Hello. This is Chris Keigovitch, Engineering Technician Level 6... I am entering this log for the record. In case I don't make it.

Myself and the Aurora have crash-landed on an alien world. I managed to make it to an emergency escape pod shortly before impact. This may come as a surprise to everyone who thought that the Aurora and myself had been deemed a lost cause.

Surprise!

I did not die above this planet. Best I can figure, something affected the Aurora somehow and caused it to crash here on this planet. The shock of the impact must have killed most; if not all, of the crew.

I have no way of long range communication with the space guild nor to I have the means to reach orbit.

So yeah... I'm f***ed.

-

Alright. Supplies and O2 are short term, but if this planet's atmosphere is stable, I should be able to survive without the need for an EVA suit. Unfortunately, the systems that check for these sort of consistancies on a planet are shooting out sparks and smoking up my pod.
I will have to go outside.

... F***.

At least there are blue skies...

-

Looks like we're ok. For now at least.

I can see the Aurora in the distance, maybe a kilometer or so from where I've landed... or actually where I'm floating.

There is nothing but ocean as far as I can see.

There is some good news though. The atmosphere is breathable, and not only that, it is 98% similar to Earth's atmosphere; that's an incredible find. But, I don't know much beyond that point. I'm just an engineer, I'm no egghead.

The water is cold, but managable. I'm not going to start diving anywhere till I have proper gear though. Who knows what bacteria or creatures may be just beneath the waves.

-

Ok

First dive is a success.... I guess. I am in shallow waters, which allows for a diversity of life. Hopefully I can make food out of some of it. Along with that, there are several rock outcroppings that I can dig at to acquire ores. The on-board fabricator should be able to build makeshift materials for me to use.

There are several pieces of debris around that I can salvage to make some equipment. We'll see how this goes...

-

The sun set quicker than I thought. I've built a makeshift bed inside the pod and opened the vents to suck out the smoke. First day, not so bad. Now I just need to survive.

-


Alright, it;s time to start thinking about how I am going to survive here.
I have to think about Food, water, and shelter. I have shelter... somewhat. Food is going to be a bit questionable until I find out what animals and plants are edible.

~

I've opened the storage compartment and found a Scanning device and a foldable knife. Those will come in handy. The scanner can help me find edible food, and the knife... well... near infinite uses.

~

Radiation warnings are starting to ping inside the pod. I believe it has something to do with the Aurora. I just hope it's not the engine core. If it blows, it'll be like a small nuke. Thankfully I'm far enough away not to be affected to much by the radiation if it does explode... but.... ... I still worry.

~

Well..

I don't have to worry about the Aurora anymore.
She just exploded.
Thankfully, I was safe inside my escape pod before she went supercritical. So, no radiation damage. I hope.

~

Caught a partial solar eclipse just as the sun was setting. This planet has a very close moon. The tides must be ridiculous here.

Well, at least I'm alive one more day.

~


It's time to start thinking long-term.
I need comfortable shelter and resources that are within reach. Now, I can swim, but I'm not an olympian.

There are blueprint fragments of a small one-man sub and a larger deep-sub. Once I aquire the recources needed to build their fabricator, I should be able to reach deeper locations and possiblely find land.

~

Using information from my database, I am now isolating what resources I will need to build the one man sub called a Seamoth. With it, I should be able to explore the surrounding area much more efficiantly... If I don't break it in the process.

~

Finally have enough to build a Seamoth.
It's an interesting design, and should definately come in handy in the future.

~

One my first trip out with the Seamoth I have met the largest creature I have ever seen, its as big as a whale but has more distiction with a giant squid. From what I can tell, it's not hostile in any way, but the noise it makes gives me a headache so I'm keeping my distance for now.


Wow though, it is seriously big.

~




I've been going over any data in the in the escape pod on our mission. Now, me being an engineer, no one really tells me the important stuff unless it's a need-to-know basis.

Anyway, the Aurora was tasked with setting up a distant phase gate for interstellar transit. I believe we were prepping for gravity-assisted trejector, then something went wrong and well, you know the rest. Anyway, there is a lot of unused supplies aboard the Aurora, not to mention any relative data on this planet that I might need.

If I want to know more about this planet and get at those supplies I will have to board what is left of the Aurora and download any or all data that I need. But here's the rub: to do that, I am going to need a lead lined radiation suit because the Aurora is now spewing out near lethal amounts of radiation over a half kilometer radius.

Now the good news about the radiation suit is that it can protect against just about any kind of radiation, bad news is that it can only be worn for short periods before the compounds that keep you alive start to leech through. Not to mention any wear and tear that I might put it through boarding the Aurora and getting there in the first place.

And yes I know, Rad suits are great for reactor duty, but if you keep wearing it for a long time, well... lets just say it's not pretty.

Although, if I can solve the cause of the radiation problem I won't have to wear the damn thing again unless I absolutely have to.


I've also been trying to eat some of the local fish (if you can call them fish) around the reef and the surounding area. I'll say this, it's definately not tuna. The fish that (as far as I can tell) looks like someone stuck two airsacks to it honestly tastes like fried potatoes. No I'm not kidding. It honestly tastes like fried potatoes.

I've also run into some not-so-friendly life around here. The nearby kelp(?) field has what appears to be predatory animals that honestly remind me of sharks. There is also this hidden fish that hides in another life form (some kind of sea anenome maybe?) and explodes if you get to close. Yup. Thats right, a fish bomb. Almost got caught by one while diving into a small crevice looking for ore. Thankfully I swam to safety before he got me.

At least most of the fish around here aren't as hostile.

~

Alright.

It's been a day since I first deployed the Seamoth and the battery percentage... is gone. Well, less than 1% at least. But that's barely enough just to turn the lights on.

And yes yes, I know what you are asking. "Chris! How and why did you waste all the battery life?"
Well, if you must ask, searching for food and resources while trying to dodge murderous fish and other harmful things means I got to move quickly, and moving quickly means use battery to power the engine. Which means using it up quicker.

Now, I could go get the resources to build and charge a new power cell for the Seamoth but
scavenging the parts for a power cell to power the Seamoth is tough. First time round, I had to go into the "shark" infested kelp field. One almost bit me in the a**! I'd rather not have to go into that again. Not to mention literaly risk my a** again just so my Seamoth can last a few more days.

Wish these things were rechargable, but nooooooo that's too expensive for just a simple planetary mission! You can just use the ship for power!

Well, ignorant geniuses, I don't have a ship to recharge with, because it blew up yesterday, leaving me stranded on this godforsaken alien planet!

*sigh*

Well, it's dark out right now, so I'm going to snooze until I can actually think of a way to get some power.

Zzzzzzzzzzz

~


It's again time to start thinking long term. The pod I have is cramped, and is only meant to be used in emergencies. It's not designed for long term usage.

So, yeah. I've got to build a new home. Or I could find an island.

I like the idea of a base better.

There are some design schematics for a deep-sea HAB in the pod database, and with a contruction tool I should be able to fabricate them with ease.

But again, resources resources RESOURCES!
I am running out of them!


I have to prioritize my resources to do this properly.

~

Alright, the best place I can think of for a HAB is about 50 m from my pod; a nice open sandy area in relatively shallow waters.
Time to get started.

-

Ladies and gentlemen, I have a HAB. This could be my new home. Sure it's small. And empty. And barely has a working airlock, but that doesn't matter!

I've got a place to sleep that isn't a cramped claustrophobic pod!
Yay!

~

The problem now is power. I have created a base that needs power to function. I guess I could jerryrig some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ solar panels out of the resources I have.

It's not that hard actually. It's part of my training as an engineer to build huge ones just in case the ship suddenly lost power.

