Hivemind Beyond the veil

I feel weak and constrained, something's wrong. My body feels right, but my mind feels a disconnect from this body something alien and strange, my memories surface I know where I am, and I curse at whatever did this to bring me here.

My new life just gets stranger and stranger, I mutter to myself, tasting some salty liquid in my mouth, trying my hardest to push against the shell with all the strength I can muster.

Minutes passed before I could gain control over my limbs—limbs that didn't feel right. There's more than I remember, more than there should be.

With a final push, the egg shatters around me, fragments floating away in slow spirals, suspended in the weightlessness of space. There’s no gravity here, no air—just the cold, silent void.

I tumble free, my body spinning gently as I instinctively right myself. I look down and see… grey chitin.

My skin, no longer flesh, is now a tough, segmented shell. Four large spider-like legs extend from my torso, anchoring me in a way I don't yet understand. I flex my arms—four of them, massive and grotesque.

Then my gaze falls lower, and I see two smaller sets of arms sprouting from my chest. Alien. And yet, they respond to my thoughts, moving with uncanny precision.

Something stirs behind me. I twist my head and watch as ten long, black tendrils emerge from my back, swaying like they're tasting the void. They respond to my will as well, curling and unfurling in the absence of gravity, seeking… something.

I shudder at the sensations, trying to keep calm, my mind now hyper-focused pushing me past this moment, reminding me am still in danger.

A shiver runs through me as my body reacts, sealing every crack, every gap between the segments, trapping in the precious air my body produces.

My thoughts come quickly, calming me down, remembering am built for this. I extend my tendrils instinctively, testing the surrounding space.

They stretch and curve, detecting the cold rock walls of the cavern, sensing the emptiness beyond.

The void cannot touch me. I flex my spider-like legs, pulling myself upright in the weightless cave, scanning my surroundings.

Fragments of shell continue to drift away, weightless and forgotten. My eyes, or what now serves as eyes, adjust to the dark cave around me, realizing that even in the vacuum of space, I can see with perfect clarity.

The cave is small, jagged rock and metal deposits cover its surface, the entrance still blocked by the dead creature's prone form.

Walking towards the corpse, I instinctively pushed my tendrils through its corpse, sending enzymes to break down its organic mass for later use.

Stripping off its outer shell and packing its pieces at the back of the cave, there was nothing left but the inorganic metals that were fused to its body and its central core, some weird mix of brain tissue and cybernetic components.

Stripping the cybernetic components off its brain, I set them apart and continued breaking down the corpse, never wasting resources no matter the source.

The process was slow and methodical, keeping my mind away from stray thoughts until I could push the corpse away from the entrance.

Slowly I scout around the cave, never leaving its entrance, my optical tendril stretching looking around for any threat.

Satisfied that there was no threat, I dragged the rest of the corpse inside. It was larger, and I was hoping to harvest most of its biomass later.

Using the carapace shells and rocks scattered around, I stacked the entrance hoping to block it off, using the biomass stored within me to create a resin to plug any holes.

It didn't look great, but it would hold, with that finally done, I walked around the cave catching shell fragments, my mind racing trying to create a long-term plan.

I have a few days of air to spare I have limited resources to start up production again an enemy that outnumbers me a million to one and no allies for support, just great.

With no other choice, I built a small closed-off section of the cave with layers of resin in sections acting as artificial air sacks.

With my biomass supplies depleted, I went back to the corpse to top of my diminishing reserves.

Releasing a few spores into the air sacks, I hoped one might be able to create the right mix to create a breeding ground for the fungus spores lining the sacks.