Couldn't they build their base on the underside of the island? I lived there once in an old playthrough. I would imagine that they would be more protected from the elements in the event of a storm.
Couldn't they build their base on the underside of the island? I lived there once in an old playthrough. I would imagine that they would be more protected from the elements in the event of a storm.
They could, but then you must wonder: How long would it be before a reaper decided to saunter right into the grand reef biome and take a bite out of their base? Those mandibles are designed for death and destruction. The current fabrication plans they have for bases are built for protection against water pressure, not long talons capable of doing considerable damage to a seamoth in 1 go. In this story, very little is known about reapers so far. Any deep area in the sea could easily be reaper territory. The only truly safe place on the planet based on Jeff's current knowledge is either on an island out of the water, or in the safe shallows where it isn't deep enough for a reaper to maneuver well. Let's hope, for the sake of Palmer and Jeff and everyone rooting for them, they don't make that mistake. Perhaps in future, when more is known about the reaper's habits and fabrication plans for stronger bases have been developed, we'll see them build a base in more dangerous territory. For now, sit back, relax, and find out what course of action Palmer and Jeff decide to do next in the upcoming entries!
STAY TUNED! SAME SUBNAUTICA TIME (ahem, more or less), SAME SUBNAUTICA CHANNEL!
Once Jeff and Palmer got down to business, things went quite smoothly. Dismantling both observation pods on the island took several hours and several trips back and forth to Lifepod 37. At the end, they had acquired enough titanium, copper, silver, and quartz to last them a while. Jeff went back to his seamoth and deployed the MVB. Using some spare batteries and some lubricant he had along with the materials gathered from the bases, he fabricated a seamoth. Now that Palmer had a safer means of transportation in these deep waters, they packed everything they could fit into the new seamoth and left the island in search of a good base location. While the safe shallows would be no-doubt the safest place, it had very little access to materials and wouldn't fit any larger sea-craft that they inevitably planed to build, aside from the fact that, if hurricane season was as bad as Palmer had said, the water there wouldn't be deep enough to ensure the safety of the base. After cautiously searching through a few biomes on the outskirts of the safe-shallows, they finally settled on creating a base in a grassy plateaus area at -549.1, -86.7, -148.4. While the grassy plateau was open ocean which had a risk of predators, Palmer and Jeff had observed that the reefbacks might actually act as a home security system. While they had still been searching for a base location, they watched as a reaper attacked a reefback in the distance. The reefback was completely helpless but its thick, armored carapace prevented the reaper from harming the creature entirely. Furthermore, once the reefback had made calls for help to those in its pod, the other reefbacks advanced on the reaper using their armored bodies as shields causing it to feel crowded out and pushed it back into the deep. As they say, "there's strength in numbers".
In that same area, they had also come across a large section of Aurora wreckage that yielded some useful materials, including the schematic for a basic moonpool. Nearby the wreck, they also found lifepod 17, sadly resting at the bottom with no signs of a body.
Then, they got to work. They started out with a large multipurpose room that they placed on a flat platform of rock. Then from there, they extended glass connector corridors to two other multipurpose rooms and connected them to a moonpool which they connected back to the starting room making a circle of sorts. They added some reinforcements to the hull, some windows, and two airlocks. The last thing the base needed was some power. Being 90 meters down, the sun still provided a viable source of power so they lined several solar panels along the roofs of all four buildings. Now that the base was powered and had a sufficient hull integrity, it was ready to be pressurized. Jeff and Palmer swam up into the flooded base from the moonpool. Jeff attached a fabricator to the wall and uploaded his PDA AI and began synchronizing the base, Sally, and Palmer's AI into one. Once the synchronization was complete, Sally booted up inside the base.
"Welcome aboard captain."
"Sally, run a systems check on the base."
Palmer gave a quizzically amused look at Jeff, "You call the AI 'Sally'?"
"When you're alone on a planet for this long without human companionship, you take what you can get."
"Yeah, I get that. Unfortunately, when I was up in space, the pod was too damaged to run the AI's systems so I was all on my own. If I hadn't made it down to the surface when I did, I woulda gone crazy for sure. You showing up made it even better."
Sally finished her diagnostics, "Hull integrity 172% and sufficient for current depth. Power low but increasing to a maximum charge of 150. Airlocks secure. Windows secure. Corridors secure. Support pylons secure. All systems nominal."
"Great, initiate base pressurization procedure."
"Aye, aye."
The water began to drain away and was replaced with air. Once the water was below their waists, they began remove their scuba gear and headed deeper inside the base.
"Welp, here we are... Very empty. We'll need to fix that soon," Palmer said.
"Yeah, we should start with beds. I don't know about you up in zero grav, but I've been sleeping on the cold hard floor of a cramped lifepod all this time and have literally been aching for a comfortable place to sleep."
Palmer sighed, "That was about the only good thing about being stuck up there. Sleeping in zero gravity is quite comfortable. I agree though, let's start with some bedrooms."
Jeff and Palmer then took the multipurpose room they were standing in and sectioned off half of it by a wall with two doorways. Then, in between the two doorways, another wall was built dividing the half in half. Each room was the size of a forth of the entire multipurpose room and provided plenty of space compared to what the lifepod had been like. In each room, a bed was fabricated and Jeff collapsed onto his.
"Heh, you enjoy your beauty sleep Jay, I'm going to build some storage containers in the other room."
Once Palmer was finished, he headed back out to their seamoths and docked each one to empty their storage bays and transferred the materials and equipment into the containers he built. Then, he came back to Jeff.
"Hey, I was busying myself in the moonpool and noticed the modification console has color and name-change settings. We should christen our seamoths! The bland coloring and lack of a unique name on our subs isn't very motivating."
Jeff rose from his bed, "Wow, so much more comfortable. Uh, yeah, let's do that. I had been wanting to customize mine for a long while anyway."
They both walked into the moonpool where Jeff's seamoth was currently docked. Jeff stepped over to the modification console and began tweaking the color.
"What's the name going to be?" Palmer asked.
"I don't know yet."
When he was finished, the seamoth was a predominantly black color with green accentuation and gray interior. It took some thinking, but Jeff finally settled on the name "Talon".
Then it was Palmer's turn. Jeff switched out the seamoths and Palmer began customizing. When he was done, the seamoth was predominantly white with red accentuation and a black interior. "Stingray" sound like a good name to him.
And so Talon and Stingray came into the world. Two agile little subs that would faithfully serve these two friends to the ends of 4546B.
recreating these vaguely reminds me of reapers and sea dragons. Is that what you were going for?
Dude those are nice! They didn't initially have meanings, but now that u mention it, the color schemes do make sense. The black and green one was actually just my personal preference in game. Neon green and black is my favorite color scheme and I thought I'd incorporate it, but it does look like a seadragon when its dark green. And the white and red one, that was just another one of my favorite color schemes. I'm surprised i didn't think about the similarities to a reaper. Thanks for the representation though! If you go to the coordinates of their base in game, you might even try replicating their base too if you like.
recreating these vaguely reminds me of reapers and sea dragons. Is that what you were going for?
Dude those are nice! They didn't initially have meanings, but now that u mention it, the color schemes do make sense. The black and green one was actually just my personal preference in game. Neon green and black is my favorite color scheme and I thought I'd incorporate it, but it does look like a seadragon when its dark green. And the white and red one, that was just another one of my favorite color schemes. I'm surprised i didn't think about the similarities to a reaper. Thanks for the representation though! If you go to the coordinates of their base in game, you might even try replicating their base too if you like.
im at the coordinates. Might give a shot at the base
That's my rough interpretation of it. Not entirely sure what goes in that one MP room but i have one with the storage lockers. Couldnt figure out how to get walls in the rooms so i just did as is and added a couple touches of my own such as the picture and the desk.
Nice work @FlashWoolFumble ! I actually built a base there as a point of reference for my last entry and I'll tell you right now, you basically created exactly what I did! Nice work!
In other news, I must apologize again for the lack of quantity and quality of the latest entries in Splash Down. I've been really busy with finals and year-end exams. Once I get that under my belt though, I should be able to buckle down and give more time to this story! Hang in there ladies and gentlemen!
Nice work @FlashWoolFumble ! I actually built a base there as a point of reference for my last entry and I'll tell you right now, you basically created exactly what I did! Nice work!
In other news, I must apologize again for the lack of quantity and quality of the latest entries in Splash Down. I've been really busy with finals and year-end exams. Once I get that under my belt though, I should be able to buckle down and give more time to this story! Hang in there ladies and gentlemen!
Hey no problem take your time man. I'd rather have a good story that takes time instead of a rushed bad story
After the completion of the base, the duo decided to name their home Reefback Refuge, or R&R for short. A week had passed since the christening of Talon and Stingray, a week primarily filled with resource runs. They had been stockpiling all sorts of materials from metals to plants. Along the way a few discoveries were made. A new, very creepy looking biome of what looked like skeletal hands protruding out of the darkness of an abyss. This area was avoided for good reason. They also discovered new creatures such as the bone shark and a thing that looked like a cross between a crab, a squid, and a light-bulb, which lead to it's designation as 'crabsquid'. They had been traveling all around the area of the R&R in their search for materials which lead to finding more sunken lifepods and more fragments of the Aurora. However, the most interesting discovery they made, was on their very doorstep. While on their way back from material gathering, they came within only a few hundred feet of the base when Palmer caught a glimpse of a strange glow that came from the sea floor. They doubled back and went in for a closer look.
"What'd you say it was?"
"I'm not sure, it was like and unearthly glow... of course... you could basically call anything in this ocean unearthly. It was just different from anything I've seen on this planet- here it is!"
In front of them gaped an indention in the ground that got steeper and steeper until it gave way to a large hole that lead down into the dark. At the bottom of the darkness was a pinkish purple glow that pierced the darkness.
"Huh, what do you think it is?"
"Probably the same thing it always is Palmer, either a giant bioluminescent plant that wants to kill us, or a giant bioluminescent creature that wants to kill us. Either way, most things on this planet want to kill us. Let's head back and drop off our stuff and move on."
"I kinda wanna go in for a closer look don't you?"
"I mean, I guess... but at the first sign of something dangerous, we're out ok? Caves on this planet don't usually spell good news."