~

Let their be power! I can turn the lights on! Then off! Then on again! Mwahaha! I'm the king of this Hab!

This feels great. Once I move my old "bed" from the pod into the Hab I'll finally be able to sleep without getting a backache in the morning.

But, none of this matters anyway if I can't get to the Aurora wreck without dying. Survival is one thing. But prosperity? That's a whole nother thing entirely.

~


Now that I have a fully functional place to call home, I can start going on longer trips to explore the area.
I'm going to start by heading West and see where it takes me.

~

LAND HO!
Honestly, it almost came out of nowhere for me, so this is quite a surprise. Lets see if it has anything that might be useful to me.

~

Oh man, I am so not going to die anymore! This small island has almost everything I would need. If I can move my Hab here, I would last so much longer than I would in the open ocean.
Also, I have found evidence that I was not the only person knocked out of orbit by whatever knocked the Aurora out of orbit. There is a log of of a group of people that survived here for a while until they left for the open ocean. Thankfully, they left behind lots of useful items and materials. A nice growbed for me to grow edible plants in, several pots, and an oberservation sphere that I can use to, well, observe things.

~

I'm heading back to my Hab now to start deconstructing it. I admit this is going to take several trips to bring everything, but this is exciting! No more worrying about murdurous fish anymore! Real(ish) food! Prosperity! Woohoo!

~

Alright. Last trip. It's been nice, you cramped, smoking, comfy little pod! Thanks for saving my life.

To whom it may concern, take care of that pod. It saved my life.

~

Now that I'm here, I need to find a nice open area to set up my Hab.

-

There is a small valley just short of the beach. I think it will do nicely.

~

The new Hab looks awesome. I've got my Airlock (I guess it could keep animals out), my empty main room, and a nice little platform with all my solar panels up on a hill close enough to the Hab that I can hook the power cables together.

I've got a real home! Yay! (Happy dance!)

~

Now that I have my Hab all set up, I need to find more resources. I guess I could head back to the shallows for resources, but thats a long way off. I wonder if I go deeper, that I may find any there?

~

Nope. Too deep to go straight down. I guess I will have to go to the shallows. Greeaaat.

Well, there is a rock face not far from the island that has plenty of resources so I'm taking all you got.

~

This island has a nice little lagoon. I could use it if I ever got a bigger boat. There is a fragmented design of a larger submarine, but the issue again, resources! Can't just go willy nilly building things without taking care of the basics!

I'm gonna live though! I'm gonna survive! YEAH!

~

Hey, yeah it's been a while.

Haven't even left the island (except for resources) for a while. I've connected the small lagoon with my main hab using just some simple glass hallways (oh god those were a pain in the butt). I've got a whole garden going out my front door, giant fruit trees with fruit that taste like they came from heaven itself, and on the plus side, they are very good for me as well! Healthy and tasty! Only an alien planet could deliver such a beautiful combination!

No big sub yet. Oh well. I can deal with just having my little Seamoth until I got the resources for it. Not to mention the blueprint. Which means I have to get into the Aurora, which means radiation suit.

My day just never ends, does it?

~

God. Finally a Rad suit. It's a lot like an EVA suit, just a little more heavy duty. Time to see what lies within what remains of the Aurora!

~

Well, the Aurora made quite the mess. There is so much debris, it would take me days to look over all of it. The whole front half of the Aurora is toast, probably blown off when she went supercritical. I'm not even going to try going inside that mess until I know for certain I can get back out again.

I'll sleep on this.

~


As I approached the Aurora again, I heard a dull roar in the background. I didn't pay it any attention until it got louder.

I did a major "f*** that" and went another direction.

It seems to be coming from around the rear of the ship, so as long as I stay away from there, I should be ok from... whatever IT is.

~

Time to ascend what is left of the inards of the Aurora. Wish me luck...

~

I will say this, the Aurora is not as f***ed up as I thought it was.

Most of the interior of the ship is inaccessable, but I did manage to find a path to the generator room, and to my suprise... Still mostly intact! Minus a few breaches, and some broken cables, though I fixed those up in a jiffy. It's my job to do things like that!

I managed to repair it enough that the auto-decon started running. Allbeit, barely... But, it's enough so that what remains of the engine core isn't spewing out radiation anymore. Yay!
It should be safe to return to the Aurora without this godforsaken suit in a few days at least, maybe more, but at least the Aurora is not longer killing me with radiation, nor is it killing the life on this world. YEAH! Go Chris the engineer!

Onward back home to a nice meal of juicy fruits and fish!

~


It's been a while, again.
Still no big sub. I just don't have the resources for it when I want to work on it. *sigh*

Still, the Hab is beautiful. I've planted so many fruits and flowers it's almost like a greenhouse in here, but without the heat.

I've also taken the time to explore the surrounding area more. Aside from the mess the Aurora made, there is a lot of good resources around that I can scavange.

I am very well set though. I got a nice home, enough food to last me forever, infinite power thanks to the science of solar energy, and not to mention... quite comfy!

I could last quite a while here.

... I could die here.

...

Alone.

~


Since getting more and more data from the Aurora in my trips, I have aquired enough data and FINALLY enough resources to build the large Cyclops Deep-sub. It's a huge sub, at least compared to my Seamoth; which also can dock the Seamoth in it's own compartment.

I've spent the better part of a day outfitting the Cyclops with all that I will need to take with me on super long range trips. I've got a small bed in the midsection, along with a fabricator and enough storage to carry what I need, enough power cells to last forever (I stocked them up when using my Seamoth), and as an added bonus, a fruit tree along for the ride! It should provide food for me, but I'll still depend on fish for primary sustenance. Can't make the plant do it all!

Heh, you know what? I've even got a nice enough name for this bucket of bolts. The Nautilus! You know, from that old movie 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea? It fits well. Hopefully I won't be going THAT deep, but I'll still be going where it's going to get dark.

Should be fun!

~

It's been a couple days since I left the island in the Nautilus, and... oh boy. The sights I am seeing!

First thing I found was a forest of mushroom trees. Yup. You heard that right. Mushroom trees. I'm thinking it's some sort of freaky coral structure, but then again, what do I know? I'm an engineer, not a marine biologist. Then again, I'd like to see a marine biologist try to pilot a 300 ton submarine through a field so thick it's like a jungle!

As I traveled deeper, things started to get more and more freaky by the minute.

I've parked right now in a field of bioluminesant balls anchored to the seabed by some sort of tendrils. I'm even finding wreckage all the way down here. Not totally surprising, when the Aurora went supercritical, it probably blasted pieces of the ship for miles around.
I'll probably find more as I journey-

Jeez, the life here... Scary as hell. Creatures screaming their mouths off down here. Oh, and did I mention IT'S COMPLETELY BLACK DOWN HERE? Great... near pitch blackness, freaky glowy balls, and now... hungry sea creatures!

Lions, and tigers, and bears. Oh my!

~


I'm several kilometers from home by now. Can't even see the island anymore. Can still see the Aurora, plain as day. Still smoking... I wonder why?... Eh, fuel line probably is still burning at this point.

Anyway, the biomes around here are as varied as ever. I've even discovered deep sea vents. You know, underwater volcanoes. They're pretty small at this point, but it would explain the area I'm in.

If I remember my geology class right, since this whole area of ocean as far as I can tell is comparatively shallow to the rest of the ocean, all in a big circle... We must be above a large volcanic hotspot. Kind of like the Hawaiian islands. The islands here were probably volcanoes that died off after erupting long ago. It probably won't be a true volcanic island chain like Hawaii back on Earth...

