Chapter 9- Evolution
Samus ran around the corner to the matinence elevator. While she was sure the group of eclectic fans (which she hadn't asked for) would not like her running away from a fight, she had no interest in fighting and simply wanted to find out what happened and then leave. She ran into the elevator, and hit the button on the inside which made the doors snap shut. Samus was taking a small risk with this; the Matinence elevator was programmed to go to a certain deck and the destination could not be changed from the elevator; for all she knew, she could end up on the above deck where most of the oddly appearing space pirates still were.
The elevator's indicator displayed that she was headed towards deck 21, which (according to her suit's database that the map of the station was in) held most of the stations computer data. This was rather lucky, since Samus could find out most of what she was looking for, except perhaps the highly classified information. She still had about 30 hours left before her ship could leave, so it didn't matter what she did. If Samus wanted to, she could've just sat in the docking bay the entire time... but that would have been incredibly boring. In any case, the elevator was now nearing deck 17, which was where the ship's security systems had last shown it. Remembering the last time she had been on an elevator, when the Delta Metroid had completely stopped it with one of the blades on its body, reminded her to be ready for a surprise.
And, as if in response to her thoughts, one of the Delta Metroid's blades punctured through the side of the elevator and into the wall. Another did the same on the other side.
Suddenly, Samus remembered that the matinence elevators couldn't take much of a strain before the door literally broke into several pieces. Sure enough, there was the Delta Metroid, and just as before Samus fired a diffusion missile into it's face. However, she noticed with some shock that it didn't have the drastic effect it did before and the missile didn't even seem to detonate. Samus jumped out of the elevator and shot at the Delta Metroid a few times before it ran over and slashed at the patch of air where Samus had been standing a few seconds earlier. The blades gouged a long scratch into the wall, and Samus began charging up a diffusion missile. She didn't expect it to harm the Delta Metroid... not directly, at least. Just as it turned around, she fired it at the ceiling above it, freezing it. The ceiling, which was severely cracked, blew apart under the strain and fell on the Delta Metroid...
... or, more accurately, the air above it. Samus noticed with surprise and growing fear as the sizeable amount of rubble seemed to stop in midair.
She remembered the data terminal with the information that had said it had minor psychic powers that could be improved during one of the Delta Metroid's spontaneous evolutions. And apparently, it just had...
The Delta Metroid looked up, with an odd expression on it's face that she assumed was shock (it only had eyes, after all). A second later, it seemed to realize it was doing it and the pile of rubble shot towards where Samus was, or had been. She was already back on the elevator hitting the emergency start button, and the Delta Metroid noticed as the elevator was half off the floor. It had reached the shaft just as the elevator moved off the floor. Samus was now, she THOUGHT, out of harm's way- the Delta Metroid would soon be 4 decks below her, along with the horde of space pirates. The elevator passed 20 and was about to stop on 21 and, for a split-second, the lights dimmed. Samus though nothing of it. The elevator stopped and she got off.
The damage on the decks had been varied; here, there was some but not much. It was about equal to the Docking bays; only occasional patches of blood and some damage to the walls.
However, she now noticed something odd: There were several space pirate bodies with burn markings on them. Looking closer, she noticed the burn patter was equivalent to the damage a Galvanic cannon (which space pirates used almost exclusively). This was yet another oddity; space pirates almost NEVER fought against each other. There was an odd tapping/thudding noise in the background, though the only noise it could possibly be was the Delta Metroid and THAT was four decks below. It quickly moved to the back of her mind as she walked into the main part of the deck.
Unlike the rest of the decks on the ship, this one was basically three hallways connecting to the three elevators and one giant room with a gigantic computer database and a large number of terminals. While they COULD have been made smaller with equivalent memory, it was harder to hack into large computers physically. As she approached the nearest computer, the noise increased. Something about it bugged the rear of her mind, but she paid it no heed.
Then something she had never hoped to see again walked into the room.
It was like looking into a mirror- before her suit had been changed by the X infection.
The SA-X.
Arkan says: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Life happened. What can I say. Unfortunatley, I've got finals and end-of-school-year-project-madness coming up soon, so you may not have another update for a while. For now though... courage.
NOTE ABOUT THE CHAPTER: If you're wondering about that tapping noise described towards the end of the chapter, play fusion again. The SA-X made that very distinct "Tonk, tonk, tonk" noise when walking.
