It wasfinallymorning, andIcompleted work on the infiltration avatar.Ihaddisguisedit as one of the natives.


    "screw it"Iwasjustgoing to call them Elves."


    Carol looked in from the window on the airlock door.I walked over to talk to her."the drones finished clearing out a path from the medical bay to the surface, so you''ll beableto go outside now."


    "does that mean I''ll beabletobringthe rest out ofcryotoday?"


    "yes, but first you wanted toseethe surface, right?"


    "yes, let''s go right now, I''ve been waiting over 2,000years for this."


    chuckles "you have been waiting too, but it''s only been a few days for me."


    Carol open thedoortoletme through, and we quickly walked over to thedoorleading into the ship.Igrabbed hold of the emergency release handle and openthedoorto the inside of the ship.


    Caroltooka deep breath, and I felt the breeze pass through my chassis. "Iguess that''s yourfirstbreath of air from another galaxy, right?"


    Iturned to Carol, only to see her slumped to the floor.Iquicklygrabbedher before she hit "wouldjusthappen."ButCarol was already passed out.Iturned to the other two people in the room, but they were passed out on the floor.Iquickly got up to close the door when suddenly the air reachmycore.


    SuddenlyIfelt likesomethingwaswrappingmymindwrappingit up in its powersomethingold,somethingvast,somethingthat hated life.And then it shovedsomethingintomymind.


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    Out of the corner ofmyeye,Icouldseemycore, Slowly turning in emerald green.Irealized with donning horror thatIwas being taken over by something.Something that wasn''t me.Iturned to the thing inside of my own head and began tofightit.I tried shoving it out, thinking it out of my head, but it wasn''t working.If my new abilities aren''t working then maybe my programming commands will.


    Ishouteda command."Malicious code detected.Activate full system sweep and Antivirus protocols."


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>full systems scan activated.


    Unknown code detected.


    Deleting unknown code.</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    I watched asmycrystal slowly lit in green fire, as portions of the creature were burned out ofmysystem.I wasableto think clearlyagain.The creature was taken apartpiecebypiece.When suddenly one of thepieceslatched onto me andquicklybecamea part of me.


    ThenIhad a HUD again. Only it had lists of creatures and my old databank blueprints.AlltheknowledgeIthoughtI''d lost had come back as well asknowledgeof thingsI''veneverevenseen or heard of before.Knowledgeof magic and creatures,Ithought toonlyexist in fantasy. "this world hasmagic, that''s what''s been stealing all the power.Magicsteals power to make moremagic."


    My core had turned back to its reddish tinge, and whatever hadattackedme wasnowgone.I need to figure out what happened to Carol and the other two doctors.