Sounds great! I'm glad I could inspire you! Just keep your story unique and don't copy mine or any one else's story too much and I'm sure it will be great!
Sounds great dude. If it seems too similar let me know and I will change it. Also, either way I give you full credit. I think I'm calling it "Ocean in the Stars: A Subnautica Story"
@Soonerbot Calm down man. Just because things have gone quiet doesn't mean the thread is dead. This isn't a chat lobby. I'm working on the next chapter so don't worry. Just be careful not to spam.
Palmer and Jeff were able to make it back to Reefback Refuge without incident. They fabricated an extension of the storage room to make way for their new materials. Once all the new cargo was unloaded and they restocked on the few materials they had used while on mission, they focused their attention on the cyclops. The ventral damage was much more severe then previously assumed. While the inner plate lining of the ship hadn't been breached, the majority of the outer armor plating and electronics on the underside of the ship just between the two stabilizers had been completely ripped away and now sported some severe dents and even a fracture in one of the main rib beams. All this included with the armor and electrical damage to the upper tail, the cameras, and the stabilizers. These issues would need to be fixed before they could even think about venturing down into deeper unknown territory. They had already seen what the caves of this planet had to offer when they encountered the crabsnakes. While Jeff worked on repairing The Determination, Palmer brainstormed new upgrades they would need to add after seeing how the cyclops had handled while in stock condition. Most assuredly sonar range upgrades in addition to the need for higher grade shield generator and armor plating. Palmer also dabbled in the idea of some sort of defense system that was based on either stasis cannons, torpedoes, or mass drivers. Unfortunately, the basic foundation tech schematics for these systems was completely unknown to Palmer and Jeff meaning either a fragment would need to be found to kickstart the development process, or some severe successful guesswork would need to be made.
Palmer sat at a desk by a window in the kitchen eating some lantern fruit. In front of his bowl of fruit was a desk monitor that he was brainstorming on. He had already been able to piece together the requirements for the sonar, shield, and armor upgrade schematics, but he still contemplated how to begin with defense schematics. He was pondering when he thought of something. His eyes widened and he looked off into space. Then, in a rush of excitement, he got up from the desk and headed for the intercom. On the wall next to the bulkhead that lead into their bedroom was a small screen and control pad. He pressed and held a button.
"Hey Jeff, what class did you say the Sunbeam was?"
There was silence on the other side for a moment.
"Why are you bringing this up, Palmer?"
"Just- just bare with me for a second."
Jeff sighed, "It was a bulldog class ship. Non Alterra branding. Why?"
"Did any wreckage survive?"
"None that I know of. From my point of view, it looked like the ship was just evaporated in a ball of green fire. Aside from a few fireballs that fell into the ocean, nothing survived. Again, why are you bringing this up? You know I don't like talking about it."
"I just had an idea... you know how I've been trying to think of various upgrades we could do to Determination right? Well, we definitely need some sort of defensive weapon system either stasis or elimination based. I thought about mass drivers, but we don't have the fragments nor the experience in the weapons department, especially of that grade. Anyway, then I thought about the Aurora, and that lead to spaceships, and then I remembered the Sunbeam. Jeff, what if one of the tiny fragments that survived in one of the fireballs you mentioned could be a fragment of a mass driver? Since you say the Sunbeam was non-Alterra so they likely aren't as strict in the weapons department, and I have flown bulldog class variants that have had mass drivers. If we could score a piece of one, we might could have enough to reverse engineer a mass driver. We might want to check into this possibility don't you think?"
There was more intercom silence.
"Jeff? You listening?"
On the other side of the intercom, Jeff was sitting on the tail of the upper half of Determination that was sticking out of the water. He was staring into the water.
He cleared his throat, "Yeah, I heard you... I just... thinking about the Sunbeam. I... I don't know if I can go back there man... It's... I just can't... I mean... besides, the odds of finding enough fragmentation of a mass driver in what little wreckage exists are neigh impossible."
"Yeah, but those are better odds than zero right? Think about it... if we were able to find enough of one... it'd really give us a leg up on this planet."
Jeff fell silent again for a moment, "Of course... you're right Palmer... but... can we deal with it when we get back from investigating the next alien facility?"
"If you're sure a better shield generator, stronger armor, and a better sonar will be all we'll need."
"I don't... we don't know what's down there."
"All the reason to be prepared, Jeff. I'm just sayin', I think it's worth a try."
Jeff sighed, "Yeah, you're right... Let's not worry about it right now though. Let's focus on these repairs and the upgrades we already know we can do. Then, we'll get some rest and figure it out in the morning. It's getting dark."
"Alright, a little shut eye sounds really good right about now."
This is going to be great! first one reaper encounter, then they repair the cyclops, then another reaper encounter. I can picture Palmer now: "Where do these things not spawn?"
Highly doubt it. Writing stories that are as well thought out and eloquently put as this one probably takes 2-3 hours.
I, for one, can say that trying to squeeze the time and thought process into a story can be incredibly taxing. Especially if there isn't much action in the post.
And, 9 times out of 10, people are just taking a break for a while, realizing that they actually have a life to attend to.
@ThunderShock27, you might want to come back quickly, I think that @Recursion used up all our material for bumps.
A flash of lightning, a crack of thunder rolling through the atmosphere. The sky is black with rolling clouds. Rain pours down on the roof of a small disheveled barn in the middle of a pine forest. Save for the flash of lightning, it is almost entirely dark inside. The sound of footsteps splashing across the soaked ground growing louder and nearing the barn. There is silence for a few moments, then the rickety barn door is slowly slid open, letting in dull gray light. Five men rush into the barn out of the rain, two of them carrying a large reinforced crate between them by its handles The other three begin sweeping the ground floor, clear forms of machine guns sticking out from their dark forms below. Another form rotates around the edge of the barn door and begins sliding it shut from the inside, struggling as he tries to keep his footing in the wet ground. The distinct form of an AK-47 Advanced hanging from the strap round his shoulders. The two men holding the crate set it down in the middle of the barn floor. One of them takes out an LED lantern and places it on the crate, turning it on. The light pushes back the darkness very subtly with pure darkness still at the edges and corners of the barn. The three who had been looking around with their weapons drawn slowly converged back on the crate. One of them began talking in a hushed voice.
"We'll stay here the night. We have plenty of distance between us and the soldiers. We wake at three AM and make our way for the ocean. There will be boats waiting for us."
He pointed at the two who had been carrying the crate, "You two take first watch. NO FIRE. Is that clear?"