Ohhh god... I miss Earth. I miss the people. I could sure go for some company right about now.
But no.

All I got is myself and all these psychotic fish that want to eat me.

Oh well. May as well head home for now. I need too see some green for a while.

~


The onboard health monitor is saying that I have a significant vitamin deficiency. It doesn't actually say what I'm missing but I'm betting it's probably from the lack of any vegetables that I can eat. I wonder if there are any sorts of vegetables on the island? If there are, I should be able to cure my apparent lack of vitamins.

I've got plenty of space for another growbed, and probably some space indoors if it can handle it. It'll probably take several days to fully grow, so I'll bide my time collecting fish to eat. I got a large room dedicated to holding the poor suckers until I need them. Every time I go out in the Nautilus I try to grab a few.

I'll try to vary the kinds of fish I eat for now. Might help slow down that vitamin deficiency.

If I'm lucky enough, I could even breed some of those fish. But the problem with that is that I have no idea how the life on this world breeds. So, if I do try to breed some fish, I'll have to learn how and when they do breed. Plus, I'll have to construct a large enough habitat area so that they can have enough space to do their "business".

So, in short, I'm going to have to science the s#it out of this.

~


I figure that I should start with the smaller fish and see how it goes.

First thing I've done is set my scanner to detect and record internal biological processes. Don't know how the fish will feel having their innards scanned and scrutinized through so thoroughly, but I got bigger issues to think about. Turns out, mass planting those fruit trees means that each tree doesn't have enough resources to grow good fruit. Best ones I got were tiny and way too sweet.

Dang it, Chris! You should know this! It's Planting 101! ... I guess desperation created this situation.

Next time I resow the fruit trees, I'll have to space them out so they have enough room to grow that heavenly fruit that I love so much!

Now, building the habitat is easy enough. Just build the housing around the habitat tank, connect with the tank underneath, and presto! Fish apartments! I figure I'll have to build multiple habitat rooms so that the herbivores have enough food to eat. Not to mention keeping any unwanted guests interrupting them mid-"business".

For now, I'm going to go to bed. I can think more clearly in the morning.

~


I gotta say, drinking reclaimed water is not the best kind of stuff I've drank before. Hell, at least it's better than drinking seawater.

~


The tank is up and running, and the fish have plenty of room. For now, it's basically a waiting game. I grabbed several species, so it should at least be hopeful with at least one.

Meanwhile, I've gotten better at this planting business. Got lots of kinds of food to eat now. Finally a more balanced diet for once. I've been thinking of starting a garden of underwater plants, but the issue is that there is nowhere to put them. And, oh yeah I forgot to mention... the island is LITERALLY FLOATING.

No, I'm not halucinating, the island is really floating! There are several hundred airsack-like creatures on the "bottom" of the island holding it up. Man, they are really going at it. The island has to weigh at least several million tons. Several million tons! That's a f***k-ton of stuff they are working their butts off to lift off the sea floor.

So yeah. No real place for an underwater garden. Hmmm...

~


After watching the fish in the tank for several days, I've determined the fish here breed by laying eggs. No not like chicken eggs, more like fish eggs.
Already there are several on the bottom of the tank, and by the looks of it, some may have already hatched.

SO yeah. I'm now a certified farmer. Of sorts...
Well, I am the greatest farmer on this planet.

In your face, mother nature.

~


I've been here over a month. S#it. I guess I sort of lost track. You know, if I had made some sort of communication device earlier on, I would be back on Earth sipping coffee right now, but instead... here I am. Alone on this godforsaken planet.

Managed to salvage part of a plutonium reactor from the Aurora today. Not much left in it, but I'll put it to good use. First thing I did (after I hooked up the cables to the base) was bury it. You people have no idea just how hot that thing gets. It's like standing inside a broiling oven set on overdrive. Still though, great for spacecraft. But if it ruptures around people... no more people. So, that's why I buried it once I got it here.

Provides a nice amount of power for the base. Finally the systems don't run out at midnight every single night!

Another success. Now, I just wish for some company.

~

It's been several days since I got the habitat up and running, and I have to say; the fish did better than expected. Since they were in an environment without predators or hazards, they breed like crazy. Although each fish lays a single egg, they grow dang quick. They even breed with their own parents! They're multiplying like crazy! Ugh, this planet just keeps getting stranger and stranger.

Already the habitat systems are straining to keep up. I've had to remove several dozen of them and release them out in the lagoon. Sure that doesn't stop them from breeding like crazy, but at least it will slow them down.
Perhaps I should find a hungry predator and get it into the tank.

Wait a minute. That's just plain stupid!

Ok, new plan. I'll find a predator egg and get it into the tank. That would be significantly easier.
It'll probably gorge itself on the fish. Hopefully it won't eat them all, I rely on this fish for food, dang it!



In other news I've been searching more and more of the Aurora wreckage for supplies. Oh boy, the things I find.

Water filtration systems, equipment modification systems, terraforming equipment... the list goes on and on. Most are broken beyond all comprehension, but at least their blueprints are constructable from salvaging each device's data core.
For those who don't know; each component, ship, tool, or even suit comes with a tiny data core which I can scan to retrieve the blueprint information. Luckily for me that they are waterproof.
So all in all, a good day.

Time to snooze!

~


There's a major storm front on the horizon. Not that I haven't encounted my fair share of ocean weather here on this world, but this looks much bigger. I'm thinking it's a hurricane.

If it is, there are going to be several new problems I am going to have to deal with.
Usually, I just go into the Cyclops and hunker down if a storm is passing over, but with a hurricane, the storm could last days. Which means my little home on the island is in big trouble if the storm gets bad enough. Not to mention the tidal effects from the wind churning up the ocean waves so much. So, yeah. I'm probably f***ed.

...

It's about halfway through the afternoon now, and the hurricane is raging like everything outside. Good news though, all of my equipment is waterproof. Bad news... not everything is secured to the ground very much, and also, the swells are breaking past the shore and into the valley I am in. Now, the base can take water fine, but being hit by swells moving at the speed of a high speed craft is troublesome. Already some of the hull is starting to buckle under the stress. It's just not designed for situations like this. Deep sea high pressure? Perfectly fine. Absolute vacuum? No problem. High speed hurricane swells? Oh god no please!

So, yeah. F***ed.
At least I secured sections with bulkheads so that they don't flood or if they break off due to the storm.



F*** this, I'm going into the Nautilus.

~


The storm has pretty much blown over for now.

Oh man, what a rough ride. The force of the waves were bouncing the Nautilus up and down and all over while we were hunkered underneath the island. I kept all of the Nautilus's compartments locked tight, and secured anything loose to keep them from being thrown about in the storm, but trying to keep a steady stomach in a storm like this is all but impossible. You can bet I threw up a few times. Thank god I fabricated a bucket just in case. I've never felt so seasick in all my life.
I'm still feeling a little dizzy from all this.

Oh, and in case you are wondering why I didn't just go deeper away from the swells, I sealed the front section (the "bubble") along with the secondary access to it. So, I was locked out from changing position until the storm passed.

On top of all that, there was a lot of banging and crashing outside last night... and that is troubling.

Well, I guess it's time to go inspect the damage.

...

F*** F*** F*** F*** F***!

The Hab is totalled.

That banging and crashing I heard last night was a huge rockslide that tore apart the structures in the lagoon, which included my habitat tank and the moonpool. Not to mention shearing it off from the main structure and sending it down to the deep.

The main structure itself is better than most of it, because it was installed into the rock, but it's still pretty much totalled. My "front door" was shattered by debris, and a the main room was buried by a rock slide. The rocks are way too heavy for me to move, not to mention keeping me from all those resources I left behind inside the Hab.

