'...This one lasted 12 seconds longer under starlight emulation, maybe there is some individual biological diversity after all?'
Gazing at the gray mass of lifeless goo that had been a newly hatched Scourge a few moments ago, the guild android, unit 0044 of node 0144 shared a brief report of its findings through the wider network with the other terminals. It utilized a sub-dimensional tunnel that had been established by unit 0004 of node 0001 after prolonged study of one of the older Scourge's in the guild database
'I should check the other contaminant fields for reactions'
The guild android turned away from the containment field and walked towards the next hallway, however after taking a few steps it turned back around, its sensors had spotted an anomaly and when its sight sensors gained vision of the containment field it was momentarily struck with confusion. The lifeless gray ooze that usually decayed and dispersed after a few minutes were growing, the mass multiplied faster than any laws of physics and hard logic in the guild android were able to explain, by the time the internal logic had caught up with reality the gray mass had filled up the entirety of the containment barrier
'I must contain it!'
0044 opened all the starlight emulators on full force as it's body quickly exploded outwards revealing the internal gravity core, in that moment the surface of the swirling gray mass transformed into dark, deep purple scales, then an instance later unit 0044 lost all data from its visual sensors as the light of the starlight emulators were reflected outwards. A moment later the containment barrier was overwhelmed and shattered, a massive impact sent unit 0044 crashing against the wall
'System damage sustained, rerouting power to essential systems'
By the time 0044 had regained some semblance of sensor operability the situation inside the containment facility became clear, thick purple scales covered the walls, floors and ceiling. They were embedded deep enough to shred most of the Ficer crystal that lay behind the walls and ceiling, furthermore the Scourge that had appeared attacked had not magically disappeared either. Its serpent body was coiled up in a circle with the purple scales raised like jagged spears outwards
'...'
Unit 0044 remained still while sending numerous reports and commands over the sub-dimensional tunnel, assets were moved or liquidated, mechanical armies mobilized and patrolling spaceships suddenly changed course. However unit 0044's priority of sending out information proved to be a mistake as its body was suddenly hit with several more scales that pinned its body to the destroyed wall
"----"
The serpent Scourge spoke, however, 0044 found no match for its language in its data banks and chose to remain silent, this didn't seem to please the Scourge as its lumbering body slowly uncoiled and its large eyeless head moved right in front of unit 0044 as its voice once more transmitted outwards
"------ ------ ---"
Unit 0044 gazed at the jagged teeth of the eyeless serpent before it decided to probe for more information and spoke, it's vocal emulator had been damaged so the voice came out in a robotic, staggered mess
"Mmmmaaaark, hhhhhoooww diiiiidddd you—?"
Evidently the Scourge wasn't satisfied with the answer as its massive tail slammed into the ceiling twice, rocking the entire bunker before it resumed silently facing unit 0044 for some time, just when unit 0044 decided it was worth trying another probe a scale flew out from the Scourge's serpent head and embedded itself into the guild androids face. This particular scale quickly proved to be different from the rest however as unit 0044's internal data banks began having their data accessed
'D-D-Data In-Integrity c-c-comprimissssssss… We-Welcome A-Adminnnistartor'
The eyeless serpent Scourge's head tilted slowly from side to side as it began absorbing and comprehending the vast knowledge of the guild android in the guild android's data banks, as it learned the scales on its body rose and began shaking in a controlled series, soon a live current ran over the purple scales as it continued to build until lightning bots lit the half destroyed containment room before finally leaping from the Scourge to unit 0044.
The unit that still had enough control over its own systems realized at once the sub-dimensional tunnel that connected it to the other units and nodes had in an instance been turned into an attack vector, millions of screams flowed into unit 0044 from the millions of other units, its mouth flew open as it comprehended pain for the first time and screamed
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—"
The Scourge seemed amused by the guild android's screams, however after a few moments the giant head of the serpent lunged forwards and crushed unit 0044's body against the wall, once then twice before it was satisfied, then the Scourge wondered out loud, its raised scales vibrated to form its voice that rumbled through most of the underground bunker complex
"...Mark… Who the fuck is Mark?"
-
As he awoke Mark's mind was foggy, he sat himself up and looked around, bare rock walls littered with tool marks, a pile of bones and a natural exit to the cave he found himself in
'...'
