Chance Encounter with the Lamppost Legion

Ian set the destination.

Then—

Black Box's voice rang out.

"At our current speed, it will take roughly twice as long."

"Twice as long? That long?"

"This star sector is very empty. There are no wormholes available for jumps. We can only fly slowly."

Ian sighed and leaned back in his seat.

"Fine. Slow it is."

He felt the silver card in his pocket. There were still more than four thousand Universal Currency inside, enough for him to buy a few more things at the next space station. After thinking it over, he felt that this operation of disguising himself as a sucker had been pretty successful—though the process had been a little violent, the result was good.

The ship flew through the stars for a long time. Aside from occasionally adjusting the course, Ian did almost nothing.

The little Xenomorph had grown quite a bit and could already run laps around the cargo hold on its own. It liked chasing its own tail in circles, and when it got dizzy, it would fall to the floor, then get back up and keep spinning. The cracks on the blue egg had already spread densely across it, blue light seeping out from every single fissure.

It lit up the entire cargo hold.

"It's about to hatch," Black Box said.

"I know." Ian stared at the egg. "What do you think will hatch out of it?"

"I don't know. But according to the scan, the life signs inside are getting stronger and stronger. It may happen in the next few days."

Ian nodded and kept staring at the egg. The little Xenomorph ran over, lay beside the egg, and rubbed the shell with its head. A faint response came from inside the shell—not a sound, but a vibration, as if something inside