Sept 12, 20xx
Z

It hated the screams. The creature underneath it struggled and continued releasing its guttural high-pitched vocalizations. Thrashing and throwing its limbs around, as it was slowly consumed. The limbs stilled. The screaming stopped. Silence— then emptiness. The body had died and was now nothing more than flesh to be devoured and assimilated. 

How unfortunate for this creature, but in order to heal and return from this… backwater world, I need my strength.

Fortunately, this species was sapient. This specific one beneath it wore clothing, understood patterns, and could vocalize repeated sounds that it could only assume were words in its rudimentary language. It moved up to the creature’s head after it had devoured most of its body. The brain was the most important part, and needed to be consumed immediately in order to gain its memories. 

As it devoured the brain, small sparks of the deceased’s thoughts flooded through its mind. All of the sapient’s knowledge, all their memories, subconscious thoughts and behaviors flowed through as information to every cell in its body. 

All this creature’s experiences. Its emotions, habits, and preferences. Small quirks and idiosyncrasies were fed into it as the body molded and became one, as if a data bank. 

I see now. It thought. This was a female of this planet’s dominant species. They are called… humans. 

It stood up. As the mold of flesh which was its body began to form itself. Cells began to shape and harden into a bone, following the structure and anatomy of the human it had just consumed. Coating the recreated skeletal figure with ligaments to hold the structure together. Skeletal muscles and organ tissue formed in its proper places. Nerves and arteries were meticulously placed. Capillaries. Veins.

 They were then covered by a layer of fat. Large deposits were swelled to its chest area and backside. Mammary glands, ovaries, egg cells, fallopian tubes, bladder, and uterus. 

Throat and neck muscles were shaped the way they were, reviving the human female’s original voice, while the rest of its body began to close up by a thin layer of flesh and skin. Small hairs were sprouted all around the body, with some more than others. The brain began to fully form, and the facial features were completely indistinguishable. Hair on its head began to grow and multiply to the hundreds of thousands of individual strands, reaching down to its shoulders. 

There in the darkness of the street, stood a lone woman. At least, the body of one. It— no, she had taken on the woman’s complete identity. Her personality, identity, memory… it all belonged to her now. 

“How… intriguing,” she said, testing out her new voice. A dead echo of the girl it used to belong to. “So this is what it’s like to be this species.”

 She clicked her tongue, whistled, and snapped her fingers. The smell of the air was rich… full of life. It was intoxicating.

“This world may be a new feeding ground,” she said, looking through her victim’s memories. “So much genetic data and diversity.”

Her victim was studying to be a wildlife biologist before she was ambushed and eaten alive. Now, her knowledge served as an intriguing critique and collection of the biodiversity the planet had to offer. Animals of different species flashed in her mind. Felines, canines, reptiles, apes, amphibians, fish, and the like. Even images of livestock and pets were seen as she rummaged through the recesses of the mind she had consumed.  

“Very interesting. It had been… a long time since my species found a world this diverse. Devouring it would be truly splendid. A jump up the evolutionary tree with the treasure trove of traits. Nature has really invested in this planet.” 

Humans were the most interesting to her, as she reviewed childhood memories and historical studies. A society unlike anything she had ever encountered in previous sapient species her kind had assimilated and eaten. Though this was the first sapient she had ever eaten, she was filled with excitement. She grinned widely, in an impossible way. Eyes appeared in her hair and jagged teeth of several rows shone under the light of the night sky as she literally smiled from ear to ear. 

Her excitement brimmed in her chest, causing it to beat faster than anticipated. 

What interesting reactions this body has. I wonder what more I could discover.

She picked up her clothes off from the floor and dusted them before slipping them on. The blood clung to the fabric and the sweet coppery smell stuck around in the air. She knew she had to leave the scene immediately before people investigated. Or… perhaps she should wait for a second meal to come.

No. Too risky. Humans had weapons. The next one may not be as helpless. 

I need to blend in… for now. Just long enough to fix my ship and contact the others. Then, we feast on this world and all it has to offer. What a delicious concept.