Melty Mercury from Outer Space (Chapter 1)

 Summary: Nikki is taken over by an extraterrestrial symbiote that changes her into a metal slime girl. While this comes with great power, she's unsure if she can control herself, or handle the extra baggage that comes with it.

[Story Listing]

Chapter 1

"Huff... huff... huff...!"

It was about ten at night, the chilly evening air gripping the hilltops just outside the town of Bismarck. Nikki Armitage, a lone young woman in her mid twenties, was going on a pleasant jog through the sloping hills that lay just out of town. 

She was garbed in a form-fitting blue track suit and a bright yellow-green construction vest (just as a safety precaution, of course—it was terribly dark out at this hour) was hustling up and down the gently dipping inclines. Her well-worn sneakers kicked up dirt and grass with each passing second. Beads of sweat dotted her neck, cheeks, and brow. She kept her long brown hair tied up in a ponytail, so it wouldn't get in her face. With every step she took, her bifocals bounced at the tip of her nose, threatening to teeter over. 

But she was in too much of a groove to stop now. The goal was in sight!

Her forest-green eyes, focusing squarely ahead on the goal that lay in front of her. The tallest hill of the lot wasn't exactly tantamount to a frosty mountain peak, but after a solid hour-long exercise regime, it was definitely a fitting capstone to her regimen. She decided at the start of the summer that these spring nights were simply perfect for a focused cardiovascular exercise regime; it meant she could escape the beating heat of the daytime, and keep cool while avoiding the hustle and bustle of all manner of people during the day. 

That wasn't to say she didn't have friends, but she valued her alone time. The high school didn't pay her nearly enough to wrangle the bunch of mouthy children assigned to her homeroom—at least not nearly enough to support the costs of attending the prestigious university to complete her Master's degree on its own. Juggling the teacher gig along with a totally demeaning IT customer representative give at Pythagoras Enterprises was almost too much.

At least it was summer time, and she got the time off to work on herself before the fall semester began in earnest. It wouldn't be long until the school year started up again, and the dread of the new year encroached on her closer and closer. But exercising like this was certainly a welcome way to distract her from the inevitable realities of adult life. She really needed this brand of self-care.

Getting to exercise at this hour was a welcome avenue to work out some of her latent stress. The inclines helped adjust her footing, helping to maintain her optimal heart rate. Not to mention that the grass just felt great under her feet. So did the cool night air on her skin. There was a distinctly dewy aroma that wafted through the picturesque hills, illuminated by the stars and the moon above, full and beautiful. 

She casually reached for her water bottle, squeezing it gently for a swig of refreshing water. It was just the perk up she needed to handle the last stretch of climbing. She could feel the burn through her legs as adrenaline coursed through her veins. This was the runner's high she had been chasing all night. 

This was a fantastic idea. Very easy to stick to. And the sight at the top was amazing. She was almost there...

"Hah! Made it!"

Nikki huffed ecstatically, her hands resting on her knees as she took in air. Her face was red and she was just about spent. She must've looked positively gross with how much she was sweating, but... it wasn't like anyone was around to judge her. She grinned giddily, her eyes darting around the hill.

She straightened her back, placing her hands on her hips to admire the view. How the hills rolled and valleyed in uneven waves, how far it went on. The odd ranch dotted the hills here and there, wooden fences propping up to keep the sheep in. If Nikki squinted, she could see a few sheep resting out on the fields.

Nikka felt a powerful urge bubbling up from within. She couldn't ignore it, despite how dorky it sounded in her head. She never had this much energy before deciding to hit the gym for the first time, six months ago. It was rough, but she never backed down from the challenge. Pushing herself in new directions she never thought was possible. 

Brad was a big anchor for her when she was just starting out too. She couldn't forget about him. Maybe she'd take him up here for the view someday too. The corner of her mouth twitched as her cheeks flushed just thinking about the idea; it was enough to give her butterflies in her stomach—the good kind, that is.

With her adrenaline at an all-time high, she mentally talked herself into going all out. Her head raised to the stars above...

"I'M QUEEN OF THE WOOOOORLD!"

Nikki extended her fists skywards, throwing her head back in a joyous, almost maniacal laugh. This softened out into a giggle, amused at her own propensity for the dramatic. She always wanted to do something like that. It felt powerful. She felt like the spotlight was shining on her and her alone...