Palmer began descending down and cut on Stingray's lights. Jeff followed close behind. The cave went vertically down and down, deeper and deeper. Jeff was beginning to worry that a speedy retreat was going to be a bit more difficult in this small space. The tunnel suddenly gave way to stalagtites as they entered into a massive cavern at about 197 meters down. The cave was about the size of the grassy plateau above them and seemed to branch off in smaller sections just beyond the murk. The most intriguing thing about this massive cave were the massive, glowing, pink mushroom things that grew up from the floor. Some of them were even more massive than the size of their base. The mushrooms' caps were made of what appeared to be a jelly like flesh that covered the pink bioluminescent tissue interior. At the top in the middle of the caps were holes that seemed to be lined in the same material the stalks were made up of.
"Wow... this planet just gets weirder and more interesting at every turn," Palmer whistled.
"Yeah, no kidding. I'll scan these mushrooms just for science's sake and then we can head outa here."
Jeff brought Talon in closer to one of the mushrooms.
"Gosh, I still need to add a built-in scanner to the seamoth... That's the first thing we're doing when we get back."
He exited the seamoth and took out his scanner. The mushroom he chose to scan was the largest one visible. It's cap had a radius from the edge to the center hole of about half a football field. These things were truly massive. Suddenly, Sally's scanners picked up something.
"Large creatures detected in vicinity, advise extreme caution."
But it was too late for Jeff to back away. A large serpentine creature flashed out of the center hole of the mushroom and lunged at Jeff. It moved so fast the features of the beast were hardly distinguishable. It wasn't until two large mandibles clamped down on Jeff's leg that the creature's intent and design became apparent. Blood clouded the area of contact and Palmer's curious face melted into fear.
Palmer frantically glanced over the seamoth console and his surroundings.
"What do I do! There's no offensive or defensive systems installed in this thing!"
He gripped the yoke and pushed Stingray forward at full speed, his eyes welded onto his target. It had been three seconds after the creature struck Jeff that Palmer had reacted, and it only took him two more to come to his aid. Stingray slammed into the creature's upper head area with such force that Palmer was instantly slammed up against the dash of the cockpit. Dazed, Palmer pulled himself back up into an upright position and tried to look out the glass. Everything was swirling and hazy. He shook his head trying to focus, causing him to notice the gash in his head as the blood flowed out from the shaking motion. He didn't pay much attention to the gash and stared out as his eyes started to focus in.
Jeff gripped his leg, blood still clouding out from the wound.
"Ahhhggg!!"
The pain was excruciating, even worse than his first encounter with Stalkers. The wound felt like it went all the way down to the bone and Jeff was worried his leg might be broken in several places. The creature was twitching for a few seconds about seven feet from him in a daze from its impact with Stingray's side. Jeff looked at Palmer who was slumped over the dash was a large gash on his forehead. There was a bad hull breach in Stingray where it had met the creature's cranium. Oil seeped out as electrical sparks occasionally illuminated the breach. Jeff rolled around in the water and tried to swim with one leg back toward Talon. The creature was starting to move again. It had eel-like flaps on two sides of its body that ran its whole length. Jeff had just reached Talon when the creature retaliated against Palmer, but as Jeff looked that way, something even more alarming came into view. Jeff quickly entered Talon and screamed in pain as the water drained away and gravity took its full effect on his body in the seat.
"Palmer! There are more of those things coming out of the shroom and headed for us!"
"If one wasn't enough!" Palmer strained.
Jeff kicked Talon into 'gear' and flew toward the creature as it shook Stingray from side to side. He slammed into its side, not with the same force as Palmer had, but with enough to knock the creature's grip of Stingray. Palmer immediately gunned it and Jeff followed close behind, but it was too late. The other creatures had arrived to investigate the commotion and were blocking their escape through the cave in the roof.
"Turn around! Full speed! Head deeper into the cave! Look for some where, anywhere we can wedge ourselves into that they cant fit!" Jeff screamed.
The creatures were fast but the seamoths had the superior speed. To Jeff's horror, however, Stingray was losing engine power due to the damage it had sustained. They had to find something quick. Suddenly, a massive ploom of bubbles and blackness billowed up from the seafloor where an orange glow flickered for a moment. The thermometer on Talon indicated the temperature was rising.
"Magma vent!"
"Palmer! Head for that orange flicker of light!"
Stingray and Talon did a nose-dive down toward a cluster of spires that occasionally spewed a bit of magma that instantly solidified in the water, causing a massive ploom of black smoke and bubbles. Jeff kept his eye on the temperature. It was getting dangerously hot. Passed 200 degrees Celsius now.
"Warning, temperature levels nearing maximum capacity for current seamoth system configurations," Sally said.
They got closer to the vents and then turned back toward the creatures. The closest one charged toward them and suddenly began slowing down. The creature thrashed for a bit before turning around. Each creature that was following them did the same maneuver before returning to the borders of the hot water. There, they waited for a moment before eventually losing interest and heading off back into the dark corners of the cave.
"Phew," Palmer let out a sigh of relief.
"My gosh, those things are almost as scary as reapers!"
"Almost?! If reapers are worse than those things, I hope we never run into one! How are you? Are you ok!?"
"I'm not, I'm still losing blood. If I don't get a med kit soon, I'm going to bleed to death."
"Well it's a good thing we stockpiled a bunch from the fabricator in my lifepod. I've got four in the seamoth's storage but I can't get out and grab it while we're in this boiling water. We'll have to come out of this safe spot for a moment to patch you up. Look for a dark corner, some where where the visibility is low, we might be able to avoid being seen by any of those things if we keep our seamoths dark."
After a moment of looking around, Jeff noticed something.
"Hey, what's that over there? Is... is that a thermal reactor?"
Palmer looked in the direction Jeff was aiming his seamoth. Not too far away from them, on the seafloor nearby more of the magma vents, stood what appeared to be a very old Alterra grade thermal reactor. It was about the size of four multipurpose rooms stacked on top of each other and several pipes snaked out from its base to several receiver vent turbines that were scattered around the area. The main structure wasn't round like a MP room but more squared and had several either exhaust or intake vents on the top. It's age was apparent as even the titanium shell, made specifically to last underwater, was beginning to rust in a few places, though the rust was barely visible through all the moss and build up of minerals on its exterior. The scattered intake turbines no longer spun and any indication the structure was still functional could not be seen.
"How the heck did this get here?" Jeff strained.
"I'm not sure, but something tells me its related to the Degasi ruins we found on that floating island. We don't have time to worry about that right now, we need to get you a medkit before its too late!"
Jeff studied the structure a moment, struggling to keep himself from passing out.
"Look! There's a power line that heads off that direction. Follow it and it should lead to whatever structure it was powering. Once we're there, get me out of Talon and drag me inside it before any more of those creatures get... t-too... c-ure... cure... curiousss..."
Jeff slumped in his chair.
"Jeff's life signs are waning. Immediate medical attention is required in the next ten minutes before blood loss reaches critical lethality," Sally warned Palmer.
"Activate Talon's autopilot and follow me Sally," Palmer said.
As Palmer began heading off toward the power line, Talon followed closely behind. Palmer hugged the seafloor trying to avoid all possible contact with those snake creatures. Any time the power line would go near one of the jelly shrooms, he made sure he passed under the cap of the plant to avoid being noticed by one of the creatures. When they try to escape this cave, he noted to himself, traveling lower than cap level seems to go unnoticed by those creatures.
The power line snaked along for some time and at a few points, Palmer almost lost the trail due to all the damages the line had received. In some places, the line just ended in a frayed mass of wires and Palmer would almost lose hope before noticing the rest of the line some where further on. Eventually, the line guided him into a smaller section of the cave. The line lead to a base as Jeff had thought, but the base was in no better shape than the thermal plant. Many of the windows were cracked and in a few places, corridors had split in half. The base was oddly shaped with 1 MP room on one side connected by corridors to another on the opposite side with an observation level in the middle. Palmer quickly retrieved Jeff from Talon and cracked open a med kit as he pulled him into the closest opening with only a few minutes left. There were several jelly-fish-like creatures anchored to the roof that made it difficult to maneuver Jeff's body through. Once inside, Palmer first administered a synthetic blood patch that would conform itself to Jeff's blood type. Then, he inspected the wound. It had cut to the bone and his femur was fractured. Palmer inserted a medical nanobot syringe into the wound. This would ensure a fast and full recovery, but would still take a week or so. After that, he quickly wrapped a bandage tightly around the wound. Then, he yanked off the door to one of the broken lockers in the room and used it as a splint for Jeff's leg.
Palmer breathed in deeply and checked his air supply.
"Gosh, giving medical aid while submerged is harder than I expected."
Palmer checked Jeff's suit life signs and oxygen level. His blood levels were slowly stabilizing and the nanobots had already begun increasing clot production and bone repair. Now Palmer just needed to wait for Jeff to regain consciousness. Meanwhile, he thought he'd take a look around. The place was trashed. Things littered all over the floor, storage containers crooked or knocked over. Most everything was covered in sea growth and mineral build-up. There was an old PDA on the floor. Palmer picked it up and wiped the filth from it. It was broken but hopefully its data was still intact. He docked it with his own PDA and began downloading the data from it. There were a few logs that caught his eye.
"Playing selected voice log, #32. Degasi PDA user ID#19420RN 'Bartholomew L. Torgal'. Log date corrupted."
PAUL: "What is that thing?"
MARGUERIT: "I don't know. I found it outside, in the mud."
PAUL: "Part of another ship?"
MARGUERIT: "None I've seen."
BART: "It's not even scratched."
PAUL: "Don't touch it, it could be valuable!"
MARGUERIT: "Stand down, Chief, I'm just lookin'. If it were goin' to crumble to dust it woulda done so when I first picked it up."
PAUL: "It's glowing."
BART: "It's still powered."
PAUL: "We're not the first people to come to this planet."
MARGUERIT: "People. Maybe. Could be aliens. Could be the damn seamonsters. Just one way to find out."
Sally interrupted, "Log end. Data stream terminated."
"Hmm... looks like they found something related to that alien structure Jeff talked about."
Palmer selected another log.
"Playing selected voice log, #19. Degasi PDA user ID#19420RN 'Bartholomew L. Torgal'. Log date corrupted. Audio recording minutes 1-4 corrupted. Beginning playback at minute 5."
PAUL: "We're already more than 200m below sea level! You want to go DEEPER?!"
