Jeff gasped at the sight of such a massive creature. Larger than a humpback whale. Tentacles extended from its rear and its massive blue and black body hulked toward him letting out another loud grumble. As Jeff stared at the creature for this split second, he noticed the creature didn't have any distinguishable mouth. In fact, the creature was moving quite slowly and there were several smaller fish swimming around the creature.
"If those small fish feel safe enough to swim near that thing, maybe it's not dangerous."
Jeff decided to get a closer look, keeping his distance as he made a wide circle around to the back of the creature. He took out his scanner and swam above the beast where he noticed various plant-life and rocky minerals growing out of its back.
"Huh, that's weird. It's like a mobile island."
Jeff began scanning the creature until Sally reported the data.
"Limited data available.
Chitinous Plating: Thick enough to interfere with the spectroscope scanner.
Unidentified Pods: Unknown purpose. Green in color.
Tentacles: Total length ranges upwards of 25m. Tentacles provide low speed propulsion.
Nonthreatening Sociable lifeform. Seen traveling in small pods, behavior consistent with low-level sentience.
Predators: Unknown
Assessment: Additional data required"
"Huh, well dangerous or not, this thing sure scared the heck out of me. I think I'll call this thing a reefback."
Jeff logged the name of the creature on his PDA.
"Ok, back to the task at hand."
Jeff looked back toward the waypoint that marked Pod 7's location. It wasn't far now, but he did notice that the beacon wasn't coming from the surface.
"This is going to be another let-down."
His seaglide spun to life and started pulling him along again. He noticed it was getting darker. The sun was getting lower in the sky.
"Knowing my luck horrifyingly dangerous creatures of every kind come out at night. I hope I can get back before nightfall."
After another few minutes of traveling through the open ocean filled with red grass and more of those strange vertical spires, Jeff began to catch a glimpse of what remained of life pod 7. It was on a small slope where an outcropping of terrain held it up. It was right-side up in a patch of red grass with another gaping hole in the side in about the same location as the previous pod.
"What happened... Why are all the pods exploding?! Did Alterra approve us for launch when our life pods were faulty!?
A twinge of anger lodged itself in Jeff's soul.
He got closer to the pod, glancing at the area around it for any signs of survivors or useful materials. Suddenly, a large cloud of sand billowed up from behind the pod a little to the right. Jeff eyed the cloud of sand as it settled back to the ocean floor. No sign of any creature.
"What the-"
Another cloud of sand exploded from around the same area and Jeff knew he saw something dash through it before disappearing. He retrieved his survival knife from his waist and watched the place where the sand was settling. There was nothing except what seemed to be a triangular rock sticking out of the sand. Jeff stared at the area for another few seconds as he slowly swam side-ways toward the pod. The cloud of sand burst up again and this time, a creature with a massive mouth lined with rows teeth shot out of the cloud. Jeff was barely able to grab the side of the pod and pull himself out of the way of the creature. As it passed by him, he got a good look at it. A long flat body with armor segments like that of an armadillo. The head was flat and rounded with a small triangular fin sticking out of it's forehead. It was a dark purpley gray color with fiery yellow eyes. Having missed its target, the creature immediately nose-dived into the sand near the pod and disappeared in the cloud of sand. All that was visible when the sand settled was that same triangular rock that Jeff now recognized as the fin that had been sticking out of the creature's head. Jeff swam inside the pod through the hole and looked at his oxygen level. Only 62 seconds left. Jeff looked through the pod for anything worth grabbing before he left. His stomach turned as he noticed the water inside the pod was tainted with blood. He grabbed a PDA, and what looked to be a damaged compass. Jeff aimed his seaglide at the hole angled toward the surface. He was going to try and make a break for it and try to avoid the creature outside. With a pull of the trigger, he flew through the hole and instantly the creature burst from the sand thrashing toward him. The creature made a muffled growling sound very similar to a lion as it tried to catch up with Jeff. Eventually, the creature, unable to overtake Jeff's superior speed, gave up and turned back down toward the sandy floor. Jeff let out a sigh of relief as he neared the surface. When he broke through into fresh air, his air-tanks automatically began to vent the old air and replace it. As he floated on the surface, Jeff took out the PDA he had recovered and read the last log.
"I've tried everything. If this fabricator were working I'd be watching the sun set from the armchair in my private observatory by now. As it is I can barely manufacture the most basic of materials with this thing. Want a battery? Here, have a children's toy! Need deep sea diving equipment? Have some lab equipment! Hungry? Let me turn that fruit into dust for you! My theory is the situational analysis circuits are fried. I'm going forward with trial and error. I hit every button on this list, it's got to make something useful eventually."
"Poor guy... everything would have been fine if the fabricator hadn't broken..."
Anger swelled up within him again.
"Why am I getting so lucky?! Everyone else is dying to the stupidest things! Faulty equipment! Unlucky landing sites! Why can't these stupid lifepods do their freaking job!? I don't want to be the only survivor! There's got to be some one out there who didn't get screwed over by their lifepod!"
Jeff threw the PDA down into the water and began making his way back to his pod. Apparently the only one what works properly. Tomorrow, Jeff was going to find some answers.
"If those small fish feel safe enough to swim near that thing, maybe it's not dangerous."
He clearly hasn't heard of the symbiosis between sharks and remora.
Well being an engineer, I wouldn't be surprised if he isn't as knowledgeable of ocean biology. Luckily for him, it was a safe assumption. Let's just hope he doesn't make assumptions like that when it comes to the sea dragon or reaper.
"Sunbeam, broadcasting to all survivors of the Aurora. We've covered more than half the distance, so hold on in there.
We're scanning the planet for dry land as we speak. You couldn't have picked a less convenient parking spot, but we'll be in touch as soon as we have a landing site for you. Sunbeam out."
Quinn ended the message and looked at Derek who had switched out with Westly again. "Can we pick up any human life-signs on the planet yet?"
Derek looked at his scanner one last time and then turned to Quinn, "Sir, the planet has a vast ecosystem. There are so many living creature signatures on that planet that its completely drowning out all other signatures which indicates there aren't very many survivors. The computer estimates that there could be around 30 survivors that are unable to be tracked due to the fauna density. If there were more than 30 we could probably pick it up. If there is anyone on that planet at all, we wouldn't be able to tell until we saw them with our own eyes.
"30 possible survivors..." Quinn muttered and then quickly began to climb over his chair in the cramped cock-pit and squeezed passed Carson. He made eye contact with Jerret and motioned with his head for him to follow.
"C'mon Valis, let's get this over with."
Carson turned his whole body in his chair. "Are you out of your mi-"
"Are you questioning the sanity of your captain Carson Rainer!? Because to me that sounds like the beginnings of Mutiny!" Quinn barked as he turned his head to glare at Carson.
Carson let his words die on his breath. His head lifted and his chest came out in nervous timidity.
"N-No Captain!"
Carson stared at Quinn in silence.
Quinn turned to the door, "I don't like this any more than you do Rainer..."
The door slid open and Quinn and Jerret walked through. On the other side was a cramped hallway with only enough space for on person to stand with their shoulders almost touching both walls. There were three doors on either side of the hallway each with a designated crew member name inscribed on it. The 6th door had no label and was simply an extra room for either storage or a passenger. At the end of the hall was another door labeled 'Cargo Bay' and 'Engine Room'. Quinn walked up to the door and it opened into the engine room. Four drive engines lined the back wall with various interments and machines connected by pipes and cords to them. The air was filled with a loud waving hum and the walls were lit by red lights. The room was large but the drive cores took up the majority of the space. To the very left of the doorway they had just come through was a small square cargo elevator that led down. A label above it said 'Cargo bay'. They both stepped onto it and Jerret pressed a button on the small terminal attached to it starting their decent. At the bottom was a small room with an airlock door that lead into the cargo bay. To the left of the door was a large heavily reinforced astro-grade window. Right in front of the window was a terminal. Quinn stood looking through the window at all the cargo crates in the room beyond as Jerret stepped up to the terminal.
"Captain, before I input this command. Are you 100% sure you want to go through with this?"
Quinn stood staring at the cargo. The entire 4 year mission had been to accumulate this cargo and bring it back for their company to sell which would give each one of them a nice credit boost. Four years of trading, bargaining, and hiring the right people on other colony planets for these materials. In just a few seconds, all that work would be for nothing.
"Valis, I give you the direct order to purposefully jettison our cargo and thus nullify our 4 year mission."
Jerret didn't hesitate. He simply gave the cargo one last look as he input the command. The massive cargo bay doors at the opposite end of the cargo bay were lit up by a red warning light flashing on the roof. An alarm sounded and a robotic voice echoed in the cargo bay.
"WARNING, Cargo bay doors opening! Jettison procedure initiated. Anyone inside the cargo bay, please exit."
After a few seconds, the voice began again, "No personnel detected in the cargo bay. Cargo Bay clear for jettisoning procedure."
The large doors began to slide open instantly sucking the air out of the cargo bay creating a vortex of oxygen that spiraled out into space. All of the crates, large and small, were instantly drawn to the doors and sucked out into the vacuum of space. As the final crate left the bay, Jerret typed in another command triggering the robotic voice again.
"Jettisoning procedure complete. Closing bay doors."
The doors slowly closed with the loud crash of impacting metal and locking mechanisms. The instant the doors closed completely and locked into place, the red flashing lights turned off and the cargo bay reverted to its white lighting.
The robotic voice said one final thing, "Cargo bay secured."
Jerret turned to Quinn who was still staring into the cargo bay, "There's no going back sir. Everything now depends on there being survivors on that planet, and even if there are some, I doubt our higher-ups will be very happy with our decision."
Quinn finally broke his gaze from the cargo bay and looked at the floor, "You're probably right Valis, even if we do save some survivors, we're not guaranteed to keep our jobs."
He lifted his head to look at Jerret, "However, I can know that regardless of the outcome, regardless of what our directors will think, God can be happy with our decision to value life over profit and for me, that's all that matters."
Quinn stepped onto the elevator lift, "Now come on, let's go make sure Rainer hasn't lost his mind."
The pragmatic part of me would have marked the cargo position and speed for later pick up, in case there were no survivors (or only a very few) -- might be able to salvage something on the way back, right? Although you would hope to not have any room, if there's no (or only one or two) survivors, you might want to be able to salvage some of your original mission on the way back.
I imagine there was an in-universe reason for this, though (cargo was dumped at FTL speeds, destroying or permanently losing it?)
The pragmatic part of me would have marked the cargo position and speed for later pick up, in case there were no survivors (or only a very few) -- might be able to salvage something on the way back, right? Although you would hope to not have any room, if there's no (or only one or two) survivors, you might want to be able to salvage some of your original mission on the way back.
I imagine there was an in-universe reason for this, though (cargo was dumped at FTL speeds, destroying or permanently losing it?)
I wanted there to be some high steaks for the Sunbeam crew to show how sacrificial they were for the sake of anyone on 4546B and so jettisoning 4 years worth of work is what I came up with. I was also having trouble logicing out a reason why they wouldn't be able to keep their cargo and I think I have the solution. Since their company is mainly concerned with profit rather than employee well-being, the sunbeam was only equipped with enough fuel to complete its mission, there and back, plus a little extra for unforeseen issues. The Sunbeam only has enough extra fuel to stop by and check for survivors and if there are some, pick them up and immediately continue back home. They wouldn't be able to backtrack to get the cargo. If they dropped the cargo off on the planet, they wouldn't be able to come back to get it for another several years and who knows what condition that cargo would be in by then? So either way, dropping it off on the planet, or leaving it in space, the cargo would be lost or severely damaged. Especially if some of their cargo is perishable or susceptible to water or the vacuum of space. I'll try and incorporate this plot-hole filler in the coming chapters.
