Before long, I departed the cockpit, and headed into another chamber. I kept my helmet off, tucked away inside my left arm. After getting an initial layout of all the rooms, I must say I am quite impressed. Every chamber is compact, and serves a purpose. Adam did suggest I head straight to the Med-Bay, which was the closest chamber to the cockpit. Thankfully among the chambers, both the Med-Bay and the room to the left which stored Adam's AI, weren't damaged. I couldn't say the same for the other chambers, though. Many items were thrown around in the Storage Bay, and a lot of equipment was destroyed in the Engineering Chamber. It still had its core functions, allowing me to restore my Power Suit. It was going to take time, but I didn't immediately head there.
Instead, I went to the center of the gunship, a tight and compact private quarters. On the other side was a tiny little alcove with a reclined bed. In its center was a horizontal window, allowing you to see the vastness of the stars. Having a recliner bed helps with blood circulation. You remain absolutely still in outer space while gravity is on, so it can help you enter your REM cycles easier. It even had sensors tucked away on its underside, allowing a comfortable sleep.
If you wanted to get fancy, there were two pods. One that allowed suspended stasis, should you prefer to remain vertical during sleep. I've never even considered sleeping inside a pod before, but if I had to relate it to anything, it'd be like one of those capsule hotels, just kept vertically instead. And the other pod was a deeper cryogenic pod, allowing one to enter deep sleep for an extended period of time. If you knew you had to travel through multiple hyper lanes spanning over millions of light years, this one is the way to go.
Apart from that was a decent sized table, which acted both as a hologram and a synthesizer. Imagine being able to synthesize your own meals. Very self-sufficient. And with it just being me around, self-sustainable too. It carried all the nutrients I could ever eat, and boy I guess Samus must eat a lot. She expends so much energy battling space pirates. I wouldn't be surprised if she ate four or five meals a day, or just injected herself with a shit ton of nutrients to counterbalance the lost energy.
But it was this very same table that I could accept missions from. In a more common perspective, these would basically be "Quests". But with comms currently down and no way to connect to the Federation. As for the Engineering Chamber, that was where I could place my Power Suit, but I'll do that in a while. I just wanted to take a breather after everything happened.
I mean, I still haven't accepted the fact that I'm a goddamn girl now!
It doesn't matter if I'm Samus Aran or not!
To continue the motions, I placed the helmet on top of the table. My body moved perfectly in sync, acting as if it had already known how to take off the rest of the Power Suit. And boy, underneath it was something else alright. Zero Suit Samus was one of Metroid's key defining points, and let me tell you, it delivers.
This blue jumpsuit was so tight that my breasts didn't even jiggle in place while I took off the Power Suit. I felt liberated once the Power Suit I placed near the bottom of the table. I feel like I could run miles on end, despite seeing several light scratches in various places, and dried up blood splatters. The suit was torn too, but not enough to make anything revealing.
And yet...
Once the Power Suit was fully taken off, I just stood in place. In particular, I glanced downward past the breasts and all. I looked more downward, landing on a single area.
"It's gone...", I uttered, slumping my shoulders in disappointment. I saw no bulge down there. It was entirely smooth. Now, I'm not so foreign to genderbending stories, and when I've read some, this is typically one of the first things you'd check. Especially if you're a guy. If you know, you know.
Still, to truly become a girl like this...
I sighed. Yet another thing to start getting used to.
And yet, if you were given the chance to lose your penis to become one, if not the most feared bounty hunter across the galaxy, is that a sacrifice you're willing to make? It's like becoming Captain Marvel in the MCU. The creators had to power down her abilities just so she can have an even playing field while fighting against Thanos.
I, on the other hand, wasn't given such a luxury of choice. It just happened to me, and it was all thanks to that car accident. Still, this isn't the worst situation out there. For all I know, I could have reincarnated as a rock or something where you wouldn't be able to do jack shit.
On the bright side, I'm not so oblivious to how a girl's body works. God that would be so cringe trying to get used to certain things only girls can do. I've had my fair share of relationships to tell me otherwise.
For the time being, I had another look at the non-existent bulge that wasn't there, observing the tight blue jumpsuit in silence. Raising my right hand out, I bent my elbow, and brought my hand to my forehead. I gave it a salute right then and there. You shall be missed, my fellow compatriot. Giving it a silent zero-seven salute, the days where I could stand up while going to the bathroom are now over...