MARGUERIT: "We've been here a couple months now, Chief. Look around us. I see water leaking through the hull. Water outside the hatch. Water above me, water below me. We're
drowning. Real slow. If rescue arrives, whatever shot us down, it's going to do it again. And again. Until it's shut it off. You see an off switch around here, Chief?"
PAUL: "Why would an off switch any more likely be half a kilometer down?!"
MARGUERIT: "It's a hunch."
PAUL: "You're mad."
MARGUERIT: "I'm going. And I've an idea you two are gonna follow. If you do, be mindful: your authority stopped at sea level."
"Log end. Data stream terminated."
"Things are getting even more heated than they were on the island... So they moved out and went deeper again..."
Palmer skimmed through the rest of the data logs. Most of them were either Bart's lab findings or were corrupted. He let the PDA fall to the floor and went deeper inside the base down the middle corridor. He reached the other MP room and it was in the same condition as the other. He found another PDA on a desk covered by some weird starfish creature. He brushed it aside and began downloading the PDA's data. There were very few entries on this one and most of them were corrupted. Palmer was able to get one to open.
"Generating selected text log, #4. Degasi PDA user ID#14023 'Marguerit A. Maida'. Log date corrupted."
A text document appeared on screen.
"These conniving, corporate, bourgeois, inbred, incompetent, self-absorbed JERKS don't have a clue! The kid's not so bad, but I swear everything that comes out of his father's idiot face is a narcissistic lie. He wants to stay here, his problem. I'm the one doing the heavy lifting. Screw the contract. Screw the bonus pay. Screw the charges. I'm going deeper. When seamonsters are hunting you, you don't hide. You hunt the seamonsters. Then you use the bones of your enemies to build a bigger boat, and you hunt bigger monsters. Repeat until there aren't any monsters left hunting you. I've started the prep work. The kid's got a whole pack of stalkers eating from the palm of his hand. I've started defanging them when the Torgals are sleeping, and stockpiling enamel and metal ores. I'll raid the indoor growbeds before I leave."
Palmer set the PDA down.
"This level of aggression between these Degasi survivors doesn't bode well for their survival chances. I wonder if they even made it to their next base location..."
"Palmer... You there?" Jeff winced through their suit com.
"Oh, your awake! Yeah, I was just exploring the base a little. As I figured, its the Degasi again. Things were getting very hostile between them at this stage. According to the logs, they planned to go even deeper. Anyway, how are you feeling?"
"Still feel like a knife is slicing into my leg, but my mind's clear again and I see you used some nanobots so I should be good to go... Might need a little help swimming back to Talon though."
"Yeah, sure thing. Might gather a few useful things from the base real quick first and then we can figure a way to get outa here."
Now when subnautica have something like ending in hyped for how that end.Remember 1st sea emperor telepathy is trigered by visiting precursor gun(voice line: Whot are you?).2nd Lost river base,3 lava zone.But i can mistake.
I want to thank you for your story. I've been reading alot of the fanfic on here while at work and I love reading yours. I love that you try to follow to events that happen in game as it makes it relate-able to everyones play-though. I do like the other ones on here like what Zapper does, but I like that you stick to cannon. So in short, thanks, keep being awesome, and don't ever give up.
I want to thank you for your story. I've been reading alot of the fanfic on here while at work and I love reading yours. I love that you try to follow to events that happen in game as it makes it relate-able to everyones play-though. I do like the other ones on here like what Zapper does, but I like that you stick to cannon. So in short, thanks, keep being awesome, and don't ever give up.
Thankyou so much. That means so much to me. That was my motivation initially: to make a story that followed the cannon events of the game and maybe throw a few twists into it. I thought the game's story was already quite intricate on its own and that, to take it to the next level, a voice simply needed to be given to the main character and a story about right before the crash along with the point of view of the Sunbeam crew. I have the benefit of creating my story toward the end of the game's story development, whereas Bugzapper made his really early on and so he had to make up his own ideas on how the game would progress and when the devs made something different in game, he just had to roll with it and the way he writes, it's probably for the better anyway because both of his stories are fantastic.
Yep you do have that benefit, I also like the duel survivor thing, dialog is the meat of a great book. Tho, I have found no story on here who's person is as fearful and paranoid about this planet as the way my game plays out >.<
Jeff once again stood at the doorway of the giant alien gun facility. It had been a few weeks since the "adventure" in the jelly shroom cave. A week predominantly filled with bedrest and boredom for Jeff while Palmer continued to gather supplies, complete scientific research on flora and fauna, and make upgrades to the base. Palmer had discovered a few useful blueprints to upload to their schematic database while on his periodic resource runs. Cyclops engine fragments, and hull plating. They were very close to being able to create a cyclops and the last thing they lacked was the bridge/electronic components. Other than working toward the cyclops, however, Palmer had also been kitting their seamoths with useful upgrades. The first one being an externally mounted scanning system, followed by extensive hull armoring and pressure compensation systems. The last thing Palmer had completed during that time was installing medical kit fabricators in each of the pilot cabins of the seamoths to save space in their storage compartments and to prevent close calls like experienced in the jelly shroom cave. To Reefback Refuge, Palmer had installed a bioreactor and industrial grade power cells to increase energy storage and production. He had also furthered the aesthetics of the base to make it more comfortable. He had added a kitchen for more pleasant food production along with decorative plants and pictures through out the base. Their new home was becoming more pleasant and more than just a simple space upgrade.
Once Jeff's leg was fully healed, the first step toward getting off this planet would be to gain access to the alien ground-to-space Anti Aircraft gun facility and figure out a way to disable it, whether that would be using its own controls, or beating it over with a metal rod until it no longer functioned.
"Wow... this is not what I was expecting... this thing really is... well, alien. Look at the size of it!" Palmer said as he walked up behind Jeff.
"My reaction was about the same first time I saw it. Now, as far as I know, this is the only terrestrial entrance into the structure and this terminal here seems to accept some sort of key that I would imagine has some sort of similar appearance or shape."
Jeff directed his attention to his PDA, "Sally, using my previous scan data on this terminal, can you locate any object that matches the terminal's shape or energy signal in the vicinity?"
Sally processed for a moment, "Detecting object. 1 foot by 6 inches in perimeter composed of the same off-world materials. Object is emitting similar data stream to terminal. Marking on hud."
Jeff's and Palmer's huds updated with a new waypoint. The object appeared to be on the roof of the entrance only a few yards away.
"Lets go," Jeff said as he walked down the beach.
They found a more gradual gradient in the rock and made their way up. The slope was also marked with strange pedestals that emitted light when approached. After a short distance, they were level with the roof of the extension from the gun to the island and smothered in the sand on the path was something geometric. Jeff swept away the sand and pulled out the object. On its face, it had a glowing purple symbol matching the one on the terminal and its shape looked like the dimensions would fit in the slot.
"Huh, that was conveniently close," Jeff said as he eyed the "key".
"Well I won't complain. This just means we can get in without having to travel more reaper infested waters. I swear I saw the shape of one out there in the murk and any thing the keeps us from having to explore in the waters around here is fine with me."
They both headed back down the path and returned to the terminal. As they drew near, the terminal opened up revealing the corresponding symbol. Jeff was about to set the key in the slot when it was magnetically pulled out of his hands, into the slot, and the terminal closed instantly.
"Looks like we won't get to reuse those things," Palmer sighed.
Suddenly there was a whirring electrical sound and the green force field began to fade away.
"Bingo. Lets go."
Jeff stepped though the triangular doorway and a familiar smell wafted through the air. He sniffed and scrunched his face in concern.
"Smells like an electrical burn out in here."
"Yeah," Palmer replied, "And the walls look like circuits..."
"Analyzing structural patterns on walls, floor, and ceiling. Cannot ascertain whether their purpose is aesthetic or functional. Further data required," Sally said.
The two of them rounded a corner and walked down a hallway that lead through an open doorway. It was eerily quiet and their footsteps echoed loudly as they progressed. They entered into a room with square pillars protruding from the ground up to the ceiling with horizontal extensions branching out from them in no particular symmetrical way.
"This place is crazy... these weird structures and green lights everywhere... very weird stuff..." Palmer walked along, his eyes glancing around at various things with an inquisitive expression.
They entered into another room that seemed to have a pathway down on opposite sides of them and, in the middle, was another terminal standing on a middle platform, only this one had a green holo display and appeared to have controls. As they approached the terminal, Sally picked up something.
"Identified a background message being broadcast throughout the facility. Partial translation available. Message reads:
WARNING: unidentified craft in orbit of this planet will be destroyed ▛▖ prevent the ┗┏▀▄▖┗▜▚┣ ┣┅▄▚┃▞▙ ▞┃▛▖┛┣┫▙▚┃... Message is on rapid repeat in hundreds of different languages."
Jeff sighed, "Well that's a little late... Why the heck isn't this being broadcast into orbit? Wouldn't that save more lives and more trouble for the aliens if intruders were warned BEFORE they got shot down? Uhg, I don't know, maybe the main broadcasting system malfunctioned or something and this faint background message is all that's left..."
"Yeah, that doesn't make sense. I hope these aliens have some good reason for shooting down our space craft, otherwise this is going to just be an expedition to find out how much of a jerkwad this alien race was."
"Yeah, well 10 points to jerkwad so far..." Jeff turned his attention back to the terminal, "Sally, can you download the data from this terminal?"
"Commencing download."
After a few seconds Sally relayed her findings.
"This terminal matches no known human technologies and appears to be a solid state computer of some kind. No recognizable user-interface. Speculation: It is likely the alien species which designed this technology genetically selected sensory apparatus to 'hear' and understand the information being broadcast by this device and to communicate back. This would indicate immense levels of mental processing power far beyond the psychological levels of the common human. The data being broadcast from this terminal is unable to be decrypted, however, the basic purpose of this terminal appears to be connected to the operation of air quality, light fixtures, and door security. Further data required."
"Welp, there you go. We're working with big-headed green men," Palmer joked.
"Heh, sure sounds like it... Sally, can you detect anything throughout the interior of this structure that might resemble a main control room?"
"Searching for recognizable patterns... There are more terminals throughout this facility, however, one appears to be connected to the main power source and is radiating the same energy signature. It is possible this location houses the main controls. Marking on hud. Further assessment required."
"Well it's a start at least. Let's go."
They walked off to the left and began heading down the incline that lead them to the bottom of the room. There was no obvious direction to continue down here, however, they did notice a strange glowing object to their right. Jeff almost didn't notice it as he searched for a doorway to continue through.