The sun had set and Jeff had a very restless sleep as the pod gently sloshed up and down and side to side on the small waves. The pod didn't have any bedding so Jeff was forced to sleep on the floor. Uncomfortable, Jeff was unable to get more than two to three hours of sleep. At the crack of dawn, Jeff headed out in search of other life pods and salvage. He had gotten life-pod 17's signal and upon investigation found several fragments of a vehicle known as the 'seamoth'. Seeing as how the Aurora's mission directive had never mentioned anything about sending anyone planet-side, Jeff found this quite odd. Having found all the materials he needed to create his own seamoth, Jeff began heading back when he came across some wreckage he hadn't noticed before that was in the area of the 'safe shallows' as he had come to call it.
"Huh, might as well take a peek while I'm heading this direction."
He swam down to the wreck and looked for an opening or a door to open. After a few moments, he found a shattered section of an air vent that lead into the wreck and squeezed his way inside. The wreck didn't have much in terms of anything useful. It was part of a locker room. Disintegrating paper and personal belongings of all kinds were strewn about on the floor and floating aimlessly. After a quick look around, Jeff was just about to leave when he noticed an abandoned PDA on the ground slightly hidden under an overturned bench. He snatched it up and read the first log.
- Search & Rescue
- Crew of the Mongolian vessel 'Degasi'
- Ariadne Arm
- Contact: Emissary Jochi Khasar, Aurora Passenger Quarters, Room 4
Mission brief:
A Mongolian vessel, the 'Degasi', disappeared almost a decade ago. Corporate insurance has purchased passage aboard the Aurora for Emissary Khasar, and your orders are to afford them every reasonable facility to locate and, if appropriate, retrieve the Degasi crewmembers, without compromising the primary mission.
The Aurora is due to perform a gravity slingshot maneuver around planet 4546B approximately 13 months post-launch. This will bring the ship within range of the Degasi's last known position.
Degasi crew manifesto has been distributed to senior employees in a separate data package.
The log then listed names and information about high priority missing persons related to the Degasi ship.
Paul Torgal
Margureit Maida
Bart Torgal
Jeff was stunned.
"Wha-... So the Aurora had a secret Auxilary mission? A search and rescue for a lost ship that went down on this planet long ago..."
He tried to take it all in.
"Well that explains all the aquatic supplies I've been running into like the seamoth... But... why was this kept a secret?"
Sally interupted his thoughts. "Thirty seconds."
Jeff dropped the PDA and left out the way he came. As he closed the remaining distance to the pod, he continued to ponder what this meant.
"I wonder what happened to the Degasi... I don't see any remnants of any ship other than the Aurora. Is it possible that any of the Degasi crew are still alive?"
As Jeff climbed up the side of the pod, he decided to push those thoughts to the back of his mind and focus on the task at hand. Build a seamoth and heading to the Aurora. With the rad suit he had gotten he would be able to brave the contaminated waters that were slowly spreading out of the ship. Jeff's brain told him that the Aurora's quantum detonation would have killed anyone still alive within a 1 kilometer range, but his heart told him to hold on to the hope that some one was still alive on the Aurora. He had to find out and the supplies he could get by searching the Aurora would be quite helpful as well. After crafting a portable vehicle bay at the fabricator and drinking some fresh water he had salvaged from a creature he had found that filtered water in its body, Jeff dove once more into the ocean and deployed the vehicle platform. He hoisted himself up onto it and interacted with the small console. He had the materials he needed and the blueprints for a seamoth and he began construction. Four small fabrication drones flew out of the portable vehicle bay platform and began fabricating a seamoth. Once complete, the seamoth lit up and began running an automatic diagnostics. Jeff dropped into the water and swam to the seamoth, getting inside as the computer finished its system check.
"-stems online. Welcome aboard captain." Said the robotic voice of the seamoth's computer.
Jeff checked his inventory. He had been stockpiling water and still had two whole nutrient blocks.
"Ok, we're a go. Let's do this."
Jeff firmly gripped the seamoth's steering wheel and put the sub into drive sending it flying through the water at a great speed. Instantly Jeff felt safer than he ever had before and the biggest smile he had ever had since last seeing Palmer appeared on his face. Suddenly, the thought of Palmer shattered his smile and his face returned to a grim seriousness as he regained focus on his objective. The Aurora. Through the surface of the water above, Jeff could make out the Aurora as he drew closer, and all around him the water was getting deeper and even more sinister than it had seemed before.
This is a great story, definitely on the same level as Bugzapper's!
I'm fairly new to the Subnautica forums so I hadn't read any of bugzapper's content, but I just recently started reading his 'Borealis Rising' story and holy heck words! His writing is phenomenal and filled with a level of detail and intellect far better than anything I've ever read! I've been encapsulated by that story for the majority of today in fact. I'm certainly not on his level, but thanks for the compliment!
As Jeff got closer to the Aurora, another pang of sadness gripped his mind. He remembered the first time he saw the Aurora, it's majestic form and shimmering hull. A symbol of Alterra's goals as a corporation of exploration, advancement, and discovery. Now, its glossy hull replaced with a blackened shell of shattered and warped metal blemished by breaches that poured fire and smoke into the air. He glided along the surface with the cockpit of the seamoth sticking out of the water. At this distance, he started to fully comprehend the extend of the damage. The entire bow of the ship was entirely gone with nothing left other than the main support beams of the frame marking where hull plating, internals, and the drive core used to be. Jeff got within 100 feet of the ship and dove under. The hull in this middle part of the ship was still mostly intact but not far under the water, sand warped up around the underbelly of the Aurora. The terrain around the ship was extremely warped and some of it was forced above the surface sand and rock alike. There were no plants or any traces of coral in this area likely completely obliterated by either the impact of the ship or the drive core explosion. Jeff scanned the thin part of the hull visible above the sand for a trace of any airlock that was jarred open or a hole large enough for him to enter through. Most of the airlocks on this side of the ship were either buried under the sand or locked tight. As he glided left following hull as he made his way down toward the bow. If there wasn't an open airlock, certainly there would be some means of entrance via the exposed decks at the bow. The terrain slowly receded downward deepening the water. Every once in a while the entire ship would shudder causing a screech of aching steel and bending metal as its fragile frame settled into its new gravity influenced home. The water was getting very deep below Jeff, deeper than the grassy plateau he had encountered the Reefback in. He had been so focused on searching the side of the ship for an airlock that he hadn't noticed how deep and dark the water was bellow him until a new, bone chilling sound broke his focus causing him to look down. Instantly, Jeff's natural fear of the deep kicked in and his heart doubled in speed. He clenched the controls of the seamoth and adrenaline began to pump. He had already discovered plenty of strange and massive creatures nearer to his pod in the shallower water, what more frightening creatures could be lurking in the deeper dark and more importantly, what kind of creature would make such a blood-curdling roar? It came again. A sound so unsettling Jeff could barely remember to breathe. He continued to glide closer to the bow where Jeff located an opening that would let him enter the waters inside the frame where he could see a collapsed deck he could disembark on. As Jeff continued toward that opening, he glanced at the darkness bellow him every second. He felt that at any moment a creature larger than the Aurora could launch mouth first out of the darkness and swallow him before he even had a chance to scream. He finally made it to the opening where the hull plating gave way. He slowly maneuvered between a main support beam and the hull plating making his way into the empty bow. Another roar from some where bellow. Jeff closed his eyes for a second and kept his focus on the deck that had bent down into the water. He could park the seamoth in the water just next to the deck and get out onto it and begin is search for a way inside. He was getting close. In his frightened state, time seemed to go at half the speed he wanted it to go. At the sound of another chilling roar from bellow, Jeff glanced down into the darkness and he gasped as a thick, muscular white and red tail larger than his seamoth appeared out of the darkness before disappearing back into the depths.
Sally confirmed his fears, "Massive creature signature detected exactly 500 feet bellow current position."
This is a great story, definitely on the same level as Bugzapper's!
I'm fairly new to the Subnautica forums so I hadn't read any of bugzapper's content, but I just recently started reading his 'Borealis Rising' story and holy heck words! His writing is phenomenal and filled with a level of detail and intellect far better than anything I've ever read! I've been encapsulated by that story for the majority of today in fact. I'm certainly not on his level, but thanks for the compliment!
Did you start with Aurora Falls, the prequel story?
Great update by the way.
This is a great story, definitely on the same level as Bugzapper's!
I'm fairly new to the Subnautica forums so I hadn't read any of bugzapper's content, but I just recently started reading his 'Borealis Rising' story and holy heck words! His writing is phenomenal and filled with a level of detail and intellect far better than anything I've ever read! I've been encapsulated by that story for the majority of today in fact. I'm certainly not on his level, but thanks for the compliment!
Did you start with Aurora Falls, the prequel story?
Great update by the way.
I haven't read the Aurora Falls yet. I honestly didn't know it existed until a while ago but in the reading of the Borealis I had suspected that he had done a previous story. I will certainly try to go back and read that after I catch up on the Borealis Rising.
what!? no more? I have sat here reading every chapter while I drink my saturday morning pot of coffee. Great story work @ThunderShock27! Do you plan to continue?
what!? no more? I have sat here reading every chapter while I drink my saturday morning pot of coffee. Great story work @ThunderShock27! Do you plan to continue?
Yeah! I plan to continue all the way through the story of Subnautica. Please forgive me if I skip a lot of the grindy stuff though. As you may have noticed Jeff tends to just kinda have all the materials he needs because I typically mention that he does the material grinding between chapters. I figured material grinding is the kinda thing you do in the real game and would be best left out for the sake of the story. Don't worry, this story is going all the way until Jeff either gets off the planet, or dies trying. You'll just have to wait for each installment to find out!
what!? no more? I have sat here reading every chapter while I drink my saturday morning pot of coffee. Great story work @ThunderShock27! Do you plan to continue?
Yeah! I plan to continue all the way through the story of Subnautica. Please forgive me if I skip a lot of the grindy stuff though. As you may have noticed Jeff tends to just kinda have all the materials he needs because I typically mention that he does the material grinding between chapters. I figured material grinding is the kinda thing you do in the real game and would be best left out for the sake of the story. Don't worry, this story is going all the way until Jeff either gets off the planet, or dies trying. You'll just have to wait for each installment to find out!
I think it's better that way. A story where you have to collect a ton of materials would be boring.
I can just imagine it.
"Jeff searched for quartz in the Safe Shallows. He couldn't find any, so he moved on.
Jeff continued his search, but it was in vain. He couldn't find anymore quartz. So Jeff decided to go to a different biome.
Then Jeff saw some, so he swam over and grabbed some. He still needed more. Jeff saw some other pieces of quartz across the sand. So he swam over and grabbed them.
This is a great story, definitely on the same level as Bugzapper's!
