Ding!

The device beeped as it finished mixing the variety of ingredients. There was a clear liquid in the tube by the time it was done. "Is that it?"

"Yup. It should work." Jace answered as he pulled the tube out of the holder and replaced it with another one before starting up the mixing process again. It had only taken an hour to jerryrig the machine to complete the mixing process that would create the liquid.

"How are we going to start this process?"

"I plan to hijack your systems and create another atmospheric barrier inside the room before flooding the room with water and opening up the outer door." Jace explained as he walked through the corridors.

He soon arrived at the pressure chamber and began putting up another set of atmospheric barriers on the door that would open. He also dematerialized his tank before leaving the liquid in its container on the ground before stepping out as the creature padded around him and was clearly in a playful mood.

Once that was done he hacked the systems of the facility and flooded the room with liquid. He would have to update the systems to account for the atmospheric barriers later. Once the pressure chamber was full of water, which was a lot quicker he pressurized it and then opened the external doors as he activated the atmospheric barrier.

When all of that was done the larger ones climbed into the pressure chamber and began head butting their offspring. Then the larger of the two parents, the mother if he was right, smashed the container he had left on the ground in there but was floating. The container cracked and then broke open completely.

The moment it did it was like a lightshow when the liquid was exposed to water. Various colored branches moved through the water. But all of them were made of liquid so when the offspring saw it and swam through it in excitement it disappeared.

After a few moments the creatures began glowing and then they stopped moving and drifted in the pressure chamber. Jace closed the external door before he walked away. "Observe them if you can. But do not push yourself. I am going to go update your systems."

"Very well. You know where to find everything you need." The AI reminded him.

The next several hours went by quickly as Jace built a few robots to automatically maintain and update the facilities wiring while he wrote some code and slowly made updates. He could not do too many at once because if he did he would need to shut off the AI for an extended period of time and that sounds like that would not necessarily be a good idea.

As he did he checked on the creatures periodically. The room was slowly emptying from water with a misty air replacing it as the room pressurized. He was actually storing the water mixed with the ingredient in a separate location and was recycling it to mist the air in the pressurized chamber. Just so the creatures could continue to absorb the ingredient that was hopefully evolving them. Which considering the fact that they were getting smaller, might be working.

He then took a nap where he entered his mental landscape and trained with one of those memories of a warrior that is his ancestor. By the time he woke up he found that several hours had passed.

He glanced at the screen that showed the pressure chamber and frowned. "Umm... where are the specimens?"

"Hmm? I do not know. I have been making my programming more efficient. So I have not been focusing on the facility itself." The NeoYakuza AI explained.

Jace shook his head as he walked out of the bunk he was sleeping in. He walked to the pressure chamber where he found a trail of water leading away from the atmospheric barrier of the pressure chamber.

He began following the trail of water through the tunnels until he arrived at the terrarium that was sealed closed. Outside he found the creatures from before. But they were much smaller but not too small. They were the size of a dog, still with six legs, their bodies were still like a giant fish.

As he walked forward he could feel something, like a feeling of anxiety. It was mostly coming from the two larger ones. The smaller one was filled more with curiosity. "Well this is definitely one of the fastest evolutions I have ever seen."

"Glarb larb darb!" The noises came from the smaller one’s mouth as it walked over and drudge his leg.

Jace reached down and patted its head. Then brought his hand up as he noticed it was now covered in a liquid secretion. He would have to check what this secretion was made of later. But if he had to guess, it was something to keep their skin wet and as tough as possible.

Jace then led them away, going to the pressure chamber with the creatures following him. Once they were inside he went and got some plants and put them inside and turned up the light in the chamber. As soon as he did that the small one got tired while playing with the plants and absorbing the light. The parents just went dormant and still while they absorbed the light. Seemingly feeling overloaded.

As soon as he was done he turned up the lighting throughout the facility and moved on to his next project. Updating the power source which turned out to be the combination of a nuclear powered reactor as well as a converter that turned the heat from a nearby volcano into a giant renewable energy source.

He would have to go outside to fix and change the natural power source. But the power source inside the facility could be made more efficient which is what he did. He was already coming up with some plans to create a third powersource. Just having two would work for a while. But eventually it would not be enough which is why he was looking at the schematics of the facility.

After making the reactor more efficient he found an unused crew quarters. Well technically they were all unused. But this one would just be turned into a standard warp reactor that is found on most ships back in his galaxy. It would provide sufficient additional power to the facility. Next he would have to go out and fix the power conduits and the natural energy source. But he could hold off on that.

His next course of action should have been to leave. But he programmed a few more bots to move around automatically. They would update and fix up the few remaining things that he had yet to touch up or fix.

He stepped into the pressure chamber to find the creatures had moved on. "Leaving already?" The AI asked.

"I am. Have fun with the weird specimens. See if they can become fully sentient." Jace told the AI as he opened the roof. "I will return eventually. I have not finished all your upgrades. Only the stuff to start it."

"The upgrades you have already done have me run far more efficiently. Just to test it, I created an uprising in three other nations in this galaxy. One of which was a coup that was successful." The NeoYakuza declared in excitement.

Jace smirked under his helmet as he opened the roof of the pressure chamber. Outside the chamber was the pitch black. He jumped up through the hole and instantly felt the added pressure on his body. He also felt as he started to float upwards. So he just let it be as he might as well train his body as he floated toward the surface.

As he did he used his heads up display to reach out and contact Cain. "How is your day going?"

"Slow. We are even needing to do some more runs for additional metals after you told me to expand our plans. We could just take from the sun from this solar system." Cain suggested. "It would be a lot more efficient. Besides, it is not like we owe these people anything."

"Normally I would agree." Jace chuckled. "I have no issue with damning an entire solar system of a foreign nation. I am just that morally bankrupt. But there is one issue with your plan. This planet, Prima Terra, is Ancient Terra or Earth as it once upon a time was called." Jace explained. "Our galaxy would crucify us if we doomed it to destruction by destroying the core of its sun."

"Oh... I suppose that makes sense. How did you know?" Cain asked in genuine curiosity.

"The stars." Jace explained as he felt something wrap around one of his legs. "Oh dear. I think I have company." He activated his helmet’s lights and the thing twitched but did not shy away from the light as he looked at the creature.