The two nodded. Then, the one who had been speaking with the clear authority of a leader, crouched down next to the crate and removed the lantern off its top. He flipped four latches up and opened the crate. Inside was a series of small black canisters that numbered 15. The leader's voice escalated to an excited tone.
"We'll be able to do a lot of damage with these babies men. Let's not let down the brotherhood."
Suddenly there was a single creak of wood from directly above the men. The leader snapped his head up and his men followed his gaze.
"Did you check the loft?" He shifted his eyes toward the three men who had cleared the ground floor while keeping his face up toward the loft.
The men each looked at each other with an alarmed look and immediately fanned out looking for a ladder. The light from the lantern made it easier for them to locate a wooden ladder that had been hidden in the dark corner of the barn. One man shouldered his AK and began climbing while the other two pointed their own up toward the top of the ladder. The first man reached the top and brought his AK around and pointed it into the darkness. He strained his eyes but couldn't see anything. He reached for the barrel of his gun where a flashlight was mounted but before he could turn it on, a form shot out of the darkness and kicked him in the face sending him flying backwards down the eighteen foot drop where he landed on his head, clearly breaking his neck and laying limp on the ground. The men began shouting and fired their guns into the loft. In their fire, yellow light shown out from the loft in the outline of a person. One man's eyes went wide.
"IT'S A SPARTAN!"
A cylinder fell out of the loft to the ground and after a split second, it exploded releasing thick smoke into the barn. The leader could be heard coughing out commands.
"GET THE CRATE!"
The smoke made it impossible for the men to know where to shoot so they just stood where they were frantically turning their heads looking for any sign of a target. One man at the base of the ladder felt the air part in front of him and saw a dark form drop from the loft. Before he had a chance to react, he had a bullet from a silenced pistol through his head sending him backwards onto the floor. Hearing the faint pistol shot, another man at the opposite corner of the barn began firing his AK in that direction. Once again, the bullets caused another yellow outline of a human form but before the man could reach the end of his clip, he had two rounds into his gut and he fell dead. The last four men stood around the crate, the lantern long since turned off. Two of them picked it up while the leader and another man stared into the smoke in the direction the spartan's energy shield had illuminated. The man standing next to the leader suddenly snapped his head backwards and sprawled on the floor dead. The leader fell prone on the ground and lay still. The two men carrying the crate began rushing to the door. There was another flash of lightning that split through the smoke and illuminated the distinct black armor of a spartan. He began firing at the form with precise accuracy. The yellow light from the energy shield flashed on as the bullets made contact but after two whole seconds of AK fire, the shield suddenly popped and the form retreated back into darker, thicker smoke.
"GET OUT OF HERE!" The leader yelled toward the men carrying the crate, now shifting the door open and dashing out.
The leader fired another round of bullets into the smoke from his position on the ground but two bullets from his left ended his spray for good. The form rushed out of the smoke out through the barn door. The men carrying the crate were far down into the woods but still visible through the thick rainfall. With another crash of lightning and thunder, the spartan holstered his pistol and took a DMR off of his back. Two thunderous cracks echoed through the forest as both men fell dead in the mud. The spartan reattached the DMR to its place on his back. Suddenly, the entirely dark form of the spartan changed. Green lights came on in various places and the spartan's visor illuminated to a light green. The spartan began jogging toward where the crate had fallen next to the dead men.
"This is ThunderShock to HQ, plasma bomb cargo has been recovered. Repeat, the alien bombs have been recovered. That's the last of the terrorist group operating in this area, my mission's done, requesting pelican EVAC from current position. Spartan out."
ThunderShock stood there for a moment and looked at the sky.
"My field call is over. I can finally get back home and catch up on some things."
-End-
Thank you all for sticking around! I apologize for my lengthy absence. Life caught up with me and I hit a severe case of writer's block, unable to figure out how to direct the next course of Splash Down into an entertaining route. I won't lie, I've also been really sucked into PUBG so that's also been quite distracting. However, don't worry, I have not, and will not abandon this story. I just needed a break, albeit one I should have made clear to you all! Things will be getting back on track shortly here friends! A fresh perspective has been achieved and Splash Down will resume! Once again, thank you for sticking around and being so eager for more installments!
SkopeWouldn't you like to know ;)Join Date: 2016-06-07Member: 218212Members
Wait, so you're actually a futuristic supersoldier who kills possible cult members with bombs?
I can respect that.
But seriously, I'm very excited to see how this actually fits in with the rest of the story, if at all.
And never get discouraged, that is the main killer of creativity. As soon as you give up on your story, your story will be extremely difficult to pick back up.
Read some books, get some rest, think about your story every chance you can, and you'll come back just fine.
@Skope I made the avatar I'm currently using in MS paint and it's not based on anything in particular but it is heavily influenced by the halo universe to be sure. Some one once asked why my name was "thundershock" and what my avatar was about. I promptly wrote them a lengthy story on the origin of my name and my avatar. Basically the gist is. I'm a special ops spartan, hence the predominantly gray or black armor coloring. I'm the kind of spartan you send in to do stealth missions. However, I've never seen any human vs alien action. I'm needed back on earth to manage terrorist groups. That doesn't mean I can't ever be deployed to covenant skirmishes, but Master Chief and those already in the field are managing just fine. Besides, some spartan has to stay behind to fight on home turf right? So that's basically who "ThunderShock" is. A special ops, homefront, stealth spartan. As for the origin of my name. The story goes that on one of my first missions, there was a heavy thunderstorm similar to the one in my little dabble I did above. We, being me and some other homefront spartans, attacked a terrorist weapons facility in the night in a stealth mission. Stealth missions were very common and usually so quick against the typically lesser equipped terrorists that they were usually called "shocks" so we go in there, I do some cool stuff, save my comrades and go from simply being Spartan #1627, to being nicknamed "ThunderShock". Similar to how most other spartans get their names. They start out as just a number, and after doing distinguishing things in combat, they earn titles.
Ah... If I had my own website, I'd have so many stories going on all at the same time XD. Ive got lots of material stored in the back of my mind that needs to be put to words... one day. For now, Splashdown.
