Chapter 169 - The Beast & The Machine part 5

*(mood song: "Woodkid - Run Boy Run")

The repairs were carried out hurriedly, as Rose's bots took intact doors from damaged or miscellaneous areas and joined together a couple to seal the hole to the hangar, then installed a pair of provisional double doors.

A team of ten bots then ran to the entrance with four metal sheets stripped from the walls and floors, seeing Erik just sitting near the entrance, his left arm now feeling like a long sausage skin, constantly getting filled by monsters and getting longer and longer, the monsters driven insane by their greedy hunger.

bot(Rose): *are you really okay?*

Erik: "huh? yeah yeah, I'm fine... just feeling... bloated... those things know no fear and never give up" he pointed at his arm "without this arm they would have slaughtered us all with those numbers..."

bot(Rose): *bloated... so you managed to charge that thing enough.... why not upgrade it then?*

Erik: "upgrade it? how?"

bot(Rose): *well, this arm is set to copy and replace living beings, but if the information is provided beforehand, it could just grow the way you want it to, try redirecting that energy to create something*

Erik: "hmm, so to make it grow maybe?"

bot(Rose): *Nah, that would be a waste, since you have so much accumulated energy it's better to create something like a new organ..., and since you will need to eat a lot from now on... why not a second stomach?*

Erik: "...like a cow?"

bot(Rose): *hmmm... not so simple, one that would receive the food first, scanning and filtering out any inorganic or harmful substances, and transforming them into energy, or passing them down to your stomach, I think something like that would allow you to grow the most*

Erik: "...so I could eat anything then?"

bot(Rose): *indeed*

Erik: "alright, tell me what to do"

bot(Rose): *okay, first sense the accumulated energy on your arm*

Erik: "done, I can clearly see it"

bot(Rose): *now... imagine that energy moving through tendrils inside you, and forming that new stomach...*

Erik: "okay... it seems to be- augh! aaaahhh fuck!"

bot(Rose): *don't lose focus!*

Erik barely nodded, as he could feel a metallic tendril going up the stump of his previous arm, till it reached his chest cavity, and a ball started to grow and got stuck with his esophagus, becoming one with it. The whole process almost made Erik faint from the pain, but the process was quite fast, occurring in mere seconds as now only a thin tendril remained connecting that second stomach with his arm, but he could still feel and see energy flowing from his arm to the stomach, reinforcing it.

Erik breathed laboriously: "that... was... painful..."

The bot(Rose) shrugged: *but you are no longer bloated right?*

Erik nodded: "not so much, I can now feel most of the energy flowing to that stomach though"

bot(Rose): *that's good* a pin protruding from the bot's finger *let me add a basic database to your stomach* her pin connecting to his arm, and subsequently to his power armor for a few seconds before disconnecting it.

Erik: " is it done?"

The bot(Rose): *yes, that should do, a couple million different poisons and toxicity guidelines will be enough for now* she saw Erik's impressed expression, and a frowning expression appeared on the bot *what?*

Erik: "so much in just three seconds, I was just impressed"

bot(Rose): *easily impressed I see* she pointed at the door *now then, take your arm slowly off the door while I seal it*

Erik nodded and slowly removed his arm, while bots slid metal plates in place, finally sealing the hole, as more monsters kept hitting against the sealed doors.

Erik's arm went back to its power armor shape as he stood up: "so... now what?"

bot(Rose) waved her hand: *come with me, we are waiting for you at the hangar*

--- Hangar entrance ---

Minutes later, Erik arrived as everyone was already waiting for him.

Inside the hangar, a huge eye was carefully observing them.

Erik: "so that was it huh... won't it attack?"

Rose pointed at the beast's legs: "look at those legs, they are bone thin~, it can't even move even if it wanted by now, and see that heavy fat body... it can chew stuff left of its mouth at most"

Everyone started walking to the doors while they kept an eye on the huge beast.

Erik: "won't it die if we empty the water then?"

Rose shrugged: "its used to laying there, so it should be able to endure it, also its the only way to avoid the eels devouring her after all~"

Erik sighed: "sigh... true"

Inky: "why don't we just eat it? it should be tasty"

Erik: "hmm that would be quite of a waste, what I wanna know is... does it lactate?"

Rose raised an eyebrow: "what?"

Erik clenched his fists: "cheese, pizza, carbonara... so many dishes I could prepare..."

Inky: "is it tasty?"

Erik nodded seriously: "very tasty!"

Inky: "I wanna try too!"

Timberly: "oh, me too!"

Rose: "ehem! we have doors to repair, and a submarine to save everyone..."

Everyone got serious again.

Erik: "okay, what do you need me to do?"

Rose: "just keep an eye on the beast while we repair the connectors and cables"

Erik observed the disproportionate beast: "she's quite ugly..." and muttered, "will it have udders though..."

Erik saw the bots had already started repairing the door, and the beast wasn't moving.

Erik called a nearby warrior: "keep an eye on the beast, tell me if it moves"

Warrior: "yes, Fifth Elder!"

Erik then walked along the left side of the body of the beast that was laying on her right side, the legs weren't functional, and the body was extremely chubby. He walked to the end of it and found a pile of eggs.

He observed the beast and saw as more eggs the size of beach balls kept coming out, he grabbed one, and the exterior felt hard, like a car tire.

Erik muttered: "so it lays eggs huh... well that doesn't rule out lactating, platypus exist even on Earth after all..." he then saw what appeared to be a 50cm wide nipple, and touched it, making the beast vibrate "is this the nipple?... hermaphrodite I see..." he saw what he had thought a nipple rapidly expand, as a huge car sized dick emerged "...not this kind of milk, maybe going up then? I didn't see any nipples though... huh?" he then noticed an egg breaking as a baby beast crawled out and started eating its egg cover.

Erik observed it: "quite cute, oh it looked at me..." the baby looked at Erik confused and then ignored him, continuing to eat the almost finished egg cover "would it be safe to touch it... ah, fuck it" his left hand slowly petted the head of the baby beast, and its hind lefts trembled fast as it bent over its body closer to Erik's hand.

Erik smiled: "you like it huh, you finished the egg, what now?"

The little beast, as if understanding his words, got closer to the mother and savored the water, crawling to the mother's belly area and lifting a scale, going inside.

Erik lifted the three meter wide scale and saw a pouch inside, lots of babies sucking out of twenty centimeters wide nipples inside.

Erik: "bingo! it does lactate, finally cheese~ hope it has a good taste" he saw the little baby get to one of the dozens of nipples and start lactating "aww, when they ain't trying to rip your head and limbs off they are quite cute"

Erik patted the beast's belly: "with how fat she is, I bet she can produce a lot of milk... that is if she survives opening the doors... gotta protect the cheese" his face becoming serious "this is important livestock for my future cheese... it needs to survive..."

Rose: [the doors are almost- ...what are you doing?]

Erik: [it produces milk! cheese Rose, Cheese!]

Rose: [...I have no response for that... so, are you ready? I want you to make your arm into a net as big as you can when we open the doors to catch as many of those things as we can]

Then hatches opened on the ceiling as huge turrets descended.

Rose: [The turrets will take care of the rest]

Erik: [sounds like a solid plan, we need to protect Molly]

Rose: [...Molly? the beast?]

Erik: [yeah, sounds like a good name for a cow]

Rose: [...sure... anyway, come here to the door entrance]

Erik: [coming]