Mortal Protection Services Chapter 48: XII.STA: S̸͔̳̓͋c̷̨̈́͋͝o̵̙̩̲̾̓ṷ̷̜͛̐ͅr̴̼̣̉g̷̰̭̞̒͊͘ę̷̛͈͕̾̈́ Tummy Ache

XII.STA: S̸͔̳̓͋c̷̨̈́͋͝o̵̙̩̲̾̓ṷ̷̜͛̐ͅr̴̼̣̉g̷̰̭̞̒͊͘ę̷̛͈͕̾̈́ Tummy Ache The latest tube was extraordinarily spicy, and it only had one, singular meat in it. Bullshit. I hate those stupid little one meat tubes. Never really worth the trouble. The damn thing unballed one of my four balls around this fire. I ate that fucking meat in the end, but it was out of spite, more than hunger. Spite, I learned from trying to be more like the meat. Spite can be fun. That tube was rude... another concept I learned from trying to be more like the meat. Rudeness, politeness, spite, plenty of other things than hungry to be. All things I could use to get more food... always hungry. Oh... uh oh... That last meat I ate... something about it was... Bifferent. I've never felt... sick before, but I understand the notion of it from trying to be more like the meat. Marta had been sick. Doug and the children too. The other tubes with meat in them are coming. They are angry, and treacherous, but still many spins away. I had other fires send their masses forward. The balls I still had where that spicy tube attacked each made a rotation or two - depending on the ball - before I tried to replicate that spitefully eaten meat. It took a few rotations for my spite to fade... and when it did, I thought it through. The spicier the tube the smarter the meat inside, almost always. I'd just... Make my own, me version of it to be that smart and... ...Oh, no. The careful meat eater and re-maker was... malfunctioning?! How? It was me ... more me than most of my pieces, since it was mostly thinking parts, the meest parts of me. But now that one meat maker was not me... or not just me. I could still feel it. The not quite me meat replicator sent loud instructions to all my meat makers, far too loud. They couldn't not listen. "Oh weird...ha ha. I'm a hive mind of Dilts now, boy we're really all over the place, aren't we?" that bifferent thing in me said, in my own mind. "What? Who said that?" " ME! HAHAHA! " It laughed. It fucking laughed at me in my own thinking parts. "Oh what a strange sensation. I can feel myself growing. Like a cancer in a cancer." "Stop that! Whatever you are. You're using up all the good thinky bits!" I started trying to stop that... thing from stealing all my hard earned me. I attempted to make another Marta Hive, but it came out all... Bifferents . I tried a Doug hive, but got Bifferent. Worse than that, actually, I made a single malformed Doug first, that I couldn't contact or control, and then it was all Bifferents. It made me forget how to do a Doug at all! "Oh look, more mes. Does this mean I'm the Scourge now too? Not terribly hungry, all these new mes are being born full. Thanks for that." "Get OUT of me, you... bastard!" "Is that any way to talk to... oh... Oh there it is. I feel the hunger now. Yeah. That sucks. Good thing I come pre-fermented." "See! You're hungry because you're fucking up the balance of... Hold on. There is another spicy tube, like you came in. Hey! It's attacking another of the balls at this fire." "Holy shit, that's hilarious! Whodda thunk the trap would get sprung so soon! How funny. The first one caught came down here thinking he's a me. Nice." "Fuck shit dammit. Can't you fuck off for a little while, while I deal with this?" Swearing I learned from all the meats I'd copied. Losing Doug hadn't lost me that. "You kiss your mother with that mouth?" "I'll eat your mother." "HA! You really don't have any of me, do you? I don't even have a mother." I sent hungry flesh after that spicy tube, Maybe if I lost more of the pure hunger parts my thinking parts could focus enough to consume the Bifferent thing. "Ohhh man, I'm wondering if his ship has a... nope, not spring loaded like mine was. He basically just flew in here and set off the self destruct... just pew pew kaboom. Huh? Way to go me-trap." "How did you... what did you... I thought your kind of meat didn't make copies?" "Ahh, well, you're right there. We normally don't,