Mark laid back down, he wasn't going to dignify this strange place with a reaction, he was clearly delirious, and this was clearly some sort of illusion conjured by his dying mind
'...Not much I can do after dying anyhow'
And so he laid in silence for exactly 4 minutes before he sat up again crossed his legs and straightened his back before he muttered
"What the fuck is going on?"
Not having faced oblivion Mark decided to face the apparent reality before him, he floated up from the ground still cross-legged and took a closer look at the walls of the cave he found himself in
'What kind of stone is this..?'
The rock itself was smooth, cold and hard to the point that it was somewhat brittle. The tool marks were something else than they had appeared at first glance, they were uniform and perfectly spaced. Running his hand over the rock Mark could imagine some sort of industrial grinder or large tunnel boring machine would leave this kind of scar behind on the rock face
'Hmm…'
Turning his head towards the large pile of bones, Mark considered examining them for a moment before he spoke
"Nope, not worth a millenia old curse"
Then he floated out of the cave room, outside were a larger open cave space, several large support columns that appeared to have been carved straight from the bedrock was the only thing that interrupted his view ahead in the large cave
"Hmm… There's the same marks on the pillars too… Oh, they aren't as brittle as the other rocks..?"
Mark continued examining the pillar, he floated from the ground checking the pillar all the way up to the high ceiling around 11 meters above the floor
'Hmm… The mysterious properties of the pillars aside, there's the same marks on the ceiling too, the spacing of the pillars are even and measured to be able to carry the ceiling even if one or two are knocked down?'
Mark knocked on a pillar twice before he floated down to the floor again and touched down, that's when he noticed he wasn't wearing his vacuum suit, well, he wasn't wearing anything for that matter
'...Right'
Mark quickly formed a pair of shorts, so his junk wasn't flying around all over the place before he set foot on the cave floor
"Oh?"
Now that he felt it directly he noticed the floor was slanted away from the smaller cave he had woken up in, not only that, there were small groves in the cave floor that seemed to allow for limited drainage too
'So we have one room that seemed to be personal quarters? Then what is this room for, it must be important for it to be so much larger and finely dug out of the bedrock…'
Mark continued exploring the cave and it wasn't long before he found something worrying, on the side of a pillar he found a long but shallow mark, he traced it with his finger before he looked back and found something else, on one of the pillars he had passed there was a small mark he hadn't noticed
'No fucking way'
Mark inspected it closely, the mark wasn't longer than half a finger, however buried in the small ravine something metal glinted. It was the head of an arrow, more specifically a broad head arrow, from what Mark could estimate it was a triangle shaped head, the shaft wasn't anywhere within view however when he looked back at the mark that had led him to the arrow head another thing became apparent
"...So you are saying a broad headed arrow that hasn't been visibly optimized for penetration bounced off another rock pillar and still had enough energy to bury itself this deep into solid bedrock?"
With his intrigue heightened, Mark scratched a little further into the rock pillar and exposed some more of the arrowhead
'No visible oxidation or other decay… Either it hasn't been here long or it doesn't rust…'
Just as his focus was turned on the arrow head, Mark heard something off in the distance, he turned around and faced further into the unexplored part of the cave as he listened closely
'Hmm…'
Deciding to go investigate, Mark soon found the source of the sound, it was a person, she looked to be in her late teens and was bound to a metal platform, above her Mark saw an opening to what appeared to be the outside world. From the solid metal chains that were extended up towards the opening it was clear someone had bound her and lowered her down here
'...There's no one else nearby either'
Mark studied her from afar, as he did it became more and more clear what she was and why she had been bound onto the metal platform inside this cave
'A sacrifice… Well, what to do…'
Mark circled around her silently and quickly concluded she wasn't human, a pair of bone horns grew from her forehead, the top of her shoulders and elbows
'Well I guess they aren't horns when placed on the shoulders or elbows? Anyhow they look the same as those on her head… Hmm from the fear I can smell from here she didn't come here by choice either'
From what Mark knew of human sacrifices there were two distinct types, one was raised in the culture and brought up as a sacrifice or with the very real possibility that one could become one and the second was the unwilling kind from outside the culture, typically a slave or prisoner of some sort
'...Question is how to approach this'