Gabatrix: the Forgotten
Copyright© 2026 by CMed TheUniverseofCMed
Chapter 8: Finding the Way
Science Fantasy Sex Story: Chapter 8: Finding the Way - Set after the events of Gabatrix: The Batrice Crisis, humanity launches an expedition to establish contact with the unknown alien race known as the Venermax. However, Doctor Theron, the lead scientist behind the mission, has vanished. It will be up to the Doctor and his friends to solve the mysteries laid forth as Theron tries not to perish in hell itself. Story contains: Sci-fi, Future, Drama, Survival, Action, Light Horror/Psychological Thriller, Human/Alien(s), M/F, Sex, Love, Interspecies
Caution: This Science Fantasy Sex Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa Consensual Fiction Mystery Science Fiction Aliens Space
Inside one of the UHN Cassini’s rooms, Doctor Yasmine sat at her table analyzing various data reports available to her. The strong hint of fatigue could be seen on her face.
It had been well over a day since the prior attempt to rescue Doctor Theron. Yasmine resided in the same clothing as before. She seemed determined to find a solution, anything to help save Theron.
She wasn’t alone. Ensign Aoto stood in his jumpsuit uniform. He held a tablet in his hand, reviewing the reports provided. Unlike Yasmine, Aoto seemed less fatigued.
There were at least two displays active at a given time. One image showed a close-up of Venter’na’s surface, primarily where the Cassini’s three shells struck. No noticeable damage could be seen.
The other image showed a scanned schematic of one of the Venermax ships. Up close, the 3D image would slowly rotate in place. It resembled a rectangular hull with several antenna protrusions from the forward nose. There was one forward-mounted engine thruster on the starboard and port sides. At least four large solar sails would protrude from the top and bottom. The 2nd half of the hull consisted of a thicker armor housing shaped similarly to a parallelogram. The ship’s aft compartment carried four engine thrusters with two dorsal engines overlapping the two ventral nozzles. A pair of circular bulges could be seen on the port and starboard sides. One laser turret was on the top with a small bulge and an antenna array mounted below the ship. Overall, for its simplicity, it did have a certain majestic look.
“Even though we shot at them, it didn’t do anything to the surface,” Yasmine commented.
“Our AIO turrets are more meant for anti-missile defense rather than shooting at ground targets,” Aoto commented. “We basically fired hard five-inch slugs at it. All it did was shatter on impact.”
“Pardon me for not knowing much about how your military nomenclature works, but do we have anything more powerful that might be able to do more damage?”
Aoto shook his head. “I’m beginning to wonder if a battleship’s railguns could even do the job. That alloy is very thick and durable. I bet it could even withstand a nuclear barrage.”
“But the Venermax fleet still responded to us as a threat.”
Aoto nodded. “Yep...”
Yasmine sighed. “Just as they would ... we bombed their planet.”
“But we didn’t damage them.”
“But they would still react in anger for what we did ... God, why ... why did he do it?”
Aoto seemed to be at a loss for words, refusing to question his CO’s motives. He seemed more interested in changing topics. Meanwhile, Yasmine refocused her thoughts, bringing them back to the data acquired on the Venermax ships.
“This is in much better detail than the probes previously gathered,” she commented.
“For good reason,” Aoto remarked. “The probes are equipped with basic sensor packages. Meanwhile, this ship not only has better equipment, but it’s significantly more powerful. It has entire super direct fusion cores diverting energy into them. That and the fact that the probes have to provide reception and deliver their findings back through the wormhole gates. It’s going to provide what you would consider less than satisfactory results.”
“Yes ... it’s why we need to have more research ships instead of probes. The probes can obviously miss things that this ship might not.”
Aoto nodded. “I agree, but it’s what the UHN gives us.”
“What the civilians give,” she argued. “And right now ... the civilians just seem less and less interested in exploring. They’re just more interested in this whole Itrean war ... or finding some lizard wife...”
Aoto gave a hard look at her.
Yasmine put her hand to her face. “I’m sorry, Aoto. I know you’re in the process of marrying one of them ... I didn’t mean it that way.”
The ensign could see that she was more frustrated and saying things she truly didn’t mean.
