Chapter 22: Cluster Expansion

Kay knew that he had very little time. He knew that if he had learned about Emperor Gollog and his glianian empire four days ago, then Kay would have been more covert in his operations. Had he known that this world was populated by a dangerous enemy, then he would have begun infesting the crust deep underground and slowly build up his zerg forces. But Kay and Virid's brood had survived into their fourth night of survival on this world, and they will do what the zerg naturally had naturally done during their existence: Survive, adapt, and thrive.

The ocean of desert that surrounded Red Mountain was called Red Desert, aptly named because only blood seems to be the only liquid to ever spill and wet the coarse sand. There were a few outlying caves that have been discovered, five in total, that appeared to be perfect places to dig into and develop hatcheries in. Overlords that were carrying drones would make a detour and drop two drones in these caves after a zergling confirmed that it was clear. Only one of these caves had a shryik serpent living inside of it, but the overlords didn't bother dropping their drones at that particular cave. They continued on their path until the shryik serpent was dealt with.

Even with the overseers' ability to detect hidden things, six fully upgraded zerglings had trouble killing the shryik serpent. It was wizened to their swarming tactics, and it simply swam away under the sand when it knew it couldn't hunt the zerglings with the overseer directing their attacks. After a few minutes of waiting for the shryik serpent to attack again, the overlord deposited three drones and moved on while an overseer stayed in the area. One drone would mutate into a hatchery, another would turn into a spore crawler, whilst the third drone would collect nutrient-rich creep for the hatchery. The hatchery would then eventually produce a queen to help protect the hatchery, and provide further resources for the hatchery by creating creep tumors that would merge into resource tumors.

But the desert was huge, seemingly going out out in every direction. Whisper Stones was located eighty kilometers southwest, but that was the only area that was not within the geography of the desert. If Kay recalled correctly, he heard that there were jungles on this planet, located somewhere north and south from his primary hive cluster. Once the sun was down, the roaches and infestors emerged from the sandy desert ground and continued on their way with a normal walk. The infestors were the only creatures that could provide an effective anti-air defense for the roaches, using the infested gilanian soldiers to defend them. When used in conjunction with a pack of zerglings to help bog down lone enemies, as well as the overlords ability to create creep and carry drones, and the overseers ability to detect cloaked or burrowed enemies and being able to create changelings and changelisks, the expedition zerg forces would easily find new places to build their forward base hive clusters. Important, strategic locations would DEFINITELY have a nydus worm placed with those potential hive clusters.

Eventually, the entire desert was mapped out, which seemed to be nearly twelve thousand square kilometers in size. There may be more secrets hidden under the sand, but the sand had to be dug up in order to get to them, and there was so much sand in the desert. Sparse trees and tufts of desert grass was eventually discovered up north, becoming more and more abundant as the presence of moist air was felt. West, east, and south of Red Mountain contained more of those stone pillar formations, and they seemed to separate other deserts in circular or oval clearings. The stone pillars were less abundant the more north the zerg went, which eventually ended up becoming a ring of sand that circled the whole equator of Kiln.

kay knew this because the overseers on the moon, the lucky few that morphed from overlords before they were swept away into the darkness, had a great, if slightly darkened view, of the entire world. The overseers there were able to tell that the world had a ring of desert because the silhouette of the world was easily brightened by the dawn and dusk of the world's rotation. The moonlight providing the night-side of Kiln with light was steadily growing more purpler and darker, and Kay hoped that Gollog or his cronies didn't notice this change in their geometric lunar orbit.

But the hive cluster on the artificial hexagonal moon kept expanding more and more. Each hatchery that was formed was tended by a queen or two, and the resource tumors reached far and wide with the help of the creep, provided by the hatcheries, and the queens laying their creep tumors. One behemoth was already being filled with many overlords, yet it still had some room to fill itself with more. Another behemoth would join it soon, and it too would soon be filled with thousands of zerg organisms, but not just overlords. The 'reserve behemoth' would always be kept out of battle to let the overlords inside itself provide control, while the 'carrier behemoth' would ship troops to the battlefield. And it would be done under the constant stealth of midnight.

One particular group of zerg organisms, being one out of the several others that scouted the outer reaches of the desert, discovered a walled city that was built between the divide of the desert and stone pillar forest that almost covered half of the lower hemisphere of the planet. Six zerglings neared the entrance of such a structure, but they were cautious in their approach. A roach and infestor burrow-moved their way up, while the overlord and overseer kept out of sight. This walled city was located a hundred and ninety kilometers west northwest of Red Mountain.