So now, all I have is the Nautilus and my Seamoth. Oh wait, I forgot... The Seamoth was parked inside the moonpool. S#it. So, really all I have is the Nautilus and all she contains. Which is pretty much all I need actually. I did set it up to be a second home after all.

It could have been a lot worse though. I could have been inside the Hab.
Man, do I feel lucky.

~

I spent all yesterday cleaning up the mess of a base I had left. I think I used up about 4 batteries worth with the constructor. Good news though, I managed to get to the resources that were still inside the Hab.

Also, I've been thinking of a way to shield against the storm. How about an actual shielding system? Every ship in the space guild has several hundred all across each ship's hull. They're designed for high speed impacts.

With the shield, I could keep my base from being torn apart by swells. As for collapsing due to rockslides, I can just secure more mount points and install them deeper into the rock. Some reinforcement of the loose cliffs could work too.

Well, better get started.

...

The new Hab has been installed on the East side of the island, right in the lagoon itself. Properly and meticulously secured to the rock face. There won't be any rock slides at this rate. I've got a spot for the shield antenna housing ready, but the shielding system itself will have to be retrieved from the Aurora, and I think I know just where one is that might be still intact.

But anyway, the Hab is pretty much rebuilt. Lost the Seamoth and the moonpool though, they were smashed when they hit the sea floor. Broke into so many pieces. Easy to clean up though.
Oh well, I can always build a another one.

The storm did a number on the island. Trees uprooted, debris from my trashed Hab everywhere, jeez it's a mess.

I'm lucky I'm in an ocean. I can always just dive away from a storm if things get really rough, even though I didn't get that chance this time round. Then again, it can be ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ terrifying down there sometimes.

Now that I think about it, my little escape pod is probably miles from here by now because of that storm.

And.... nope it's still there. Wow. Tough little thing ain't it?

~

Another storm passed by, thankfully a lot smaller than that hurricane. Unfortunately, it blew away the escape pod to god knows where. Every so often I get the faint locator beacon on my hud. It must have broken some component onboard or something. I don't know.

And I am way too ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ tired to write this properly. Good night.

~


It's been a little over 2 months I've been here. Sheesh. Well, I don't think I should expect rescue anytime soon, since everyone back home probably thinks I'm dead. It's strange you know? Knowing you'll probably never see another soul ever again. When you accept the absolute futility of it all, you really just stop worrying.

You start taking your time doing things. Daily things like eating, drinking, taking in the sights... I could go on. The point is, I've come to that point where that rush of life that I was used to has pretty much just faded away.

It's nice when you think about it. I don't need to hurry up about things, worry about doing something on time, or worry about really anything that needs to get done. It's only the important stuff that seems to stay.



What the f*** am I saying? Did I eat something that made me high or drunk... or something?
Anyway, I've found more and more wrecks today. Some were part of the Aurora from when she blew apart, but some are from other things. Other ships.

I've found a significant section of a ship named the Reliant. I knew that ship. I was almost posted to her once. Sad to find it here. She was a fast ship, envied by a lot of cargo haulers.

And it's getting late again. NIGHT!

~


Found another island further North from the Aurora. This one appears more naturally formed than my "floating" island. There's an immense underwater cave system in there. If I could find a space to fit my seamoth through, it would be a good little adventure inside it.

I think this island formed the old fashioned way, with a volcano. There are definately signs that it was just that, not so long ago, but it's mostly extinct now. The hotspot has moved on.

Life has just started to cling onto this island. It's mostly on the beach now, there isn't much further inland. Although, it is a relatively small island.

Jeez, I'm on a very late night trend these past few days. Good night!

~


I've found another section of the Reliant, this time I found some usable data, including a log entry. Like this:

"This is Lt. Kamaronov, Reliant. This is my 2nd day here. Still pinned on that girder... damnit! Water is starting to make it's way into this compartment, I can already hear the hull cracking under the stress.

If anyone gets this entry, know that this planet is not what it seems.

An energy stream of ... whateverthef*** proportions was shot right into our ship. I saw it come from the planet itself as we passed close. This place... it's all one big pitcher plant. Sure, a pretty looking planet so perfect for anyone looking for shore leave or somewhere to relax... and then it gets you. It pulls you in, takes whatever from you, and leaves you here to die.

If it's my time to die, so be it. Be it not me who challenges God on when it's time. When He asks you to lay down and accept your fate, you best not get in His way."


Jeez.

The timestamp for this log entry was 5 years ago, not really me to be a religious guy though, it tends to get in the way a little too much for me. I just don't have time for all of it. Sure I believe in some kind of higher power, but... you know what? Why am I talking about this?

No god(s) would ever do such a thing to a guy like me. Sure, lucky me to survive, but it's all on me. No higher power intervening here. Just my knowledge, skills, and a small bit of luck.

Right?

~


I managed to decouple the shield emitter from the Aurora today, at least... what was left of it. Missing transmitter coils, several broken gears in the rotating motor... it's a mess. But at least the rest of it is intact. So, I can at least get it mounted on the Hab. I think I'll just attach it onto the roof of the Hab for now and climb up whenever I need to calibrate or fix components.

There was another eclipse today. Lasted over 10 minutes, though what do you expect with a moon that covers a large section of the sky? It wasn't really pleasent working in the dark though.
Just another day on this godforsaken planet.

~


There are so many wrecks around here. I've counted at least 2 dozen so far. Most are from the Aurora, but some are from other ships, like the Reliant.

There was one that had housed a Trident-class Abyssal submarine onboard it. Obviously it was smashed on impact, but it's still good to look at. I know it's a modern sub, but it looks like it's one of the old nuclear submarines from the early 21st century. Who knows what other wrecks may be deeper down at the bottom of the ocean...

I'd put some time into today to get the shield systems running, and from what I can tell, I've got the systems all set up now, but I do not even come close to the power requirements with just my solar farm. It'll only provide about 0.02% shield efficiancy for only about... 10 seconds.

So... yeah, I've got to figure out how I am going to supply enough power to the shield system in the event of total utter destruction by hurricane.

But at least I know what I'm dealing with, so I got that going for me... which is nice.

~


It's time I go into the Aurora again. Maybe now that all the fires have gone out, there might be some sections worth seeing again.

Just to be safe, I'm putting on that terrible Rad suit in case the radiation hasn't settled down yet.

Just to be on the safe side.

-

Still counldn't find the blackbox, shame. I would have really liked to know what exactly hit the Aurora.

~


I finally found something worth writing over.

It's a personal media player; you know, those things that hold over a thousand music albums on it. And holy hell, did this one hold a lot.

Only downside is, most; if not all of it, is old world stuff. Music from before we even had FTL technology, back when the only way to space was on a giant chemical rocket.

Not that I don't appreciate this thing. I finally get some other sounds besides the endless waves and nature. I can finally just kick back and relax listening to this for a while... or at least until it's battery runs out.

~


I've gotten to the classical orchastral music albums now, and holy moly are the songs long. I imagine just one song way back then was like a modern day concert.

Most of it's nice and relaxing. Some of it gets a little intense, but it's all still nice.

Oh look, another eclipse today. At least this one was short. Only about 30 seconds this time.
Another day...

~


I really haven't discussed my food situation much have I?

Eh, might as well. You know, at first I was quite apprehensive to eating these alien fish, some well deserved... However after a while, I figured I might as well. It's a good food source as long as I can find something that at least tastes good.

Right now, I've got a whole botanical garden outside, I've tried mixing some of the fruits and other plants together to see if they go any good together. The hanging fruit is fine on it's own, but the plants that resemble vegetables are very hard to stomach. I tried it mixed with the cut fruit, all I got was a sour mess.

