Imposter System

That night, while eating with his closest followers, Matt confronted his wife. Alexis had figured out the trick for the Hive Queen branch's early game on her own. This made him proud of her and excited at her growth. Meanwhile, Matt told her about Martha's ability and the implications. The main conversation was happening over telepathy, while they talked about random day-to-day things in order to create a cover.

Although Scorch already knew that Matt could be an enhanced human, Matt didn't want to use his power so casually. He thought about the time Willard intercepted their thoughts and remained vigilant.

{Once we secure a source of food for Martha, we will use her ability to speed up our progress. The current time difference is about twenty-five percent faster in her bubble. In other words, a minute outside is a minute and fifteen seconds inside.} Matt explained telepathically.

{Do you have any ideas for her food source? From what I see in her status, she would eat the ship to starvation…} Alexis responded.

"Ba, Ba, Ba, Pu!" Alex, who was sitting on Alexandria's lap started flailing around a toy hammer that Fran had gifted him. He smacked Alexandria on the face, causing a funny scene.

"Are you hungry, Alex?" Alexis asked in a cute voice and made faces at him.

Alex swung the hammer more vigorously before throwing it in a random direction and reaching out towards his mother's breasts. She was originally sitting with Matt, and after they finished eating, he was holding her in his arms when Alex threw a fit.

The random direction just so happened to be directly towards Matt's face. He quickly snatched the toy out of the air and then sent a glare toward his son. He made eye contact with the devil spawn and activated his Hypnosis. However, Alexis blocked his line of sight before he could do anything and carried Alex to their bedroom.

Unlike the spawns that Alexis created through her parasite abilities, Alex was conceived from a time when the parasite was dormant. Although he grew under the influence of the parasite, he still had an innate resistance to Matt's presence. Matt's thoughts began to wander, and he thought that this felt a little like the cliché where the half-monster son would grow up to defeat his evil monster father.

'I guess that makes him Alucard?' Matt thought about how he had just downed several vials of blood earlier and shook his head. Such an outcome was impossible. He would never let the son become stronger than the father. By the time he grew to adulthood, Matt would already be at the peak of tier three.

"Andria, come to my study." Hearing herself being referred to with a nickname her ears perked up and she looked at him lovingly. She instantly came to his side with her thoughts plastered on her face. She was clearly expecting his companionship. However, Matt would prove to disappoint her.

He placed a tablet in front of her and showed her a picture of a scientist. Underneath was this person's psych evaluation and background information. Seeing this, Alexandria was a bit confused. This scientist was one of the people in charge of running the chimera experiments that Matt had assisted with several months prior.

Initially, he planned to stop the experimenting when he took on his new position but thought it could be useful for Evolution Points in the future. Since the system no longer recognized Martha for the Yggdra species, Matt wanted to secure a new source. The best course of action would be to find Bradshaw. This is where Alexandria came in.

"I need you to infiltrate her research team and find the location of Dr. Edward Bradshaw." Matt reached out and put his hand on hers. Their eyes locked and Alexandria was drawn to the sparkle in his pupils. "I can only rely on you for this."

Alexandria snatched the tablet and stood up. She held Matt's hand tightly and nodded "I won't let you down, Matthew!" She immediately left the room and began to formulate a plan. Matt turned off his hypnosis and chuckled. Although it wasn't necessary, using mesmerism and hypnosis seemed to stimulate the target into following his commands efficiently.

Matt thought about Dr. Bradshaw again and pulled out his old notebook that he took so long ago. He read the last page and pondered about what existence he was worshiping. At first, he assumed it to be the alien who inhabited Patient Zero, but after careful consideration, Matt wondered if the branch showed him any visions like Martha did.

Bradshaw had likely interacted with the 'branch of the world tree' several times and could have even developed strange dreams because of it. If his worship was toward the Yggdra species, then his pursuit to reviving the branch was logical. If he saw Martha now, he would probably deify her. Thinking of that, he smiled to himself out of satisfaction.

Matt looked through his tablet and read through the six project proposals he had accepted for an interview. They were all scheduled for tomorrow, but he wouldn't come unprepared. Matt laid back in his chair after locking onto the six doctors and released his astral body.

Over the last six months, Matt had infiltrated dreams every night. Whether it be one of his followers, or someone else on the ship, he did it without fail. Part of the reason was to develop his mental energy with the Dream Eater ability, and partly to investigate the truths of the ship. This was another reason why he was so famous for a one-hundred percent success rate. No secrets could hide from his prying eyes.

After a lot of practice, he developed the skills to easily differentiate between people that he has marked. With a quick glance in the shadow world, he picked out six white lights in the hundreds of lights in front of him. Matt could tell that two were already asleep based on the intensity of their light. While floating past, he noticed Willard's light and decided to give him some nightmares as he passed by.

Matt eventually arrived at the first researcher and began digging around their dreams. He simulated the experiments and setting needed for the project to work and became the researcher's assistant. In this dream simulation, he closely observed the work and allowed the target's mind to create problems by stimulating his anxiety.

After only two weeks inside the dreamscape, Matt left with a frown. The experiment was meant to utilize a similar technology as the reactor, but instead it converts dark matter into an energy source. The researcher did all the theoretical work and even had some small experiments to verify his work. However, once placed on a large scale, the small problems he noticed in his subconscious were extrapolated and amplified in the dream.

The ending was complete obliteration of everyone onboard.

Matt moved onto the next researcher and did the exact same thing. This time, the experiments lasted for two months, and it was starting to look very promising. That was until the cooling systems failed due to a critical meltdown causing severe body mutilation of everyone in the room and a complete systems failure of the ships life support.

Experimenting with highly radioactive, highly unstable isotopes was dangerous. However, the energy production was at least five times that of the current reactor. There was also the problem of a limited supply of the isotope itself. Matt decided to confront that researcher about the cooling and supply issue, perhaps he could solve the problem.

The next researcher who had just fallen asleep was the most promising one in Matt's opinion. Instead of the other five who were researching production of energy, this proposal was specifically about collecting, capturing, and mining space rocks.

The proposal would make use of the standby military forces to mobilize during the times the engines are cooling down. After capturing the nearby space debris, they would extract useful materials, and then throw out the remaining waste. This would be the perfect opportunity to use Martha, the living waste bin. However, there was a major problem with this proposal.

When Matt first read the proposal, he was intrigued because it was a very good idea. However, when he read the line in the introduction which stated "mobilize the standby military" he immediately rejected it. This was an insurmountable task for the researcher to accomplish. There is too much politics on the ship for this to work.

However, if Matt were to intervene, this would be a null problem. Previously, he had no reason to assist, but now…

Matt entered the researchers dream and began the simulation. He was curious as to how the process would be completed. After monitoring the dream for a while, he was satisfied. The whole operation was smooth and flawless. Matt invented various situations that he could imagine, and also influenced the researcher's mind to create ones she could imagine. She was able to put out the flames in the most efficient manner.

Out of curiosity, he organized a confrontation with the military. However, the result left Matt baffled. He wasn't sure if this researcher's subconscious was arrogant or confident, but only two hours and she successfully convinced them!

'Roxana Madatyan… interesting.'