Welp, it's been a few years since I've put anything on paper and after reading several different takes of East Bridge's, "The Zerg Swarm" I decided it's my turn to give it a try but instead of someone just waking up on a planet and having control of the Zerg, I'm putting my own spin on it. You'll just have to read it to see what I'm talking about. Enjoy!

"What is four plus four?"

The question irritated me in a strange way. I feel exhausted, as though I've been doing hard labor for well over a full work day; I drift back to sleep. A few more minutes pass and just like a snoozed alarm clock I hear the question interrupt my sleep.

"What is four plus four?" The feminine voice asked in the same robotic pronunciation as the previous time she said it. It's a computer, a computer is hassling me which makes me more irritated than before.

"Mmfmm" I say, surprising myself. I meant to say, "Go away." Which would be a fairly reasonable response to someone waking me up but I wasn't able to form any words.

"Incorrect," Says the computer, "what is four plus four?"

It's time to experiment, I try to say hello. "Hasssk." I say.

"Incorrect, what is four plus four?"

I want to find out what's going on but I have very little to go off of. I can't see or hear anything other than the computer; I can't even feel my surroundings. Wait, I feel something. I'm lying down; I'm on something soft maybe a bed or cot? I think my eyes are closed; all I have to do is open them. I try but they refuse to obey, I don't think that they're being forced closed I just can't open them.

Why can't I open my eyes? 'Open.', I command. 'And open.' Still no response, 'Open.', I felt a wiggle that time. My eyelids shivered as they cracked open and let the dim yellow tinted light into my eyes.

"Gangnd." I say as I force my eyes open the rest of the way and it's met with blinding white with shades of pain.

"Eye movement detected." My interrogator says, "What is four plus four."

I can't make out the shapes of anything just yet; everything is too fuzzy to make sense of. Let's see, can I move anything? I try my hands first; no such luck and my feet plainly ignore me telling them to move. I can at least somewhat move my mouth, although I can't say anything sensible but it's something.

"Eiirrrghh."

"Incorrect. What is four plus four?"

My eyes must be adjusting; shapes are starting to make sense. I'm in a rectangular bed; LED lights shine down on me while cameras cover the entire room from its five corners. As disturbing as it may seem the robotic arms above me are much more concerning. There are two metallic appendages with several joints suspended in the air with all sorts of tools connected to it that I can't quite make out yet, many of which don't seem very inviting to be around.

"Ea gh te." Will that do?

"Incorrect, what is four plus four?"

Shit, I'll have to summon all my strength and will-power to get this right. I even add the growing panic into the mix.

"Eight." I finally mutter out.

"Correct."

Thank goodness; I can sort of talk now even though the effort pains me to do so. I let out a deep breath of relief; wait, I was just able to control some part of my breathing! I take another breath on purpose and feel the soreness around my mouth, throat, and chest. I'm finally starting to feel my own body again!

I can feel an oxygen mask with a band around my face along with the slight breeze of airflow stinging around my lips. There's a hose connected to the mask that runs down my chest and off the table then wraps around to a tank behind my head.

Can I get myself up? I try but all I can do is move my head a little to take a look at my body. I'm naked and there are more tubes connecting to me than I can count. There's one in each arm, one in each leg, one in my let's say, 'gentlemen's equipment', and two that disappear behind my leg with one that runs up to where I'm guessing the sun doesn't shine. This can't be good. I'm also covered head to toe in electrodes kind of like the stickers you would find on an EKG. Thankfully these are only on my skin instead of jammed inside of me.

"Whooh." I wheeze and try again, "Where. Am. I?"

"What's the cube root of eight?" The computer asks.

"Where am I?" I ask again, this time it's easier.

"Incorrect. What is the cube root of eight?"

I take a deep breath and talk slowly, "Two times e to the two I pi."

"Incorrect. What is the cube root of eight?"

But I wasn't incorrect; I just wanted to see how smart the computer really was. I'm guessing its line of questioning is just to see if I'm awake enough to do simple math. "Two." I say.

"Correct."

I wait for any follow-up but it looks like the computer is done asking me questions so I take this time to fall back asleep. Sometime later I wake up, 'How long was I out?' It must have been sometime because I feel like I have much more energy than before. I open my eyes without any effort and without the burning from the overhead lights.

Not wanting to spend more time in bed, I try moving anything again. This time my fingers wiggle around on command, 'Alright now we're making progress.'

"Hand movement detected, please remain still."

"What?" I ask. The robotic arms head straight towards me at a speed that's difficult for me to track. Before I can register what they're doing they've removed most of the tubes from my body. I didn't feel a thing but most of my body is still numb and unresponsive. Only three tubes remain an I.V. in my arm, a tube up my butt, and the catheter in my groin; those last two being the ones I would much rather would have been removed but the arms didn't mess with them.