“Don’t worry about it,” he replied.
“No ... I’m sorry. I’m really sorry,” she said. “You’ve been so helpful during this mission. I wouldn’t have gotten this far without your help.”
“Just doing my job, ma’am,” Aoto replied with a light smile to her.
Yasmine looked at the schematic. “Somewhere...,” she said. “The answer lies with these ships of theirs. It’s an outstretch of themselves ... they not only transformed their world, but made these ships.” She pointed at the image. “These ... are their largest ships, right?”
“That and those freighters that are making trips to the gas giant in the system.”
“You deal more with war than I do, Aoto. Why does the larger ship seem ... less weaponry than the other ships?”
“Depends ... depends on the purpose of the ship. Judging by the antenna arrays, this particular ship looks like it would handle additional communication capabilities.”
“What are the tiny forward hatches ... those thingies? What do they do?”
“I would say that they’re either missile launchers of some sort or something for drones.”
“Drones?” She asked.
“Yeah, our Drone Carriers carry numerous CIWS mobile drones that can be set up into a defense net. For your civie vocabulary, this ship might be similar to one of our Fleet Carriers. It could release the drones, and they would act as a shield for itself or the fleet it’s a part of. It’s just smaller than what we have.”
“You really think so?”
“It’s the best answer I can give you.”
“They have the ability to think for themselves,” she said. “How old is this ship?”
“Our data shows it to be around 34,000 years old. If we were even closer to it, we could provide a more exact answer.”
Yasmine swiped the various ships in the report. A similarly sized ship was shown in size and shape. The difference was that this one carried no visible weapons on it. It had six large solar sails on it. The antenna array and the bottom front bulge weren’t present.
“Many of the largest ships are like this one,” she commented.
“They lack those launchers,” Aoto added. “The laser turrets are missing.”
“This one is reported to be around 110,000 years old. Another ship like it is 115,000 ... before the Itreans showed up...”
“It’s true ... Many of the more armed ships are more recent, at least when it comes to age.”
Yasmine pointed at the screen. “They’re mimicking us ... they didn’t make these changes until the Itrean expedition showed up. The Venermax saw the Itreans with armed ships that could hurt them and made new ships that could defend themselves. They have the ability to adapt ... improve themselves just as they did to their own planet.”
“They weren’t warships before,” Aoto commented. “So the question is what the ships were meant to be before the Itreans appeared.”
“I don’t think they were meant to be warships in the first place ... they were meant for something else. There’s an atmosphere registered in all the ships ... breathable atmosphere just like the planet.”
“But there’s no visible hatches ... the internal layout close to the armor shows nothing but tiny latices, components, or just more metal ... It’s far from what we ever make.”
“What do you mean?”
“Every ship we make has armor that leads to the hull, then hull that leads into open spaces and compartments. With every ship the Venermax makes, it consists of metal connected to more metal, like filling up an empty bottle with lead. Even if we tried to get in, there’s no space for us.”
“Then why are they still registering an oxygen environment onboard?...” she asked as she looked at it.
“I don’t know.”
“Most of the largest ships there are showing water of some sort...”
“That isn’t confirmed,” Aoto replied. “The alloy content is so thick that it’s making it difficult to penetrate further into the ships.”
“But they do have them.”
“I would imagine they would. Water can be used to cool down equipment, hydrate its population, etc.”
“Maybe...,” she said. “They need the water...”
“But in a ship configuration like this? Any engineer who would see this would question their sanity in creating this.”
“Look at the planet ... the Venermax changed their world. They turned the entire surface into that metal, but they kept the oceans intact. I would say the ships are like the planet, just in miniature form.”
“No gravity, though, but I imagine with an internal construction like that, it wouldn’t really matter.”
“Ancient Shal’rein ships were kinda like that, too. They carried the oceans inside their ships...”
There was a brief beeping sound in the room. Yasmine’s attention was turned to the door. It slid open as Doctor Gaunting walked in. He seemed mildly curious about the data being shown in the room. His uniform was slightly ragged, but he maintained his professionalism.
“Ensign,” Gaunting addressed him.
“Doctor Gaunting,” Aoto replied.
“Giving Yasmine notes on the Venermax?”