"Hey, what's that?" Palmer said, tapping Jeff on the shoulder as he began to wander in the opposite direction.
Jeff turned to look where Palmer had motioned. On a small platform, in between two pedestals similar to the lights they had seen outside, was a green, glowing cube. They got closer and a smaller platform below the cube rose up to waist level.
"Huh... is it a decoration... or a tool of some kind?" Jeff wondered aloud.
"Let's find out."
Palmer began scanning the cube.
"This alien cubic device currently stores the equivalent energy of a small nuclear detonation-"
Sally continued speaking as both Palmer and Jeff stepped back from the cube in alarm.
"-The alien technology is able to keep the stored atoms in a permanently stable state, however, under the right conditions, the reaction could be re-catalyzed and the energy released in controlled manner-"
Palmer and Jeff gave a sigh of relief and continued listening.
"-It is likely this type of device was used as a battery, storing power for portable use. Assessment: Excellent source of long-term energy."
Palmer looked at Jeff, "Wow... that's both frightening, and amazing... You think we could make use of this?"
"We can take it and see if we can generate a usable battery schematic out of it back at base."
Jeff picked up the crystal-like cube and stored it away and they returned to looking for a path forward. Turning around, they noticed a hallway that lead to the left, previously hidden by a wall extension. They continued on through the facility, each room similar to the next but uniquely bizarre in asymmetrical layout. They eventually came to a room with yet another ion crystal cube, a spare purple access key, and another data terminal on the far end. Triggered by their approach, the terminal's holo display switched from various green symbols to a structural 3D model of the entire facility.
"Whoa, this place is much bigger below sea level... I wonder what all those separate cubic sections are..."
Jeff continued to view the display while Palmer downloaded the terminal's data to his PDA. Sally then broke the silence with her findings.
"Further data on structure and facility layout obtained. This data set appears to be a multidimensional schematic of some kind. By mapping the pattern to three-dimensional space, it is possible to gather a basic understanding of the facility's internal workings. As stated previously, the facility's unknown construction material is identified as an ultra-hard, non-reactive metal amalgam synthesized from off-world materials and has no apparent weakness of any kind. The schematic indicates the facility is powered by a separate self-sustaining power plant located elsewhere on the planet. The location is not listed. Further confirming earlier speculation, the control room is designated to be in the lower section of this building and is identified as the only known way to interface with the facility. However, the schematic does not detail any operation procedure or installed security measures."
"Well that's a little bit more helpful than the last terminal," Palmer noted.
"According to this 3D map of the whole facility, there should be an elevator shaft that leads down to the moonpool and from there we should be able to make our way up to the control room. C'mon let's go!"
Jeff headed off through the doorway on their left and Palmer followed behind.
"Well hey! Here's some familiar-ish technology. Looks like a grav-lift."
In front of him was a large vertical shaft with floating particles hanging weightless in mid air.
"Wait, can't those cause internal damage due to gravitational pressure?"
"Well the human version does, but let's see if this one does the same. Don't you have a marble melon on you?"
"Well yeah but that's supposed to be to eat... but I guess for science..."
Palmer took the marble melon out. It wasn't that large, only about as big as a baseball. If the grav-lift would be harmful to humans, It'd be crushed. Palmer tossed it into the shaft. It floated weightless with the other particles and then suddenly dropped out of view at an alarming speed. Palmer cautiously stepped close enough to the edge to see down to where the melon was. It had slowed down and was still intact.
"Welp, guess that's the all clear. Geronimo!"
Jeff jumped into the lift and hung there for a moment.
"Wow, this is so comf-EAAAHH!"
Jeff was cut off as he dropped at lightning speed. Then, he began slowing down and before he knew it, he was at the bottom. The lift slowly pushed him into the small room and deposited him on his feet.
"I sure hope they're able to invent beds like that back home one day. Too many stations and starships have artificial gravity these days."
Palmer came down behind Jeff. He almost fell over as he landed on his feet but he caught himself. Then, he reached down, picked up the marble melon and took a bite out of it.
"Well that was fun. If we could get a research team out here, we could figure out a way to make safe grav-lifts like this and then grav-lifts wouldn't only be limited to cargo transfer. Elevators would be a breeze. Oh, and anti-grav beds! That would be nice..."
"Yeah I was just thinking about that," Jeff replied.
Their light-hearted demeanor slowly diminished as they returned to the task at hand. They stood in a very small room with a small ramp that lead up to a doorway blocked with another green force-field.
"Glad we found this extra access key," Palmer said as he placed it into the receiver terminal on their left.
As before, the terminal closed over the key preventing them from reusing it. The shield then slowly disappeared and they continued on. They came into a massive rectangular room with a large pool making up the majority of the floor.
"Here's the moonpool," Jeff said.
"Wow, you could fit, like, 4 cyclops subs in here..." Palmer said as he got close to the edge.
"Don't get too close. A reaper could fit in here easy."
At the thought of a reaper rearing up and snatching them off their feet, Palmer quickly took a big step backwards.
They followed along the edge of the pool to a doorway at the end of the room. As they passed through the doorway, they both heard a strange noise, a noise that didn't match the faint background hum of the facility or the subtle lapping of the water in the moonpool. They both stopped and looked around them to pinpoint the direction it was coming from.
"What's that sound?" Palmer said.
It was deep and guttural and it clicked. It started faint but got louder and louder until suddenly, something appeared in front of Jeff's face. It wasn't something tangible, but rather something that manifested itself mentally in front of his eyes.
"Are you seeing this?!" Jeff exclaimed.
A fuzzy image was forming. A dark form with green fire pouring diagonally upward from its head.
The sound drowned out all other sounds. The lapping water, the hum of the facility, even Jeff's own breathing seemed to fall silent as the sound became the only thing filling Jeff's mind. The form seemed to be speaking, but the sounds it made were unintelligible. Then, louder than everything else, a female voice echoed into Jeff's mind.
"What...are...you?"
Then, everything went black and both Jeff and Palmer went limp; their bodies slumping onto the floor, echoing throughout the moonpool.
Did you know about suposing end of game?You are suposed to get rocket blueprint for Altera corp,HQ (In captain room perosnal computer).They could catch part of transmision,but not clear enough,so they must visit captain room(Or bridge,or coms. center):That mean revisit Aroura.Here is one video about rocket
@kubazet99 Yeah, I've seen that video. As you might imagine I've had to do A TON of research to make sure I don't accidentally miss something important in the cannon of the story. For the last entry, I had to bring up a freedom mode save and methodically go through the gun facility at the same pace I was writing to make sure I got the data downloads and interior descriptions correct. Don't worry, I won't be leaving out important details like the rocket.
Jeff felt cold. This strange chill seemed to only effect one side of his body and no matter how he tried, he couldn't move to escape it. All was dark and though he tried to strain his vision to see, nothing was visible, only a vast expanse of nothing. Slowly, he began to hear something. It started soft, echoing through his mind. It got louder and louder until suddenly, Jeff recognized Palmer's voice. Jeff opened his eyes and light poured in. His pupils narrowed at the sudden influx of light. As his senses began to return, he felt that he was laying horizontally. His eyes finally adjusted and he saw that he was indeed on the floor, a cold metallic floor that was the cause of the cold.
"Are you alright?!" he heard Palmer ask.
Jeff realized the urgency in Palmer's voice and rolled over onto his back and sat up. His hand instantly went to his forehead as the sense of pain began to return to him.
"Looks like you hit the ground a lot harder than I did," Palmer said.
Jeff worked up the strength to speak, "Wha- What happened?"
"Well, according to Sally, you and I both went unconscious simultaneously fifteen minutes ago. I came to only about three minutes before you did."
"Welp," Jeff grimaced as more instances of pain made themselves known throughout his body, "That would explain why my head hurts like it was just clubbed with a baseball bat."
"Yeah, I apparently came down on my shoulder mostly, whereas It seems you went noggin-first. Doesn't look like it drew blood though."
"Do you have any idea what that... that vision was? That form we saw?"
"I have no idea. It was some being with green flames pouring from its head and the whole thing was distorted. I couldn't really focus on any major details, but it was the creepiest thing I've ever experienced."
Jeff let out a sigh as he rubbed his neck, "It asked us what we were... like it had never seen us before... You think it could've been an alien message of some sort?"
"Could be... That's the most logical thing that comes to mind."
Palmer helped Jeff to his feet as he struggled to maintain balanced for a moment.
"The message didn't seem hostile at least. More curious than anything... and the voice... It sounded female, soft and gentle, not gruff."
"You think we should continue into the facility?" Palmer asked.
"We have to. The only way off this planet is to disable this planetary defense gun. Otherwise, if another rescue ship comes, they'll just get blown out of the sky like the Sunbeam..." Jeff continued, "Yeah, let's keep going... If this happens again, we'll just remember to lay on the ground first before we lose consciousness."
"Alright, the control room isn't much farther."
Jeff picked up his PDA off the ground and they continued through the corridor. They entered into a large atrium with multiple levels each connected by a ramp leading to the next highest. At the very top level, they could see another doorway blocked by a forcefield.
"Sally, can you find another one of those access keys anywhere else in the building?" Palmer asked.
Almost instantly a waypoint was marked on their hud on a level halfway up, "Item matching shape and energy signature as nearby doorway terminal. Item matches previous instances. Marking on hud."
They both continued to the center of the room and headed up the ramps picking up another green energy cube and the access key on the way up. As had become a routine at this point, Palmer placed the access key in the terminal and they waited for the forcefield to fade. Then they went through. The room consisted of a center walkway raised a bit above the main floor and multiple large pillars that lined the space between the walkway and the walls. It reminded Jeff of old medieval thrown rooms. The walkway was in a 'T' shape and as they walked to the middle of the horizontal part, they saw another pillar at the end of the walkway but this one was raised up on a platform and housed a radiant green forcefield in its center much like the doorways. They went up to the pillar and as they neared, it, pedestals on the ceiling extended downwards and produced more light. Right in front of the main pillar was small terminal much slimmer and taller than the others they had interacted with before. They got closer and it opened up. The middle section extended upwards and folded out revealing what seemed to be a large square button outlined in red. Above the button was an illuminated circle that also appeared to be a button. Neither were labeled and there were no more data terminals in the area.
"Oh great, now comes the part where we either disable the facility, blow ourselves up, or find out these aren't even buttons," Jeff frowned.
