received it was because it was continuously bouncing between a group of asteroids and their receiver was powerful enough to pick up on the ghost signal.
Jace knocked on the door. His sensors could pick up an echo on the other side. Which means it was not a vacuum on the other side. He could not recklessly open the door because the atmosphere would flood out. Instead he would have to find a way to get in without opening the-
Kshhh!
A rush of air shot out as the doors opened up. Jace moved slightly but his boots were magnetically anchored to the ground so he did not move that much. As the doors opened vertically he dodged as a few pieces of debris flew out. He caught one of them and looked at it. It was a human boot.
Before he could even toss it aside he saw something slither through the air. He moved to the side and dodged it before it could grab his leg. But the giant tentacle reached back out again as he stepped away from it.
He moved into the area as some more objects flew past. As he stepped past the door it slammed shut as a group of tentacles stopped holding the door open. They slithered past him and out of view. Into the darkness, or at least what he assumed was supposed to be darkness.
But he could clearly see the tentacles disappear into the vents and around the corners that they had come from. He checked his communications and nothing had changed. They were completely blocked out still. He could, however, remotely control the Hound’s Tooth still.
He started walking through the hall. As he did he could faintly pick up the sound of movement in the vents. As well as in halls around him.
He walked for about an hour. Stopping at infrequent intervals to take a look around. After an hour he soon arrived at the core of the asteroid facility unimpeded. While he looked around he found plenty of information and data on what they were researching here.
Biological modification and genetic manipulation. Which appears to be something they were hiding. This facility was specializing in evolving humans farther. But they also studied variants of species and unknown species here until one day when all life seemed to be systematically whipped out.
The reason for the occupants being wiped out was floating in the core of the asteroid in place of what was likely a power reactor. It was a gigantic black mass with a variety of colors mixed into it. He could see some branches of tentacles going from it into vents or into doorways.
Jace flinched in pain as he saw several eyes appear on the surface of the mass and turn towards him. Then he blinked and he was in his mental space.
"Huh..." Jace hummed as he looked around. "You do not have to make me comfortable. This is however a first for me getting pulled into another person’s mind." Jace told them as he looked around and the grassy landscape he was used to was replaced by space with him standing on an asteroid.
"You are not scared." He heard a voice as it morphed between several different accents. Likely browsing through either Jace’s mind or its own mind to find a suitable voice. "You are used to mental communications. Was it those higher level minds?"
"You mean the planets? Yeah somewhat. But I think you are on a higher level than them." Jace pointed out. "They are more anchored to what and who has lived on their planet. But I can already tell that you are an astral beast." Jace told it as a single eye appeared in the void and looked at him. Acting as the astral beast’s avatar. "From what I understand, your kind is a social species. What are you doing out here?"
"Hiding." The astral beast decided on a female smoker’s voice. "As you know, humans are a hostile species. They prefer killing something they do not understand. I could attack them, but I saw no point, so I waited. Now I know that there are other galaxies where I could be more at home, I might leave."
Jace nodded mentally as peaked outside to see his body was fine. "Well I am glad I could be of some help. But like all higher level species, I am going to assume you are going to need to prepare. So I will get out of your... hair?" Jace tested before shrugging. "You get the gist of what I was saying."
"I do." The beast responded. "You are raising one of my kind back in your home galaxy. But I feel I should warn you." Jace frowned as he felt the news he was about to hear was not going to be to his liking. "We all make the great journey eventually. It is in our basic instinct to know when it is time. Just as it is time for me now that I know how."
Jace sighed, "okay, thank you for the information."
"I think I should also tell you." Jace looked at the thing as it seemed to not be done with the bad news. "You need to be wary of your ability for foresight. I cannot see everything relating to it, but I can tell from my instincts that overuse will blind you to others."
"I know." Jace grinned slightly as a pressure began to be exuded from his body. His features morphed slightly. Then they suddenly snapped back to normal. "Noted." Jace told it before he was pulled back to his body. The astral beast was put off for a moment before it changed gears and focused on what it needed to do to leave.
Jace turned around and started walking back out of the abandoned facility. There was nothing for him to do here now. All of the data and information in this place had been destroyed long ago.