“Sharing and analyzing the recent data,” Yasmine added.
Gaunting looked at the schematic of the Venermax ships. “Yesterday might have been a disaster, but at least something came through for our benefit.”
“I really don’t think so...”
“It will. Aoto, were you able to analyze the atmospheric composition of the planet when we closed in on it?”
“The sensor scans were set to their max intensity,” Aoto commented. “The data is what was given to both of you.”
Gaunting looked at the table and tapped his fingers on the console, switching over to the image of the planet. Schematics were provided as the man paused to look at them.
“I’m curious as to how the bio-organic filters work for your sensor sweeps,” Gaunting said.
“Sir?” the ensign questioned.
“You said that the Cassini’s sensors are better than anything in our possession, including even the handheld tablets we used on the surface?”
“ ... Yes, depending on the range it’s used for. For example, the readout we had is in better detail because the Cassini was closer with its scans.”
“We continue to get the same reports over and over again. Life is registered from a wide beam. Comparing this to the readouts on our tablets, I’m showing the same exact readings as before. There were no bacteria in the air or plant life growing on the alloy itself. There is sea life and possibly fish-like stocks registered. However, your filters still show the entire planet as red when it comes to life detected, including the landmasses. So, I’ll ask the same question as I did before. What’s going on with your bio-filters?”
“I can’t explain why the readings keep coming out that way. I’m not a biologist, but the scanners we use may or may not be able to penetrate the alloy of the landmass itself. What you see is what we have.”
“We had this discussion with Doctor Theron before. The Venermax altered their environment. The disruption of aquatic life and the lack of plant life should prevent photosynthesis and proper conversion of CO2 and oxygen. However, there are facilities throughout the landmasses that are doing it instead. It’s what’s keeping the other native lifeforms alive. The readings we have on the Cassini do show greater detail of the native sea stocks. They’re a little similar to former Earth fish and the Cebravin cevan.”
“A familiar pattern in how life develops on other worlds,” Yasmine commented.
“Yes, but it’s the fact of why the Venermax proceeded to do this form of alteration to their environment.”
“There is something, though, that I noticed,” Aoto said. “It’s just a hunch, but the way the alloy and their ships are built is rather peculiar.”
“What do you mean?”
“The lattice work is reminiscent of replication technology, much like what we’re doing right now.”
“Yes, the ability to construct everything from tools, vehicles, basic equipment, even ships.”
“But, not to this extent. I’ve heard of stories of nanite construction, being able to program nanites to build tools and equipment. The idea is that they could do the work with more precision than a replication printer. The only problem is that the metal construction can lead to deficiencies.”
“Theron mentioned this,” Yasmine remarked. “I remember him commenting to me about how the metal seemed to be constructed differently than how we would do it.”
“What deficiencies?” Gaunting asked.
“Hmm...” Aoto explained. “I’m not a specialist on this type of work. Most of this is applied theory, which I was instructed in at the officer’s training academy. But nanites are only effective in certain applied areas. They can be used to repair tissue or break down something, but building large objects becomes a different situation. Unless there’s been advances somewhere that I haven’t heard of, nanites can end up creating metal alloys and leave what you would call construction tunnels. These ... tunnels leave marks in the alloy itself, which can lead to imperfections and even microfractures in the metal itself. If you have a specialist in applied engineering, they can confirm this better, so don’t take my words as fact.”
“It’s alright, Ensign. I understand what you’re trying to say.” Gaunting switched to the alloy’s surface construction readings. “It’s curious that you say that. I’m spotting a similar pattern with nanite construction patterns. There’s a partial match to one another, but I’m not registering any microfractures in the alloy frame, assuming the sensors were able to mark it in that great detail. But, the lattice networks are interesting...”
“What do you mean?” Yasmine asked.
“Aoto brought up a good point. The lattices form small corridors ... very small. There’s a consistent pattern that appears on the Venermax ships, at least buried underneath the heavy armor. Only tiny machines could build this...”
“Their entire world, their ships ... all created by nanites.”
“That sounds odd,” Aoto said. “I mean. I can’t deny what we’re seeing, but this isn’t a very practical way of doing this. Unless we managed to create something that defied those deficiencies, it would just be quicker to build the ships with our own hands than to do it this way. The same could be said with the surface of the planet.”