I'm fairly new to the Subnautica forums so I hadn't read any of bugzapper's content, but I just recently started reading his 'Borealis Rising' story and holy heck words! His writing is phenomenal and filled with a level of detail and intellect far better than anything I've ever read! I've been encapsulated by that story for the majority of today in fact. I'm certainly not on his level, but thanks for the compliment!
Well. If not the same level only two or three under him. I used to mess around on other game forums and some of those stories were horrible!
This is a great story, definitely on the same level as Bugzapper's!
I'm fairly new to the Subnautica forums so I hadn't read any of bugzapper's content, but I just recently started reading his 'Borealis Rising' story and holy heck words! His writing is phenomenal and filled with a level of detail and intellect far better than anything I've ever read! I've been encapsulated by that story for the majority of today in fact. I'm certainly not on his level, but thanks for the compliment!
That's the sequel, you might want to read Aurora Falls first. EDIT I see that's been mentioned. Sorry, please disregard.
Jeff floored it. The seamoth jolted forward and closed the distance to the deck in seconds. Jeff turned at the last second ramming the side of the seamoth into the partially submerged deck and he frantically fumbled to get the upper hatch open. He tumbled out of the sub and waded up the collapsing deck until he was out of the water. He was hunched over, hands on his knees breathing fast.
"Oh... Oh my gosh..."
Jeff stood up and caught his breath.
"Ok on to the task at hand."
"Sally, can you give me a life reading from the interior of the ship?"
"The extensive levels of radiation and thick metal structure of the Aurora are disrupting the scan."
Jeff sighed, "Nothing is ever straight-forward on this stupid planet."
He started to make his way up the sloped deck. Fire and debris was strewn everywhere. Much of the edges of the metal supports were still red hot from the explosion. The occasional piece of metal would fall from the decks above. There were several cargo crates lodged in various places along the deck that Jeff gratefully indulged in, finding several batteries and other valuable items. Once he had reached the top of the deck where it had originally been connected, he found only a few open doors and they were crammed with debris. He tried to budge some of the rubble but to no avail.
"No way I'm getting passed this stuff without a propulsion cannon."
He looked around for another deck that had fallen down to this one that might be able to lead up or another door he could enter through. Eventually, he found a segment of a support beam that had lodged itself between two decks and served as a sort of bridge he could use to make his way around a large collapsing wall and reach the other side of the deck. He stepped out onto it and as he put his full weight on it, the ship shuddered again causing the beam to shift slightly on the other end.
"Oh boy..."
He stepped out onto the beam. On both sides were several meters down to the water where no doubt some creature likely lurked. He slowly made his way across and on the other side, He found a door blocked by walls of flames. On the wall next to the door was a fire extinguisher.
"Hmm. Convenient."
Jeff grabbed the extinguisher and let off a long burst, suffocating the fire into dissipation. The way was clear, into the Aurora he went. As he stepped into the corridor beyond the door, the temperature instantly rose slightly and he noticed the distinct smell of smoke and... something else... something so foul he dared not think about what it likely indicated. He placed the oxygen tank mask over his face and continued on. At the end of the hall were two flickering signs that read *ADMINISTRATION* to the right and *CARGO BAY* to the left. On the right was a short hall with another door engulfed in flames. To his left the floor had collapsed down to the next level where several crates were lodged in the hall.
"Hello??" Jeff shouted. The ship rumbled and whined as if in response and drowned out his words.
Jeff decided to check the administration first to see if there were any data downloads he could grab before heading to find supplies. The administration wing only had one accessible room as the rest were either completely on fire or blocked by debris. He lifted the extinguisher and put out the small patch of flames blocking his way into the room and stepped inside. The room was trashed, nothing much of use inside. He found a PDA on the floor buried under some scattered papers. The last log was a document labeled Essential Life Things and it contained various dates and contact numbers. However, at the bottom of the list was a code designated as 'Cargo Bay'.
"That'll be useful."
Though Jeff had had access to the cargo bay while on board the Aurora, he had never been very good with pass-codes and instead used a security key-card that had been provided him. Since he didn't have the key-card anymore, he would need this code.
"That is, IF, any of the doors still work around here..."
He exited the room and headed toward the collapsed hallway. Passing by a crate he noticed a busted propulsion cannon hidden inside. After a quick scan for future reference, he carefully made his way down the slope to the next level and climbed his way over the boxes. He came up to the door, luckily still powered, likely by backup batteries built into the door for emergency purposes. After checking the PDA again, Jeff entered the code and the door screeched opened slowly. The room beyond was a subsection of the several cargo bay rooms. He walked up to the railing of the balcony that the doorway lead to and the first thing he noticed, was the blood.
There was so much... So much blood. No sign of any human remains, just blood, blood everywhere, splattered on the wall and pooling on the ground. The floor was crawling with strange four legged crab creatures Jeff had noticed on the outside of the ship earlier on. His stomach churned and his sanity quivered for a moment.
"Oh my God... Holy... Aghh, I can't... I..."
It was horrific. No doubt these strange crab creatures had been feasting on whatever remained of the Aurora's crew. Anyone who HAD survived were likely too wounded to fight back and were consumed by these horrible creatures as well. Every place where blood stained the ground or wall was likely where a body had once been. Jeff's mind couldn't handle it. He had never been able to handle horror movies and had always despised gore. Seeing so much blood caused his imagination to run wild and he couldn't control it. He grabbed his head in his hands and tried to bring himself back to reality. After a tense moment of Jeff's sanity wavering on the brink, He slowly began to calm down.
"I... I can do this... I... I've got to press on... J-Just don't... don't think about it..."
As he stepped down the stairs to the floor of the bay, he used his extinguisher to deter any crab creatures that got to close. Luckily, the creatures seemed irritated by the chemicals in the extinguisher mist and it was likely due to the strange eye-like bulge on the tops of their heads. He made his way to the cargo lift that would take him down further into the ship gathering supplies from various crates along the way. The lift was broken and stuck at the bottom of the shaft. The loading bay at the bottom was partially underwater.
"Oh great, more ocean. Just when I thought I could get away from it for a while."
Jeff carefully made his way down the sloped shaft of the lift and jumped into the waist-high water. A doorway on the other side of the room lead into a hallway with another pair of directional signs. 'SUBMERSIBLE BAY' to the right and 'DRIVE ROOM' to the left. Jeff waded his way over to the Sub bay door. The terminal had been fried and all the wires were hanging out. Taking out his welder, he began repairing the wires he knew were essential to reactivating the door.
"Thank God I'm an Engineer."
The door flew open into a massive bay where in Seamoths were dangling from their hangers that connected them to the roof. At the very end of the bay were the fragments of two Cyclopses being held up by large metal ship braces. One of them was completely shattered and the other was broken in two.
"I guess this was the place where they kept all the stuff needed for the retrieval of the Degassi. I had always wondered why that door had had a level 9 clearance."
Jeff searched around scanning the severely damaged pieces of the cyclopses and finding a pressure compensator for a seamoth. He exited the bay and was passing the drive room entrance to continue on to the locker room when sally piped up.
"Though the drive core is no longer repairable, the automatic high energy particle containment field can be repaired to neutralize radiation levels in the area. Suggest repairing the H.E.P.C.F. by sealing any breaches."
He stopped for a second, "I guess that would probably be a good idea for the long term."
He waded down the drive room hall as the water got shallower and shallower until he was on dry floor again. Rounding a corner, he came to another pile of debris falling in from the ceiling covered in flames. After a quick blast from the fire extinguisher, Jeff hoisted himself over the rubble and walked through the doorway into the drive room. Four large particle accelerators rose up from the ground below. Jeff was standing on a large catwalk that ran along the perimeter of the square room.
"Commencing diagnostic scan." Sally said.
After a moment, she continued, "Particle accelerator cores have 10 confirmed breaches. If these breaches are sealed,
automatic particle containment will begin."
"Sounds easy enough..."
Jeff jumped into the water flooding the lower level of the room and began searching for breaches. He found the first one and took out his welder and began sealing the breach. Then, he heard a strange noise. A faint noise barely noticeable but certainly not mechanical. He glanced around as he continued welding. The water seemed completely empty. Suddenly, he felt a pain in is left arm as if some one had stabbed a jagged piece of glass through his arm. Jeff let out a scream and jerked his arm up from his side to reveal a small, bulbous creature latched onto his arm. He shifted his welder from the breach to the creature. Instantly the flesh of the creature melted away and it reflexively detached from his arm only to become a lifeless bag of tissue in the water as Jeff's own blood leaked out of the creature's body.
"Arhhg! Just what I needed, big, fat, aquatic, squid-lookin versions of mosquitoes."
Jeff continued sealing the breaches being more cautious and keeping a more weary eye out for those small light-bulb looking creatures. Every once in a while, one would come near and a quick burst from the welder would reduce the creature to melted tissue. Finally, Jeff completed sealing the final breach.
"High energy particle containment field restored. Auto decontamination sequence initiated. Aquatic radiation levels are estimated to return to safe levels in T-minus 3 days, 10 hours."
Jeff swam back up to the catwalk ladder and hoisted himself back onto it. Then, Sally began again.
"Communications relay receiving incoming message from Sunbeam. Relaying message to PDA."
"Aurora, it's Sunbeam. We've made orbit, and scans have found a landing site on the planet that's only rated hazardous. It's our best shot. We've sent you the coordinates. We'll be there in two days' time. Cross your fingers the weather holds, and don't leave us waiting. Sunbeam out."
Quinn ended the transmission and began eying various controls on the console in front of him. He and Westly were the only ones in the cock-pit. Westly reached up to the roof console with his right hand and began tweaking controls as he gently angled the directional joystick with his left toward the massive planet that loomed above them.
"Alright, engaging orbital flight plan. Engines at 70% cruise. Angling pitch at 14 degrees. Accounting for gravitational pull."
Quinn stared out the windshield at planet 4546B, "How's our fuel looking?"
Westly glanced down at the console for a split second before returning his gaze to the ship gauges above him.
"Still cutting it insanely close with only a 5 hour and 34 minute safety margin. You better hope we don't have any delays or else we might not even make it all the way back."
Quinn worked his jaw for a moment, "Don't worry, if we run out of fuel, we aught to be close enough to some of the outer commercial colonies by that point and we can call for a tow-in or a refuel."
"I hope so sir. The computer's got a pretty big red zone on the star-map and we could go dead anywhere in there." Westly said finishing his adjustments to the console.
He then laid back in his seat as he brought the ship into orbital lock.
"Relax, West. You and Derek'll bring us home just fine."
Quinn laid back in his chair and sighed.
"Land-mass scans find anything better yet?"
Westly looked to the scanner on the lower console without lifting his head off the back of the seat.
"Aaaah, looks like..." He lifted himself up and rubbed his neck as he got a closer look at the scanner.
"Not really. There's this weird island that keeps showing up but it's probably just a glitch, there's no terrain that connects it to the sea-floor. And of course, 'keeps picking up the Aurora thinking it's a land mass, the big behemoth. Other than that, that one lonely mountain we already found is still the best site."
At that moment, the door at their backs slid open and Derek walked in with a cup of coffee in his hand.
"Alright Westly, get some rest. I got you mate."
Westly stretched for a second, "Ahhg, finally. I thought you'd never show up."
He climbed out of his seat, "Orbital flight plan is already locked in. Just make sure we don't hit any rocks."
Westly was instantly out of the cock-pit and making his way back to his quarters.
