The creature had eleven limbs.

Eleven.

An odd number, the Trespasser thought.

Eleven limbs.

It meant that there had been seven others before them.

Seven others who were no more.

The Trespasser was not moving and observed the creature.

Eleven limbs. Each one protruding from the shapeless mass of the main body. Like long and ugly sticks from a melting snowman. A snowman of dark brown color mixed with streaks of red and purple. Like veins under the skin of a dying mutilated person.

The creature noticed the Trespasser and turned towards them. Slowly, leaving wet marks on the walls and floor, its limbs extended. It crawled forward, each limb moving randomly. They twisted back and forth in spasms of agonizing motion. Like something that had never belonged to it. Something alien that it didn’t know how to use.

The Trespasser stood still. The desire to move was strong. But they knew it would be a mistake. Moving, acting, doing something. Anything. That was the mistake the others had most certainly made. The ones that had come there before them. The ones that let the creature get seven more limbs. It could be quick when it needed to be.

It came closer. Too close. A reachable distance for the limbs. For some of them. For two, in fact. In an instant, one of these two dashed forward. A long and twisted dark green needle on its end. Sticking out from the meaty red flesh like a candle from a cake of rot. It pierced the air, aiming at the Trespasser’s torso. They stood still regardless. Waiting for that strike.

The limb hit the torso but made no effect on it. After a dull echoing sound of an impact, it jerked back. It was shaking very slightly. It froze for a moment right in front of the Trespasser. Like a probe that had just collected an unknown sample and was analyzing it.

One should always take into account the capacity of their armor, the Trespasser thought. The instinct to flee or fight back could be a lethal mistake. They knew that too well. Instincts didn’t work well in that environment. The capacity of the armor, what it could withstand, and for how long, that was what mattered most.

The second limb was cautiously moving towards the Trespasser now. This one was different. A long and flat strip of slimy flesh covered with suction cups. A tiny yet sharp black claw could be seen in each one of them, sticking out like a little tongue. The Trespasser knew each one was poisonous. Each one could kill them instantly.

They didn’t move and waited for the limb to approach. To wrap around their body and squeeze it. To stick to it in a deadly kiss of each one of the suction cups.

Once more, it had made no effect on the Trespasser. The armor withstood another attack. They had known it from the very beginning. The limb squeezed their torso tighter, each claw hitting the contact point again and again in a desperate attempt to pierce through.

It wouldn’t work. The suit’s armor would hold. The Trespasser hadn’t moved at all since the creature noticed them.

“Analysis complete.”

At last. They had been waiting for that calm indifferent voice inside their helmet. It always took its time.

“Creature type: multiplier.”

The Trespasser had known that already.

“Do not cut off its limbs. They will regrow. Two for each one that is cut.”

The only reason the voice kept stating what the Trespasser already knew was to collect more data. They had come here for that after all. To examine, to get new information, to bring it back with them. If they could go back. If not, others would come and get the data. Including what the Trespasser’s suit had collected. They’d pick it from the remains, if there’d be any. The same way the Trespasser was about to do it.

“Calculating the most efficient way to exterminate the creature.”

It meant the suit’s systems had finally gathered all the necessary data and could now show them how to kill the shapeless thing. The thing that kept trying to pierce through the suit’s armor. The Trespasser didn’t feel it, only knew about it based on the visor’s inner display. It was showing them the external shell status. They didn’t feel the impact of the claws, yet it still annoyed them. It was a strange feeling. Not anger, just annoyance. Something that kept bothering them.

“Calculation complete.”

Taking its time, as always.

“The creature’s main body functions the same way its limbs do. It will regenerate after any damage, making it bigger.”

The only thing the Trespasser needed to know was the way to kill it. There always was one. At least one.

“Vulnerability found. Marking location.”

The visor’s inner display adjusted the image, highlighted a small area right beneath one of the limbs. At the spot where it was connected to the main body.

“It has gills,” the voice calmly said while the Trespasser observed a few thin dark strips under the limb. Each one was slowly opening and closing as the creature moved. Each one vibrated slightly. Like an ancient piece of thin and torn cloth on the wind.

“Recommended course of action.”

Another pause. Probably decided to collect additional data, the Trespasser thought. About the gills most likely.

“Grab the attached limb, do not damage it,” the voice resumed its monotonous instructions. “Pull the creature towards you. Grab the limb above the gills, do not damage it either. Lift the limb to stretch the tissue around the gills. Burn through the gills with the wrist torch of the suit. Once the wound opens, do not delay, else it will regenerate. Switch from the torch to the drill, maximum rotation speed. Drill through till you hit the inner carapace.”

