Shawn knew exactly what would happen, and he felt Markus did too. Whatever shot down the Aurora... it isn't going to stop until they disable it. They had to stop whatever started this.
While they were listening, the light plinks of rain had grown heavy. Far away, thunderclaps echoed across the water. The lifepod rocked slightly in the waves. Water drops could be seen hitting the top hatch of the pod. Markus, who had looked so calm before, was just... blank. Markus seemed like he was on the verge of breaking, but Shawn really could tell. Shawn decided what to do.
"Markus, you're gonna wait here, and I'll get us more stuff. If you need anything, contact me over the comms," explained Shawn. He opened the hatch and jumped down. The water was cold because of the storm, but underwater was mostly the same. Shawn set off in a direction they hadn't gone yet. He gazed around at the beauty of the world he was lost on. He lost himself for a moment but was called back when a large, muffle groan echoed through the water. Shawn surfaced for air, dived, and looked forward.
A large creature, bigger than a cyclops. It groaned again, sounding much like a whale. He observed small fish swimming around it, so he decided it was safe enough to get closer. As he did, he noticed a miniature reef on his back... hehe, Reefback. That's what he'd tell Markus to name it in the PDA. He scanned it. It completed with a small "Blip" before the creature groaned again.
Markus spoke over the comm: "Heh, such a big one. What do you want to call it?"
Shawn, as he surfaced for air, he declared: "It's new name... *Gasp* shall be the Reefback!" He exclaimed. Markus and Shawn snickered.
"Okay, so let's see... there's another few un-named, so I'll just name the-" Markus paused as a small buzz and robotic voice played in the background. "Hold up, lemme listen to this." Shawn listened through the comms, as the Radio spoke.
"Playing pre-recorded distress call..." It's automatic voice uttered. A scared male began speaking: "This is Ozzy from the cafeteria, what the hell guys?! They didn't warn us this might happen! Our pod was almost crushed by the seamoth bay on the way down, now we're hanging on the edge of a cave system and this grim-looking snake-thing's trying to eat through the hull! Come get us already!" Markus stayed silent for a few seconds before the PDA said "Coordinates Downloaded. Warning: Larger Oxygen Tank recommended."
"SHIT!" yelled Linn, as she smashed her hand onto the pad on her seat. Just as the did so, the second explosion hit near them. The pod was jettisoned at an angle, smashing into the side of the Aurora. Debris battered the pod, causing it to batter in space. The pod escaped the initial destruction of the Aurora and began drifting.
"*Huff* ...Good news, we're alive. Bad news, we're in space and drifting within an orbital debris field," said David. Linn stared at him before looking up at the hatch up top. The Aurora was out of sight, and they were spinning and flipping.
"What do we do?" Linn opened her seat. She was weightless. David did the same.
"We see what we have." David bounced over to the lifepod storage. He opened it, and inside was a few nutrient blocks, some water, a flare, and a seaglide. "We may be screwed" uttered David. "We don't have any oxygen tanks, space suits, nothing." Linn and David sat, waiting. They waited for an hour, but then, an explosion rang out. The lifepod's alarm system began ringing.
"Alert! Impact Imminent!" The lifepod jolted to the side, throwing David and Linn against the wall. The lifepod's side breached open, and they were sucked out.
Linn drifted, holding their breath, but it was too late. Her vision faded, the lifepod and the dead body of David were all she could see as she, too, passed.
The lifepod erupted in flames as it fell through the atmosphere. It was flying away from the Aurora, and fast. The passenger, Jacob, grunted as he tried not to throw up. The pod was tumbling and shaking and was now flying directly down. The panel on the wall was knocked off, along with a fire extinguisher and a power cell. Sparks flew everywhere and the Alarms blared.
"Warning! Outside temperature reaching critical levels." The lifepod was hitting a huge resistance. The metal of the walls began to bend, crunching.
The lifepod's screen began to bug out. The top hatch was ripped off, and fire raced into the pod. The panel on the wall exploded.
Jacob, in one last scream of terror, was burned away in the re-entry fires.
"Okay, okay, okay, we're fine..." muttered Mason. The lifepod had hit the water and plunged under. The system was broken. They couldn't do anything, and the floatation devices failed. They were sinking beyond crush depth.
Water leaks began to spirt in through the walls. Preston was scrambling around with items in his arms, trying to plug the holes.
The lifepod's alarms had been blaring. They now alerted the passengers: "Alert! Pressure Compromised!"
The lifepod's walls cracked more, and the glass on the top hatch cracked. Water poured in from multiple places.
Then, a horrifying sound echoed from the depths. It sounded like a ghost. The lifepod jolted to the side, crushing under the pressure. The walls broke, and the two passengers were whisked out.
Manson looked into the depths as a giant leviathan, glowing blue, swam right towards him, mouth open.
Shawn had gotten a medium air tank when he came back. They made a small, then got some smaller materials and put together a medium sized air tank. He had also found some seaglide parts, too broken to fix, but he was able to scan them and get the blueprints. He collected the materials and now had a seaglide. It still didn't help his mood. He would have moments where he would forget the problems, but they always came back.
Always.
As he was fitting the air tank on, his eyes glanced over to his seat. He shouldn't have come to this pod. She would be safe. She would have lived.
The air grew colder. Markus could tell something was wrong, but he wouldn't talk. Shawn set off back to lifepod seventeen. He swam, and swam, and swam. His mind drifted. His head raced with thoughts. Was anyone alive? Could anyone have survived? Where were all his co-workers? Could he get back home? Would he live?
And one kept ebbing at him the most. One that kept coming back every single time his mind thought about anything.
Was she alive?
He finally reached the lifepod. He dived downwards towards it. Reaching the bottom, he entered the pod through a large hole in the side and found Ozzy's Log. He downloaded it to the PDA mainframe and started swimming back. But then, Markus said something that horrified him.
"Hey Shawn, I just got a message from some girl named Lizz. Said she was in lifepod 22. She's down 100 meters, coordinates are on the PDA."
Lizz had been waiting for hours. She'd managed to get lucky. Her lifepod's fabricator was operational, and she managed to scare off those weird snout monsters. She had also gotten some food and water, so she was alive. But she couldn't go far without those creatures attacking her. The last one bit her, she had to patch her skin by herself. Her lifepod was leaking, but she was able to drain the water as it came in using a port out of the side. She wired the system to automatically drain water as it dripped in.
She kept thinking about Shawn, and this Markus he told her about. Shawn and he were best buddies, but Shawn said he wanted to wait on telling Markus she was on board. They were going to surprise him when the ship landed. But... that wasn't going to happen...
Then her mind drifted to the thoughts again. Were they alive? She honestly couldn't tell, as she was trapped. She decided to wait. Maybe someone got her distress call.
She suddenly got a message on the radio, which had been easy to fix. She walked up and pressed the button. It buzzed to life and said: "Playing Pre-recorded message:" It switched to a male voice. "Lizz, we got your distress call. My friend has a seaglide, and he's coming to your coordinates. Stay where you are." The radio stopped.
They were going to help. With a seaglide, she could escape those damn creatures. Thank god. Then maybe they could find Shawn, and even Markus together.
He was rushing through the water, not caring about anything else. She had to still be alive.
Markus said over the comms: "Her radio was working, so I told this 'Lizz' to stay put."
"Thank you. I'll explain later," said Shawn, who had rushed him to make that broadcast. He was thinking too much about saving her to explain. He knew Markus would be confused. He was still swimming towards the coordinates.
Lizz was horribly cold. The heaters had broken, and she had no materials to start a fire. She was running on some extra fish she had cooked and a bottle of water she made using another fish. She, oddly, really liked the taste of the fish. Why didn't they serve this back home?
She had also fabricated a toy car, which she always kept the recipe for on her PDA. She could walk into a store, buy a use of the fabricator, and fabricate it. She was good. She messed around with her toy car and ate another fish. She opened her storage and threw the car inside, then opened her PDA. She'd rushed out so fast, she had only brought this.
She started playing a game when suddenly, the hatch up top was opened. A person jumped down into the lifepod and slammed it shut before the water filled it too much.
The person took off the scuba mask he was wearing.
Before Shawn could even say anything, he was embraced in a hug. She was... here... alive...
They both started crying.
Shawn was with her again. They were alive. They were together. She was alive.
It took almost thirty minutes before they stopped sobbing in each other's arms.
"...it's really you... I..." uttered Shawn, trying to find the words.
"Shh... we're back with each other, so that's all that matters. Now, I assume your lifepod is better off than mine?" Shawn nodded, and she said: "Okay then, let's go." They both put on their masks, and Lizz put on her Wetsuit again. They opened the hatch, and water poured in. They quickly climbed out and closed it. This could be a useful place later.
Shawn pulled out the seaglide, and Lizz grabbed onto it. They began heading towards the lifepod.
Markus was still waiting. Hopefully, Shawn was hurt. He was pacing the pod, staring at his PDA he wanted something to happen. The tension in him was too much.
Just then, the lifepod's bottom hatch opened. Shawn climbed in, reached down, and pulled another person in. They took off their masks, and Markus took a good look at her. She was a pale figure, skinny and small. Her hair was red, long and elegant. Shawn clearly was happy so who was...
Shawn was so excited. Markus stared at her for a second before his eyes widened.
"S-Shawn... what is she...?" He sounded so confused.
"Okay, so we were planning to surprise you. I didn't want to tell you she was on the ship yet, so I explained the situation to you. When you said we could stay at your place, I immediately told her. She wanted to meet you, but I thought we should wait until we landed. I would have told you, but I wasn't thinking." Shawn watched Markus as he stared off into space.
He turned back to Shawn. "I'm honestly so happy we found her."
Lizz had still been silent, but she spoke up. "Nice to meet you, Markus." She stuck her hand out, and Markus shook it. Markus then opened his hand and formed a symbol. Two fingers, his ring, and middle were in the air, with his other two down. His thumb was also up.
"What does that mean?" Asked Shawn.
Markus stopped doing the signal. "In my home city, it meant 'May we prosper in peace.'" He then looked at Shawn. "I'm going to give you a break. Hand me the seaglide."
Shawn handed it over, and Markus went off. He said he was going to get some vehicles. Shawn sat down, then instantly fell asleep. He plunged right into his dreams.
Shawn had said he saw a seamoth fragment next to it, as well as more scattered across the plains of red grass. He said he even saw a large portion of the Seamoth Bay sitting on the surface.
As he approached the approximate position, he dived downwards. He noticed some interesting Fauna he would scan later, like one that was biting at some others. He reached the lifepod. Taking out his scanner, he aimed it and held the trigger. The PDA announced "Segment Scan Complete. Another Segment Required."
He swam towards the looming wreck. It was too deep to dive down and search at a time. At the base, he found some Scanner Room Fragments, some Bioreactor Fragments, and the second seamoth Fragment. He scanned it all, and then scanned the Seamoth Fragment.
"Seamoth Blueprint Completed." the PDA announced. "30 Seconds." Markus swam up to the surface, breathed in some fresh air, and checked his PDA. The blueprints for a seamoth were easy enough, but he'd need a Mobile Vehicle Bay. He swam through the Kelp Forest, finding some containers that had mobile vehicle bay fragments inside. His PDA Announced after he got three: "Mobile Vehicle Bay Blueprint Complete." He swam up for air, then dived back down towards some of the kelp. The seed pods could make Lubricate. He snatched a few and began swimming back to the lifepod.
Lizz was still confused on what was even happening.
Now that she wasn't concerned about staying alive around those... stalkers, as Markus had said, she had time to think. She had thought that maybe they had hit a large object in space, but that wouldn't have caused this kind of damage to such a behemoth. The Aurora wouldn't have started crashing without either an onboard act or a physical defensive mechanism on the planet. Maybe she would be able to research more when they got the ability to board. She was curious what kind of force would be needed to obliterate the hull integrity that quickly. It clearly was much more powerful than any Federation or Alterra weapon.
Shawn must have woken up during her thoughts, as he asked: "Something wrong Lizz?" He was looking at her with a curious face. At least he wasn't upset.
"Nothing, I was just thinking about what brought us down." She looked at her PDA, which showed her current data logs. She'd managed to connect it to Markus's PDA using a bit of network connection she developed to work from the Lifepod. It didn't share any personal items, just survival mode things, like Data Logs and Images taken while in survival mode.
"Well, It seemed, from the multiple explosions, like it was an offensive attack from an out-of-ship source. We also saw it explode after we jettisoned, and it looks like it was hit with some weird green beam." Lizz pondered this for a moment. She was about to speak when the lifepod's bottom hatch opened.
"Hey guys, good news! I found us some seamoth fragments and a few materials for them! We can all have vehicles so-" Markus was cut off by the Radio.
The radio buzzed to life. "Captain, a new message has arrived."
Markus stared at it for a second. "Why does that stupid radio always interrupt me." He muttered as he walked up and pressed the button.
Quinn looked at the 3D holographic scanner of the planets orbit as they approached its boundaries. "Okay Manson, eta until within scanner range?"
"Eta is 15 seconds." Manson cruised slowly forward, staring at the hologram as well.
"10 seconds."
"...5 seconds..."
"Now."
As they came into range, they instantly knew it was much, much worse than a simple fuel shortage.
Everyone was silent for a whole minute before Quinn said: "...So they really did go down..." Officer Brain looked at him with a face of sadness. Manson's eyes were tearing up. The other two crew, his son John Quinn and his other pilot Larken, had walked out of there rooms to see and were just as sad. "...And here I was, getting mad at them for not responding," Quinn muttered, sighing.
He walked up to the comms and began broadcasting. "Come in Aurora. We just picked up a... Massive orbital debris field." He paused. "I didn't know how bad... how many of you..." He suppressed a sob. "...I-I didn't know." He looked at Manson. "We are now en route to your location. We're gonna bring you home. Sunbeam out."
Brian looked at Quinn. "...Is there anything else we can say...?"
Quinn looked at him sadly. "...What else can I say? 'The only time this crew parked a rig this big on a rock that small was in VR, and we blew it." He sighed. "Oh, it's a bad option alright, but so are all the others." He shut the comms of and stared towards 4546b, which was too far away to see. He looked towards Manson. "Eta?" he asked simply.
"...Our current eta is 7 days and 3 hours." Manson kept his eyes forward, but Quinn could see tears.
"Okay, Manson, I think you need a break. Larken, can you take his place?"
Larken looked up from his feet. "Yes, sir." Manson stood up, and Larken took his seat.
"Manson, go get some rest. You ne-" He was cut off by Manson, who hugged him. He started sobbing. Quinn was suprised, but hugged back. "It's okay buddy. It's okay."
"Planetfall in T minus one minute," the lifepod alerted passenger Frank and Matinence Member Garrison.
"Shit, we're gonna hit the water hard!" yelled Frank over the deafening rumble of the lifepod falling. It was approaching, according to the computer, 100m per second. The lifepod was burning up. The lifepod's monitor began to glitch and break.
The lifepod began to spin and tumble, flipping and turning. It streamed through the sky. It smashed into the water with such force, the roof of the pod dented. It sunk under, but then the flotation devices deployed. The lifepod jolted upwards and floated to the surface. The two sighed.
"Floatation Devices: Deployed," the lifepod alerted them. They both got out of there seats, and Garrison threw up.
"Holy... holy crap..." Garrison muttered under his breath.
Frank looked at the lifepod's monitor, which was completely shattered except for a small warning. He read it out loud: "Warning, Leviathan Preditor Near?" he asked curiously. He looked at the fabricator, which was broken off the wall. The medical bay still worked. Seemed like they were fine.
A large roar erupted through the water below them. Suddenly, the lifepod lurched downwards. Cracks formed in four parts of the lifepod. "WE'RE BEING DRAGGED UNDER!" screamed Garrison. The lifepod was flooding quickly, and they had no way to stop it. The lifepod burst open, and it flooded. Garrison had fit an oxygen tank on his back before it flooded. He was swept out in the backwash. Frank, on the other hand, was drowning.
The creature lets go of the lifepod and turned to him. It was gigantic, sporting four red mandibles. It charged at him. He, being a bad swimmer, was unable to dodge. The creatures mandibles closed on him, piercing his skin open. It dragged him inwards, opening his mouth, and Garrison was swallowed whole.
The lifepod was in bad shape. They had landed about 18 meters down but were taking on water as creatures attacked. They had managed to get lucky with a seaglide, and a few power cells.
"Okay, let me just... aha!" James sounded excited. He had seemingly wired a power cell to the device.
Margret had just hit the recording button on her PDA. "Are you sure it'll carry two of us?"
James glanced over. "Your regular seaglide tows a mass of eighty kilograms at over thirty kilometers per hour. The power cell I rigged to this one should double that."
"You think there's something out there faster?" asked Margret. She already knew what he would say.
"Oh, sure. And that's assuming it doesn't overload three meters from the lifepod." James said. He didn't seem worried at all.
"You're calm about this," Margret stated.
James looked back at the seaglide. "I'm seeing the engineering problem. If I stop seeing the maths I'll be terrified." James grabbed it and looked at Margret. "You ready?"
She walked up and grabbed onto James. "Ready." They opened the hatch at the top, and the lifepod flooded. The seaglide burst to life and they were propelled outwards. They had only made it just outside when the seaglide exploded, killing both of them instantly.
Tears had welled up in his eyes as he silently wept. The other two had already fallen asleep, and he was trying to. But every time he cleared his mind, back came the thoughts. He couldn't control his own damn brain. I must be completely insane, he thought.
He just kept crying, until finally, Shawn heard him. He got up and walked over, and sat down next to him. Markus kept his head down, ashamed he was crying in front of Shawn, but Shawn seemed unfazed.
"...All three of us have seen some really screwed stuff, Markus. Learning to cope is really, really hard. But you know what I do when I feel down? I think about us. All three of us are alive, and together. We lived. And yea, it can sound selfish. But it's good to focus on what we have now, and not what we lost." Markus was stunned. Shawn gazed up at the top of the lifepod, at the hatch.
"Sometimes, Markus, you have to trust that everything will be okay, even at the worst of times," Shawn said. He looked over at Lizz, who was in deep sleep. "Sometimes, things work out better than you might think they will."
Avery stayed on the bridge, despite the ebbing tiredness and his crew trying to convince him to go to bed. He wanted to help them get closer to 4546b.
He started off into space for almost an hour before Brain said "Quinn, we've gotten barely any readings of survivors. We have two lifepod signals in the debris field and five down on the planet surface." Brain looked back at the monitor. "The biological scans are even worse. The maximum amount of Alterra survivors is... well... 15."
Avery looked at him sadly. "Well, it's the best choice to try and help. We can't do much else." His eyes teared up a slight amount. "What else can we do? If we go back, we leave those survivors for dead. If we call another Alterra ship, they could all die before they get there. This is our only option. It's the worst one, but it's the best." Brian was silent, and Avery continued staring into space.
Larken looked over at Avery. "Okay Quinn, we have an ETA of Six days."
After helping Markus calm down and sleeping, he woke up to the patter of rain on the roof. It wasn't too heavy, but the lifepod rocked slightly as the wind blew on it. Shawn quickly slipped on his dive suit before the others woke and opened the bottom hatch. He had fabricated a rope, and he tied it to the side ladder on the pod. He swam down to a large coral tube and tied the rope around it. The lifepod stopped drifting.
He entered the pod just as Lizz and Markus were getting up. They looked at him curiously, and he calmly said: "I was just making the lifepod stopped drifting."
Lizz and Markus looked content, so they opened their PDAs. Markus said: "I got that Avery Quinn guy's location on my PDA. I'm gonna try contacting them using the PDA and Radio.
Markus stood up and walked over to the radio, plugging his PDA in. The PDA announced "Outgoing Audio Transmission beggining in three... two... one..."
"Hello, come in Sunbeam, this is Lifepod 5, do you copy?"
Officer Brain was standing, checking data, and making sure everything was on course.
Quinn had decided to, finally, go to bed. Brian was left to watch the bridge. He and Manson were the only two, while the rest slept their sorrows away.
Suddenly, the comms buzzed to life. "Captain, a new contact is requesting an opening." Brian looked at it for a second, then clicked the comms button.
A male voice spoke out. "Hello, come in Sunbeam, this is Lifepod 5, do you copy?" Manson and Brian stared for a few seconds before Brian turned on his comm.
"This is officer Brian of trading ship Sunbeam, we hear you lifepod 5." Brian was so stunned. He yelled out across the ship "CAPTAIN! WE NEED YOU ON THE BRIDGE!" Brain heard a loud thump, a grunt, then a bit of shuffling. Quinn walked out of his quarters and up to the bridge.
"What the hell is it, Bri-"
He was cut off by the radio, which spoke: "Hello officer Brian, may we talk to your captain?" Quinn walked up to the comms.
"This is captain Avery Quinn, who are you?" He questioned.
"Hello, Avery. This is lifepod 5, we have three survivors of the Aurora on board, including myself." Avery, wide-eyed, stared at the comms. He glanced at Brian, then turned back.
"...Well, holy shit. We've got us some survivors. I suppose since we're on the comms, you can explain what happened?"
"Yes, sir. The Aurora was traversing this space on a normal pathway to an area Alterra wanted to construct a Fazegate. We were set to do a slingshot maneuver between 4546b and 4546a. We began to do it, and a large energy pulse hit us multiple times. Most of the crew and passengers attempted to eject. We managed to escape in our lifepods, but we faced quite a lot of trouble since. This planet isn't friendly."
The man paused as a separate voice spoke behind him, to quiet to hear. "Oh, I did forget. Sorry, I should have mentioned our names. I'm Markus James, behind me is Shawn Cross and his sister, Lizz Cross. Shawn and I survived in the same lifepod, and Lizz was in a sunken one when we found her."
Quinn was silent the entire explanation. He said, "Well, Aurora, there's quite a lot to talk about."
Quinn and Markus continued to talk for quite a while. When they were done, they had learned a ton about the Aurora, and what was happening with it. Its dark energy reactor was toast, and almost all survivors on board had died in the three hours they were knocked out. It was only them and a few others that could still be alive underwater.
Quinn took control of the bridge and sent Brian down to sleep. It had apparently been five hours of him just standing there.
As he laid down in his cot, all he could hope is that those damn survivors kept themselves alive.