Derek touched his coffee mug up to a wall-mounted magnetic cup-holder as he slipped into the pilot seat. Once he was settled he took the mug off the wall and took a sip. He flinched as he swallowed.
"Boy will I be glad once we get back. I'm tired of this standard issue ship coffee. Tastes like dirt."
Quinn smirked, "Yeah..."
He sat up and started tapping away at a screen on the console in front of him.
"I'm going to run an extensive scan of the Aurora and find out the full extend of the internal ship damage. Who knows, might even be able to salvage some fue-..."
He stopped for a moment.
"Huh... According to the scan, the particle containment field generators were just rebooted..."
Derek choked on another sip of coffee, "You think some one down there did it?"
Quinn stroked his chin for a second, "I don't know... could be... I hope so... I wouldn't be surprised if it was just automatic backup systems trying to fix themselves though..."
After another moment he started running more scans on the Aurora.
"According to this, 26 life pods were jettisoned before impact. That's a good sign at least."
Then he put his hand up to his face.
"All the rocket fuel containment systems were breached so any fuel left has either already leaked out or been completely irradiated so unfortunately that's a no go."
"Maybe you should get some sleep sir. You seem kinda stressed."
"Thanks Derek but I think I'll stay here evaluating this scan a little longer."
Suddenly, Derek spit another sip of coffee back into its mug, "Sir, we're approaching a debris field!"
Quinn jerked his head up from the screen and looked out the windshield, "The Aurora's debris field?"
"I'm not sure sir... whatever system malfunction that brought them down might've exploded mid-orbit."
Derek looked down at his scanner, "I'm picking up a lifepod from some where amidst the debris!"
Slowly the debris came into view through the windshield. Tiny fragments of metal and large hull plates aimlessly floating in space. Occasionally, remnants of human life would come into view among the metal pieces: A ripped hat, a duffel bag, a shattered vending machine, papers, and many badly burned or fragmented articles of clothing.
"The lifepod signal is coming from behind that large piece of hull on the far side of the debris field."
Quinn put his hand out to signal Derek, "Alright slow down, you don't wanna enter this debris field at this speed. Kill the cruise engines and switch to impulse drive at 10% speed."
Derek flipped a few switches on the console, "Killing cruise engines. Impulse at 10%"
The Sunbeam slowly entered the debris field. Derek made quick movements on the directional joystick dodging the larger fragments as they made their way toward the lifepod signal.
~~~
Palmer saw the ship enter the debris field. He was floating in his lifepod hanging on to the hatch on the top with the whole pod turned sideways and slowly rotating. None of the lights were on and there was a large warning message on the main console that provided the only source of light: 'WARNING! Power failure! Oxygen production switched to backup.' He continued to stare out the glass at the ship.
"C'mon! Notice me!"
Palmer's lifepod, number 45, was floating far away from the debris field. Due to the power failure, his local distress signal no longer worked.
"C'mon..."
The bulldog class ship slowly made its way to the opposite side of the debris field.
"No! Wrong way dang it! That pod is already busted!"
Palmer pounded his fist on the hull of the lifepod.
~~~
From behind the fragment of the Aurora's hull, a flickering lifepod appeared.
"Get in close Derek. This might be our first pickup"
Getting close, the lifepod slowly rotated around revealing a massive hole bursting from the side.
Quinn lowered his eyes and sighed, "No other lifepod signals in the area?"
Derek watched the scanner for a second and then sighed too, "No, sorry sir."
"Alright, get us back onto descent orbit."
~~~
"God please, no!"
The ship was making its way out of the debris field back into orbit position.
"I've got to fix this pod some how! I have to contact them! Once the backup life-support battery runs out, so will the oxygen and I'll be toast!"
Palmer floated down to the base of the pod and reevaluated the supplies tucked into the small storage locker. He hadn't been wanting it to come to this, but five days confined inside a dying pod with busted solar panels was about to drive him insane. With the new motivation to make contact with the near-by ship, he picked up the suit that could double as either a wet suit or a make-shift space-suit. He placed the helmet on his head and ripped a wall panel off the wall. Behind the panel was 1 space-grade oxygen tank. He removed it from its slot and attached it to his back and connected the valve to his helmet.
"I should have done this a long time ago anyway."
He depressurized the lifepod cabin and opened the hatch. He had 5 minutes of oxygen in this tank. Very minimal. He would have to come back and refill from the lifepod's depleting reserves eventually. He glanced at the oxygen supply of the pod on the console. '14%'. It won't last much longer.
"I've either got to make it to the planet surface or to that ship.
With the ship getting farther and farther away, it became more clear what path he would have to take.
With that, Palmer launched from the pod out into space and began searching the debris for useful materials.
For a moment there I thought you were going to have them rescue Palmer to make the Sunbeam ending hit closer to home for Jeff. Had me worried, because Jeff isn't the only one who would have been hit close to home.
For a moment there I thought you were going to have them rescue Palmer to make the Sunbeam ending hit closer to home for Jeff. Had me worried, because Jeff isn't the only one who would have been hit close to home.
Your heart has been somewhat spared my friend ... For now.
Wow, and I thought Jeff had it bad. Floating in the void in tiny, cramped quarters like that in near darkness, surrounded by (Probably) human remains would be one of my worst nightmares.
(Sorry for the late entry! I've been quite busy lately. Rest assured though, I have not abandoned you!)
Chapter 16: Last Minute Shopping
"These coordinates are quite a distance... I need to scour what I can from the Aurora quickly and get back to the pod to prepare to head out tomorrow."
Jeff made his way out of the drive room and took a right turn down the hall. Walking down the hall, the water slowly got deeper until he reached the fully submerged door on the other end. After working some more engineering magic, he unlocked the door and made his way into the locker room. The room wasn't too large. Papers were floating everywhere along with belongings of all kinds: PDAs, duffel bags, a model ship, a hat, a 4th gen gameboy, and even more odds and ends. Many of the lockers were turned over or busted spilling their contents into the water. After finding a few water bottles that were still sealed and a few batteries, he made his way out of the locker room toward the PRAWN bay. The hall sloped up out of the water. Once Jeff breached the surface he saw a massive coolant pipe that had broken through the ceiling and, along with several other pieces of debris, was fully blocking the way as it sprayed coolant everywhere out of various breaches in the pipe. Being the esteemed engineer he was, he looked along the walls of the corridor for a maintenance access way. Sure enough, on the right wall was a panel labeled 'Maintenance'. Jeff popped the panel off the wall with his knife revealing a very small and cramped access shaft filled with wires and various electronics. Jeff had to get on his stomach and crawl into the shaft what was no more than 3x3 feet. The mental map of the Aurora's maintenance access shafts slowly materialized in Jeff's mind. He came to an intersection and there was barely enough space for him to crawl into the next shaft on the left. Instantly he saw some damaged wires down at the end that were sparking and had set that section on fire. Jeff awkwardly pulled out his extinguisher in the tight space and aimed it at the fire. Another second and the fire was out but the wires were still hot and would electrocute him if he wasn't careful. As if he was in a spy movie dodging lasers, he dodged the live wires up, over, around and under. It was a tedious process taking Jeff several minutes to safely clear the wires. He then came to another intersection. Looking down the shaft on the left, he saw another panel indicating a way back out into the main corridor. He crawled his way down to the end and pressed a lever on the wall that popped the panel off causing it to fall outwards into the hallway. Jeff slid his way out of the maintenance access way and stood up. The damaged coolant pipes were well behind him and he continued down toward the PRAWN bay. He came to a door that was already ajar. He grabbed the small space between the door and the wall and pulled with all his might to slide the door open enough to get inside. The door was extremely reluctant but slowly scraped and screeched its way open. Jeff slipped through the opening and stepped into the PRAWN bay. the first thing he noticed was the gaping hole in the middle of the floor filled in by the ocean. And the fire, fire everywhere. Most of the surviving PRAWN suits were completely consumed in fire. There was more blood here too. Jeff tried to ignore it as best he could. He strutted over to a toppled PRAWN suit engulfed in flames and let loose with the extinguisher. The flames were doused for a moment, long enough for Jeff to scan the severely damaged hull of the suit, but the fire grew back again and forced Jeff to move on. The only other PRAWN suit available was one hanging from the ceiling. He stepped to the very edge of the gap in the floor standing in a foot of water. The scanner was just barely in range and was able to scan the suit. There was a doorway at the back of the room that was completely blocked off by debris and fire.
"Welp... I guess that's it. I might could peek under the floor boards in that hole but I'd rather avoid those blood sucker things... And I'm not going any further into the ship until I have a propulsion cannon which I should be able to make now."
Jeff noticed he was getting pretty hungry at this point. His food supply was back at the seamoth. He started making his way back to the exposed deks. Back through the maintenance access way, back through the locker room, up into the horrific cargo bay, and all the way out onto the open-air decks. He made his way down to the seamoth and opened a small storage hatch on its side. He took out his last nutrient block and bit into it.
"I'm gonna have to start finding out what fish are edible on this planet."
He looked around and made sure the seamoth wasn't damaged and hopped inside. The second he dropped below the water's surface, ice shot up his spine and his adrenaline began to pump as he remembered the creature he had seen bellow this same area earlier when he had first arrived. He began making his way to the support beams that marked the end of the Aurora's hull all the while keeping a weary eye on the deep blue darkness below him. He carefully guided the seamoth through the gap in the hull and was officially out of the Aurora. Feeling more confident he surfaced the seamoth and began making his way back toward the ping on his hud that marked the location of his lifepod. He looked up at the massive moon that loomed close in the sky. It was a sight to behold. However dangerous this planet was, it was still quite beautiful when you took a second to take it in. Jeff had just finished thinking these thoughts when suddenly, 2 thin red arms shot out of the water and clamped down on the hull of his seamoth. Visible damage instantly appeared at the locations where the spike-tipped arms made contact with the seamoth. The interior of the sub flashed to red and alarms began to go off. A status screen began indicating the situation. 'Hull integrity at 72%. Engine flutter. Forward flood-lights offline'. All of this happened within an instant and at the end of that instant, Sally brought it all home:
"Large life-form has made aggressive contact with seamoth submersible!"
Jeff let out a scream as time began to return to its normal speed. The seamoth was yanked under water and as the cock-pit glass cleared of bubbles, the face of a horrifying creature stared him down no more than 3 feet away. The 4 arms of the creature protruded from behind its head and extended to the seamoth where it maintained a firm grasp. The creature had four soulless eyes and rows of sharp, exposed teeth. The creature opened its mouth and made the same blood-curdling cry Jeff had heard when he first made his way into the Aurora. The creature then began to shake the sub from side to side. As Jeff was dashed against the sides of the sub, the hull integrity percentage quickly decreased as pieces of hull plating and machinery fragmented off of the seamoth at the locations that the spiked arms implanted into the hull. 64%, 60%, 56%, 48%.
"Hull integrity at 39%. Approaching critical." Sally said
Jeff tried to clear his mind from the fog of shock and fear so he could work to fight against the beast. Suddenly, the creature let the sub go and it turned around. Just as Jeff's hopes began to rise, the tail of the creature whipped around and slammed into the sub with tremendous force. Instantly the glass bubble that surrounded the cock-pit cracked and the alarm system sped up.
"Hull integrity critical. Engine failure."