I tried it with another fruit(ish) tree. I'm calling it a monster pineapple. I know the scanner calls it a bulbo-type tree, but it tastes like a giant pineapple and almost looks like one too. It goes well with the greener foods, and makes the hanging fruit a little more juicier if I mix cut bits of it with the sap in a bowl.

Oh by the way, I've saved some of those high energy protein bars from the Aurora for when I need a serious kickstarter in the morning. They were in an intact section when I went out to take off the shield module. I've got about 70 left so far, and wow do they really give you a kick in the pants. I got to be careful of the crash though. Not the ship crash, but the crash you get after you have a lot of energy. Like the aftermath of a suger-rush. You feel really tired and want to collapse. Starting to feel the effect of this morning's bar right now actually.

Sucks that I can't fabricate a good rug to lay down on. At least I've got my bed.

~

Big storm on the horizon, and I haven't even worked on the shield system.
Welp....

$hit.

~


What an interesting couple of days it's been. There was a hurricane again. Not surprising really, being in an ocean and all. I tried to get the shield running... I tried so damn hard!

But down the base went. The sheer weight of the base tore the cliff right off.

Heh, funny thing is, I reinforced it a little too well I think. The whole chunk of cliff it was on, came off like it was cut right off. The breaking points were exactly where they were expected.

When I went down to the seabed to deconstruct my mess, I found out that much of the base itself was actually intact! The indoor growbed room I had set up had completely survived! There was even still air inside! It's freaking incredible how much of it survived. Unfortunately, the glass sections were completely shattered by the pressure, and blew in.

For you folks that might be reading this one day... it blew inward because that's how things work at deep enough depths. Just a couple hundred meters of water means about 20-30 atmospheres of pressure depending on the density of the water. Here on on this planet, the water is about twice as dense as back on Earth, so 250 meters equals about 50 atmospheres of pressure. We experiance about 1 atmosphere at sea level so the difference with my habitat going from 1 to 60 that quick is going to do a lot of damage.

Fortunately, I always carry enough supplies nowadays in the cyclops just in case something like this happens. I was able to quickly evacuate, and escape to safer depths this time. When the storm blew over, I recovered what was left and headed out.

This time however, I went to find somewhere safer against these frequent hurricanes. I had thought about going to the shallows, but to be honest, we'd get pummeled by the tidal waves that would occur. So, I instead found a nice alcove on the drop-off near a kelp field. It's shallow enough that I can still use solar energy, but deep enough that any storms that appear will blow right over.

So now, here I sit in my new generation 3 base. Smaller, comfier, but still has everything I need. Power, food, moonpool, and a place to sleep. Comfy. Plus, the alcove makes a nice docking area for the cyclops. Which is great!


It's been a rough couple of days. I've earned tonight's sleep.

~


Since I lost the first shield generator to the storm, I headed out to the Aurora this morning to pry off a new one. Not many intact ones were left, most if not all are heavily damaged. Either from the crash or the reactor going supercritical.

At least by now, most of the fires have gone out. So, reckless me went inside to see if anything salvagable survived, and ohhh man, did I win a stroke of luck. What was blocked by fire on my first go around inside the ship, is now open and free to access.

I'm sure all of you have heard about the design by now, but this was a first for me. The MK III PRAWN Exosuit. All of them were ravaged by the fire of course, but the blueprints survived. Now, the exosuit is a lot different than the Seamoth or Cyclops; the exosuit is designed for exremely hazardous operations. Hell, it was tested in the Europa abyssal oceans for gods sake! It also survived on the surface of Io just fine as well! That's two completely opposite environments! If it can survive there, just think of the possibilities here. Not to mention it literally is extension of my own body. When I move, it moves. I could explore a lot deeper areas of this place. Just by walking. How cool is that?

Although I do enjoy the seamoth sometimes. It can go a lot faster and farther than the exosuit can.

But I sure got plans for the exosuit. Deep sea trenches, here I come!

~


My first excursion with the Exosuit was... interesting, to say the least. I first headed east toward the "glowy balls on tendrils" area, then headed north where I encountered an incredibly deep chasm. Down there, it was near pitch dark. The sights I saw; to be honest, were downright creepy. Bioluminesence from many creatures and flora. Kelp(?) looking tendrils reaching from the ground looked like glowing trees. Even the roots of the flora glowed, creating a spiderweb effect on the ground.

After that, I entered a strange cave that glowed green for some aparent reason. For those reading this on Earth, have you ever heard of Brine pools? If not, they are a large areas of brine on the ocean basin, which is basically sea water with an intense concentration of salt. The brine condenses together and form pools that have a salinity three to five times greater than the surrounding ocean. For deep-sea brine pools, the source of the salt is the dissolution of large salt deposits through salt tectonics.

Now, the brine is slightly different here on this planet. It aparently has combined with another mineral, or interacts with a bacteria which gives it a green glow.

I gotta tell you, taking a step into the brine is quite the interesting experiance. Imagine making ripples in liquid... underwater. The brine here has come out of the high salt content in the rock faces within the chasm. The brine actually forms a river in some areas, leading to a massive chamber where I found something... facinating.

An ancient skeleton of a mosterous sized creature. The exosuit was tiny compared to it. Most of the skeletal structure was buried in the barite (barium sulfate) which precipitates out of the brine. Some of it was still above the surface though, such as the massive rib cage which at least 75m to 100m wide. The creature; or what was left of it, was about 600-700m in length, not counting the probable cartiligous sections of the body (like a tail for instance). I followed the brine cavern out until I exited back out into the glowyball area.

What a day.

~


My second excursion was cut short when I found a large group of leviathan sized creatures. I booked it back to base faster than I think I ever have before. I am officially avoiding that area.

I went out in the Seamoth this time; to let the Exosuit charge after the first excursion, and headed north back to the non-floating island. I figured it was time to explore those caves, and boy was I right. It's damn pretty in some of them. Bioluminecent flora lighted up several areas. I eventually came to an open cavern under the island. I'm recording this while sitting on my Seamoth on the edge of the water. It's damn dark in here. I can barely see my hand in front of my face.

Welp, time to find a way out.

~

It's been a week since my last entry.

I have the best of news today... I'm going to get f***ing rescued.
A ship; called the Sunbeam, is passing through the system and will make a low orbit to determine the viability of survivors.

First thing I do when I get back to base, is to create the biggest radio signal I can. That should get their attention. An old fashioned S.O.S. will probably work best. It's simple, obvious, and easily recognized across all of mankind.

The Sunbeam will make it's closest approach in about 4 days. If I don't have the array up by then, I don't know if I will make it off this rock.

But this is the best news I've ever heard since I've washed up here.
F*** yeah! I'm getting rescued!

~


So here's the rub.

I'm going to have to build a radio mast about 15 meters high just to break the surface of the water, and then build it another 20 just to get it high enough to ping a big enough signal.

The easy part is building the mast. Most radio masts are just giant metal towers lined with recievers. Getting the signal off the planet is another problem. This is going to take a lot of power to create a large enough signal.

Once I do however get the signal going, I can just set it on repeat. The Sunbeam will undoubtly recieve the signal and recognize it. Hopefully, we'll manage to get this done within 4 day deadline.

Perhaps if I build the radio tower on one of islands I can skip the height problem and just worry about the power requirements.

Off to work!

~


I've built the radio mast as best as I could. I've anchored it in shallow waters near the Hab. Getting the morse signal out is proving to be trickier though. The basic radio transmitter isn't designed to be jerryrigged like this. Then again, it wasn't designed to transmit off-planet either.
I can get a makeshift morse signal out by maxing out the output signal, then by opening and closing the circuit to create a repeating pattern.