I raise my right arm, then my left and allow them to drop back onto the bed, they feel much heavier than their supposed to so I try the same process several times with the same results; It's not surprising, I must have some kind of problem with me and have been in this bed for awhile. Why else would I be hooked up to all of this equipment?

Taking a look at my arms again I notice that they seem much more muscular than they're supposed to be; perhaps more toned than muscle but it just off to me. Shouldn't there be muscle atrophy? And shouldn't there be doctors or medical staff around me?

"Take." I struggle to say, "Take the tubes out." The computer stays silent. I wiggle my arms and toes some more, I'm much better than when I started out. I'm able to move my ankles and knees now and it looks like my legs are well toned too. I'm not at a competitive athlete level shape but still too healthy for someone in my state. I get up on my elbows and push myself up, my torso rises at a steady pace.

'I'm actually getting up!' It takes more effort than it should but I press on. The bed shakes gently as I move, It must be designed to rock and sway with movement. Soon I'm able to sit up and I'm sitting on the tube that up my butt, not the most comfortable sensation but when is it ever? I have a better view of the room now and this doesn't look like a normal hospital room. The walls look plastic and the room is in a pentagon shape, the lights are now bright white and it comes from ceiling mounted LED lights instead of bulbs. My bed is the only one in the room and its mounted to the wall and the mechanical arms are right above me but their attached to tracks that go around the edges of the ceiling; my guess is that it's so they can have access to supplies in the cabinets and drawers that line the walls.

Every wall except for one, there's an installed ladder in the floor that leads up to a hatch; yes a hatch, just like one that you would find on a submarine. Why would I be in a room that required a hatch to access, am I actually on a submarine? Do I have a contagious disease, perhaps this is a quarantine room? There are vents along the wall and a slight breeze is noticeable; this could be a controlled environment.

I slide one of my legs off of the bed onto the floor which makes it wobble, the arms rush over to me. I flinch but they stop next to me and hover nearby, I think they're there to grab me if I fall.

"Full body motion detected." The computer says. "What is your name?"

"Seriously?" I ask.

"Incorrect. Attempt number two: What is your name?"

I open my mouth to speak, "Uhh."

"Incorrect. Attempt number three: What is your name?"

It only now occurs to me that I can't even remember my own name or who I am. I don't remember what I do or anything at all. "Um."

"Incorrect. Attempt number four: What is your name?"

Alright, let's see. I'm Caucasian, I'm male so let's go with something generic. "J-John?"

"Incorrect. Attempt number five: What is your name?"

I pull the I.V. out of my arm, "Bite me!"

"Incorrect."

The robot arms reach for me as I roll myself off the bed, which was a mistake; the other tubes are still connected. The butt tube comes out with an audible 'pop' easily enough without any pain but the other more delicate one that contains the still inflated catheter yanks right out of my junk and that one does hurt. I scream and shake all over the floor.

"Physical distress observed." The arms come down to steady me in a comforting manner, they can't really do anything else. I look down at a line of blood that leads to the golf ball-sized balloon sitting on the floor.

'That thing came out of me?' All I could do was laugh in my state even though it hurt. I'm eventually able to slow my breathing down and wipe the tears from my eyes. "Hey, can someone come in?" I say as loudly as I can, it's just a little louder than a normal conversation.

"What is your name?"

"Can a person come in, please?"

"Incorrect."

I decide that it's time to get up and try the hatch. I shimmy up the wall one drawer at a time until I'm able to stand up straight. I take one step then another and sink to the floor. I overestimated my ability to walk in a straight line on even flooring. Why am I so weak when I have these well-toned muscles? And if I was in a coma then why do I have muscles, I should be a shriveled-up mess right now.

I'm not sure what to do next, 'What should I do?' Am I really sick? I feel like crap but I don't feel sick, no nausea, no headache, and I don't think I have a fever. If I'm not sick then why was I in a coma? I want to go back to sleep where I'm at but I resisted. It's time to give this another try.

The robot arms are there to help me back onto my feet; it feels like weight lifting but a bit easier than the first time. I shuffle alongside the wall using my back for support just as much as my feet wheezing the entire time, I feel as though I ran for an hour. Maybe I have something wrong with my lungs or maybe I'm being kept in isolation from something outside for my own protection?

I finally make it to the ladder and look back towards the bed. 'All of that effort just to walk twenty feet?' Wait, feet? I guess I think in imperial units, that's a clue. I guess that I'm an American or I may just live there or I could be English or maybe even Canadian since they use feet and inches for small distances.