...Spotlight... actually, now that she was thinking about it. It was awfully bright. Was she just that close to the moon? She squinted through one eye, still staring upwards.

"...Eh? What's that..."

Nikki looked to the stars above. One of the stars was shining more brightly than the others. In fact, it was getting brighter... brighter... brighter still...

...Almost blindingly so. Nikki pondered what it could be, covering her eyes.

"...Wait, shit, it can't be a... shit!"

She was a little slow on the uptake, being so mesmerized by the pretty light, but she figured out that the light was, potentially, some kind of extraterrestrial object charting a crash course for Earth. Specifically, a chunk of the Earth in her immediate proximity. Having a horrible feeling about all this, but with no realistic way of running away if it hit her head on, she tried to hide instead.

There was a nearby oak tree on the hill that she ducked and covered under, clutching her head and shielding her eyes from the light. In the background, she could hear the shrill whistling of an object slicing through the wind. She winced, hugging herself, immediately regretting all of the life decisions that led to her untimely death at the hands of this freak accident...

BOOM!

The ground shook upon the object's impact. Thankfully, it collided with a different hill about three hundred meters south of where Nikki was huddling for cover. As suddenly as it had happened, silence filled the air. Nikki cautious raised her head, turning her head towards the general direction of the impact sight.

It wasn't hard to make out in the veil of darkness; it was radiating heat, and the impact kicked up a few embers here and there, lighting the way for a curious onlooker. Nikki rose to her feet, jogging over to the scattered flames surrounding a smoking, steaming crater about ten feet wide. 

"Well, Smokey the Bear's always watching..." Nikki muttered, using the heel of her sneakers to stomp out the fires. Couldn't let a wildfire tear apart all this natural beauty. Once she was sure the area was safe, she approached the crater, peering inside. 

Smack dab in the middle of the crater was a curious metal object, no bigger than a baseball. It seemed to have a glossy, metallic sheen to it. It was glowing with heat, presumably from its recent stint with atmospheric entry. 

"Hoooly crap." Nikki's jaw dropped. Her hand casually reached for her smartphone and, without a second thought, quickly took a picture—click!—of the disastrous site, before pocketing it once more. She hopped into the crater, reaching for a water bottle she carried in her backpack. She drizzled the cool water all over the meteor; it hissed and spewed more steam, but quickly cooled off to a point where Nikki could dig it out. 

She held it aloft in front of her. It was still warm to the touch—if she held it too long, she might get burned—but she was absolutely mesmerized by the inky patterns in the shiny metal orb. It almost looked like paint!

"Sheesh, this is amazing! But how much is it worth...?" Nikki cooed, turning it around in her hands. Her eyes lit up with excitement. She lowered it to her lap, quickly looking around in all directions. It looks like nobody was going to come and stake their claim.

"Hehe... I call dibs!~" Nikki cackled, grabbing her backpack and slipping the meteorite inside the topmost sleeve. "Should take it to the university labs tomorrow, I gotta get it appraised. It must be worth, I'unno, a kajillion dollars! Maybe I can pay my way through university!"

The gears turned in her head as she rose to her feet. Slipping her backpack on, she broke into a jog. It was a long trek home, and she wanted the next day to come as quickly as possible. She was ready for some good news...

---

Nikki reached her apartment around elevenish. After running around so much, she figured she'd ought to be more tired. But this little diamond in the great rough from beyond was gonna make her rich! 

Nikki lived alone in her apartment, and so long as she didn't draw any attention to herself—assuming there wasn't some kind of heinous breakin—she'd be in the clear. It was a fairly small, single-person apartment, with very little separating the kitchen area from the rest of the room. Her dining room table was more suited to eating in front of the television than for hosting a party, and she hardly had a bedroom to call her own; her bed had to share space with a work desk just off to the corner.

"Alright, there you are..." Nikki was wrapping the meteorite in a sweater, making sure it was well-protected as she produced something like a nest for it. She then made sure that the egg wasn't anywhere she would inadvertently walk over if she got up at night. The study desk would do fine...

Once the preparations were complete, Nikki stepped back to observe her handiwork. Now that the day was truly winding down, Nikki felt a wave of fatigue wash over her. She stretched her arms over her head, rotating her hips in a full revolution. 

