Chaotic Anomaly Chapter 0-1

Hey everyone! I know some of ya'll are worried about me writing more than more stories, but unforetanely, I get an idea and have a hard time stopping myself. The last time I did i ended up putting myself in a slump that affected all my stories. Not that that is much of an excuse. Well, I've had people stop subscribing due to how many stories I post. I am sad to see them go, but I never plan to force anyone to subscribe to me.  I like to post the stories for everyone on here to read since you are paying me, and it also allows me to soundboard them before I get too far on them. Either way, check out my newest fiction! Going for a sort of laid back feel to it.

Chapter 0

A shudder shook the passage as we rushed towards the portal. The mothership had come under attack by something, and we could only fathom at which of the enemy forces might be behind them. An explosion ripped through the wall behind us. I turned to see a horrifying insect with long pincers easily tear through the reinforced alloy that made up the ship. 

Staring at the grotesque form, I pulled the trigger of my plasma rifle rapidly. Green acidic blood sprayed over the wall quickly turning it to puddles. 

“Lex! Hurry!” Layla shouted, holding the blast door open.

“I know!” I shouted back. 

I ran through the passageway, and she allowed the doors to slam shut. It wouldn’t hold for long against the Biuna, but it would give us a moment. The rest of the crew were working at their stations to get the portal activated. I looked around but only saw three people, not including Layla and myself. 

“Where are the others?” I asked only to receive silence. I ground my teeth and turned to Hector. “Is the self-destruct set?! We can’t allow them to gain control of the portal.” 

“It was the first thing we did,” he replied.

There was a crash from three separate points around the lab. The structure was built from the strongest materials available to the human races. The Biuna didn’t appear to care about that though as they hammered away quickly creating dents in the walls. 

“Fuck! We don’t have time! Fuck this shit!” Hope shouted, slamming her fist on the panel hard enough to cause it to bleed.

I pushed her out of the way and started adjusting the settings. “Set it to random! We’ll just have to pray our safety measures are enough to place us somewhere we can breathe.” 

An acid covered pincer stabbed through the lab wall punctuating that we only had seconds. I slammed my hand down on the button and the rings in the center of the room started swirling. The space in between them started to shift unnaturally before it stabilized. 

“Fuck this!” Hope shouted again before she ran and leapt through the event horizon. 

“Everyone go! I’ll make sure they don’t make it through!”

“Lex no!” Layla shouted before Hector dragged her through with him. 

I looked to Maya with a grin and she nodded in understanding before she hopped through the event horizon. I placed my plasma rifle on my shoulder and moved to stand in front of the portal as I lit a cigarette. It was set to overload in three minutes, and I wasn’t letting a single one of the bug bastards through it. Entire worlds had been lost from a single drone after all.

The opening in front of me had widen as the bugs continued to spray acid on it. I leveled the rifle with a grin at the opening. “Eat super-heated lead!” Bolts of plasma streaked across the lab to strike the head of the bugs trying to get through turning them into slag. I held the trigger realizing for the first time how long three minutes could be. 

Another stomach-turning rendering sound filled the lab as another section of wall was breached. I directed my new friend at the breach and held the trigger down. A nasty yellow colored bug that had tendrils of some sort found its body torn apart. 

“Echo! How long until it overloads?!”

“Approximately, one minute and ten seconds.”

“Fun!”

I had to make it overload. That was the only way to assure the bugs didn’t acquire the technology. For insects, they were frighteningly good at adapting things that didn’t belong to them.

With another metal wrenching sound, a bug managed to get through the first opening. I drew my proton pistol and pointed it at the bug. I unloaded its full charge into the insect, causing it to jerk on the ground, but not kill it. With my plasma rifle and proton pistil occupied by the two openings, I was short a hand when the third wall broke. 

“Echo! Activate any self-defense articles in the portal lab!” A hexagonal barrier formed around the portal, but it was already red. It would last less than twenty seconds. Thankfully, that was all I would need. I lowered my weapons and flipped all the bugs off. “See you all in hell!” 