"Sally, can you give us any information on this terminal?"
"This room is the control room, however, methods to actually control the facility are unknown. It is unclear if the terminal before you will interface with the facility or not. I am unable to determine anything further."
"Welp, looks like we're just gonna have to fiddle with it and find out Jay."
Palmer reached for the square button outlined in red, "Here goes nothin."
He was just about to touch the shape when suddenly, two frames extended from the terminal on either side of Palmer's arm. They instantly formed an energy forcefield similar to the ones that blocked doorways, only this one seemed more designed to capture rather than to keep out. Palmer reflexively withdrew his hand but he found he was unable to move his arm no matter how hard he pulled. Before either of them could say anything, the circle above the square button that they had thought was another button extended from its place and became a snake-like appendage that jerked around. It suddenly stopped and a scan ray came out from the center of the circle. It went up and down Palmer's body and then, to their horror, a large needle extended from the center of the circle and the whole appendage aimed down and stabbed into Palmer's arm. Palmer screamed and Jeff ran to his aid but before he got there, the appendage retracted back into place, the forcefield released Palmer's arm, and the whole terminal closed in on itself. Palmer groaned in pain and held his arm.
"Did it inject you with something!?" Jeff yelled.
"No! I... I think it drew blood but holy crap that needle was huge!" Palmer grimaced through his words.
Then, a foreign, automated voice echoed through the facility and Sally translated.
"WARNING: Infected individuals may not disable the enforcement system. This planet is under quarantine."
Palmer and Jeff both looked at each other and Palmer repeated the alarming word, "Infected?"
Love the series, but just a note to make; I think a while back you mentioned the Sunbeam scanning the planet? If they did, they wouldn't likely have found much to drown out their sensors with.
It's implied that all other life on the planet beyond the small patch where the Emperor's prison was is dead, due to the Emperor's facility being the only part were the enzymes needed to survive were able to reach.
Comments
They could, but then you must wonder: How long would it be before a reaper decided to saunter right into the grand reef biome and take a bite out of their base? Those mandibles are designed for death and destruction. The current fabrication plans they have for bases are built for protection against water pressure, not long talons capable of doing considerable damage to a seamoth in 1 go. In this story, very little is known about reapers so far. Any deep area in the sea could easily be reaper territory. The only truly safe place on the planet based on Jeff's current knowledge is either on an island out of the water, or in the safe shallows where it isn't deep enough for a reaper to maneuver well. Let's hope, for the sake of Palmer and Jeff and everyone rooting for them, they don't make that mistake. Perhaps in future, when more is known about the reaper's habits and fabrication plans for stronger bases have been developed, we'll see them build a base in more dangerous territory. For now, sit back, relax, and find out what course of action Palmer and Jeff decide to do next in the upcoming entries!
STAY TUNED! SAME SUBNAUTICA TIME (ahem, more or less), SAME SUBNAUTICA CHANNEL!
Once Jeff and Palmer got down to business, things went quite smoothly. Dismantling both observation pods on the island took several hours and several trips back and forth to Lifepod 37. At the end, they had acquired enough titanium, copper, silver, and quartz to last them a while. Jeff went back to his seamoth and deployed the MVB. Using some spare batteries and some lubricant he had along with the materials gathered from the bases, he fabricated a seamoth. Now that Palmer had a safer means of transportation in these deep waters, they packed everything they could fit into the new seamoth and left the island in search of a good base location. While the safe shallows would be no-doubt the safest place, it had very little access to materials and wouldn't fit any larger sea-craft that they inevitably planed to build, aside from the fact that, if hurricane season was as bad as Palmer had said, the water there wouldn't be deep enough to ensure the safety of the base. After cautiously searching through a few biomes on the outskirts of the safe-shallows, they finally settled on creating a base in a grassy plateaus area at -549.1, -86.7, -148.4. While the grassy plateau was open ocean which had a risk of predators, Palmer and Jeff had observed that the reefbacks might actually act as a home security system. While they had still been searching for a base location, they watched as a reaper attacked a reefback in the distance. The reefback was completely helpless but its thick, armored carapace prevented the reaper from harming the creature entirely. Furthermore, once the reefback had made calls for help to those in its pod, the other reefbacks advanced on the reaper using their armored bodies as shields causing it to feel crowded out and pushed it back into the deep. As they say, "there's strength in numbers".
In that same area, they had also come across a large section of Aurora wreckage that yielded some useful materials, including the schematic for a basic moonpool. Nearby the wreck, they also found lifepod 17, sadly resting at the bottom with no signs of a body.
Then, they got to work. They started out with a large multipurpose room that they placed on a flat platform of rock. Then from there, they extended glass connector corridors to two other multipurpose rooms and connected them to a moonpool which they connected back to the starting room making a circle of sorts. They added some reinforcements to the hull, some windows, and two airlocks. The last thing the base needed was some power. Being 90 meters down, the sun still provided a viable source of power so they lined several solar panels along the roofs of all four buildings. Now that the base was powered and had a sufficient hull integrity, it was ready to be pressurized. Jeff and Palmer swam up into the flooded base from the moonpool. Jeff attached a fabricator to the wall and uploaded his PDA AI and began synchronizing the base, Sally, and Palmer's AI into one. Once the synchronization was complete, Sally booted up inside the base.
"Welcome aboard captain."
"Sally, run a systems check on the base."
Palmer gave a quizzically amused look at Jeff, "You call the AI 'Sally'?"
"When you're alone on a planet for this long without human companionship, you take what you can get."
"Yeah, I get that. Unfortunately, when I was up in space, the pod was too damaged to run the AI's systems so I was all on my own. If I hadn't made it down to the surface when I did, I woulda gone crazy for sure. You showing up made it even better."
Sally finished her diagnostics, "Hull integrity 172% and sufficient for current depth. Power low but increasing to a maximum charge of 150. Airlocks secure. Windows secure. Corridors secure. Support pylons secure. All systems nominal."
"Great, initiate base pressurization procedure."
"Aye, aye."
The water began to drain away and was replaced with air. Once the water was below their waists, they began remove their scuba gear and headed deeper inside the base.
"Welp, here we are... Very empty. We'll need to fix that soon," Palmer said.
"Yeah, we should start with beds. I don't know about you up in zero grav, but I've been sleeping on the cold hard floor of a cramped lifepod all this time and have literally been aching for a comfortable place to sleep."
Palmer sighed, "That was about the only good thing about being stuck up there. Sleeping in zero gravity is quite comfortable. I agree though, let's start with some bedrooms."
Jeff and Palmer then took the multipurpose room they were standing in and sectioned off half of it by a wall with two doorways. Then, in between the two doorways, another wall was built dividing the half in half. Each room was the size of a forth of the entire multipurpose room and provided plenty of space compared to what the lifepod had been like. In each room, a bed was fabricated and Jeff collapsed onto his.
"Heh, you enjoy your beauty sleep Jay, I'm going to build some storage containers in the other room."
Once Palmer was finished, he headed back out to their seamoths and docked each one to empty their storage bays and transferred the materials and equipment into the containers he built. Then, he came back to Jeff.
"Hey, I was busying myself in the moonpool and noticed the modification console has color and name-change settings. We should christen our seamoths! The bland coloring and lack of a unique name on our subs isn't very motivating."
Jeff rose from his bed, "Wow, so much more comfortable. Uh, yeah, let's do that. I had been wanting to customize mine for a long while anyway."
They both walked into the moonpool where Jeff's seamoth was currently docked. Jeff stepped over to the modification console and began tweaking the color.
"What's the name going to be?" Palmer asked.
"I don't know yet."
When he was finished, the seamoth was a predominantly black color with green accentuation and gray interior. It took some thinking, but Jeff finally settled on the name "Talon".
Then it was Palmer's turn. Jeff switched out the seamoths and Palmer began customizing. When he was done, the seamoth was predominantly white with red accentuation and a black interior. "Stingray" sound like a good name to him.
And so Talon and Stingray came into the world. Two agile little subs that would faithfully serve these two friends to the ends of 4546B.
recreating these vaguely reminds me of reapers and sea dragons. Is that what you were going for?
Dude those are nice!
im at the coordinates. Might give a shot at the base
In other news, I must apologize again for the lack of quantity and quality of the latest entries in Splash Down. I've been really busy with finals and year-end exams. Once I get that under my belt though, I should be able to buckle down and give more time to this story! Hang in there ladies and gentlemen!
After the completion of the base, the duo decided to name their home Reefback Refuge, or R&R for short. A week had passed since the christening of Talon and Stingray, a week primarily filled with resource runs. They had been stockpiling all sorts of materials from metals to plants. Along the way a few discoveries were made. A new, very creepy looking biome of what looked like skeletal hands protruding out of the darkness of an abyss. This area was avoided for good reason. They also discovered new creatures such as the bone shark and a thing that looked like a cross between a crab, a squid, and a light-bulb, which lead to it's designation as 'crabsquid'. They had been traveling all around the area of the R&R in their search for materials which lead to finding more sunken lifepods and more fragments of the Aurora. However, the most interesting discovery they made, was on their very doorstep. While on their way back from material gathering, they came within only a few hundred feet of the base when Palmer caught a glimpse of a strange glow that came from the sea floor. They doubled back and went in for a closer look.
"What'd you say it was?"
"I'm not sure, it was like and unearthly glow... of course... you could basically call anything in this ocean unearthly. It was just different from anything I've seen on this planet- here it is!"
In front of them gaped an indention in the ground that got steeper and steeper until it gave way to a large hole that lead down into the dark. At the bottom of the darkness was a pinkish purple glow that pierced the darkness.
"Huh, what do you think it is?"
"Probably the same thing it always is Palmer, either a giant bioluminescent plant that wants to kill us, or a giant bioluminescent creature that wants to kill us. Either way, most things on this planet want to kill us. Let's head back and drop off our stuff and move on."
"I kinda wanna go in for a closer look don't you?"
"I mean, I guess... but at the first sign of something dangerous, we're out ok? Caves on this planet don't usually spell good news."
