《The Abyss That Stares》Chapter 3: Combat Tactics
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…
Loud.
Annoyed.
Hungry.
“X1, move to testing grounds.”
Move. Home opens, move. Wave eye tentacle, look at interferers.
Strange. More interferers now. Not wearing white armor. Black armor.
And previous Interferers scared.
Not… scared. Different. Lesser.
Cowardice?
“Sir, we haven’t tested X1 against multiple cmobatnats before. This may joeprodize the pmrosing results we’ve clolected s-”
“Doctor… it’s out of my hnads. I’m sorry. Espceially after the utter failure of your y-series prjoect and and z-series prj-project. Cloonel Bnenet wants to push the testing forward. To see if it’s worth continuing to alolcate resources to i- is that thing looking at us?”
“Yes sir. X1 searches for ingterigy weaknesses in the galss nearly every test.”
New interferer shakes.
Smug.
Wiggle.
“...”
“Sir?”
“It’s not lsitening to us, is it?”
“Hhgily unlikely sir. Previous phsycial ex...”
Annoyed.
No prey. No biomass. No new structures.
Why here?
Hungry.
Move back to ho-
Home closes!?
FRUSTRATED!
Wiggle.
Loud.
Vibrations in air.
PREY!
Look for prey.
…
Three prey?
Big. Same as earlier prey, but bigger. And more.
Recognize structure. Fur. Sharper teeth.
Prey stares. Develop more eyes, grow big. Intimidate.
Deterred. Does not approach.
Circling around. Patient. Different from previous prey. Does not charge.
Circle to closest prey. Watch others.
Loud.
Different loud, coming from all prey.
Fly. Fl-
FAST!
FASTER THAN PREVIOUS PREY!
FLY PAINNN STAB!
Prey drops main body and moves before tentacle reaches.
Cowardice.
5% of main body gone. Repa-
OTHER PREY ATTACKS! STAB!
Prey moves again, before tentacles reach.
Annoyed.
Tentacles too slow.
Develop twitch muscle. Refine twitch muscle. Harden tentacles. Sharpen tentacles. Elongate tentacle.
Farthest prey attacks… patient…
STAB!
Prey moves, but tentacle is longer now! Pierced! Front structure of movement damaged, weakness!
ATTACK WITH MORE TENTACLES!
STAB!
PAIINN!
OTHER PREY ATTACKED WHILE LOOKING AT WEAK PR-
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PAAAIIINNN!
Third prey attacks.
BAD! DON’T LIKE! STAB!
Distressed sounds. Both prey move out of reach.
40% of main body destroyed. 20% of tentacles damaged. Brain slightly damaged. Core undamaged.
Relief. Core is most important.
Wave eye tentacles. Injured all three prey. Circling, loud noise from all three again. Not distressed sound… intimidate noise?
Inferior. Does not work.
But not good.
Will be eaten.
IDEA!
REMEMBER HARD BUT WEAK PREY!
Develop rigid armor. Refine rigid armor. Cover main body. Move tentacles inside armor.
Hide.
Frustrated. Is cowardice. But will be eaten if don’t.
Develop eyes on armor. Watch prey.
Circling. Patient. All three prey weakened, but not enough.
Biggest prey moves closer. Puts front head structure against armor, structure twitches. Strange.
Other preys approach. Pushes movement structure against armor.
Smug. Armor on all sides. No more pain.
PAIN!
Sharper teeth almost pierce armor.
Refine rigid armor.
Satisfaction. Teeth do not pierce armor.
Will not be eaten, but… frustrated. Also can not eat prey.
Hungry.
Must replenish biomass.
IDEA!
Remove small pieces of armor. Only enough for tentacles.
Refine twitch muscle. Develop endurance muscle. Refine endurance muscle. Develop sharp teeth on tentacles. Sharpen tentacles. Patient… wait for prey to approach again…
Preys approach…
PIERCE!
Only hit one prey, moves before can pierce head. But!
Wrap…
Constrict.
Distressed sounds, tentacle teeth now piercing through fur. Prey’s movement structures attack tentacles, severing 10%. Develop more tentacles, wrap more.
CONSTRICT!
Crackkkk!
Loud crack. Prey stills. Drag to armor. Remove armor.
Eat. Eat eat eat.
PAIN!
BUT MUST RESTORE BIOMASS!
EAT EAT EAT EAT STAB!
Constrict.
Crack.
Second prey stills, third prey attacks.
Tentacles replenished. Enlarge. Lengthen tentacles.
PIERCE! FROM SIDES AND FRONT!
Prey moves, only 40% of tentacles pierce. But teeth keep tentacles inside.
Drag prey to main body. Prey struggles.
Smug.
Does not matter.
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Pierce head.
Eat eat eat eat eat eat ea-
PAINNN!
Move. Move to home before more pain.
But ate lots of prey before pain.
New structure: Foreleg. Hindleg. Thick fur. Claws. Complex olfactory system. Complex auditory nervous system. Partial predator quadrupedal skeletal system. Compacted red-tissue muscle system.
100% increase in main body size and 40% increase in tentacles, after damage.
Auditory nervous system is superior to earlier audio perceptors. Red-tissue muscle system is superior to earlier twitch muscles.
Happy.
Wiggle.
Interferers communicating. .
“-haps cnogrtaulations are in order, Doctor Rester. I’ll be happy to report to the clo-Colonel that the X-series project is a rseonduing success. It’s good to see that lab three isn’t the only cmopotent team we have.”
“... Yes, sir. Tahn-Thank you.”
...
“Doctor… X1 has always been burtlaly effective in its mtehods, but... This was something else.“
“... and be happy that it was, Dve-Devon. We came this close to losing X1.”
“Doctor, I don’t know if you just saw the same thing I did. It tore through lab two’s mutated hnuting hnouds like they were ntohing!”
Hnuting hnouds! HATE HNUTING HNOUDS! STRONG PREY AND RELIES ON OTHERS!? COWARDICE! UNFAIR!
“And if the colonel hadn’t ordered to put X1 against an unmutated, infantile rihnoceros before that? Or a python before that!? All things X1 was not, at the time, prepared to test against!?”
“Whoa doc, I’m sensing some hsotility there. You and the Colonel know each other? I mean, prseonally, I’d try to have it killed too. No offesne”
“... No, it’s nothing. I aploigze for my outburst Devon, Mr. Stndaseh.”
Angry. Mr. Stndaseh again!? HATE MR. STNDASEH! ALWAYS WANTS TO DESTROY MAIN BODY!
WIIIIIGGGLLLE!
“Devon, please feed-”
FEED! Happy.
Wiggle.
“-X1 double, no, triple the usual biomass size. We’re going to have to move X1 to the next stage of testing.”
“But doctor, X1 isn-”
“Devon. Triple the usual.”
“... Yes doctor.
Move.
Biomass comes.
“Thanks Doc!”
Eat. Eat eat eat eat eat eat.
“... did you say something Mr. Stndas-Standesh?”
“Nope, why?”
“... you’re sure?”
“Pretty sure, yeah.”
“... Alright.”
Still hungry.
New structures require more biomass. But worth.
And brain. Brain very worth. Would not have had armor and tentacle idea without brain.
Stasis.
...
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