I turned to take in the portal. It was pulsing blue and green. The normally stable event horizon wobbling like a top that was about to fall over. Arcs of electricity bounced around the rings that were spinning fast enough to turn a human to paste if they were hit by it. 

My life’s work reduced to this, well, Layla’s life work. I just made sure she was safe for every step of it. I was glad she had survived. I’m not sure where she landed, but the system had safeties built in to assure atmosphere and water at arrival. 

“Five seconds.” 

“It has been a blast Echo.”

“It has been a pleasure, Lex.”

Taking the portal in, I felt it was a shame that I needed at least thirty seconds for my body to materialize anywhere. The portal would be space dust by that point. “I always did want to go out with a bang! They should be able to see this one in several galaxy.” Despite myself I started to laugh.

“Lex! Look out!”

I felt a stabbing pain as something tore through my stomach. The force of the bug pushed me into the portal, miraculously missing all of the rings. After that, my world was dyed black with countless elongated dots as I felt my mind stretch like it normally would as one went through the portal, then something whitewashed it from behind me as I assumed the portal exploded. 

Chapter 1

With an almost too sudden awareness, I regained consciousness as I slammed bodily through not one, not two, but three trees and coming to a stop at the fourth. I then proceeded to fall several meters until I reached ground level on some bushes. I laid there face down in more pain than I had ever felt in my life.

“Echo. Status.” There was a long pause, and I worried that my implant had been damaged from the high energy of the transfer. It had never happened before but there was a first for everything. “Echo,” I said again with no small amount of pain.

“Unable to access Sub-quantum network. Switching to local network. Please be aware that processing speed will be less than ten percent until link with sub-quantum network is re-established.” There was another pause before I heard the computerized voice I was used to. “Lex.”

“Yeah, Echo. Glad to hear your voice. Status,” I said with a sigh of relief. I’d had Echo implanted when I was legally allowed to get him. He was almost like a brother to me. 

“Assessing.” The wait was long enough that it had started to rain. I stared up at the sky and realized that only half of my normal vision was there. “Reporting. Your DNA has completely changed. All of your ribs are broken. You are missing an eye. Multiple locations of internal bleeding. Forty broken bones. End report.”

“Is that all?” I asked then blinked. “Wait! What do you mean my DNA has changed?”

“Affirmative. From intimal examination, it appears your human DNA has merged with that of the Biuna that entered the portal with you.” 

I tried to raise my hand up to see if there was any change, but the moment I started to move, a wave of pain washed over me, and a black haze began to eat at my vision. I closed my eyes and took several long deep breathes. It looked like I wouldn’t be moving any time soon.

“Echo. Activate Nanite repair sequence.”

“Unable to comply. With your changed DNA, there is a chance that they might kill you.”

“Shit. Seriously?” I laid there as I considered my options, but I was pretty much up a creek without a paddle. “Echo. Can you tell if there is any visual change to my body?”

“Negative. I am linked to your retinal nerves.”

“Yeah. I knew that, but was hoping you might know a way around that,” I said, exhaling in defeat.

After about thirty seconds, Echo chimed in with an idea. “We cannot use the nanites on your body, but we can use it on the environment around us. Shall I construct a drone to check your body as well as the surrounding areas?” 

“That sounds wonderful. This is why you’re the supercomputer and I’m the meat puppet,” I replied with a laugh, only to regret it the next moment. I quickly calmed down by taking deep breathes again.

“Affirmative.”

I couldn’t see it, but I knew that a canister on my right arm opened allowing a small cloud of nanites swarmed out. They should be rushing into the ground to acquire the raw material they would need to synthesis the more precise metals, alloys, and plastics needed to create a rudimentary drone.

A few minutes later or at least I thought it was as I started to drift at some point, the buzzing of the blades caught my attention. A small holographic image appeared in front of my working eye as Echo fed me the image feed.