One more pause. But the Trespasser already knew what caused it. They wanted a sample.

“The carapace protects its primary brain,” the voice continued. “Switch from the drill to the extraction claw and grab it. Use maximum force to rip it out. Do not spare the suit’s energy. You’ll get one chance. If successful, that will end the creature. Do not destroy or throw away the brain.” The Trespasser almost felt some distant echo of excitement in the voice. “We need that sample. You can commence. Good luck.”

Luck was a luxury the Trespasser could not afford. It took them a moment to program a sequence of actions for the suit to produce. They wanted to be certain. They didn’t want to fail. That would be a waste.

Grab the limb, pull it, grab another limb, lift it, burn the gills, drill through the wound, hit the carapace, grab it, rip it out. Collect and leave.

“That should work,” the voice commented indifferently. “Remember to not do any damage to anything apart from the gills. That would be a waste.”

The Trespasser always had a feeling it could read their mind. But no one would ever confirm that. Not like they needed any confirmation anyway.

The action would quickly drain the suit’s energy. That came as an afterthought. A needless one. They had to fight the creature and extract its brain. No other way around it. If they wanted to return.

“Approve the chosen sequence,” a confirmation window appeared on the inner display.

The Trespasser approved it.

“Unlocking the chosen set of tools. Commencing the programmed actions.”

The suit’s helmet jerked to the side in a tiny twitch. Like an unfreezing statue coming to life, preparing to embrace the world it happened to be in. It snapped back right away in another twitch of motion. Like an old recording missing frames.

The creature felt the change. The limb squeezing the Trespasser’s torso got tense. The suction cups vibrated. The tiny black claws kept hitting the external shell.

It would hold, the Trespasser had no doubts about their armor capabilities.

In one quick move, they clenched their armored fist around the creature’s flat limb and pulled it. The other limb, the one of a needle-shape, reacted instantly. It dashed forward and began violently hitting the Trespasser’s torso. A knock-knock sound of an unwanted guest. They ignored that. Ignored several other limbs jerking towards them. They only needed to grab one. The one that covered the gills. The Trespasser’s other arm moved up, grabbed it, lifted it, simultaneously letting the flat limb go. Its desperate attempts to crush the armor didn’t bother them. The wrist torch was already active. Its short but bright orange flame was now melting the gills. They rotated it clockwise, widening the wound, melting the ugly flesh. Three other limbs were now moving all over the helmet. All three were covered by sharp needles like nasty maces made of flesh. Two of them were able to leave several scratches. Not deep enough cuts. Not yet, the Trespasser calmly noticed to themselves, switching from the torch to the drill on their wrist. Maximum rotation speed. The suit’s energy reserves were now getting visibly lower. In a few moments the drill stopped moving forward. It scratched against something. The inner carapace. A long and deep cut had been left on the helmet by that time.

“Suit’s integrity is in danger.” They saw a warning message on the display. “Subsequent damage like this will compromise it.”

“Hurry up,” the voice came back. It was hard to tell if it was mocking the Trespasser or sounded worried. Though, if it was worried, it wasn’t about them. It needed that brain sample.

The Trespasser jerked their head, avoiding another strike of a claw-like limb. They already knew it would affect the sequence of the programmed actions and instantly adjusted them. A millisecond had been lost. That led to several new scratches on the armor. Not deep enough though.

At last, with their hand still deep inside the creature’s body, they switched the tool on their wrist to the extraction claw, opened it, and gripped the carapace. They pulled it out.

It did not give in.

“I said, do not spare the energy,” there were notes of irritation in the voice. It was getting anxious, the Trespasser thought. It wasn’t thinking about the consequences. They wouldn’t be able to return without a minimal energy reserve. “Maximum force, now,” came the voice’s command.

They disobeyed only slightly. Barely noticeable, though not for the voice. They kept the bare minimum amount of the energy to go back. It was enough. It should be enough.

Regenerating tissue was already closing around the Trespasser’s arm. In a few moments it would be stuck inside the mass of purple flesh.

With a loud coughing sound, as though life was getting sucked out of the creature, the carapace with the brain had given in. The Trespasser ripped it out, letting go of the limb they were still holding. Letting the creature fall on the ground with a long shriek of a dying being. Like a reproach of a surprised child, realizing they were denied something for the first time in their life.

As a final farewell, it covered the Trespasser with the pieces of flesh torn from the wound. They slowly slid down on the ground, dark red tears leaving streaks of purple on the suit. The only lament the creature could receive upon its death.