Palmer began descending down and cut on Stingray's lights. Jeff followed close behind. The cave went vertically down and down, deeper and deeper. Jeff was beginning to worry that a speedy retreat was going to be a bit more difficult in this small space. The tunnel suddenly gave way to stalagtites as they entered into a massive cavern at about 197 meters down. The cave was about the size of the grassy plateau above them and seemed to branch off in smaller sections just beyond the murk. The most intriguing thing about this massive cave were the massive, glowing, pink mushroom things that grew up from the floor. Some of them were even more massive than the size of their base. The mushrooms' caps were made of what appeared to be a jelly like flesh that covered the pink bioluminescent tissue interior. At the top in the middle of the caps were holes that seemed to be lined in the same material the stalks were made up of.
"Wow... this planet just gets weirder and more interesting at every turn," Palmer whistled.
"Yeah, no kidding. I'll scan these mushrooms just for science's sake and then we can head outa here."
Jeff brought Talon in closer to one of the mushrooms.
"Gosh, I still need to add a built-in scanner to the seamoth... That's the first thing we're doing when we get back."
He exited the seamoth and took out his scanner. The mushroom he chose to scan was the largest one visible. It's cap had a radius from the edge to the center hole of about half a football field. These things were truly massive. Suddenly, Sally's scanners picked up something.
"Large creatures detected in vicinity, advise extreme caution."
But it was too late for Jeff to back away. A large serpentine creature flashed out of the center hole of the mushroom and lunged at Jeff. It moved so fast the features of the beast were hardly distinguishable. It wasn't until two large mandibles clamped down on Jeff's leg that the creature's intent and design became apparent. Blood clouded the area of contact and Palmer's curious face melted into fear.
"JAY!!!"
Palmer frantically glanced over the seamoth console and his surroundings.
"What do I do! There's no offensive or defensive systems installed in this thing!"
He gripped the yoke and pushed Stingray forward at full speed, his eyes welded onto his target. It had been three seconds after the creature struck Jeff that Palmer had reacted, and it only took him two more to come to his aid. Stingray slammed into the creature's upper head area with such force that Palmer was instantly slammed up against the dash of the cockpit. Dazed, Palmer pulled himself back up into an upright position and tried to look out the glass. Everything was swirling and hazy. He shook his head trying to focus, causing him to notice the gash in his head as the blood flowed out from the shaking motion. He didn't pay much attention to the gash and stared out as his eyes started to focus in.
Jeff gripped his leg, blood still clouding out from the wound.
"Ahhhggg!!"
The pain was excruciating, even worse than his first encounter with Stalkers. The wound felt like it went all the way down to the bone and Jeff was worried his leg might be broken in several places. The creature was twitching for a few seconds about seven feet from him in a daze from its impact with Stingray's side. Jeff looked at Palmer who was slumped over the dash was a large gash on his forehead. There was a bad hull breach in Stingray where it had met the creature's cranium. Oil seeped out as electrical sparks occasionally illuminated the breach. Jeff rolled around in the water and tried to swim with one leg back toward Talon. The creature was starting to move again. It had eel-like flaps on two sides of its body that ran its whole length. Jeff had just reached Talon when the creature retaliated against Palmer, but as Jeff looked that way, something even more alarming came into view. Jeff quickly entered Talon and screamed in pain as the water drained away and gravity took its full effect on his body in the seat.
"Palmer! There are more of those things coming out of the shroom and headed for us!"
"If one wasn't enough!" Palmer strained.
Jeff kicked Talon into 'gear' and flew toward the creature as it shook Stingray from side to side. He slammed into its side, not with the same force as Palmer had, but with enough to knock the creature's grip of Stingray. Palmer immediately gunned it and Jeff followed close behind, but it was too late. The other creatures had arrived to investigate the commotion and were blocking their escape through the cave in the roof.
"Turn around! Full speed! Head deeper into the cave! Look for some where, anywhere we can wedge ourselves into that they cant fit!" Jeff screamed.
The creatures were fast but the seamoths had the superior speed. To Jeff's horror, however, Stingray was losing engine power due to the damage it had sustained. They had to find something quick. Suddenly, a massive ploom of bubbles and blackness billowed up from the seafloor where an orange glow flickered for a moment. The thermometer on Talon indicated the temperature was rising.
"Magma vent!"
"Palmer! Head for that orange flicker of light!"
Stingray and Talon did a nose-dive down toward a cluster of spires that occasionally spewed a bit of magma that instantly solidified in the water, causing a massive ploom of black smoke and bubbles. Jeff kept his eye on the temperature. It was getting dangerously hot. Passed 200 degrees Celsius now.
"Warning, temperature levels nearing maximum capacity for current seamoth system configurations," Sally said.
They got closer to the vents and then turned back toward the creatures. The closest one charged toward them and suddenly began slowing down. The creature thrashed for a bit before turning around. Each creature that was following them did the same maneuver before returning to the borders of the hot water. There, they waited for a moment before eventually losing interest and heading off back into the dark corners of the cave.
"Phew," Palmer let out a sigh of relief.
"My gosh, those things are almost as scary as reapers!"
"Almost?! If reapers are worse than those things, I hope we never run into one! How are you? Are you ok!?"
"I'm not, I'm still losing blood. If I don't get a med kit soon, I'm going to bleed to death."
"Well it's a good thing we stockpiled a bunch from the fabricator in my lifepod. I've got four in the seamoth's storage but I can't get out and grab it while we're in this boiling water. We'll have to come out of this safe spot for a moment to patch you up. Look for a dark corner, some where where the visibility is low, we might be able to avoid being seen by any of those things if we keep our seamoths dark."
After a moment of looking around, Jeff noticed something.
"Hey, what's that over there? Is... is that a thermal reactor?"
Palmer looked in the direction Jeff was aiming his seamoth. Not too far away from them, on the seafloor nearby more of the magma vents, stood what appeared to be a very old Alterra grade thermal reactor. It was about the size of four multipurpose rooms stacked on top of each other and several pipes snaked out from its base to several receiver vent turbines that were scattered around the area. The main structure wasn't round like a MP room but more squared and had several either exhaust or intake vents on the top. It's age was apparent as even the titanium shell, made specifically to last underwater, was beginning to rust in a few places, though the rust was barely visible through all the moss and build up of minerals on its exterior. The scattered intake turbines no longer spun and any indication the structure was still functional could not be seen.
"How the heck did this get here?" Jeff strained.
"I'm not sure, but something tells me its related to the Degasi ruins we found on that floating island. We don't have time to worry about that right now, we need to get you a medkit before its too late!"
Jeff studied the structure a moment, struggling to keep himself from passing out.
"Look! There's a power line that heads off that direction. Follow it and it should lead to whatever structure it was powering. Once we're there, get me out of Talon and drag me inside it before any more of those creatures get... t-too... c-ure... cure... curiousss..."
Jeff slumped in his chair.
"Jeff's life signs are waning. Immediate medical attention is required in the next ten minutes before blood loss reaches critical lethality," Sally warned Palmer.
"Activate Talon's autopilot and follow me Sally," Palmer said.
As Palmer began heading off toward the power line, Talon followed closely behind. Palmer hugged the seafloor trying to avoid all possible contact with those snake creatures. Any time the power line would go near one of the jelly shrooms, he made sure he passed under the cap of the plant to avoid being noticed by one of the creatures. When they try to escape this cave, he noted to himself, traveling lower than cap level seems to go unnoticed by those creatures.
The power line snaked along for some time and at a few points, Palmer almost lost the trail due to all the damages the line had received. In some places, the line just ended in a frayed mass of wires and Palmer would almost lose hope before noticing the rest of the line some where further on. Eventually, the line guided him into a smaller section of the cave. The line lead to a base as Jeff had thought, but the base was in no better shape than the thermal plant. Many of the windows were cracked and in a few places, corridors had split in half. The base was oddly shaped with 1 MP room on one side connected by corridors to another on the opposite side with an observation level in the middle. Palmer quickly retrieved Jeff from Talon and cracked open a med kit as he pulled him into the closest opening with only a few minutes left. There were several jelly-fish-like creatures anchored to the roof that made it difficult to maneuver Jeff's body through. Once inside, Palmer first administered a synthetic blood patch that would conform itself to Jeff's blood type. Then, he inspected the wound. It had cut to the bone and his femur was fractured. Palmer inserted a medical nanobot syringe into the wound. This would ensure a fast and full recovery, but would still take a week or so. After that, he quickly wrapped a bandage tightly around the wound. Then, he yanked off the door to one of the broken lockers in the room and used it as a splint for Jeff's leg.
Palmer breathed in deeply and checked his air supply.
"Gosh, giving medical aid while submerged is harder than I expected."
Palmer checked Jeff's suit life signs and oxygen level. His blood levels were slowly stabilizing and the nanobots had already begun increasing clot production and bone repair. Now Palmer just needed to wait for Jeff to regain consciousness. Meanwhile, he thought he'd take a look around. The place was trashed. Things littered all over the floor, storage containers crooked or knocked over. Most everything was covered in sea growth and mineral build-up. There was an old PDA on the floor. Palmer picked it up and wiped the filth from it. It was broken but hopefully its data was still intact. He docked it with his own PDA and began downloading the data from it. There were a few logs that caught his eye.
"Playing selected voice log, #32. Degasi PDA user ID#19420RN 'Bartholomew L. Torgal'. Log date corrupted."
PAUL: "What is that thing?"
MARGUERIT: "I don't know. I found it outside, in the mud."
PAUL: "Part of another ship?"
MARGUERIT: "None I've seen."
BART: "It's not even scratched."
PAUL: "Don't touch it, it could be valuable!"
MARGUERIT: "Stand down, Chief, I'm just lookin'. If it were goin' to crumble to dust it woulda done so when I first picked it up."
PAUL: "It's glowing."
BART: "It's still powered."
PAUL: "We're not the first people to come to this planet."
MARGUERIT: "People. Maybe. Could be aliens. Could be the damn seamonsters. Just one way to find out."
Sally interrupted, "Log end. Data stream terminated."
"Hmm... looks like they found something related to that alien structure Jeff talked about."
Palmer selected another log.
"Playing selected voice log, #19. Degasi PDA user ID#19420RN 'Bartholomew L. Torgal'. Log date corrupted. Audio recording minutes 1-4 corrupted. Beginning playback at minute 5."
PAUL: "We're already more than 200m below sea level! You want to go DEEPER?!"
MARGUERIT: "We've been here a couple months now, Chief. Look around us. I see water leaking through the hull. Water outside the hatch. Water above me, water below me. We're
drowning. Real slow. If rescue arrives, whatever shot us down, it's going to do it again. And again. Until it's shut it off. You see an off switch around here, Chief?"