I was looking at myself and wasn’t sure where to start. For one, I was covered in blood that was a mix of red and green. I would have outright said it wasn’t mine except I could see it leaking from one or two wounds that had clotted yet. My skin which had been a pale white caused by my cybernetic implants had turned to black plates that ran down my arms. Some of my human skin was still present but not much.

“Echo.”

“Yes, Lex?”

“Why do I look like that?”

“As I stated your DNA has fused with that of the…” 

“No. I understand that. I’m asking why the hell am I female!?”

If I could smack my forehead I would. On my chest were two lumps of fat that no man should ever have. Not only that, but my member which had made me famous back on the station with the ladies was completely gone. Even my face had been changed to that of lovely woman’s. I mean, it was sexy enough that I was sure I would have been chasing after the person it was attached to before I meet Layla.

“Unable to answer. Too many unknowns.”

It was too much. The darkness that had been eating at the edge of vision took over and I fainted. 

I'm not sure how long I was out, but the feeling of something covering me was what woke me. I tried to access my situation with just my sense of touch. I could still feel the leaves of the bush that I landed on earlier still under me, so I knew I hadn’t moved anywhere. Cracking my eyes, I mean, eye open. I saw that a rough blanket covered me.

“Echo. What’s going on?”

“After you fainted, I spotted what was similar to a wolf on Earth a couple hundred meters away. I thought it was best to create some camouflage.”

“Got it. Good work. How long have I been out?”

“A couple hours. I believe the lessening light means we are approaching night.”

“Let’s just hope that night only last a few hours on this planet.”

I closed my eyes and explored my body as best I could. Thankfully, the pain was not nearly as bad as earlier. I could breathe much easier and even move my hands and feet without feeling like a blade was cutting into me. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought the nanites had repaired some of the damage.

“Echo. I feel ten times better than I did a few hours ago. Did you do something?”

“Negative. I believe it is related to the Biuna DNA that has fused with your own. The Galactic Federation of Human Colonized Planets has records of some types of Biuna having accelerated healing and regeneration that made them incredibly hard to deal with.”

“Not sure I want to hear that, to be honest.” I stared at the cloth that Echo had laid over me. I might feel better than a few hours ago, but I was no where near able to move yet. Since I was recovering, I might as well wait some more. “Echo. I’m going to try to get some more sleep. Please keep a look out.”

