Erika had scarcely believed it when she saw the initial readings of the enemy vessel. It could be called alien in almost the truest sense of the word. While on the surface it looked like the liquid had hollowed out a conventional vessel, further scans indicated otherwise. There were key structural supports built in place to support the fluid interior. The ship had been designed from the beginning to carry whatever was in its center.

It suggested an autonomy that bode very well for what she was looking for. She didn’t have any clear answers yet, but whatever this liquid was, it seemed to be a suspension for an intelligence. As far as she could tell, there were no conventional computers aboard the ship. That meant whatever guided the vessel was in the liquid itself. While it could’ve been an AI, she doubted it.

She knew in her heart that this was it. A post-human civilization. This was what she had been looking for in that ultimately disappointing derelict. This vessel represented everything that she had come for on this expedition. Perhaps not utopia quite yet, but this opportunity represented the start of a path across the divide. A blueprint for her to continue her work.

The inherent danger with trans-humanism is that many pitfalls occur in the gap between stages. One small mistake can doom a civilization. The digital transference of minds may result in human beings voluntarily entering pleasure circuits where they subject themselves to unending dopamine—or its computer equivalent. Other key concerns with the process was the matter of reproduction. A civilization could doom itself by removing its ability to regenerate.

There were a billion problems, and it was one of many reasons why the Free Exchange never experimented with moving beyond the divide. It could easily destabilize the delicate balance of power which kept the Exchange in control of the galaxy. Trillions could flock to a singularity promising endless pleasure and only resulting in destruction in the end.

Maybe this civilization hadn’t crossed the divide, but it represented a step forward. And that was worth more than the entirety of the Milky Way combined.

Erika blinked again, and she realized that the rest of the bridge was staring at her. Captain Singh had quickly departed for a trifling whim, leaving her in charge of command. She almost wanted to curse at the man for engaging in such unnecessary behavior. But if he managed to kill himself—that only placed her in charge of the ship and with more power than she ever needed.

She stood up and straightened her uniform. Walking over to the captain’s chair, she sat back against the leather and relaxed on the seat.

“Connect to the hologram generators,” she ordered an ensign.

While the devices were usually used for the recon room, they also made functional cameras, which could be immediately streamed to the bridge. While it provided less detail than simulating in person, it did give her an overview of the situation.

Five separate points of view came up on the projection screen. They each depicted a squad of men quickly walking towards the various sensor readouts of the intruders. While emergency gravitational shielding had been engaged to slow the loss of air, it could only buy so much time. Thankfully, the marines were already wearing their spacesuits for this eventuality. Each of the sections had been sealed off and personnel evacuated. Though doubtless a few had died before they could seal off their air.

She noticed Captain Singh had surprisingly already joined squad two. Erika had to give it to the man; he was certainly efficient. Although that didn’t surprise her for such a famous war hero. A few taps on the controls and the screen zoomed in on the projector with his squad.

The Captain led from the front—a tactical insanity, but she couldn’t care less about that. The man gripped an assault rifle and calmly walked forward with the other twelve men. Next to the viewscreen, she saw indicators appear of strange heat anomalies throughout the ship. Five in total which represented the intruders.

She focused on the one nearest Singh’s position. A blazing red beacon was across the hall and to the left—and rapidly approaching the group of marines.

“Intruder twenty meters ahead of you, Captain,” Klyker spoke over the comms, giving updates to other squads as well.

Singh and his men quickly took positions along the hall. Several ducked into rooms and leaned out with their rifles pointed down the hallway. The blazing red dot on the screen stopped just before it would’ve rounded the corner. There was a tense moment as all held their breath. The intruder waited just out sight.

“Captain,” Erika spoke up. “Could you put the hologram generator against the wall?”

Samir immediately understood her intent. His gloved hand reached out and placed the device against the metal wall. In the airless room, not a sound could be heard. But as soon as the sphere touched the metal, the sensors picked up a slight vibration.

Erika didn’t even need to give an order as one of the ensigns accessed the sphere and adjusted the sensitivity of the microphone. The same noise they had heard before was pulsing just a few meters away. It was an unusual hiss which rhythmically emitted shrill clicks. In the background, a faint droning could be heard as well. Erika had never heard anything like it before.

The noise pulsated, growing quicker and quicker until the noise became a screech. Some of the marines had placed their hands against the wall and listened to the odd sound. Samir let go of the hologram generator and it took flight again.

“Send it down the hall. I want to get a proper look—“

There was a faint popping sound that Erika distinctly heard through the Captain’s comm. She didn’t have time to properly register the sound before a scream echoed over the communications. One marine’s arm disintegrated as a high velocity impact sent him flying into the air and spinning his body in the airless corridor before crumpling to the ground.

“Return fire!” Samir could barely shout before another three impacts fired right through the walls. Gravity shields clicked on and Erika saw light diffract as the AI on the shield traced the projectile and deflected it.

The marines angled their guns towards the wall and set impact settings to high. Their bullets pierced through the wall at incredible speed, practically ripping the metal apart. Another volley from the intruder was sent through. Two were deflected, one of them swiping across the Captain’s torso and into a wall. However, two managed to hit their targets, the AI unable to keep up. Red mist sprayed everywhere.

Despite this, Erika saw the heat signature of the intruder violently thrusted back as one of the men finally scored a lucky hit. Three more bursts sent flashes of red streaking through the otherwise blue colored hall on the infrared. However, the main body of the intruder didn’t seem as affected as the men.

Erika heard another pulsing shriek as the intruder reared and sprinted away. “It’s running!” she shouted to Singh.

