Deepspace: Maxtom and Johnath (Ea)(Com)

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After recovering enough energy to stand, Maxtom and her newfound companion dog, whom she named Fenris, continued their travels together through Zeta-13, having no idea where they were going but hoping it was towards the center.

Along the way, the two came across a few more anomalies that Maxtom had to save them from, which she was successful at, but each time she did it, she found herself in a completely new area without any clue where it was located inside the facility.

At some point while walking, Fenris started sniffing the air. Maxtom asked him if there was something nearby. Fenris barked and started to run off. Maxtom shrugged and started running after him.

They ran through several hallways, up some stairs, and then through a very large empty room and finally another hallway and around its corner. That’s when they saw a creature that made Maxtom panic.

Fenris barked at it, but before the creature could turn to look at him, Maxtom grabbed Fenris and went into subspace. That made both of them intangible and invisible to the creature, meaning it shouldn’t know they were there, unless it was the light of the nightmare pig from before.

The creature, which just so happened to be Johnath, looked over at where the noise came from and looked confused. Johnath then asked Titan Green if she had heard that as well, which Titan Green confirmed.

Johnath looked down at her foot, which was mostly recovered now. It still had a bit to go, but it was good enough to walk on, so she got up and walked over to where Maxtom and Fenris were standing in subspace.

Johnath looked around and shook her head, saying it must have been her imagination, or at the very least an anomaly messing with her. Titan Green was unsure but said it was best to just move on for now, so the two kept walking.

Maxtom, however, was watching Johnath, and since she couldn’t hear Titan Green and had no idea she even existed, all she saw was some strange creature talking to itself, which could be very dangerous for them.

Maxtom let Johnath walk off for a bit, then she came out of subspace and plugged herself into a control panel that was meant for a door nearby that no longer seemed to work, but the control panel was still connected to power.

Once Maxtom was recharged, she asked Fenris to track the creature they saw, as she was curious about it, she also mentioned that they needed to stay back just in case it was dangerous, but she had the feeling it might not be since it seemed human-like, much like herself.

Fenris barked happily and started sniffing as he walked forward, and the two quickly caught up to Johnath again thanks to her slower speed due to her foot still recovering. As soon as they caught up, Johnath turned around as her senses allowed her to notice something was nearby.

Fenris quickly hid behind something, while Maxtom didn’t react quickly enough and just stood still. Luckily her mode one was always active so Johnath couldn't see her, but she did still feel like something was in front of her.

So Maxtom started focusing and activated her mode two. Johnath instantly seemed at ease, as to her the thing she was worried about was just gone. Maxtom was relieved and continued to follow Johnath as she made her way through Zeta-13.

Maxtom found Johnath fasting. She wasn’t human; that much was clear, but she was a humanoid, and she clearly possessed high intelligence. Maxtom had known in the past that there were other species like humans out there, but she had thought they were all wiped out.

Seeing this was almost as rare as finding a place like Zeta-13. As Maxtom continued to become more and more intrigued by Johnath, asking herself many questions and coming up with theories, her focus on mode two started to break.

So without realizing, Maxtom had let it deactivate, which meant Johnath’s other senses were starting to pick her presence up again. Johnath wasn’t going to let it go this time; she knew there was something following her, but she needed a way to see it.

So she asked Titan Green what she could do. Titan Green thought for a moment and said her antennas should be able to help, if they still had them in this form. Johnath smiled and said that was true. Titan Green’s antennas were extremely special. 

They can detect all kinds of things, like the slightest changes in temperature, the tiniest fluctuation in the force of artificial gravity, microscopic impurities floating around in the air supply and so much more. Then there was vibrotactile sensing, which works using vibrations. 

Though they don’t look it, the antennae vibrate at a very unique frequency, which sends those vibrations outward and causes them to hit things and bounce back. That gives her a sense of things around her, even if they’re invisible, which was exactly what she needed right now. 

This ability was mostly used for traveling through space in sectors with no stars; without it, there was a chance Titan Green would fly right into things and get hurt. Johnath was about to try and push them out so she could use them, but Titan Green stopped her and warned her about them. 

They were helpful, but they were actual organs, organs that are easy to damage and incredibly sensitive. That’s the main reason her species evolved to be able to store them inside of themselves and only pull them out when absolutely necessary. 

So Titan Green warned Johnath to be careful with them, as if they get damaged, it’ll mess her up for a bit and hurt a lot more than losing a leg. Johnath nodded and said she’d be careful; she then started to extend them outwards, which felt a bit gross since she’d never done such a thing before.

Maxtom was fascinated by it and had no idea what Johnath was doing. She had no clue what she was doing would actually allow her to see Maxtom. Once Johnath had her antennae out, she started vibrating them, and sure enough, after a few seconds, she knew Maxtom was there.

Johnath pointed her finger at Maxtom and yelled at her to reveal herself, that there was no hiding anymore. Maxtom gulped as she realized she lost focus on mode two. She then quickly started to focus on it again, but it was too late.

Johnath still knew she was there thanks to the vibrations bouncing off her body, so Johnath yelled again, saying she’d attack if Maxtom didn’t reveal herself. Maxtom let her focus go and wondered what she should do.

That’s when Fenris came out of hiding and ran up to Johnath. Johnath looked down at him and seemed a bit confused but then seemed happy. Johnath bent over and started to pet Fenris while calling him such a good boy, all while asking him what he was doing in a place like this.