At the front gate of this walled city, a guard was casually snoozing the night away inside the cool shade of an open bunker. He didn't wake when the shadows of zerglings darkened his form. The zerglings sneaked their way into the gilanian bunker and inspected the inside with curiosity. The bunker itself went into the ground, but it was also wide open, which could allow many creatures of small sizes to squirrel their way in. The innards of this defensive structure had several liquid containers that was bereft of any liquid within themselves. Each of these containers also had a funky smell to them. An alcoholic drink? The sleeping guard was of no interest to the zerglings, simply because he didn't wear the empirical garb that Gollog's men wore. There was also other items down in the bunker. Half-eaten foodstuffs, magazines of... Uh... Some kind of bare-scaled gilanians with odd colored freckles in several poses? ... and communication equipment. Some of the foodstuffs were nibbled on by the zerglings, but they tried to keep themselves as quiet as dormice.

And then there was also a poster of Emperor Gollog with his face defamed by crass and rude graffiti, with words written all over that read 'DOWN WITH GOLDEN STAR' in several places. Kay was getting the impression that this guard did not like the gilanian empire on Kiln. It gave a reason for the zerglings to refrain from attacking the guard. ... For the moment.

[GOBY! WAKE THE FUCK UP!]

PANIC!

The guard in the bunker abruptly fell out of his chair and looked up to see zerglings witnessing the farcical slapstick plummet. After a few seconds of hesitation, the five zerglings made their escape and sprinted away from the guard as he shrieked in surprise. After the guard believed that he was alone once more, he got to his rifle and went to the entrance of the bunker. He used his scope to watch the zerglings zip away at astonishing speeds, but the guard did not shoot at their backs. After slapping a button, the entire bunker lowered, which made it impossible for anyone to enter into it. The bunker also formed a slit for the guard's gun to be fired out of when the roof lowered. The guard, which seemed to be named Goby, went to the area where the communication equipment was set up. "Goby here."

[Goby, It's Tren. I saw that you were sleeping on the job again.]

Goby sighed. "Yeah yeah yawh-YAAAWWWN-, I know. But uh... Tren? Did you happen to see something on your end?"

[I did. There were wild animals snooping around in your bunker. They looked dangerous, so I had to up the volume on the speaker system to scare them out. You should be thankful that I saved your life, AGAIN.]

Goby rolled his eyes. "Well thank you, queen of the surveillance system. Want an award to go with that smarm, 'Miss Smarmy'?"

[Laugh it up, peen-head.]

After sighing, he looked around and behind himself. "But on a more serious note, what were those things?"

[No fucking idea. I'm already submitting the picture anonymously on the information network. Wait... We got a reply already! Apparently it's called a... 'blade hound'? Wow, they sound very dangerous!]

Goby scoffed. "Anything that has fangs and claws are dangerous. But those... bug-lizard things looked WAY beyond dangerous. They're called 'blade hounds', you said?"

[Yes, to both your statement and your question. I'm notifying the baroness about thes new creatures.]

Goby nodded. "Do you think they'll taste good when we fry them up on the barbecue?"

[Baroness Tak would want a piece first.]

"Ah fuck her." Goby replied, setting down his rifle and getting back into a comfy position on his seat. "Meanwhile, can you send a repair crew to bust me our of the bunker? The roof lowering mechanism kinda has a habit of jamming."

There was a pause before Tren said something. [... I keep telling you to press the button gently.]

Goby shook his head and sighed. "Well what else do you expect me to do?! When there is going to be an emergency, the button that's been programmed to tell the damn bunker to enter into its defense mode is going to be slammed on, and hard! It's not my fault that I forget the most basic instructions and proper etiquette of tools when my life might be on the line!"

[Calm down, you idiot.] Tren said with a sigh.

"Bite me, you bitch. I could have died!" Goby shouted.

But as this conversation was developing, it was eavesdropped on by a zergling that had decided to burrow closely to the bunker, before its other brothers' frantically retreated. But as the hunkered guard and the teleprompter lady talked, a new face approached.

"Hello?"

Goby got his rifle to his side and aimed out of the slit of the bunker. "WHO'S THERE?!" Goby shouted with a threatening demeanor.

"Don't shoot! Please! I mean you any harm!" A voice outside called. A male gilanian in worn, thin-looking rags, held up his hands in a non-aggressive manner.

Goby trained his rifle on him. "Don't move from that spot unless you want to shit through a new hole."

The other gilanian nodded quickly, looking like he was regretting something. "Alright. I'll stand right here."

Goby stared at the new gilanian with untrustworthy eyes. "Now tell me how you got here."

The gilanian took a deep breath. "I was walking with my mother and family when we were fleeing from a battle that was happening east of here. The Gollog empire forced us to detour our caravan's path, but we managed to survive this far. ... Well... I survived this far, at least. My family, my mother, and myself, walked through the desert for a long while. They're no longer with me, but I survived."

Goby watched the new gilanian carefully as he spoke aloud to someone else. "Tren. Send a repair crew, AND someone to deal with our stranger here."