@Skope I made the avatar I'm currently using in MS paint and it's not based on anything in particular but it is heavily influenced by the halo universe to be sure. Some one once asked why my name was "thundershock" and what my avatar was about. I promptly wrote them a lengthy story on the origin of my name and my avatar. Basically the gist is. I'm a special ops spartan, hence the predominantly gray or black armor coloring. I'm the kind of spartan you send in to do stealth missions. However, I've never seen any human vs alien action. I'm needed back on earth to manage terrorist groups. That doesn't mean I can't ever be deployed to covenant skirmishes, but Master Chief and those already in the field are managing just fine. Besides, some spartan has to stay behind to fight on home turf right? So that's basically who "ThunderShock" is. A special ops, homefront, stealth spartan. As for the origin of my name. The story goes that on one of my first missions, there was a heavy thunderstorm similar to the one in my little dabble I did above. We, being me and some other homefront spartans, attacked a terrorist weapons facility in the night in a stealth mission. Stealth missions were very common and usually so quick against the typically lesser equipped terrorists that they were usually called "shocks" so we go in there, I do some cool stuff, save my comrades and go from simply being Spartan #1627, to being nicknamed "ThunderShock". Similar to how most other spartans get their names. They start out as just a number, and after doing distinguishing things in combat, they earn titles.
Ah... If I had my own website, I'd have so many stories going on all at the same time XD. Ive got lots of material stored in the back of my mind that needs to be put to words... one day. For now, Splashdown.
So...this has nothing to do with Splashdown?
Eh, probably for the best. Think of how many people would come in here ranting, "SEE, THIS GUY SAYS THERE IS GUNS! WE NEED GUNS IN SUBNAUTICA! etc. etc."
Either way, great detail writing. I'm excited to see what lay in store for Palmer and Jeff.
Yeah, i just wrote that little story as a creative way of saying, "I've been detained but I have returned!" Don't worry, that's not Splashdown canon... if i tried to mix the halo and subnautica universes, I'd die of a heart attack from the research I'd have to do! XD
The next morning came. Jeff and Palmer boarded Determination and ran a quick systems check, making sure all was functioning at maximum.
"Alright, everything looks good. We're heading out. Don't worry Jeff, we'll be in and out. Either we'll find a fragment, scan it, and get the heck outa dodge, or we'll skim by and see nothing of interest and turn around. Simple right? Nothin' to worry about... as long as we don't see another reaper that is..."
"Heh, yeah, that's a big 'IF'. It would seem from past experiences that they like to hang out in the deeper areas, and the area out past the Aurora and the gun seems quite deep. I really hope these upgrades work. Something tells me we got super lucky with the last reaper."
"Yeah, maybe so, but we'll be fine. This time, we're more prepared... in experience AND in technology."
Jeff took a seat in one of the chairs he had installed at his terminal while Palmer swiveled back around in his own chair to begin the decent.
Jeff sighed, "Sonar's clear and running at 150 yards. All systems go. To Davy Jones's locker we go!"
The Determination sank below the water's surface and began heading off toward the gun. Slowly but surely, they made their way through familiar territory to the mountain island. Upon approaching it, Palmer switched to silent running.
"Sonar's still clear but we're definitely in reaper territory, get ready to go dead on my mark," Jeff informed.
The Determination very slowly made its way around the mountain, Jeff keeping his eyes intently watching the sonar and the cameras for any reaper signs. They came around to the other side of the mountain when a red blip showed on the sonar.
"We've got a reaper! Kill the engine!"
Immediately, Palmer shut down the engine and then pressed a new button that he had added to the HUD of the cyclops. From the top and bottom of the exterior of the glass observation dome, titanium plates began sliding down railings one by one, creating a blast shield of sorts to protect the weakest part of the ship. Once the plates were in place, the projector that displayed the HUD of the cyclops beamed the camera POVs that Jeff had at his terminal as well.
"Coming in from our right at a pace a little faster than normal... closing on our position in ten seconds," Jeff said.
"Finger's crossed. If this doesn't work, we'll be full-speeding it back to shallow water."
Jeff saw from the ventral cam that the reaper was heading for them, "I've got a cam visual on ventral."
"Yeah I see it. He's not going as fast as last time."
"Hopefully he's just curious..."
The red blip came right on top the center cyclops icon on the sonar display and began flashing. The two stayed in nervous silence. The cams showed the reaper swim around the cyclops once, then twice, but it never made contact with the hull. After a few more minutes, the reaper headed off in a different direction, back into the dark depths.
"Woo! That's more like it!" Jeff cheered.
Jeff waited until the blip was off the sonar, then he waited some more.
Palmer held his hand near the blast-shield button, "We clear?"
Jeff nodded, "Silent running, mind you!"
Palmer opened the blast-shield and started the engine. Starting the engine in silent running was quite a bit quieter with new tweaks they had made. The Determination began creeping forward again.
Jeff leaned back in his chair, "Sally what's the terrain looking like below us?"
"Scan shows a gradual slope getting deeper as we continue in this direction. We are passing over the mushroom coral area as we speak."
"What's our distance to the center of the proposed wreckage site of the Sunbeam?"
"Seven miles, thirty-two feet and closing. The Sunbeam wasn't very high in the sky at point of termination, the debris field, if any, shouldn't be very wide."
"Time till debris field entry?"
"At silent running speed, forty-three minutes."
"That'll be a while..."
Jeff put his feet up on the right side of the terminal where no buttons would be effected.
The going was slow but steady and miraculously uneventful. They had entered the estimated debris field area and Palmer began bringing the cyclops down to the sea floor.
Sally began speaking, "Depth to sea floor five-thousand feet and closing."
Jeff took his feet off the terminal, "Oh boy... that... that is not a very reassuring number."
"Yeah, you're tellin' me... just keep an eye on that sonar," Palmer said.
"That's barely shallow enough for the cyclops to go. Sally, is the sea floor still sloping down at the same rate?"
"It is still sloping, however, the farther out we get, the quicker it slopes. It is possible we are nearing a drop-off."
Jeff swallowed, "I don't like the sound of that."
After about twenty minutes, the sea floor became visible. Nothing alarming on the sonar, only the occasional fish.
Down here, it was pitch black. The sunlight unable to reach this far, gave way to thick inky darkness.
Palmer lifted his hand up to the HUD on the glass, "I'm turning on the floodlights. Sonar's still clear right?"
"Yup, all clear so far... this place is super creepy."
"I'm with you on that one, if it gets much deeper, we can call this whole thing off. If creep factor wasn't enough, the cyclops can't go much deeper than this."
The Determination began heading forward again. The terrain here was quite barren, even the sand was giving way to pure rock.
Suddenly, Sally piped up, "Detecting vertical drop off in the next 1000 feet. Base of drop off exceeds 15,000 feet and is undetectable even at maximum scanner range."
