Interstellar: Exploring The Cosmos With My Anomaly System
Chapter 76: Bio Tech

Chapter 76: Bio Tech

The thing that crawled out of the dead man’s chest wasn’t human.

Not anymore.

It looked like something born in the underbelly of a nightmare—slick with gore, its elongated skull covered in matte black bone that pulsed faintly with heat. Rows of needle-thin teeth gnashed together with a sound like glass scraping concrete. Its limbs twitched and flexed with inhuman rhythm, jagged claws clicking against the metal flooring.

Elliot stumbled back, nearly tripping over his own feet. His mouth was dry, his heart battering against his ribs.

"W-what the hell is that?!"

The man didn’t flinch. His reply was a blade—cold, sharp, leaving no room for debate. "Focus." A pause, just long enough to let the command sink in. "Open the case."

Elliot’s grip on the suitcase tightened, his knuckles bleaching white. His pulse roared in his ears. "This thing? What—what’s even in it?"

"What do you think?" The man’s tone didn’t rise. It didn’t need to. "Open it. Now."

Another screech tore through the space as the creature dropped to all fours. Its body coiled like a spring, ready to pounce.

"I don’t—!"

"Put it on, or you’re dead." No anger. Just fact.

Elliot fumbled with the latches, hands trembling. The top popped open with a soft click, revealing something folded with surgical precision inside: a black bodysuit, lined with silver threading and compact segments of reactive armor. Strange, small vents dotted its chest. The suit gave off a low hum, vibrating faintly, like it was waiting.

"What is this?"

"Insurance." The man’s eyes never left the creature. "Reach in."

"I don’t know how to—"

"You don’t have to." A beat. "It knows."

Elliot reached out—and the suit moved.

Tendrils of material lashed outward and latched onto his wrists and forearms like a trap. The back unfolded and flared open as the material surged around his limbs, crawling with terrifying speed over his torso, then his legs. The sensation was cold. Not freezing, but sharp, like metal water pouring across his skin.

He gasped. The chest plate snapped into place. The helmet locked down with a sudden hydraulic hiss, closing in around his skull. A heads-up display blinked into life across his vision.

BIOSUIT LINK: INITIALIZING

SYNAPTIC BONDING: 63%... 71%...

His heart pounded. He didn’t know what the suit was, didn’t know what it was doing to him, only that it was too late to stop it.

The creature lunged.

Elliot’s body moved without asking permission. He dove to the side. The claws slashed the air where his head had been a second earlier, raking deep gashes into the floor. The biosuit cushioned his landing, absorbing the force with subtle, reactive pressure.

"Let it sync," the man called out.

SYNAPTIC BONDING COMPLETE. NEURAL REFLEX CALIBRATION: ENGAGED.

VITALS: STABLE. THREAT ASSESSMENT: HIGH.

The HUD lit up with red markers, outlining the creature’s joints, chest cavity, and skull. Real-time data scrolled past: heat signatures, muscle density, movement prediction vectors.

Elliot barely had time to process it.

The creature twisted its body unnaturally, snapping toward him again.

He sidestepped, sharper this time. Faster. The suit enhanced his reactions, tightening his muscles like coiled springs. His footwork felt guided. Calculated. Like someone was whispering instructions straight into his bones.

A quiet mechanical clunk echoed through the suit.

Something unfolded from his back.

Elliot barely had time to register the weight shifting before limbs of hardened alloy extended outward behind his shoulders. Energy conduits pulsed with light—blue at first, then shifting rapidly to ultraviolet, like plasma coalescing into shape. A bow assembled itself mid-air: not solid at first, but flickering lines of light, hardening into a sleek, angular frame with limbs like carbon razors and a central core glowing with condensed power.

An energy string thrummed into existence, drawn tight with magnetic tension.

"What the—?!"

"Shoot it," the man commanded.

Elliot didn’t have time to argue. The creature was already moving.

His hand reached back—instinctively—and the suit responded, manifesting an arrow of pure energy between his fingers. It crackled, a concentrated bolt of kinetic plasma caged in a field of force, humming with power. As he nocked it, the HUD narrowed in, tracking the precise movement of the creature’s spine.

He drew the bow.

The entire weapon vibrated with intensity, harmonics ringing through his arm like the string of some colossal instrument. Light bled from the arrowhead, casting jagged shadows across the warped floor.

He released.

The arrow tore free with a thunderous crack, leaving a trail of ionized air in its wake. The light of it seared the air—spiraling, pulsing, an electric comet screaming forward.

It struck the creature in the shoulder, punching through with a burst of violet energy. The beast shrieked, black blood spraying from the wound as it staggered back.

Elliot didn’t wait.

His body moved on its own, the suit guiding him into a fluid motion as he nocked another arrow. This one glowed brighter, hotter.

The creature lunged again, claws outstretched.

He fired.

The second arrow hit its thigh, sending it crashing to one knee.

Elliot circled, breath steadying despite the adrenaline. The HUD flickered, highlighting weak points—joints, the base of the skull, the pulsing core in its chest.

The creature snarled, trying to rise.

One more shot.

He drew the bow again—this time, the weapon thrummed louder, the arrow forming thicker, heavier, the plasma core swirling like a miniature star.

The HUD flashed red.

CRITICAL STRIKE AVAILABLE. INITIATE COMBAT FINISHER?

Elliot exhaled.

"Do it."

The bow’s energy surged, the string pulling taut with a resonant hum. The arrow’s light intensified, casting sharp, flickering shadows across the walls.

Then—release.

The arrow hit dead center, punching through the creature’s chest with a detonation of violet fire. The blast ripped outward, vaporizing flesh and bone in a shockwave of plasma. The creature didn’t even have time to scream—its upper body disintegrated, leaving only smoldering ruin behind.

Silence.

Elliot stood there, the bow dissolving back into the suit, its energy dissipating like smoke. His breath came slow, controlled. The suit’s vents hissed, expelling heat.

Behind him, the man finally stepped forward.

He glanced at the remains, then at Elliot.

"Took you long enough."

Elliot swallowed. "What the hell was that thing?"

"just part of the job,"

The man walked past, as casually as if they’d just finished sweeping a hallway.

Elliot looked down at himself. The biosuit still hummed with latent energy, faint arcs of residual light dancing across his forearms. The impression of the bow’s grip still lingered in his hand.