The Space Spoon

17. Evolution

Billions of years ago, a life-supporting planet imploded from its very core. The civilization that used to inhabit it developed weapon technology way above their intellect levels. I say this because technological advancement should be as high as their level of understanding of how to preserve their planet, especially before the process of colonizing other worlds.

The debris left after the destruction of that planet, its name lost in time, scattered in multiple directions as the explosion threw them in a perpetual motion. Without friction forces, they kept moving through space. Some were simple masses formed from frozen water from the seas and oceans of the destroyed planet. One of these crashed on Nubilonia.

It contained marine diatoms, carbon-based organisms, more specifically microalgae. When the ice melted under the perpetual sun of Nubilonia on the side where it was forever shining, those diatoms extracted silica from the sand in that desert and incorporated it into their cell walls.

The silicate minerals replicated their crystal structures, interacted with the carbon compounds, and created a silicate skeletal structure. This took the shape of a bone, flat at one end and with a pointed sharp tip at the other end. Its extraordinary physical properties, such as hardness and fracture toughness, were due to the microstructural order of the crystal.

As the structure was still developing, some lead from the planet's crust was tossed into the mix. When the neural network ignited, the final shape of the enormous bone had a silvery appearance with blue hues. It represented the skeletal structure as well as the central nervous system.

The diatom’s carbon part evolved naturally as well. After a billion years since the asteroid hit Nubilonia, Tejeda’s species was sentient and fully developed. The Nubilae could change their organic structure according to any DNA they got in contact with, becoming seemingly immortals.

Having memories since the formation of their primordial silicon core drove their race to the brink of destruction. Only their self-preservation instinct and a dangerous level of insanity remained to push them forward.

All this knowledge was deeply embedded inside Tejeda’s core, which was sparkling with blue notes from node to node in E00’s robotic hands. The shuttle’s door opened right when he approached it since Shayla watched him through the computer screen.

Seeing the weird silvery object, she raised an eyebrow. “What is that?”

“Tejeda Hajar,” answered the cold artificial voice.

The way Shayla looked at that thing clearly showed her mistrust. E00 would have been more interested in her reaction if there weren’t more pressing matters to attend to. He put the object on the ground and his purple eyes fixated on Shayla.

Sighing from lungs as heavy as lead, she reached inside her cleavage and brought out the vial of Kalden Deltak’s blood. Shayla took a close look at the crimson liquid before speaking. “Do you know that he gave me just this one? If you are wrong, he won’t have the captain’s body ever again.”

“If you are worried about that, you can simply give him your DNA instead,” E00 replied, his cold purple eyes still pressing her to act.

Shayla pouted. “I am not giving him my body again. Whatever happens, happens!”

After she leaned over what E00 told her it was Tejeda, she opened the vial and hovered it above that weird object. Shayla gave another look to the robot, who nodded vehemently, his neck creaking again. “I will put the tech team to fix that too for you,” she said as the blood poured down in a thin stream over the neural network.

Once the crimson liquid touched the silvery object, a purple mass enveloped it. As beer’s foam increases in volume as you continue pouring it too fast into the glass, that gelatinous compound grew in size.

Both Shayla and E00 stepped back, not wanting that thing to reach them. Bubbles formed over its surface as if it was boiling. The silvery bone structure couldn’t be seen anymore. Only the organic mass that extended till one could clearly distinguish the shape of legs, arms, and head forming around the center, which transformed into a torso.

For a second, white bones could be noticed before they got engulfed in the rest of the purple mass which transformed into red flesh. The last thin layer of the boiling goo encased the newly formed body in an almost transparent veil before it transformed into skin.

Shayla sat there with her mouth open the entire time, watching the metamorphosis. She didn’t even perceive the passage of time. An hour had passed, and she didn’t move till a continuous bleep caused her attention to shift from that mesmerizing event.

After a glance over the screen, she cursed worse than a Tomengi when he bashed his friend’s skull after tripping over something. That was an often phenomenon among those clumsy amphibians who loved chainmail and blunt weapons.

“Universal Consensus’ ships are coming down from the orbit of the planet. They will be in firing range in less than five minutes. Our weapons and shields are down,” Shayla hissed before continuing with the profanities.

The calm voice of E00 made her stop swearing. “The engines are working. Fire them up and try to go through their vessels. We are smaller and more maneuverable.”

"Yeah, sure," Shayla approved with a hint of disdain in her voice. "But if we take a single hit, we are done for. And I am not a super pilot."

“I have more than enough energy to provide temporary shielding for this small shuttle. The radiation at ground zero overcharged me. Let’s get going.” E00’s statement left no trace of doubt. Shayla knew she had to do as he said. Anything was better than to stay there like sitting ducks.

When she reached for the controls to power up the engines, a low groan came from the back of the shuttle. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement and got up. Kalden Deltak was there, sitting on his buttocks, fully naked.

“Tejeda, are you ok?” she asked, eagerly awaiting the response.

“What do you mean I am a key?” he mumbled, rubbing his baldness.

E00 turned to Shayla. “Oh, my, I think his neural network might have a glitch.”

“Tell me something new,” she said before she turned around and started the engines.