The trek to the southeast of my base went semi-parallel with the side of the wrecked Aurora, and I knew that eventually, I'd run into some pockets of radiation. Before the journey, I fed Stanley and Stella, scanning the egg one more time. It had 2 days until it hatched, and it pulsated and wiggled slightly, the baby Stalker inside being almost ready to come out. I then gathered some Creepvine seed pods to make silicone and lead from the Grand Reef's basalt outcroppings, and combined them to make a lead-lined radiation diving suit, which fit nicely over my basic wet suit. It also came with a helmet, almost identical to my default one in every way except for the material it was made of. It allowed me to go near the Aurora post-explosion without getting radiation poisoning, which was more than I could say for the wildlife near the Aurora's crash site.
I heard more unearthly roars when I ventured too close to the crash site, so I steered clear of it by a large margin, not wishing to ever have to confront whatever was making that noise. I eventually reached the edge of the Grassy Plains, which led to a large forest full of tree-like mushrooms, very large in size and having glowing orange photophores on the undersides of their "caps". I scanned them, and Karen said that they produced the correct biochemical compound required for the natural formation of crystallized lithium. As I began to search nearby for lithium crystals, I heard the unmistakable shriek of a Boneshark as one charged me from behind, jaws open wide, ready to rip my flesh and snap my bones in half. I quickly dodged to the side again, but didn't have my knife ready to counter-attack, and by the time I did, I turned around to meet and old nemesis. I looked the beast right in the eyes, and noticed a large, deep gash, partially healed, over its right eye.
It was Diablo, and this time, he wasn't going to swim off without a fight. He had learned from our previous encounter, and was much more confident this time. As Diablo circled me, planning a second attack, I circled him the opposite direction, seemingly rotating around a fixed point in between us, analyzing each other's strengths and weaknesses.
Diablo's strengths were his nigh-impenetrable armored shell, his crushing jaws, his ability to swim up or down very quickly, and his size. His weaknesses were not being able to turn left or right quickly, being slow due to his size and armor weighing him down, and his jaws not being very long, meaning he had to bite down just right to get my arm in between his jaws. He was used to either taking chunks out of a larger prey animal, or catching something in his jaws that was easy to get a hold of, such as a crustacean in its shell. His jaws came to a point, able to dig into a larger animals flesh, then chomp away for a few seconds and swim off, and their teeth being fused into the jaw itself made it perfect for cracking tough shells. It wasn't exactly designed to take on something over half its size, but still smaller than itself.
My strengths were my agility, my technology, my superior intelligence, my tactics, and my versatility. My weaknesses were my inferior size, my soft, vulnerable skin, my need for oxygen, my limited means of attack, and the fact that I was completely out of my element. All I had to attack with was my survival knife, whereas Diablo had an entire maw filled with razor-sharp, flesh-ripping, bone-crushing teeth. At least my limbs didn't fit very well in his jaws, making it more difficult to rip them off. My limited agility made it almost impossible to successfully charge him, so I waited for Diablo to make the opening move. He dashed towards me ferociously, and I charged forwards as well, catching him by the pectoral fins, holding him back, his snapping jaws just inches from my face.
I could feel every shock-wave of water as Diablo's jaws snapped shut right in front of my face. I needed to do something fast, before Diablo cracked my helmet or chomped my head off. I used my quick thinking and precise aim to swiftly pull back my knife and jab the blade between 2 bony plates in the left side of Diablo's neck, cutting deep into his flesh, drawing a small amount of blood. He realized that other carnivores would be attracted to the scent of his blood, but he was determined to end my life, so he quickly tried to dispatch me. In his haste, he made a few mistakes that cost him dearly, as I countered a quick lunge by slicing at his belly as I dodged below him. Tired and hurt, my nemesis was dazed, and I capitalized on this, grabbing his head and raising my blade to end his life.
But something felt wrong. I realized that I had invaded HIS territory, and that he was acting in self-defense. I looked into his scarred eye and no longer saw anger or hatred or ferocity. I saw genuine fear. I put my knife away reluctantly, acknowledging that I had to be more merciful than my foe to truly beat him. He never actually did anything to me, but my rage, built up from the loss of my fellow scientists during the Aurora's explosion, had been unleashed upon a creature that merely tried to defend its rightful territory. I released Diablo from my grasp, and, realizing that he would probably die without help, I felt deep regret for unleashing my fury upon him. I took a syringe from my medkit aboard the USS Explorer, filled it with a painkiller, and injected it into the wound on his belly, easing the pain. I then went out and caught a Spadefish, digging nearby for crustaceans, and quickly ended its life, preventing it from suffering. I brought it over to Diablo and carved a chunk out of it, tossing it to him gently. He weakly caught it and swallowed it whole, and I continued feeding him Spadefish chunks until the entire fish was gone. I bandaged up his neck wound with medicated bandage wraps, to keep it from getting infected. I realized that this creature was misunderstood and in need of rescue, so I decided that I needed to build a temporary refuge nearby.