PAUL: "Why would an off switch any more likely be half a kilometer down?!"
MARGUERIT: "It's a hunch."
PAUL: "You're mad."
MARGUERIT: "I'm going. And I've an idea you two are gonna follow. If you do, be mindful: your authority stopped at sea level."
"Log end. Data stream terminated."
"Things are getting even more heated than they were on the island... So they moved out and went deeper again..."
Palmer skimmed through the rest of the data logs. Most of them were either Bart's lab findings or were corrupted. He let the PDA fall to the floor and went deeper inside the base down the middle corridor. He reached the other MP room and it was in the same condition as the other. He found another PDA on a desk covered by some weird starfish creature. He brushed it aside and began downloading the PDA's data. There were very few entries on this one and most of them were corrupted. Palmer was able to get one to open.
"Generating selected text log, #4. Degasi PDA user ID#14023 'Marguerit A. Maida'. Log date corrupted."
A text document appeared on screen.
"These conniving, corporate, bourgeois, inbred, incompetent, self-absorbed JERKS don't have a clue! The kid's not so bad, but I swear everything that comes out of his father's idiot face is a narcissistic lie. He wants to stay here, his problem. I'm the one doing the heavy lifting. Screw the contract. Screw the bonus pay. Screw the charges. I'm going deeper. When seamonsters are hunting you, you don't hide. You hunt the seamonsters. Then you use the bones of your enemies to build a bigger boat, and you hunt bigger monsters. Repeat until there aren't any monsters left hunting you. I've started the prep work. The kid's got a whole pack of stalkers eating from the palm of his hand. I've started defanging them when the Torgals are sleeping, and stockpiling enamel and metal ores. I'll raid the indoor growbeds before I leave."
Palmer set the PDA down.
"This level of aggression between these Degasi survivors doesn't bode well for their survival chances. I wonder if they even made it to their next base location..."
"Palmer... You there?" Jeff winced through their suit com.
"Oh, your awake! Yeah, I was just exploring the base a little. As I figured, its the Degasi again. Things were getting very hostile between them at this stage. According to the logs, they planned to go even deeper. Anyway, how are you feeling?"
"Still feel like a knife is slicing into my leg, but my mind's clear again and I see you used some nanobots so I should be good to go... Might need a little help swimming back to Talon though."
"Yeah, sure thing. Might gather a few useful things from the base real quick first and then we can figure a way to get outa here."
Maybe just have them revisit it soon and trigger the voiceline?
Thankyou so much. That means so much to me. That was my motivation initially: to make a story that followed the cannon events of the game and maybe throw a few twists into it. I thought the game's story was already quite intricate on its own and that, to take it to the next level, a voice simply needed to be given to the main character and a story about right before the crash along with the point of view of the Sunbeam crew. I have the benefit of creating my story toward the end of the game's story development, whereas Bugzapper made his really early on and so he had to make up his own ideas on how the game would progress and when the devs made something different in game, he just had to roll with it and the way he writes, it's probably for the better anyway because both of his stories are fantastic.
Thanks so much for the feedback though!
Jeff once again stood at the doorway of the giant alien gun facility. It had been a few weeks since the "adventure" in the jelly shroom cave. A week predominantly filled with bedrest and boredom for Jeff while Palmer continued to gather supplies, complete scientific research on flora and fauna, and make upgrades to the base. Palmer had discovered a few useful blueprints to upload to their schematic database while on his periodic resource runs. Cyclops engine fragments, and hull plating. They were very close to being able to create a cyclops and the last thing they lacked was the bridge/electronic components. Other than working toward the cyclops, however, Palmer had also been kitting their seamoths with useful upgrades. The first one being an externally mounted scanning system, followed by extensive hull armoring and pressure compensation systems. The last thing Palmer had completed during that time was installing medical kit fabricators in each of the pilot cabins of the seamoths to save space in their storage compartments and to prevent close calls like experienced in the jelly shroom cave. To Reefback Refuge, Palmer had installed a bioreactor and industrial grade power cells to increase energy storage and production. He had also furthered the aesthetics of the base to make it more comfortable. He had added a kitchen for more pleasant food production along with decorative plants and pictures through out the base. Their new home was becoming more pleasant and more than just a simple space upgrade.
Once Jeff's leg was fully healed, the first step toward getting off this planet would be to gain access to the alien ground-to-space Anti Aircraft gun facility and figure out a way to disable it, whether that would be using its own controls, or beating it over with a metal rod until it no longer functioned.
"Wow... this is not what I was expecting... this thing really is... well, alien. Look at the size of it!" Palmer said as he walked up behind Jeff.
"My reaction was about the same first time I saw it. Now, as far as I know, this is the only terrestrial entrance into the structure and this terminal here seems to accept some sort of key that I would imagine has some sort of similar appearance or shape."
Jeff directed his attention to his PDA, "Sally, using my previous scan data on this terminal, can you locate any object that matches the terminal's shape or energy signal in the vicinity?"
Sally processed for a moment, "Detecting object. 1 foot by 6 inches in perimeter composed of the same off-world materials. Object is emitting similar data stream to terminal. Marking on hud."
Jeff's and Palmer's huds updated with a new waypoint. The object appeared to be on the roof of the entrance only a few yards away.
"Lets go," Jeff said as he walked down the beach.
They found a more gradual gradient in the rock and made their way up. The slope was also marked with strange pedestals that emitted light when approached. After a short distance, they were level with the roof of the extension from the gun to the island and smothered in the sand on the path was something geometric. Jeff swept away the sand and pulled out the object. On its face, it had a glowing purple symbol matching the one on the terminal and its shape looked like the dimensions would fit in the slot.
"Huh, that was conveniently close," Jeff said as he eyed the "key".
"Well I won't complain. This just means we can get in without having to travel more reaper infested waters. I swear I saw the shape of one out there in the murk and any thing the keeps us from having to explore in the waters around here is fine with me."
They both headed back down the path and returned to the terminal. As they drew near, the terminal opened up revealing the corresponding symbol. Jeff was about to set the key in the slot when it was magnetically pulled out of his hands, into the slot, and the terminal closed instantly.
"Looks like we won't get to reuse those things," Palmer sighed.
Suddenly there was a whirring electrical sound and the green force field began to fade away.
"Bingo. Lets go."
Jeff stepped though the triangular doorway and a familiar smell wafted through the air. He sniffed and scrunched his face in concern.
"Smells like an electrical burn out in here."
"Yeah," Palmer replied, "And the walls look like circuits..."
"Analyzing structural patterns on walls, floor, and ceiling. Cannot ascertain whether their purpose is aesthetic or functional. Further data required," Sally said.
The two of them rounded a corner and walked down a hallway that lead through an open doorway. It was eerily quiet and their footsteps echoed loudly as they progressed. They entered into a room with square pillars protruding from the ground up to the ceiling with horizontal extensions branching out from them in no particular symmetrical way.
"This place is crazy... these weird structures and green lights everywhere... very weird stuff..." Palmer walked along, his eyes glancing around at various things with an inquisitive expression.
They entered into another room that seemed to have a pathway down on opposite sides of them and, in the middle, was another terminal standing on a middle platform, only this one had a green holo display and appeared to have controls. As they approached the terminal, Sally picked up something.
"Identified a background message being broadcast throughout the facility. Partial translation available. Message reads:
WARNING: unidentified craft in orbit of this planet will be destroyed ▛▖ prevent the ┗┏▀▄▖┗▜▚┣ ┣┅▄▚┃▞▙ ▞┃▛▖┛┣┫▙▚┃... Message is on rapid repeat in hundreds of different languages."
Jeff sighed, "Well that's a little late... Why the heck isn't this being broadcast into orbit? Wouldn't that save more lives and more trouble for the aliens if intruders were warned BEFORE they got shot down? Uhg, I don't know, maybe the main broadcasting system malfunctioned or something and this faint background message is all that's left..."
"Yeah, that doesn't make sense. I hope these aliens have some good reason for shooting down our space craft, otherwise this is going to just be an expedition to find out how much of a jerkwad this alien race was."
"Yeah, well 10 points to jerkwad so far..." Jeff turned his attention back to the terminal, "Sally, can you download the data from this terminal?"
"Commencing download."
After a few seconds Sally relayed her findings.
"This terminal matches no known human technologies and appears to be a solid state computer of some kind. No recognizable user-interface. Speculation: It is likely the alien species which designed this technology genetically selected sensory apparatus to 'hear' and understand the information being broadcast by this device and to communicate back. This would indicate immense levels of mental processing power far beyond the psychological levels of the common human. The data being broadcast from this terminal is unable to be decrypted, however, the basic purpose of this terminal appears to be connected to the operation of air quality, light fixtures, and door security. Further data required."
"Welp, there you go. We're working with big-headed green men," Palmer joked.
"Heh, sure sounds like it... Sally, can you detect anything throughout the interior of this structure that might resemble a main control room?"
"Searching for recognizable patterns... There are more terminals throughout this facility, however, one appears to be connected to the main power source and is radiating the same energy signature. It is possible this location houses the main controls. Marking on hud. Further assessment required."
"Well it's a start at least. Let's go."
They walked off to the left and began heading down the incline that lead them to the bottom of the room. There was no obvious direction to continue down here, however, they did notice a strange glowing object to their right. Jeff almost didn't notice it as he searched for a doorway to continue through.
"Hey, what's that?" Palmer said, tapping Jeff on the shoulder as he began to wander in the opposite direction.
Jeff turned to look where Palmer had motioned. On a small platform, in between two pedestals similar to the lights they had seen outside, was a green, glowing cube. They got closer and a smaller platform below the cube rose up to waist level.
"Huh... is it a decoration... or a tool of some kind?" Jeff wondered aloud.
"Let's find out."
Palmer began scanning the cube.
"This alien cubic device currently stores the equivalent energy of a small nuclear detonation-"
Sally continued speaking as both Palmer and Jeff stepped back from the cube in alarm.
"-The alien technology is able to keep the stored atoms in a permanently stable state, however, under the right conditions, the reaction could be re-catalyzed and the energy released in controlled manner-"
Palmer and Jeff gave a sigh of relief and continued listening.
"-It is likely this type of device was used as a battery, storing power for portable use. Assessment: Excellent source of long-term energy."
Palmer looked at Jeff, "Wow... that's both frightening, and amazing... You think we could make use of this?"
