Bobby's eyes adjusted to the dim light as he entered the vast circular chamber. His breath caught at the sight of a massive cylindrical column dominating the centre of the room, filled with bubbling green liquid that cast an eerie glow across the polished floor. The liquid pulsed with an internal rhythm, like a heartbeat made visible.

  Floating screens hung in the darkness surrounding the column, displaying data streams and surveillance feeds from across the compound. Some showed thermal imaging of guard patrols, others scrolled through lines of alien text Bobby couldn't comprehend. The displays rotated slowly around the chamber, creating shifting patterns of light and shadow.

  A chill ran down Bobby's spine as the temperature plummeted. His breath fogged in front of his face, and goosebumps raised along his arms despite his armour's environmental controls. The air felt heavy, charged with an invisible energy that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. It reminded him of standing beneath high-voltage power lines, but far more intense - as if the very atmosphere was being compressed around him.

  Through the semi-transparent column, Bobby caught glimpses of a dark shape suspended in the green fluid. The form shifted, too obscured by bubbles and distortion to make out, but something about its proportions seemed wrong - neither fully human nor entirely machine. Cables and tubes extended from the shape, connecting to the ceiling and floor of the chamber like an artificial nervous system.

  The floating screens stilled their rotation, all turning to face Bobby simultaneously. The green liquid in the column swirled faster, its glow intensifying. Static electricity crackled across Bobby's skin, and the oppressive weight in the air grew stronger, making it harder to breathe.

  Bobby took a cautious step forward, drawn by the mysterious shape within the column. His boot struck an invisible barrier that rippled with faint blue energy. The force field pushed back with gentle persistence, like pressing against thick rubber.

  "Hello?" His voice echoed through the chamber.

  A burst of static erupted from hidden speakers, making him flinch. The sound tuned itself into that of a voice. A deep, resonant, yet also realistic voice.

  "Robert Jones. Former police constable. Current level seven survivor." The voice paused. "Your acquisition of Kra'zak technology intrigues us."

  Bobby squinted through the energy barrier, trying to make out details of the figure inside. Cables writhed around it like tentacles, obscuring its true form.

  "Not sure I'd call it an acquisition. More like fair trade," Bobby said, keeping his tone casual despite the tension knotting his shoulders. "Those collars were worth something to the right buyers."

  "Collars?" The voice took on an edge of amusement. "Yet you traded with both the Qur'zak and Cy-Tek factions. A dangerous game."

  "Seemed like good business." Bobby shifted his weight, testing the barrier's resistance. It remained firm but not hostile. "Though I have to admit, your security setup here is impressive. That cyber-bear was creative."

  The liquid pulsed in time with the words. "We have adapted well to the System's arrival. But you already knew that, didn't you? After all, you came here seeking something specific."

  Bobby tested his theory. "You say you’ve adapted well, but that’s not the case, is it?"

  "Is it not?" The overlord replied. "How so?"

  "Let’s not kid a kidder."

  "Very well. An apt saying, by the way. You humans have such a way with words. I prefer ‘let’s cut the bullshit’. My probability matrix had that as your most likely reply. But I am learning that you humans are very surprising."

  "So what are you then?" Bobby pressed.

  "No, that’s not how this works, I’m afraid."

  Bobby tensed as the Overlord's laughed, a sound both mechanical and organic that set his teeth on edge.

  "Your attempt at misdirection is charming, but let's focus on what brought you here. The Kra'zak technology you acquired. Tell me more about your dealings with them."

  "Not much to tell. I had something they wanted. As simple as that."

  "I highly doubt that. Yet you negotiated with two warring factions. That suggests either remarkable skill or foolish luck."

  "Maybe both." Bobby shrugged.

  "Your modesty is as transparent as your purpose here. Though I must admit, your earlier comment about adaptation intrigues me. What makes you think we haven't adapted well?

  "This isn’t an adaptation," Bobby said, gesturing towards the Overlord. "It’s too much. Something isn’t right. If I was to hazard a guess, I’d say you wear those bodies like a host." Bobby envisaged the old school sci films he’d seen over the years where the alien used the humans like a meat puppet.

  It would explain how they know so much and have so much tech, he thought, but can they be saved now?

  The liquid churned violently, its green glow intensifying until Bobby had to squint against its harsh radiance. The Overlord's voice took on a harder edge, losing its earlier conversational tone.

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  "An interesting theory. But what makes you so certain?"

  "The tech doesn't match. Your 'adaptations' are too advanced for three weeks of System integration." Bobby said.

  "Perhaps we simply adapted faster than others." The screens around the chamber flickered with rapid-fire data streams.

  "No one adapts that fast. Not unless they had help." Bobby tapped his temple. "The System's new to Earth, but not to you, is it?"

  Static crackled through the speakers as the Overlord laughed. "Clever boy. But knowledge can be dangerous."

  "So can ignorance." Bobby gestured at the tubes connecting to the shadowy figure. "Those aren't upgrades or adaptations. They're life support. You need them to survive in our atmosphere."

  The temperature dropped further, frost forming on the energy field between them. "That’s where you’re wrong. But don’t worry. Come closer and see for yourself."

  Bobby's boots crunched on the frosted floor as the force field shimmered and dissolved. The temperature plummeted further, his breath clouding in thick white puffs before his face. Like spirits in the green-tinged light, the swirling mist created ethereal patterns in the air.

  The glass cylinder emitted a high-pitched squeal. A seam appeared on its surface, widening as more frigid mist poured out. The green liquid drained away through hidden channels, leaving only wisps of vapour that curled around his ankles.