Shawn exited the lifepod the following day, his head full of thoughts from last night's encounter. So, Quinn was coming for them. That was amazing, but what if what shot them down shoots him down? Could they survive with such a small ship?
He let his thoughts trail on for a whole minute before the roar of a Reefback rang through the water. He was about 20 meters down, above an odd looking cave. The cave had... was that a purple mushroom? Sure enough, multiple purple mushrooms and giant purple and black table corals were seen inside. The deep water glowed a dark purple shade.
He had to keep this place in mind. Opening his PDA, he went to the data tab and created a new file. He captured an image and wrote the coordinates with a small description of the surroundings down. His PDA was now connected to Markus', so Markus would automatically receive this new data entry.
He looked around for a moment before he saw some spare titanium wreckage. It was illegal to salvage larger parts of the Aurora and other Alterra ships, but according to the PDA's scan of the smaller wreckage parts, salvaging them was fine. Shawn swam down and nabbed two pieces of scrap metal. He also saw a few sandstone chunks and smashed them apart. He managed to get enough silver for a wiring kit.
Shawn swam up for air, then swam back to the lifepod. His view shifted around before he noticed a weird cloud of fog, to the north of the Aurora. If he was correct, fog usually was attracted to land. Maybe there was an island or landmass there! He looked around for a moment before seeing another could of fog to the south. They were so distracted before with not dying, they hadn't even noticed these. Shawn continued back to the lifepod.
He opened the bottom hatch, an entered inside. His sister was still passed out on the floor, but Markus was munching on a cooked peeper. He glanced at Shawn for a second before turning back to his meal.
Shawn walked over to the fabricator He crafted six glass from some stored quartz, a titanium ingot out of the two scrap metals and two extra titanium in storage, and he grabbed one of the bottles of lubricant. He stored the extra glass for later, grabbed a power cell, and jumped outside.
Last night, after Markus was done talking to them, he quickly crafted a small mobile vehicle station. Shawn swam over to it, which was sitting above an underwater drop off, where the shallows met the Red Grass, which they decided to call the "Grassy Plateau." He climbed up onto it, and four small drones were deployed from the hatches around him. He started the screen up, and selected "Seamoth."
The drones instantly got to work. about 5 meters in the air, the bots began to assemble the submersible. Slowly, it was formed as the atoms were re-arranged into this new format. After about twenty seconds, a fully constructed seamoth fell out of the air, and splashed down into the water.
Shawn swam under after it, and hopped inside. He drove it around for a second, getting use to the controls and the sensitivity. He then drove it back to the lifepod. As he approached, he switched off the factory default mod and connected his PDA to it. Now the seamoth was running the PDA operating system, and would be able to hear using it.
Shawn parked outside the lifepod, got out of the seamoth, and went inside. As he climbed up, he heard Markus talking with his sister.
"...Well if the orbital defenses were to have triggered in that scenario, why were they on?" Markus questioned. "If the orbital defenses were on, you'd expect to find the people who turned them on." He glanced at Shawn. "Oh, hey, didn't see you come in."
Shawn replied with: "Go ahead and continue, I'm interested in what your talking about."
Liz looked at Shawn, nodded, and then continued to explain her ideas. "If the orbital defenses, which I assume were on the ground, were to have been activated then abandoned, then wouldn't that pose the idea that something else happened here?" She looked at her notes she had filled the "Advanced Theories" section with. She opened one up and showed Shawn and Markus. "See, this is a predicted orbital location. Somewhere north of the Aurora. As we jettisoned, I managed to capture the direction of which it came, and calculate where the Aurora was going to crash. Using the PDA I had, I located a general area this weapon could be in. Simply, all we do is just find the island it could be on."
Shawn recalled what he saw earlier. "An island to the north, you say? I think I saw some fog obscuring one earlier." Shawn told them. "I just made a seamoth, so we can start heading over there now or whenever you want."
Markus glanced at Liz, looking at her facial expression. She seemed excited, like she always was back at home when there was something new to look into. Markus looked back at Shawn. "I'd say now seems good. Let's go."
They all climbed out the bottom of the lifepod, then Shawn took his seat. He started the seamoth while Liz and Markus grabbed onto the sides. They began to go, rushing through the waves to the island.
EDITOR NOTES:
- Sorry it took so long to update guys!
- Summer has arrived, expect more!
- Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Through the glistening water above them, a blue sky with a tint of orange just above. The water was cold, almost chilling. The night would fall in the next few hours.
Of course, despite this, Liz didn't care. She was amazed. So much of an undiscovered world, right in front of her. How could she not be happy? The water flew by as she held onto her brothers Seamoth, glancing around at her surroundings. They were currently crossing from a Kelp Field to a biome that was full of red grass. She had decided to name it the "Grassy Pleatue" and updated it on the network they were linked too.
The roars of Reefbacks rang out across the valley below and echoed across the waters. Far off, just before the murky waters made it impossible to see, Liz could make out the shape of a reefback. The green sacs on the bottom glowed bright, giving its location away from even farther. The creature's bottom tube-like-sacs compressed and released, giving Liz the idea it was some kind of biological breathing mechanism. The green sacs were maybe storage, as they were attached to this tube. She still couldn't get the damn scanner to work on them, as she had tried hours ago. It always came back incomplete. That shell always blocked it.
Soon, they reached a sudden drop-off. A bottomless void showed below. They clearly had reached a large hole of some kind, and they could tell it came back up. The other side was slightly visible. Shawn stopped right before the edge.
"...So uh, what do I do here...?" He asked. Liz could see his reflection glancing around, looking at the void. She did the same, and noticed... floating landmasses? And what were those purple things holding them? They looked like those Floaters she had seen the other day hold rocks up, but they were so large. She also noticed some kind of medium sized fish. It was as big as the Seamoth, like those Sandsharks, but they looked more... boney. They seemed more like they were made of multiple, segmented parts of a shell than one shell or some skin. It had sharp teeth and didn't look friendly.
Markus spoke before Liz did. "I say we go by quick, and once we have a better way to explore, we venture down and take a look." Liz seconded that, and Shawn started driving again. They flew by quickly. As they passed an island, Liz got a look at it up close. Some Fuana had grown on them. Coral bulbs jutted out on top of them while the bottom was covered in three purple masses. She needed to come back to scan it.
The water suddenly grew a bit colder. Liz shivered. The sun was still out, and this planet was clearly in summer, or at least it's own version of it. Why was it so cold?
The PDA spoke on the Comms, saying "Warning: Detecting increase in foreign bacteria in the region. A self-scan is advised." Liz hit the side of the Seamoth, the signal to stop. The seamoth slowed to a pause, and Liz pulled out the scanner. She aimed it at herself and began scanning. A tingle went through her as she did so, and when it was done, the screen glowed red with a bold word "Infected" upon it.
"Self-scan complete. Detecting foreign bacteria within the internal bloodstream. No adverse effects detected. Makeup suggests this bacteria is a possible danger and should be removed as soon as possible. Continuing to monitor."
Liz quickly ran ideas through her head. If it was dangerous, was it a slow progressing infection? Or would it suddenly take effect? How bad was it? Could it kill her? Were Shawn and Markus infected too?
Liz heard another scanner and swam around the seamoth. As she came around, she saw Markus' scanner glowing red too. Shawn climbed out of the seamoth and pulled his out, scanning himself. His was green, and said "Healthy." He hasn't been in the water as long as Markus and Liz were.
"PDA, give us more information on this infection," Liz asked it.
It responded by saying "No data can be allocated on specified infection. Research required to further understand infection strain."
After 10 minutes of pondering and theorizing, they began on their way again. They sped forward, the water whipping buy until they reached a steep incline. Shawn activated the bottom thrusters, taking them upwards. They rose to the surface and took a look up. The island was towering, taller than it seemed physically possible for such a small island. Shawn maneuvered them around the left side, and the beach came into view. Then, towering above the sand was a huge structure. It was a black metal with glowing green lines all over it. It had a huge barrel atop it, aiming straight upwards. The building was like nothing Liz had ever seen before.
"...What the hell is that thing?" Shawn said with disbelief. Liz stammered trying to come up with an answer. It was highly advanced architecture. Nothing in the entire discovered galaxy compared to this. It was even inferior to the large Quantum Fluxation Power Generator that Obraxis Prime uses to power the planet.
They stopped right before the beach and waded towards the island. As they emerged, Liz heard a strange noise. She looked around, and suddenly a creature pounced on her. She let out a scream as it bit into her. Markus ran up as Shawn wasn't out of the water yet. He stabbed it and threw the creature off of Liz. She was stunned and confused, and her chest was in pain.
"Holy shit... you okay Liz?" Markus asked her.
"...Yea... Ow..." She huffed out. She lay there for a moment and caught her breath. Markus ran around, shouting and stabbing at the other creatures. Shawn stood at her side with the creature Markus stabbed and scanned it. After it was done, he threw the body and looked at the PDA. He read out that it was suggested to be called a "Cave Crawler." He read out the info on the eye on its head and its mouth.
Markus walked back to the two as Shawn was finishing. After Shawn was done, Markus said "Hey, that glowing green door needs some kind of key. I took a look at it, and the key was shattered on the ground. I scanned it and got the recipe, but I've never seen some of these ingredients."
Shawn looked back towards the door and said: "Is it a purple glowing key?" Which Markus responded with a yes. "Look up on that ridge." Markus ran over to the glow on a ridge just above the door and picked up some kind of tablet. Liz got up, then She and Shawn walked over to the door. Markus jumped down from the ridge, then placed the tablet in the mechanism that was sitting outside the door. The green glow shimmered, then faded away.
Liz, Markus and Shawn walked through the doorway into the steel corridor. At least it looked like steel, but it was far stronger, and darker in tone. Engraved paths in the wall showed green glows behind. The corridor took a immediate left. Just past was a long corridor, leading to some kind of terminal on the far end. Liz was amazed all of this could exist, as she had never seen anything quite as advanced. Walking down the hallway, it lowered a few feet into some kind of ditch, and she noticed a weird object to the left. A pedestal rose from the ground, atop it was some kind of cube of glowing green energy.
Markus asked Liz: "What the hell is that thing? Some kind of energy source?" Liz pulled out her scanner and took a scan of it. The PDA gave it the simple yet effective name of "Ion Cube." Liz carefully picked it up and inspected it, despite Markus and Shawn warning her to not. She noticed it wasn't very reactive, and took it for later use. They moved forward.
The hallway went back up, leveling out with the rest of the hall. They approached the left turn, reaching the terminal. Liz walked up and attempted to active the interface, but got nothing. Instead, she scanned it and got the specs. The computer was a highly advanced holographic interface computing device, or a HAHICD, as the PDA called it.
When Liz read that out, Shawn said "That's too long, I'ma just stick to 'Computer' thanks." Liz and Markus laughed.
They moved further down the hall, coming up on on a large drop. Weird green energy flowed up and down. They stood there for a second, then the PDA said "The best way to interact with the Facility is to go to the Control Section in the Lower Areas." Liz looked around for stairs before realizing the energy was the stairs. She stepped in, Shawn yelled for a second but stopped when she started floating. Then she shot down fast, slowing to a stop at the bottom. She stepped out calmly and waited. She heard Markus get shoved in, him shout, stop, then scream for a second as he fell downwards. He stumbled and fell flat on his face as he stepped out. Liz laughed and helped him up. Shawn shot down and slowed, reaching the bottom and walked out.
"...What the hell, Shawn." Markus said as Shawn laughed. Liz loved this little bonding they kept having. In front of them was another doorway, but it was already opened. They walked into the room, and it was giant. The room was spanning almost a hundred meters in length, and the center was taken up by a giant moon-pool that could fit a cyclops. To the right, far down the moon-pool at the end, was another doorway, also opened.
Liz, Shawn and Markus made their way to the doorway at the end, entering it. Inside was a platform connected to a large, upward stair complex. To the far right was another door, but Liz was focused on the high area the stairs led to. Walking onto the platform, she noticed another ion cube pedestal and nabbed it. They all walked up the stairs, going up. After a little bit, another purple glow caught Shawn's eye, and he ran over and grabbed the tablet. A weird case was just by it, and as Liz approached, it opened and started beeping, shaking a bit. She scanned it and stepped away. Reading it out, it was apparently a doomsday device that has malfunctioned.
They went up another flight and reached the door to the control room, which the PDA made sure to announce. Shawn opened it with the tablet, the door shimmering away. They entered to find a lit interior, with the main part of the facility being powered by a large beam of ion energy. If they wanted to get off the planet, they would need to disable this.
Liz had come up with the idea that this place was a weapon, and it had shot the Aurora down.
She walked up to the device and scanned the beam of energy. The PDA alerted her it was coming from a separate place, and could be shut off using the console. Markus stepped up to press the button, and as he did, the weird field he stuck his hand through activated. His hand was stuck as he tried to pull it out. Suddenly, a snake-like object came out from the console. A sharp, large needle came out and it stabbed Markus hand. He screamed out in pain, and when the field opened, he stumbled back, falling on the ground cradling his hand. Liz and Shawn ran over to help him out. As they tended to him, the Facility made some weird noises. The PDA announced "The facility is broadcasting a message. Translation reads: 'Warning: Infected individuals may not disable the weapon. This planet is under quarantine.'"
"Come on, we gotta go tell the sunbeam," Shawn said, as they ran out of the room They walked back down the stairs and to the moon-pool. They all flew up the elevator. Shawn was in such a hurry he tripped over the edge of the elevator. They ran out of the building, towards the seamoth, but it was already too late.
"Aurora, survivors, we see you!" Avery's voice said through the PDA.
Markus quickly pulled out the PDA, trying desperately to contact Avery. Shawn ran out onto the beach, waving his arms wildly. Liz, however, just stood there, frozen with horror, as the giant facility seemed to move. The tower up top extended up, facing the sky.
The building began to move again, whipping around to the left, turning counter clockwise. It approached a stop, aiming north-west, high into the air. The building made a large, ominous roar, like a large horn. Then a second time, ending off on a high note.
"Man, I don't know how you held out down there! We've broken atmosphere and we're descending towards the landing site." Avery Quinn said, as the sunbeam came into view. The building began to move slowly, tracking the ship.
Markus screamed out: "IT WON'T WORK! WHY WON'T IT WORK?!" while hitting every button he could. Shawn, who was nearby, was jumping and shaking his arms to try and get their attention. But Liz couldn't move.
"Is that a building down there?! What do you mean you can't identify it?" Avery said in the background, likely talking to his second in command.
Quinn looked at Brain, concerned, as Brain stared at the building they were descending towards. Something wasn't right. It was almost like it was... aimed at them?
"Hold on, no turning back now." Quinn said, giving himself false confidence. He pressed a few buttons, preparing the landing thrusters.
"Positions everyone!" Quinn yelled out to his crew. "Touching down in 10, 9, 8-" He was cut off by a sudden energy pulse from the building, which threw off the electronics in the ship. Manson screamed, and Brain gasped.
"It's coming from the building?!" Quinn asked Manson, who nodded worryingly. He glanced back, seeing the green cloud seemingly charging up, and yelled "Change course, set thrusters to ful-!" But it was too late. Quinn didn't know what to think, but in the span of a few seconds, a green beam shot out of the building, him and the crew screamed out, and then the ship exploded.
The wreckage fell out of the sky, falling slowly into the waters. The deafening sound of the weapon's firing echoed in Markus' mind. The PDA had fallen out of his hands, and tears had began to run down the sides of his face. He glanced to the right, seeing Liz frozen in place. He saw Shawn sitting on the ground, head in his hands.
Markus stared out into the ocean, his mind blank except for the sound. His head ached.
He stood there for almost an hour before he felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked to his left, where Shawn had approached from his back. He looked tired, dried water stains traced from his eyes down to his chin. His eyes glistened with wet tears that had just stopped. Shawn said "...Come on Markus. Let's head back to the lifepod." He tugged lightly at Markus' shoulder. Markus followed him back to the Seamoth. Liz, who had unfrozen after a few minutes, grabbed some of the plants and got in the Seamoth.
The day had shifted to the middle of the night. When they stepped in the water, the freezing almost stabbed into Markus' legs. He went under, feeling the pricking of the ice cold water... or maybe those were the chills rolling down his spine.
He grabbed the side wing of the Seamoth, holding it tight. The seamoth backed from the beach and shot forward, down towards the south. The trip let Markus collect his thoughts.
As they whipped over the islands suspended in the air, a snarl rang out from nearby. Shawn screamed out as the seamoth rocked. Markus quickly let go and came around the side as it slowed. Shawn was swimming wildly, a cloud of red emitting from his stomach. Markus rushed over to Shawn, noticing one of those bone-like fish they saw earlier swimming away. Shawn had his knife sinking next to him while he cradled his chest. Markus quickly nabbed him and swam back to the Seamoth, hold his chest tight despite the screams. It horrified Markus, but he had to stay... generally calm, even if he was freaking out.
"Liz! I got him, we gotta go back fast!" Markus yelled into the comms as he grabbed the side, clutching Shawn's chest in his free arm. Liz, without saying anything, went full throttle. They speed towards the other edge of the abyss, and rose over the kelp. They flew quickly, passing by the Grassy Pleatue, zipping around the Shallows, and coming to a stop at the lifepod. Markus let go of the Seamoth the moment they got there, and before Liz had even gotten out herself, he was dragging Shawn into the lifepod through the bottom hatch. Markus took off Shawn's diver mask, Laying him gently on the ground. Shawn coughed weakly, losing his strength, so Markus stood up and grabbed a health kit from the health fabricator.
Markus opened it, grabbing the alcohol and the bandages. He looked at Shawn and said "Look man, this is gonna hurt a lot. Just stay calm." Liz climbed in behind him as he moved Shawn's hands from his chest. Markus dabbed the Alcohol on the edges of the wound, then bandaged it. He applied pressure, checking over and over if Shawn was still breathing. Soon, when he was sure Shawn was okay, he stopped and sat down in the seat next to the passed out friend of his on the floor. Liz sat on the floor next to him, waiting for her brother to wake up. Markus looked at Liz and said "...well today has been shit."
She rubbed her eyes, bent her stiff legs, and turned over. She placed her hands on the ground, pushed herself up, and stood. Markus was passed out in the chair, and Shawn was lying asleep on the ground nearby. He had woken up just before she passed out last night. He was delirious and confused, so she told him to get more rest. He certainly did, as the light gave Liz the idea it was around midday.
Liz slowly crept up the ladder and out the hatch, then dived off the lifepod into the water. She always slept in her wetsuit, just in case she needed to go grab some food or just clear her mind.
She swam over to a little ravine full of fish, nabbing a few. She picked up some salt, and the PDA alerted her "blueprint unlocked: Bleach." She checked the blueprints tab, and it said she needed some salt and a coral tube sample. She swam back up to the surface, grabbed some air, and dived to a coral tube just under the lifepod. She cut out a few chunks and nabbed them.
Liz went up for air, then dived again. She noticed some plants that the boys hadn't scanned yet. She propelled toward them, whipping out her scanner as she approached them. The PDA identified them as "Writhing Weeds." They were blue plants that simply wiggled in the water. She grabbed some of the Acid Mushrooms, then smashed a small limestone outcrop on the side of the little cliff. She grabbed the copper that fell out and swam back to the lifepod.
She climbed into a conversation. Markus was in the middle of a sentence: "...Getting down south would help us explore more area, and we could go see that other distant island." He nodded to Liz and continued. "We know there is one there, and that message I just got came from nearby confirms it. They said to rendezvous on a landmass south of here. I want to go down to explore that lifepod, but it we would need better equipment. To do that, we need some more Seamoths, some better Diving Equipment, and some depth modules."
Shawn spoke up, saying "Okay, the Seamoth and the Air-tanks are easy. Where the hell do we get a Depth Module?" He scrolled through his PDA. "There's no recipe on here for it!" Shawn glanced up at Liz, and Markus looked at her.
"If you were to ask me, we'd need to get onto the Aurora and grab one from a seamoth bay." She said. There was silence for a few seconds before she continued. "Yea, it's risky. But one thing is for certain, which is that there has to be a single intact seamoth bay, if not more. I am sure we'll find a Depth Module in there somewhere!" The boys stayed silent for a few seconds, pondering the idea.
"Well, we don't even know how destroyed the place is." Shawn mentioned. "We've never gone up close to it. For all we know, the entire hull could have collapsed down on the front and blocked the entire interior."
Markus spoke up: "So what we need to do is start by sending a scout to the Aurora. We can send another to grab materials for the air tanks and the scuba masks. I can work on the Seamoths. Who wants to go to the Aurora?"
Liz's hand shot up instantly. Shawn glanced at her curiously. "I want to see some Alterra tech. I also want to take notes on the ship." She said.
"Well okay, lets do this." Liz got to take the seamoth to get to the Aurora, as they had never been close. She started zooming towards the Aurora, but before too long, she heard her suit make clicking sounds, and her vision became slightly hazy. Radiation. She backed out of it and headed back to the lifepod, calling in her issue on the comms. Markus said the Radiation suit unlocked when the Aurora exploded, so she checked through the blueprints. She saw what she needed and diverted her course to the lifepod, instead heading to the Kelp Forest. She approached some of the plant, cut out a few chunks.
She went back to the lifepod, hopped out of the Seamoth and climbed into the lifepod through the bottom hatch. She opened the container that was near the Fabricator. Inside was some basic materials, including a few lead. She nabbed two chunks and placed them into the Fabricator. She tapped a button, and a holographic display appeared in front of her. She selected the Personal option, and the hologram extended to show two more options, Equipment and Tools. Liz selected Equipment, and it extended yet again, showing all possible Equipment. She selected the Radiation Suit, and the Hologram closed. The items on the fabricator table slowly deconstructed, then assembled into a radiation suit. First the suit, then the gloves, and finally the helmet. She put it all on, setting her scuba mask down on the chair next to the fabricator. she took off her wetsuit, then slipped into the the radiation suit. She pulled the gloves on and attached the helmet to her suit, and hooked up the air-tanks.
