A catastrophic nuclear war nearly ended humanity in 2098. But humankind rallied and eventually found a new way forward.

Inventors and innovators discovered new ways to create energy and grow food. One such visionary founded Huxlee Industries Ltd. Since much of Earth was left uninhabitable and many of the world's resources were dwindling, Huxlee plowed all their profits into research in rocket science, artificial intelligence, and genetic engineering.

They began exploring the galaxy, looking for habitable planets with valuable resources. Their plan was to travel to the far reaches of the galaxy, mine those precious resources, and create a peaceful and prosperous future for humankind.

Each planet that humanity colonized was carefully designed. Resources were extracted, and growth hubs were constructed to create individuals fabricated from carefully engineered DNA.

Each individual was manufactured for a different societal function. The vast majority were manual laborers. Others were created to be scientists, engineers, administrators, agronomists, and physicians. The idea was to create a functional society that would operate flawlessly.

Gabriel Soma was born in a cloning hub on Proxima Centauri C, the first planet humanity colonized. He was part of a small crew that maintained and repaired the robots and androids sent to construct colonization hubs. Unbeknownst to Gabe, every memory of his childhood was implanted in his consciousness by those who cloned him. Like the rest of his crew, he believed he was born to a mother and father on Earth. Psychological stability was maintained by creating a narrative sequence of a loving family. None knew that they were, in fact, bred in a colonization hub.

Gabriel's ship landed on Dvarka, a planet in a recently discovered solar system. Upon their arrival, five human-controlled UAVs and five Hux-A7 fully autonomous robots were sent to explore the planet's surface

They detected breathable air and abundant water and many organic lifeforms as well as something unexpected. The ruins of an ancient civilization that had mysteriously disappeared. The ruins seemed ancient, but the tech seemed surprisingly advanced. Whatever powered the tech was a mystery as it clearly was inoperable and long dormant.

As the planet proved hospitable to human life and contained many valuable mineral resources, construction began on the colonization hub.

The landing craft contained living quarters for the ten-person human crew. Most of the hub construction was automated, but Huxlee Industries always included a human crew to act in a supervisory capacity.

The planet possessed great beauty. Old growth forests and meadows covered in colorful flowers. Placid lakes. Wide rivers. Gabe could imagine living on a planet like Dvarka forever. The inspiring beauty and peaceful setting lulled the entire team into complacency. Even Michael, the team security officer.

Michael was driving a transport vehicle, patrolling the edges of the ruins with Sarah, a science officer charged with documenting the flora and fauna. According to Sarah, the vehicle suddenly accelerated on its own and the brakes lost all function. A cliff loomed ahead and Michael shouted for Sarah to jump, but the doors wouldn't open. Michael shot out her window and Sarah climbed through and jumped to safety. He shot out his own window but couldn't get through in time. As he struggled to escape, the vehicle roared off the edge. The hundred-foot drop caused the vehicle's fuel tank to rupture. Sarah raced to the edge and heard Michael's terrifying screams as the transport vehicle went up in flames.

That afternoon, they held a memorial and that night Gabriel had trouble falling asleep. Sometime in the night he bolted awake, unable to breathe. His eyes grew wide as his breath grew short. He gagged as hands flew to his throat. The power was out in the shelter and there was no oxygen. Desperately, he stumbled forward through the dark corridors and only survived by manually opening an emergency door with the last of his strength.

Six of his fellow crew members weren't as lucky. With the life support and ventilation system down, they suffocated in their beds. Only Dmitri, the medical officer, managed to survive as he had a tank of oxygen nearby which he also used to save Sarah.

Later that day, Gabe received a distress call from Sarah. The transmission ended abruptly, and Gabriel went looking for her. He found a blood trail that led to her headless and mutilated corpse near a half-built food hub. Gabe reasoned that there must be some sort of dangerous predator they missed in the initial scan of the area.

Back at the colonization hub, he studied the logs in the main server to see if they missed anything in their initial recon. Instead, he found something even more troubling. One of the Hux-A7's apparently took control of the transport vehicle and shut down the life support system on the landing craft.

Gabriel searched the compound for the errant Hux and found it in the cloning hub. The robot was covered in blood and held the science officer's head by the hair. The Hux apparently had extracted DNA and was using it to create what seemed to be-

A new body.

Instantly, Gabe gave the robot an order that was ignored. He assumed the robot's source code was corrupted, but when he plugged his scanner into its memory core, he discovered that the original code had been replaced by something completely incomprehensible, written in an alien language he had never seen before.

Clearly, the Hux needed recalibration. But when Gabe tried to do just that, the HUX released a surge of power that fried all the equipment. When Gabe attempted to remove the robot's power supply, the Hux grabbed him by the throat and threw him ten feet across the laboratory like a ragdoll.

At the sound of the commotion, Dmitri rushed in to see the Hux approaching Gabe. He commanded the Hux to power off, but it turned slowly and marched toward him as he yelled codes that were supposed to deactivate the faulty tool. The Hux stared at the shouting officer for a moment, then punched a hole through his chest and pulled out his beating heart. The medical officer fell dead and the Hux extracted blood to add to its design.

Gabriel quickly gathered himself and bolted out into the alien forest, heading for the fuel hub. There he found a length of steel pipe, hid and waited, but-

The Hux never showed up.

Day gave way to dusk and Gabe began to shiver as the sun fell behind the hills. He heard the doors hiss open and watched as the clanking Hux emerged.

It had fabricated a new body for itself. Part flesh. Part silicon. Part human. Part machine. Massive. Powerful. Beautiful and majestic like-

An ancient God.

Gabriel tried to sneak away, but the Hux heard him and quickly trapped him behind a hydrogen generator.

Pinned, Gabe spotted a liquid hydrogen fuel tank and used the pipe to smash a valve open. The Hux distracted, he quickly escaped, striking the door with the pipe as he fled, creating a spark that ignited the fuel. The flame traveled back to the tank and the hub instantly exploded in a massive fireball, blowing the Hux off its feet.

Gabe raced across the meadow and into the forest. When he looked back, he saw the Hux emerge from the flames and smoke. Burning. Melting. Shrieking. Deformed. Terrible and wrathful like-

An ancient God.

The forest canopy kept out the light of the moon and Gabe rushed into a thick creeping fog before the Hux could find him.

Consume him.

Assimilate him.