"Welp, there it is Palmer... anything of interest left behind by the Sunbeam is beyond our reach. I say we turn back now before we find out that this is a reaper breeding ground or something."
"Hold on now... we've come all this way. What if what we're looking for is right at the edge of the drop off... We'll get within flood light distance of the edge and then skim it for a few minutes, then we'll get out of here."
"The longer we're here, the more likely it is we run into something that spells bad news for us. Please be careful."
"Don't worry about me, you keep your eyes on the sonar. I don't want to be here any longer than you do."
The floodlights scanned over the terrain ahead. Abruptly, the terrain came to a stop.
"Whoa... that's a drop off alright."
Palmer started strafing the Determination to the right while looking for anything of interest.
Then, a red blip showed on the sonar. A massive blip, larger than any reaper previously encountered.
"Palmer! We've got a contact coming from the drop off! It's way bigger than a reaper! Get us out of here now!
Palmer quickly switched to flank speed and started ascending while reversing.
The red blip was closing in fast.
"Unidentified creature approaching at two times our current speed. Creature's shape is similar to reaper leviathan but with much lower body mass and noticeable structural difference in the head region," Sally informed.
Something stirred in the dark murk ahead of them. A faint blue was penetrating the darkness. Palmer could make out the shape of the creature as it sped toward them.
"It's... bioluminescent and... It's got a head like a hammer-head shark!"
Jeff rerouted all power not being devoted to the engine to the forward over-shield, "More importantly, does it have a mouth?!?!"
"I... I can't make out one... wait... oh... OH it has a mouth alright!"
Jeff stared out the glass at the approaching blue creature. A gaping mouth larger than a reaper's unfolded from the face of the creature. It had two long extensions out the side of its head and it had four yellow eyes... no six... it was hard to tell. The exoskeleton of the creature was clear but had a faint blue glow to it.
"Palmer, faster... FASTER! PALMER IT'S RIGHT THERE!!!"
"THIS IS AS FAST AS SHE CAN GO!"
The creature rammed the front of the Determination. A light blue field appeared at the point of contact just in front of the glass. The over-shield had held! The blow caused a massive energy loss and the lights flickered for a moment.
The force from the impact shot the Determination backwards at twice the speed they had been going, but the momentum was short-lived. Jeff was thrown to the floor, out of his chair, and Palmer braced his head with his arms as he slammed against the yoke.
Jeff struggled to get off the floor and leaned against his chair while looking at the terminal.
"Palmer, we don't have shield power for another hit like that! Don't stop, keep reversing! Switch to the blast-shield!"
Palmer activated the blast-shield. As it closed around the glass, the creature could still be seen fast approaching toward them again.
Jeff monitored the sonar and Palmer watched the cam views as they came up in front of him.
The red dot was closing in, "BRACE FOR IMPACT!"
Palmer's arms went up to his face again and the hit came. The titanium over the glass caved in and the glass cracked but the titanium remained intact. This time, Jeff held on tightly to his chair and managed to stay seated. Blood spurted from Palmer's face as he broke his nose against the yoke. Once again, the force of the impact launched them back at twice their previous speed. Then Sally echoed through the ship, "Surface contact in seventeen seconds."
The Determination exploded through the surface and leveled out.
Jeff stared at the sonar and the cams. The red blip slowed down, circled around for a few moments, and then headed out of range.
"I think it's leaving!"
"It is likely that the creature is designed for solar-depraved environments and is not equipped with the ability to protect against UV rays from the sun."
"Thank God... Palmer, are you alright?" Jeff said as he got up and headed over to him.
"The red sea just got rerouted through my nose but I think I'm fine... I'm going to have a massive head-ache, that's for sure..."
Jeff dropped to the floor and sprawled out, "Now that," He said through heavy breaths, "Is why I didn't want to go to such a deep area."
After only a few moments of thought, Ghost Leviathan was the most sensible designation. The translucent exoskeleton, the glowing yellow eyes, creature of the dark. Yes, quite ghostly. Sally's theory turned out to be fact as scans of the creature indicated that it was very sensitive to UV rays to the point where one could die from too much exposure. This was a very important attribute to remember and a lucky one for Jeff and Palmer. The Fauna entry was made for future reference and they headed back home.
There, they dry-docked the Determination in a grav-well, made repairs, and thought even more about the potential dangers in the cave systems below that held the next alien facility. Anywhere there is no sunlight, could be territory of a Ghost Leviathan. This potential was very concerning and lead to further cyclops system evaluation. A defensive weapon system was vital and more than one seamoth bay would be very important for emergency escape scenarios. Their trip to the alien structure would once again be delayed with good reason.
Since mass drivers were now a 100% impossibility, they would have to fall back to stasis. Both of them knew from various data entries scoured from their last trip to the Aurora that she had been carrying stasis rifles to be used for the auxiliary Degasi mission, but neither of them had come across one in any of the wreckage around the shallows or in any of the other biomes they had dared enter. They would have to go searching, but they at least had a reference picture that was provided in the file. Reverse engineering ship-mounted stasis cannons would be fairly easy if enough of a rifle could be found. Palmer also brought up the idea of torpedoes. An early 20th century water-based weapon no longer in use today, yet one very easily created with today's technology. Just a simple tube filled with some kind of explosive attached to a remote propeller system. The only question was how to make them go boom without plasma or even nuclear technology. The exploding fish, now designated as "crashfish" in the PDA data bank, seemed like a good start. Jeff had been able to create a basic welder out of the sulfur left behind by this creature and with a little logic and some trial and error, a basic explosive could be made. Granted, not one good enough to neutralize a creature, but at least wound it- utilizing an old fragmentation concept used in old grenades. Anything soft bodied would be susceptible to these torpedoes, possibly even a reaper. The trick would be to land the shot. The old type torpedoes used back in the Digital Age were fairly slow and were designed to hit large, slow moving targets. These torpedoes would be small, fast, and guided by Sally's newly implemented AI targeting system drawn up by Jeff. Crate after crate of torpedoes were fabricated and launch bay tubes were installed four at the front-underside of Determination and two in the back-underside.
After a few days of upgrades and material searching, a stasis rifle in acceptable condition was finally found and the stasis cannons were reverse engineered. Two mounted in front at the bottom left and right of Determination's pilot's bubble, and one mounted in the very back on the underside of the tail. The issue with the stasis cannons not previously realized by Jeff and Palmer was the energy requirement. To fire the stasis cannons would require a good deal of energy and thus they would have to be reserved as last resort. In light of energy issues, a bioreactor was also installed on-board to be used specifically for recharging power cells to help prevent a complete power-loss scenario.