Problem is, it will sound like sequenced static to a comm officer, and that isn't really looked over with a lot of scrutiny. Pulsars create the same effect, and they are much louder in radio signals.
I've got to find a way to isolate a frequency and broadcast at with enough volume it to create a difinitive S.O.S. signal.

Engineering degree, don't fail me now!

~

Something is really screwing around with the output signal. It's as if something is broadcasting at an even greater amplitude than my radio mast.

It couldn't be the Aurora, all her primary comunication systems were in the nose of the ship, and we all know where that went.

Most of this weird background noise is coming from the north, but there are also smaller signals coming from the far west and to the east. The combined signal is jamming the radio's signal. Either I've got to find a way to turn off the background radio noise, or I'm going to be stuck here for a very long time. As if 3 and a half months weren't bad enough, imagine being here for years. I'd go absolutely crazy.

~


Well, this certainly wasn't here before.

To whomever is reading this... Ever seen a ground-to-space weapon? They're usually big, mean, and can rip through just about anything. Well...

I just found one.

And it is massive.
Holy f***ing h*** this thing is huge. This is probably what brought down the Aurora.

No, I'm certain this is what brought it down. It's also causing a lot of electromagnetic interference, which is screwing with my radio signal.

It definately doesn't look man-made at all. I don't see a distinctive way of getting inside on the surface.

The northern island managed to sort of shadow the gun from my view back on the west side, which is probably why I didn't see it when I first came here.

I've got to figure out how to shut this thing down somehow... I don't have much time left.

~

There was a green forcefield blocking my way into the structure of the giant gun... Nothing I can do can seem to affect it. The terminal next to it has a strange colored symbol on it... Could it be some kind of security terminal?
My PDA is picking up a massive energy transmission of some kind within the structure itself, its highly localized to the lower areas, but there doesn't seem to any way in.

Time to treat this thing like a giant puzzle... except I have no cipher... or even a guide... This could take some time... hopefully not all day.

~

I have made it inside! I found (and this the best scientific explaination I got here) a large purple tablet that opens forcefields. (Now this is where it gets complicated) if I hold the tablet up to the big pedestals near the fields, the fields drop.

Honey, I found the keys!

I nor my PDA can seem to translate any of the terminals. Least, not yet. Give them a while and it will certainly try. Out of curiousity I once deleted English off its settings and it managed to figure it out in about 2 hours.

Sun went down a couple of hours ago, but it's bright enough inside I don't have to worry about the dark anymore.

~

Well, that was one wierd gravity elevator. I hate zero G or even anything remotely close. I'm still feeling a bit green.

~

I just threw up again from that gravity lift. Good news, I won't have to go back up it because there is an entire alien moonpool down here! Yes! No more turning me upside-down or round and round!

~

Well, I found the source of the interference, a funky alien thing of some kind. It makes a lot of electromagnetic noise but thankfully I found a nice big friendly button that turns it off and on again. It also controls the lights. Ha! Found the lightswitch! On! Off! On again! Off again! Mwahaha! I am the master of this facility!

~

With that out of the way, I easily was able to transmit my S.O.S. and connected a basic signal to the Sunbeam. Eventually I was able to talk to them using my PDA thanks to some instructions they sent to me. Not the best of signal, but it's better than nothing!

They should be here fairly soon!

Today was the best day ever, and tomorrow will be even better!

~


Moved the Cyclops down into the alien Moonpool for a while, I can use it as a base to figure out how I could tinker with this thing... if I can.

But I just thought, I won't have to worry about that because today...

I'M SAYING GOODBYE TO THIS PLACE! Goodbye nasty dangerous planet, and hello good food, people I can talk to again, and most importantly... Coffee!

2 hours to go!

~


PDA: Attention: Patching in a local broadcast from the Sunbeam. Linking audio communications.

SUNBEAM: "I don't believe it there's someone down there!"

PDA: "Yes! I'm here!"

SUNBEAM: "Aurora survivor, we have your PDA signiture. I don't know how you walked away from that wreck let alone survive since then, but we'll be happy to bring you onboard and hightail it back to Federation space."

PDA: "Good thing! I was getting tired eating fish! Got any coffee?"

SUNBEAM: "Ha! Stand back, we're approaching the landing site now. Breaking atmosphere in 5...4...3-

*static*

SUNBEAM: "What is that? No, the red spike!"

PDA: "Sunbeam, abort abort! There's a spacegun firing! Get out!"

SUNBEAM: "From the planet?!"

*SIGNAL LOST*
*EXPLOSION*

PDA: "NOOOOOOOO! GOD! GOD, GOD, GOD, GOD! FUUUUUUUUU**!"

~

Not really sure why I'm starting this journal again. I'm godamn depressed and angry at whoever left that godforsaken gun here.

All I've been doing for a little over a week is eat, sleep, and harvest the crop I've brought from the island.

You know what? You want to hear how I acted? How I acted when the Sunbeam was blown out of the f***ing sky?

I threw this PDA into the ocean as far as I could throw it. I sat on the beach bawling my eyes feeling both excruciating anger and nearly collapsing in sadness.

Once I had settled down...a little, I looked for the PDA. Took me hours just to find the d*mn thing.

I headed home to the Hab and just stayed in bed for nearly a day and a half. Hunger was really the only thing that got me out of bed. After that I just sat and thought "How the f*** am I going to survive now?", "Why the f*** is there a giant alien gun on this planet?", and most importantly, "What the f*** am I doing sitting around doing nothing?!"
I was like that for well over a week.

Depression sucks.

So yeah, I've had a hell of a time. I'm feeling a little bit better today, still not quite through it but I think I'm through the worst of it for now.

Least I'm alive, so I got that going for me... which is nice.

~


Ventured into the Aurora again today, I guess I was just feeling so bored after sitting in bed for over a week.

Managed to get to the upper sections by using the propulsion cannon tool. If you're not familiar with it, especially if you're not from the Alterra regions; it's a mass manipulation device. The device locks a target in a advanced magnetic field which disrupts it's local mass, making it easier to move around. Useful for moving heavy debris, which I was doing today. It also has a "throw" function which can eject your grabbed target with an incredible amount of force. Useful for getting things out of the way. I've got the handheld version, but the Aurora had 6 Titan Class versions along her underside for manuvering asteroids for mining. Probably all now crushed under the Aurora's weight now.

I've heard there is a prototype for a Propulsion Cannon that is designed specifically for the "eject" function. Works like a repulsor engine, but incredibly more powerful.

Managed to reach the crew quarters, got as much of the non-perishable food I could salvage. Not that there were any perishable food left like fresh Pegasi-6 apples or Earth watermelon around now, but at least these high energy rations will do for now.

~


Over 3 and a half months on this godforsaken planet, and I bet I'll be here for many more since now no one is coming to my rescue.

PDA is still trying to decifer the alien language. The most it's managed to get out of it is that the race that built this giant gun are called the Precursors. That's the best translation it can offer. It also said that the planet is apparently under quarantine? That would explain a lot.

I hope I didn't break quarantine by accident... Hang on a minute here...

If this planet is under quarantine, you'd want to prevent anyone from coming or going. Probably why it shot down the Aurora. Too bad it didn't quite get the job done.
You missed one! I'm still here!

I'm going to have to do a little digging as to what the f*** is going on here...

~


Managed to wrangle a coffee machine from the Aurora today. It was a b**** dragging it all the way from the crew quarters, but I think it will be worth it.

I also raided several of the officer's quarters. Not that they will need this stuff. Sorry mates, but I get bored.