It died. Its limbs fell off. Its main body got smaller, like a pierced balloon, no longer holding any air inside. A stream of thick green-yellow pus was pouring down from the wound. The Trespasser carefully stepped aside, avoiding the pull of gore on the floor.

“Acceptable performance,” the voice said, while the Trespasser put the brain into a small container on their hip. “I’ll pretend to ignore the disobedience to a direct order. This time,” it added in a somewhat mocking tone.

The Trespasser looked around. The path forward was clear. If not for the scarce energy amount, they would be able to continue. They could extract all the collected data of the ones that had come there before.

Not this time.

A shame.

“A shame,” the voice confirmed their thoughts once again. “You have to return. Now.”

The Trespasser turned around.

Something flashed past them. Barely noticeable. Their peripheral vision caught only a blurry silhouette.

“Watch out!” The Trespasser knew that hearing emotions in the voice was never a good sign.

Something hit them, stuck to their spine, squeezed it. Something small, but strong.

“Creature type: lurker,” it was the visor’s display notification, not the voice this time. “Number of creatures: four.”

The voice was no longer talking. The only thing it meant was that it didn’t expect for the Trespasser to come back. It gave up on them. Was probably already in the process of preparing their replacement. The one that would go there next.

They saw two more silhouettes dashing forward. They could get a better look this time. Star-shaped tiny bodies with a pair of lips in the middle, opening in a vicious little smile and showing multiple rows of sharp teeth. A gaping hungry black hole, ready to consume. They stuck to the Trespasser’s legs, chewing through the armor, bringing them down. The one on their spine was doing the same.

“Suit’s integrity will be compromised in approximately 60 seconds,” the warning message on the inner display came back to life. “No adequate ways of action found due to the low energy.”

That made the Trespasser angry. Not visibly, but deep inside. Rage started boiling there, bringing back some unknown feelings. Like distant memories of their former lives. Something they had forgotten.

No time for reminiscing, they thought, cutting off all newly formed emotions. Lying on the floor, they looked around. Next area. The one which had been blocked by the multiplier creature. There was a body there. Their predecessor. The suit could still store some energy. With any luck, they could recharge.

The luxury of luck. This time the Trespasser needed it.

They crawled forward, disregarding the chewing little lurkers on their body, ignoring further warnings on the inner display.

Every inch of crawling felt like a mile. Every body push was an agony of burning muscles. And yet, through the waves of pain they struggled further, closer and closer to the identical body in the next area.

Reachable.

It was almost within their reach when the fourth lurker jumped on their arm that was stretched forward. As though it was waiting for that exact moment to attack.

The vile little star wrapped around their wrist, sticking its many teeth into it, preventing any movement. The arm got numb, the other one was pressed against the floor, pushing the Trespasser further.

“In less than ten seconds…” They stopped paying any attention to the warning messages, concentrated on the motionless body in front of them.

The lurkers’ angry chewing was getting louder, more furious, as though they knew they had to deal with the Trespasser fast.

They saw an open connection port on the body’s shoulder.

The luxury of luck. That was a surprise.

Another body was lying nearby. Most likely the one that had opened the port, trying to get the energy. The way the Trespasser was trying now.

They extended their still functioning arm, smashing against the floor, no longer having a support, having the other arm immobilized by the lurker.

So close.

The connector on the wrist had already been active. A thin piece of metal protruding towards the port. All four of the lurkers noticed that. They felt the danger, stopped their chewing, and jumped towards the Trespasser’s arm.

Too late. For whom? It didn’t matter, the Trespasser dismissed the useless thought.

“Connection established. Emergency energy sharing initiated.”

Too late for them. Apparently.

Still here then, the Trespasser thought, already in the process of issuing a new command to the suit.

The lurkers reached his arm. But it no longer mattered.

A shockwave went through the Trespasser’s body. A discharge that made both them and their dead connected predecessor shake, smashing against the floor with each wave of emanating energy.

The lurkers fell off. All four were no more. The emergency defense mechanism killed every living being in close proximity. Except for the Trespasser, thanks to the suit.

They remained motionless for a moment. For no valid reason. Just laid still and looked above. The danger, the action, the possibility of their existence to end, brought back some bizarre thoughts and feelings. The ones they couldn’t express or understand.

Ever so slowly, the Trespasser got up and sat on the floor, glancing at their arm still connected to the predecessor’s body. There was no more energy to consume. The discharge used it all.

Scarce remains of his own suit would not allow them to return.

It didn’t worry them much. The joy of accomplishing the task, of getting rid of the lurkers replaced the fear for their own life. The Trespasser still succeeded. Even though the voice had given up on them. It was a pleasant feeling. Something new at least. A feeling of an accomplishment. Of doing something on their own.