All joking aside, I truly am grateful that I was given a second chance to live. I do not know who allowed me to do so, but if I ever get a chance to find out, I'll try to thank them in some fashion. It is a wide, wide universe out there, after all. If the galaxies are intending me to become a renown bounty hunter, then I'll become the strongest bounty hunter, feared by all. There won't be a soul out there who wouldn't know the name, Samus Aran, haha!
But we have to take baby steps first. I may now be in Samus's body, which is in pretty bad condition. I'll need to develop some sort of training plan, get used to all the abilities Samus can do, and try to figure out a new lifestyle of wherever the hell I was brought to. Adam said we escaped through a wormhole. But where did it lead me to, exactly? I've had this sinking feeling that I may no longer be in Metroid. There's a lot of crazy stories out there where you initially start in one world, and end up in another. If that really is the case, I'm going to have to be ready for whatever is thrown at me.
And the very first step to that is how my appearance currently looks. Lots of small cuts and bruises. They had already bled to where it was already dried. My life was in no danger, but looking like this was no good. There should be something here in this gunship that can automatically sew the jumpsuit, but that wasn't what I was referring to. I needed to be in peak health again. At the end of the day, I listened to Adam's suggestion. Head straight to the Med-Bay and plop myself into a stasis recovery pod. If I had to relate them to anything similar, it'd be like those bacta tanks in Star Wars, filled with liquid healing agents to allow full recovery of one's body, no matter how severe one's injuries were.
And with how advanced technology within Metroid was, I wouldn't be surprised if these healing pods could restore lost limbs. It can even supply you with a full course of nutrients too, making sure your body doesn't degrade while staying inside it for extended periods of time. In a way, these healing pods held similar roles to the cold sleep pods. I didn't immediately head into the Med-Bay, though.
I took a detour back to the Engineering Bay, where a lot of sparks could still be seen flying around. Mechanical arms and such were also present, placing gears and such to their designated spots. Self-repair was already underway, so it was likely Adam controlling these machines to do what they're supposed to do. One less mundane task to worry about. I didn't need to pay any attention, allowing me to focus on other things. That was the beauty about having a spaceship that could automatically repair itself.
Instead, recalling my memory, I found the Power Suit's charging station, and placed the entire thing down, allowing it to start charging. I am not sure how long I can go without charging this suit, but if I had to relate to something, it'd be like resupplying your ammo and energy tanks, while taking some extra time to recharge your suit. Now the latter doesn't really happen in Metroid, but it's implied, since the healing only takes you a few seconds to accomplish.
I could go on all day about this, but as I thought that, I headed inside the Med Bay. After hearing the hissing of automatic doors open and close for a brief moment, I found myself standing in front of a large capsule, filled with see-through bluish liquid. Enough time had passed to put me in another conundrum.
I no longer had my blue jumpsuit on. Samus apparently enjoyed wearing pink underwear. I was in a bra and panties now, another thing I'll have to get used to being a girl and all that. She had around C, perhaps D-cup breasts. They weren't extremely large, but not that small either. It was almost the perfect breast size, and they didn't get in the way while I was moving around. But it was enough to where they would jiggle, given enough movement of my body. I didn't see this happen earlier, cause this jumpsuit was pretty damn tight.
I digress. I have a more pressing matter to attend to while I observe the healing pod before me.
"Adam, set the duration of this healing pod for six days. I want to be awake when the gunship is back at full recovery. If something happens before then, consider it an emergency. I do not plan on waking up until the gunship is back to normal.", I commanded the gunship AI.
[Understood, Samus.] Adam simply said, proceeding to adjust the pod's settings on its own. Seeing this happen, I smiled while I was pondering the question on my mind.
'Do I just jump inside the pod like this, or do I take my underwear off before that?', I thought to myself, experiencing another dilemma of sorts. Yet I didn't let that thought linger. A decisive look in my eyes. It'd be better to get the full benefits of this healing pod. Direct contact was the way to go.
An unhooked bra and a pair of pink panties fell onto the ground before the healing pod, revealing my glory in full view. This body is mine now, and it'll be something I have to get used to. I shouldn't feel embarrassed during moments like these.
Splash!
To my surprise, I didn't even need a respirator like you'd use in those bacta tanks. I could actually breathe inside this healing pod altogether. The power of science at its finest, I suppose. My body became submerged inside. The embarrassing thought of me being naked alone inside my gunship was quick to vanish. All I could hear was the subtle movement of water-like noises moving around me. It acted as white noise, and perhaps it was everything that happened to me, but I quickly found myself closing my eyes, falling asleep.
I fell into a deep sleep, allowing Adam to continue the repair of the gunship. Minutes soon turned into hours as time began to pass...