--- The HSS Incredulous: 12:00 ---
It had been a remarkable discover for the ship, to say the very least. Heinrich Jaskal puffed his chest out and stepped through the decontamination room as he approached the large, metal device and stared at the being in wonder. Some being encased in metal, or made of metal. Whatever the discovery actually was, it was an incredible find. No one had expected to find any sort of evidence of civilization out here. Planets were bathed in the star known as Annirah's lethal radiation. Nothing should have been out here.
"Its a wonder, isn't it? An automaton from some race that hasn't been discovered yet!" One if Heinrich's aides exclaimed, the woman beaming towards the scientist, who returned the grin with one of his own. Suzanne had been one of the more eager and ambitious of his aides. Confident. Smart. Heinrich could even make the mention of being exceptionally attractive, even if she was a decade younger than him.
"So far we have had it on board for several hours. No attempts to power it up have worked, and it doesn't seem to respond to any normal commands from machines. Never ind the fact the machine inside seems to be inert. A pile of junk, other than having a humanoid form." Heinrich replied, pushing up his glasses and sighing, before reaching into his labcoat and pulling out a small flask. Coffee, of course, the man a staunch protestor against alcohol. "While the discovery is immense, and we have dataslates of photos and speculations, the Hegemony just wants us to disassemble the robot to see if we can reverse engineer something useful."
Suzanne wrinkled her nose and let out an irritated exhale, before nodding slowly. "Its a shame. We still need to try and power the machine up one last time before the engies tear it apart."
Heinrich snorted, and turned to Suzanne, a curious look on his face. "Doubtful we'll ever be able too. And the order to transport her was given already. Have a small crew down, and getting ready to take her ri- Ah! They arrive!" Heinrich waved towards a set of men who looked at the machine in abject curiosity, as they set about strapping it up for movement.
"This is going to be a miraculous venture, Suzanne. A look into the mechanical designs the likes we have never seen."
--- The HSS Incredulous: 14:00 ---
Suzanne glanced in and turned the corner while that...Monstrosity plunged metal claws into one of the workers, the machine cocking an emotionless, skull-esque face bathed in spatterings of blood as it slowly pulled out a streamer of intestine; the worker still alive and pleading to every god imaginable before his mouth gurgled and filled with his own fluids. The machine continued to pull, draping herself in a boa of digestive organs, before her cold, metal hands dove into the man's chest cavity again, the creaking of bones turning into sharp, bellowing cracks as the man's ribcage was broken apart and his remaining organs were pulled out to be exposed for the ship to see; finally being dropped to the ground and stepped on with a nauseating squelch as the machine's advanced continued.
It had all happened too fast for the ship. The robot in the coffin had come to life, and when commanded by Heinrich? Pinned him down and set about ripping off sloughs of flesh to adorn itself with. Suzanne had managed to run, and clear out of the room as security forces tried to subdue the automaton, only for whatever metal the being was made from to morph and heal as if it were a living, regenerative organism.
As if it was alive.
Since then it had been a dream turned into a living nightmare. The robot had made a slow advance down the halls in eerie silence. Every being she found, whether it was human, alien, animal, was met with a tormenting death, as the machine took its time with its prey. Splayed organs and meat. Choice bits of alien and human set aside while it butchered the rest. So far the last bastion of hope was the medical bay, and it was so close...
Suzanne reached for her keycard and went to slide it through to gain access, only for a metal hand to clamp down and turn the woman to face her metallic aggressor, fingers slipping on the comms as she begged and pleaded like everyone else with the machine, only for it to bend her hand backwards, the snap and protrusion of bone showing a broken wrist, and the being moving her free arm to begin extracting broken carpal bones amidst Suzanne's howls.
The robot looked towards Suzanne, and let out a small mechanical whirl, before it extended a taloned claw, and flicked the digit across each button of her blouse, until skin met the tingle of cold air. One last offer of mercy in exchange for anything the mechanical being wanted, and that taloned claw began to sink into the skin right under her chest, and inched downwards, a sheet of milky white skin folding over itself, before being tugged away and ripped from her torso.
Suzanne screamed as hard as she could for help, before a metal hand clamped around her mouth, and the machine finally spoke; a cold p, irritated female voice bellowing out from the robot.
--- Nepha ---
"Enough pleading, human. You never listened to my kind before. And now you. You alone will hear me." Nepha boomed. Reaching her claw to begin removing another sheet of skin from the woman's backside this time. "I require medicine. A doctor. Not one of your mechanics" A tug and the woman's muscles in her back hit frigid air and Suzanne struggled amidst the pain to point towards the medbay and utter 'd-doctor' at Nepha, the metallic woman slowly nodding before two metal thumbs dug into Suzanne's eyes, jelly and plasma eking out from what little space there was in the eye socket, and the aide's had cracking open like a melon once Nepha had gotten what she needed from her.
Nepha looked towards the chit of plastic, and picked it up. This was what the scientist used to get through doors when using body parts wasn't effective. The being studied the card for a few moments, then began to fiddle with it, trying to slide it in between the spaces of the doors, and through the keycard reader, only to frown when each time it was met with a red beep.
Keys had become so different since she was alive. Alive? Could she even say that word?