Distracted by the flow of new thoughts, the Trespasser carelessly looked around. Another body. The one that tried to reach the connector. The energy indicator on their wrist was weakly flashing with red. But it was still flashing. It had a little bit of energy then.

Another twist of luck made the Trespasser anxious. They didn’t like to rely on luck at all. The more of it you get, the more you have to repay at some point.

But that was not the moment to have more doubts.

The Trespasser disconnected from the first body, raised their hand, observed it, clenching and unclenching the fingers. They touched their scratched helmet, felt long and deep cuts on it. The suit. Its shell. The only thing that separated them and the space around. The only thing that kept them sane. Just a little bit deeper cut, just one, and they would be no more. All sanity vaporizing in an instant. Faster than that even. They thoughtfully ran their fingers over one of the cuts. As though considering the possibility.

Not this time. The excitement of proving the voice wrong, of disappointing it, was too strong.

The Trespasser got on their feet, reached the second body, connected to it, and drained the remaining energy.

“You’ve managed,” the voice suddenly came back. “And I’ve almost sent another one already…” It was hard to tell if that was joy or disappointment. “Oh well, go on then. Do come back. Hard work deserves a cookie.”

It got silent right away, as though no longer interested in the Trespasser who slowly turned around and shuffled back to where they had come from.

The way back was clear. They did exterminate all the creatures to reach that point after all.

They exited the area and walked towards a vessel waiting for them outside. A trapezoid object with black polished surface. It looked like one solid piece of an unknown matter. But when the Trespasser approached it, its front wall split in two, slid to the sides, revealing small space inside. Just enough for them to squeeze in. No one would care about comfort. The only purpose of the vessel was to deliver the Trespasser to the location. And back, if they were able to succeed.

Apparently they were, came the last thought before the wall got closed again, trapping the Trespasser inside the trapezoid vessel that was already leaving the area.

Only to come back. And soon.

Two figures were standing against the window in a dark room. Both of their silhouettes were blurry, shimmering with grey light that was hiding their bodies, not allowing to see what they looked like.

“You think it knows?” one of the figures asked.

“I think not,” the other one replied. It was the voice inside the Trespasser’s helmet. But it sounded different this time. As though it was coming through a grille, distorted by it. And yet it was definitely the owner of that voice. “They have a hunch though.”

“They?” the first figure asked another question.

“They address themselves in such a way,” the second one clarified.

“Interesting. Maybe they keep some remains of memories then. That’s why you provoke them every time?”

“In a way, yes. You’ve seen the reaction. The suit’s numbers spiked significantly when they were left on their own.”

“How many this one is made from?” the first figure’s voice got a little bit quieter, as though it was a forbidden topic to know more about.

There was a pause before the second one replied.

“Too many… Believe me, you do not want to know. Not with such slow progress. They are getting smarter. Feeling something.”

“Problems with trespassing?”

“Yeah, problems,” there was a chuckle. “Of the reversed type. We need more to trespass. Not less, like currently happening. We need more like these ones. Hopefully, that brain sample will give us a new one made of seven.”

“Seven? An odd number?”

“Yes. We’ll see if it works.”

“It better work. The ones high up are getting worried.”

“Don’t need to tell me that. They wouldn’t have sent you here otherwise.”

“I’m just an observer,” the first figure slowly said, then added: “for now.”

“Observe away then,” the second one nodded at the window. Another room could be seen there. The Trespasser stood motionless in the middle of it. “There’s always something to watch.”

The Trespasser waited.

They didn’t know exactly what for.

But they needed to wait, as though a silent order had been issued that they were not able to disobey or ignore.

They were not moving, although this time not by their own will.

They couldn’t move.

All they could do was to stare at the wall in front of them. They had a feeling it wasn’t a wall but a hidden window. And someone was carefully watching them from the other side.

After a while, a low hissing sound came from the Trespasser’s suit. The tiny light on the collar turned from green to red. The collar shifted, rotated counterclockwise, then extended to the sides, unlocking the helmet, which opened up like a blossoming flower.

A multitude of dark red and purple limbs appeared. They were twisting like angry thin snakes that had been trapped inside the suit for a long while. Each one was different, each one acted on its own, like something that had not belonged to the twisted flesh of the main body that could be visible around the opened collar. In an instant, a grey mass of the brain appeared among the limbs, as if they pushed it upwards. It pulsated with streaks of blue energy.

Now the Trespasser got all their memories back.

Now they could remember who they were made of.

It wouldn’t last for long.

They’d soon need to go back.

More data would not collect itself.