She jumped down the bottom hatch, swam over to her seamoth, and got inside. The comms in her headset buzzed with Shawn's voice, who said "Okay, so the good news is I found some good materials. The bad news is those damn fish from inside those plants really dislike me down here. Gonna need to patch up my leg, it's singed a bit." Liz stared
Markus asked: "You need me to come back and give you one?" To which he got a no. Liz gunned down to the side of the Aurora, reaching it in a matter of 2 minutes. She turned left, heading north-west along the side of the ship. She came up on a destroyed wreck. Liz took note of the location, the moved on. She reached a ravine, just before the area she saw just plain sand in. The water up ahead was much more murky. She went over the ravine, heading into the murky waters. As she entered, she noticed a lot more wreckage and debris. Metal scrap laid stuck in the sand. Some parts were buried in a bit of sand. The side of the Aurora was blotchy and broken. She sped forward, noticing the Stalkers and Sandsharks as they rustled in the sand, catching some of the remaining small fish.
she approached the front, where the sand seemed to start sloping down. An ominous sound echoed from a distance. To her right, the metal frame was destroyed enough to give her room to get inside. She piloted the seamoth into the destroyed hull of the Aurora, then looked around. Below her was destroyed floors and levels, rubble and debris everywhere. She surfaced the sub, and looked up.
She was looking at the body of the ship, burning and falling apart before her eyes.
The hull rumbled and shook, emitting a loud groan. Debris cascaded down from the stories above. The flames stood tall, engulfing many of the stories, causing the exploded ship to emit a heavy orange glow. "The PDA Announced "Warning: Ship's structural integrity is low. Laser Cutters and Fire Suppression Equipment may be required to progress."
Liz stared up into the mess and decay above her. Another groan rang out, and a large chunk of a story above broke off. Liz activated the sideways thrusters, jolting right just as the large debris crushed the area she was just in. The place was highly unstable, so she needed to be careful. She looked a little way north, where a wall jutted out from the rest of the destroyed front. A floor had collapsed into the water, and another one on top of it, making a debris ramp.
"Hey, Markus and Shawn, I'm here, and uh, I've got some good news and some bad news." She said, spawning some questions on what it was. "The good news is there is a ramp, and I'll follow it up to see if there's a way in. The bad news is the ship is highly unstable, so we would likely need a way to move large amounts of debris."
"Hey, well, we used Propulsion Cannons is the Cargo Bays to move containers to unreachable areas," Markus responded.
"Got it, thanks. I'll search the wreckage for some. I'm gonna go up the ramp and see what's up there." Liz said. After they agreed, Liz piloted the seamoth over to the ramp. She got out right at the bottom, jumping into the water. The first thing she noticed was the little Cave Crawlers, crawling all over the wreck. They seemed to have taken a home to the flaming hull. She walked up the ramp, avoiding them, reaching a flatter section. The ramp continued to the right where another floor had collapsed. Just before the second ramp, there was a Vac-Pac, as Markus called them. He said he found some with water in a wreck the other day.
Opening the pack, she found a medical aid kit inside. She continued up the ramp, reaching another right turn as the floor leveled out. Two more Vac-Pacs laid spread out across the ground. Opening them yielded a Battery and a Power Cell. She radioed into Markus he didn't need to get materials for one, and he radioed back an okay. She kept walking down the floor, reaching a wall. She looked to her right, and a large piece of debris was suspended by some steel beams from the floor. The part was quite slender, looking weak and unstable. She had to cross it.
Taking a step out, she could feel it wasn't too stable. She took another, now fully standing on it. She crept down it, heading towards the end. The ship suddenly groaned, shaking the debris she was standing on. A chunk of the floor above her bent and fell off, just missing the suspended debris and smashing into the water below. The shaking slowed to a stop, and Liz continued to creep on. She reached the very end and stepped down onto an outcrop of the floor. She walked to the remaining floor. To the right, debris and wreckage blocked any possible rooms, flames enforcing it. In front of her, after a long hall, was a doorway, flames engulfing it. Before she got to it, she reached another Vac-Pac. At the base of it was a fire extinguisher, which she grabbed. She opened the Vac-Pac, taking another med-kit out.
Liz approached the door, pulling the fire extinguisher to her side. She aimed it at the flames and held the trigger. She sprayed the fires down until she could make it through the door. The Aurora groaned another time, and she heard a large splash outside.
She walked down the hall, fires to her left and right. At the end was a T-Junction. On the left, the floor had collapsed downwards into another hallway. The door across the chasm was flaming. To her right, another long hallway leading to a room. But in front of her laid a smashed open crate, with a PDA and a Propulsion Cannon. She Picked up the Propulsion Cannon with her left hand, then pulled her scanner out and scanned it with her right. As soon as it was done, she placed the shattered fragment onto the ground, then picked up the PDA. She plugged it into hers and transmitted the only un-corrupted message left on it. She placed the PDA down on top of the box, then opened hers. She went to the Databank and opened the section she had set to Aurora Survivors. She found the message and played it.
"Exiting sleep mode. Loading voice recognition. Engineer Berkeley and Chief Technology Officer Yu identified." Spoke a robotic voice.
A young man, likely Berkeley, spoke up. "Drone, get me a propulsion cannon."
A noise of a crate opening and a device activating was heard, then the drone said: "Repulsion cannon retrieved"
"Hey, Berkeley! Install that circuit box with that repulsion cannon and you'll punch a hole in the cargo bay." A women voice said. That had to be CTO Yu.
Berkeley seemed annoyed at this. "Damnit, drone, I said PRO-pulsion, not RE-pulsion. Recalibrate sensors!" He said angrily.
"Sensors recalibrated," the drone announced.
"Sensors aren't the problem," explained Yu. "I tweaked the program. It's like you now, it doesn't like being told what to do." Liz could almost hear the grin on her face.
Berkeley sighed, then said, "Drone, I know-"
"His name's Albert now," mentioned Yu, cutting him off.
Berkeley sighed again, then restarted. "Albert. I know it's not your fault, but it would really help me do my job if you'd bring me what I asked for. Thanks for your time."
The drone, Albert, seemed to place back the Repulsion Cannon and grabbed another device. "Propulsion cannon retrieved."
Berkeley exhaled, then said: "Thank you. Now go away."
Albert seemed to be heard heading down the hall, then a noise was heard. From a distance, he said: "Entering hibernation mode."
After a few seconds, Berkeley spoke up. "Boss, this hobby of yours isn't making my job any easier. Or safer."
"Maybe so, but it's all that's stopping me from being so bored I take a spacewalk in my skivvies," Yu said.
The recording cut and Liz put away her PDA. She had just absorbed a ton of information. She turned to her left, looking down the destroyed hallway. Downwards lead directly to the Cargo bay, as the signs said. The problem was large crates blocked the hall, and she needed a Propulsion Cannon to get through. Instead, she turns around. Down the hall was debris to her left and right with a doorway at the end. She walked towards the door and used the remaining juice in the extinguisher to put out the fire blocking the door and entered the room.
To her right, a table held a PDA on it. Liz grabbed it and transmitted it. She read it in her head:
So here we are, finally, in open space. We crossed the galaxy to install a phasegate, to send ships to mine resources, to build more expensive ships, to install fancier phasegates... Are we trying to exhaust the galaxy or just ourselves?
18.06 - Yu's birthday
40 - Weeks before we get home
400 - Weeks it feels like before we get home
Not enough - Credits Alterra's paying me
1454 - Cargo bay code
She needed to keep a note on the Cargo Bay code so she could get in. She turned back, walked out of the hall, and headed out to the destroyed exterior of the ship. As she walked down towards the debris to get back across, the ship rumbled again. She heard metal bend, but nothing fell down aside from two scrap metal parts. She began to walk across, heading down to the end. She stepped onto the large debris that created the walkway.
As soon as she reached halfway, a sudden jolt as the ship rumbled shook the bar. She screeched in surprise. Her foot slipped to the side, and before she knew it, she had both arms clinging for her life on the bar. She struggled to pull herself up, attempting to raise her arm high enough to get a better grip. Instead, her right arm slipped off, leaving only her left to cling onto the bar. She managed to use a kink in it to get a better grip, holding herself long enough to grip the bar with her other arm. She raised her leg, pulling it as high as she could. She managed to get it up to the bar, then pulled herself up. She stood, shaking from her near-death moment, and slowly crept forward. She reached the other end, then began to walk down the sloped ramp.
Liz reached the first left turn on her way down, but before she could start walking down, one of the Cave Crawlers jumped at her. It landed on her chest and left shoulder, gripping on. The force knocked Liz on her side, and she rolled down the ramp. She managed to get her knife out and try and take a jab at the cave crawler, but she hit a bump on her roll down, knocking the thing off. She tumbled into a pile of wreckage and felt something pierce her leg. She screamed in pain, jolting into a fetal position in an attempt to comfort her leg. The pain was blinding her, her senses all off. She couldn't hear anything but her own sobs. The blur of fire, scuttling, and screeching cave crawlers were almost impossible to make out. Her vision blurred, and her conscience drifted away.
She let out one last, quiet sob before she lost conscience.
Radio silence had been going for a while, and it was worrying Shawn to death. Markus was busy finding stuff, but it had been over an hour without Liz having a check-in, making Shawn really nervous, but he didn't want to radio in for a stupid reason. She would have said something if she was in trouble, right? He had just surfaced after the last materials dive, and was swimming back to the lifepod. He climbed inside and walked to the fabricator. He laid out twelve quartz on it, opened the hologram, and selected materials. He then selected basic materials. He chose quartz, and the quartz deconstructed in groups of two and reconstructed into glass. He ended up with 6 glass, so he then places some titanium and silver on the fabricator. He placed the three air-tanks he had, the went into the Personal section. He selected Equipment, and then picked the High Capacity Air Tank. Slowly, it deconstructed all the items on the base of the fabricator, then reconstructed them into three Higher Capacity Oxygen Tanks.
He then laid some more materials: a few more silver and some Creepvine samples. Selecting Materials and Basic Materials again, he picked the Fiber Mesh. The creepvine was deconstructed, then the fiber mesh appeared. Afterward, he backed out into Materials, then entered Electronics. He selected the Wiring Kit. The silver deconstructed then formed into a clean circuit box assembly kit full of wiring. He backed out to the menu, then entered Personal, then Equipment. He selected a Rebreather, and the wiring kit and fiber mesh deconstructed and assembled three Rebreathers.
Finally, he brought out his Creepvine Seed Pods, placing them on the fabricator. He opened Materials, then Basic, and selected the Silicone Rubber. The seeds slowly formed the rubber. He backed out, then went into Personal and Equipment one last time. He selected flippers, and the rubber deconstructed. It reformed into the flippers, and he was done. He placed the extra equipment in the storage of the lifepod.
He flipped on his comms then spoke into the mic in his mask. "Okay guys, we've got all the supplies done back here. You good Markus?"
"Yea, I'm good for now," he replied.
"Okay, how about you Liz?" Shawn asked. Silence.
He waited almost a full minute before Markus spoke up: "Uh, Shawn, maybe you should go check on them? I left a seaglide in the storage." Shawn opened the container and pulled out the seaglide. He climbed down the bottom hatch, then began to head towards the Aurora. By the time he was halfway, the comms crackled in his ear as though a damaged voice recorder had joined.
Then he heard one, quiet whimper through it: "...help..."
Liz's vision came back to her, as though she were waking from a nightmare. Her head throbbed intensely, her breathing weak. Her vision was so blurry, she could barely make out the steel floor from the fire upon it. Her leg was in so much pain she couldn't even render it in her mind. It was almost like being numb while still feeling the pain. Her mind flew from thing to thing, thinking of ways to help herself. She couldn't move her arms much. One was pinned under debris when she came tumbling down, the other felt like she was raising a full metal chunk even though it wasn't stuck.
Her strength was diminishing by the minutes. She found breathing became difficult. Her head throbbed harder and harder. She looked left and right, looking at the blurs, trying to make out something she could use to help her. Anything. She attempted to move, getting about a centimeter off the ground before slipping back down. She let out a cry of pain. Her leg, which was still trapped on the metal spike, wasn't moving at all. Her other leg was almost paralyzed, impossible to move aside from a few millimeters. Her whimpers were quiet as she laid there, trying to find another way to get out of this.
She thought about her medkits and used her good arm to painstakingly reach for her back before realizing a problem. Her waterproof backpack had fallen off when she was tumbling down. She whimpered a curse with her silent sobs.
The ship suddenly shook, causing the metal in her leg to shift. She shouted in pain as a large chunk of the roof fell off nearby.
Liz looked at her mask, which had shattered on the ground just a little ways away. She extended her arm towards it, coming up just a few centimeters short. She tried to lean forward, but she felt pressure on her arm. She had to go for it. She extended her arm just a little more, bending slightly forward. She nabbed it but heard the sound of metal shifting. A sudden impact crushed her arm, causing her to scream out. She sobbed as she pulled the mask closer, then tapped it a few times before she hit the button. She whimpered for a second before she finally got her voice: "...help..." is all she could muster.
Instantly, she heard a voice, scrambled and garbled. "Li- *static* -are yo- *static* -at!?" asked the voice. She couldn't get her voice to work. Instead, all that came out was another silent sob. She tried and tried to speak, but her voice wasn't there. It was as if her voicebox was crushed, which it could be. She struggled one more time to move, her vision blurring and her senses breaking. Liz fell back down, her energy fading. She let out a singled whimper, then she passed out.
Shawn set the seaglide to the maximum speed and gunned it down the side of the Aurora. His heart was pumping. He and Markus kept trying to ask her, but they never heard a full response. The comms either got Liz whimpering or got her sobs. Then silence, and that's when Shawn lost it. He focused on nothing more than getting on the ship. As soon as he found an opening in the hull, he entered. The entire thing shook violently, a large chunk of the roof bending just above him. He gunned it to the large ramp he noticed, likely the one Liz was talking about. He approached it, noticing the seamoth parked to his left. As he stepped out of the water, a Cave Crawler sprung up, almost getting him. Shawn whipped out his second knife Markus had given him and swung when it pounced again. He hit it over to the side, then felt a pierce on his back. He grunted, whipped around and dodged a second Cave Crawler. He ran up and stabbed it, killing it. The first one pounced on him, and he managed to stab it as it landed.
Shawn spastically looked around for his sister. He looked at the ramp, noticing her backpack lying there. She ran over to it, searching it for any idea where she might have gone. He looked up the ramp, noticing a bit of blood near the top. He looked at the middle of the ramp. More blood. He looked down where the trail lead, noticing a pile of rubble with a lot of blood on the metal, and a person under it.
He bolted over, lifting a few pieces of debris to reveal his sister. Before he even took a good look, he got on his knees and listened to her mouth. She was breathing, but weakly. He took a step back, taking a look at her. Her face was bashed up, her mouth torn at the top and her face scratched to hell. One arm was pinned under some more debris, looking too heavy to move. Her other arm was just in reach of her shattered mask. Her legs...
Shawn stared at them for a second to comprehend what was going on. Her left leg was extended out, unharmed aside from a few scratches. Her right leg, however, had a sharp chunk of metal salvage sticking right through it. The bleeding had mostly stopped, but the amount of blood there left Shawn feeling sick. He tried to look away from the leg and focus on getting her off of it without hurting her.
He knew he had to get her arm out from under the debris first. It looked bent in a bad way, indicating it had crushed her arm. He walked over to the debris, trying to stay calm. He slowly pulled it upwards until he had enough space to move her arm, then picked the arm up and placed it on her other side. Thank god she was out cold. He then placed the debris back down, spurring the fire that had risen just near her. Shawn then focused on her leg. He needed a med-kit. Turning around, he bolted to her backpack. Inside was a bunch of batteries and a few power cells, as well as two med-kits. He grabbed one and quickly ran back, checking her breathing again.
He opened the med-kit, taking out the bandages and a few other medicinal items. He took a look at her leg, the grabbed it. He heard her breathing break for a second. He had to be quick. He slowly took a grip on her leg, holding it tight. He braced himself, taking a deep breath. He pulled, and her leg came off the metal debris. Her breathing became faster, and Shawn quickly grabbed some of the healing chemicals in the med-kit. Her leg was bleeding - and quick. He had to hurry. He quickly wrapped the bandages as a temporary healing measure, then quickly rummaged around, looking for metal and scrap. He grabbed a few wires, and a few ties and wraps later, he had a weak, makeshift splint. he quickly placed her bloody leg into the splint, tightening it to hold the leg tighter. He slowly pulled her out of the debris pile, careful not to get her caught on any of the Debris.
"I've got her, Markus," Shawn said, his voice shaky and weak. Markus asked questions, but Shawn cut him off: "Give me time and I'll explain." He picked her up as high as he could, to where her feet dragged across the ground. He held her by putting his arms under her shoulders, dragging her as he walked backward. He walked down the ramp, dragging her with him to the seamoth. He opened the hatch on top and set Liz inside, giving her enough room to not get hurt. He then climbed in and sat bunched up on the other side to fit them both in, as well as not hit her arm or leg. He slowly accelerated the seamoth towards the large space between the hull support beams. He tried to keep the ride smooth as they went back down south of the ship, trailing the side through the wreckage and debris in the water. They reached the turning point and faced more west. The went towards the lifepod.
Liz was still out cold, and Shawn kept checking her breathing over and over again. It was starting to steady out, but still very weak. Her leg wasn't looking any better, and her right arm was far limper than it should be, which he needed to make a cast for as soon as they got back to the lifepod.
The seamoth approached the Lifepod, and Shawn quickly climbed out. He dragged his sister out slowly into the water, then swam up to the hatch. He climbed in, then pulled Liz up. She had started to quietly whimper, giving him the idea she was slightly conscious, although not fully. He laid her down on the ground, giving her a large space to lay. He quickly grabbed some of the excess titanium from the storage, then threw them into the fabricator. He went to Personal, then to Equipment. He selected the "Cast" which was an Alterra Cast. The titanium reformed into a Cast for her arm. He then re-opened Personal and Equipment and selected "Splint." Yet again, the titanium deconstructed into atoms that constructed back into the Alterra Splint. He grabbed them and slowly pulled down her splint, taking it off her leg. He then took a moment to unwrap the bandage and check the wound. It was still quite wet and bloody, but the blood had stopped pumping out for the most part. He re-applied the bandage and got to work with the splint.
He slowly placed the split under her leg, allowing the rod he used to straighten her leg to extend to fully up. Liz whimpered as he adjusted it, making him go even slower. He finished lining it up, so then he slowly brought the front around and clipped it together, holding her leg tightly. He then moved to her arm, adjusting the cast to fit her arm shape. He then made sure it was bent in the correct way. Shawn placed it on her arm the same way he placed the splint on, by lifting the arm and placing it under. He made some adjustments, then he slowly clipped it together. He made sure everything was in place, then grabbed some minor bandages out of a med-kit from the fabricator. He bandaged some open wounds and slashes, as well as her torn lip.
Shawn sat down on the ground next to her, then quickly checked her breath. Weak, but better. He let out a sigh of relief. He leaned against the wall, his eyes shut, sweat dripping off his body. A sudden sigh from nearby jolted him. He looked over at Markus, who had entered at some point during the operation. He was sitting on the storage container, looking at Shawn and Liz. Shawn slowly laid back onto the wall, tired. The adrenaline rush he had was fading away. His mind faded slowly until he fell asleep.
Shawn Cross Drawing: (EDIT: Fixed Shawn to not have an ugly Bowl-Cut.) (EDIT 2: Edited the hair to look more natural, Fixed his eyes to seem less odd, made him look more stern than surprised, enhanced aged look, and made him look less like his head was shaped like an upside-down egg.)
Markus slowly opened his eyes, taking in all the light slowly. His head lifted up from resting on his legs, his back cracking from the stiff position he slept in. Across the lifepod was Liz, who was awake lying against the wall, slowly nibbling on a Cooked Peeper. Shawn wasn't in the lifepod which gave Markus the impression he was out gathering food and materials.
Markus stretch, yawning as he did so. Liz glanced up at him, then looked back down and continued eating. Her bites were small, chewing weakly. She was using one arm, her other stuck curved across her chest in a cast. One of her legs was outstretched with a splint attached while the other was bent up against her. Her face was bloody. Cuts were all around her face, including a slash on her nose and a large slit on her mouth that looked painful. Her suit was torn in a few places, patched with a few bandages that covered them. He could see red under them, giving him the impression she was bleeding.
Markus turned around to the storage container he had been resting on and opened it. He looked inside, then grabbed his PDA out. He didn't always have it on him since he could hear the PDA over the comms. He checked the Data Bank, then went to recent. Inside was a few more entries, located in Alterra Tech, then The Aurora. Inside was a structural analysis, which detailed the state of the Aurora. It mentioned how the Aurora was still collapsing, and many fires still burned. The interior, however, was still intact, as it detailed the first hallway that was enterable. At the bottom, the editor, Liz, labeled that it needed revisions due to the damaged arm and it being hard to type.
Markus moved onto the next one, which was the Aurora Radiation Levels Analysis. Shawn had mentioned he quickly made one before swimming out to find Liz, but Markus hadn't realized the area was coated in radiation. Liz had detailed that Radiation was higher towards the holes and the hull of the ship. The radiation was caused during the Aurora's falling, as a shot had gone through the floor and hit the roof connections above. This caused leaking of the radioactive fluids and the cooling systems, causing both Radiation Leaks and a large scale Heat Meltdown. The Drive Core heated quickly, and in the span of a few days, the heat rose in the surrounding area. The interior area was sealed off in a emergency lockdown triggered by the automatic systems when the Drive Core was shot. The heat caused pressure to build, leading to a combustion point and alighting the whole ship.
He kept glancing through them, looking for spelling errors and other issues to fix for Liz. Some words had been misspelled, which the Auto-Correct helped him find. He was able to find a few sections that had a missing word or two. He checked everything he could, making sure they were as good as he could possibly get them. He saved it, then turned off the PDA. He placed it on his lap, then let out a deep sigh. His eyes drifted around the room, from the light to the fabricator, then the chair. His eyes ended up on Liz, looking at her arm. It laid across her chest in a cast. He wondered how he could help get it to heal. After a little bit, he noticed she was looking back at him. Her eyebrow was raised, but she seemed to not be confused or mad. She was just curious, maybe?
Liz giggled, then weakly asked: "Whatcha lookin' at?" She leaned forward into a straight position, cracking her back as she did. A small whimper came out, but she didn't seem hurt.
"Oh, I'm just worried about your arm." Replied Markus.