  The tubes and cables he'd glimpsed earlier retracted with mechanical precision, leaving behind a single figure.

  Bobby's breath caught in his throat. She stood perfectly still, like a statue carved from living metal. Her features were flawless, as if designed by an artist with an impossible eye for beauty. Long silver-white hair cascaded down her back, each strand catching the light with an otherworldly shimmer. Her eyes opened, revealing irises that shifted between deep violet and electric blue.

  Her skin drew his attention the most. It appeared human at first glance, but as she moved, light played across its surface, revealing a subtle metallic sheen. The effect wasn't mechanical or artificial, instead; it reminded Bobby of mother-of-pearl, organic yet impossibly perfect.

  She wore a form-fitting bodysuit that seemed to flow like liquid mercury, adapting to her movements as she stepped forward. Despite her beauty, Bobby's instincts screamed danger. Every gesture, every movement, held the fluid grace of a predator.

  "Not what you expected?" Her voice matched her appearance, beautiful, but with an underlying resonance that wasn't quite human.

  Bobby stepped back. "Can't say I was expecting anything specific. Though the whole mysterious figure in a tube routine seems a bit theatrical."

  She laughed, the sound like crystal wind chimes in a storm. "Sometimes theatre serves a purpose, Robert Jones. It sets expectations, creates assumptions." She gestured at herself. "Like this form. Beautiful, isn't it? Almost human. Almost."

  "It's Bobby, by the way. No one called me Robert unless I'm in trouble." Bobby studied her otherworldly features, noting how they seemed to shift in the dim light. "What are you?"

  "Well, Bobby, we are the Eternal." She traced a finger along one of the nearby screens, leaving trails of frost in its wake. "Though that name has been lost to time, like so much else."

  "You're not human. Not even close." Bobby kept his distance, watching her fluid movements.

  "Once, perhaps, we were something similar. But corruption took root in our genetic code a long time ago." Her mercury-like suit rippled as she turned to face him. "Evolution became... difficult. Impossible, in its natural form."

  Bobby's mind flashed to the augmented raiders he'd encountered. "So you found another way."

  "Necessity breeds innovation." She gestured to her perfect form. "We learned to adapt, to merge with other beings. Technology allows us to... inhabit them. Guide them. Transform them."

  "The augments I saw. That's how it starts?"

  "A crude beginning." Her smile turned predatory. "Neural interfaces, cybernetic enhancements, they create pathways. The rest..." She paused, studying him with those shifting violet-blue eyes. "Well, some secrets must remain."

  Bobby remembered the twisted forms of the raiders, how their augmentations seemed to pulse with unnatural life. "You're parasites."

  "Such a limited perspective." She shook her head, silver-white hair flowing like liquid metal. "We are architects of evolution. Guides to ascension." Her form flickered, revealing something else beneath the perfect surface before stabilising. "Though I suppose the beginning stages might appear... primitive to outside observers."

  Bobby watched as the Overlord's perfect form shifted, catching hints of something alien beneath the surface.

  "Our species faced extinction," she said, her voice carrying an echo of ancient loss. "The vast emptiness between stars became our prison. Too far to reach other worlds, too scattered to maintain genetic diversity."

  The surrounding screens flickered with images of distant galaxies, star maps that stretched beyond human comprehension. Bobby noticed patterns in the data streams, coordinates pulsed with significance.

  "Then the System found us," she continued. "Or perhaps we found it. The distinction matters little now." Her eyes shifted from violet to electric blue. "It recognised our potential, integrated our consciousness into its framework. We became part of something greater."

  Bobby noted subtle changes in her posture, the way her form seemed less stable when discussing their past. "So now you're just another competitor in the Dominion Expanse?"

  "Competitor? We are survivors, adapting to new rules, new possibilities. The System gave us paths to evolution we never imagined." Her perfect features hardened. "But yes, we must now vie for power and resources alongside countless other species. The Kra'zak, the Nexari, the Void Dancers, are but some that seek advantage in this reality."

  As she spoke, the chamber's green glow pulsed stronger, casting strange shadows across her metallic skin. "The System cares nothing about our past greatness or our near extinction. It demands growth, adaptation, strength. Those who cannot keep pace..." She gestured to the screens showing surveillance feeds of augmented raiders. "They become stepping stones for those who can."

  Bobby understood then. They weren't just parasites, but desperate survivors clinging to existence through whatever means necessary. The System had saved them from extinction, but at the cost of becoming players in its cosmic game.

  "You see it now," she said. "The choice we faced. Extinction or evolution, no matter the cost."

  "Doesn't make it right," Bobby said, but his voice lacked conviction. The enormity of their situation - an entire species facing oblivion - made his moral certainties waver.

  Despite her perfect features, Bobby noticed micro-movements that seemed wrong, as if her form struggled to maintain its cohesion.

  "Right and wrong become fluid concepts when survival is at stake." She gestured at her augmented followers now being shown to Bobby. "These humans joined us. Some for power, others for knowledge. A few had nowhere else to go."

  Bobby thought of the raiders he'd encountered, their bodies twisted by cybernetic enhancements. He wondered how many had understood what they were agreeing to.

  The Overlord's eyes shifted colour again as she studied his reaction. "Come," she said, moving toward a door that materialised in the chamber wall. "There's something I need to show you."

  Bobby hesitated, every instinct warning him of danger. But as the door slid open with a soft hiss, he followed her ethereal form into the darkness beyond.