I ask myself, 'How far away are the East and West coast of America from each other?' My gut answer is three thousand miles. A Canadian would have used kilometers so I'm either English or American. Or I'm from Liberia or Burma. I know that they both use imperial units but not my own name, that's irritating.

I take a deep breath; I hang onto the ladder with both hands and put my first foot on the lower rung. It's a slow, shaky process but I get it done. I reach up and grab the next one, 'Ok, I'm making some progress.' I try pulling myself up but my hand just isn't strong enough; my whole body feels like it's made of lead. My body decides It's had enough standing for so long and I start to fall back. 'This is going to hurt.' I think to myself.

But it doesn't hurt. The arms had enough reach to catch me as I fell back and lowered me into it's grasps and carried me to bed like a child. I'm actually fine with this, I'm tired and the gentle rocking of the bed is soothing enough that I start feeling drowsy.

Something bugs me about how I fell down, I can't quite tell what it was but it was weird. Nothing was weird about why I fell I mean I'm tired and I just woke up from a coma. It was something about the fall itself but I can't put my finger on it no matter how many times I replay it in my head.

I drift off to sleep.

"Eat."

There's a toothpaste tube on my chest.

"Eat." The computer says again.

I lift the tube, its white with black text that says, 'Day: 1, Meal: 1'

"What is this?" I say.

"Eat."

I unscrew the cap and smell something both sweet and savory and my mouth instantly starts watering at the smell. Only now do I realize just how hungry I really am. I squeeze the tube and a disgusting looking grey sludge comes out.

"Eat."

I hesitate but then cautiously lick the stuff and oh my, it's so good. It's like a thick gravy but not too rich or salty. I squeeze more directly into my mouth and savor it. I know why I'm having this reaction: they say that hunger is the best cook, when you're starving your brain will reward you handsomely for finally eating almost like patting you on the back and telling you, 'Good job.'

More pieces to the puzzle start coming together; If I was in a coma for a long time then I must have been getting fed somehow. I didn't have an abdominal tube when I woke up so the robot was probably feeding me through an NG tube running down my esophagus. It's the least invasive way to feed a patient who doesn't have any digestion issues, plus it keeps the stomach and digestive system active and healthy. It also explains why I didn't have it when I woke up, if possible an NG tube should be removed while the patient is unconscious and why do I know all of this? Am I a doctor?

I squeeze the rest of the goo into my mouth and point at the tube. "More of this." I command my robot overlord.

"Meal: complete."

"I want more, I'm still hungry."

"Food allotment for this meal has been met."

Makes sense, my stomach needs to get used to semi-solid food right now so it's best to take it easy. If I were to eat as much as I want then I would probably get sick and vomit all of, Day: 1 Meal: 1 and however many tubes I could get my hands on. The computer is doing the right thing by limiting my food intake.

Even though I'm still hungry I feel a ton better than I did before. The food gave me the energy I needed on the spot plus I was able to get more rest. I rolled out of bed and held up my hands to fight off the robotic arms but they stay put. I guess I'm allowed out of bed now that I'm able to eat on my own.

I look down at my naked body and decide that this doesn't feel right, even though I'm presumably the only person here I would still like some kind of covering. "Where are my clothes?" The computer stays silent. 'Fine I'll make some myself.'

I grab the sheet off the bed and wrap it around myself a few times, going over my shoulder and behind my back I now have a stylish toga.

"Self ambulation detected." Says the computer. "What is your name?"

"I am Emperor Julius Cesar, kneel before me and don't approach with sharp objects."

"Incorrect."

It's time to see what's up that ladder. I'm a little unsteady but I start walking across the room which is a victory all on its own. I don't need the robotic arms or walls to support me as I wobble along. I make it to the ladder and place a foot on the first rung while gripping both sides with my hands. I look up at the hatch above my head; it looks solid, probably air-tight and there's a good chance that it's locked from the outside but I have to at least try opening it.

I climb up one rung, it's difficult but doable. I step up to the next rung and the one after that, making slow and steady progress as I ascend up the ladder. I make it to the hatch and hang on with one ladder and turn the circular crank with the other. With a small screech the handle starts to turn and the resistance starts to ease until I can't loosen it any further. I take another step up and position one of my shoulders directly underneath the hatch; it's going to be best to use my legs to push and I don't want to risk falling.

"Alright, let's see what's behind door number one." I groan as I push up to open the hatch. Surprisingly it's much lighter than it looks; I probably could've opened it by just lifting with my arm. Hatches on navy ships and subs are supposed to be incredibly heavy and strong, they have to if you want to be to able keep a flooded area from leaking into the next room; I mean you can't just put a few sandbags in front of a door and call it, 'good enough for government work.' Did I used to be in the military? I think I've been around ships before, but I can't be sure.