Jeff gripped the controls and gazed out through the glass just beginning to realize he had no idea where he was. He must have been sent a good distance by the impact of the creature's tail. It was just dark blue sea everywhere he looked.
"I've got to get back to the pod before the water collapses in on me!"
He tried to get the seamoth to move so he could get a better look at his surroundings. The seamoth just wouldn't move for a second, but then it began to sputter along, slowly. Jeff turned the sub around and saw the very tip of the Aurora just barely piercing through the murky distance. Jeff's mind began to clear and the engineer returned to his senses. He quickly shut down the seamoth's systems and rebooted.
"C'mon now... All I need are engine power and heads-up display."
As the systems came back online, the HUD flickered back on and the marker that indicated the location of his life pod flickered in and out but it was enough to know where to go. He pressed the seamoth forward but the engine wouldn't start.
"C'mon baby, c'mon... if that thing comes back we're toast, now c'mon, work with me here!"
Every time Jeff tried to start the engine, Sally would inform him of, "Engine failure."
"Yeah, Sally, I know we're having engine failure, you don't have to tell me every time."
Jeff let go of the steering and reached under the console on his left and pulled off a panel that exposed an entanglement of wires. Smoke began to pour out.
"It just worked earlier, c'mon now!"
Jeff parted the sea of wires with his gloved left hand and exposed a larger wire that was undoubtedly the drive cord. It had been fried and it was hot and smoking. A few of the bundled wires in this cord had frayed off. Jeff waited for the cord to cool off a bit. Then, he took out his welder and reached in with his right hand. He rearranged the wires and welded them back together. He closed up the wire panel and rebooted the seamoth systems again. After 7 failed attempted, the engine finally came to life.
"Engine capacity at 14%."
"Anything more than 0% will get me back to the pod! Thank God it was just some wiring issues."
Jeff guided the seamoth toward the flickering waypoint on the hud and slowly made his way back to the life-pod.
Comments
Jeff gasped at the sight of such a massive creature. Larger than a humpback whale. Tentacles extended from its rear and its massive blue and black body hulked toward him letting out another loud grumble. As Jeff stared at the creature for this split second, he noticed the creature didn't have any distinguishable mouth. In fact, the creature was moving quite slowly and there were several smaller fish swimming around the creature.
"If those small fish feel safe enough to swim near that thing, maybe it's not dangerous."
Jeff decided to get a closer look, keeping his distance as he made a wide circle around to the back of the creature. He took out his scanner and swam above the beast where he noticed various plant-life and rocky minerals growing out of its back.
"Huh, that's weird. It's like a mobile island."
Jeff began scanning the creature until Sally reported the data.
"Limited data available.
Chitinous Plating: Thick enough to interfere with the spectroscope scanner.
Unidentified Pods: Unknown purpose. Green in color.
Tentacles: Total length ranges upwards of 25m. Tentacles provide low speed propulsion.
Nonthreatening Sociable lifeform. Seen traveling in small pods, behavior consistent with low-level sentience.
Predators: Unknown
Assessment: Additional data required"
"Huh, well dangerous or not, this thing sure scared the heck out of me. I think I'll call this thing a reefback."
Jeff logged the name of the creature on his PDA.
"Ok, back to the task at hand."
Jeff looked back toward the waypoint that marked Pod 7's location. It wasn't far now, but he did notice that the beacon wasn't coming from the surface.
"This is going to be another let-down."
His seaglide spun to life and started pulling him along again. He noticed it was getting darker. The sun was getting lower in the sky.
"Knowing my luck horrifyingly dangerous creatures of every kind come out at night. I hope I can get back before nightfall."
After another few minutes of traveling through the open ocean filled with red grass and more of those strange vertical spires, Jeff began to catch a glimpse of what remained of life pod 7. It was on a small slope where an outcropping of terrain held it up. It was right-side up in a patch of red grass with another gaping hole in the side in about the same location as the previous pod.
"What happened... Why are all the pods exploding?! Did Alterra approve us for launch when our life pods were faulty!?
A twinge of anger lodged itself in Jeff's soul.
He got closer to the pod, glancing at the area around it for any signs of survivors or useful materials. Suddenly, a large cloud of sand billowed up from behind the pod a little to the right. Jeff eyed the cloud of sand as it settled back to the ocean floor. No sign of any creature.
"What the-"
Another cloud of sand exploded from around the same area and Jeff knew he saw something dash through it before disappearing. He retrieved his survival knife from his waist and watched the place where the sand was settling. There was nothing except what seemed to be a triangular rock sticking out of the sand. Jeff stared at the area for another few seconds as he slowly swam side-ways toward the pod. The cloud of sand burst up again and this time, a creature with a massive mouth lined with rows teeth shot out of the cloud. Jeff was barely able to grab the side of the pod and pull himself out of the way of the creature. As it passed by him, he got a good look at it. A long flat body with armor segments like that of an armadillo. The head was flat and rounded with a small triangular fin sticking out of it's forehead. It was a dark purpley gray color with fiery yellow eyes. Having missed its target, the creature immediately nose-dived into the sand near the pod and disappeared in the cloud of sand. All that was visible when the sand settled was that same triangular rock that Jeff now recognized as the fin that had been sticking out of the creature's head. Jeff swam inside the pod through the hole and looked at his oxygen level. Only 62 seconds left. Jeff looked through the pod for anything worth grabbing before he left. His stomach turned as he noticed the water inside the pod was tainted with blood. He grabbed a PDA, and what looked to be a damaged compass. Jeff aimed his seaglide at the hole angled toward the surface. He was going to try and make a break for it and try to avoid the creature outside. With a pull of the trigger, he flew through the hole and instantly the creature burst from the sand thrashing toward him. The creature made a muffled growling sound very similar to a lion as it tried to catch up with Jeff. Eventually, the creature, unable to overtake Jeff's superior speed, gave up and turned back down toward the sandy floor. Jeff let out a sigh of relief as he neared the surface. When he broke through into fresh air, his air-tanks automatically began to vent the old air and replace it. As he floated on the surface, Jeff took out the PDA he had recovered and read the last log.
"I've tried everything. If this fabricator were working I'd be watching the sun set from the armchair in my private observatory by now. As it is I can barely manufacture the most basic of materials with this thing. Want a battery? Here, have a children's toy! Need deep sea diving equipment? Have some lab equipment! Hungry? Let me turn that fruit into dust for you! My theory is the situational analysis circuits are fried. I'm going forward with trial and error. I hit every button on this list, it's got to make something useful eventually."
"Poor guy... everything would have been fine if the fabricator hadn't broken..."
Anger swelled up within him again.
"Why am I getting so lucky?! Everyone else is dying to the stupidest things! Faulty equipment! Unlucky landing sites! Why can't these stupid lifepods do their freaking job!? I don't want to be the only survivor! There's got to be some one out there who didn't get screwed over by their lifepod!"
Jeff threw the PDA down into the water and began making his way back to his pod. Apparently the only one what works properly. Tomorrow, Jeff was going to find some answers.
He clearly hasn't heard of the symbiosis between sharks and remora.
Well being an engineer, I wouldn't be surprised if he isn't as knowledgeable of ocean biology. Luckily for him, it was a safe assumption. Let's just hope he doesn't make assumptions like that when it comes to the sea dragon or reaper.
"Sunbeam, broadcasting to all survivors of the Aurora. We've covered more than half the distance, so hold on in there.
We're scanning the planet for dry land as we speak. You couldn't have picked a less convenient parking spot, but we'll be in touch as soon as we have a landing site for you. Sunbeam out."
Quinn ended the message and looked at Derek who had switched out with Westly again. "Can we pick up any human life-signs on the planet yet?"
Derek looked at his scanner one last time and then turned to Quinn, "Sir, the planet has a vast ecosystem. There are so many living creature signatures on that planet that its completely drowning out all other signatures which indicates there aren't very many survivors. The computer estimates that there could be around 30 survivors that are unable to be tracked due to the fauna density. If there were more than 30 we could probably pick it up. If there is anyone on that planet at all, we wouldn't be able to tell until we saw them with our own eyes.
"30 possible survivors..." Quinn muttered and then quickly began to climb over his chair in the cramped cock-pit and squeezed passed Carson. He made eye contact with Jerret and motioned with his head for him to follow.
"C'mon Valis, let's get this over with."
Carson turned his whole body in his chair. "Are you out of your mi-"
"Are you questioning the sanity of your captain Carson Rainer!? Because to me that sounds like the beginnings of Mutiny!" Quinn barked as he turned his head to glare at Carson.
Carson let his words die on his breath. His head lifted and his chest came out in nervous timidity.
"N-No Captain!"
Carson stared at Quinn in silence.
Quinn turned to the door, "I don't like this any more than you do Rainer..."
The door slid open and Quinn and Jerret walked through. On the other side was a cramped hallway with only enough space for on person to stand with their shoulders almost touching both walls. There were three doors on either side of the hallway each with a designated crew member name inscribed on it. The 6th door had no label and was simply an extra room for either storage or a passenger. At the end of the hall was another door labeled 'Cargo Bay' and 'Engine Room'. Quinn walked up to the door and it opened into the engine room. Four drive engines lined the back wall with various interments and machines connected by pipes and cords to them. The air was filled with a loud waving hum and the walls were lit by red lights. The room was large but the drive cores took up the majority of the space. To the very left of the doorway they had just come through was a small square cargo elevator that led down. A label above it said 'Cargo bay'. They both stepped onto it and Jerret pressed a button on the small terminal attached to it starting their decent. At the bottom was a small room with an airlock door that lead into the cargo bay. To the left of the door was a large heavily reinforced astro-grade window. Right in front of the window was a terminal. Quinn stood looking through the window at all the cargo crates in the room beyond as Jerret stepped up to the terminal.
"Captain, before I input this command. Are you 100% sure you want to go through with this?"
Quinn stood staring at the cargo. The entire 4 year mission had been to accumulate this cargo and bring it back for their company to sell which would give each one of them a nice credit boost. Four years of trading, bargaining, and hiring the right people on other colony planets for these materials. In just a few seconds, all that work would be for nothing.
"Valis, I give you the direct order to purposefully jettison our cargo and thus nullify our 4 year mission."
Jerret didn't hesitate. He simply gave the cargo one last look as he input the command. The massive cargo bay doors at the opposite end of the cargo bay were lit up by a red warning light flashing on the roof. An alarm sounded and a robotic voice echoed in the cargo bay.
"WARNING, Cargo bay doors opening! Jettison procedure initiated. Anyone inside the cargo bay, please exit."
After a few seconds, the voice began again, "No personnel detected in the cargo bay. Cargo Bay clear for jettisoning procedure."
The large doors began to slide open instantly sucking the air out of the cargo bay creating a vortex of oxygen that spiraled out into space. All of the crates, large and small, were instantly drawn to the doors and sucked out into the vacuum of space. As the final crate left the bay, Jerret typed in another command triggering the robotic voice again.
"Jettisoning procedure complete. Closing bay doors."
The doors slowly closed with the loud crash of impacting metal and locking mechanisms. The instant the doors closed completely and locked into place, the red flashing lights turned off and the cargo bay reverted to its white lighting.
The robotic voice said one final thing, "Cargo bay secured."
Jerret turned to Quinn who was still staring into the cargo bay, "There's no going back sir. Everything now depends on there being survivors on that planet, and even if there are some, I doubt our higher-ups will be very happy with our decision."