Jeff and Palmer were beginning to feel a bit safer as they installed each upgrade. However, Jeff's skin was beginning to feel irritated. A side-effect Sally attributed to the disease and that reminded them of their urgency to get to the next alien facility.
The next few days were devoted to installing the second seamoth bay. Meanwhile, Palmer was able to generate a basic PRAWN suit schematic from the scan he had made from the last Aurora trip. Once built, Palmer insisted that it go in the second seamoth bay to make scavenging safer. Jeff was hesitant as he worried the PRAWN would be too slow to escape from anything. Palmer eventually convinced Jeff by assuring him that, worse-comes-to-worse, the PRAWN can grab onto a seamoth and hitch a ride.
Once the second seamoth bay was complete and system checks showed green across the board, they new they were ready. They had rations for days and enough extra materials to build an emergency base if need be. They had weapon systems, an escape plan, and the motivation to not die a slow death to the disease. Their spirits were at an all time high for two guys stranded on perhaps the most dangerous planet to ever sustain life. However, the ever-looming thought that things would go horribly wrong down there still plagued their minds. Jeff could think of hundreds of very logical outcomes that only ended in death and he had to fight to put his focus elsewhere. After much preparation, distraction, and toil, they finally felt ready to head down into the underground depths.
Palmer sat in the pilot's seat and turned on the engine. Jeff took his seat at the side terminal. Palmer ran another quick systems check and nodded when green was all he could see on the display. Then he cocked his head in sudden realization.
"Um, Jeff. Do we even know where the entrance to the cave system we're looking for is?"
Comments
Glad to see that
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Technically also Christian
Palmer and Jeff were able to make it back to Reefback Refuge without incident. They fabricated an extension of the storage room to make way for their new materials. Once all the new cargo was unloaded and they restocked on the few materials they had used while on mission, they focused their attention on the cyclops. The ventral damage was much more severe then previously assumed. While the inner plate lining of the ship hadn't been breached, the majority of the outer armor plating and electronics on the underside of the ship just between the two stabilizers had been completely ripped away and now sported some severe dents and even a fracture in one of the main rib beams. All this included with the armor and electrical damage to the upper tail, the cameras, and the stabilizers. These issues would need to be fixed before they could even think about venturing down into deeper unknown territory. They had already seen what the caves of this planet had to offer when they encountered the crabsnakes. While Jeff worked on repairing The Determination, Palmer brainstormed new upgrades they would need to add after seeing how the cyclops had handled while in stock condition. Most assuredly sonar range upgrades in addition to the need for higher grade shield generator and armor plating. Palmer also dabbled in the idea of some sort of defense system that was based on either stasis cannons, torpedoes, or mass drivers. Unfortunately, the basic foundation tech schematics for these systems was completely unknown to Palmer and Jeff meaning either a fragment would need to be found to kickstart the development process, or some severe successful guesswork would need to be made.
Palmer sat at a desk by a window in the kitchen eating some lantern fruit. In front of his bowl of fruit was a desk monitor that he was brainstorming on. He had already been able to piece together the requirements for the sonar, shield, and armor upgrade schematics, but he still contemplated how to begin with defense schematics. He was pondering when he thought of something. His eyes widened and he looked off into space. Then, in a rush of excitement, he got up from the desk and headed for the intercom. On the wall next to the bulkhead that lead into their bedroom was a small screen and control pad. He pressed and held a button.
"Hey Jeff, what class did you say the Sunbeam was?"
There was silence on the other side for a moment.
"Why are you bringing this up, Palmer?"
"Just- just bare with me for a second."
Jeff sighed, "It was a bulldog class ship. Non Alterra branding. Why?"
"Did any wreckage survive?"
"None that I know of. From my point of view, it looked like the ship was just evaporated in a ball of green fire. Aside from a few fireballs that fell into the ocean, nothing survived. Again, why are you bringing this up? You know I don't like talking about it."
"I just had an idea... you know how I've been trying to think of various upgrades we could do to Determination right? Well, we definitely need some sort of defensive weapon system either stasis or elimination based. I thought about mass drivers, but we don't have the fragments nor the experience in the weapons department, especially of that grade. Anyway, then I thought about the Aurora, and that lead to spaceships, and then I remembered the Sunbeam. Jeff, what if one of the tiny fragments that survived in one of the fireballs you mentioned could be a fragment of a mass driver? Since you say the Sunbeam was non-Alterra so they likely aren't as strict in the weapons department, and I have flown bulldog class variants that have had mass drivers. If we could score a piece of one, we might could have enough to reverse engineer a mass driver. We might want to check into this possibility don't you think?"
There was more intercom silence.
"Jeff? You listening?"
On the other side of the intercom, Jeff was sitting on the tail of the upper half of Determination that was sticking out of the water. He was staring into the water.
He cleared his throat, "Yeah, I heard you... I just... thinking about the Sunbeam. I... I don't know if I can go back there man... It's... I just can't... I mean... besides, the odds of finding enough fragmentation of a mass driver in what little wreckage exists are neigh impossible."
"Yeah, but those are better odds than zero right? Think about it... if we were able to find enough of one... it'd really give us a leg up on this planet."
Jeff fell silent again for a moment, "Of course... you're right Palmer... but... can we deal with it when we get back from investigating the next alien facility?"
"If you're sure a better shield generator, stronger armor, and a better sonar will be all we'll need."
"I don't... we don't know what's down there."
"All the reason to be prepared, Jeff. I'm just sayin', I think it's worth a try."
Jeff sighed, "Yeah, you're right... Let's not worry about it right now though. Let's focus on these repairs and the upgrades we already know we can do. Then, we'll get some rest and figure it out in the morning. It's getting dark."
"Alright, a little shut eye sounds really good right about now."
Highly doubt it. Writing stories that are as well thought out and eloquently put as this one probably takes 2-3 hours.
I, for one, can say that trying to squeeze the time and thought process into a story can be incredibly taxing. Especially if there isn't much action in the post.
And, 9 times out of 10, people are just taking a break for a while, realizing that they actually have a life to attend to.
Noice
I know it CAN'T be canon, I just want it to be
MEGABUMPMEGABUMPMEGABUMPMEGABUMPMEGABUMPMEGABUMPMEGABUMPMEGABUMPMEGABUMPMEGABUMPMEGABUMPMEGABUMPMEGABUMPMEGABUMPMEGABUMPMEGABUMPMEGABUMPMEGABUMPMEGABUMP
@ThunderShock27, you might want to come back quickly, I think that @Recursion used up all our material for bumps.