“Of course, Lex. Sweet dreams.”

~~~

Like that, two days passed. It appeared this planet had an almost Earth like day and night cycle. Well, Earth like from two hundred years ago. The mother planet hadn’t had a true day and night cycle since before the upheaval. Now it was stuck permanent day on one side and night on the other. Not that we abandoned her. We came together as a race and created the Mega-Dome that covered the entire planet.

As the sun crested the horizon, bleeding through the canopy of the trees, I sat up feeling almost one hundred percent. I took in my new features with some trepidation. For one, I needed a bath. My clothes had been incinerated by the portal leaving me naked. If that wasn’t bad enough, I couldn’t move for two days. I still had to use the bathroom during that time even if I was close to dehydration.

The black chitin had spread and covered most of my limbs. My torso was still human, but again, I was now female for some reason. Unfortunately, my eye had failed to grow back. My hands had decent claws on them. Taking a swipe at a branch near me, the edges easily cut through the bark. Glancing behind me, I had apparently grown a scorpion tail, complete with stinger. 

Deciding that I would come to terms with my changes later, I took the sheet that Echo made and wrapped it around my shoulders like a cape. Reaching down and grabbing the plasma rifle and proton pistol that Echo had retrieved during my bedrest, I took in the damage they had received. The pistol was shorted out, but the rifle with its higher-level shielding had just barely survived the trip with only some minors burns on the outside. 

Shouldering the rifle, I addressed my trusty sidekick. “Echo. Please tell me you found a river, or creek nearby during your scouting?” I paused as I found even my voice had finally changed to a more feminine version. I had hoped that would stay the same. I guess I didn’t pray hard enough.

“Affirmative. Approximately five kilometers to the north.” A projection appeared in front of me that plotted a path through the forest. I cracked my neck, ignoring the hair that I found went to the small of my back and began following the path. 

The forest we found ourselves in was straight out of picture book from Earth’s history. If I remembered correctly, this one would have been called a temperate forest. I snapped my fingers as I remembered the name of the type of tree, conifer. It was interesting, but not really relevant to my current predicament.

“Echo. Did you find anything interesting or worth investigating while I was out?” I asked more to make conversation to pass the time.

“There appeared to be some ruins to the east at roughly fifty kilometers. The drone spotted a tower sticking out of the canopy.”

“What era would you place them?” Even if we weren’t on Earth, cultures generally went through a few different paths of development as they approached space flight. Earth was actually unique in that it had so many different cultures. Many of the other planets that had humanoid life had killed each other until only one remained rather early on. 

“Medieval European. The stonework was reminiscent to castle found in that time.” 

“I just hope the rest of the planet’s not at that level.”

“It would make returning back Federation a nearly impossible task. At least in your lifetime.”

“Thanks! Though just to spite you, I plan to live to five hundred years old now!”

“That would benefit me as well. Please do so,” Echo replied in his deadpan voice.

“Smart ass.”

“I am the model you bought. In the end, you can only blame yourself.”

Echo and I continued to bicker back and forth until I reached the stream. It was a small thing, but I wasn’t sure water this pure had existed on Earth in close to seven centuries. Naturally pure, of course. I dipped my toe, which was more of a two-pronged claw thing now, into the water and enjoyed the coolness. With the breaking of my own dam, I jumped into the stream.

I washed all the filthy that I could from my body. I really didn’t like being unable to tend to myself even during the short walk over here. I made it a point to be clean, I had a feeling that was going to be a lot harder to accomplish going forward. 

“We could have used the nanites to clean your body,” Echo chimed in having heard my mumbling.

“A little late now!” I shouted, dropping back into the water.

Once I was as clean as I could get, I moved over to the bank and sat down. Staring at the reflection in the water only struck home that I had completely changed for some reason. I just hoped that I didn’t continue to mutate until I lost control of myself. “Echo. Has my DNA stopped changing?”

“Affirmative. As of thirteen hundred standard time yesterday.” 

“What do you think are the chances of me getting back to normal?”

There was a long pause before Echo replied. “Without corrective DNA manipulation, zero. This level of technology is only available on Earth and Mars.” 

“A three-hundred-year trip from the mothership. God knows how far from here.”

“Correct. I’m sorry. Lex.”

“Don’t worry about it Echo. Nothing you could have changed. I just hope the others got through alright.”

There was no reply from Echo. He couldn’t comment without data after all. I stared up at the sky as the sun rolled by. At least I was on this beauty of a planet. It sucks that Layla wasn’t here with me, but given my current condition, it wouldn’t have mattered much. 

I sat up and plunged my head into the water, both to cool it off and to take a few gulps of water. Pulling my head back out in a spray of water, I laughed as loud as I could. Ignoring the tinkling sound of my own voice, I resolved to make the best of my situation. 

As I stood up, I felt something latch onto my arm and pull me to the ground as it tried to tear it off. I jerked my head around to find what looked like a wolf from Earth’s history biting my arm. It was green with what looked like pieces of bark sprouting from parts of its body.

The chitin had stopped the bite from penetrating, but it appeared just barely. “You want a piece of this meat!?” I shouted as I brought around my free hand’s claws angled at its eye. With a spray of blood, I tore the organ out of its skull and crushed it. The wolf released me in a whine of pain as it took off into the trees. “Yeah! You better run!”

Looking at my arm, I found close to a dozen pricks where the wolf’s teeth had failed to penetrate. If it had been my human skin, I probably would have lost my arm. A tantalizing smell drew my attention to my hand. The crushed eye was still in my grasp. Almost against my will, I brought my hand up to my mouth and tossed the flesh in. I barely even chewed before I was swallowing it.

I came out of my trance then shook as I could still taste it in my mouth. “Lovely. Just lovely,” I said with a groan as I jumped into the water to wash myself again. 

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