Liz looked down at it, letting out a sigh. "...It hurts, but it'll heal. I hope, anyways." She managed. She adjusted it, her breath sharpening as she did. She slowly laid back against the wall, resting herself. She breathed out slowly. Her head slumped against the wall and her eyes glanced up to the sky outside the hatch on the roof.
The sky wasn't blue, it was gray. The sky was cloudy, hinting at a storm. The Lifepod's weather display, which was on the screen above the container, said it was overcast with a 70% chance of rain. The wind was clearly blowing as the lifepod softly rocked in the waves. Markus, enticed by the outside, said "I'll... be right back." He slowly began to climb up the ladder, pushing open the hatch. His hair blew back softly in the wind. The sprinkles of the rain and the water blowing from the ocean cooled it town. The waves were small but rocked the lifepod back and forth. The gray sky was so calming. Markus laid atop the lifepod, staring into the clouds, immersed in thought.
After a while, Markus heard some movement from inside the lifepod. He flipped over, placing his arms on the ground and pushed outward, then lifted himself with his legs. He opened the Hatch and climbed back inside to find Shawn crouched next to Liz, checking her leg, which was pretty well visible, even with the splint on it. Liz glanced at Markus, nodded, then looked back at Shawn. Shawn was focused, but nodded when Markus said hi.
"Hey Markus, I had just finished with all the equipment before I ran off. Yours is in the container." Shawn said, not taking his eyes off the leg. Markus turned and stepped towards the container. He lifted the top open, then reached inside, grabbing his Rebreather, Oxygen Tank, Flippers, and an extra knife. His last one broke fighting off a stalker while searching for seamoth supplies. He opened the bottom hatch of the lifepod, waved goodbye to his fellow survivors, and hopped out.
He turned towards the surface a little ways away and started swimming. He had the materials he needed for two more seamoths, which he was gonna make for Liz and Shawn. He reached the constructor. Markus swam upward, surfacing and grabbing the ladder to climb aboard. He slowly climbed up it out of the water, then stood atop the floating platform. He moved slightly forward, towards a small stand. To his sides, four small hatches opened and four little drones armed with a constructor turret flew out, hovering just above him. The little motors of the blades they flew on hummed lightly. Markus opened the interface and selected the option for a seamoth. The drones whirred to life, moving outwards for a few seconds. They stopped around 10 meters away, and began building. Slowly, the form of a Seamoth took form. The metal glowed as it formed into a working vehicle. The finished Seamoth dropped into the water, smashing into it and sinking under for a few seconds before floating in place. Markus dived toward it and hopped in once he got close. He entered it, the quickly activated the right thrusters to shoot him left. He let go after a couple of seconds, then hopped out and climbed back onto the floating platform. He opened the console again, and selected the same option as before. Yet again, the drones moved to the same spot and began to build Another seamoth formed slowly. Right when it finished, it dropped down again. Both seamoths were finally finished.
Markus jumped off of the platform and plunged into the waters. He swam over to his seamoth, the one he had come in, and opened the top hatch. He hopped inside, closing the hatch above him. He pressed the ignition button, then began speeding back towards the lifepod. As he pulled up to it, he cut the engines and climbed out. He swam up to the underside of the lifepod, then opened the hatch. He climbed inside, his wetsuit dripping onto the superplastic floors. Liz was still lying down in the corner, but Shawn had sat down on the chair with his PDA. He was reading some of the entries Liz had made. Markus walked over and sat down on the floor beside Liz. She glanced over at him with a smile.
She managed to say "...Hey Markus..." and she let out a weak cough. She reached to her side and grabbed a water bottle, then pulled it to her lips and slowly poured it into her mouth. She gulped the water down in intervals, all weak. After a few seconds, she moved the bottle away, capped it, and set it back down at her side.
After a few seconds of silence, Markus spoke up. "Okay, so both seamoths are finished. I'll use the one we already had, and the other two I left parked at the Constructor. That'll get us more mobility and let us search further alone. The comms system is fully working, and I have some things I want to investigate, so I'll head out and go check it out. If you guys decide to look for supplies or search wrecks or something, the seamoths are where I left them."
As he stood up, Shawn mentioned "I'll probably be going to grab some more supplies in a minute, so I'll go grab mine in about 10 minutes." Markus nodded, and he walked over to the other side of the lifepod. He opened the bottom hatch and jumped out. He then swam over to his seamoth and climbed inside. He clicked the engine button, aimed south and began to move forward, picking up speed. He made sure the coordinates were correct, and shot towards Officer Keen's Lifepod.
EDITORS NOTES:
- Sorry for the more downtime, I'll try and get back to the meat of Subnautica in the upcoming chapters.
- Next I'll do a short-story chapter the chapter Twenty Two.
- Love you all who are still reading this, thank you so much for the support.
- Oh, one last thing. In this version of the story, I may change some things that may be considered cannon as Below Zero rolls out. I may do a series similar to this story for that game.
============================================================================================ Lifepod 19 and Officer Keen:
Keen bolted as quick as he could, running past the fires and sparks that were shooting everywhere around him. He quickly took a left, running into the lifepod bay. He ran over to his rooms lifepod, Lifepod 19. He opened the hatch and climbed in, but halfway down the ladder, the whole ship shook as another explosion rang out. He fell off the ladder, letting out a grunt. He quickly pushed himself off the ground, stood straight, and ran over to the seats. He sat down and tapped the launch button.
Almost instantly, the lifepod released. He felt it rumble as it spiraled into the atmosphere. Keen's eyes glanced up at the hatch above, where the Aurora kept coming in and out of view. He quickly opened the hand interface and clicked the voice operation system. He quickly set it to allow incoming transmitions.
Immediately, he got a incoming message. A voice, the Captain's, came through the speakers of the Radio system. "Keen! This is Aurora, come in!"
Keen quickly responded. "This is Keen, lifepod detached okay..." He glanced at the Lifepod Screen, which gave an ETA. "...Planetfall in 30 seconds!"
"The computer has identified a landmass at the attached coordinates! I want you to regroup the crew there!" The captain told him.
"Understood, but-" Keen was cut off by the Captain.
"They're your responsibility now, don't let them down!" The Captain instructed him.
Keen quickly said "Captain, you need to evacuate!"
The Captain responded with: "Negative, you'll need the ship in one piece if you're going to contact HQ on the long-range. I'm attempting a controlled descent." Suddenly, a large green flash erupted outside of the lifepod, which Keen got a glance of as he was spiraling. Keen heard the explosion and the Captain let out a yell.
"Captain?!" Keen yelled as the sound continued to decay. After a few more seconds, the sounds stopped and the radio went silent. He no longer heard the captain, but he saw the bridge on fire and burning through the hatch.
Then the gravity hit. The lifepod began to rumble as he entered the atmosphere. The hatch on top showed the re-entry flames engulfing the lifepod as it fell through the ozone. The air was running thin.
Keen tried and tried to focus, but the world faded around him. The last thing he saw before he lost conscious was the blaring red lights of the lifepod.
An hour passed.
Keen's head ached, and his mind was jumbled. The lifepod was quietly groaning around him, and a small leak in the roof was dripping in water. He pressed the sensors on his chair, but nothing happened. The power of the lifepod was offline. Keen tried to lift the bar, which gave way surprisingly easy. He stumbled out of the chair, almost falling onto the floor. Keen straightened himself, gained his balance, and inspected his situation. He was clearly underwater, but he had no clue how far down. The lifepod was leaking, and with no power, the lifepod would be flooded within another hour. The oxygen would run out within another twenty minutes or so according to calculations. The power must've gone out only minutes before.
Keen walked over to the container in his lifepod and popped it open. Sitting inside was a wetsuit, a scuba mask, and a oxygen tank. There was also a rebreather and some flippers. He quickly undressed his officer uniform, the slipped into the wetsuit, then put on the flippers. He strapped the scuba mask onto his head, then added the Rebreather. he equiped the oxygen tank, and made sure to do some pre-swim checks. He made sure everything was secure and connected.
He walked over to the radio and activated it, recording a message to be broadcast.
"This is Officer Keen of Lifepod 19. The Captain is gone. I have assumed command." Sweat dripped down his face. "The last thing the Captain did was give me coordinates for Dry Land. We re-group one and a half kilometers south of the crash site. Stay together and good luck. This message will now repeat." He stopped the recording and set it to broadcast on a loop. He then pulled out his PDA, attached a thumb-drive to it, and wrote a small note for anyone who may attempt to come find him. He placed the drive on the chair, and he then walked over to the ladder. Smoke was rising from the wall panel. Keen began to climb the ladder, but suddenly, the wall pannel exploded outward. The ladder collapsed and the wall blew open. Keen let out a shout as the water tumbled in, taking him by surprise. The lifepod flooded quickly, giving keen little time to escape. As the water stabilized, Keen quickly swam out the hatch. He the swam upwards as fast as he could.
Either it was night, or Keen was very far down. The surface was impossible to see. Keen pushed further, his oxygen reaching halfway before he even saw a little bit of distant light. He gunned it, breathing heavily. His lungs burned as the oxygen ran thin. His vision wavered as he approached the ocean surface. He burst above the water and quickly took a heavy breath, the coughed. He turned around and looked at the Aurora, the large ship was crashed into the ocean with flames still rising from it. Keen stared in amazement for almost a whole minute before managing to tear himself away from the wreck and swim to the large landmass. Oddly, it was the same weird landmass that the scanners didn't seem right on. Keen quickly swam in that direction, his mind focused on that one objective.
After about ten minutes, Keen arrived at the steep edge of the island. He dived below to look for anyone else, but noticed something very strange. The island was floating! Huge pink creature were attached like little balloons. Keen saw sunlight streaming through the bottom of the island, and swam under the island and towards it. After a few seconds, he surfaced in a large clearing, about 30m in width. He climbed onto the beach that surrounded the hole. A cave was just a few feet away, the water flowing in and out as the small waves rocked the area. He sat alone, sitting atop a rock waiting.
His mind was blank aside from a burned image of the Aurora. He was almost scared nobody else had made it out. That is until he heard some splashes. He looked over and out came CTO Yu, grim but alive.
"You waiting for someone?" She said with a tinge of sadness.
A small buzzing echoed around the trench. Down three-hundred meters, the light of the Seamoth tore through the darkness, illuminating the chasm full of dim yellow lights. Plants of purple sat around, glowing, dim gold light shining from the small pods sitting atop. The Seamoth slowly descended, reaching the top of the canyon before being forced to stop. Markus opened the top hatch and climbed out. He pulled his Seaglide out, then aimed at a hunk of metal he was getting a signal from. He opened the throttle and the Seaglide shot forward in response. Down he went, his oxygen meter slowly depleting. After a few seconds, he arrived at the seabed. Twisted metal laid around the crashed Lifepod. It was sideways with the roof torn apart. On the side, a bright red seventeen seemingly glowed in murky waters.
Markus approached the torn side, noticing a PDA Drive abandoned on the ground. He hooked it up to his PDA and downloaded it, then swam inside the lifepod. The interior was destroyed, panels torn off the wall, one of the chairs shattered on the floor, and the control panel was burned. Sitting in front of him was another PDA Drive. He downloaded it.
"Thirty Seconds" said the PDA suddenly, making him jump. He swam out of the lifepod, grabbed his Seaglide, and propelled up to the Seamoth. He climbed inside, breathing in some air, then opened his PDA to read the data he had collected. Opening up the first log, it showed a message from Officer Keen directly. He hit the play button.
The voice of Keen spurred out, mixed with the faint sound of dripping water. "To all crew..." He started, swallowing. "If you are reading this then you have followed the automatic distress signal broadcast by this lifepod's onboard computer, contrary to my orders. I have been forced to evacuate. Your orders are to disregard my safety and attempt to reach the designated rendezvous co-ordinates at the nearest landmass. I hope to see you there."
The PDA quickly alerted: "Co-ordinates located: about three-hundred meters upward, one-hundred meters south-east." Markus looked up, the co-ordinates displaying on his visor hud. He took a mental note, then opened his PDA again. He then opened his logs and played the next one, Keen's voice log.
"Keen! This is Aurora, come in!"
Keen's voice quickly responded. "This is Keen, lifepod detached okay, Planetfall in 30 seconds!"
"The computer has identified a landmass at the attached coordinates! I want you to regroup the crew there!" The captain told him.
"Understood, but-" Keen was cut off by the Captain.
"They're your responsibility now, don't let them down!" The Captain instructed him.
Keen responded fast, saying "Captain, you need to evacuate!"
The Captain responded with: "Negative, you'll need the ship in one piece if you're going to contact HQ on the long-range. I'm attempting a controlled descent." Suddenly, a large green flash erupted outside of the lifepod, which Keen got a glance of as he was spiraling. Keen heard the explosion and the Captain let out a yell.
"Captain?!" Keen shouted, but then the log cut off in static.
Markus was silent for a moment before he closed the PDA. He put it away and grabbed the Seamoth controls. He piloted it upwards, ascending the waters until he reached the surface, where he noticed what was in front of him. Just a few hundred meters away, a island stood, large cliff walls shooting from the water. Tree's lined the top of the cliffs, glowing a seemingly purple tint under the leaves. Two mountains shot up from the island, the tips holding a odd looking site. It almost seem like a base, rusted and old, but it was difficult to tell from this distance.
Coming from the center of the island was the rendezvous, which confused Markus. How was he suppose to reach it? He started to drive towards it, speeding up quickly. Soon, he reached the cliffside, then he dived under.
Underneath was the most odd sight he had seen yet. The island wasn't connected to the surface. It was instead floating. Large pink creatures that looked like super-sized floaters sat attached to the bottom. The slowly expanded and shrank, as though eating the island itself. Spires of rock hung off the bottom like a cave roof. Markus slowly drove the Seamoth down, going under the island. Rocks fell off it into the water, drifting down into the abyss below. He zipped around them as he approached a large pool of water with no bottom. The signal was coming from the shoreline of that valley above. He rose into the pool, emerging above the water into a large pit. The walls were cliffs, rising high above him. A small shoreline encircled the pool, and the signal was resonating from a PDA left on the ground. A drive was attached to it. Markus parked the Seamoth just off the shore, then climbed out and waded onto the tiny beach. He picked up the PDA and opened it. Inside was a log, which he transmitted to the attached drive, then he took the drive and downloaded the data to his PDA. He opened up the log, then pressed the play button.
A women spoke up. "We have to board the Aurora, repair the long range comms, make contact with the other survivors!" She said. "We can't be the only two that made it."
Keen responded with: "Those are not the orders the captain gave me, and they are not the orders I'm giving you."
The women spoke again "This isn't chain of command, it's survival," she said sternly. "The more of us there are, the more likely we live."
"My obligations as acting commander don't turn on their convenience, Get out of the water!" Keen demanded.
"If I get into trouble, I'll send you my coordinates," said the woman, still unmoving.
Keen sighed. "I can't let you go alone. "
"Then come with me."
"You don't leave me much choice," Keen said, giving in to the woman's demands.
The PDA announced: "Received emergency transmission from Second Officer Keen, two hours after last activity."
Keen started. "Rendezvous was a failure..." he said. "Intercepted a transmission from Alterra HQ, seems they sent a data package to the Aurora. We were intercepted by a leviathan class predator before we could reach the ship. Consider the CTO and I lost at sea. Be safe. Keen... out."
Markus took a few seconds to actually start moving again. He glanced up from his PDA, still a slight bit dazed, and noticed the large cavern, lined with a few grass patches. Waves washed up inside of the cave, reaching a few meters back. Sounds of water echoed out. Markus walked into the cave. His footsteps echoed on the walls. He followed it upwards until the slope of it stopped and he reached an exit. Outside was a green, lush forest with glowing, purple trees. On the ground were many different plants. He stepped out further. To his left, a towering arch of rock stood above, connecting the two cliffs it arched across. Under it was a large clearing. To his right, a clearing lead up on a small cliff-side path up onto a much shorter cliff, where it disappeared from his angle.
Markus lurched forward as a slash opened on his back. A yell of pain left his lips. He turned back, pulling his knife out quickly. A Cave Crawler was turning back around. It lunged again. Markus quickly whirled around and smashed the handle of the knife into it, stunning the creature. He then Stabbed the top gas-pod. The creature screeched in pain, then stopped moving. Markus pulled his knife from the creature and looked around for more. He noticed one, but it was at the other side of the small valley. Instead, he turned around and walked over to the pathway leading up the cliffside. He followed it up to the top of the cliff. A path lead further around the island, but before Markus followed, he took a quick left turn and walked out. He reached the top of a sharp drop, water washing up against the bottom below him. He pulled out his PDA and aimed it in front of him, where the sun had began to set. He took a few images, then sat there for a moment, standing in the golden light of the evening. After a few minutes, the sun was gone. Markus turned around and walked back to the pathway.
He followed it up to a long, natural length of rock and grass that made a path between the two mountains. The mountain he was closest to had a pathway winding up in. Markus followed it up. He walked up to a collapsed part of it, and was forced to shuffle around it. He then reached a cave, which he took up to the last bend that reached the top. His suspicions were confirmed when he reached the top, finding a small, rusted habitat. A weathered glass dome sat at the end of it. Inside, through the rust and grime, a desk could be seen. An old chair sat in front of the desk. On the main part of the habitat, a bulkhead door stood ajar. Markus pushed it open a little bit, the joints cracking and creaking as it opened.
Markus stepped inside. Around him were some small alcoves, one had a storage chest. He opened it, and inside was a battery and some water. The water was somehow still fresh. A potted plant sat to his left, at the end of the hall. Markus turned right and walked down the hallway to the dome. On the desk was a PDA Drive. He downloaded it, opened his PDA and found it. He pressed play on the Audio.
An older man began to talk. "Chief's log, five weeks since the crash," he started. "The only other survivors are my son, Bart, and Maida, the cut-price mercenary I commissioned for the journey." He paused for a moment. "After days drifting in the lifepod, rain hammering the roof, the weather cleared and we washed up here. I had Maida salvage the Degasi wreck, set Bart to finding us a stable source of food. His education is paying off sooner than I'd anticipated."
He sighed. "Our only problem is Maida. She says the weather's going to turn. I say she's finding excuses to risk our lives. I imagine she's not gone a week in her life without a physical altercation, and she's itching for a fight. In every judgment she makes things go from bad to worse."
"If she had my experience she'd have more faith," he said in a factual voice. "Humans have spent millennia specializing in how to shackle nature to our will. This planet won't cause us any new problems." Again, he paused. "My one task now is to keep us alive, as comfortably as possible, until the insurance company arranges rescue. In this part of space that could be months, or even years."
Markus was stunned. He hadn't heard anything about any other ships, and had certainly not heard much on this Degasi. It must've crashed years before the Aurora, this base was far too old to be recent. Markus felt the need to search more. But before he did, he pulled out his scanner and aimed it around. It buzzed when detecting the glass dome, so he scanned that. He then scanned the Bulkhead, Potted Plant, and when he stepped outside, he scanned a spotlight on the top of the habitat. He then traced the path down the mountain again until he reached the base of it. He walked along the middle path until he came across a rockslide. A chunk of the path had fallen down, engulfing a rusty, large room in a base. Markus walked down the side of the hill, tripping and falling face-first into the grass below. He heard a familiar shriek and jumped up. To his right was another Cave Crawler. It hadn't noticed him yet. He quickly jumped towards it, shoving his knife into the top gas pod. It let out a loud squeak before collapsing. He pulled his knife out and looked around.
Behind him was the rusty base. To is left, a large planter sat, growing some earth-like melons and potatoes. He walked over and scanned the plants. The "Chinese Potato Plant" and "Marblemelon" plants were growing, taking up most of the planter. He took some of the Chinese Potatoes and Marblemelon, grabbing the seeds as well. Markus thought these could be useful.
He continued tracing around the habitat. Up on a small second level, a shattered window gave a view of the sea. Two smashed open crates lay outside the base. Inside them were parts to a seemingly gun-like device. Markus scanned one and was given a tech entry on the "Stasis Rifle." He scanned the other and the blueprint was recovered. As he finished circling it, he noticed one of the habitat's halls had collapsed and made a ramp up. He walked up the ramp onto the top of the base, then entered the torn apart hallway. A ladder lead to the lower section. Markus climbed down the ladder and immediately felt a slash on his leg. He grunted, jumped off the ladder, and took out his knife. He slashed at another Cave Crawler, which smashed into the wall and fell flat.
To his sides, leaves grew off walls designed to hold them. Markus took a second to pull out his scanner and scan the wall. His blueprint database updated with it. Place the Scanner back on his side, he looked to the side of the ladder where a chest sat. Opening it, an old but still functional battery was lying inside. These things could physically last a lifetime.
He moved down the hall, checking every corner. The entrance to a room ahead was blocked, and it wouldn't budge. Markus sighed and climbed back out, then began to trail the building around for another possible entrance. He walked all the way back around before noticing a rusted, shattered window. He climbed through it and immediately a purple, glowing object caught his eye. It was an almost stone-like structure with a glowing purple symbol on it, in some unknown shape. Markus picked it up and looked at it, examining it. It was made so un-human like... and thinking about it, it looked oddly like the building back on the other island. Markus pulled out his scanner and scanned it, then set it back down. He picked up a PDA laying on the table, then climbed out the window again.
Two buildings down, one more to go, right? Markus shot a look at the last building, high in the air atop the mountain.
Look, I'll be honest. When I started writing this, I was actually really bad. I still don't consider myself a good writer, but I'm confident I've improved.
That being said, there's a lot wrong with this story. The progression is slow, the plot is taking ages, and I dislike a large portion of it.
What I'm saying is I think I should rewrite this. From the start. In a new, first person perspective, with an improved plot, faster progression, and generally better writing.
Anyone agree with me on this? I'm interested in hearing feedback.
If not many or nobody ends up responding I'll just do it anyways. I just wanted to check with the few still reading this.
This thread is now vacated. I'm rewriting the story. I'll likely release it a bit later, but for now, I'm glad many of you stuck around for this long. I love you all!
Comments
The silence is always unbearable.
Always.
Shawn knew exactly what would happen, and he felt Markus did too. Whatever shot down the Aurora... it isn't going to stop until they disable it. They had to stop whatever started this.
While they were listening, the light plinks of rain had grown heavy. Far away, thunderclaps echoed across the water. The lifepod rocked slightly in the waves. Water drops could be seen hitting the top hatch of the pod. Markus, who had looked so calm before, was just... blank. Markus seemed like he was on the verge of breaking, but Shawn really could tell. Shawn decided what to do.
