October 22, 2018.

SPOOKTOBER STORY #21:

Her heavily articulated exoskeleton (twice sclerotized dichitin 62%, carbon steel 18%, ceramic 15%, mantis egg resin 3%, misc metals 2%) scrapes against itself, her joints straining to configure themselves in a manner that allows her to rest comfortably in the cold steel coffin of the ship's hold.

Some of the pneumatic bladders that function as her musculature were punctured by roaming Shredkids when she was in the market, making some positions impossible to achieve without pinching her remaining internal organs between skeletal plates. She groans and flexes bladders B8-D15(3) to turn herself over, leaking a thin orange fluid onto the floor.

At least she was finally able to sell her heart. Hearts are worth double. Enough to make it off planet. Half-alive and half-conscious. Maybe dying. But not there.