"Hoo... alright. Time for bed." She yawned, scratching her belly. She hobbled over to her dresser and pulled out her favourite pair of pajamas—a pair of light pants decorated with hot dogs and a loose fitting t-shirt—before flopping into bed and clicking her bedside lamp off, casting her room into darkness.

Nikki zonked out almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. Even if her mind wanted to think of all the ways she was going to squander her newfound wealth, her conditioned body needed a break from all the exercise. She quietly snored away into her pillow, slightly drooling in the comfort and secrecy of her own home. 

Unbeknownst to Nikki, however, was one other entity. One that even her wildest imagination couldn't dream of. The small nest that she had wrapped around the meteorite seemed uncannily appropriate; it swayed from side to side, shaking intensely until a crack formed along the hard exterior. 

It was a small opening, but it was large enough for something just inside the meteorite's shell to squeeze through. Something inside was prodding from within the shell-like exterior, forcing its way through a pinhead-sized hole.

From the meteorite emerged a silverish liquid, one that writhed and slithered with unnatural movement. It appeared to have no form by which to call its own; it simply collected itself into a thick puddle of ooze. The ooze was slick, heavy, viscous and shiny, resembling liquid metal... or some kind of mercury.

The entity detected an animalistic noise coming from Nikki herself. It paused, appraising the situation, before undulating in the direction of Nikki's bed. It had reached one of her bedframe's wooden legs; tendrils lashed out from the puddle of liquid metal and began to crawl its way up.

It was tracking down the largest source of heat in the room. For whatever reason, the ooze was drawn to living creatures... and there was only the one primary occupant to speak of.

Blissfully oblivious to the uninvited guest in her room, Nikki continued to doze the night away, unaware of the ooze pulling itself along her bedsheets, following the feeling of her warm breath drifting from her open mouth. A tendril rose, prodding at Nikki's lips...

With the door left open, the ooze let itself in, rising all at once to thrust itself into Nikki's mouth, the liquidy mass sliding down her throat. This didn't rouse Nikki from her restful sleep; she stirred slightly, flashing an uncomfortable expression, but relaxed in short order. 

As Nikki rested, the slime landing in her stomach. Branching tendrils sprouted from the central mass, extending to Nikki's stomach lining, where it prodded and felt for a very particular mineral. A few moments later, it had struck a vein, and nourished itself with Nikki's own blood. For a brief time, it quenched its thirst, before retracting its tendrils.. 

Basking in the heat of Nikki's internal body temperature, along with bountiful resources and nourishment Nikki's body provided, the creature went dormant for the time being.  After such a long journey, it too had to rest.

For the best had yet to come. The creature had to rest in anticipation for its next phase of growth. It had to grow, to expand, to consume. It had to survive.

---

Bing bonga ding! Bing bonga ding! Bing bonga ding!~

"Urgh... is it morning already?"

Nikki groaned, forcibly blinking her eyes as beams of morning light crept in through her window blinds. It was some ungodly hour in the morning. Usually, Nikki was a morning person, but today she felt like a dead person—or perhaps a spirit inhabiting someone else's body.

She felt really achy this morning. Her mouth felt a little dry too. And just behind her eye, she could see those annoying squiggly lines, like currents. She frowned to herself.

"Vitamin supplement..." She groggily reminded herself, lurching from her bed like a zombie. She hobbled over to the bathroom, preparing a glass of water as she reached for her pills. She paused, and took a long, hard look at herself in the mirror. 

Her skin was pale and dry looking, her eyes were red, and her toes were cold. Her ill-fitting t-shirt sagged to one side, 

"Isn't working out supposed to help you feel better about how you look... ugh, look like shit this morning." Nikki chastised herself, rubbing her cheeks. 

Robotically, she swallowed her pills, and washed them down in due order with the tepid tap water. She lowered the glass to the countertop...

"...Oh!"

A surge of energy hit Nikki like a freight train; she nearly let her glass slip from her grasp! She steadied it as it rattled, eyeing it carefully. All of a sudden, the malaise she was feeling was just gone! Like she just got a shot of espresso, without all the nasty side effects...

She glanced up to the mirror, curious to find her skill had filled with a healthy pigment once again.

"Huh... those are some fast-acting pills." She scratched her head, a bemused smile stretching her cheeks. Must've been some serendipitous trick of the light.

