Endosymbiosis

15. Instinct

And then I dove into space.

• • • ֍ • • •

I advanced towards the star with the armature thrusters. I was connected to the Hasta by a steel cord, as if held by an umbilical cord and bound to life only by it, that agreement. It was easy to feel the hostility of the space around me, so silently cruel that, reckless as I was, I would never dare to defy it.

I reached one of my solar plates, one of those that, when numerous enough, could feed the pores of Itopis. I hadn't stolen them from the Empire, as they would have missed them, but I built my own. Still, I was stealing something - crumbs that didn't come close to what the Empire owed me - because those stars weren't mine.

I reached one of the plates that orbited the star and collected the cartridges, glowing full of solar energy. One of them wasn't complete yet, so I decided to wait a few minutes.

"Kadi?" Donecea called me on the communication between the ship and the armor.

"There is no Kadi here. Wrong number." I could practically hear her roll her eyes on the other side. "What?"

"Is there something here that could really kill me?"

I didn't contain my laughter. Was she still thinking about it?

"Nothing on purpose."

"If the Hasta tries to kill me, you can't blame me for destroying her." I laughed.

"Nothing will kill you, Donecea."

And then I saw a tiny silver figure pass me, between the helmet and the solar plate in front of me. A projectile.

I turned back to where he had come from and came face to face with a creature in the darkness. His body was covered in a carapace that acted like my armor, protecting the soft parts inside and giving him the advantage of storing oxygen for a while. He was pointing the barrel of his gun at me, and he already had another shot on the way. My eyes fell on the Hasta when I thought about fleeing, but other beings clung to the ship, looking for a way to get inside.

I knew them well, from other times they tried to steal the energy I stole from the Empire, my ship and my life: looters.

I dodged the second shot and lunged for the creature before it fired again. I crashed into him and we floated through the void in a mess of claws and arms.

And then I heard Donecea's screams in my ear, through the communicator.

They were on the ship.

I tried to take the looter's gun, but it slipped away and I dove into the void in search of it. The creature then opened his mouth like a black hole and enveloped my helmet, trying to bite through the glass, as if my head were a candy crystal. There was nothing in my vision but the darkness inside and those huge teeth, scratching the transparent surface. I pictured him managing to break the glass, like one of those stuffed candy, when Donecea fell silent.

And I was alone.

I grabbed the corners of the creature's mouth and yanked them away, not realizing myself roaring until my throat burned, and then my hands ripped the looter in half in a cloud of greenish goo.

I threw his body to the star and flew towards the ship, now with no looters outside.

Because they all had entered.

• • • ֍ • • •

I entered the Hasta like a bullet.

Three of the looters rummaged through my lockers, so distracted they didn't notice me until I slammed my metal-covered hand into one of them, knocking him over. The other two fired at me, but their projectiles just bounced off the armor.

I took the gun from one of them, slammed it into the second looter, and as I turned back to what was left, I felt the claws of a quarter grab me. I tried to wriggle free, but then the third creature swooped its mouth over my head and managed to rip my helmet off while the other held me back. The one who ripped off my helmet retrieved a weapon from the ground and aimed it at the center of my forehead, where the bones of my skull couldn't protect me.

When I heard the shot, I thought I was dead.

But then the looter was down, shot in one of the paws... And I saw Donecea right behind where he'd been, shaking a freshly fired weapon.

She couldn't let that ship explode.

The other creature, holding me in place, destabilized enough for me to land a metal elbow in his the head, freeing me.

One of the other two creatures I hit rose and lunged at Dorecea, knocking the weapon away. The teeth snapped in front of her neck, scraped her skin, and her arms weren't strong enough to keep the creature from killing her any longer.

I lunged for the looter, caught him with my elbow and pulled him away from her, falling to the ground with him being crushed in my arm. I squeezed him, crushed him like an insect over and over, until, with no more blood going to his head, he stopped trying to bite the air and collapsed. I tossed the creature aside and let weariness take every fiber of mine.

Donecea cowered at the far end of the area, staring at me in complete terror.

It was better than pity.

I got up slowly and retrieved a weapon from the ground and aimed at the one who had tried to rip off Donecea's head.

"Don't kill them." She asked. And I stopped. "They've already lost."

Was she serious? Her firm expression told me yes.

I let out a grunt.

"The next time an enemy attacks us, will you spare them even if they kill us?" I growled.

She stood up, all fear dropping to the ground like a second peeling skin, and slowly took the gun out of my hand.

"If our lives are at risk again, I will kill them myself."

Her words might have asked to save lives, but her eyes screamed something quite different... And I wondered which one was telling the truth.

Maybe she was capable of killing...

Like any human.

Like me.