Chapter 21

Another failure. Another wrong ship.

Once again, it didn't find what it wanted. This vessel didn't have the right biological matter. But it was close. It had to be. There weren't many places left to hide. It took but a moment to extinguish the energy and snuff the biological entities aboard. No sense in letting them live. They weren't the ones it was looking for.

Then it had to wait. Not for too long. Always someone came to look. To explore. It gave the exit needed. It boarded, an invisible stowaway on the next vessel. And the next. None of them had what it wanted, and there were so many to search.

The fleshy ones thought to foil its passage with their shield tunnels. Those didn't let it pass. But the fleshy ones' curiosity and weakness for others of their kind always proved their failing.

Ship by ship, it traveled. Not this one. Not that one.