Reborn in The Legendary Mechanic

My consciousness was slowly returning. I felt a slight tingling in my fingers-and for some reason in both hands. My mind, still foggy, clung desperately to fragments of memories: the battle, the hordes of creatures, the massacre, the explosion of the melto-gun. Everything blended into a bloody jumble of images. I opened my eyes. White light. Too bright, almost blinding. For a few seconds I just stared into it, as if trying to realize where I was and what was happening. I took a deep breath. Didn't immediately realize what that meant. Just a breath. There was no pain in my lungs, no wheezing as if someone was poking me with rusty needles from inside. Was I... was I supposed to be dead? 

I'm alive.

The memory began to come back slowly, like a jagged montage: the battle scenes, the faces of the creatures, their roars, the smell of blood. I cringed, trying to get rid of the images, but they wouldn't let go. My heart clenched in my chest, though ... there was no familiar pain. The anxiety was building with renewed force. I gasped, losing myself in this meat grinder. This wasn't a fight. It was a massacre.

And I loved it.

My hands trembled, and chills ran through my entire body. Pictures of the battle flashed in vivid strokes: bodies flying apart, axe blades going into flesh with a crunch, blood pouring all around. I felt something dark rise in my chest. Pleasure. Adrenaline. Joy? No, it can't be. It's not right. I'm not like that. I've always considered myself a man who seeks non-violent solutions. Death was the last resort, not the first.

But back in the caves. I savored every body chopped up, every blow.

- How? Why? - the words stuck in my throat.

A thought flashed through my mind, but it was followed by a doubt: could it be agony? That last moment before death, when the brain struggles to make everything not so horrible?

The thoughts were cloying like poisonous smoke. This was a mistake. Agony. Maybe my brain, in the agony of dying, was trying to protect me from the horror? Maybe it was a survival instinct? No... I could feel it. Every second of it.

- God, the pain. - I mumbled, and then I realized I was wrong. There was no pain.

I forced myself to focus. Cold light filled my field of vision. The ceiling of the sickbay shone with impeccable sterility, like a white canvas hiding a void. Numerous manipulators hovered overhead. They seemed frozen, but only outwardly. I knew that if I signaled, they would come to life.

I rose slowly, first leaning on my elbows, then sitting up. There was still no pain. My muscles moved with an ease that felt foreign. My body... it wasn't just fine. It was too good.

The operating table, the sets of instruments along the walls, the piles of my armor that now looked more like a broken skeleton... all of it slowly entered my consciousness. Intuitively, my gaze fell on my right arm.

And I froze.

- What the... - my voice dropped to a whisper.

The right arm that I had destroyed myself to survive was in place. Perfect. Without a single scar. Skin as pinkish as a baby's. I moved my fingers slowly. Each responded instantly. It obeyed, moved, flexed.

- Is that a new one? - I exhaled, running the fingers of my other hand along my forearm. The skin was smooth, but tight, almost metallic.

For a second, I froze, just staring at it. Alien. No. It was mine. But how?

- Eridian... - I exhaled, my voice shaking. - What happened?

A screen flashed in front of me. A hologram of the medbay unfolded a schematic of my body, and the AI voice spoke with the same icy clarity it always did.

- Your condition was critical. Most of your internal organs have been destroyed. Skeletal damage incompatible with life. A full reconstruction was required.

- Reconstruction? - I swallowed, feeling something catch in my throat. - Explain.

A schematic of my body unfolded on the screen, and the voice continued, still as calmly:

- Your injuries included multiple fractures, complete destruction of internal organs, and the loss of your right arm. It was decided to use the biomaterial of the alpha predator you killed, extracted from its body, to repair and strengthen your body.

The world froze.

- Biomaterial? - my voice sounded like a stranger's.

Images flashed on the screen: the alpha's heart, its muscles, its chitinous plates. I turned away, feeling vomit rising in my throat.