Been having trouble sleeping for the past few days. Maybe it's because of my depression spat, or something else... I don't know.

At least there was plenty of medical supplies remaining in the Sick Bay, plenty of drugs to help me fall asleep. Even with the giant hole in the floor.... and the giant structural beam piercing right through the center of the room.

God it's a mess. Least there's no fires anymore.

Lots of stuff on board was charred in the fire, the vehicle bay - as I remember it, was a prestine glowing white with gold stripes running down the length of the room. Now... it's a charred black mess of debris with and half of it is completely flooded.
Better than nothing I guess.

Got to be careful where I walk sometimes. The fires have warped some of the metal.

Given enough heat and a nice pressurized environment, and it can get pretty hot to warp even titanium structural beams. Like coals in a campfire.

I can remember that there once was this old kitchen restaurant back on Pegasi 8b that had fire grills instead of electric heating. Said it made a smoky flavoring. I didn't complain. Food was food.

Anyway, one day it caught fire (for obvious reasons). When the fire department finally arrived, the outer blaze was contained, but the restaurant was in a metal building. The heat built up and up and up; so much that when they finally broke through the door... BOOM!

No more old Swedish restaurant.

So yeah. Fire bad. Got to be careful.

~


I've been thinking on exploring more of that ancient space gun recently, but with the way I've been acting with my depression and all, I've just kept putting it off. Maybe tomorrow I'll check it out. Try to decipher some of the alien technology.

Give an engineer a computer and time, and anything is possible.

Also, I've been having a really itchy and annoying rash on my arm recently. I followed standard medical procedure first, just in case. Antiseptic, broad use antibacterial, and stayed at home for 24 hours.

Still itchy as hell.

Must... not... scratch!

I might have gotten an allergy to something here.

But I think it's probably not an allergy though; I've been here for quite a long time. My body would have gotten used to the environment by now.

For right now, it's late and I'm tired. I've used some broad anti-itch cream from the Aurora. Helps a little bit. It will at least let me sleep.

~


Over 4 months alone on this godforsaken planet.
To be honest... this is a really beautiful world. To oceanographers and xenobiologists this would be a dream come true. On the surface, there really isn't much to see except sparse islands dotting the continental faults and occasional hotspots. But below the surface, there is a vast variety of life. I'm only an engineer, so I'm not going to get into it.

I've covered and mapped about 1000 square kilometers of the surface. However, there really isn't much to see at sea (ha ha!) except the local hotspot around where the Aurora crashed down.

I have determined we're about 1500 km North of the equator. Where our exact coordinates are is anyone's guess. I haven't made a GPS yet. I can try the old ancient ways of determining location, but without knowing the circumference of the planet and if there elongations or ovalling, it would be incredibly difficult. I would get data from the Aurora's computer core, but that was damaged beyond repair by the extensive fire that spread through the ship.

That fire burned for over a month. Then again, we were still mostly fully loaded. Most of the volotile materials we would use were for the phase gate. We hadn't even reached that yet.
My rash has gotten worse. Thankfully, the itchiness has faded. I've avoided the live food that I've been mostly eating (cooked of course), and have started a more vegetarian approach. It has helped, at least a little, to slow down the infection or whatever is giving me this rash.

Maybe I've just been wearing my stillsuit for so long that it's starting to affect me? I don't know.
I'm not going to try going naked in that water... but... here in my Hab, I don't think anyone will notice.

I'll keep a note on the moonpool door just in case I forget.

~

My efforts with the shield that I salvaged from the Aurora have mostly been a bust, but... I think I have made a slight breakthrough.

By disabling the power safety protocols with the Nautilus, it can house a shield generator and run it! ... Albeit, only for a short time. It only has about 15% of the original protection, but that is fine in this instance. It would only have to deal with hungry predetors and other sea life.

The PDA has translated about a third of the alien writing from the space gun, and has pointed to another facility not far from the space gun. It was titled "Disease research facility". I assume that could be some kind of medical facility? Maybe there will be something there I can use. Even if not, it will be interesting to see another example of these "precursors" tech.

It may be possible to salvage some of their tech to be adaptable to mine... That could take some doing, but I'm an engineer! It's not impossible!

~


I went out in the Nautilus last night; and it took a while, but I found the disease research facility. Or... what was left of it. It looked like it suffered extreme damage.

The PDA has worked up about 75-80% of the alien language, so most of the translating is done. From what terminals survived at the facility, it looks like they were studying a bacterium which; from what I could tell, was extremely dangerous.

Now here's where we buckle up folks.

Bad news and good news. Well, ... horrible horrible news and a sprinkle of not so horrible news.
I appear to have contracted this contagion. From the translation, it has the potential of radically altering my DNA. Probably going to turn me into mush if I don't figure out a way to get rid of this.
The not so horrible news is that I only have Stage 2 of this contagion. The translation showed 4 total stages.

I probably got this from one of the fish I ate earlier on when I first arrived. I didn't exactly care what I ate, just that I didn't go hungry. Now that I'm on a healthier diet, that has slowed down the infection a small bit.

There was a terminal that cataloged a number of life forms from the planet. Almost all of which, did not have an immunity to the bacteria. However there was an entry on a life form designated "leviathan" which held promise. They were studying it in a facility much much deeper underwater. It looks like they contained it right nextdoor to their geothermal power plant, near the magma of the local volcanic hotspot.

Now, it's going to take me quite a while to get there, and prepare the Nautilus also for the trip down into the broiling hot lava zone down there.

But if I don't hurry, I might end up like the Precursors, dead with no hope.

Not me. I'm from f***ing Earth, dammit! I'm going to survive!

~


Turns out prepping the Nautilus for the depths she is going to experience is a lot more difficult than it seems. It's extremely difficult reinforcing the hull while still retaining equalized buoyancy.

See, here is the problem:
For every kilogram I add to the hull, it takes twice more internal air pressure to create ballast so that the Nautilius can go up and down freely. It can only go so high before I can't breathe inside. The sheer weight of the enhancements will literally cause the Nautilus to sink because it's too heavy. It's like trying to add Titianium plate armor to a sailboat. If it gets too heavy, down she goes. But add a baloon of air to support it, and it can float normally. The process is very similar with a Submarine. The only difference is that air can be added and released at will, which in turn; creates equalized buoyancy, or "floating underwater", which is simply having a balance of weight/air pressure.

So, after some very long and very difficult calculations, I've managed to round our maximum depth with the hull reinforcement and managable air pressure to around... 3400 meters.

But that's not the worst of it.
I think... I'm starting to go crazy.

Last night, while I was tending to the onboard hydroponic, I ... began to hear a voice in my head. It beckoned me to go deeper and deeper into the depths. It ... wants me. Needs me.
Even today, I occasionally hear it. I seriously hope I don't develop schizophrenia at this rate.

Am I going crazy? Is it this damn contagion messing with my brain?
Tonight, I'm going to hop myself on some sedatives so I can get a full nights rest and not be woken up by this godforsaken voice from the fraking beyond.

~


It took me nearly 2 days just to find a suitable path into these deeper regions. All I can really do however is to just follow the heat.

And boy, it is getting hot.

I've traded my usual stillsuit for something that can withstand the heat. Good thing the Nautilus's engines can withstand the heat though. Me however? I'm sweating like a pig in here. There's only so much I can do to keep the heat down. On the surface, it's a little over 18° C (65° F), down here... it's above 30° (+90° F). I can however keep my core temperature cool by drinking liquids and not doing anything straining. I'd also have to limit engine usage, since that too produces internal heat. Albeit, not much... but it adds up.

At this rate, I should be there in a couple of days... hopefully. I've set my PDA to monitor me in case I start to get heat stroke.
If I do, .... f*** me.

