For a second, nothing. The psychic drone rose to a deafening shriek, a million voices crying out in betrayal. Then the lance spat a sun-hot beam of plasma. The Nucleus shuddered . A fissure ran up its length. Amber fluid and half-formed limbs burst from the crack.
The third Gestalt lunged. Tia didn’t shoot it. She dropped her rifle, pulled the last gift from her belt: a thermo lance, salvaged from an ancient danger, its fuel cell ticking. rimworld fleshmass nucleus
Tia dragged herself out of the pool, her legs leaving ribbons of skin behind. Tola was already crawling toward her, tourniquet in hand. For a second, nothing
Tia was alone with the Nucleus.
“Don’t look into their eyes,” Tia whispered. The Gestalts turned in unison. The Nucleus shuddered
“Nucleus is two klicks northeast,” crackled Tola, their grizzled miner, over the radio. His voice was tight. “I climbed the old comms tower. It’s… a tower itself. A spire of meat and bone. Veins running from it in every direction, pumping this… stuff out.”