Samus ran around the corner to the matinence elevator. While she was sure the group of eclectic fans (which she hadn't asked for) would not like her running away from a fight, she had no interest in fighting and simply wanted to find out what happened and then leave. She ran into the elevator, and hit the button on the inside which made the doors snap shut. Samus was taking a small risk with this; the Matinence elevator was programmed to go to a certain deck and the destination could not be changed from the elevator; for all she knew, she could end up on the above deck where most of the oddly appearing space pirates still were.
The elevator's indicator displayed that she was headed towards deck 21, which (according to her suit's database that the map of the station was in) held most of the stations computer data. This was rather lucky, since Samus could find out most of what she was looking for, except perhaps the highly classified information. She still had about 30 hours left before her ship could leave, so it didn't matter what she did. If Samus wanted to, she could've just sat in the docking bay the entire time... but that would have been incredibly boring. In any case, the elevator was now nearing deck 17, which was where the ship's security systems had last shown it. Remembering the last time she had been on an elevator, when the Delta Metroid had completely stopped it with one of the blades on its body, reminded her to be ready for a surprise.
And, as if in response to her thoughts, one of the Delta Metroid's blades punctured through the side of the elevator and into the wall. Another did the same on the other side.
Suddenly, Samus remembered that the matinence elevators couldn't take much of a strain before the door literally broke into several pieces. Sure enough, there was the Delta Metroid, and just as before Samus fired a diffusion missile into it's face. However, she noticed with some shock that it didn't have the drastic effect it did before and the missile didn't even seem to detonate. Samus jumped out of the elevator and shot at the Delta Metroid a few times before it ran over and slashed at the patch of air where Samus had been standing a few seconds earlier. The blades gouged a long scratch into the wall, and Samus began charging up a diffusion missile. She didn't expect it to harm the Delta Metroid... not directly, at least. Just as it turned around, she fired it at the ceiling above it, freezing it. The ceiling, which was severely cracked, blew apart under the strain and fell on the Delta Metroid...
... or, more accurately, the air above it. Samus noticed with surprise and growing fear as the sizeable amount of rubble seemed to stop in midair.
She remembered the data terminal with the information that had said it had minor psychic powers that could be improved during one of the Delta Metroid's spontaneous evolutions. And apparently, it just had...
The Delta Metroid looked up, with an odd expression on it's face that she assumed was shock (it only had eyes, after all). A second later, it seemed to realize it was doing it and the pile of rubble shot towards where Samus was, or had been. She was already back on the elevator hitting the emergency start button, and the Delta Metroid noticed as the elevator was half off the floor. It had reached the shaft just as the elevator moved off the floor. Samus was now, she THOUGHT, out of harm's way- the Delta Metroid would soon be 4 decks below her, along with the horde of space pirates. The elevator passed 20 and was about to stop on 21 and, for a split-second, the lights dimmed. Samus though nothing of it. The elevator stopped and she got off.
The damage on the decks had been varied; here, there was some but not much. It was about equal to the Docking bays; only occasional patches of blood and some damage to the walls.
However, she now noticed something odd: There were several space pirate bodies with burn markings on them. Looking closer, she noticed the burn patter was equivalent to the damage a Galvanic cannon (which space pirates used almost exclusively). This was yet another oddity; space pirates almost NEVER fought against each other. There was an odd tapping/thudding noise in the background, though the only noise it could possibly be was the Delta Metroid and THAT was four decks below. It quickly moved to the back of her mind as she walked into the main part of the deck.
Unlike the rest of the decks on the ship, this one was basically three hallways connecting to the three elevators and one giant room with a gigantic computer database and a large number of terminals. While they COULD have been made smaller with equivalent memory, it was harder to hack into large computers physically. As she approached the nearest computer, the noise increased. Something about it bugged the rear of her mind, but she paid it no heed.
Then something she had never hoped to see again walked into the room.
It was like looking into a mirror- before her suit had been changed by the X infection.
The SA-X.
Arkan says: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Life happened. What can I say. Unfortunatley, I've got finals and end-of-school-year-project-madness coming up soon, so you may not have another update for a while. For now though... courage.
NOTE ABOUT THE CHAPTER: If you're wondering about that tapping noise described towards the end of the chapter, play fusion again. The SA-X made that very distinct "Tonk, tonk, tonk" noise when walking.