“I heard you’ve been getting into quite a bit of trouble with the Heirs,” Labiba said as they walked down the corridor. Beside him, his friend named Nuskul cast a sidelong glance at the two men behind them. He must have wanted to scrutinize the Exosanguis members—the notorious troublemakers for the Heirs—a bit more under the corridor’s lights.

  “The Space Archaeology & Heritage Preservation Agency doesn’t like us much, that’s true,” Azrak replied.

  “It’s admirable that you can still do your job despite the Heirs,” Nuskul added. “We’ve heard they are difficult people.”

  “Haha…” Azrak chuckled at the unexpected response. “…the word ‘people’ might be a bit too naive for them.”

  “Are you afraid of them then?” Nuskul asked.

  “Contrary to what you might think, they don’t pose much of a problem for us. As long as we stay out of their way, of course… A relic hunter can only collect a limited amount of remains, and it’s incomparable to the treasures the Heirs are after. Entire planets like TerraNova and TerraGorh don’t actually contain very valuable alien technology. Or rather, they don’t anymore. Most valuable relics were collected by the Heirs long ago. What’s left is the junk and scrap desired by us relic hunters who are eager to risk our lives for nothing.”

  “That’s impossible…” Nuskul interrupted. “I’ve read many reports that the dungeons inside the Terra planets are labyrinths opening into infinity and that it would take more than centuries to collect all the valuable loot. After all, the Terra aliens worked for billions of years to build a powerful civilization before being wiped out by the Incompatibles. Millions of years of work couldn't have been gathered by the Heirs in just a few years, right? Even for the most valuable loot, centuries wouldn’t be enough.”

  “Yes…” said Azrak. “…sometimes while searching for relics, we do find loot that even the Heirs might find valuable.”

  “But we choose not to collect them,” Hikmar interjected.

  “And why is that?” Nuskul asked curiously.

  “Because we don’t want to bicker with the Heirs… Some think they’re quite clever and take those treasures. Of course, it’s not a problem if you don’t sell them, but if you do, the Heirs will be on you in an instant. The Heirs might be the most powerful agency after the Weapon Security Agency,” Azrak said.

  “No…” said Hikmar. “…the word you should definitely use instead of ‘powerful’ is ‘involved.’ They can’t ignore crimes the way other agencies do. That’s why they work constantly on alert, using their influence within the SWR.”

  “So you’re in a constant fight with the Heirs, correct?”

  “A fight?” Azrak said, once again appalled by the man’s ignorance. How long had this man been staying in the sterile halls of TESO? He seemed completely oblivious to the outside world. “The Heirs are officials of the SWR. An organization capable of fighting an SWR official hasn't been founded yet. Our strength isn't enough for them.”

  “If an Heir comes to an Exosanguis ship…” Hikmar said, “…and wants to take one of our members, we pack that relic hunter up nicely and send them off with flowers and poems.”

  “Then they know where your ship is.”

  Azrak looked at the rusty power cables protruding from the left wall of the corridor. As if that dull, soulless structure wasn't disturbing enough, they had now entered a neglected corridor where cables burst from the walls and ceilings were stripped. They were likely approaching the end of the path.

  “The ship Leviathan is not a small ship,” Hikmar said. “It is an alien ship found on TerraNova long ago. Before the Nova race there was wiped out, they built a ship thinking they could fight the Incompatibles and named it Leviathan. They thought it was a ship powerful enough to bring about the end of the world… They thought so because it really doesn’t seem to have been of any use. After all, the Nova aliens are gone now.”

  “The Leviathan has the power of one Hyperion ship at most, maybe even less,” Azrak added. “But my guess is it doesn’t even have that much power.”

  “That’s why it’s not really possible for a ship like the Leviathan to hide in the space system. In the vacuum of space, an alien-tech ship weighing tons will surely attract attention while inside the Republic Network,” Azrak said.

  “Even if they don’t know its exact coordinates, they can find the ship approximately,” Hikmar said. “And we help them. Why? Because the faster the Heirs come and go, the better.”

  “Even though you’re illegal and they know your ship, how do they allow you to live?” Labiba asked.

  “Because we are useful to your business. We help them. Sometimes we even work for them. But let me tell you this: they don’t value us at all, and they are unmatched at pinning the smallest irregularity on us. They blame all their own mistakes on relic hunters. Sometimes, they’ve even tried and executed innocent hunters just to pin their mistakes on someone. Just for show…”

  “That’s quite bone-chilling…” Nuskul said. Yet, according to what Hikmar had heard, the things they did on this planet were even more bone-chilling. One couldn't help but wonder if he was acting this way just to evoke empathy. “…so what will you do after you get the money?”

  “That is none of your business,” Azrak said.

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  They finally reached a door. The door was circular and looked like a metal safe door that had been forced into an opening in the wall. This door, clad in the cold color of metal, was as ugly as the damp walls it occupied, and this ugliness involuntarily sent shivers down one's spine.

  “Your cargo is inside this door…” Nuskul said, approaching the door. “…this is considered a secret section of the factory. We don't allow any robots to enter here.”

  “TESO doesn't know about this place,” Labiba added.

  “But TESO knows you’re carrying a cargo, right?”

  “See the cargo first, then let's talk about the details,” Labiba said. “Because after you see the cargo, you will understand some things in more detail.”

  Nuskul pressed his hand to a reader beside the door. As the sound of turning gears and pulling chains on the door was heard, Hikmar felt like he was at home, on CLAUDIS II. It gave Hikmar pleasure to listen to the mechanism, a honest song of physics devoid of lies. That was why he felt cheerful for the first time since arriving at Uruzen.