Maxtom suddenly felt at ease seeing Johnath treat Fenris so kindly; she also found it curious that Johnath knew about dogs. Perhaps her species has them as well. Maxtom got closer to Johnath and introduced herself, which surprised Johnath.

She wasn’t expecting another person, never mind one who could go invisible. Johnath then asked if Maxtom was one of the captains like her that arrived here because of the distress signal. Maxtom nodded and then asked if that meant Johnath was as well.

Johnath nodded and said it seems like both of them fused with their ships, and since Titan Green wasn’t a normal ship, she was turned into an insect-like hybrid but still retained all of Titan Green’s abilities.

The two continued to talk and share details about their changes and the abilities that came with them until Fenris started barking and ran off without them. Maxtom called out to Fenris, then chased after him, and since Johnath had no reason to stay behind, she followed as well.

They chased Fenris all the way to Zeta-13’s observatory. Both Maxtom and Johnath are amazed by the sight of it. There were many different telescopes around, used to look far into deep space and even in the near space around Jirlopos-4.

Fenris went right up to a dog bowl, which had fresh dog food inside it and started eating. Both Johnath and Maxtom were surprised to see it but knew it had to be because of an anomaly. Titan Green on the other hand, was only wondering if it tasted as good as it smelled somewhat good.

Johnath had to ignore Titan Green’s request to try a bit, so she went over and started to mess around with the near space telescope while Maxtom connected to the terminals and collected any information she could.

A lot of the data was just nothing, as half the researchers here covered the space further into deep space, which almost always has nothing going on. The really interesting stuff comes from the near-space research and seems to be related to the anomalies.

Most of the data on that was covering the anomalies that popped up around the facility’s near space, but there is one set of logs that talks about balance. It went over how it may not seem like it, but Jirlopos-4 has a very unique balance, one that can be disrupted easily.

The researchers for this said that they noticed anomalies that were much stranger than the rest, ones that only occurred when the other research team messed around with that thing located in the center.

Every time that happened, the near-space researchers noticed anomalies being pulled together into one spot. This caused the balance of Jirlopos-4 to spiral, creating more anomalies while also creating cracks in reality that appeared in the near space around Jirlopos-4.

The cracks seemed to spread while that other experiment was happening but always vanished without a trace once that other experiment ended. As they continued to study the effects of the other teams' experiments, they put forth a very disturbing theory.

If they remove what maintains the balance of the anomalies, it could create a catastrophic disaster that could destroy the reality where Jirlopos-4 was located, possibly even the space near it all the way up to the nearest star system.

Maxtom gulped and said that would be really bad. Johnath then looked over and asked what would be bad. Maxtom relayed the information to Johnath about the balance of Jirlopos-4 and the thing located here in the facility.

Johnath wondered what the thing could be, as did Maxtom, but it seems the data here isn’t shared with the rest of the facility and vice versa, so they wouldn’t find out unless they went and found it, which sounded dangerous, but perhaps worth doing in case it messed with them being able to leave.

Johnath said maybe they should find some of the other captains and see if they knew anything. Maxtom tilted her head and then smiled, saying she didn't even think about the others being here, but since they were both here, it made sense.

It also made sense to find them and, at the very least, warn them, as if they messed with this thing, it could mean the end of them all. They agreed to try and find them, and then they asked Fenris if he could find someone. 

Fenris barked and started running, but before they could leave, an anomaly appeared. Suddenly all three of them were trapped in a large box made of stone. Maxtom sighed and said this was annoying, but she could get them out.

Johnath looked over and said there was no need to exhaust herself with subspace; she could spit her gas at one of the walls and melt it. Maxtom nodded and said that would be preferred, as it would mean she wouldn’t have to take a break.

Johnath then asked Maxtom to look away, as doing this was embarrassing. Maxtom smiled and turned around, saying she wouldn’t peek, even though she wanted to, as Johnath’s body was still so fascinating to her.

Johnath clenched her fist and started to melt away the stone enough for them to exit out of. She then took a step outside and instantly another anomaly occurred, this time summoning a small army of large automatic battle drones equipped with machine guns.

They started shooting at Johnath and managed to blow one of her arms off before she made it back inside the stone room that MAxtom and Johnath were in. The battle drones continued to shoot the rocks, which stopped a portion of the bullets, but not all of them.

The bullets not stopping started to break the stone more and more, meaning any second they’d have nothing to protect them. Johnath let out an awkward laugh and said it seemed they needed Maxtom to use her subspace ability to get them out.

Maxtom sighed and said it seemed so, she then told Johnath that she could do it to drop them to the floor below, but as soon as she did, she was going to pass out until she recovered enough energy to move around again.

Johnath told Maxtom not to worry; she and Fenris will protect Maxtom while she is asleep. Maxtom thanked her for that, then grabbed Fenris and had Johnath hold her shoulder. Once they were both touching her, Maxtom activated subspace and dropped them through the floor.

As soon as they made it to the floor below, subspace ended, and Maxtom fell right on the floor unconscious. Johnath was surprised at how fast it happened. She then pushed Maxtom over and made sure she’d be comfortable.

Then she sat down next to Maxtom and kept watch while also growing a new arm. Fenris looked at Johnath, the Maxom, and seemed confused, but then went and lay next to Maxtom like he had before, not wasting a chance to take a nice nap, and when it was over, hopefully they could find the others and make sure they don’t mess with whatever is stored at the core of Zeta-13.