“It must have taken them thousands ... maybe even millions of years to do this. That combined with the fact that their ships are so old.”
“And still maintained,” Gaunting added. “The nanites still do the same job they were designed for eons, building, replicating themselves, repairing, and maintaining the objects their creators designed them for. But, we’re dealing with a society that doesn’t have to conform to our rules and what we think is the most effective way to establish their desired way of life. Whatever the case is, we’re looking at an alien society that has pushed the boundaries of nanite technology, challenging us in the process. They possess the same capability to create the tools that we use to reach into space.”
“But not the means to travel to other solar systems...,” Yasmine thought about it.
“I believe the Venermax are there,” Gaunting said. “They’re on the planet, but not on their ships.”
“Why would they build a fleet if they never intend to crew them?” Aoto asked.
“I don’t know. However, the fleet does provide hints. The detailed scans show that not all of their ships are armed. But, they created copy weapons based on the observations of the Itreans they encountered ... the Venermax are watching us ... in time, they’ll create ships that match more inline to the Cassini.”
“I hadn’t thought of that...,” Yasmine said. “Yes, they would do that.”
“Do you have any pictures of the Venermax taken from the Itrean expedition to here?”
“Yes. There’s three images.”
“That’s it?” Aoto questioned.
“Yeah. Itrean technology 100,000 years ago isn’t like what we have today, nor do they take the same value of history as we do. They were taken on their black and white bio-photo lenses. If they recorded anything else, it’s become lost to history.”
“Sheesh ... not even in color either.”
Yasmine went and pulled up the images on her tablet before sliding her fingers over the data files. The main display switched over to a new image.
Depicted on the 3d image was a somewhat primitive picture, almost reminiscent of early 21st-century Earth photographs, albeit taken from almost 100,000 years ago. From one of the images, a topographical picture of Venter’na itself. Not much could be deciphered from it due to the range, lack of color, and resolution. Another image cycled to one of the two fleets of the Venermax ships. Again, the resolution was not perfect as the Itrean ships were most likely far from the Venermax when they recorded them.
“Hmmm...,” Gaunting said, squinting his eyes. “It’s difficult to decipher, but you can tell the ships weren’t armed as they were now.”
“And not as many, either,” Aoto said. “It’s about ... half as many ... a third? ... rough estimate.”
“This does provide us a clue, though. The fleet was meant for something else.”
“I still don’t see the purpose of...”
“The Ka...,” Yasmine interrupted the officer.
“The ... what?”
“No ... the Ka ... they were an alien race that the Itreans never met, at least until the Itreans encountered the Emphra. The Ka ... if that was their true name, they were a nomadic alien race of people. From what the Itreans surmised, the Ka would travel from planet to planet in large fleets of ships. It’s also reminiscent of the former Itrean Noo’dort clan that would create city ships ... motherships that they used to survive in space. The purpose of the Ka was that they would live on a planet and use up its resources before moving on to the next.” Yasmine almost scuffed. “Well ... that was until they landed on the Emphra homeworld ... then the Emphra consumed them and used their ships to invade the Itrean clans.”
“ ... Shit,” Aoto remarked.
“Is it possible the Venermax encountered the Ka fleet?” Gaunting asked her.
“Whether they did or didn’t, doesn’t matter,” Yasmine explained. “I think the Venermax are preparing for something ... some ... nomadic voyage.”
“With that?” Aoto asked. “With those ships ... without gate folding technology, it would take them what? 1,000? 10,000 years to reach the nearest solar system on conventional drives. Where would they go? It would take them forever to find new worlds.”
“It didn’t stop the Ka from doing it ... granted that the Ka had gate folding technology, but some Itrean theorists believed that the Ka were still nomadic even before they discovered gate folding technology. For the Ka, it was about the journey rather than conquering...” She shook her head. “I don’t know ... but we might be looking at an exodus fleet long before it’s going to be used. With ships over 100,000 years old, the Venermax have incredible patience.”
“An exodus fleet?...,” Gaunting put his hand to his chin and thought about it.