A flash of lightning, a crack of thunder rolling through the atmosphere. The sky is black with rolling clouds. Rain pours down on the roof of a small disheveled barn in the middle of a pine forest. Save for the flash of lightning, it is almost entirely dark inside. The sound of footsteps splashing across the soaked ground growing louder and nearing the barn. There is silence for a few moments, then the rickety barn door is slowly slid open, letting in dull gray light. Five men rush into the barn out of the rain, two of them carrying a large reinforced crate between them by its handles The other three begin sweeping the ground floor, clear forms of machine guns sticking out from their dark forms below. Another form rotates around the edge of the barn door and begins sliding it shut from the inside, struggling as he tries to keep his footing in the wet ground. The distinct form of an AK-47 Advanced hanging from the strap round his shoulders. The two men holding the crate set it down in the middle of the barn floor. One of them takes out an LED lantern and places it on the crate, turning it on. The light pushes back the darkness very subtly with pure darkness still at the edges and corners of the barn. The three who had been looking around with their weapons drawn slowly converged back on the crate. One of them began talking in a hushed voice.
"We'll stay here the night. We have plenty of distance between us and the soldiers. We wake at three AM and make our way for the ocean. There will be boats waiting for us."
He pointed at the two who had been carrying the crate, "You two take first watch. NO FIRE. Is that clear?"
The two nodded. Then, the one who had been speaking with the clear authority of a leader, crouched down next to the crate and removed the lantern off its top. He flipped four latches up and opened the crate. Inside was a series of small black canisters that numbered 15. The leader's voice escalated to an excited tone.
"We'll be able to do a lot of damage with these babies men. Let's not let down the brotherhood."
Suddenly there was a single creak of wood from directly above the men. The leader snapped his head up and his men followed his gaze.
"Did you check the loft?" He shifted his eyes toward the three men who had cleared the ground floor while keeping his face up toward the loft.
The men each looked at each other with an alarmed look and immediately fanned out looking for a ladder. The light from the lantern made it easier for them to locate a wooden ladder that had been hidden in the dark corner of the barn. One man shouldered his AK and began climbing while the other two pointed their own up toward the top of the ladder. The first man reached the top and brought his AK around and pointed it into the darkness. He strained his eyes but couldn't see anything. He reached for the barrel of his gun where a flashlight was mounted but before he could turn it on, a form shot out of the darkness and kicked him in the face sending him flying backwards down the eighteen foot drop where he landed on his head, clearly breaking his neck and laying limp on the ground. The men began shouting and fired their guns into the loft. In their fire, yellow light shown out from the loft in the outline of a person. One man's eyes went wide.
"IT'S A SPARTAN!"
A cylinder fell out of the loft to the ground and after a split second, it exploded releasing thick smoke into the barn. The leader could be heard coughing out commands.
"GET THE CRATE!"
The smoke made it impossible for the men to know where to shoot so they just stood where they were frantically turning their heads looking for any sign of a target. One man at the base of the ladder felt the air part in front of him and saw a dark form drop from the loft. Before he had a chance to react, he had a bullet from a silenced pistol through his head sending him backwards onto the floor. Hearing the faint pistol shot, another man at the opposite corner of the barn began firing his AK in that direction. Once again, the bullets caused another yellow outline of a human form but before the man could reach the end of his clip, he had two rounds into his gut and he fell dead. The last four men stood around the crate, the lantern long since turned off. Two of them picked it up while the leader and another man stared into the smoke in the direction the spartan's energy shield had illuminated. The man standing next to the leader suddenly snapped his head backwards and sprawled on the floor dead. The leader fell prone on the ground and lay still. The two men carrying the crate began rushing to the door. There was another flash of lightning that split through the smoke and illuminated the distinct black armor of a spartan. He began firing at the form with precise accuracy. The yellow light from the energy shield flashed on as the bullets made contact but after two whole seconds of AK fire, the shield suddenly popped and the form retreated back into darker, thicker smoke.
"GET OUT OF HERE!" The leader yelled toward the men carrying the crate, now shifting the door open and dashing out.
The leader fired another round of bullets into the smoke from his position on the ground but two bullets from his left ended his spray for good. The form rushed out of the smoke out through the barn door. The men carrying the crate were far down into the woods but still visible through the thick rainfall. With another crash of lightning and thunder, the spartan holstered his pistol and took a DMR off of his back. Two thunderous cracks echoed through the forest as both men fell dead in the mud. The spartan reattached the DMR to its place on his back. Suddenly, the entirely dark form of the spartan changed. Green lights came on in various places and the spartan's visor illuminated to a light green. The spartan began jogging toward where the crate had fallen next to the dead men.
"This is ThunderShock to HQ, plasma bomb cargo has been recovered. Repeat, the alien bombs have been recovered. That's the last of the terrorist group operating in this area, my mission's done, requesting pelican EVAC from current position. Spartan out."
ThunderShock stood there for a moment and looked at the sky.
"My field call is over. I can finally get back home and catch up on some things."
-End-
Thank you all for sticking around! I apologize for my lengthy absence. Life caught up with me and I hit a severe case of writer's block, unable to figure out how to direct the next course of Splash Down into an entertaining route. I won't lie, I've also been really sucked into PUBG so that's also been quite distracting. However, don't worry, I have not, and will not abandon this story. I just needed a break, albeit one I should have made clear to you all! Things will be getting back on track shortly here friends! A fresh perspective has been achieved and Splash Down will resume! Once again, thank you for sticking around and being so eager for more installments!
I can respect that.
And never get discouraged, that is the main killer of creativity. As soon as you give up on your story, your story will be extremely difficult to pick back up.
Read some books, get some rest, think about your story every chance you can, and you'll come back just fine.
Now, on to Dawning.
Ah... If I had my own website, I'd have so many stories going on all at the same time XD. Ive got lots of material stored in the back of my mind that needs to be put to words... one day. For now, Splashdown.
So...this has nothing to do with Splashdown?
Eh, probably for the best. Think of how many people would come in here ranting, "SEE, THIS GUY SAYS THERE IS GUNS! WE NEED GUNS IN SUBNAUTICA! etc. etc."
Either way, great detail writing. I'm excited to see what lay in store for Palmer and Jeff.