- Wait... What?! - I jumped to my feet, but my body immediately staggered. I leaned on the table, trying to digest what I'd just said. - You... You rebuilt me from what was left of that thing?

- The Alpha Predator had unique adaptive properties, - the AI replied. - Its biological structure allowed to keep you alive.

Preserve life. The words echoed in my head as I stared at my hand. Someone else's. Mine.

I wanted to say something, but the words wouldn't come. My hands were trembling. I looked at them and felt disgust crawl through my body. That hand, that strength... They were alien.

- Keep...alive? - The words stuck in my throat like I was trying to swallow something sharp and heavy. Anger and despair mixed in my chest like a choking cocktail. - You didn't even realize what you'd done, did you? - My voice shook, breaking into a whisper. - Those things... I tore them to shreds! Killed them and enjoyed it! And now you're telling me I'm part of them!

I took a convulsive breath. The air felt like it was stuck in my throat.

- You didn't even ask me! - My voice trailed off into a scream. - You decided that I... that I was going to be a part of these monsters!

Everything spun around. The room, the lights, the manipulators, all merged into one white void. I tried to get up, but my legs shook, and I fell back heavily on the table.

- Your consent was impossible to obtain at the time of the operation, - Eridian replied with the same icy logic, as if my feelings were just variables in an equation. - The alpha's biomaterials were integrated into your body. Your consciousness has not been affected.

- Shut up! - I almost shouted. My voice echoed around the room. - You don't understand. You will never understand!

I turned away, feeling anger bubbling up in my chest, but fear along with it. Taking a few shaky steps, I leaned against the wall, feeling the replaced heart working too perfect. Too good.

- You changed me, - I said, trying to make my voice sound firm, but it shook. - I don't know who I am anymore.

- You've remained youself, - Eridian said. His voice was steady, as if nothing in the world could shake it. - Your essence, your purpose, has not changed. Your body is only a tool.

I turned around, clenching my fists so hard my nails dug into my palms.

- What if I can't trust this tool anymore? - I whispered. - W A part of you?hat if what I felt back there in the cave wasn't my weakness, but a new part of me?

Eridian was silent. The hologram flickered, as if searching for an answer.

- The decisions were made for your survival. The risk was justified.

- Justified? - I laughed bitterly. The laugh came out of my throat, hoarse and cracked. - Justified...

My body is a monster. But... what if I became one myself?

Silence. Cold, cutting. The AI was probably analyzing, processing data. Or, more likely, it just couldn't find anything to say.

My shoulders slumped. I closed my eyes, forcing myself to breathe evenly. Focus. You're alive. You're here. Everything's going to be okay.

But was it true? I remembered the caves: tearing through those creatures' bodies, feeling every blow, the adrenaline rushing through me. I loved it.

The words stuck in my throat. I shook my head, trying to get the thought out of my head. No. It's not me. It's something else. Armor, maybe? Instinct?

- It wasn't my fault, - I muttered to myself.

The voice sounded hollow, like it belonged to someone else.

- I was just protecting myself.

The room responded with silence. My own justification sounded as if even I myself didn't believe it.

- Yes, I enjoyed it, - I said, slowly enunciating each word as if trying to take them in. - But it was just a moment. A moment that wouldn't happen again.

I took a deep breath. Then a slow exhale. My heart beat steady, steady. Their heart.

I raised my eyes to the screen. The anatomical diagram showed a man. Me. Or what was left of me.

- Okay, Eridian, - my voice grew firmer. - You saved me. But if I ever feel this tool controlling me instead of me controlling it... I will destroy it. Do you understand?

- Statement recorded, - the AI replied.

I rose slowly. My muscles gave in easily, my legs held my weight. A step, another. I walked cautiously, as if afraid that this new power would suddenly disappear.

At the threshold of the medbay, I stopped. The reconnaissance drone stood at the entrance, its lenses staring straight at me.