[You got it. Notifying the officials.]

Several minutes had passed, and the front door of the walled city opened a small ways, letting out ten gilanians armed to the teeth with various weapons and heavy armor. Among them was the tallest out of all of the armed guards, rubbing his eyes and yawning before approaching the lone gilanian. The tallest armored gilanian looked at the smaller gilanian stranger and huffed. "Goby. You got me out of bed for a grubby hobo?"

Goby shook his head. "He told me that there was a war happening in the east. He said that he was the only one to survive the trip. Also, there was some dangerous looking animals that was poking around here earlier, so keep your wits about you." He said from the comfort of his bunker.

The tall armored gilanian chuckled. "I don't care about some easy meat, Goby. What I care about is finding out if this is another spy from the empire."

The new gilanian raised his hand. "Uh, actually sirs, I don't think the little spiky things are a threat to us."

The tall armored gilanian raised an eyebrow at the gilanian stranger. "Spiky things? Sounds like they're too much effort to eat then. Anyway, what's your name, boy?"

"Johnny." The gilanian stranger replied.

"Well, Johnny." the taller gilanian said. "Name's Kirkan. I'm the lead guardsman around these parts, otherwise known as the guard captain of Citadel Gargantua. Ever heard of this place?"

Johnny slowly shook his head. "No. I'm afraid that I have lived a very sheltered life. All my mother had taught me was to hate Gollog and his empire."

Kirkan nodded and smiled. "Anyone who hates the empire is good enough to be my friend in my books. How did you come by our city?"

Johnny smiled and nodded. "I was with my family when it happened. Five lights rained down from the sky as though the sun itself was sending rays of wrath. We were but a group of vagrants and travelers looking for food and shelter. We discovered that there was a huge encirclement of desert platforms that spanned over an area that must have been... I think thirty kilometers in diameter!"

Kirkan whistled. "Well... I did see a light-show in the east earlier today. And I heard that there has been some major activity with the empire within the last three days. I feel as though your story holds some merit, but you didn't answer my question. How did YOU get here?"

Johnny nodded and continued. "Well, I heard that there was an oasis at Red Mountain, so my mother and family of many cousins were planning to go there to, you know, acquire water and other resources. But we didn't dare go near the desert platforms, so we headed another way. Sadly, many of my cousins perished, and I had to leave my mother behind. But when I thought I was going to die, six of the spiky creatures came up to me!"

Kirkan narrowed his eyes. "And these alleged spiky things didn't make you their meal? What did these spiky things look like?"

"Well..." Johnny said, looking like he was trying to remember the details of what these creatures looked like. "They stood about a meter tall, they had another set of limbs on their backs that were their attack-claws, they had tusks on their faces, had bug wings that propel them forward, galloped on two legs but crawls on four at slower speeds, and there were six of them. They seemed to have wanted me to follow them, so I did. After traveling for so far, I ended up at your doorsteps. Looks like their tracks had led me here, so I guess you must have seen them, judging by your expressions."

Kirkan nodded, and turned around to face the bunker. "Goby. Did you see six of these spiky things?"

Goby nodded, his rifle wobbling up and down from his fortified position. "Tren said they were called blade hounds. Some of them had sneaked into my bunker, but I scared them off."

[I scared them off, idiot. Kirkan, don't listen to Goby. He was sleeping on the job again.]

Kirkan eyed at Goby disappointingly, while Goby retreated back into the bunker, his his rifle frantically wiggling as though it was stuck in place. "TREN, YOU TRAITOR!"

"Enough out of you two." Kirkan growled. His growl prompted Goby and Tren to be silent afterwards. Kirkan then turned back to Johnny, breathing in and sighing. "Listen, Johnny. We are not too big on accepting visitors into our citadel. However, seeing as though that you have supplied us information of Gollog's operations, I suppose that is trade enough for some shelter, water, and safe passage." Kirken then pointed a finger at Johnny. "But if I ever find out that you are a Gollog loyalist, or something close to it, then I will bring my boot down on your neck on a curb. Feel me?"

Johnny slowly nodded. "I uh... I feel you, sir."

Kirkan smiled and gestured for Johnny to follow him past the doors. "Welcome to Gargantua, where the scum are scummy, and the neighbors are downright surly if you look at them funny."

Johnny scoffed. "Sounds like they're none too different from my cousins if you ask me. I think I'll do fine here." He said, following after Kirkan.

"Hey uh... Kirkan? Want to send that repair crew to me?" Goby asked from the safety of his bunker.

Kirkan shrugged and sighed. "Better stop slamming that button, Goby, or this might be the last time I send someone to save your scaly hide." Once Kirkan has made his way inside the citadel with Johnny, the nine other armored guardsmen gilanians following suit.