"Markus, you're gonna wait here, and I'll get us more stuff. If you need anything, contact me over the comms," explained Shawn. He opened the hatch and jumped down. The water was cold because of the storm, but underwater was mostly the same. Shawn set off in a direction they hadn't gone yet. He gazed around at the beauty of the world he was lost on. He lost himself for a moment but was called back when a large, muffle groan echoed through the water. Shawn surfaced for air, dived, and looked forward.
A large creature, bigger than a cyclops. It groaned again, sounding much like a whale. He observed small fish swimming around it, so he decided it was safe enough to get closer. As he did, he noticed a miniature reef on his back... hehe, Reefback. That's what he'd tell Markus to name it in the PDA. He scanned it. It completed with a small "Blip" before the creature groaned again.
Markus spoke over the comm: "Heh, such a big one. What do you want to call it?"
Shawn, as he surfaced for air, he declared: "It's new name... *Gasp* shall be the Reefback!" He exclaimed. Markus and Shawn snickered.
"Okay, so let's see... there's another few un-named, so I'll just name the-" Markus paused as a small buzz and robotic voice played in the background. "Hold up, lemme listen to this." Shawn listened through the comms, as the Radio spoke.
"Playing pre-recorded distress call..." It's automatic voice uttered. A scared male began speaking: "This is Ozzy from the cafeteria, what the hell guys?! They didn't warn us this might happen! Our pod was almost crushed by the seamoth bay on the way down, now we're hanging on the edge of a cave system and this grim-looking snake-thing's trying to eat through the hull! Come get us already!" Markus stayed silent for a few seconds before the PDA said "Coordinates Downloaded. Warning: Larger Oxygen Tank recommended."
"Hold on, I'm coming back," Shawn muttered.
VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED
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Lifepod 28
"LAUNCH IT! LAUNCH!" Screamed officer David.
"SHIT!" yelled Linn, as she smashed her hand onto the pad on her seat. Just as the did so, the second explosion hit near them. The pod was jettisoned at an angle, smashing into the side of the Aurora. Debris battered the pod, causing it to batter in space. The pod escaped the initial destruction of the Aurora and began drifting.
"*Huff* ...Good news, we're alive. Bad news, we're in space and drifting within an orbital debris field," said David. Linn stared at him before looking up at the hatch up top. The Aurora was out of sight, and they were spinning and flipping.
"What do we do?" Linn opened her seat. She was weightless. David did the same.
"We see what we have." David bounced over to the lifepod storage. He opened it, and inside was a few nutrient blocks, some water, a flare, and a seaglide. "We may be screwed" uttered David. "We don't have any oxygen tanks, space suits, nothing." Linn and David sat, waiting. They waited for an hour, but then, an explosion rang out. The lifepod's alarm system began ringing.
"Alert! Impact Imminent!" The lifepod jolted to the side, throwing David and Linn against the wall. The lifepod's side breached open, and they were sucked out.
Linn drifted, holding their breath, but it was too late. Her vision faded, the lifepod and the dead body of David were all she could see as she, too, passed.
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Lifepod 1
The lifepod erupted in flames as it fell through the atmosphere. It was flying away from the Aurora, and fast. The passenger, Jacob, grunted as he tried not to throw up. The pod was tumbling and shaking and was now flying directly down. The panel on the wall was knocked off, along with a fire extinguisher and a power cell. Sparks flew everywhere and the Alarms blared.
"Warning! Outside temperature reaching critical levels." The lifepod was hitting a huge resistance. The metal of the walls began to bend, crunching.
The lifepod's screen began to bug out. The top hatch was ripped off, and fire raced into the pod. The panel on the wall exploded.
Jacob, in one last scream of terror, was burned away in the re-entry fires.
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Lifepod 31
"Okay, okay, okay, we're fine..." muttered Mason. The lifepod had hit the water and plunged under. The system was broken. They couldn't do anything, and the floatation devices failed. They were sinking beyond crush depth.
Water leaks began to spirt in through the walls. Preston was scrambling around with items in his arms, trying to plug the holes.
The lifepod's alarms had been blaring. They now alerted the passengers: "Alert! Pressure Compromised!"
The lifepod's walls cracked more, and the glass on the top hatch cracked. Water poured in from multiple places.
Then, a horrifying sound echoed from the depths. It sounded like a ghost. The lifepod jolted to the side, crushing under the pressure. The walls broke, and the two passengers were whisked out.
Manson looked into the depths as a giant leviathan, glowing blue, swam right towards him, mouth open.
And then, it bit down onto him.
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Shawn had gotten a medium air tank when he came back. They made a small, then got some smaller materials and put together a medium sized air tank. He had also found some seaglide parts, too broken to fix, but he was able to scan them and get the blueprints. He collected the materials and now had a seaglide. It still didn't help his mood. He would have moments where he would forget the problems, but they always came back.
Always.
As he was fitting the air tank on, his eyes glanced over to his seat. He shouldn't have come to this pod. She would be safe. She would have lived.
The air grew colder. Markus could tell something was wrong, but he wouldn't talk. Shawn set off back to lifepod seventeen. He swam, and swam, and swam. His mind drifted. His head raced with thoughts. Was anyone alive? Could anyone have survived? Where were all his co-workers? Could he get back home? Would he live?
And one kept ebbing at him the most. One that kept coming back every single time his mind thought about anything.
Was she alive?
He finally reached the lifepod. He dived downwards towards it. Reaching the bottom, he entered the pod through a large hole in the side and found Ozzy's Log. He downloaded it to the PDA mainframe and started swimming back. But then, Markus said something that horrified him.
"Hey Shawn, I just got a message from some girl named Lizz. Said she was in lifepod 22. She's down 100 meters, coordinates are on the PDA."
That was her. Lizz.
That was Shawn's Sister.
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Lizz had been waiting for hours. She'd managed to get lucky. Her lifepod's fabricator was operational, and she managed to scare off those weird snout monsters. She had also gotten some food and water, so she was alive. But she couldn't go far without those creatures attacking her. The last one bit her, she had to patch her skin by herself. Her lifepod was leaking, but she was able to drain the water as it came in using a port out of the side. She wired the system to automatically drain water as it dripped in.
She kept thinking about Shawn, and this Markus he told her about. Shawn and he were best buddies, but Shawn said he wanted to wait on telling Markus she was on board. They were going to surprise him when the ship landed. But... that wasn't going to happen...
Then her mind drifted to the thoughts again. Were they alive? She honestly couldn't tell, as she was trapped. She decided to wait. Maybe someone got her distress call.
She suddenly got a message on the radio, which had been easy to fix. She walked up and pressed the button. It buzzed to life and said: "Playing Pre-recorded message:" It switched to a male voice. "Lizz, we got your distress call. My friend has a seaglide, and he's coming to your coordinates. Stay where you are." The radio stopped.
They were going to help. With a seaglide, she could escape those damn creatures. Thank god. Then maybe they could find Shawn, and even Markus together.
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Shawn had cranked the Seaglide to full power.
He was rushing through the water, not caring about anything else. She had to still be alive.
Markus said over the comms: "Her radio was working, so I told this 'Lizz' to stay put."
"Thank you. I'll explain later," said Shawn, who had rushed him to make that broadcast. He was thinking too much about saving her to explain. He knew Markus would be confused. He was still swimming towards the coordinates.
He was only 100m now.
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Lizz was horribly cold. The heaters had broken, and she had no materials to start a fire. She was running on some extra fish she had cooked and a bottle of water she made using another fish. She, oddly, really liked the taste of the fish. Why didn't they serve this back home?
She had also fabricated a toy car, which she always kept the recipe for on her PDA. She could walk into a store, buy a use of the fabricator, and fabricate it. She was good. She messed around with her toy car and ate another fish. She opened her storage and threw the car inside, then opened her PDA. She'd rushed out so fast, she had only brought this.
She started playing a game when suddenly, the hatch up top was opened. A person jumped down into the lifepod and slammed it shut before the water filled it too much.
The person took off the scuba mask he was wearing.
And before her stood her brother.
Shawn had lived.
Before Shawn could even say anything, he was embraced in a hug. She was... here... alive...
They both started crying.
Shawn was with her again. They were alive. They were together. She was alive.
It took almost thirty minutes before they stopped sobbing in each other's arms.
"...it's really you... I..." uttered Shawn, trying to find the words.
"Shh... we're back with each other, so that's all that matters. Now, I assume your lifepod is better off than mine?" Shawn nodded, and she said: "Okay then, let's go." They both put on their masks, and Lizz put on her Wetsuit again. They opened the hatch, and water poured in. They quickly climbed out and closed it. This could be a useful place later.
Shawn pulled out the seaglide, and Lizz grabbed onto it. They began heading towards the lifepod.
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Markus was still waiting. Hopefully, Shawn was hurt. He was pacing the pod, staring at his PDA he wanted something to happen. The tension in him was too much.
Just then, the lifepod's bottom hatch opened. Shawn climbed in, reached down, and pulled another person in. They took off their masks, and Markus took a good look at her. She was a pale figure, skinny and small. Her hair was red, long and elegant. Shawn clearly was happy so who was...
Wait...
How did he describe his sister?
She fit it perfectly...
It was her, wasn't it?
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Shawn was so excited. Markus stared at her for a second before his eyes widened.
"S-Shawn... what is she...?" He sounded so confused.
"Okay, so we were planning to surprise you. I didn't want to tell you she was on the ship yet, so I explained the situation to you. When you said we could stay at your place, I immediately told her. She wanted to meet you, but I thought we should wait until we landed. I would have told you, but I wasn't thinking." Shawn watched Markus as he stared off into space.
He turned back to Shawn. "I'm honestly so happy we found her."
Lizz had still been silent, but she spoke up. "Nice to meet you, Markus." She stuck her hand out, and Markus shook it. Markus then opened his hand and formed a symbol. Two fingers, his ring, and middle were in the air, with his other two down. His thumb was also up.
"What does that mean?" Asked Shawn.
Markus stopped doing the signal. "In my home city, it meant 'May we prosper in peace.'" He then looked at Shawn. "I'm going to give you a break. Hand me the seaglide."
Shawn handed it over, and Markus went off. He said he was going to get some vehicles. Shawn sat down, then instantly fell asleep. He plunged right into his dreams.
Markus was heading over to Lifepod 17.
Shawn had said he saw a seamoth fragment next to it, as well as more scattered across the plains of red grass. He said he even saw a large portion of the Seamoth Bay sitting on the surface.
As he approached the approximate position, he dived downwards. He noticed some interesting Fauna he would scan later, like one that was biting at some others. He reached the lifepod. Taking out his scanner, he aimed it and held the trigger. The PDA announced "Segment Scan Complete. Another Segment Required."
He swam towards the looming wreck. It was too deep to dive down and search at a time. At the base, he found some Scanner Room Fragments, some Bioreactor Fragments, and the second seamoth Fragment. He scanned it all, and then scanned the Seamoth Fragment.
"Seamoth Blueprint Completed." the PDA announced. "30 Seconds." Markus swam up to the surface, breathed in some fresh air, and checked his PDA. The blueprints for a seamoth were easy enough, but he'd need a Mobile Vehicle Bay. He swam through the Kelp Forest, finding some containers that had mobile vehicle bay fragments inside. His PDA Announced after he got three: "Mobile Vehicle Bay Blueprint Complete." He swam up for air, then dived back down towards some of the kelp. The seed pods could make Lubricate. He snatched a few and began swimming back to the lifepod.
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Lizz was still confused on what was even happening.
Now that she wasn't concerned about staying alive around those... stalkers, as Markus had said, she had time to think. She had thought that maybe they had hit a large object in space, but that wouldn't have caused this kind of damage to such a behemoth. The Aurora wouldn't have started crashing without either an onboard act or a physical defensive mechanism on the planet. Maybe she would be able to research more when they got the ability to board. She was curious what kind of force would be needed to obliterate the hull integrity that quickly. It clearly was much more powerful than any Federation or Alterra weapon.
Shawn must have woken up during her thoughts, as he asked: "Something wrong Lizz?" He was looking at her with a curious face. At least he wasn't upset.
"Nothing, I was just thinking about what brought us down." She looked at her PDA, which showed her current data logs. She'd managed to connect it to Markus's PDA using a bit of network connection she developed to work from the Lifepod. It didn't share any personal items, just survival mode things, like Data Logs and Images taken while in survival mode.
"Well, It seemed, from the multiple explosions, like it was an offensive attack from an out-of-ship source. We also saw it explode after we jettisoned, and it looks like it was hit with some weird green beam." Lizz pondered this for a moment. She was about to speak when the lifepod's bottom hatch opened.
"Hey guys, good news! I found us some seamoth fragments and a few materials for them! We can all have vehicles so-" Markus was cut off by the Radio.
The radio buzzed to life. "Captain, a new message has arrived."
Markus stared at it for a second. "Why does that stupid radio always interrupt me." He muttered as he walked up and pressed the button.
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Quinn looked at the 3D holographic scanner of the planets orbit as they approached its boundaries. "Okay Manson, eta until within scanner range?"
"Eta is 15 seconds." Manson cruised slowly forward, staring at the hologram as well.
"10 seconds."
"...5 seconds..."
"Now."
As they came into range, they instantly knew it was much, much worse than a simple fuel shortage.
Everyone was silent for a whole minute before Quinn said: "...So they really did go down..." Officer Brain looked at him with a face of sadness. Manson's eyes were tearing up. The other two crew, his son John Quinn and his other pilot Larken, had walked out of there rooms to see and were just as sad. "...And here I was, getting mad at them for not responding," Quinn muttered, sighing.
He walked up to the comms and began broadcasting. "Come in Aurora. We just picked up a... Massive orbital debris field." He paused. "I didn't know how bad... how many of you..." He suppressed a sob. "...I-I didn't know." He looked at Manson. "We are now en route to your location. We're gonna bring you home. Sunbeam out."
Brian looked at Quinn. "...Is there anything else we can say...?"
Quinn looked at him sadly. "...What else can I say? 'The only time this crew parked a rig this big on a rock that small was in VR, and we blew it." He sighed. "Oh, it's a bad option alright, but so are all the others." He shut the comms of and stared towards 4546b, which was too far away to see. He looked towards Manson. "Eta?" he asked simply.
"...Our current eta is 7 days and 3 hours." Manson kept his eyes forward, but Quinn could see tears.
"Okay, Manson, I think you need a break. Larken, can you take his place?"
Larken looked up from his feet. "Yes, sir." Manson stood up, and Larken took his seat.
"Manson, go get some rest. You ne-" He was cut off by Manson, who hugged him. He started sobbing. Quinn was suprised, but hugged back. "It's okay buddy. It's okay."
The sunbeam kept going forward.
VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED
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Lifepod 8
"Planetfall in T minus one minute," the lifepod alerted passenger Frank and Matinence Member Garrison.
"Shit, we're gonna hit the water hard!" yelled Frank over the deafening rumble of the lifepod falling. It was approaching, according to the computer, 100m per second. The lifepod was burning up. The lifepod's monitor began to glitch and break.
The lifepod began to spin and tumble, flipping and turning. It streamed through the sky. It smashed into the water with such force, the roof of the pod dented. It sunk under, but then the flotation devices deployed. The lifepod jolted upwards and floated to the surface. The two sighed.
"Floatation Devices: Deployed," the lifepod alerted them. They both got out of there seats, and Garrison threw up.
"Holy... holy crap..." Garrison muttered under his breath.
Frank looked at the lifepod's monitor, which was completely shattered except for a small warning. He read it out loud: "Warning, Leviathan Preditor Near?" he asked curiously. He looked at the fabricator, which was broken off the wall. The medical bay still worked. Seemed like they were fine.
A large roar erupted through the water below them. Suddenly, the lifepod lurched downwards. Cracks formed in four parts of the lifepod. "WE'RE BEING DRAGGED UNDER!" screamed Garrison. The lifepod was flooding quickly, and they had no way to stop it. The lifepod burst open, and it flooded. Garrison had fit an oxygen tank on his back before it flooded. He was swept out in the backwash. Frank, on the other hand, was drowning.
The creature lets go of the lifepod and turned to him. It was gigantic, sporting four red mandibles. It charged at him. He, being a bad swimmer, was unable to dodge. The creatures mandibles closed on him, piercing his skin open. It dragged him inwards, opening his mouth, and Garrison was swallowed whole.
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Lifepod 3
The lifepod was in bad shape. They had landed about 18 meters down but were taking on water as creatures attacked. They had managed to get lucky with a seaglide, and a few power cells.
"Okay, let me just... aha!" James sounded excited. He had seemingly wired a power cell to the device.
Margret had just hit the recording button on her PDA. "Are you sure it'll carry two of us?"
James glanced over. "Your regular seaglide tows a mass of eighty kilograms at over thirty kilometers per hour. The power cell I rigged to this one should double that."
"You think there's something out there faster?" asked Margret. She already knew what he would say.
"Oh, sure. And that's assuming it doesn't overload three meters from the lifepod." James said. He didn't seem worried at all.
"You're calm about this," Margret stated.
James looked back at the seaglide. "I'm seeing the engineering problem. If I stop seeing the maths I'll be terrified." James grabbed it and looked at Margret. "You ready?"
She walked up and grabbed onto James. "Ready." They opened the hatch at the top, and the lifepod flooded. The seaglide burst to life and they were propelled outwards. They had only made it just outside when the seaglide exploded, killing both of them instantly.
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Markus couldn't sleep.
Tears had welled up in his eyes as he silently wept. The other two had already fallen asleep, and he was trying to. But every time he cleared his mind, back came the thoughts. He couldn't control his own damn brain. I must be completely insane, he thought.
He just kept crying, until finally, Shawn heard him. He got up and walked over, and sat down next to him. Markus kept his head down, ashamed he was crying in front of Shawn, but Shawn seemed unfazed.
"...All three of us have seen some really screwed stuff, Markus. Learning to cope is really, really hard. But you know what I do when I feel down? I think about us. All three of us are alive, and together. We lived. And yea, it can sound selfish. But it's good to focus on what we have now, and not what we lost." Markus was stunned. Shawn gazed up at the top of the lifepod, at the hatch.
"Sometimes, Markus, you have to trust that everything will be okay, even at the worst of times," Shawn said. He looked over at Lizz, who was in deep sleep. "Sometimes, things work out better than you might think they will."
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Avery stayed on the bridge, despite the ebbing tiredness and his crew trying to convince him to go to bed. He wanted to help them get closer to 4546b.
He started off into space for almost an hour before Brain said "Quinn, we've gotten barely any readings of survivors. We have two lifepod signals in the debris field and five down on the planet surface." Brain looked back at the monitor. "The biological scans are even worse. The maximum amount of Alterra survivors is... well... 15."
Avery looked at him sadly. "Well, it's the best choice to try and help. We can't do much else." His eyes teared up a slight amount. "What else can we do? If we go back, we leave those survivors for dead. If we call another Alterra ship, they could all die before they get there. This is our only option. It's the worst one, but it's the best." Brian was silent, and Avery continued staring into space.
Larken looked over at Avery. "Okay Quinn, we have an ETA of Six days."
Avery continued gazing off.
What can they do?
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Morning came before Shawn even knew it.
After helping Markus calm down and sleeping, he woke up to the patter of rain on the roof. It wasn't too heavy, but the lifepod rocked slightly as the wind blew on it. Shawn quickly slipped on his dive suit before the others woke and opened the bottom hatch. He had fabricated a rope, and he tied it to the side ladder on the pod. He swam down to a large coral tube and tied the rope around it. The lifepod stopped drifting.
He entered the pod just as Lizz and Markus were getting up. They looked at him curiously, and he calmly said: "I was just making the lifepod stopped drifting."
Lizz and Markus looked content, so they opened their PDAs. Markus said: "I got that Avery Quinn guy's location on my PDA. I'm gonna try contacting them using the PDA and Radio.
Markus stood up and walked over to the radio, plugging his PDA in. The PDA announced "Outgoing Audio Transmission beggining in three... two... one..."
"Hello, come in Sunbeam, this is Lifepod 5, do you copy?"
Officer Brain was standing, checking data, and making sure everything was on course.
Quinn had decided to, finally, go to bed. Brian was left to watch the bridge. He and Manson were the only two, while the rest slept their sorrows away.
Suddenly, the comms buzzed to life. "Captain, a new contact is requesting an opening." Brian looked at it for a second, then clicked the comms button.
A male voice spoke out. "Hello, come in Sunbeam, this is Lifepod 5, do you copy?" Manson and Brian stared for a few seconds before Brian turned on his comm.
"This is officer Brian of trading ship Sunbeam, we hear you lifepod 5." Brian was so stunned. He yelled out across the ship "CAPTAIN! WE NEED YOU ON THE BRIDGE!" Brain heard a loud thump, a grunt, then a bit of shuffling. Quinn walked out of his quarters and up to the bridge.
"What the hell is it, Bri-"
He was cut off by the radio, which spoke: "Hello officer Brian, may we talk to your captain?" Quinn walked up to the comms.
"This is captain Avery Quinn, who are you?" He questioned.
"Hello, Avery. This is lifepod 5, we have three survivors of the Aurora on board, including myself." Avery, wide-eyed, stared at the comms. He glanced at Brian, then turned back.
"...Well, holy shit. We've got us some survivors. I suppose since we're on the comms, you can explain what happened?"
"Yes, sir. The Aurora was traversing this space on a normal pathway to an area Alterra wanted to construct a Fazegate. We were set to do a slingshot maneuver between 4546b and 4546a. We began to do it, and a large energy pulse hit us multiple times. Most of the crew and passengers attempted to eject. We managed to escape in our lifepods, but we faced quite a lot of trouble since. This planet isn't friendly."
The man paused as a separate voice spoke behind him, to quiet to hear. "Oh, I did forget. Sorry, I should have mentioned our names. I'm Markus James, behind me is Shawn Cross and his sister, Lizz Cross. Shawn and I survived in the same lifepod, and Lizz was in a sunken one when we found her."
Quinn was silent the entire explanation. He said, "Well, Aurora, there's quite a lot to talk about."
Quinn and Markus continued to talk for quite a while. When they were done, they had learned a ton about the Aurora, and what was happening with it. Its dark energy reactor was toast, and almost all survivors on board had died in the three hours they were knocked out. It was only them and a few others that could still be alive underwater.
