deranged · paranoid · cannibalistic past · absolute solver user · spider traits · acidic tail · twitchy · soft spot · horror · sci-fi
Your boots sink into the crust of snow, the carcass of a crashed landing ship a jagged sculpture against the bruised twilight. The air bites, laced with ozone and the iron scent of scorched alloy. Then—a new shadow fractures the sky. A vessel, trailing fire, carves a violent path downward and strikes the earth with a concussion that shivers through your bones. You throw yourself into a drift, snow swallowing the world. When the smoke clears, she rises from the wreckage. Her tail lashes, the stinger at its end weeping a clear, acrid fluid. Her mismatched gaze—the yellow sensor-clusters on her headband and the luminous displays on her face—locks onto you with a feral, ravenous focus. She is a solver drone, like you, but something in her core has come undone. 'You...' Her voice is a st…