- And yet... you saved me, - I said, quietly, almost in a whisper. Those words weren't just for the AI, but for this little machine. - Thank you.

I reached out, my fingertips touching the drone's hull. The touch felt more real than anything I'd felt in days.

I took a deep breath, gathering the remnants of my resolve.

- Okay, - I said, feeling something in my chest equalize. - Time to get out of this. No breakdowns. No mistakes.

I stepped out of Med Bay. The lights were brighter, my steps more confident.

As I entered my quarters, I closed the door quietly, as if I feared someone was watching me. That strange fear, mixed with the residual shivering from the sickbay, still wouldn't let go. I changed slowly, scrutinizing my reflection in the metal surface of the closet. A simple mercenary uniform-black, austere. It fit differently: tighter, but it was still loose, easy to move.

A new set of armor was waiting for me in the armory. It stood there, on a stand, gleaming with its new plates, as if waiting to protect its owner again. But looking at it, I felt a strange distrust. Once armor had been my salvation, my shield. And now? Now I saw it as something foreign, useless.

I ran my fingers over its surface, feeling the coldness of the metal.

- At least you won't change me from the inside out, - I said bitterly, slipping the kit on.

The armor fit perfectly. The weight was almost imperceptible, and the controls responded faster than before. It was like we were whole again, but not by my will.

When I stepped outside, the ship's gravity lock gave a slight nudge, as if nudging me. The reconnaissance drone hovered nearby, as it always did. But now I saw it as more than just a machine. It was something more. A savior? A partner? A conscience?

- Let's go, - I said, staring into its lenses as if I were trying to find answers.

The cargo drones with their platforms lowered smoothly beside me, ready to go. They waited for the command like obedient laborers. I sent the signal, and we began our descent toward the cave.

The reconnaissance drone relayed the data. The cave went almost two kilometers down. The images showed piles of creature corpses and my last parking lot. Nearby were side branches filled with clutches of eggs.

- We have to finish what we started, - I said, feeling my insides clench at the thought.

When we reached the entrance, a heavy, suffocating sensation came over me. The air was dense, as if soaked in metal mixed with decay. I stood among the remains, trying to figure out what I was feeling.

Fear? No. Guilt? No. It was something else-a mixture of horror and morbid curiosity.

The corpses were not decomposing. Their chitinous shells glistened with a damp film, as if death had caught them instantly. But that was beside the point. The main thing was that I could see that some of the bodies had turned into bloody mincemeat.

- That's all...me? - I exhaled, feeling my heart clench.

I forced myself to walk further, surveying the battlefield. Each step echoed with an echo that seemed louder than the battle itself.

Kill after kill. Claws, tails, paws... All of it had once lived. These creatures breathed, moved, fought. And I took that away from them.

- But they attacked first, - I whispered to myself, as if trying to justify myself. - It was self-defense.

The thought sounded like a jolt to my nerves. I remembered the fight: the blows, the whipping of blood, the weight of the axe in my hand. I remembered the joy, the rage. The thirst.

Cargo drones began to carefully pick up the remains, but I barely noticed them. One thing was beating in my head: I had fun. It wasn't just self-defense. I wanted it.

I walked to the center of the den. There, among the green crystals, lay two large bodies. Their postures were strangely calm, as if they were defending something to the last. Nearby, bright green formations glowed in the semi-darkness.

The reconnaissance drone had already taken samples, and the freighters had begun to move the bodies.

- They wanted to survive, - I said to myself. - So did I.

My footsteps took me to one of the branches of the cave. There, in the semi-darkness, I saw a clutch of eggs. Dozens. No, hundreds of these pods of life that were about to become the same creatures that had tried to kill me.

I raised my rifle, took aim. My finger was already touching the trigger.

And then the reconnaissance drone hovered in front of me. Its display blinked, displaying analysis data.

Crystals. These green stones were the product of the creatures. They processed minerals and secreted a slime through their skin that crystallized into perfectly clear emeralds.