Beyond the hatch it's just darkness, a little worrisome but it's not going to keep me from exploring so I'll just have to be careful of where I step. I pull myself up into the new room and the lights click on as soon as I enter, presumably they're motion activated. This room is the same size and shape as the one I left, another pentagonal shape. There's one large table, a lab table I'm guessing, mounted in the center with a single stool that looks to have a temporary latch on the legs that hold it in place on the floor. All around the walls are pieces of lab equipment, all of it mounted to tables or benches which are bolted to the floor. It's like the entire room is ready to be flipped upside down.

Every wall is set up like this except for one wall that has a door wide and tall enough that a small truck could drive through. I look above the door and I see a red digital clock except it's not counting up like it should but instead it reads out two days, three hours, seventeen minutes, and forty-two seconds. It's a countdown timer but to what? Is that how long until the door opens or how long I have left until some catastrophic event happens? I think the door opening is the more likely of the two.

The size isn't the only thing troubling to me about the door, this one looks like it could hold back that room full of water that the hatch on the ground wouldn't be able to handle. It's solid steel painted white with a thick plated window near the top.

I stand to get a better look at things; I'm in a well stocked lab. Since when do they let people in isolation wards into the laboratory? This doesn't even seem like a medical lab at all. This area has smaller equipment mounted to the tables and benches; I pace around to get a look at what I have available.

There's an eight thousand times microscope, an autoclave, a bank of test tubes, sets of supply drawers, a sample fridge, an incubator, a furnace, wait a minute, why do I know all these terms? I look around at some of the larger equipment along the walls; a scanning electron microscope, an eleven-axis milling machine, laser interferometer, cubic meter vacuum chamber, I know what everything is and I know how to use it! I'm a scientist!

Alright so I don't know why this lab is here or why I'm allowed in it's time to move onward and see what's behind the door or where it leads. "Alright," I say out loud to myself, "let's see what's behind door number two."

The door doesn't have any handles, knobs, or even a keypad for a code; there is a small monitor to the right but after a few taps on the screen didn't change or reveal anything it was time to try something else. "Hello?" I call out through the door, "Is anyone there?" I peer through the other side of the glass but it's too dark, not quite pitch-black but dark enough that it takes a moment to separate shapes from one another.

Along the ground I can see some movement. "Is someone there?" No response. I try to focus on the ground to see if whatever it was moves again. The shadows look like they're moving around so something is defiantly in there moving along the floor I just don't have enough light to see what it is.

"Visual contact established." The computer lady's voice made me jump slightly when it spoke up from a speaker that I couldn't see.

"Wait, what contact was made?"

"Opening outer door to specimen."

"Wait hold on! What specimen? What's behind that door?" The computer didn't respond to me and the door opened by sliding into the wall almost like an airlock from a sci-fi movie. There was still a barrier to the area but it looks like a very thick sheet of tempered glass with metal wire honey-combed through it to give it more strength. The room was dim for only a moment before the interior lighting activated and revealed something that looked like it should be from the same sci-fi movie the airlock is from.

This thing in front of me was curled around itself like it was asleep. It's about the size of, well I want to compare it to another animal but nothing really comes to mind. It's about eight feet long and maybe another six or seven in width. With the way it's lying down it only comes up to about the middle of my thigh but who knows how tall it might be when it decides to stand up and try to eat me. It has several segmented limbs connected by a thick membrane that are attached to the torso.

Attached to the front of its body are three more appendages; it's head which has several tooth-like spikes that surround a mouth that opens vertically. Above them are six individual eyes arranged into two separate triangles with the top ones being around twice the size of the other four.

Lastly are the arms; two double-jointed limbs about three feet long with large pincers on the end on them instead of anything resembling a hand. But unlike claws that you would see on a crab these look like they're made of ivory tusks that would be found on an elephant or rhino.

This thing behind the glass is unlike anything I've ever seen; there is nothing like this on the face of the Earth. I can only draw a few conclusions; I'm either dealing with a newly discovered species, or I'm staring at something that isn't from Earth, I don't care how ridiculous that sounds it's the first thing that came to mind.

And judging by my surroundings, I'm supposed to do some kind of research. Me, I just woke up from a coma, I have no memories of who I am, where I'm from, what I'm doing here. And I'm expected to do something with this creature that I don't know anything about, all without any help, guidance, or supervision. Only one thing really comes to mind:

'I'm going back to bed.'

This first chapter was inspired and influenced by Andy Weir's book, "Project: Hail Mary" Hence the title of my story. I highly recommend reading it or listening to the audiobook. Thank you taking the time to read this first chapter, all feedback is appreciated.