Aoto pulled out his tablet and looked at it. “Ehh...,” he said. “Sorry ... My time is up. I need to report for duty.”
“Thank you for your help, Ensign,” Yasmine said.
“I’ll be on the bridge if you need me.”
With that, the officer left the room, leaving just Gaunting and Yasmine to compare the data.
“An exodus fleet...,” Gaunting said again as he tapped and looked at the different data reports. Text filled one of the displays. “I believe you might be correct.”
“The question is why?” Yasmine asked. “Even if we have other alien races that are committed to this, it doesn’t explain why the Venermax would do it.”
“With our current line of thinking, we don’t. However, even if all things are considered, there’s no shame in doing it anyway.”
“But they have a working infrastructure ... a society where they can live and flourish.”
“For now. Their fleets have been building in numbers for a considerable amount of time. However, this is the first recorded observance of life in an F-Type star system. It has a shorter lifespan than Sol. What took us billions of years to evolve into what we are, any advanced forms of life would have less time to reach a technological advancement on worlds such as this before the star expands and consumes its planets. Eventually, one way or another, the star’s lifespan will come to an end. The Venermax will need to venture out and find another world to live in. It’s no different than what we had to do when most of humanity left Earth.”
“The only difference is that the Venermax have the time to do this,” Yasmine said as she thought about it. “Earth was ... spontaneous ... at least with our history.”
“This leads to the next thing to consider...,” Gaunting said as he looked at the text. “Aoto commented something that I thought about it as well ... and that was having a world and environment that could survive from nuclear explosions.”
“A race that wants to protect itself from foreign invasions?”
“No ... we’ve seen enough that the possibility of a developing alien race being exterminated by another alien race is extremely marginal. They’re more likely to wipe themselves out of existence or never reach any other solar system. I think I know the true reason why.”
“What would it be?” She asked.
“They’re living underground because of the star’s intense solar flares ... the new surface is better acclimated to handling radiation. Even with a planet with life, it’s possible that much of it was already adapted to handle it.”
“But that wouldn’t make sense if the Venermax were building something to protect themselves from the very thing that they naturally evolved to endure.”
“I can’t fully explain it either,” Gaunting said as he thought about it. “What about the Itreans and their history? They colonized countless worlds, but they didn’t always alter their environments for their needs, right?”
“When it came to survival? The Itreans improved their bodies, mastered bio-engineering that surpasses us. Many times, they never needed to alter or change a planet’s ecostructure or environment. Even diseases and native pathogens are no match against their immune systems. It’s why they can live on Earth’s wastelands without any hindrance ... unlike us.”
“Hmm...” Gaunting paused and turned to look at the other data on the wall display. “What if the Venermax are more vulnerable to the radiation? ... That somehow, they can’t handle their natural environment?”
“They would have to live underground to shield themselves from the radiation. Again, I don’t see how they couldn’t handle it.”
“We’re running on a hypothetical scenario, Yasmine. When we look at life on other planets, there is native wildlife that is more vulnerable to changes than other native life, despite coming from the same world. Even subtle changes can be deadly. Earth was a prime example of this. Species come and go. Cebravis faces a similar issue with its own wildlife, hence why we have strict environmental rules in place. Back on Earth, an asteroid was enough to wipe out most of the larger dinosaurs. But, even without a catastrophic event, a species can still fade into extinction anyway. Somehow, the Venermax are faced with this, and they know it ... they evolved with an intelligence but knew that their existence was always in peril. A star like this was the first monumental challenge to overcome ... and they systematically resolved it.”
“So they developed a radiation shield.”
“Yes,” Gaunting turned to look at her. “Bare with me on this because all we can do is grasp at straws anyway. But we can’t always look at this as how we would do it, but how the Venermax did it. They had limitations that we didn’t have to worry about.” He pointed at the table. “Pull up the Raxon’s Study of Different Theories of Life.”
Yasmine tapped a few buttons and found a book file that she slid onto the main display for both to read. The doctor herself felt a wave of nostalgia as it sometimes became a favorite form of study for astronomers of the 22nd Century and beyond. The book was a well-known recording of various applied recordings on life, including numerous theories and hypothetical ideas on how life would evolve on different planets. Many of the concepts could easily be considered ridiculous or outright impossible, yet they still served as a foundation for extraterrestrial studies of possible alien life. For a moment, Yasmine felt comfortable going through the contents with Gaunting to help her out.