The Captain yelled over the comm and waved his arm to follow. Two stayed back to tend the wounded as the decimated squad gave chase. They rounded the corner and raised their weapons.

Erika’s breath was taken away by what she saw. Attached to one of the walls was a silver monstrosity just smaller than the size of a human. Much of the body was liquid, or at least behaved like a liquid. Its congealed oval body rippled and churned inside a hardened exoskeleton made out of a metal much the same color. From this mass sprouted eight long legs which had cupped joints that allowed each appendage a full range of motion. A black device in the liquid spun towards the marines.

“Aim for the legs!” Samir fired again.

The thing didn’t have time to fire back as its body was ripped into shreds. Four of its legs disintegrated while shots impacting the liquid sent splashes of the silver substance streaking across the hall. One of the marines turned his gun to where the legs were hanging on the wall. Firing his weapon, the wall was shredded, and the thing fell onto the floor.

Surprisingly, Erika didn’t notice any reduction of mass as the liquid took more and more hits. Sizable streaks of grey silver now coated the walls and floor, yet it remained much the same shape. Captain Singh and his men poured round after round into it, never giving whatever it was much chance to fire back. After two continuous minutes of fire, the men halted as they were forced to reload.

Erika saw the liquid interior swell up again to the same size. The black device had been thoroughly destroyed by bullet fire and all of its legs annihilated. Much of the hardened exoskeleton reformed from the liquid and it was clear no permanent damage had been inflicted as it was quickly recovering from the damage.

“Commander!” Singh quickly shouted. “I’m open to suggestions!”

She quickly pulled up the infrared view again. The temperature of the interior had increased by a hundred degrees, likely from the high velocity fire that had been inflicted on it. She bit her lips. From all appearances, it looked the like this creature could ignore the Law of the Conversation of Mass. But that’s impossible. If whatever this was could break the laws of physics, then…

She didn’t even want to go down that line of thought. Not because such a possibility terrified her, but because the behavior didn’t make any sense. If it could ignore physics, then the Hyperion should have been destroyed or captured minutes into the battle with the enemy vessel.

No, what we’re witnessing is an application of those laws we haven’t seen before. She thought, but that didn’t provide much in the way of solutions. They could keep firing and pray that whatever reservoir this thing was drawing mass from ran dry, or…

From one of the scans, she noticed a relatively blue spot near the core of the mass. Density had dramatically built up in a sphere around it. For some reason, it was trying to keep the center at a low temperature. That meant something inside the sphere was vulnerable to excessive heat.

“Captain!” she yelled back over the comm. “Raise its core temperature. Eventually, whatever machinery is operating this thing has to give out.”

Samir nodded to one of the marines, who ran back to grab a hull cutter from one of the injured. Squads were equipped with a variety of weaponry, but the standard issue for deployments in space were high-powered hull cutters which could melt through any metal it came in contact with. They made useful breaching tools and could often double as temporary weapon emplacements in key choke points.

The marine returned with a long metal tube. Unfolding the tripod legs, the lone marine clicked a button, and they automatically drilled themselves into the floor. Flicking up a sight, the tube came alight as it turned on. All the men quickly adjusted their visors to darken and stepped back as the hull cutter was aimed directly at the regenerating mass.

Pulling the trigger, a concentrated beam of super-heated plasma shot towards the regenerating mass. The eye scorching light burned the liquid metal as Erika watched as the mass immediately began to twist and distort, as it boiled in nanoseconds. The infrared readout was a blinding white as Erika could no longer detect what was happening inside with the infrared. However, she noticed the density inside suddenly skyrocketed as the sliver liquid reshaped to compensate.

It was a losing battle that could only be held out for so long. Erika watched the center suddenly rupture, as it could no longer take the stress. The metal core disintegrated and much of the surrounding liquid burst apart. The marine let go of the trigger and the men readjusted their visors.

The once silver mass was now a molten white. Much of it had simply been vaporized, leaving a battered shell where it once had been. It sat dead and still. Whatever enabled its regenerative capacity had clearly been destroyed.

“Klyker, how are the other squads faring?” Samir breathed a sigh of relief.

The man shook his head at his station. “I’ve informed them to use the hull cutter, but sir… I’m getting reports of heavy losses across the board.”

Samir tiredly leaned back against the wall and handed his gun to another marine. Pulling up a screen on his wrist pad, he began typing. “Compile a casualty report and inform the infirmary to expect class four injuries and above. Once the remaining intruders have been dealt with, call a meeting of all the upper staff. Everyone on the derelict is to return the Hyperion. I don’t risk further combat with half the crew stranded on that ship. Until we know more, remain at Readiness Level Six. No one is to leave their post.”

Captain Singh suddenly stopped typing. Erika saw his helmet slowly look up. She followed his line of sight towards the silver streaks from the liquid that had been ejected from the bullet fire. It was sliding down the wall and slowly congealing together into another mass on the floor. The marines stared, horrified as whatever force possessed this liquid metal was not yet finished.

Samir slowly spoke again. “I want a hazardous material team sent down here now. Collect the liquid up and put it in a containment field.” He turned to the marine aiming the hull cutter and put a hand on his shoulder. “If it tries anything—and I mean anything—don’t hesitate to fire.”

Captain Singh began walking back the way they came. “I want every scientist on the Hyperion put to work on what just attacked us. I want to know what it is, I want to know how it works, and I want to know how to kill it. Understand?”

Erika barely heard a word of what the Captain said as she fought a widening grin on her face. This entity far exceeded her expectations. Truly, this was why she had embarked on this expedition. This new form of life could be humanity’s future.