  With the opening of the door, a dusty and solidified cold spread out in front of the door like a carpet. While the gentle breeze inside whispered ice particles outward, the cold hit the cybernetics’ faces. Labiba, as a clone, wasn't very resistant to the cold. Therefore, his flying chair had closed up like a glass dome. Azrak activated and deactivated his heat modules for a second and realized just how much the cold filled the interior. The place they entered must have been close to absolute zero.

  Azrak showed the temperature on his arm to Hikmar and then shouted, “Even here it’s -120 degrees…” to Nuskul, who was entering through the door.

  “It’s -180 degrees inside, friends. I hope the old man’s technology is enough for this…”

  Hikmar and Azrak turned their internal heat modules to the maximum. This way, they could stay on their feet for only a few hours without draining their energy. They didn't want the metal cables circulating inside them to crack or any mechanical component to fail.

  “180 degrees? I didn't know you possessed Cryo-V. Is it alien technology?” Azrak asked.

  “No…” said Labiba, who was entering. “…it’s our boss’s technology.”

  When they entered through the door, the interior was indeed no larger than a bank vault. Nuskul was in one corner of the room, Labiba in another. Hikmar and Azrak took the other two corners.

  In the very center of the room, cold mixed with bone-white vapors was being pumped through pipes in the ceiling. Therefore, they couldn't see what was lying in the middle of the room through that white mist.

  “Friends…” Nuskul began. “…prepare to see one of the strangest things you can see in your life.”

  “Are you saying that to two Exosanguis members? You’re quite ambitious.”

  “Yes… I am ambitious.” He took a remote control. He fiddled with a few settings on the remote and finally pressed a button, and the cooling device in the ceiling suddenly stopped working. Everyone wanted to see what was lying in the center of the room with great excitement until the white dust or smoke—whatever it was—vanished.

  Then the ice disappeared. A distortion, a strangeness appeared in the middle of the room. It was a creature that seemed contrary to the principles of existence but looked equally man-made. It was chained by its hands and arms to where it lay, resting on the metal plate with its ice-cold, pale body.

  This creature generally resembled a human, with a long and athletic body structure. But its mouth… That mouth, which was a huge circle, having no lip movement or biting capability whatsoever. That mouth was not human.

  Through its teeth, which were lined up along its massive mouth like a garbage disposal, the hoses of the machine under the metal platform entered toward its throat. That hose was likely feeding this creature with something.

  It had no eyes or any sensory organs. The top of its head was shaped like a crescent, and the tips of the crescent extended upward quite a bit, like a demonic element from a child's imagination.

  It could be said that it looked vulnerable and helpless, which made it look even more dangerous. Everyone in that room, knowing what hunger could do to people, fell victim to the weakness of their imaginations as they guessed what this skin-and-bones creature that looked famished could do.

  It had no breath, but despite that, its veins glowed in a light blue color; similarly, its heart, imprisoned inside that weak ribcage, also glowed blue. As if its demonic fingers weren't long enough, it also had long, sharp claws at the tips of its fingers. With its arms also being long, those claws reached almost as far as its feet, which was why its arm was chained with metal shackles at several points.

  “Yes… this is our cargo…” Nuskul said.

  Hikmar was more amazed than Azrak had ever seen him. He was so astonished that he began scratching his hair frantically. On Hikmar’s face, there seemed to be a zest that cybernetics normally couldn't possess with many different modules. While he scrutinized the creature with an admiration that made him forget he was a cybernetic, Azrak spoke up.

  “What on earth is this creature?”

  “I called you a freak of nature, dear Labiba,” Hikmar said. “I deeply apologize because a real freak of nature is truly standing before us now.”

  “Yes… a strange creature,” Labiba said.

  “Does this creature have a name?” Hikmar asked, scrutinizing the creature by getting quite close. “It seems to have human characteristics, but it has a very unusual biology. It has no sensory organs like eyes or ears. According to the theory of evolution, it’s impossible for a creature with so few sensory organs to exist.” Then he ran his hand over his metal chin. “No eyes, no ears, and especially, it can’t have a brain in the sense we know it. Most of its head consists of a mouth.”

  “What do you mean?” Labiba asked.

  “Look…” Hikmar said, pointing with his hand to its head that extended to both sides like horns. “…this crescent structure you see are not its horns. It’s its head… What I mean is, if it has a brain, it’s divided in two like this. It has two brains, a right and a left lobe. I wonder if those brains have also differentiated like the human right and left lobes?”

  “So what will this be used for?”

  “What is the use of a computer having more than one core?”

  “It allows the computer to do more than one task,” Azrak said from behind.

  “Correct…” Hikmar said. “…but I don’t think this creature has such a thing to perform more than one task. The creature has an extremely primitive body. There must be another reason for its brain being divided in two. Perhaps something will fit between these two brains.” He pointed to the crescent structure with his hand. “It’s like a key holder, isn't it?”

  “I didn't know you were a biology expert,” Nuskul said. “But it would be quite good if you didn't bring your hand too close to the creature.”

  While Hikmar looked at Nuskul, he realized at that moment that the hood of his robe had fallen over his head. He pulled back his hood with his hand and said: “Yes… I am not a biology expert, but I am a wise man. Wisdom means being able to make deductions.”

  “But please save your deductions for later. Because our creature is about to wake up. Could you please take a few steps back?”

  Hikmar withdrew all three of his hands from over the creature. He wondered about the reason they needed to keep this emotionless and helpless-looking creature asleep. There were two Exosanguis members in that room, and these two men had survived by fighting the most dangerous technologies in the galaxy.

  With Hikmar withdrawing his hands, that bone-white dust began to be poured over the creature once again from the pipe in the ceiling, like an erupting volcano. While the temperature of the room dropped visibly, Labiba invited everyone outside to discuss the job one last time. Because after seeing that creature, the potential confusions were countless.