I felt really bad about hurting Diablo so much, and I didn't want him to die, so I went back to my base and gathered a lot of titanium and glass, returning as quickly as I could. Diablo was now swimming around a little bit, which was a good sign, but he still needed help. I quickly constructed a foundation where I could operate on Diablo without worrying too much about sand or dirt getting in his wounds, and I pulled out my new welder, which I had fabricated while I was away. I moved him over to the foundation, and knew this going to hurt him- a LOT. I lifted the bandages on his neck, seeing that it was still bleeding a bit, and Karen's scans showed that he was losing blood fast. *Forgive me...* I silently pleaded as I pointed my hypobaric welder at the wound and pulled the trigger, lighting the flame. I had it on low power, but it still burned like hell. I began cauterizing the wound shut, and Diablo let out the loudest, most sickening scream of pain I've ever heard in my entire life. *C'mon, you stubborn bastard!* I thought to myself. *This is for your own good!*
I was almost done cauterizing the wound shut when I heard a small, hungry predator behind me. I turned around and was face-to-face with a new carnivore. It was fairly small, being only a couple feet in length, and strongly resembled a tadpole in it later stage of life. Its tail was identical, as well as its head, but it had 2 eyes on each side of its head, and an odd, over-developed fin protruding from its forehead. I finished cauterizing the wound and turned around to face the creature one-on-one, and as I brandished my knife, it opened its mouth to reveal large, curved teeth, meant for eviscerating prey and ripping the flesh off of much larger animals. A quick scan showed that its body was 96% percent muscle, indicating that it was an extremely strong and fast little predator, and its protruding fin had a glowing bulb at the end of it, like an angler fish, which housed sonar and bioelectricity sensors. This "Biter Fish", as I named it, was the ideal predator, even though it was a bit too small, because, as I soon learned as it let out a long, loud call, it didn't hunt alone. An entire SWARM of Biters converged on my location, obviously attracted to Diablo's blood. I had to think fast if either of us was to survive.
I had noticed the other day that Stalkers were especially sensitive to ultrasonic pulses, so I hit a button in my helmet that gave off a hypersonic pulse that traveled for miles underwater, hoping that Stanley and his friends heard the call and were curious enough to investigate. I heard a loud Stalker roar as they began swimming to my aid, but my hypersonic pulse had been heard by the Biters as well, and apparently that hypersonic pulse must've been what they pick up when they detect food, because they all bared their teeth, snarling and hissing in anticipation as their eyes glossed over in preparation for the meal before them. There were about 8 of them, maybe a bit more, and my knife slashes didn't seem to hurt them that much. Most of their veins were buried beneath their muscles, which were very dense and hard to cut through. Diablo wasn't in any shape to fight, but he still managed to chomp one Biter in half, but others converged on him to try and take him down.
As they closed in for the kill, Stanley charged in and caught the leader of the trio that was attacking Diablo in his jaws, crushing his mid-section and breaking his spine instantly. As Stella came charging in, she wasted no time going after another Biter that was attacking me, biting at my arm as I raised it up to shield my face and chest. After biting it in half, she quickly snapped up the pieces and ate the entire fish, and the other Biter Fish literally turned tail and swam off at top speed, obviously not willing to take on two Stalkers, a human, and a Boneshark. The Stalkers then turned towards Diablo, but I quickly swam to his rescue, getting in between him and the Stalkers, waving my arms in protest.
Diablo, realizing that I was protecting him, began to accept me as an acquaintance, but not necessarily a friend. After all, I did stab him in the neck and slashed at his belly, all after scratching at one of his eyes upon our first encounter. As I swam around the Mushroom Forest, however, I noticed him following me not too far behind, obviously curious as to what I was doing in his territory. He saw I was merely collecting some lithium and left me alone, realizing that I was doing him and his territory no harm. Every once in a while, I'd catch a fish and find Diablo, feeding it to him to strengthen the bond between us.
Over the next few hours, I fabricated a tracker/monitor that safely and harmlessly attached to wildlife, and I attached it to Diablo so I could keep an eye on him and his health. It was non-intrusive, and with his thick hide and armor, he almost never even knew it was there. I did the same with the Stalker family, and theirs subtly stuck to one of their dorsal fins via quick-drying, water-proof adhesive, which I had to apply when they surfaced in my Moonpool. I had even designed an egg monitor, but when I traveled to the den, Stanley and Stella were watching their egg intently, and I sped over with my Seaglide to see what was happening.