Quinn took control of the bridge and sent Brian down to sleep. It had apparently been five hours of him just standing there.
As he laid down in his cot, all he could hope is that those damn survivors kept themselves alive.
Shawn exited the lifepod the following day, his head full of thoughts from last night's encounter. So, Quinn was coming for them. That was amazing, but what if what shot them down shoots him down? Could they survive with such a small ship?
He let his thoughts trail on for a whole minute before the roar of a Reefback rang through the water. He was about 20 meters down, above an odd looking cave. The cave had... was that a purple mushroom? Sure enough, multiple purple mushrooms and giant purple and black table corals were seen inside. The deep water glowed a dark purple shade.
He had to keep this place in mind. Opening his PDA, he went to the data tab and created a new file. He captured an image and wrote the coordinates with a small description of the surroundings down. His PDA was now connected to Markus', so Markus would automatically receive this new data entry.
He looked around for a moment before he saw some spare titanium wreckage. It was illegal to salvage larger parts of the Aurora and other Alterra ships, but according to the PDA's scan of the smaller wreckage parts, salvaging them was fine. Shawn swam down and nabbed two pieces of scrap metal. He also saw a few sandstone chunks and smashed them apart. He managed to get enough silver for a wiring kit.
Shawn swam up for air, then swam back to the lifepod. His view shifted around before he noticed a weird cloud of fog, to the north of the Aurora. If he was correct, fog usually was attracted to land. Maybe there was an island or landmass there! He looked around for a moment before seeing another could of fog to the south. They were so distracted before with not dying, they hadn't even noticed these. Shawn continued back to the lifepod.
He opened the bottom hatch, an entered inside. His sister was still passed out on the floor, but Markus was munching on a cooked peeper. He glanced at Shawn for a second before turning back to his meal.
Shawn walked over to the fabricator He crafted six glass from some stored quartz, a titanium ingot out of the two scrap metals and two extra titanium in storage, and he grabbed one of the bottles of lubricant. He stored the extra glass for later, grabbed a power cell, and jumped outside.
Last night, after Markus was done talking to them, he quickly crafted a small mobile vehicle station. Shawn swam over to it, which was sitting above an underwater drop off, where the shallows met the Red Grass, which they decided to call the "Grassy Plateau." He climbed up onto it, and four small drones were deployed from the hatches around him. He started the screen up, and selected "Seamoth."
The drones instantly got to work. about 5 meters in the air, the bots began to assemble the submersible. Slowly, it was formed as the atoms were re-arranged into this new format. After about twenty seconds, a fully constructed seamoth fell out of the air, and splashed down into the water.
Shawn swam under after it, and hopped inside. He drove it around for a second, getting use to the controls and the sensitivity. He then drove it back to the lifepod. As he approached, he switched off the factory default mod and connected his PDA to it. Now the seamoth was running the PDA operating system, and would be able to hear using it.
Shawn parked outside the lifepod, got out of the seamoth, and went inside. As he climbed up, he heard Markus talking with his sister.
"...Well if the orbital defenses were to have triggered in that scenario, why were they on?" Markus questioned. "If the orbital defenses were on, you'd expect to find the people who turned them on." He glanced at Shawn. "Oh, hey, didn't see you come in."
Shawn replied with: "Go ahead and continue, I'm interested in what your talking about."
Liz looked at Shawn, nodded, and then continued to explain her ideas. "If the orbital defenses, which I assume were on the ground, were to have been activated then abandoned, then wouldn't that pose the idea that something else happened here?" She looked at her notes she had filled the "Advanced Theories" section with. She opened one up and showed Shawn and Markus. "See, this is a predicted orbital location. Somewhere north of the Aurora. As we jettisoned, I managed to capture the direction of which it came, and calculate where the Aurora was going to crash. Using the PDA I had, I located a general area this weapon could be in. Simply, all we do is just find the island it could be on."
Shawn recalled what he saw earlier. "An island to the north, you say? I think I saw some fog obscuring one earlier." Shawn told them. "I just made a seamoth, so we can start heading over there now or whenever you want."
Markus glanced at Liz, looking at her facial expression. She seemed excited, like she always was back at home when there was something new to look into. Markus looked back at Shawn. "I'd say now seems good. Let's go."
They all climbed out the bottom of the lifepod, then Shawn took his seat. He started the seamoth while Liz and Markus grabbed onto the sides. They began to go, rushing through the waves to the island.
EDITOR NOTES:
- Sorry it took so long to update guys!
- Summer has arrived, expect more!
- Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Through the glistening water above them, a blue sky with a tint of orange just above. The water was cold, almost chilling. The night would fall in the next few hours.
Of course, despite this, Liz didn't care. She was amazed. So much of an undiscovered world, right in front of her. How could she not be happy? The water flew by as she held onto her brothers Seamoth, glancing around at her surroundings. They were currently crossing from a Kelp Field to a biome that was full of red grass. She had decided to name it the "Grassy Pleatue" and updated it on the network they were linked too.
The roars of Reefbacks rang out across the valley below and echoed across the waters. Far off, just before the murky waters made it impossible to see, Liz could make out the shape of a reefback. The green sacs on the bottom glowed bright, giving its location away from even farther. The creature's bottom tube-like-sacs compressed and released, giving Liz the idea it was some kind of biological breathing mechanism. The green sacs were maybe storage, as they were attached to this tube. She still couldn't get the damn scanner to work on them, as she had tried hours ago. It always came back incomplete. That shell always blocked it.
Soon, they reached a sudden drop-off. A bottomless void showed below. They clearly had reached a large hole of some kind, and they could tell it came back up. The other side was slightly visible. Shawn stopped right before the edge.
"...So uh, what do I do here...?" He asked. Liz could see his reflection glancing around, looking at the void. She did the same, and noticed... floating landmasses? And what were those purple things holding them? They looked like those Floaters she had seen the other day hold rocks up, but they were so large. She also noticed some kind of medium sized fish. It was as big as the Seamoth, like those Sandsharks, but they looked more... boney. They seemed more like they were made of multiple, segmented parts of a shell than one shell or some skin. It had sharp teeth and didn't look friendly.
Markus spoke before Liz did. "I say we go by quick, and once we have a better way to explore, we venture down and take a look." Liz seconded that, and Shawn started driving again. They flew by quickly. As they passed an island, Liz got a look at it up close. Some Fuana had grown on them. Coral bulbs jutted out on top of them while the bottom was covered in three purple masses. She needed to come back to scan it.
The water suddenly grew a bit colder. Liz shivered. The sun was still out, and this planet was clearly in summer, or at least it's own version of it. Why was it so cold?
The PDA spoke on the Comms, saying "Warning: Detecting increase in foreign bacteria in the region. A self-scan is advised." Liz hit the side of the Seamoth, the signal to stop. The seamoth slowed to a pause, and Liz pulled out the scanner. She aimed it at herself and began scanning. A tingle went through her as she did so, and when it was done, the screen glowed red with a bold word "Infected" upon it.
"Self-scan complete. Detecting foreign bacteria within the internal bloodstream. No adverse effects detected. Makeup suggests this bacteria is a possible danger and should be removed as soon as possible. Continuing to monitor."
Liz quickly ran ideas through her head. If it was dangerous, was it a slow progressing infection? Or would it suddenly take effect? How bad was it? Could it kill her? Were Shawn and Markus infected too?
Liz heard another scanner and swam around the seamoth. As she came around, she saw Markus' scanner glowing red too. Shawn climbed out of the seamoth and pulled his out, scanning himself. His was green, and said "Healthy." He hasn't been in the water as long as Markus and Liz were.
"PDA, give us more information on this infection," Liz asked it.
It responded by saying "No data can be allocated on specified infection. Research required to further understand infection strain."
After 10 minutes of pondering and theorizing, they began on their way again. They sped forward, the water whipping buy until they reached a steep incline. Shawn activated the bottom thrusters, taking them upwards. They rose to the surface and took a look up. The island was towering, taller than it seemed physically possible for such a small island. Shawn maneuvered them around the left side, and the beach came into view. Then, towering above the sand was a huge structure. It was a black metal with glowing green lines all over it. It had a huge barrel atop it, aiming straight upwards. The building was like nothing Liz had ever seen before.
"...What the hell is that thing?" Shawn said with disbelief. Liz stammered trying to come up with an answer. It was highly advanced architecture. Nothing in the entire discovered galaxy compared to this. It was even inferior to the large Quantum Fluxation Power Generator that Obraxis Prime uses to power the planet.
They stopped right before the beach and waded towards the island. As they emerged, Liz heard a strange noise. She looked around, and suddenly a creature pounced on her. She let out a scream as it bit into her. Markus ran up as Shawn wasn't out of the water yet. He stabbed it and threw the creature off of Liz. She was stunned and confused, and her chest was in pain.
"Holy shit... you okay Liz?" Markus asked her.
"...Yea... Ow..." She huffed out. She lay there for a moment and caught her breath. Markus ran around, shouting and stabbing at the other creatures. Shawn stood at her side with the creature Markus stabbed and scanned it. After it was done, he threw the body and looked at the PDA. He read out that it was suggested to be called a "Cave Crawler." He read out the info on the eye on its head and its mouth.
Markus walked back to the two as Shawn was finishing. After Shawn was done, Markus said "Hey, that glowing green door needs some kind of key. I took a look at it, and the key was shattered on the ground. I scanned it and got the recipe, but I've never seen some of these ingredients."
Shawn looked back towards the door and said: "Is it a purple glowing key?" Which Markus responded with a yes. "Look up on that ridge." Markus ran over to the glow on a ridge just above the door and picked up some kind of tablet. Liz got up, then She and Shawn walked over to the door. Markus jumped down from the ridge, then placed the tablet in the mechanism that was sitting outside the door. The green glow shimmered, then faded away.
The faclility was opened.
Liz, Markus and Shawn walked through the doorway into the steel corridor. At least it looked like steel, but it was far stronger, and darker in tone. Engraved paths in the wall showed green glows behind. The corridor took a immediate left. Just past was a long corridor, leading to some kind of terminal on the far end. Liz was amazed all of this could exist, as she had never seen anything quite as advanced. Walking down the hallway, it lowered a few feet into some kind of ditch, and she noticed a weird object to the left. A pedestal rose from the ground, atop it was some kind of cube of glowing green energy.
Markus asked Liz: "What the hell is that thing? Some kind of energy source?" Liz pulled out her scanner and took a scan of it. The PDA gave it the simple yet effective name of "Ion Cube." Liz carefully picked it up and inspected it, despite Markus and Shawn warning her to not. She noticed it wasn't very reactive, and took it for later use. They moved forward.
The hallway went back up, leveling out with the rest of the hall. They approached the left turn, reaching the terminal. Liz walked up and attempted to active the interface, but got nothing. Instead, she scanned it and got the specs. The computer was a highly advanced holographic interface computing device, or a HAHICD, as the PDA called it.
When Liz read that out, Shawn said "That's too long, I'ma just stick to 'Computer' thanks." Liz and Markus laughed.
They moved further down the hall, coming up on on a large drop. Weird green energy flowed up and down. They stood there for a second, then the PDA said "The best way to interact with the Facility is to go to the Control Section in the Lower Areas." Liz looked around for stairs before realizing the energy was the stairs. She stepped in, Shawn yelled for a second but stopped when she started floating. Then she shot down fast, slowing to a stop at the bottom. She stepped out calmly and waited. She heard Markus get shoved in, him shout, stop, then scream for a second as he fell downwards. He stumbled and fell flat on his face as he stepped out. Liz laughed and helped him up. Shawn shot down and slowed, reaching the bottom and walked out.
"...What the hell, Shawn." Markus said as Shawn laughed. Liz loved this little bonding they kept having. In front of them was another doorway, but it was already opened. They walked into the room, and it was giant. The room was spanning almost a hundred meters in length, and the center was taken up by a giant moon-pool that could fit a cyclops. To the right, far down the moon-pool at the end, was another doorway, also opened.
Liz, Shawn and Markus made their way to the doorway at the end, entering it. Inside was a platform connected to a large, upward stair complex. To the far right was another door, but Liz was focused on the high area the stairs led to. Walking onto the platform, she noticed another ion cube pedestal and nabbed it. They all walked up the stairs, going up. After a little bit, another purple glow caught Shawn's eye, and he ran over and grabbed the tablet. A weird case was just by it, and as Liz approached, it opened and started beeping, shaking a bit. She scanned it and stepped away. Reading it out, it was apparently a doomsday device that has malfunctioned.
They went up another flight and reached the door to the control room, which the PDA made sure to announce. Shawn opened it with the tablet, the door shimmering away. They entered to find a lit interior, with the main part of the facility being powered by a large beam of ion energy. If they wanted to get off the planet, they would need to disable this.
Liz had come up with the idea that this place was a weapon, and it had shot the Aurora down.
She walked up to the device and scanned the beam of energy. The PDA alerted her it was coming from a separate place, and could be shut off using the console. Markus stepped up to press the button, and as he did, the weird field he stuck his hand through activated. His hand was stuck as he tried to pull it out. Suddenly, a snake-like object came out from the console. A sharp, large needle came out and it stabbed Markus hand. He screamed out in pain, and when the field opened, he stumbled back, falling on the ground cradling his hand. Liz and Shawn ran over to help him out. As they tended to him, the Facility made some weird noises. The PDA announced "The facility is broadcasting a message. Translation reads: 'Warning: Infected individuals may not disable the weapon. This planet is under quarantine.'"
"Come on, we gotta go tell the sunbeam," Shawn said, as they ran out of the room They walked back down the stairs and to the moon-pool. They all flew up the elevator. Shawn was in such a hurry he tripped over the edge of the elevator. They ran out of the building, towards the seamoth, but it was already too late.
"Aurora, survivors, we see you!" Avery's voice said through the PDA.
Markus quickly pulled out the PDA, trying desperately to contact Avery. Shawn ran out onto the beach, waving his arms wildly. Liz, however, just stood there, frozen with horror, as the giant facility seemed to move. The tower up top extended up, facing the sky.
The building began to move again, whipping around to the left, turning counter clockwise. It approached a stop, aiming north-west, high into the air. The building made a large, ominous roar, like a large horn. Then a second time, ending off on a high note.
"Man, I don't know how you held out down there! We've broken atmosphere and we're descending towards the landing site." Avery Quinn said, as the sunbeam came into view. The building began to move slowly, tracking the ship.
Markus screamed out: "IT WON'T WORK! WHY WON'T IT WORK?!" while hitting every button he could. Shawn, who was nearby, was jumping and shaking his arms to try and get their attention. But Liz couldn't move.
"Is that a building down there?! What do you mean you can't identify it?" Avery said in the background, likely talking to his second in command.
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Quinn looked at Brain, concerned, as Brain stared at the building they were descending towards. Something wasn't right. It was almost like it was... aimed at them?
"Hold on, no turning back now." Quinn said, giving himself false confidence. He pressed a few buttons, preparing the landing thrusters.
"Positions everyone!" Quinn yelled out to his crew. "Touching down in 10, 9, 8-" He was cut off by a sudden energy pulse from the building, which threw off the electronics in the ship. Manson screamed, and Brain gasped.
"It's coming from the building?!" Quinn asked Manson, who nodded worryingly. He glanced back, seeing the green cloud seemingly charging up, and yelled "Change course, set thrusters to ful-!" But it was too late. Quinn didn't know what to think, but in the span of a few seconds, a green beam shot out of the building, him and the crew screamed out, and then the ship exploded.
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The wreckage fell out of the sky, falling slowly into the waters. The deafening sound of the weapon's firing echoed in Markus' mind. The PDA had fallen out of his hands, and tears had began to run down the sides of his face. He glanced to the right, seeing Liz frozen in place. He saw Shawn sitting on the ground, head in his hands.
Markus stared out into the ocean, his mind blank except for the sound. His head ached.
He stood there for almost an hour before he felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked to his left, where Shawn had approached from his back. He looked tired, dried water stains traced from his eyes down to his chin. His eyes glistened with wet tears that had just stopped. Shawn said "...Come on Markus. Let's head back to the lifepod." He tugged lightly at Markus' shoulder. Markus followed him back to the Seamoth. Liz, who had unfrozen after a few minutes, grabbed some of the plants and got in the Seamoth.
The day had shifted to the middle of the night. When they stepped in the water, the freezing almost stabbed into Markus' legs. He went under, feeling the pricking of the ice cold water... or maybe those were the chills rolling down his spine.
He grabbed the side wing of the Seamoth, holding it tight. The seamoth backed from the beach and shot forward, down towards the south. The trip let Markus collect his thoughts.
As they whipped over the islands suspended in the air, a snarl rang out from nearby. Shawn screamed out as the seamoth rocked. Markus quickly let go and came around the side as it slowed. Shawn was swimming wildly, a cloud of red emitting from his stomach. Markus rushed over to Shawn, noticing one of those bone-like fish they saw earlier swimming away. Shawn had his knife sinking next to him while he cradled his chest. Markus quickly nabbed him and swam back to the Seamoth, hold his chest tight despite the screams. It horrified Markus, but he had to stay... generally calm, even if he was freaking out.
"Liz! I got him, we gotta go back fast!" Markus yelled into the comms as he grabbed the side, clutching Shawn's chest in his free arm. Liz, without saying anything, went full throttle. They speed towards the other edge of the abyss, and rose over the kelp. They flew quickly, passing by the Grassy Pleatue, zipping around the Shallows, and coming to a stop at the lifepod. Markus let go of the Seamoth the moment they got there, and before Liz had even gotten out herself, he was dragging Shawn into the lifepod through the bottom hatch. Markus took off Shawn's diver mask, Laying him gently on the ground. Shawn coughed weakly, losing his strength, so Markus stood up and grabbed a health kit from the health fabricator.
Markus opened it, grabbing the alcohol and the bandages. He looked at Shawn and said "Look man, this is gonna hurt a lot. Just stay calm." Liz climbed in behind him as he moved Shawn's hands from his chest. Markus dabbed the Alcohol on the edges of the wound, then bandaged it. He applied pressure, checking over and over if Shawn was still breathing. Soon, when he was sure Shawn was okay, he stopped and sat down in the seat next to the passed out friend of his on the floor. Liz sat on the floor next to him, waiting for her brother to wake up. Markus looked at Liz and said "...well today has been shit."
Expect next chapter later today or tommorow!
Liz woke up the next morning.
She rubbed her eyes, bent her stiff legs, and turned over. She placed her hands on the ground, pushed herself up, and stood. Markus was passed out in the chair, and Shawn was lying asleep on the ground nearby. He had woken up just before she passed out last night. He was delirious and confused, so she told him to get more rest. He certainly did, as the light gave Liz the idea it was around midday.
Liz slowly crept up the ladder and out the hatch, then dived off the lifepod into the water. She always slept in her wetsuit, just in case she needed to go grab some food or just clear her mind.
She swam over to a little ravine full of fish, nabbing a few. She picked up some salt, and the PDA alerted her "blueprint unlocked: Bleach." She checked the blueprints tab, and it said she needed some salt and a coral tube sample. She swam back up to the surface, grabbed some air, and dived to a coral tube just under the lifepod. She cut out a few chunks and nabbed them.
Liz went up for air, then dived again. She noticed some plants that the boys hadn't scanned yet. She propelled toward them, whipping out her scanner as she approached them. The PDA identified them as "Writhing Weeds." They were blue plants that simply wiggled in the water. She grabbed some of the Acid Mushrooms, then smashed a small limestone outcrop on the side of the little cliff. She grabbed the copper that fell out and swam back to the lifepod.
She climbed into a conversation. Markus was in the middle of a sentence: "...Getting down south would help us explore more area, and we could go see that other distant island." He nodded to Liz and continued. "We know there is one there, and that message I just got came from nearby confirms it. They said to rendezvous on a landmass south of here. I want to go down to explore that lifepod, but it we would need better equipment. To do that, we need some more Seamoths, some better Diving Equipment, and some depth modules."
Shawn spoke up, saying "Okay, the Seamoth and the Air-tanks are easy. Where the hell do we get a Depth Module?" He scrolled through his PDA. "There's no recipe on here for it!" Shawn glanced up at Liz, and Markus looked at her.
"If you were to ask me, we'd need to get onto the Aurora and grab one from a seamoth bay." She said. There was silence for a few seconds before she continued. "Yea, it's risky. But one thing is for certain, which is that there has to be a single intact seamoth bay, if not more. I am sure we'll find a Depth Module in there somewhere!" The boys stayed silent for a few seconds, pondering the idea.
"Well, we don't even know how destroyed the place is." Shawn mentioned. "We've never gone up close to it. For all we know, the entire hull could have collapsed down on the front and blocked the entire interior."
Markus spoke up: "So what we need to do is start by sending a scout to the Aurora. We can send another to grab materials for the air tanks and the scuba masks. I can work on the Seamoths. Who wants to go to the Aurora?"
Liz's hand shot up instantly. Shawn glanced at her curiously. "I want to see some Alterra tech. I also want to take notes on the ship." She said.
"Well okay, lets do this." Liz got to take the seamoth to get to the Aurora, as they had never been close. She started zooming towards the Aurora, but before too long, she heard her suit make clicking sounds, and her vision became slightly hazy. Radiation. She backed out of it and headed back to the lifepod, calling in her issue on the comms. Markus said the Radiation suit unlocked when the Aurora exploded, so she checked through the blueprints. She saw what she needed and diverted her course to the lifepod, instead heading to the Kelp Forest. She approached some of the plant, cut out a few chunks.
She went back to the lifepod, hopped out of the Seamoth and climbed into the lifepod through the bottom hatch. She opened the container that was near the Fabricator. Inside was some basic materials, including a few lead. She nabbed two chunks and placed them into the Fabricator. She tapped a button, and a holographic display appeared in front of her. She selected the Personal option, and the hologram extended to show two more options, Equipment and Tools. Liz selected Equipment, and it extended yet again, showing all possible Equipment. She selected the Radiation Suit, and the Hologram closed. The items on the fabricator table slowly deconstructed, then assembled into a radiation suit. First the suit, then the gloves, and finally the helmet. She put it all on, setting her scuba mask down on the chair next to the fabricator. she took off her wetsuit, then slipped into the the radiation suit. She pulled the gloves on and attached the helmet to her suit, and hooked up the air-tanks.