“Cycle to Chapter 4 on Hypothetical Theories of Alien Evolution,” he said. “We have all the time to go through this again ... maybe find something to help us out.”
Yasmine flipped the digital pages on her tablet before reaching the latter part of the book. Various texts were displayed, including numerous ideas in full detail.
“Let’s see,” Yasmine said. “We have Nalen Balley’s Theory of the Universe being built from cotton candy. There is the Lemar and Larry Simulation Theory, and that we live in a simulation.”
“No, no,” Gaunting said. “Keep flipping.”
She flipped to the next page.
“Silicon Lifeforms Theory by Raxon himself,” Gaunting commented. “Different Types of Silicon-Based Lifeforms by Sabine Letuce.”
“With the Emphra,” Yasmine said. “Sabine Letuce’s hypothetical concepts have been proven. Is it possible that the Venermax is silicon-based?”
“It wouldn’t really apply to them, as most silicon-based lifeforms are heavily resistant against radiation, with the exception of intense gamma ray bursts. Nuclear weapons would still kill them, but the need to build an armored surface becomes more pointless.”
“What if the surface is them? It would explain why we’re picking up life on the continents.”
“Possible. The only issue is that our scan readings don’t suggest the chemical compound networks of what a silicon-based lifeform would consist of. The Emphra, for example, does consist of some mercury compounds.”
“The Theory of Photosynthetic and Photoelectric Lifeforms,” Yasmine commented. “I remember Theron mentioning about this. He wondered if the Venermax were beings of light, but he quickly dismissed the idea since they wouldn’t have the physical capability to build the surface and the ships at all.”
“Why did he even consider it in the first place?”
“The idea was that they evolved into beings of light ... that they were physical in form but ultimately evolved into something else. It would explain why they aren’t responding to us. What’s left behind are the machines that maintain their equipment. I think Theron was in a love-hate relationship with the idea, but he felt the concept was too vague to properly make sense.”
“Hmmm ... we’ll keep the idea in mind, but we need to keep looking,” Gaunting replied. “Let’s flip the page...”
Yasmine swiped to the next page.
“Temporal Displaced Intelligent Life by Raxon,” Gaunting said. “I personally wonder about this idea, but proving it is going to be impossible.”
“I agree,” Yasmine said. “After our experience on the surface, I don’t see any indication. It’s a fun theory, the idea that the Venermax are in a different phase in time.”
“It’s the problem of many of these theories. It reaches into the metaphysical realm. Our colleagues will simply laugh in our faces when we have no real evidence to present our conclusions. The only thing we have to prove from this is the low-frequency communication signal that activated the hatch, resulting in Theron’s disappearance.”
“Which is something we haven’t been able to repeat. The only actions the Venermax did so far were to respond to Theron’s tablet and us firing on their surface.”
“External stimuli...,” Gaunting said. “As much as I hate to say it, the Venermax fleet is one of the only true hints of their intentions to commit to action against something else. The only problem with the Temporal Displaced Theories is that they still dismiss current actions that we contribute. The Temporal Displacement Lifeform Theory is one that easily conflicts with itself. We still pick up life, and the Venermax are responding to stimuli even if it’s mostly vacant. Let’s proceed to the next theory.”
Yasmine wondered if there was something about this theory that was true. A portion of her was telling her that she should reconsider it, but even then, Gaunting was right. Many of these theories were simply too crazy to consider.
“The Stentor Theory by Raxon,” Yasmine explained. “Theron knew more about this theory than I did.”
“What do you know about it?” Gaunting asked her, seeing that the text was cut off to the next page.
“This one dealt with the theory of advanced single-celled organisms ... that life could develop from them. It’s essentially Advanced Symbiogenesis.”
“This one is more credible as a possibility,” Gaunting remarked as Yasmine flipped the page. “We’ve encountered life on different worlds, bacteria, pathogens, and other single-celled organisms that were either less complex or more complex than the ones of Earth or Cebravis.”
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