Quinn finally broke his gaze from the cargo bay and looked at the floor, "You're probably right Valis, even if we do save some survivors, we're not guaranteed to keep our jobs."
He lifted his head to look at Jerret, "However, I can know that regardless of the outcome, regardless of what our directors will think, God can be happy with our decision to value life over profit and for me, that's all that matters."
Quinn stepped onto the elevator lift, "Now come on, let's go make sure Rainer hasn't lost his mind."
I imagine there was an in-universe reason for this, though (cargo was dumped at FTL speeds, destroying or permanently losing it?)
I wanted there to be some high steaks for the Sunbeam crew to show how sacrificial they were for the sake of anyone on 4546B and so jettisoning 4 years worth of work is what I came up with. I was also having trouble logicing out a reason why they wouldn't be able to keep their cargo and I think I have the solution. Since their company is mainly concerned with profit rather than employee well-being, the sunbeam was only equipped with enough fuel to complete its mission, there and back, plus a little extra for unforeseen issues. The Sunbeam only has enough extra fuel to stop by and check for survivors and if there are some, pick them up and immediately continue back home. They wouldn't be able to backtrack to get the cargo. If they dropped the cargo off on the planet, they wouldn't be able to come back to get it for another several years and who knows what condition that cargo would be in by then? So either way, dropping it off on the planet, or leaving it in space, the cargo would be lost or severely damaged. Especially if some of their cargo is perishable or susceptible to water or the vacuum of space. I'll try and incorporate this plot-hole filler in the coming chapters.
The sun had set and Jeff had a very restless sleep as the pod gently sloshed up and down and side to side on the small waves. The pod didn't have any bedding so Jeff was forced to sleep on the floor. Uncomfortable, Jeff was unable to get more than two to three hours of sleep. At the crack of dawn, Jeff headed out in search of other life pods and salvage. He had gotten life-pod 17's signal and upon investigation found several fragments of a vehicle known as the 'seamoth'. Seeing as how the Aurora's mission directive had never mentioned anything about sending anyone planet-side, Jeff found this quite odd. Having found all the materials he needed to create his own seamoth, Jeff began heading back when he came across some wreckage he hadn't noticed before that was in the area of the 'safe shallows' as he had come to call it.
"Huh, might as well take a peek while I'm heading this direction."
He swam down to the wreck and looked for an opening or a door to open. After a few moments, he found a shattered section of an air vent that lead into the wreck and squeezed his way inside. The wreck didn't have much in terms of anything useful. It was part of a locker room. Disintegrating paper and personal belongings of all kinds were strewn about on the floor and floating aimlessly. After a quick look around, Jeff was just about to leave when he noticed an abandoned PDA on the ground slightly hidden under an overturned bench. He snatched it up and read the first log.
- Search & Rescue
- Crew of the Mongolian vessel 'Degasi'
- Ariadne Arm
- Contact: Emissary Jochi Khasar, Aurora Passenger Quarters, Room 4
Mission brief:
A Mongolian vessel, the 'Degasi', disappeared almost a decade ago. Corporate insurance has purchased passage aboard the Aurora for Emissary Khasar, and your orders are to afford them every reasonable facility to locate and, if appropriate, retrieve the Degasi crewmembers, without compromising the primary mission.
The Aurora is due to perform a gravity slingshot maneuver around planet 4546B approximately 13 months post-launch. This will bring the ship within range of the Degasi's last known position.
Degasi crew manifesto has been distributed to senior employees in a separate data package.
The log then listed names and information about high priority missing persons related to the Degasi ship.
Paul Torgal
Margureit Maida
Bart Torgal
Jeff was stunned.
"Wha-... So the Aurora had a secret Auxilary mission? A search and rescue for a lost ship that went down on this planet long ago..."
He tried to take it all in.
"Well that explains all the aquatic supplies I've been running into like the seamoth... But... why was this kept a secret?"
Sally interupted his thoughts. "Thirty seconds."
Jeff dropped the PDA and left out the way he came. As he closed the remaining distance to the pod, he continued to ponder what this meant.
"I wonder what happened to the Degasi... I don't see any remnants of any ship other than the Aurora. Is it possible that any of the Degasi crew are still alive?"
As Jeff climbed up the side of the pod, he decided to push those thoughts to the back of his mind and focus on the task at hand. Build a seamoth and heading to the Aurora. With the rad suit he had gotten he would be able to brave the contaminated waters that were slowly spreading out of the ship. Jeff's brain told him that the Aurora's quantum detonation would have killed anyone still alive within a 1 kilometer range, but his heart told him to hold on to the hope that some one was still alive on the Aurora. He had to find out and the supplies he could get by searching the Aurora would be quite helpful as well. After crafting a portable vehicle bay at the fabricator and drinking some fresh water he had salvaged from a creature he had found that filtered water in its body, Jeff dove once more into the ocean and deployed the vehicle platform. He hoisted himself up onto it and interacted with the small console. He had the materials he needed and the blueprints for a seamoth and he began construction. Four small fabrication drones flew out of the portable vehicle bay platform and began fabricating a seamoth. Once complete, the seamoth lit up and began running an automatic diagnostics. Jeff dropped into the water and swam to the seamoth, getting inside as the computer finished its system check.
"-stems online. Welcome aboard captain." Said the robotic voice of the seamoth's computer.
Jeff checked his inventory. He had been stockpiling water and still had two whole nutrient blocks.
"Ok, we're a go. Let's do this."
Jeff firmly gripped the seamoth's steering wheel and put the sub into drive sending it flying through the water at a great speed. Instantly Jeff felt safer than he ever had before and the biggest smile he had ever had since last seeing Palmer appeared on his face. Suddenly, the thought of Palmer shattered his smile and his face returned to a grim seriousness as he regained focus on his objective. The Aurora. Through the surface of the water above, Jeff could make out the Aurora as he drew closer, and all around him the water was getting deeper and even more sinister than it had seemed before.
I'm fairly new to the Subnautica forums so I hadn't read any of bugzapper's content, but I just recently started reading his 'Borealis Rising' story and holy heck words! His writing is phenomenal and filled with a level of detail and intellect far better than anything I've ever read! I've been encapsulated by that story for the majority of today in fact. I'm certainly not on his level, but thanks for the compliment!
As Jeff got closer to the Aurora, another pang of sadness gripped his mind. He remembered the first time he saw the Aurora, it's majestic form and shimmering hull. A symbol of Alterra's goals as a corporation of exploration, advancement, and discovery. Now, its glossy hull replaced with a blackened shell of shattered and warped metal blemished by breaches that poured fire and smoke into the air. He glided along the surface with the cockpit of the seamoth sticking out of the water. At this distance, he started to fully comprehend the extend of the damage. The entire bow of the ship was entirely gone with nothing left other than the main support beams of the frame marking where hull plating, internals, and the drive core used to be. Jeff got within 100 feet of the ship and dove under. The hull in this middle part of the ship was still mostly intact but not far under the water, sand warped up around the underbelly of the Aurora. The terrain around the ship was extremely warped and some of it was forced above the surface sand and rock alike. There were no plants or any traces of coral in this area likely completely obliterated by either the impact of the ship or the drive core explosion. Jeff scanned the thin part of the hull visible above the sand for a trace of any airlock that was jarred open or a hole large enough for him to enter through. Most of the airlocks on this side of the ship were either buried under the sand or locked tight. As he glided left following hull as he made his way down toward the bow. If there wasn't an open airlock, certainly there would be some means of entrance via the exposed decks at the bow. The terrain slowly receded downward deepening the water. Every once in a while the entire ship would shudder causing a screech of aching steel and bending metal as its fragile frame settled into its new gravity influenced home. The water was getting very deep below Jeff, deeper than the grassy plateau he had encountered the Reefback in. He had been so focused on searching the side of the ship for an airlock that he hadn't noticed how deep and dark the water was bellow him until a new, bone chilling sound broke his focus causing him to look down. Instantly, Jeff's natural fear of the deep kicked in and his heart doubled in speed. He clenched the controls of the seamoth and adrenaline began to pump. He had already discovered plenty of strange and massive creatures nearer to his pod in the shallower water, what more frightening creatures could be lurking in the deeper dark and more importantly, what kind of creature would make such a blood-curdling roar? It came again. A sound so unsettling Jeff could barely remember to breathe. He continued to glide closer to the bow where Jeff located an opening that would let him enter the waters inside the frame where he could see a collapsed deck he could disembark on. As Jeff continued toward that opening, he glanced at the darkness bellow him every second. He felt that at any moment a creature larger than the Aurora could launch mouth first out of the darkness and swallow him before he even had a chance to scream. He finally made it to the opening where the hull plating gave way. He slowly maneuvered between a main support beam and the hull plating making his way into the empty bow. Another roar from some where bellow. Jeff closed his eyes for a second and kept his focus on the deck that had bent down into the water. He could park the seamoth in the water just next to the deck and get out onto it and begin is search for a way inside. He was getting close. In his frightened state, time seemed to go at half the speed he wanted it to go. At the sound of another chilling roar from bellow, Jeff glanced down into the darkness and he gasped as a thick, muscular white and red tail larger than his seamoth appeared out of the darkness before disappearing back into the depths.
Sally confirmed his fears, "Massive creature signature detected exactly 500 feet bellow current position."
Did you start with Aurora Falls, the prequel story?
Great update by the way.
I haven't read the Aurora Falls yet. I honestly didn't know it existed until a while ago but in the reading of the Borealis I had suspected that he had done a previous story. I will certainly try to go back and read that after I catch up on the Borealis Rising.
Yeah! I plan to continue all the way through the story of Subnautica. Please forgive me if I skip a lot of the grindy stuff though. As you may have noticed Jeff tends to just kinda have all the materials he needs because I typically mention that he does the material grinding between chapters. I figured material grinding is the kinda thing you do in the real game and would be best left out for the sake of the story. Don't worry, this story is going all the way until Jeff either gets off the planet, or dies trying. You'll just have to wait for each installment to find out!
I think it's better that way. A story where you have to collect a ton of materials would be boring.
I can just imagine it.
"Jeff searched for quartz in the Safe Shallows. He couldn't find any, so he moved on.
Jeff continued his search, but it was in vain. He couldn't find anymore quartz. So Jeff decided to go to a different biome.
Then Jeff saw some, so he swam over and grabbed some. He still needed more. Jeff saw some other pieces of quartz across the sand. So he swam over and grabbed them.
Now Jeff had all the quartz he needed."
THE END
Well. If not the same level only two or three under him. I used to mess around on other game forums and some of those stories were horrible!
That's the sequel, you might want to read Aurora Falls first. EDIT I see that's been mentioned. Sorry, please disregard.
Jeff floored it. The seamoth jolted forward and closed the distance to the deck in seconds. Jeff turned at the last second ramming the side of the seamoth into the partially submerged deck and he frantically fumbled to get the upper hatch open. He tumbled out of the sub and waded up the collapsing deck until he was out of the water. He was hunched over, hands on his knees breathing fast.
"Oh... Oh my gosh..."
Jeff stood up and caught his breath.
"Ok on to the task at hand."
"Sally, can you give me a life reading from the interior of the ship?"
"The extensive levels of radiation and thick metal structure of the Aurora are disrupting the scan."