~


IT...NO........SHE... WANTS ME..... NEEDS ME.
I MUST GO FURTHER. DEEPER. TO THE DEPTHS WHERE THE WORLD BURNS IN MOLTEN FIRE. SHE MUST BE FREE.

~



I have no idea where that last entry came from, or how I did it.... seeing that my last entry was before I went to sleep aboard the sub and right now is just after my usual breakfast.
F***ing hell if it's this damn disease riddled through my body... I may just call it quits. I have enough morphine to go to sleep one night and never wake up... but... something is driving me deeper. And not just the need to shut that giant space gun down.

If luck holds, I should make it there by tomorrow or the day after.

If I don't go crazy first...

~


I think I am adjusting to the heat more and more... Regardless, it's still hot as hell.

I keep following what I think are lava tubes deeper and deeper, but I feel like I'm going in circles. Still, it's quite something to be down here. Lava is pillowing out of the walls and floor... and ceiling, growing like balloons at times. There's a significant amount of crystaline deposits down here too, and I've been gathering what I can. It's really strong stuff. Almost as tough as diamond, but this stuff has a heat tolerance greater than any I've ever seen from what little experimenting I can do. I've used the Prawn suit to litterally stick it in an active lava stream, held it there, and it still maintains shape! Imagine what we could do with this stuff! Spacecraft hulls lined with this could help reinforce them for more dangerous missions. I know a few solar-class missions could use some of this stuff.

Hopefully I can find a way out of this molten maze soon.

~


Finally worked my way to a very large chamber in this place. Looks like the magma has cooled and solidified over a much more solid mass (I'm thinking more Precursor tech). The magma has also formed into spires that reach upward on the structure, like chimneys or towers on a castle.
Hey, that's not a bad name. "Lava Castle".

It's actually pretty cool to look at and I'm taking as many pictures as I can.

I'm also getting a weird power drain on the engine power cells. Even while idle it's using up more power than normal. I'm going to try a controlled shutdown and see what the heck is going on.

~


Found the problem, it's a f***ing suckerfish/leach thing on the hull. Scanner says it's sapping electricity from my systems. Thankfully, the knife will help keep these things off for a while.

I've arrived in a huge magma chamber (I think). As far as I can see, there is molten rock magma below me. There are rocky spires, which I am currently anchored to; that help me from sinking into that soup. Yes, sinking. The heat is affecting the water, which is affecting my bouyancy.

At least there aren't any levaiathans here!

...

Speak of the devil....

~


She's gone.... the Nautilus.... is gone.
That dragon leviathian THING probably thought I was a juicy meal and tried to take a bite out of the hull. Needless to say that failed, thank god for the shields. But then it rammed into the sub and it fired something at the shields. In moments the shields collapsed, and it chomped down hard onto the stern engine compartment.

The water rushed in quickly, and I just barely managed to escape with my emergency pack and the PRAWN suit.

It was extremely hard to watch the Nautilus sink into the magma... All those many days aboard, it became a second home. Now it sinks and melts, becoming a part of this planet.

Does this planet have it out for me?
Must it take everything I have until it's satiated? My life?

~


So, lets run this through. Good news, and bad news.

Bad news first.
We lost just about everything on the Nautilus. Nothing was recoverable, and on top of that, the stupid dragon thing is swimming around it nearby as if it's guarding its trophy. A**hole.

Good news: I forgot that I managed to store more stuff than I originally thought in the cargo compartment on the Prawn suit. We got 2 classic manipulator arms, a mining arm, and a grapple/tether combo. Along with enough emergency food and supplies to last me a few more days.

Handy thing about the grapple and tether, I can use it to pull myself up walls or hang from the ceiling. I can even use it to swing from spire to spire. Hey... that reminds me of a very very old television show from the classic channel on the Interstellar Comm Network.

I even got my own lyrics!

Spider Prawn, Spider Prawn!
Does whatever a spider prawn does!
Shoots a claw, any size!
Catches fish, just like flies.
Look out, here comes the Spider Prawn!

Is it strong? Listen now.
It's got radial action claw!
Can it swing, from a thread?
Take a look over it!
Hey there! There goes the Spider Prawn!

~


I tried to sleep inside the PRAWN last night. However, that was mostly unsuccessful. Barely got a few hours. I can't sleep knowing everything I need to survive is now gone.

But something... SOMEONE... is drawing me deeper still.

~

I've been following the downward lava flow into a quite wide opening. (Although I still don't understand how or why there would be lava UNDERWATER. Even at these depths and pressures, lava would instantly cool to solid rock.) It just keeps going deeper and hotter from here. Even inside this protective suit... it's damn hot.
The grapple launcher is proving to be quite handy, as I keep spiderman-ing from wall to wall, and likely outrunning whatever tried to eat the Nautilus.

~

Finally I think I've hit something.

The chamber ahead is massive, with active lava flows all over pouring out from every wall and opening... and a gigantic alien facility.

This place is huge.
The PDA has translated a local broadcast...
"Warning: Vaccine development program terminated. Emperor egg hatching project terminated. Live specimens terminated. Evacuate immediately."
Like hell I am.

I'm just going to start voice-to text dictation now. There's just so much stuff in here I can't type fast enough.

~

BEGINNING VOICE DICTATION:

"Lets start with weird glass case number 1, shall we? .... Hm. Funky alien stone thing. Glowing.
Next, uhhh... crescent shaped... thing? ... Hang on, PDA says it's a tracking device of some kind?

"And on to number 3-- hello there. Weird robo-spider thing. What are you up to?... Fine then. Run off. See if I care.
Next case... a cube thing? Whatever. Next one... is... agh, hell. Why am I bothering with this stuff? On to more important things."

"A hallway here leads to another one of those funky alien archways. Hm."

"More hallways leading to archways... are these some kind of transit system?"

"Oooh, this is interesting. A room full of.... eggs. Yes, eggs. PDA says over 40 species just in here. Hm."

"Time to see what's through the forcefield door! Not to worry, I have all the keys! Lets see you block me out this time!"

"Hm. Back into the water, I see. Lets gooooooo!" *splash.... thud on platform*
*alien sounds* "Holy-!"

Are you here to play?
Others came here once. They built these walls. They played... alone. They bored me. Now they're gone. And instead... we have you.
We are curious whether you swim with the current, or fight against it as they did.

"...o...k..."

"Oh I see. One sec I think I have a cube for this..."
*sounds of Ion cube entering device, and devices powering up.*

My young need to hatch.
To play outside this place.
We have been here so long.
The others built a passage to reach the world outside.
I asked them for this freedom, but they could not hear me.
But now... you can.
If you help us, I will give you freely what the others tried in vain to take.

"The archway?... I see."
*sounds of Ion cube entering device, and gateway opening.*

With the passage you have opened my young can leave this place.
But first they must feel the time is right and break free of their shells.
This is what the others could not force from me.
To you, I give the secret... willingly.

~

(Dictation over)

So... This is why I've been drawn so far into the deep... into the very fires of the volcanic hotspot.

The... Sea Emperor, as the alien database describes; holds the key toward a vaccine for the infection which I unfortunately have. An ancient leviathan with a unique system that can help cure me... cure this world.

It... she, has some kind of telepathic ability, and reached into my mind from down here, in this metal box.

She has asked for a set of alien enzymes from various flora to help coax her young from her eggs.

Trouble is, these plants are all from different regions around the hotspot, and I... have very little time left.
From what the alien database shows, I have early Stage 4 of the infection. I only have a few days, a week at most; before my systems shut down and I turn into essentially goop.

I have to hurry.

~