The next morning came. Jeff and Palmer boarded Determination and ran a quick systems check, making sure all was functioning at maximum.
"Alright, everything looks good. We're heading out. Don't worry Jeff, we'll be in and out. Either we'll find a fragment, scan it, and get the heck outa dodge, or we'll skim by and see nothing of interest and turn around. Simple right? Nothin' to worry about... as long as we don't see another reaper that is..."
"Heh, yeah, that's a big 'IF'. It would seem from past experiences that they like to hang out in the deeper areas, and the area out past the Aurora and the gun seems quite deep. I really hope these upgrades work. Something tells me we got super lucky with the last reaper."
"Yeah, maybe so, but we'll be fine. This time, we're more prepared... in experience AND in technology."
Jeff took a seat in one of the chairs he had installed at his terminal while Palmer swiveled back around in his own chair to begin the decent.
Jeff sighed, "Sonar's clear and running at 150 yards. All systems go. To Davy Jones's locker we go!"
The Determination sank below the water's surface and began heading off toward the gun. Slowly but surely, they made their way through familiar territory to the mountain island. Upon approaching it, Palmer switched to silent running.
"Sonar's still clear but we're definitely in reaper territory, get ready to go dead on my mark," Jeff informed.
The Determination very slowly made its way around the mountain, Jeff keeping his eyes intently watching the sonar and the cameras for any reaper signs. They came around to the other side of the mountain when a red blip showed on the sonar.
"We've got a reaper! Kill the engine!"
Immediately, Palmer shut down the engine and then pressed a new button that he had added to the HUD of the cyclops. From the top and bottom of the exterior of the glass observation dome, titanium plates began sliding down railings one by one, creating a blast shield of sorts to protect the weakest part of the ship. Once the plates were in place, the projector that displayed the HUD of the cyclops beamed the camera POVs that Jeff had at his terminal as well.
"Coming in from our right at a pace a little faster than normal... closing on our position in ten seconds," Jeff said.
"Finger's crossed. If this doesn't work, we'll be full-speeding it back to shallow water."
Jeff saw from the ventral cam that the reaper was heading for them, "I've got a cam visual on ventral."
"Yeah I see it. He's not going as fast as last time."
"Hopefully he's just curious..."
The red blip came right on top the center cyclops icon on the sonar display and began flashing. The two stayed in nervous silence. The cams showed the reaper swim around the cyclops once, then twice, but it never made contact with the hull. After a few more minutes, the reaper headed off in a different direction, back into the dark depths.
"Woo! That's more like it!" Jeff cheered.
Jeff waited until the blip was off the sonar, then he waited some more.
Palmer held his hand near the blast-shield button, "We clear?"
Jeff nodded, "Silent running, mind you!"
Palmer opened the blast-shield and started the engine. Starting the engine in silent running was quite a bit quieter with new tweaks they had made. The Determination began creeping forward again.
Jeff leaned back in his chair, "Sally what's the terrain looking like below us?"
"Scan shows a gradual slope getting deeper as we continue in this direction. We are passing over the mushroom coral area as we speak."
"What's our distance to the center of the proposed wreckage site of the Sunbeam?"
"Seven miles, thirty-two feet and closing. The Sunbeam wasn't very high in the sky at point of termination, the debris field, if any, shouldn't be very wide."
"Time till debris field entry?"
"At silent running speed, forty-three minutes."
"That'll be a while..."
Jeff put his feet up on the right side of the terminal where no buttons would be effected.
The going was slow but steady and miraculously uneventful. They had entered the estimated debris field area and Palmer began bringing the cyclops down to the sea floor.
Sally began speaking, "Depth to sea floor five-thousand feet and closing."
Jeff took his feet off the terminal, "Oh boy... that... that is not a very reassuring number."
"Yeah, you're tellin' me... just keep an eye on that sonar," Palmer said.
"That's barely shallow enough for the cyclops to go. Sally, is the sea floor still sloping down at the same rate?"
"It is still sloping, however, the farther out we get, the quicker it slopes. It is possible we are nearing a drop-off."
Jeff swallowed, "I don't like the sound of that."
After about twenty minutes, the sea floor became visible. Nothing alarming on the sonar, only the occasional fish.
Down here, it was pitch black. The sunlight unable to reach this far, gave way to thick inky darkness.
Palmer lifted his hand up to the HUD on the glass, "I'm turning on the floodlights. Sonar's still clear right?"
"Yup, all clear so far... this place is super creepy."
"I'm with you on that one, if it gets much deeper, we can call this whole thing off. If creep factor wasn't enough, the cyclops can't go much deeper than this."
The Determination began heading forward again. The terrain here was quite barren, even the sand was giving way to pure rock.
Suddenly, Sally piped up, "Detecting vertical drop off in the next 1000 feet. Base of drop off exceeds 15,000 feet and is undetectable even at maximum scanner range."
"Welp, there it is Palmer... anything of interest left behind by the Sunbeam is beyond our reach. I say we turn back now before we find out that this is a reaper breeding ground or something."
"Hold on now... we've come all this way. What if what we're looking for is right at the edge of the drop off... We'll get within flood light distance of the edge and then skim it for a few minutes, then we'll get out of here."
"The longer we're here, the more likely it is we run into something that spells bad news for us. Please be careful."
"Don't worry about me, you keep your eyes on the sonar. I don't want to be here any longer than you do."
The floodlights scanned over the terrain ahead. Abruptly, the terrain came to a stop.
"Whoa... that's a drop off alright."
Palmer started strafing the Determination to the right while looking for anything of interest.
Then, a red blip showed on the sonar. A massive blip, larger than any reaper previously encountered.
"Palmer! We've got a contact coming from the drop off! It's way bigger than a reaper! Get us out of here now!
Palmer quickly switched to flank speed and started ascending while reversing.
The red blip was closing in fast.
"Unidentified creature approaching at two times our current speed. Creature's shape is similar to reaper leviathan but with much lower body mass and noticeable structural difference in the head region," Sally informed.
Something stirred in the dark murk ahead of them. A faint blue was penetrating the darkness. Palmer could make out the shape of the creature as it sped toward them.
"It's... bioluminescent and... It's got a head like a hammer-head shark!"
Jeff rerouted all power not being devoted to the engine to the forward over-shield, "More importantly, does it have a mouth?!?!"
"I... I can't make out one... wait... oh... OH it has a mouth alright!"