Jeff sighed, "Nothing is ever straight-forward on this stupid planet."
He started to make his way up the sloped deck. Fire and debris was strewn everywhere. Much of the edges of the metal supports were still red hot from the explosion. The occasional piece of metal would fall from the decks above. There were several cargo crates lodged in various places along the deck that Jeff gratefully indulged in, finding several batteries and other valuable items. Once he had reached the top of the deck where it had originally been connected, he found only a few open doors and they were crammed with debris. He tried to budge some of the rubble but to no avail.
"No way I'm getting passed this stuff without a propulsion cannon."
He looked around for another deck that had fallen down to this one that might be able to lead up or another door he could enter through. Eventually, he found a segment of a support beam that had lodged itself between two decks and served as a sort of bridge he could use to make his way around a large collapsing wall and reach the other side of the deck. He stepped out onto it and as he put his full weight on it, the ship shuddered again causing the beam to shift slightly on the other end.
"Oh boy..."
He stepped out onto the beam. On both sides were several meters down to the water where no doubt some creature likely lurked. He slowly made his way across and on the other side, He found a door blocked by walls of flames. On the wall next to the door was a fire extinguisher.
"Hmm. Convenient."
Jeff grabbed the extinguisher and let off a long burst, suffocating the fire into dissipation. The way was clear, into the Aurora he went. As he stepped into the corridor beyond the door, the temperature instantly rose slightly and he noticed the distinct smell of smoke and... something else... something so foul he dared not think about what it likely indicated. He placed the oxygen tank mask over his face and continued on. At the end of the hall were two flickering signs that read *ADMINISTRATION* to the right and *CARGO BAY* to the left. On the right was a short hall with another door engulfed in flames. To his left the floor had collapsed down to the next level where several crates were lodged in the hall.
"Hello??" Jeff shouted. The ship rumbled and whined as if in response and drowned out his words.
Jeff decided to check the administration first to see if there were any data downloads he could grab before heading to find supplies. The administration wing only had one accessible room as the rest were either completely on fire or blocked by debris. He lifted the extinguisher and put out the small patch of flames blocking his way into the room and stepped inside. The room was trashed, nothing much of use inside. He found a PDA on the floor buried under some scattered papers. The last log was a document labeled Essential Life Things and it contained various dates and contact numbers. However, at the bottom of the list was a code designated as 'Cargo Bay'.
"That'll be useful."
Though Jeff had had access to the cargo bay while on board the Aurora, he had never been very good with pass-codes and instead used a security key-card that had been provided him. Since he didn't have the key-card anymore, he would need this code.
"That is, IF, any of the doors still work around here..."
He exited the room and headed toward the collapsed hallway. Passing by a crate he noticed a busted propulsion cannon hidden inside. After a quick scan for future reference, he carefully made his way down the slope to the next level and climbed his way over the boxes. He came up to the door, luckily still powered, likely by backup batteries built into the door for emergency purposes. After checking the PDA again, Jeff entered the code and the door screeched opened slowly. The room beyond was a subsection of the several cargo bay rooms. He walked up to the railing of the balcony that the doorway lead to and the first thing he noticed, was the blood.
There was so much... So much blood. No sign of any human remains, just blood, blood everywhere, splattered on the wall and pooling on the ground. The floor was crawling with strange four legged crab creatures Jeff had noticed on the outside of the ship earlier on. His stomach churned and his sanity quivered for a moment.
"Oh my God... Holy... Aghh, I can't... I..."
It was horrific. No doubt these strange crab creatures had been feasting on whatever remained of the Aurora's crew. Anyone who HAD survived were likely too wounded to fight back and were consumed by these horrible creatures as well. Every place where blood stained the ground or wall was likely where a body had once been. Jeff's mind couldn't handle it. He had never been able to handle horror movies and had always despised gore. Seeing so much blood caused his imagination to run wild and he couldn't control it. He grabbed his head in his hands and tried to bring himself back to reality. After a tense moment of Jeff's sanity wavering on the brink, He slowly began to calm down.
"I... I can do this... I... I've got to press on... J-Just don't... don't think about it..."
As he stepped down the stairs to the floor of the bay, he used his extinguisher to deter any crab creatures that got to close. Luckily, the creatures seemed irritated by the chemicals in the extinguisher mist and it was likely due to the strange eye-like bulge on the tops of their heads. He made his way to the cargo lift that would take him down further into the ship gathering supplies from various crates along the way. The lift was broken and stuck at the bottom of the shaft. The loading bay at the bottom was partially underwater.
"Oh great, more ocean. Just when I thought I could get away from it for a while."
Jeff carefully made his way down the sloped shaft of the lift and jumped into the waist-high water. A doorway on the other side of the room lead into a hallway with another pair of directional signs. 'SUBMERSIBLE BAY' to the right and 'DRIVE ROOM' to the left. Jeff waded his way over to the Sub bay door. The terminal had been fried and all the wires were hanging out. Taking out his welder, he began repairing the wires he knew were essential to reactivating the door.
"Thank God I'm an Engineer."
The door flew open into a massive bay where in Seamoths were dangling from their hangers that connected them to the roof. At the very end of the bay were the fragments of two Cyclopses being held up by large metal ship braces. One of them was completely shattered and the other was broken in two.
"I guess this was the place where they kept all the stuff needed for the retrieval of the Degassi. I had always wondered why that door had had a level 9 clearance."
Jeff searched around scanning the severely damaged pieces of the cyclopses and finding a pressure compensator for a seamoth. He exited the bay and was passing the drive room entrance to continue on to the locker room when sally piped up.
"Though the drive core is no longer repairable, the automatic high energy particle containment field can be repaired to neutralize radiation levels in the area. Suggest repairing the H.E.P.C.F. by sealing any breaches."
He stopped for a second, "I guess that would probably be a good idea for the long term."
He waded down the drive room hall as the water got shallower and shallower until he was on dry floor again. Rounding a corner, he came to another pile of debris falling in from the ceiling covered in flames. After a quick blast from the fire extinguisher, Jeff hoisted himself over the rubble and walked through the doorway into the drive room. Four large particle accelerators rose up from the ground below. Jeff was standing on a large catwalk that ran along the perimeter of the square room.
"Commencing diagnostic scan." Sally said.
After a moment, she continued, "Particle accelerator cores have 10 confirmed breaches. If these breaches are sealed,
automatic particle containment will begin."
"Sounds easy enough..."
Jeff jumped into the water flooding the lower level of the room and began searching for breaches. He found the first one and took out his welder and began sealing the breach. Then, he heard a strange noise. A faint noise barely noticeable but certainly not mechanical. He glanced around as he continued welding. The water seemed completely empty. Suddenly, he felt a pain in is left arm as if some one had stabbed a jagged piece of glass through his arm. Jeff let out a scream and jerked his arm up from his side to reveal a small, bulbous creature latched onto his arm. He shifted his welder from the breach to the creature. Instantly the flesh of the creature melted away and it reflexively detached from his arm only to become a lifeless bag of tissue in the water as Jeff's own blood leaked out of the creature's body.
"Arhhg! Just what I needed, big, fat, aquatic, squid-lookin versions of mosquitoes."
Jeff continued sealing the breaches being more cautious and keeping a more weary eye out for those small light-bulb looking creatures. Every once in a while, one would come near and a quick burst from the welder would reduce the creature to melted tissue. Finally, Jeff completed sealing the final breach.
"High energy particle containment field restored. Auto decontamination sequence initiated. Aquatic radiation levels are estimated to return to safe levels in T-minus 3 days, 10 hours."
Jeff swam back up to the catwalk ladder and hoisted himself back onto it. Then, Sally began again.
"Communications relay receiving incoming message from Sunbeam. Relaying message to PDA."
"Aurora, it's Sunbeam. We've made orbit, and scans have found a landing site on the planet that's only rated hazardous. It's our best shot. We've sent you the coordinates. We'll be there in two days' time. Cross your fingers the weather holds, and don't leave us waiting. Sunbeam out."
Quinn ended the transmission and began eying various controls on the console in front of him. He and Westly were the only ones in the cock-pit. Westly reached up to the roof console with his right hand and began tweaking controls as he gently angled the directional joystick with his left toward the massive planet that loomed above them.
"Alright, engaging orbital flight plan. Engines at 70% cruise. Angling pitch at 14 degrees. Accounting for gravitational pull."
Quinn stared out the windshield at planet 4546B, "How's our fuel looking?"
Westly glanced down at the console for a split second before returning his gaze to the ship gauges above him.
"Still cutting it insanely close with only a 5 hour and 34 minute safety margin. You better hope we don't have any delays or else we might not even make it all the way back."
Quinn worked his jaw for a moment, "Don't worry, if we run out of fuel, we aught to be close enough to some of the outer commercial colonies by that point and we can call for a tow-in or a refuel."
"I hope so sir. The computer's got a pretty big red zone on the star-map and we could go dead anywhere in there." Westly said finishing his adjustments to the console.
He then laid back in his seat as he brought the ship into orbital lock.
"Relax, West. You and Derek'll bring us home just fine."
Quinn laid back in his chair and sighed.
"Land-mass scans find anything better yet?"
Westly looked to the scanner on the lower console without lifting his head off the back of the seat.
"Aaaah, looks like..." He lifted himself up and rubbed his neck as he got a closer look at the scanner.
"Not really. There's this weird island that keeps showing up but it's probably just a glitch, there's no terrain that connects it to the sea-floor. And of course, 'keeps picking up the Aurora thinking it's a land mass, the big behemoth. Other than that, that one lonely mountain we already found is still the best site."
At that moment, the door at their backs slid open and Derek walked in with a cup of coffee in his hand.
"Alright Westly, get some rest. I got you mate."
Westly stretched for a second, "Ahhg, finally. I thought you'd never show up."
He climbed out of his seat, "Orbital flight plan is already locked in. Just make sure we don't hit any rocks."
Westly was instantly out of the cock-pit and making his way back to his quarters.
Derek touched his coffee mug up to a wall-mounted magnetic cup-holder as he slipped into the pilot seat. Once he was settled he took the mug off the wall and took a sip. He flinched as he swallowed.
"Boy will I be glad once we get back. I'm tired of this standard issue ship coffee. Tastes like dirt."
Quinn smirked, "Yeah..."
He sat up and started tapping away at a screen on the console in front of him.
"I'm going to run an extensive scan of the Aurora and find out the full extend of the internal ship damage. Who knows, might even be able to salvage some fue-..."
He stopped for a moment.
"Huh... According to the scan, the particle containment field generators were just rebooted..."
Derek choked on another sip of coffee, "You think some one down there did it?"
Quinn stroked his chin for a second, "I don't know... could be... I hope so... I wouldn't be surprised if it was just automatic backup systems trying to fix themselves though..."
After another moment he started running more scans on the Aurora.
"According to this, 26 life pods were jettisoned before impact. That's a good sign at least."
Then he put his hand up to his face.
"All the rocket fuel containment systems were breached so any fuel left has either already leaked out or been completely irradiated so unfortunately that's a no go."
"Maybe you should get some sleep sir. You seem kinda stressed."
"Thanks Derek but I think I'll stay here evaluating this scan a little longer."
Suddenly, Derek spit another sip of coffee back into its mug, "Sir, we're approaching a debris field!"