She hurried through her usual morning routine—shower, teeth, deodorant, the usual—this time with a little more urgency and vigour than usual. She knew the labs at McDaniels would be opening soon, and she didn't want to waste any time getting her big find appraised. She couldn't contain her rippling excitement. 

Caring little for personal style or consistent aesthetics, she grabbed the first pieces of attire she could lay her hands on. This meant a gaudy tourist shirt for the alleged "World's Largest Shovel" that her father picked up for her for Christmas, as well as a comfy pair of jorts that complimented the look of her runner's legs. 

Finally, she hurried over to her work desk, carefully reaching for the meteor nestled so lovingly in her sweater. She reached down to pick it up, but ended up jerking back up with it somewhat awkwardly; it appears she overcompensated a bit as she was lifting.

She could've sworn it was heavier. Seemed significantly lighter now... 

"Eh! Easier to carry~" Nikki cooed, looking around for her backpack. Thankfully, she propped it up just by the door, right next to her running shoes.

"Alright!" Nikki pumped herself up. "It's time to get rich quick!~"

---

"I'm afraid this meteorite isn't worth much of anything at all."

"WHAAAAT!?"

It hadn't been five minutes since Nikki had arrived to the university labs, and Professor Riviera, esteemed geological surveyor, had delivered his decidedly disappointing verdict. He hunched over the remains of the meteorite, working very carefully with fine examination tools, to perform his appraisal. 

Nikki stared at him, her open mouth hanging. She had to digest that for a second, as shock transitioned into outrage. 

"But... but it came from space! You can't get that anywhere on Earth! I-it's gotta be worth something!" Nikki asserted.

"Well, that's the thing about extraterrestrial material, Nikki. Sometimes the things you find aren't too much different from what you'd find here on Earth." He raised his safety glasses, scratching his orange beard. He harumphed to himself, not wholly invested in the whole affair. "Nooo, I'm only really picking up on trace amounts of nickel and cobalt here. There isn't much out of the ordinary..."

Professor Riviera began to put his materials away. "I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but there's not much of anything a collector would be interested in."

"What?? B-but, it would fit right at home in a museum, wouldn't it...?" Nikki visibly deflated.

"You could try, but I can't make any promises. Honestly, space mining is all the rage with industrious investors. I have my own theories..." The professor muttered. "Too many trust fund babies intimately aware of Earth's dwindling resources, they start to see extraterrestrial bodies as a new source of wealth. Not that I can imagine us ever getting out there in our lifetime..."

The professor muttered to himself, puttering about the room before glancing towards Nikki. "Oh, you're still here? Dreadfully sorry—I'm used to students walking out on my lectures around this time."

Nikki's head tilted down, her mouth flat. "So it's really worthless, huh?"

"Mm... well, I can think of one application for it." The professor crossed his arms pensively.

"Oh??" Nikki's eyes lit up, a hopeful glint in her eyes.

"You can pick up a bauble from the arts and crafts store, fill it with this material, and make a holiday ornament!" The professor suggested with a smile. "Capture the raw essence of the stars above in a small, tasteful bit of decor! How's that for a solution?"

Nikki was silenced by the professor's eager suggestion. It almost sounded like some kind of cruel joke.

...She sighed, pushing the dusty pieces into the nearest waste bin.

"So much for a retirement yacht..." Nikki groaned. "Sorry for wasting your time, professor."

"Ahhh, you were right to come here. I get students all the time coming for my opinion, and I do like to indulge myself in their discoveries, no matter how big or small." He nodded. "Don't be a stranger now!"

"...If I come across another meteorite, I'll let you know." Nikki replied, a tinge of sarcasm in her voice. As if she'd ever find another like that.  "Thanks for looking it over, anyway."

"Think nothing of it." The professor smiled. "Now, if you excuse me, I have a lecture in 20 minutes, and I need to prepare. It's a small class, so the students expect the best of me..."

"...Yeah. Sure." Nikki, feeling awfully defeated right about now, made a quick exit through the front door. She didn't even bother to smile. This was all an abject waste of time. 

"There's always the lottery..." Nikki sighed with a shrug.

Gurgle gurgle...

She winced, her stomach rumbling lowly. She lowered her hand to her gut, trying to remember. Did she skip breakfast? No, she had her usual frosted wheaties...

Whatever. Probably not a big deal.

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