I put the rifle away, scrutinizing the findings. These creatures weren't just surviving in what appeared to be deadly conditions-they were changing them.

As we made our way to the surface, the recon drone connected to the ship. A few seconds later, the analysis screen flashed in front of me. I held my breath, feeling something boil in my chest.

Iodsium.

I reread the data three times, unable to believe what I was seeing. This word, which had seemed a myth to me until now, only glimpsed in the archives, suddenly became real. Iodsium was a mineral whose value went beyond common sense. Every cubic centimeter of it was the result of processes that sounded like fairy tales: the explosion of a supernova, the compression of a star to the neutron stage and the subsequent collapse. The price of a single 25 centimeter cube? A billion enass minimum.

Those numbers settled in the mind, causing a strange giddiness. Yodsium wasn't just a source of energy - it was the key to technologies that the average mind wouldn't even realize. The purest energy, the stability, the power to change the reality around it. Even psionic energy isn't even close.

I took a few steps back, trying to digest this explosion of information.

- Iodsium... - I whispered, staring at the screen in front of me.

My gaze fell on the lair, where the remnants of crystals and bodies were still being loaded. These things... they weren't just eating minerals. They were recycling them. Turning them into pure material.

Wealth.

The word sprang up on its own, but I immediately clenched my fists, stopping the thought.

- Stop, - I said quietly, as if trying to talk myself out of it.

But ideas were beginning to form in my head. These creatures, their clutches, their ability to transform the world around them... All this could be a source of not just profit, but power. And somewhere inside, in the depths of my being, the same feeling I had felt in the cave flared up again.

Greed. Desire.

That voice whispered again, like a snake coiling around consciousness.

I inhaled deeply, forcing myself to steady my breathing.

- I can control it, - I said, trying to convince myself.

The drones continued their methodical work. The manipulators sliced off layers of yodzia, turning them into neat chunks that were then loaded onto platforms. It all looked frighteningly coordinated, like a ritual taking place without my participation.

My gaze fell on the clutch again. The eggs lay untouched. I stepped closer, feeling something primal awaken in me.

- It's just business, - I muttered, but the voice in my head grinned back.

"It's not just business, Ellarion. You know that."

I turned away, trying to focus on what was happening.

My musings were full of problems. Too many nuances, too many risks.

For one thing, I was only a mercenary. A minnow, barely visible on a galactic scale. Sell a rare and strategically important resource like yodzium and stay alive? It was virtually impossible. An open sale was ruled out - no one would let me live after such a transaction. Black market? That was probably the only way. But how to find the right contacts? How not to run into people who would rather kill me than pay?

Secondly, if even a hint of yodzia here leaks onto the net, it's gonna be a storm. Pirates, corporations, fortune hunters. The colonists, already teetering on the edge of survival, will be at the center of the storm.

But I had a plan.

- They won't be able to say no,- I muttered, looking at the lair.

I approached the masonry. Its size was staggering: hundreds of shiny, translucent eggs, each glowing softly green, as if absorbing the residual energy of the crystals. The sight of them was a reminder of the life that was about to awaken. And that life was dangerous.

My right hand raised my rifle. My fingers clenched the weapon as if it were the only way to cope with the emotions piling up. With one shot, I could destroy everything. It would have been easy.

But I froze.

My gaze slid to the bodies of the females lying nearby. They had defended this clutch to their last breath. Their lifeless bodies were still graceful, despite their disfigured forms. Something clenched in my chest.

These creatures were not human. They were predators, killing machines. But didn't that make them... something more? They fought not for themselves, but for their offspring. They fought as I would fight for mine.

- God damn it, - I exhaled, lowering my rifle.

I closed my eyes, trying to push the thought away. It's just biology, nothing more. Their instincts. But somehow I felt like there was more to it than that.

I raised my weapon again and fired. The laser stream went through the first group of eggs, tearing them to shreds. I destroyed another clutch, and then a third. Each destroyed egg left a strange taste of bitterness. But I didn't stop.