Jeff stared out the glass at the approaching blue creature. A gaping mouth larger than a reaper's unfolded from the face of the creature. It had two long extensions out the side of its head and it had four yellow eyes... no six... it was hard to tell. The exoskeleton of the creature was clear but had a faint blue glow to it.
"Palmer, faster... FASTER! PALMER IT'S RIGHT THERE!!!"
"THIS IS AS FAST AS SHE CAN GO!"
The creature rammed the front of the Determination. A light blue field appeared at the point of contact just in front of the glass. The over-shield had held! The blow caused a massive energy loss and the lights flickered for a moment.
The force from the impact shot the Determination backwards at twice the speed they had been going, but the momentum was short-lived. Jeff was thrown to the floor, out of his chair, and Palmer braced his head with his arms as he slammed against the yoke.
Jeff struggled to get off the floor and leaned against his chair while looking at the terminal.
"Palmer, we don't have shield power for another hit like that! Don't stop, keep reversing! Switch to the blast-shield!"
Palmer activated the blast-shield. As it closed around the glass, the creature could still be seen fast approaching toward them again.
Jeff monitored the sonar and Palmer watched the cam views as they came up in front of him.
The red dot was closing in, "BRACE FOR IMPACT!"
Palmer's arms went up to his face again and the hit came. The titanium over the glass caved in and the glass cracked but the titanium remained intact. This time, Jeff held on tightly to his chair and managed to stay seated. Blood spurted from Palmer's face as he broke his nose against the yoke. Once again, the force of the impact launched them back at twice their previous speed. Then Sally echoed through the ship, "Surface contact in seventeen seconds."
The Determination exploded through the surface and leveled out.
Jeff stared at the sonar and the cams. The red blip slowed down, circled around for a few moments, and then headed out of range.
"I think it's leaving!"
"It is likely that the creature is designed for solar-depraved environments and is not equipped with the ability to protect against UV rays from the sun."
"Thank God... Palmer, are you alright?" Jeff said as he got up and headed over to him.
"The red sea just got rerouted through my nose but I think I'm fine... I'm going to have a massive head-ache, that's for sure..."
Jeff dropped to the floor and sprawled out, "Now that," He said through heavy breaths, "Is why I didn't want to go to such a deep area."
After only a few moments of thought, Ghost Leviathan was the most sensible designation. The translucent exoskeleton, the glowing yellow eyes, creature of the dark. Yes, quite ghostly. Sally's theory turned out to be fact as scans of the creature indicated that it was very sensitive to UV rays to the point where one could die from too much exposure. This was a very important attribute to remember and a lucky one for Jeff and Palmer. The Fauna entry was made for future reference and they headed back home.
There, they dry-docked the Determination in a grav-well, made repairs, and thought even more about the potential dangers in the cave systems below that held the next alien facility. Anywhere there is no sunlight, could be territory of a Ghost Leviathan. This potential was very concerning and lead to further cyclops system evaluation. A defensive weapon system was vital and more than one seamoth bay would be very important for emergency escape scenarios. Their trip to the alien structure would once again be delayed with good reason.
Since mass drivers were now a 100% impossibility, they would have to fall back to stasis. Both of them knew from various data entries scoured from their last trip to the Aurora that she had been carrying stasis rifles to be used for the auxiliary Degasi mission, but neither of them had come across one in any of the wreckage around the shallows or in any of the other biomes they had dared enter. They would have to go searching, but they at least had a reference picture that was provided in the file. Reverse engineering ship-mounted stasis cannons would be fairly easy if enough of a rifle could be found. Palmer also brought up the idea of torpedoes. An early 20th century water-based weapon no longer in use today, yet one very easily created with today's technology. Just a simple tube filled with some kind of explosive attached to a remote propeller system. The only question was how to make them go boom without plasma or even nuclear technology. The exploding fish, now designated as "crashfish" in the PDA data bank, seemed like a good start. Jeff had been able to create a basic welder out of the sulfur left behind by this creature and with a little logic and some trial and error, a basic explosive could be made. Granted, not one good enough to neutralize a creature, but at least wound it- utilizing an old fragmentation concept used in old grenades. Anything soft bodied would be susceptible to these torpedoes, possibly even a reaper. The trick would be to land the shot. The old type torpedoes used back in the Digital Age were fairly slow and were designed to hit large, slow moving targets. These torpedoes would be small, fast, and guided by Sally's newly implemented AI targeting system drawn up by Jeff. Crate after crate of torpedoes were fabricated and launch bay tubes were installed four at the front-underside of Determination and two in the back-underside.
After a few days of upgrades and material searching, a stasis rifle in acceptable condition was finally found and the stasis cannons were reverse engineered. Two mounted in front at the bottom left and right of Determination's pilot's bubble, and one mounted in the very back on the underside of the tail. The issue with the stasis cannons not previously realized by Jeff and Palmer was the energy requirement. To fire the stasis cannons would require a good deal of energy and thus they would have to be reserved as last resort. In light of energy issues, a bioreactor was also installed on-board to be used specifically for recharging power cells to help prevent a complete power-loss scenario.
Jeff and Palmer were beginning to feel a bit safer as they installed each upgrade. However, Jeff's skin was beginning to feel irritated. A side-effect Sally attributed to the disease and that reminded them of their urgency to get to the next alien facility.
The next few days were devoted to installing the second seamoth bay. Meanwhile, Palmer was able to generate a basic PRAWN suit schematic from the scan he had made from the last Aurora trip. Once built, Palmer insisted that it go in the second seamoth bay to make scavenging safer. Jeff was hesitant as he worried the PRAWN would be too slow to escape from anything. Palmer eventually convinced Jeff by assuring him that, worse-comes-to-worse, the PRAWN can grab onto a seamoth and hitch a ride.
Once the second seamoth bay was complete and system checks showed green across the board, they new they were ready. They had rations for days and enough extra materials to build an emergency base if need be. They had weapon systems, an escape plan, and the motivation to not die a slow death to the disease. Their spirits were at an all time high for two guys stranded on perhaps the most dangerous planet to ever sustain life. However, the ever-looming thought that things would go horribly wrong down there still plagued their minds. Jeff could think of hundreds of very logical outcomes that only ended in death and he had to fight to put his focus elsewhere. After much preparation, distraction, and toil, they finally felt ready to head down into the underground depths.
Palmer sat in the pilot's seat and turned on the engine. Jeff took his seat at the side terminal. Palmer ran another quick systems check and nodded when green was all he could see on the display. Then he cocked his head in sudden realization.
"Um, Jeff. Do we even know where the entrance to the cave system we're looking for is?"