"We can take it and see if we can generate a usable battery schematic out of it back at base."
Jeff picked up the crystal-like cube and stored it away and they returned to looking for a path forward. Turning around, they noticed a hallway that lead to the left, previously hidden by a wall extension. They continued on through the facility, each room similar to the next but uniquely bizarre in asymmetrical layout. They eventually came to a room with yet another ion crystal cube, a spare purple access key, and another data terminal on the far end. Triggered by their approach, the terminal's holo display switched from various green symbols to a structural 3D model of the entire facility.
"Whoa, this place is much bigger below sea level... I wonder what all those separate cubic sections are..."
Jeff continued to view the display while Palmer downloaded the terminal's data to his PDA. Sally then broke the silence with her findings.
"Further data on structure and facility layout obtained. This data set appears to be a multidimensional schematic of some kind. By mapping the pattern to three-dimensional space, it is possible to gather a basic understanding of the facility's internal workings. As stated previously, the facility's unknown construction material is identified as an ultra-hard, non-reactive metal amalgam synthesized from off-world materials and has no apparent weakness of any kind. The schematic indicates the facility is powered by a separate self-sustaining power plant located elsewhere on the planet. The location is not listed. Further confirming earlier speculation, the control room is designated to be in the lower section of this building and is identified as the only known way to interface with the facility. However, the schematic does not detail any operation procedure or installed security measures."
"Well that's a little bit more helpful than the last terminal," Palmer noted.
"According to this 3D map of the whole facility, there should be an elevator shaft that leads down to the moonpool and from there we should be able to make our way up to the control room. C'mon let's go!"
Jeff headed off through the doorway on their left and Palmer followed behind.
"Well hey! Here's some familiar-ish technology. Looks like a grav-lift."
In front of him was a large vertical shaft with floating particles hanging weightless in mid air.
"Wait, can't those cause internal damage due to gravitational pressure?"
"Well the human version does, but let's see if this one does the same. Don't you have a marble melon on you?"
"Well yeah but that's supposed to be to eat... but I guess for science..."
Palmer took the marble melon out. It wasn't that large, only about as big as a baseball. If the grav-lift would be harmful to humans, It'd be crushed. Palmer tossed it into the shaft. It floated weightless with the other particles and then suddenly dropped out of view at an alarming speed. Palmer cautiously stepped close enough to the edge to see down to where the melon was. It had slowed down and was still intact.
"Welp, guess that's the all clear. Geronimo!"
Jeff jumped into the lift and hung there for a moment.
"Wow, this is so comf-EAAAHH!"
Jeff was cut off as he dropped at lightning speed. Then, he began slowing down and before he knew it, he was at the bottom. The lift slowly pushed him into the small room and deposited him on his feet.
"I sure hope they're able to invent beds like that back home one day. Too many stations and starships have artificial gravity these days."
Palmer came down behind Jeff. He almost fell over as he landed on his feet but he caught himself. Then, he reached down, picked up the marble melon and took a bite out of it.
"Well that was fun. If we could get a research team out here, we could figure out a way to make safe grav-lifts like this and then grav-lifts wouldn't only be limited to cargo transfer. Elevators would be a breeze. Oh, and anti-grav beds! That would be nice..."
"Yeah I was just thinking about that," Jeff replied.
Their light-hearted demeanor slowly diminished as they returned to the task at hand. They stood in a very small room with a small ramp that lead up to a doorway blocked with another green force-field.
"Glad we found this extra access key," Palmer said as he placed it into the receiver terminal on their left.
As before, the terminal closed over the key preventing them from reusing it. The shield then slowly disappeared and they continued on. They came into a massive rectangular room with a large pool making up the majority of the floor.
"Here's the moonpool," Jeff said.
"Wow, you could fit, like, 4 cyclops subs in here..." Palmer said as he got close to the edge.
"Don't get too close. A reaper could fit in here easy."
At the thought of a reaper rearing up and snatching them off their feet, Palmer quickly took a big step backwards.
"Yeah... um... right... reapers... Let's move on."
They followed along the edge of the pool to a doorway at the end of the room. As they passed through the doorway, they both heard a strange noise, a noise that didn't match the faint background hum of the facility or the subtle lapping of the water in the moonpool. They both stopped and looked around them to pinpoint the direction it was coming from.
"What's that sound?" Palmer said.
It was deep and guttural and it clicked. It started faint but got louder and louder until suddenly, something appeared in front of Jeff's face. It wasn't something tangible, but rather something that manifested itself mentally in front of his eyes.
"Are you seeing this?!" Jeff exclaimed.
A fuzzy image was forming. A dark form with green fire pouring diagonally upward from its head.
The sound drowned out all other sounds. The lapping water, the hum of the facility, even Jeff's own breathing seemed to fall silent as the sound became the only thing filling Jeff's mind. The form seemed to be speaking, but the sounds it made were unintelligible. Then, louder than everything else, a female voice echoed into Jeff's mind.
"What...are...you?"
Then, everything went black and both Jeff and Palmer went limp; their bodies slumping onto the floor, echoing throughout the moonpool.
Jeff felt cold. This strange chill seemed to only effect one side of his body and no matter how he tried, he couldn't move to escape it. All was dark and though he tried to strain his vision to see, nothing was visible, only a vast expanse of nothing. Slowly, he began to hear something. It started soft, echoing through his mind. It got louder and louder until suddenly, Jeff recognized Palmer's voice. Jeff opened his eyes and light poured in. His pupils narrowed at the sudden influx of light. As his senses began to return, he felt that he was laying horizontally. His eyes finally adjusted and he saw that he was indeed on the floor, a cold metallic floor that was the cause of the cold.
"Are you alright?!" he heard Palmer ask.
Jeff realized the urgency in Palmer's voice and rolled over onto his back and sat up. His hand instantly went to his forehead as the sense of pain began to return to him.
"Looks like you hit the ground a lot harder than I did," Palmer said.
Jeff worked up the strength to speak, "Wha- What happened?"
"Well, according to Sally, you and I both went unconscious simultaneously fifteen minutes ago. I came to only about three minutes before you did."
"Welp," Jeff grimaced as more instances of pain made themselves known throughout his body, "That would explain why my head hurts like it was just clubbed with a baseball bat."
"Yeah, I apparently came down on my shoulder mostly, whereas It seems you went noggin-first. Doesn't look like it drew blood though."
"Do you have any idea what that... that vision was? That form we saw?"
"I have no idea. It was some being with green flames pouring from its head and the whole thing was distorted. I couldn't really focus on any major details, but it was the creepiest thing I've ever experienced."
Jeff let out a sigh as he rubbed his neck, "It asked us what we were... like it had never seen us before... You think it could've been an alien message of some sort?"
"Could be... That's the most logical thing that comes to mind."
Palmer helped Jeff to his feet as he struggled to maintain balanced for a moment.
"The message didn't seem hostile at least. More curious than anything... and the voice... It sounded female, soft and gentle, not gruff."
"You think we should continue into the facility?" Palmer asked.
"We have to. The only way off this planet is to disable this planetary defense gun. Otherwise, if another rescue ship comes, they'll just get blown out of the sky like the Sunbeam..." Jeff continued, "Yeah, let's keep going... If this happens again, we'll just remember to lay on the ground first before we lose consciousness."
"Alright, the control room isn't much farther."
Jeff picked up his PDA off the ground and they continued through the corridor. They entered into a large atrium with multiple levels each connected by a ramp leading to the next highest. At the very top level, they could see another doorway blocked by a forcefield.
"Sally, can you find another one of those access keys anywhere else in the building?" Palmer asked.
Almost instantly a waypoint was marked on their hud on a level halfway up, "Item matching shape and energy signature as nearby doorway terminal. Item matches previous instances. Marking on hud."
"Thanks Sally," Palmer turned to Jeff, "Another conveniently placed access key."
They both continued to the center of the room and headed up the ramps picking up another green energy cube and the access key on the way up. As had become a routine at this point, Palmer placed the access key in the terminal and they waited for the forcefield to fade. Then they went through. The room consisted of a center walkway raised a bit above the main floor and multiple large pillars that lined the space between the walkway and the walls. It reminded Jeff of old medieval thrown rooms. The walkway was in a 'T' shape and as they walked to the middle of the horizontal part, they saw another pillar at the end of the walkway but this one was raised up on a platform and housed a radiant green forcefield in its center much like the doorways. They went up to the pillar and as they neared, it, pedestals on the ceiling extended downwards and produced more light. Right in front of the main pillar was small terminal much slimmer and taller than the others they had interacted with before. They got closer and it opened up. The middle section extended upwards and folded out revealing what seemed to be a large square button outlined in red. Above the button was an illuminated circle that also appeared to be a button. Neither were labeled and there were no more data terminals in the area.
"Oh great, now comes the part where we either disable the facility, blow ourselves up, or find out these aren't even buttons," Jeff frowned.
"Sally, can you give us any information on this terminal?"
"This room is the control room, however, methods to actually control the facility are unknown. It is unclear if the terminal before you will interface with the facility or not. I am unable to determine anything further."
"Welp, looks like we're just gonna have to fiddle with it and find out Jay."
Palmer reached for the square button outlined in red, "Here goes nothin."
He was just about to touch the shape when suddenly, two frames extended from the terminal on either side of Palmer's arm. They instantly formed an energy forcefield similar to the ones that blocked doorways, only this one seemed more designed to capture rather than to keep out. Palmer reflexively withdrew his hand but he found he was unable to move his arm no matter how hard he pulled. Before either of them could say anything, the circle above the square button that they had thought was another button extended from its place and became a snake-like appendage that jerked around. It suddenly stopped and a scan ray came out from the center of the circle. It went up and down Palmer's body and then, to their horror, a large needle extended from the center of the circle and the whole appendage aimed down and stabbed into Palmer's arm. Palmer screamed and Jeff ran to his aid but before he got there, the appendage retracted back into place, the forcefield released Palmer's arm, and the whole terminal closed in on itself. Palmer groaned in pain and held his arm.
"Did it inject you with something!?" Jeff yelled.
"No! I... I think it drew blood but holy crap that needle was huge!" Palmer grimaced through his words.
Then, a foreign, automated voice echoed through the facility and Sally translated.
"WARNING: Infected individuals may not disable the enforcement system. This planet is under quarantine."
Palmer and Jeff both looked at each other and Palmer repeated the alarming word, "Infected?"