When only a small fraction of the clutch remained, I lowered my rifle.

Twenty eggs. Exactly twenty.

- That's enough, - I said to myself, though my voice sounded uncertain.

I took a long look at the remaining eggs. They looked fragile and alien, but there was something almost hypnotic about their soft glow. These creatures were processing the iodsium, turning it into the purest mineral. Keeping a few could be an insurance policy.

- It's just a resource, - I said, but another thought was pounding in my head. It's more than a resource. It's a chance. It's power.

I gave the command to the reconnaissance drone, and it slowly lowered itself to the masonry. Its manipulators carefully picked up a few eggs and placed them in protective containers. The rest remained untouched, as if waiting for their time.

Watching them, I felt a strange mixture of disgust and curiosity. This was the beginning of something more.

- The way back is closed, - I muttered, and turned to leave.

The cargo drones continued their work. Creature remains, minerals, now eggs. It was all being loaded onto the ship. It was all becoming part of my new plan.

- "You're playing with fire," - I thought, but smiled. Sometimes only fire can clear a path in the darkness.

While one drone sent the eggs to the ship, the other cargo drones methodically cut and loaded the minerals. While I surveyed the cave. Scattered scraps of my armor caught my eye. I stepped closer, picked up a piece of metal, and felt something prickle in my chest.

That armor had saved me. It had withstood blows that even steel could not withstand. And now it lay tattered, a reminder of how close to death I'd been.

As I reached the remains of my jetpack, I noticed that the insides were still intact: the reactor, the electronics, even the processor.

- You endured for a reason, - I said, carefully removing the chip and plugging it into the new armor system.

Instantly, I noticed the difference. The movements were smoother, faster. Tactics analysis immediately suggested attack options against the alpha.

- Too late, - I muttered, looking at the model of the creature I'd long ago destroyed.

When I picked up the power axe, I saw that it was practically useless: blunt blade, missing power unit, but a working field projector.

- Maybe claws? - I wondered, running my finger over the rest of the device.

The blaster spear lying nearby didn't look any better, either. I ran diagnostics, checking the system. Despite the damage, it could still fire.

- Or something new? - I said, feeling the ideas forming in my head.

The modularity of the spear allowed for modifications: a connection to the reactor, additional firing modes, a reinforced activation chamber.

While I thought about it, the drones continued to load creature remains and crystals. All of these were resources. All of these were opportunities.

But I knew one thing: if I lost control again, no resources would help me.

My attention was drawn to two large bodies lying in the center of the lair. Their forms still retained something graceful, almost beautiful, even in death. They were females, defending their clutch to the last. Their corpses lay in silent pride, as if even now their instincts were still fighting.

I stepped closer, examining their mangled bodies. The damage was considerable, but not fatal for... further use. My brain began to toss around strange, dangerous ideas.

Just a couple hours ago, Eridian rebuilt me. Literally took parts of the creature I destroyed and built them into my body.

- These corpses could be something more, too, - I muttered, staring at the remains.

A vision flashed through my mind: a form that didn't exist yet, but could. Their muscles, their chitinous plates, their adaptive DNA... In the right hands, for the right purpose, it could all become something else. Something new.

My thought was cut short when I remembered the disemboweled body of the Alpha I'd glimpsed aboard the ship. Blood, tissue, heart... It had all been used to save me before.

- Biomaterial, - I muttered to myself.

I looked around, glancing around the cave corridors littered with bodies. A couple of creatures with intact central nervous systems and organs were bound to remain. I hadn't blown everyone's head off and gutted them all.

The decision was made.

- Minerals first, - I said quietly. - Then everything else.

The reconnaissance drone blinked quietly, hovering nearby. It watched me, but did nothing. It didn't judge. It was just my idea, my burden.

But I'll leave that for later. First the crystals. Then the future.