She jumped down the bottom hatch, swam over to her seamoth, and got inside. The comms in her headset buzzed with Shawn's voice, who said "Okay, so the good news is I found some good materials. The bad news is those damn fish from inside those plants really dislike me down here. Gonna need to patch up my leg, it's singed a bit." Liz stared
Markus asked: "You need me to come back and give you one?" To which he got a no. Liz gunned down to the side of the Aurora, reaching it in a matter of 2 minutes. She turned left, heading north-west along the side of the ship. She came up on a destroyed wreck. Liz took note of the location, the moved on. She reached a ravine, just before the area she saw just plain sand in. The water up ahead was much more murky. She went over the ravine, heading into the murky waters. As she entered, she noticed a lot more wreckage and debris. Metal scrap laid stuck in the sand. Some parts were buried in a bit of sand. The side of the Aurora was blotchy and broken. She sped forward, noticing the Stalkers and Sandsharks as they rustled in the sand, catching some of the remaining small fish.
she approached the front, where the sand seemed to start sloping down. An ominous sound echoed from a distance. To her right, the metal frame was destroyed enough to give her room to get inside. She piloted the seamoth into the destroyed hull of the Aurora, then looked around. Below her was destroyed floors and levels, rubble and debris everywhere. She surfaced the sub, and looked up.
She was looking at the body of the ship, burning and falling apart before her eyes.
The hull rumbled and shook, emitting a loud groan. Debris cascaded down from the stories above. The flames stood tall, engulfing many of the stories, causing the exploded ship to emit a heavy orange glow. "The PDA Announced "Warning: Ship's structural integrity is low. Laser Cutters and Fire Suppression Equipment may be required to progress."
Liz stared up into the mess and decay above her. Another groan rang out, and a large chunk of a story above broke off. Liz activated the sideways thrusters, jolting right just as the large debris crushed the area she was just in. The place was highly unstable, so she needed to be careful. She looked a little way north, where a wall jutted out from the rest of the destroyed front. A floor had collapsed into the water, and another one on top of it, making a debris ramp.
"Hey, Markus and Shawn, I'm here, and uh, I've got some good news and some bad news." She said, spawning some questions on what it was. "The good news is there is a ramp, and I'll follow it up to see if there's a way in. The bad news is the ship is highly unstable, so we would likely need a way to move large amounts of debris."
"Hey, well, we used Propulsion Cannons is the Cargo Bays to move containers to unreachable areas," Markus responded.
"Got it, thanks. I'll search the wreckage for some. I'm gonna go up the ramp and see what's up there." Liz said. After they agreed, Liz piloted the seamoth over to the ramp. She got out right at the bottom, jumping into the water. The first thing she noticed was the little Cave Crawlers, crawling all over the wreck. They seemed to have taken a home to the flaming hull. She walked up the ramp, avoiding them, reaching a flatter section. The ramp continued to the right where another floor had collapsed. Just before the second ramp, there was a Vac-Pac, as Markus called them. He said he found some with water in a wreck the other day.
Opening the pack, she found a medical aid kit inside. She continued up the ramp, reaching another right turn as the floor leveled out. Two more Vac-Pacs laid spread out across the ground. Opening them yielded a Battery and a Power Cell. She radioed into Markus he didn't need to get materials for one, and he radioed back an okay. She kept walking down the floor, reaching a wall. She looked to her right, and a large piece of debris was suspended by some steel beams from the floor. The part was quite slender, looking weak and unstable. She had to cross it.
Taking a step out, she could feel it wasn't too stable. She took another, now fully standing on it. She crept down it, heading towards the end. The ship suddenly groaned, shaking the debris she was standing on. A chunk of the floor above her bent and fell off, just missing the suspended debris and smashing into the water below. The shaking slowed to a stop, and Liz continued to creep on. She reached the very end and stepped down onto an outcrop of the floor. She walked to the remaining floor. To the right, debris and wreckage blocked any possible rooms, flames enforcing it. In front of her, after a long hall, was a doorway, flames engulfing it. Before she got to it, she reached another Vac-Pac. At the base of it was a fire extinguisher, which she grabbed. She opened the Vac-Pac, taking another med-kit out.
Liz approached the door, pulling the fire extinguisher to her side. She aimed it at the flames and held the trigger. She sprayed the fires down until she could make it through the door. The Aurora groaned another time, and she heard a large splash outside.
She walked down the hall, fires to her left and right. At the end was a T-Junction. On the left, the floor had collapsed downwards into another hallway. The door across the chasm was flaming. To her right, another long hallway leading to a room. But in front of her laid a smashed open crate, with a PDA and a Propulsion Cannon. She Picked up the Propulsion Cannon with her left hand, then pulled her scanner out and scanned it with her right. As soon as it was done, she placed the shattered fragment onto the ground, then picked up the PDA. She plugged it into hers and transmitted the only un-corrupted message left on it. She placed the PDA down on top of the box, then opened hers. She went to the Databank and opened the section she had set to Aurora Survivors. She found the message and played it.
"Exiting sleep mode. Loading voice recognition. Engineer Berkeley and Chief Technology Officer Yu identified." Spoke a robotic voice.
A young man, likely Berkeley, spoke up. "Drone, get me a propulsion cannon."
A noise of a crate opening and a device activating was heard, then the drone said: "Repulsion cannon retrieved"
"Hey, Berkeley! Install that circuit box with that repulsion cannon and you'll punch a hole in the cargo bay." A women voice said. That had to be CTO Yu.
Berkeley seemed annoyed at this. "Damnit, drone, I said PRO-pulsion, not RE-pulsion. Recalibrate sensors!" He said angrily.
"Sensors recalibrated," the drone announced.
"Sensors aren't the problem," explained Yu. "I tweaked the program. It's like you now, it doesn't like being told what to do." Liz could almost hear the grin on her face.
Berkeley sighed, then said, "Drone, I know-"
"His name's Albert now," mentioned Yu, cutting him off.
Berkeley sighed again, then restarted. "Albert. I know it's not your fault, but it would really help me do my job if you'd bring me what I asked for. Thanks for your time."
The drone, Albert, seemed to place back the Repulsion Cannon and grabbed another device. "Propulsion cannon retrieved."
Berkeley exhaled, then said: "Thank you. Now go away."
Albert seemed to be heard heading down the hall, then a noise was heard. From a distance, he said: "Entering hibernation mode."
After a few seconds, Berkeley spoke up. "Boss, this hobby of yours isn't making my job any easier. Or safer."
"Maybe so, but it's all that's stopping me from being so bored I take a spacewalk in my skivvies," Yu said.
The recording cut and Liz put away her PDA. She had just absorbed a ton of information. She turned to her left, looking down the destroyed hallway. Downwards lead directly to the Cargo bay, as the signs said. The problem was large crates blocked the hall, and she needed a Propulsion Cannon to get through. Instead, she turns around. Down the hall was debris to her left and right with a doorway at the end. She walked towards the door and used the remaining juice in the extinguisher to put out the fire blocking the door and entered the room.
To her right, a table held a PDA on it. Liz grabbed it and transmitted it. She read it in her head:
So here we are, finally, in open space. We crossed the galaxy to install a phasegate, to send ships to mine resources, to build more expensive ships, to install fancier phasegates... Are we trying to exhaust the galaxy or just ourselves?
18.06 - Yu's birthday
40 - Weeks before we get home
400 - Weeks it feels like before we get home
Not enough - Credits Alterra's paying me
1454 - Cargo bay code
She needed to keep a note on the Cargo Bay code so she could get in. She turned back, walked out of the hall, and headed out to the destroyed exterior of the ship. As she walked down towards the debris to get back across, the ship rumbled again. She heard metal bend, but nothing fell down aside from two scrap metal parts. She began to walk across, heading down to the end. She stepped onto the large debris that created the walkway.
As soon as she reached halfway, a sudden jolt as the ship rumbled shook the bar. She screeched in surprise. Her foot slipped to the side, and before she knew it, she had both arms clinging for her life on the bar. She struggled to pull herself up, attempting to raise her arm high enough to get a better grip. Instead, her right arm slipped off, leaving only her left to cling onto the bar. She managed to use a kink in it to get a better grip, holding herself long enough to grip the bar with her other arm. She raised her leg, pulling it as high as she could. She managed to get it up to the bar, then pulled herself up. She stood, shaking from her near-death moment, and slowly crept forward. She reached the other end, then began to walk down the sloped ramp.
Liz reached the first left turn on her way down, but before she could start walking down, one of the Cave Crawlers jumped at her. It landed on her chest and left shoulder, gripping on. The force knocked Liz on her side, and she rolled down the ramp. She managed to get her knife out and try and take a jab at the cave crawler, but she hit a bump on her roll down, knocking the thing off. She tumbled into a pile of wreckage and felt something pierce her leg. She screamed in pain, jolting into a fetal position in an attempt to comfort her leg. The pain was blinding her, her senses all off. She couldn't hear anything but her own sobs. The blur of fire, scuttling, and screeching cave crawlers were almost impossible to make out. Her vision blurred, and her conscience drifted away.
She let out one last, quiet sob before she lost conscience.
Radio silence had been going for a while, and it was worrying Shawn to death. Markus was busy finding stuff, but it had been over an hour without Liz having a check-in, making Shawn really nervous, but he didn't want to radio in for a stupid reason. She would have said something if she was in trouble, right? He had just surfaced after the last materials dive, and was swimming back to the lifepod. He climbed inside and walked to the fabricator. He laid out twelve quartz on it, opened the hologram, and selected materials. He then selected basic materials. He chose quartz, and the quartz deconstructed in groups of two and reconstructed into glass. He ended up with 6 glass, so he then places some titanium and silver on the fabricator. He placed the three air-tanks he had, the went into the Personal section. He selected Equipment, and then picked the High Capacity Air Tank. Slowly, it deconstructed all the items on the base of the fabricator, then reconstructed them into three Higher Capacity Oxygen Tanks.
He then laid some more materials: a few more silver and some Creepvine samples. Selecting Materials and Basic Materials again, he picked the Fiber Mesh. The creepvine was deconstructed, then the fiber mesh appeared. Afterward, he backed out into Materials, then entered Electronics. He selected the Wiring Kit. The silver deconstructed then formed into a clean circuit box assembly kit full of wiring. He backed out to the menu, then entered Personal, then Equipment. He selected a Rebreather, and the wiring kit and fiber mesh deconstructed and assembled three Rebreathers.
Finally, he brought out his Creepvine Seed Pods, placing them on the fabricator. He opened Materials, then Basic, and selected the Silicone Rubber. The seeds slowly formed the rubber. He backed out, then went into Personal and Equipment one last time. He selected flippers, and the rubber deconstructed. It reformed into the flippers, and he was done. He placed the extra equipment in the storage of the lifepod.
He flipped on his comms then spoke into the mic in his mask. "Okay guys, we've got all the supplies done back here. You good Markus?"
"Yea, I'm good for now," he replied.
"Okay, how about you Liz?" Shawn asked. Silence.
He waited almost a full minute before Markus spoke up: "Uh, Shawn, maybe you should go check on them? I left a seaglide in the storage." Shawn opened the container and pulled out the seaglide. He climbed down the bottom hatch, then began to head towards the Aurora. By the time he was halfway, the comms crackled in his ear as though a damaged voice recorder had joined.
Then he heard one, quiet whimper through it: "...help..."
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Liz's vision came back to her, as though she were waking from a nightmare. Her head throbbed intensely, her breathing weak. Her vision was so blurry, she could barely make out the steel floor from the fire upon it. Her leg was in so much pain she couldn't even render it in her mind. It was almost like being numb while still feeling the pain. Her mind flew from thing to thing, thinking of ways to help herself. She couldn't move her arms much. One was pinned under debris when she came tumbling down, the other felt like she was raising a full metal chunk even though it wasn't stuck.
Her strength was diminishing by the minutes. She found breathing became difficult. Her head throbbed harder and harder. She looked left and right, looking at the blurs, trying to make out something she could use to help her. Anything. She attempted to move, getting about a centimeter off the ground before slipping back down. She let out a cry of pain. Her leg, which was still trapped on the metal spike, wasn't moving at all. Her other leg was almost paralyzed, impossible to move aside from a few millimeters. Her whimpers were quiet as she laid there, trying to find another way to get out of this.
She thought about her medkits and used her good arm to painstakingly reach for her back before realizing a problem. Her waterproof backpack had fallen off when she was tumbling down. She whimpered a curse with her silent sobs.
The ship suddenly shook, causing the metal in her leg to shift. She shouted in pain as a large chunk of the roof fell off nearby.
Liz looked at her mask, which had shattered on the ground just a little ways away. She extended her arm towards it, coming up just a few centimeters short. She tried to lean forward, but she felt pressure on her arm. She had to go for it. She extended her arm just a little more, bending slightly forward. She nabbed it but heard the sound of metal shifting. A sudden impact crushed her arm, causing her to scream out. She sobbed as she pulled the mask closer, then tapped it a few times before she hit the button. She whimpered for a second before she finally got her voice: "...help..." is all she could muster.
Instantly, she heard a voice, scrambled and garbled. "Li- *static* -are yo- *static* -at!?" asked the voice. She couldn't get her voice to work. Instead, all that came out was another silent sob. She tried and tried to speak, but her voice wasn't there. It was as if her voicebox was crushed, which it could be. She struggled one more time to move, her vision blurring and her senses breaking. Liz fell back down, her energy fading. She let out a singled whimper, then she passed out.
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Shawn set the seaglide to the maximum speed and gunned it down the side of the Aurora. His heart was pumping. He and Markus kept trying to ask her, but they never heard a full response. The comms either got Liz whimpering or got her sobs. Then silence, and that's when Shawn lost it. He focused on nothing more than getting on the ship. As soon as he found an opening in the hull, he entered. The entire thing shook violently, a large chunk of the roof bending just above him. He gunned it to the large ramp he noticed, likely the one Liz was talking about. He approached it, noticing the seamoth parked to his left. As he stepped out of the water, a Cave Crawler sprung up, almost getting him. Shawn whipped out his second knife Markus had given him and swung when it pounced again. He hit it over to the side, then felt a pierce on his back. He grunted, whipped around and dodged a second Cave Crawler. He ran up and stabbed it, killing it. The first one pounced on him, and he managed to stab it as it landed.
Shawn spastically looked around for his sister. He looked at the ramp, noticing her backpack lying there. She ran over to it, searching it for any idea where she might have gone. He looked up the ramp, noticing a bit of blood near the top. He looked at the middle of the ramp. More blood. He looked down where the trail lead, noticing a pile of rubble with a lot of blood on the metal, and a person under it.
He bolted over, lifting a few pieces of debris to reveal his sister. Before he even took a good look, he got on his knees and listened to her mouth. She was breathing, but weakly. He took a step back, taking a look at her. Her face was bashed up, her mouth torn at the top and her face scratched to hell. One arm was pinned under some more debris, looking too heavy to move. Her other arm was just in reach of her shattered mask. Her legs...
Shawn stared at them for a second to comprehend what was going on. Her left leg was extended out, unharmed aside from a few scratches. Her right leg, however, had a sharp chunk of metal salvage sticking right through it. The bleeding had mostly stopped, but the amount of blood there left Shawn feeling sick. He tried to look away from the leg and focus on getting her off of it without hurting her.
He knew he had to get her arm out from under the debris first. It looked bent in a bad way, indicating it had crushed her arm. He walked over to the debris, trying to stay calm. He slowly pulled it upwards until he had enough space to move her arm, then picked the arm up and placed it on her other side. Thank god she was out cold. He then placed the debris back down, spurring the fire that had risen just near her. Shawn then focused on her leg. He needed a med-kit. Turning around, he bolted to her backpack. Inside was a bunch of batteries and a few power cells, as well as two med-kits. He grabbed one and quickly ran back, checking her breathing again.
He opened the med-kit, taking out the bandages and a few other medicinal items. He took a look at her leg, the grabbed it. He heard her breathing break for a second. He had to be quick. He slowly took a grip on her leg, holding it tight. He braced himself, taking a deep breath. He pulled, and her leg came off the metal debris. Her breathing became faster, and Shawn quickly grabbed some of the healing chemicals in the med-kit. Her leg was bleeding - and quick. He had to hurry. He quickly wrapped the bandages as a temporary healing measure, then quickly rummaged around, looking for metal and scrap. He grabbed a few wires, and a few ties and wraps later, he had a weak, makeshift splint. he quickly placed her bloody leg into the splint, tightening it to hold the leg tighter. He slowly pulled her out of the debris pile, careful not to get her caught on any of the Debris.
"I've got her, Markus," Shawn said, his voice shaky and weak. Markus asked questions, but Shawn cut him off: "Give me time and I'll explain." He picked her up as high as he could, to where her feet dragged across the ground. He held her by putting his arms under her shoulders, dragging her as he walked backward. He walked down the ramp, dragging her with him to the seamoth. He opened the hatch on top and set Liz inside, giving her enough room to not get hurt. He then climbed in and sat bunched up on the other side to fit them both in, as well as not hit her arm or leg. He slowly accelerated the seamoth towards the large space between the hull support beams. He tried to keep the ride smooth as they went back down south of the ship, trailing the side through the wreckage and debris in the water. They reached the turning point and faced more west. The went towards the lifepod.
Liz was still out cold, and Shawn kept checking her breathing over and over again. It was starting to steady out, but still very weak. Her leg wasn't looking any better, and her right arm was far limper than it should be, which he needed to make a cast for as soon as they got back to the lifepod.
The seamoth approached the Lifepod, and Shawn quickly climbed out. He dragged his sister out slowly into the water, then swam up to the hatch. He climbed in, then pulled Liz up. She had started to quietly whimper, giving him the idea she was slightly conscious, although not fully. He laid her down on the ground, giving her a large space to lay. He quickly grabbed some of the excess titanium from the storage, then threw them into the fabricator. He went to Personal, then to Equipment. He selected the "Cast" which was an Alterra Cast. The titanium reformed into a Cast for her arm. He then re-opened Personal and Equipment and selected "Splint." Yet again, the titanium deconstructed into atoms that constructed back into the Alterra Splint. He grabbed them and slowly pulled down her splint, taking it off her leg. He then took a moment to unwrap the bandage and check the wound. It was still quite wet and bloody, but the blood had stopped pumping out for the most part. He re-applied the bandage and got to work with the splint.
He slowly placed the split under her leg, allowing the rod he used to straighten her leg to extend to fully up. Liz whimpered as he adjusted it, making him go even slower. He finished lining it up, so then he slowly brought the front around and clipped it together, holding her leg tightly. He then moved to her arm, adjusting the cast to fit her arm shape. He then made sure it was bent in the correct way. Shawn placed it on her arm the same way he placed the splint on, by lifting the arm and placing it under. He made some adjustments, then he slowly clipped it together. He made sure everything was in place, then grabbed some minor bandages out of a med-kit from the fabricator. He bandaged some open wounds and slashes, as well as her torn lip.
Shawn sat down on the ground next to her, then quickly checked her breath. Weak, but better. He let out a sigh of relief. He leaned against the wall, his eyes shut, sweat dripping off his body. A sudden sigh from nearby jolted him. He looked over at Markus, who had entered at some point during the operation. He was sitting on the storage container, looking at Shawn and Liz. Shawn slowly laid back onto the wall, tired. The adrenaline rush he had was fading away. His mind faded slowly until he fell asleep.
(EDIT: Fixed Shawn to not have an ugly Bowl-Cut.)
(EDIT 2: Edited the hair to look more natural, Fixed his eyes to seem less odd, made him look more stern than surprised, enhanced aged look, and made him look less like his head was shaped like an upside-down egg.)
Markus slowly opened his eyes, taking in all the light slowly. His head lifted up from resting on his legs, his back cracking from the stiff position he slept in. Across the lifepod was Liz, who was awake lying against the wall, slowly nibbling on a Cooked Peeper. Shawn wasn't in the lifepod which gave Markus the impression he was out gathering food and materials.
Markus stretch, yawning as he did so. Liz glanced up at him, then looked back down and continued eating. Her bites were small, chewing weakly. She was using one arm, her other stuck curved across her chest in a cast. One of her legs was outstretched with a splint attached while the other was bent up against her. Her face was bloody. Cuts were all around her face, including a slash on her nose and a large slit on her mouth that looked painful. Her suit was torn in a few places, patched with a few bandages that covered them. He could see red under them, giving him the impression she was bleeding.
Markus turned around to the storage container he had been resting on and opened it. He looked inside, then grabbed his PDA out. He didn't always have it on him since he could hear the PDA over the comms. He checked the Data Bank, then went to recent. Inside was a few more entries, located in Alterra Tech, then The Aurora. Inside was a structural analysis, which detailed the state of the Aurora. It mentioned how the Aurora was still collapsing, and many fires still burned. The interior, however, was still intact, as it detailed the first hallway that was enterable. At the bottom, the editor, Liz, labeled that it needed revisions due to the damaged arm and it being hard to type.
Markus moved onto the next one, which was the Aurora Radiation Levels Analysis. Shawn had mentioned he quickly made one before swimming out to find Liz, but Markus hadn't realized the area was coated in radiation. Liz had detailed that Radiation was higher towards the holes and the hull of the ship. The radiation was caused during the Aurora's falling, as a shot had gone through the floor and hit the roof connections above. This caused leaking of the radioactive fluids and the cooling systems, causing both Radiation Leaks and a large scale Heat Meltdown. The Drive Core heated quickly, and in the span of a few days, the heat rose in the surrounding area. The interior area was sealed off in a emergency lockdown triggered by the automatic systems when the Drive Core was shot. The heat caused pressure to build, leading to a combustion point and alighting the whole ship.
He kept glancing through them, looking for spelling errors and other issues to fix for Liz. Some words had been misspelled, which the Auto-Correct helped him find. He was able to find a few sections that had a missing word or two. He checked everything he could, making sure they were as good as he could possibly get them. He saved it, then turned off the PDA. He placed it on his lap, then let out a deep sigh. His eyes drifted around the room, from the light to the fabricator, then the chair. His eyes ended up on Liz, looking at her arm. It laid across her chest in a cast. He wondered how he could help get it to heal. After a little bit, he noticed she was looking back at him. Her eyebrow was raised, but she seemed to not be confused or mad. She was just curious, maybe?