The inside of the city seemed to open up into a long, wide road that divided the innards of the city in half, yet in the far distance, large buildings were exempt from being split in half by the broad road. Both sides of the street contained various shops and markets of differing products, containing tools, clothes, food, technology, fabrics, and many other purchasable goods. Many of these stores were closed, and the darkened street was lightened up by a few street lamps and the odd store that was open in the night hours. Hairless vermin with sharp beaks could be seen darting across the street during the night, some being chased by predatory birds.

Kirkan lead the way to an establishment that Johnny never saw before. After making a sharp whistle, Kirkan summoned the owner of the establishment. It was a hunched, old gilanian that was blind in one eye and wearing a grey shawl, whom was walking around on a rickety cane. "Whadya wan'?" He spoke in a raspy manner.

Kirkan bowed and gestured to Johnny. "A friend of mine needs a place to stay. Can I pay for a room for three nights?"

The old gilanian had a soured, grouchy tone to him. "Fir' nigh's cos' wenny' voucher samps. Three nigh's cos' ya double fer each nigh'."

Kirkan furrowed his scaly brows. "A hundred and twenty voucher stamps?! This is highway robbery!"

"Blame Gollog, tha' cun'." The old man grumbled, hitting the floor with his cane. "Ain' my problem tha' the economy is goin' down the shi-er. Hundred and wenny' voucher samps, and the room is yers fer three days."

Kirkan brought out his pistol and laid it on the desk in front of the old man. "If you don't reduce the cost, then I'm going to file a complaint using my pen and paper skills."

The old man stared at Kirkan with a cocked brow. "... Tha's a gun though."

"It's my favorite pen. Mind if I use your scaly hide as paper?" Kirkan said, growling.

The old man paused for a bit. "... A hundred voucher samps. Final offer."

Kirkan picked up his pistol and holstered it again, then deposited several paper shapes on the table, written an amount on them, and passed them forward to the innkeeper. "That's a good innkeeper." Kirkan turned to Johnny and smiled. "I'll come back for you when morning comes. Try not to stir up trouble when I come back. Got it?"

Johnny nodded and smiled broadly. "Thank you, Kirkan. I will be sure to repay your kindness one day. You have mine, and my family's, eternal gratitude."

Kirkan raised his hand toward Johnny and gestured dismissively. "Think nothing of it. I know what it's like to travel the sandy paths with little food or water. But bear in mind: to survive in this city you have to have some kind of skill that you can contribute to the community. If you don't have any skills, then you will have to be trained to work in menial labor. Know how to shoot a gun?"

Johnny looked down thoughtfully. "... Uh. Never in my life. I do know how to build and repair manifestation altars, however."

Kirkan's eyes widened by that statement. "YOU know how to build one of those machines?! Hmm! Color me impressed! We have been trying to get a working one for our own citadel for a long time! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Kirkan said, laughing and putting his arm around Johnny. But then Johnny was put into a choke hold, and Kirkan's demeanor instantly changed. "Tell me who taught you, or I'll interrogate you in a less cozier place than an inn."

Johnny struggled under the hold, straining to talk. "My-my mother taught me! She said she learned from looking at a blueprint before destroying it, and then taught me how they work!"

"Was she affiliated with Gollog's empire? If so, then tell me in what way." Kirkan asked aggressively.

"I was a nomad my entire life! My grandpa showed my mother the blueprint to build one, and then my mother destroyed it before the empire soldiers got a hold of it!"

After a pause, Kirkan slowly released Johnny. "... Alright. I believe you. I'll pick you up tomorrow morning, so get some rest. You better be telling the truth about your skill with building and repairing manifestation altars." Kirkan warned. He took a deep breath before sighing. "Now then, I must be off. Have a good night sleeping." Kirkan then turned around and left Johnny with the old innkeeper.

An awkward silence passed between himself and the innkeeper. After the innkeeper gestured for Johnny to follow, he led Johnny to the room he would be staying in. The only bed in the room was just a mattress on the floor, and it seemed old and torn, while signs of insect and rodent infestation ruined the inside of this room. The window was covered up by a sheet of plastic, and a few holes had formed on it. The light in the room flickered on for a brief period before shorting out.

Johnny turned to the innkeeper. The innkeeper grumbled. "Damn ligh'. Anyway, don' make any noise, or I kick you ou'." After that, the old innkeeper shuffled away.

Johnny sighed heavily as he sat on the cleanest part of the mattress and waited for day to arrive. Johnny wasn't tired, but he knew he was safe.

Johnny also wasn't tired because he happened to be a changelisk in disguise.

A/N: A review from Nepalepsy:

I am honestly amazed by how quickly you can pump out these extensive, yet very high-quality stories. You're now my new favourite author!

OH GOODY! I HAVE A FAN! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY~! Thanks Nep! :D