This has to be a bug!

"Vera, run a diagnostic on the sensors, these readings don't make any sense," said Elias.

Diagnostic: long range scanners operating at 87% efficiency.
Anomaly detected: mass of concentrated organic matter, length 137m, average diameter 32m, distance 53 light seconds.

"I'll be damned! What the hell can this be?" he asked out loud, looking at the visuals.

It wasn't impossible to come across dead bodies in space, jettisoned waste material or expired organic cargo just dumped in space to save room could be frequent occurrence around some inhabited worlds or trade stations. But a hunk of frozen organic materials the size of a ship floating in space(or crashing into a space rock like here)? That was unheard-of. But this was something else, the readings were just talking about organic matter, the visuals told another story. This wasn't a hunk of matter, it looked like a giant, spaceship sized creature. The shape and surface of had some insectoid looks to it, it was covered in interlocking plates of green carapace.

On Old Earth since time immemorial sailors had told tales of dragons, monsters and sea serpents, when man finally conquered it all they were proved to be myths. It didn't stop spacers to continue with tales of space whales and hyper worms, invisible to sensors, appearing to lone spacers hours into their shifts.

"By the stars! I'm rich! This is the jackpot! I take a few samples of this dead frozen beast to a science institute, one of the good ones on a posh planet. They will pay good price for the samples, they will pay a fortune for the coordinates of the full body. Forget about the Thaorios cartel and their puny debt. I could fuck buy them out with that kind of money," he screamed.

Multiple energy sources detected.
Shape variation and temperature conclusive with lifesigns.

"...."

Elias stopped in his tracks. If a few samples and a corpse would have made him rich beyond believe, what could a living specimen bring him? The cost could go into billions. We're talking, get your own planet rich, here.

He ran to the cockpit and launched the patchwork on an intercept course with the strange creature. He took the time to eat some protein ration bars and prepare some of his salvage equipment. Even alive, a creature of this size wouldn't miss a few vials of blood or pounds of flesh. He would need some solid proof if he wanted to negotiate a good price for it.

Destination reached: propulsion off-line

"Put this thing on screen and run a mapping scan using the geological scanner."

Temperature and density readings irregular: multiple cavities open to void or pressurized detected. Variations in temperature and energy signatures.

"This... This looks weird. It seems the whole front half of the creature is dead. But how can the rest be alive? There's a gash on the underside at the front. The more I look at it, the more it looks like a ship... A living ship... There's no way something like this evolved in the void of space, it must have been created or grown by someone." A space curiosity would have been lucrative, a way to grow spaceships out of food would probably trigger a war between empires to get hold of it.

Elias had transformed one of the cargo containers of the ship into a workshop, with some salvaged equipment. One quarter of it had been turned into a large airlock that allowed him to load salvaged or mined materials in huge chunks in the ship despite being in the void if space. It also contained some small vehicles used to move around the ship or get closer to derelict ships or asteroids, they were made of modified hoverbikes and one had to wear a spacesuit to ride them in space. A bunch of equipment, crates and rolled empty bags strapped behind his seat, he cycled the airlock and darted in the direction of the strange bioship.

There were a lot of what looked like access ports on the sides of it, but with no idea with how strong materials they were made, the breach was the easiest way inside and one didn't last long as a scavenger by looking to do things the hard way.

The breach was large enough for him to slip in with his overbike, but once inside he judged safer to dismount and explore on foot. He was lugging around his laser-drill, a small vibroblade, an old magpistol and considering the nature of the place a huge automatic shotgun still bearing the marking of the Tervana 6 colonial milicia where his dad acquired it (before having to leave in a hurry due to a dispute on the validity of his import permit for some off-world stimulants in very high demand on the mining world).

He was in the dead part of the ship, the corridors were one of the strangest thing he had ever seen (after the outside of the damn thing. The walls were looking like dried up dark red leather, stretched on an armature of ribs, the floor had plates of solid bone or other rigid substance under the same covering. He was moving around, the small computer on the wrist of his suit guiding him through the earlier mapping of the thing by the ship's deep scan.

Despite its nature and state, the bioship was still proving around 0,4g of artificial gravity, but he had only the lights of his suit (and the torchlight screwed on the side of the barrel of the shotgun) to find his way.

His objective was to reach the back of the ship where there were still life signs. He had taken a few samples of the dead walls and of the frozen orange and green liquids that sometimes covered them, but it was all degraded by being exposed to vaccum and **** cold for probably a long time.

He passed many doors, looking more like ventricules than shop hatches, with three flaps of flesh being used to open or close them. They were all left open or only partially closed, the gaps big enough for him to sneak through.

As he got closer to the back of the ship, the walls started to be less dried up, more plump, glistening in places. He needed his lights less and less, the walls showing some sort of dim bioluminescence.

He finally came upon a closed door, the most lifelike part of the ship so far. There was a distinct lack of anything looking like commands on or near it, but as he walked closer to it, it opened on itself.

This startled Elias who jumped back, raising his gun. Just as it had opened the door closed. Prudently walking closer, Elias understood how it worked. It was simply some sort of pressure plate, the door opened when someone stood in front of it. Walking in, he discovered that there was a second door barely 3m behind the first, obviously some sort of airlock.

When the second door opened (the first one having closed behind him) he suddenly was seeing a fully alive version of the same corridor he had explored. His suit indicated that the temperature was suitable for humans and the atmosphere breathable ( oxygen levels were at 25% compared to the standard 20% though).

The visor or his suit was quickly getting fogged due to the difference of temperature between his ice cold suit and the warm, humid air of the ship.

Suddenly he heard a loud noise behind him and felt something weird.