Liz giggled, then weakly asked: "Whatcha lookin' at?" She leaned forward into a straight position, cracking her back as she did. A small whimper came out, but she didn't seem hurt.
"Oh, I'm just worried about your arm." Replied Markus.
Liz looked down at it, letting out a sigh. "...It hurts, but it'll heal. I hope, anyways." She managed. She adjusted it, her breath sharpening as she did. She slowly laid back against the wall, resting herself. She breathed out slowly. Her head slumped against the wall and her eyes glanced up to the sky outside the hatch on the roof.
The sky wasn't blue, it was gray. The sky was cloudy, hinting at a storm. The Lifepod's weather display, which was on the screen above the container, said it was overcast with a 70% chance of rain. The wind was clearly blowing as the lifepod softly rocked in the waves. Markus, enticed by the outside, said "I'll... be right back." He slowly began to climb up the ladder, pushing open the hatch. His hair blew back softly in the wind. The sprinkles of the rain and the water blowing from the ocean cooled it town. The waves were small but rocked the lifepod back and forth. The gray sky was so calming. Markus laid atop the lifepod, staring into the clouds, immersed in thought.
After a while, Markus heard some movement from inside the lifepod. He flipped over, placing his arms on the ground and pushed outward, then lifted himself with his legs. He opened the Hatch and climbed back inside to find Shawn crouched next to Liz, checking her leg, which was pretty well visible, even with the splint on it. Liz glanced at Markus, nodded, then looked back at Shawn. Shawn was focused, but nodded when Markus said hi.
"Hey Markus, I had just finished with all the equipment before I ran off. Yours is in the container." Shawn said, not taking his eyes off the leg. Markus turned and stepped towards the container. He lifted the top open, then reached inside, grabbing his Rebreather, Oxygen Tank, Flippers, and an extra knife. His last one broke fighting off a stalker while searching for seamoth supplies. He opened the bottom hatch of the lifepod, waved goodbye to his fellow survivors, and hopped out.
He turned towards the surface a little ways away and started swimming. He had the materials he needed for two more seamoths, which he was gonna make for Liz and Shawn. He reached the constructor. Markus swam upward, surfacing and grabbing the ladder to climb aboard. He slowly climbed up it out of the water, then stood atop the floating platform. He moved slightly forward, towards a small stand. To his sides, four small hatches opened and four little drones armed with a constructor turret flew out, hovering just above him. The little motors of the blades they flew on hummed lightly. Markus opened the interface and selected the option for a seamoth. The drones whirred to life, moving outwards for a few seconds. They stopped around 10 meters away, and began building. Slowly, the form of a Seamoth took form. The metal glowed as it formed into a working vehicle. The finished Seamoth dropped into the water, smashing into it and sinking under for a few seconds before floating in place. Markus dived toward it and hopped in once he got close. He entered it, the quickly activated the right thrusters to shoot him left. He let go after a couple of seconds, then hopped out and climbed back onto the floating platform. He opened the console again, and selected the same option as before. Yet again, the drones moved to the same spot and began to build Another seamoth formed slowly. Right when it finished, it dropped down again. Both seamoths were finally finished.
Markus jumped off of the platform and plunged into the waters. He swam over to his seamoth, the one he had come in, and opened the top hatch. He hopped inside, closing the hatch above him. He pressed the ignition button, then began speeding back towards the lifepod. As he pulled up to it, he cut the engines and climbed out. He swam up to the underside of the lifepod, then opened the hatch. He climbed inside, his wetsuit dripping onto the superplastic floors. Liz was still lying down in the corner, but Shawn had sat down on the chair with his PDA. He was reading some of the entries Liz had made. Markus walked over and sat down on the floor beside Liz. She glanced over at him with a smile.
She managed to say "...Hey Markus..." and she let out a weak cough. She reached to her side and grabbed a water bottle, then pulled it to her lips and slowly poured it into her mouth. She gulped the water down in intervals, all weak. After a few seconds, she moved the bottle away, capped it, and set it back down at her side.
After a few seconds of silence, Markus spoke up. "Okay, so both seamoths are finished. I'll use the one we already had, and the other two I left parked at the Constructor. That'll get us more mobility and let us search further alone. The comms system is fully working, and I have some things I want to investigate, so I'll head out and go check it out. If you guys decide to look for supplies or search wrecks or something, the seamoths are where I left them."
As he stood up, Shawn mentioned "I'll probably be going to grab some more supplies in a minute, so I'll go grab mine in about 10 minutes." Markus nodded, and he walked over to the other side of the lifepod. He opened the bottom hatch and jumped out. He then swam over to his seamoth and climbed inside. He clicked the engine button, aimed south and began to move forward, picking up speed. He made sure the coordinates were correct, and shot towards Officer Keen's Lifepod.
EDITORS NOTES:
- Sorry for the more downtime, I'll try and get back to the meat of Subnautica in the upcoming chapters.
- Next I'll do a short-story chapter the chapter Twenty Two.
- Love you all who are still reading this, thank you so much for the support.
- Oh, one last thing. In this version of the story, I may change some things that may be considered cannon as Below Zero rolls out. I may do a series similar to this story for that game.
Love ya all!
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Lifepod 19 and Officer Keen:
Keen bolted as quick as he could, running past the fires and sparks that were shooting everywhere around him. He quickly took a left, running into the lifepod bay. He ran over to his rooms lifepod, Lifepod 19. He opened the hatch and climbed in, but halfway down the ladder, the whole ship shook as another explosion rang out. He fell off the ladder, letting out a grunt. He quickly pushed himself off the ground, stood straight, and ran over to the seats. He sat down and tapped the launch button.
Almost instantly, the lifepod released. He felt it rumble as it spiraled into the atmosphere. Keen's eyes glanced up at the hatch above, where the Aurora kept coming in and out of view. He quickly opened the hand interface and clicked the voice operation system. He quickly set it to allow incoming transmitions.
Immediately, he got a incoming message. A voice, the Captain's, came through the speakers of the Radio system. "Keen! This is Aurora, come in!"
Keen quickly responded. "This is Keen, lifepod detached okay..." He glanced at the Lifepod Screen, which gave an ETA. "...Planetfall in 30 seconds!"
"The computer has identified a landmass at the attached coordinates! I want you to regroup the crew there!" The captain told him.
"Understood, but-" Keen was cut off by the Captain.
"They're your responsibility now, don't let them down!" The Captain instructed him.
Keen quickly said "Captain, you need to evacuate!"
The Captain responded with: "Negative, you'll need the ship in one piece if you're going to contact HQ on the long-range. I'm attempting a controlled descent." Suddenly, a large green flash erupted outside of the lifepod, which Keen got a glance of as he was spiraling. Keen heard the explosion and the Captain let out a yell.
"Captain?!" Keen yelled as the sound continued to decay. After a few more seconds, the sounds stopped and the radio went silent. He no longer heard the captain, but he saw the bridge on fire and burning through the hatch.
Then the gravity hit. The lifepod began to rumble as he entered the atmosphere. The hatch on top showed the re-entry flames engulfing the lifepod as it fell through the ozone. The air was running thin.
Keen tried and tried to focus, but the world faded around him. The last thing he saw before he lost conscious was the blaring red lights of the lifepod.
An hour passed.
Keen's head ached, and his mind was jumbled. The lifepod was quietly groaning around him, and a small leak in the roof was dripping in water. He pressed the sensors on his chair, but nothing happened. The power of the lifepod was offline. Keen tried to lift the bar, which gave way surprisingly easy. He stumbled out of the chair, almost falling onto the floor. Keen straightened himself, gained his balance, and inspected his situation. He was clearly underwater, but he had no clue how far down. The lifepod was leaking, and with no power, the lifepod would be flooded within another hour. The oxygen would run out within another twenty minutes or so according to calculations. The power must've gone out only minutes before.
Keen walked over to the container in his lifepod and popped it open. Sitting inside was a wetsuit, a scuba mask, and a oxygen tank. There was also a rebreather and some flippers. He quickly undressed his officer uniform, the slipped into the wetsuit, then put on the flippers. He strapped the scuba mask onto his head, then added the Rebreather. he equiped the oxygen tank, and made sure to do some pre-swim checks. He made sure everything was secure and connected.
He walked over to the radio and activated it, recording a message to be broadcast.
"This is Officer Keen of Lifepod 19. The Captain is gone. I have assumed command." Sweat dripped down his face. "The last thing the Captain did was give me coordinates for Dry Land. We re-group one and a half kilometers south of the crash site. Stay together and good luck. This message will now repeat." He stopped the recording and set it to broadcast on a loop. He then pulled out his PDA, attached a thumb-drive to it, and wrote a small note for anyone who may attempt to come find him. He placed the drive on the chair, and he then walked over to the ladder. Smoke was rising from the wall panel. Keen began to climb the ladder, but suddenly, the wall pannel exploded outward. The ladder collapsed and the wall blew open. Keen let out a shout as the water tumbled in, taking him by surprise. The lifepod flooded quickly, giving keen little time to escape. As the water stabilized, Keen quickly swam out the hatch. He the swam upwards as fast as he could.
Either it was night, or Keen was very far down. The surface was impossible to see. Keen pushed further, his oxygen reaching halfway before he even saw a little bit of distant light. He gunned it, breathing heavily. His lungs burned as the oxygen ran thin. His vision wavered as he approached the ocean surface. He burst above the water and quickly took a heavy breath, the coughed. He turned around and looked at the Aurora, the large ship was crashed into the ocean with flames still rising from it. Keen stared in amazement for almost a whole minute before managing to tear himself away from the wreck and swim to the large landmass. Oddly, it was the same weird landmass that the scanners didn't seem right on. Keen quickly swam in that direction, his mind focused on that one objective.
After about ten minutes, Keen arrived at the steep edge of the island. He dived below to look for anyone else, but noticed something very strange. The island was floating! Huge pink creature were attached like little balloons. Keen saw sunlight streaming through the bottom of the island, and swam under the island and towards it. After a few seconds, he surfaced in a large clearing, about 30m in width. He climbed onto the beach that surrounded the hole. A cave was just a few feet away, the water flowing in and out as the small waves rocked the area. He sat alone, sitting atop a rock waiting.
His mind was blank aside from a burned image of the Aurora. He was almost scared nobody else had made it out. That is until he heard some splashes. He looked over and out came CTO Yu, grim but alive.
"You waiting for someone?" She said with a tinge of sadness.
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A small buzzing echoed around the trench. Down three-hundred meters, the light of the Seamoth tore through the darkness, illuminating the chasm full of dim yellow lights. Plants of purple sat around, glowing, dim gold light shining from the small pods sitting atop. The Seamoth slowly descended, reaching the top of the canyon before being forced to stop. Markus opened the top hatch and climbed out. He pulled his Seaglide out, then aimed at a hunk of metal he was getting a signal from. He opened the throttle and the Seaglide shot forward in response. Down he went, his oxygen meter slowly depleting. After a few seconds, he arrived at the seabed. Twisted metal laid around the crashed Lifepod. It was sideways with the roof torn apart. On the side, a bright red seventeen seemingly glowed in murky waters.
Markus approached the torn side, noticing a PDA Drive abandoned on the ground. He hooked it up to his PDA and downloaded it, then swam inside the lifepod. The interior was destroyed, panels torn off the wall, one of the chairs shattered on the floor, and the control panel was burned. Sitting in front of him was another PDA Drive. He downloaded it.
"Thirty Seconds" said the PDA suddenly, making him jump. He swam out of the lifepod, grabbed his Seaglide, and propelled up to the Seamoth. He climbed inside, breathing in some air, then opened his PDA to read the data he had collected. Opening up the first log, it showed a message from Officer Keen directly. He hit the play button.
The voice of Keen spurred out, mixed with the faint sound of dripping water. "To all crew..." He started, swallowing. "If you are reading this then you have followed the automatic distress signal broadcast by this lifepod's onboard computer, contrary to my orders. I have been forced to evacuate. Your orders are to disregard my safety and attempt to reach the designated rendezvous co-ordinates at the nearest landmass. I hope to see you there."
The PDA quickly alerted: "Co-ordinates located: about three-hundred meters upward, one-hundred meters south-east." Markus looked up, the co-ordinates displaying on his visor hud. He took a mental note, then opened his PDA again. He then opened his logs and played the next one, Keen's voice log.
"Keen! This is Aurora, come in!"
Keen's voice quickly responded. "This is Keen, lifepod detached okay, Planetfall in 30 seconds!"
"The computer has identified a landmass at the attached coordinates! I want you to regroup the crew there!" The captain told him.
"Understood, but-" Keen was cut off by the Captain.
"They're your responsibility now, don't let them down!" The Captain instructed him.
Keen responded fast, saying "Captain, you need to evacuate!"
The Captain responded with: "Negative, you'll need the ship in one piece if you're going to contact HQ on the long-range. I'm attempting a controlled descent." Suddenly, a large green flash erupted outside of the lifepod, which Keen got a glance of as he was spiraling. Keen heard the explosion and the Captain let out a yell.
"Captain?!" Keen shouted, but then the log cut off in static.
Markus was silent for a moment before he closed the PDA. He put it away and grabbed the Seamoth controls. He piloted it upwards, ascending the waters until he reached the surface, where he noticed what was in front of him. Just a few hundred meters away, a island stood, large cliff walls shooting from the water. Tree's lined the top of the cliffs, glowing a seemingly purple tint under the leaves. Two mountains shot up from the island, the tips holding a odd looking site. It almost seem like a base, rusted and old, but it was difficult to tell from this distance.
Coming from the center of the island was the rendezvous, which confused Markus. How was he suppose to reach it? He started to drive towards it, speeding up quickly. Soon, he reached the cliffside, then he dived under.
Underneath was the most odd sight he had seen yet. The island wasn't connected to the surface. It was instead floating. Large pink creatures that looked like super-sized floaters sat attached to the bottom. The slowly expanded and shrank, as though eating the island itself. Spires of rock hung off the bottom like a cave roof. Markus slowly drove the Seamoth down, going under the island. Rocks fell off it into the water, drifting down into the abyss below. He zipped around them as he approached a large pool of water with no bottom. The signal was coming from the shoreline of that valley above. He rose into the pool, emerging above the water into a large pit. The walls were cliffs, rising high above him. A small shoreline encircled the pool, and the signal was resonating from a PDA left on the ground. A drive was attached to it. Markus parked the Seamoth just off the shore, then climbed out and waded onto the tiny beach. He picked up the PDA and opened it. Inside was a log, which he transmitted to the attached drive, then he took the drive and downloaded the data to his PDA. He opened up the log, then pressed the play button.
A women spoke up. "We have to board the Aurora, repair the long range comms, make contact with the other survivors!" She said. "We can't be the only two that made it."
Keen responded with: "Those are not the orders the captain gave me, and they are not the orders I'm giving you."
The women spoke again "This isn't chain of command, it's survival," she said sternly. "The more of us there are, the more likely we live."
"My obligations as acting commander don't turn on their convenience, Get out of the water!" Keen demanded.
"If I get into trouble, I'll send you my coordinates," said the woman, still unmoving.
Keen sighed. "I can't let you go alone. "
"Then come with me."
"You don't leave me much choice," Keen said, giving in to the woman's demands.
The PDA announced: "Received emergency transmission from Second Officer Keen, two hours after last activity."
Keen started. "Rendezvous was a failure..." he said. "Intercepted a transmission from Alterra HQ, seems they sent a data package to the Aurora. We were intercepted by a leviathan class predator before we could reach the ship. Consider the CTO and I lost at sea. Be safe. Keen... out."
Markus took a few seconds to actually start moving again. He glanced up from his PDA, still a slight bit dazed, and noticed the large cavern, lined with a few grass patches. Waves washed up inside of the cave, reaching a few meters back. Sounds of water echoed out. Markus walked into the cave. His footsteps echoed on the walls. He followed it upwards until the slope of it stopped and he reached an exit. Outside was a green, lush forest with glowing, purple trees. On the ground were many different plants. He stepped out further. To his left, a towering arch of rock stood above, connecting the two cliffs it arched across. Under it was a large clearing. To his right, a clearing lead up on a small cliff-side path up onto a much shorter cliff, where it disappeared from his angle.
Markus lurched forward as a slash opened on his back. A yell of pain left his lips. He turned back, pulling his knife out quickly. A Cave Crawler was turning back around. It lunged again. Markus quickly whirled around and smashed the handle of the knife into it, stunning the creature. He then Stabbed the top gas-pod. The creature screeched in pain, then stopped moving. Markus pulled his knife from the creature and looked around for more. He noticed one, but it was at the other side of the small valley. Instead, he turned around and walked over to the pathway leading up the cliffside. He followed it up to the top of the cliff. A path lead further around the island, but before Markus followed, he took a quick left turn and walked out. He reached the top of a sharp drop, water washing up against the bottom below him. He pulled out his PDA and aimed it in front of him, where the sun had began to set. He took a few images, then sat there for a moment, standing in the golden light of the evening. After a few minutes, the sun was gone. Markus turned around and walked back to the pathway.
He followed it up to a long, natural length of rock and grass that made a path between the two mountains. The mountain he was closest to had a pathway winding up in. Markus followed it up. He walked up to a collapsed part of it, and was forced to shuffle around it. He then reached a cave, which he took up to the last bend that reached the top. His suspicions were confirmed when he reached the top, finding a small, rusted habitat. A weathered glass dome sat at the end of it. Inside, through the rust and grime, a desk could be seen. An old chair sat in front of the desk. On the main part of the habitat, a bulkhead door stood ajar. Markus pushed it open a little bit, the joints cracking and creaking as it opened.
Markus stepped inside. Around him were some small alcoves, one had a storage chest. He opened it, and inside was a battery and some water. The water was somehow still fresh. A potted plant sat to his left, at the end of the hall. Markus turned right and walked down the hallway to the dome. On the desk was a PDA Drive. He downloaded it, opened his PDA and found it. He pressed play on the Audio.
An older man began to talk. "Chief's log, five weeks since the crash," he started. "The only other survivors are my son, Bart, and Maida, the cut-price mercenary I commissioned for the journey." He paused for a moment. "After days drifting in the lifepod, rain hammering the roof, the weather cleared and we washed up here. I had Maida salvage the Degasi wreck, set Bart to finding us a stable source of food. His education is paying off sooner than I'd anticipated."
He sighed. "Our only problem is Maida. She says the weather's going to turn. I say she's finding excuses to risk our lives. I imagine she's not gone a week in her life without a physical altercation, and she's itching for a fight. In every judgment she makes things go from bad to worse."
"If she had my experience she'd have more faith," he said in a factual voice. "Humans have spent millennia specializing in how to shackle nature to our will. This planet won't cause us any new problems." Again, he paused. "My one task now is to keep us alive, as comfortably as possible, until the insurance company arranges rescue. In this part of space that could be months, or even years."
Markus was stunned. He hadn't heard anything about any other ships, and had certainly not heard much on this Degasi. It must've crashed years before the Aurora, this base was far too old to be recent. Markus felt the need to search more. But before he did, he pulled out his scanner and aimed it around. It buzzed when detecting the glass dome, so he scanned that. He then scanned the Bulkhead, Potted Plant, and when he stepped outside, he scanned a spotlight on the top of the habitat. He then traced the path down the mountain again until he reached the base of it. He walked along the middle path until he came across a rockslide. A chunk of the path had fallen down, engulfing a rusty, large room in a base. Markus walked down the side of the hill, tripping and falling face-first into the grass below. He heard a familiar shriek and jumped up. To his right was another Cave Crawler. It hadn't noticed him yet. He quickly jumped towards it, shoving his knife into the top gas pod. It let out a loud squeak before collapsing. He pulled his knife out and looked around.
Behind him was the rusty base. To is left, a large planter sat, growing some earth-like melons and potatoes. He walked over and scanned the plants. The "Chinese Potato Plant" and "Marblemelon" plants were growing, taking up most of the planter. He took some of the Chinese Potatoes and Marblemelon, grabbing the seeds as well. Markus thought these could be useful.
He continued tracing around the habitat. Up on a small second level, a shattered window gave a view of the sea. Two smashed open crates lay outside the base. Inside them were parts to a seemingly gun-like device. Markus scanned one and was given a tech entry on the "Stasis Rifle." He scanned the other and the blueprint was recovered. As he finished circling it, he noticed one of the habitat's halls had collapsed and made a ramp up. He walked up the ramp onto the top of the base, then entered the torn apart hallway. A ladder lead to the lower section. Markus climbed down the ladder and immediately felt a slash on his leg. He grunted, jumped off the ladder, and took out his knife. He slashed at another Cave Crawler, which smashed into the wall and fell flat.
To his sides, leaves grew off walls designed to hold them. Markus took a second to pull out his scanner and scan the wall. His blueprint database updated with it. Place the Scanner back on his side, he looked to the side of the ladder where a chest sat. Opening it, an old but still functional battery was lying inside. These things could physically last a lifetime.
He moved down the hall, checking every corner. The entrance to a room ahead was blocked, and it wouldn't budge. Markus sighed and climbed back out, then began to trail the building around for another possible entrance. He walked all the way back around before noticing a rusted, shattered window. He climbed through it and immediately a purple, glowing object caught his eye. It was an almost stone-like structure with a glowing purple symbol on it, in some unknown shape. Markus picked it up and looked at it, examining it. It was made so un-human like... and thinking about it, it looked oddly like the building back on the other island. Markus pulled out his scanner and scanned it, then set it back down. He picked up a PDA laying on the table, then climbed out the window again.
Two buildings down, one more to go, right? Markus shot a look at the last building, high in the air atop the mountain.
Look, I'll be honest. When I started writing this, I was actually really bad. I still don't consider myself a good writer, but I'm confident I've improved.
That being said, there's a lot wrong with this story. The progression is slow, the plot is taking ages, and I dislike a large portion of it.
What I'm saying is I think I should rewrite this. From the start. In a new, first person perspective, with an improved plot, faster progression, and generally better writing.
Anyone agree with me on this? I'm interested in hearing feedback.
If not many or nobody ends up responding I'll just do it anyways. I just wanted to check with the few still reading this.
This thread is now vacated. I'm rewriting the story. I'll likely release it a bit later, but for now, I'm glad many of you stuck around for this long. I love you all!