Quinn jerked his head up from the screen and looked out the windshield, "The Aurora's debris field?"
"I'm not sure sir... whatever system malfunction that brought them down might've exploded mid-orbit."
Derek looked down at his scanner, "I'm picking up a lifepod from some where amidst the debris!"
Slowly the debris came into view through the windshield. Tiny fragments of metal and large hull plates aimlessly floating in space. Occasionally, remnants of human life would come into view among the metal pieces: A ripped hat, a duffel bag, a shattered vending machine, papers, and many badly burned or fragmented articles of clothing.
"The lifepod signal is coming from behind that large piece of hull on the far side of the debris field."
Quinn put his hand out to signal Derek, "Alright slow down, you don't wanna enter this debris field at this speed. Kill the cruise engines and switch to impulse drive at 10% speed."
Derek flipped a few switches on the console, "Killing cruise engines. Impulse at 10%"
The Sunbeam slowly entered the debris field. Derek made quick movements on the directional joystick dodging the larger fragments as they made their way toward the lifepod signal.
~~~
Palmer saw the ship enter the debris field. He was floating in his lifepod hanging on to the hatch on the top with the whole pod turned sideways and slowly rotating. None of the lights were on and there was a large warning message on the main console that provided the only source of light: 'WARNING! Power failure! Oxygen production switched to backup.' He continued to stare out the glass at the ship.
"C'mon! Notice me!"
Palmer's lifepod, number 45, was floating far away from the debris field. Due to the power failure, his local distress signal no longer worked.
"C'mon..."
The bulldog class ship slowly made its way to the opposite side of the debris field.
"No! Wrong way dang it! That pod is already busted!"
Palmer pounded his fist on the hull of the lifepod.
~~~
From behind the fragment of the Aurora's hull, a flickering lifepod appeared.
"Get in close Derek. This might be our first pickup"
Getting close, the lifepod slowly rotated around revealing a massive hole bursting from the side.
Quinn lowered his eyes and sighed, "No other lifepod signals in the area?"
Derek watched the scanner for a second and then sighed too, "No, sorry sir."
"Alright, get us back onto descent orbit."
~~~
"God please, no!"
The ship was making its way out of the debris field back into orbit position.
"I've got to fix this pod some how! I have to contact them! Once the backup life-support battery runs out, so will the oxygen and I'll be toast!"
Palmer floated down to the base of the pod and reevaluated the supplies tucked into the small storage locker. He hadn't been wanting it to come to this, but five days confined inside a dying pod with busted solar panels was about to drive him insane. With the new motivation to make contact with the near-by ship, he picked up the suit that could double as either a wet suit or a make-shift space-suit. He placed the helmet on his head and ripped a wall panel off the wall. Behind the panel was 1 space-grade oxygen tank. He removed it from its slot and attached it to his back and connected the valve to his helmet.
"I should have done this a long time ago anyway."
He depressurized the lifepod cabin and opened the hatch. He had 5 minutes of oxygen in this tank. Very minimal. He would have to come back and refill from the lifepod's depleting reserves eventually. He glanced at the oxygen supply of the pod on the console. '14%'. It won't last much longer.
"I've either got to make it to the planet surface or to that ship.
With the ship getting farther and farther away, it became more clear what path he would have to take.
With that, Palmer launched from the pod out into space and began searching the debris for useful materials.
What?
Palmer survived!?
Dang, I was not expecting that twist, well done @ThunderShock27.
Your heart has been somewhat spared my friend
Chapter 16: Last Minute Shopping
"These coordinates are quite a distance... I need to scour what I can from the Aurora quickly and get back to the pod to prepare to head out tomorrow."
Jeff made his way out of the drive room and took a right turn down the hall. Walking down the hall, the water slowly got deeper until he reached the fully submerged door on the other end. After working some more engineering magic, he unlocked the door and made his way into the locker room. The room wasn't too large. Papers were floating everywhere along with belongings of all kinds: PDAs, duffel bags, a model ship, a hat, a 4th gen gameboy, and even more odds and ends. Many of the lockers were turned over or busted spilling their contents into the water. After finding a few water bottles that were still sealed and a few batteries, he made his way out of the locker room toward the PRAWN bay. The hall sloped up out of the water. Once Jeff breached the surface he saw a massive coolant pipe that had broken through the ceiling and, along with several other pieces of debris, was fully blocking the way as it sprayed coolant everywhere out of various breaches in the pipe. Being the esteemed engineer he was, he looked along the walls of the corridor for a maintenance access way. Sure enough, on the right wall was a panel labeled 'Maintenance'. Jeff popped the panel off the wall with his knife revealing a very small and cramped access shaft filled with wires and various electronics. Jeff had to get on his stomach and crawl into the shaft what was no more than 3x3 feet. The mental map of the Aurora's maintenance access shafts slowly materialized in Jeff's mind. He came to an intersection and there was barely enough space for him to crawl into the next shaft on the left. Instantly he saw some damaged wires down at the end that were sparking and had set that section on fire. Jeff awkwardly pulled out his extinguisher in the tight space and aimed it at the fire. Another second and the fire was out but the wires were still hot and would electrocute him if he wasn't careful. As if he was in a spy movie dodging lasers, he dodged the live wires up, over, around and under. It was a tedious process taking Jeff several minutes to safely clear the wires. He then came to another intersection. Looking down the shaft on the left, he saw another panel indicating a way back out into the main corridor. He crawled his way down to the end and pressed a lever on the wall that popped the panel off causing it to fall outwards into the hallway. Jeff slid his way out of the maintenance access way and stood up. The damaged coolant pipes were well behind him and he continued down toward the PRAWN bay. He came to a door that was already ajar. He grabbed the small space between the door and the wall and pulled with all his might to slide the door open enough to get inside. The door was extremely reluctant but slowly scraped and screeched its way open. Jeff slipped through the opening and stepped into the PRAWN bay. the first thing he noticed was the gaping hole in the middle of the floor filled in by the ocean. And the fire, fire everywhere. Most of the surviving PRAWN suits were completely consumed in fire. There was more blood here too. Jeff tried to ignore it as best he could. He strutted over to a toppled PRAWN suit engulfed in flames and let loose with the extinguisher. The flames were doused for a moment, long enough for Jeff to scan the severely damaged hull of the suit, but the fire grew back again and forced Jeff to move on. The only other PRAWN suit available was one hanging from the ceiling. He stepped to the very edge of the gap in the floor standing in a foot of water. The scanner was just barely in range and was able to scan the suit. There was a doorway at the back of the room that was completely blocked off by debris and fire.
"Welp... I guess that's it. I might could peek under the floor boards in that hole but I'd rather avoid those blood sucker things... And I'm not going any further into the ship until I have a propulsion cannon which I should be able to make now."
Jeff noticed he was getting pretty hungry at this point. His food supply was back at the seamoth. He started making his way back to the exposed deks. Back through the maintenance access way, back through the locker room, up into the horrific cargo bay, and all the way out onto the open-air decks. He made his way down to the seamoth and opened a small storage hatch on its side. He took out his last nutrient block and bit into it.
"I'm gonna have to start finding out what fish are edible on this planet."
He looked around and made sure the seamoth wasn't damaged and hopped inside. The second he dropped below the water's surface, ice shot up his spine and his adrenaline began to pump as he remembered the creature he had seen bellow this same area earlier when he had first arrived. He began making his way to the support beams that marked the end of the Aurora's hull all the while keeping a weary eye on the deep blue darkness below him. He carefully guided the seamoth through the gap in the hull and was officially out of the Aurora. Feeling more confident he surfaced the seamoth and began making his way back toward the ping on his hud that marked the location of his lifepod. He looked up at the massive moon that loomed close in the sky. It was a sight to behold. However dangerous this planet was, it was still quite beautiful when you took a second to take it in. Jeff had just finished thinking these thoughts when suddenly, 2 thin red arms shot out of the water and clamped down on the hull of his seamoth. Visible damage instantly appeared at the locations where the spike-tipped arms made contact with the seamoth. The interior of the sub flashed to red and alarms began to go off. A status screen began indicating the situation. 'Hull integrity at 72%. Engine flutter. Forward flood-lights offline'. All of this happened within an instant and at the end of that instant, Sally brought it all home:
"Large life-form has made aggressive contact with seamoth submersible!"
Jeff let out a scream as time began to return to its normal speed. The seamoth was yanked under water and as the cock-pit glass cleared of bubbles, the face of a horrifying creature stared him down no more than 3 feet away. The 4 arms of the creature protruded from behind its head and extended to the seamoth where it maintained a firm grasp. The creature had four soulless eyes and rows of sharp, exposed teeth. The creature opened its mouth and made the same blood-curdling cry Jeff had heard when he first made his way into the Aurora. The creature then began to shake the sub from side to side. As Jeff was dashed against the sides of the sub, the hull integrity percentage quickly decreased as pieces of hull plating and machinery fragmented off of the seamoth at the locations that the spiked arms implanted into the hull. 64%, 60%, 56%, 48%.
"Hull integrity at 39%. Approaching critical." Sally said
Jeff tried to clear his mind from the fog of shock and fear so he could work to fight against the beast. Suddenly, the creature let the sub go and it turned around. Just as Jeff's hopes began to rise, the tail of the creature whipped around and slammed into the sub with tremendous force. Instantly the glass bubble that surrounded the cock-pit cracked and the alarm system sped up.
"Hull integrity critical. Engine failure."
Jeff gripped the controls and gazed out through the glass just beginning to realize he had no idea where he was. He must have been sent a good distance by the impact of the creature's tail. It was just dark blue sea everywhere he looked.
"I've got to get back to the pod before the water collapses in on me!"
He tried to get the seamoth to move so he could get a better look at his surroundings. The seamoth just wouldn't move for a second, but then it began to sputter along, slowly. Jeff turned the sub around and saw the very tip of the Aurora just barely piercing through the murky distance. Jeff's mind began to clear and the engineer returned to his senses. He quickly shut down the seamoth's systems and rebooted.
"C'mon now... All I need are engine power and heads-up display."
As the systems came back online, the HUD flickered back on and the marker that indicated the location of his life pod flickered in and out but it was enough to know where to go. He pressed the seamoth forward but the engine wouldn't start.
"C'mon baby, c'mon... if that thing comes back we're toast, now c'mon, work with me here!"
Every time Jeff tried to start the engine, Sally would inform him of, "Engine failure."
"Yeah, Sally, I know we're having engine failure, you don't have to tell me every time."
Jeff let go of the steering and reached under the console on his left and pulled off a panel that exposed an entanglement of wires. Smoke began to pour out.
"It just worked earlier, c'mon now!"
Jeff parted the sea of wires with his gloved left hand and exposed a larger wire that was undoubtedly the drive cord. It had been fried and it was hot and smoking. A few of the bundled wires in this cord had frayed off. Jeff waited for the cord to cool off a bit. Then, he took out his welder and reached in with his right hand. He rearranged the wires and welded them back together. He closed up the wire panel and rebooted the seamoth systems again. After 7 failed attempted, the engine finally came to life.
"Engine capacity at 14%."
"Anything more than 0% will get me back to the pod! Thank God it was just some wiring issues."
Jeff guided the seamoth toward the flickering waypoint on the hud and slowly made his way back to the life-pod.
Wh- ah- bwa- I'm- Wa- I would nev- of- cou- Yes. XD