As I approached the wreck, I exited the Explorer and swam towards the giant chunk of the Aurora's hull, not knowing what awaited me inside, noticing lots of Sandsharks around the area, no doubt attracted to the giant vibration that the wreck must've made upon impact, and the sand that it kicked up as it sunk to the bottom making for an ideal ambush area. I learned that the hard way as I approached what I thought was the sealed entrance to the wreck, as a 7-foot long Sandshark roared like a tiger from hell and burst forth from the sandy substrate, opening its ugly maw nice and wide, exposing rows and rows of jagged, backwards-facing teeth in its upward-facing jaws. I quickly blasted it with my repulsion cannon, making sure to aim it so that the Sandshark was blasted out into the ocean, and not straight into the sand where it could die on impact. Despite my hatred for Sandsharks, I didn't exactly want to murder them. At least, not right now.
I kept my eyes peeled for more predators as I approached the locked bulkhead door of the wreck, and I put away my repulsion cannon and pulled out my laser cutter instead, clicking the starter similar to a welder, and began burning through the metal around the door. It was easier than trying to melt the lock, I knew that, since the locks were designed to sustain unfathomable temperatures in case of emergency, being made out of lead-titanium composite. It was much easier to cut a hole in the titanium wall around the door, so that's exactly what I did. It took a few minutes, considering that titanium took a while to melt through, especially underwater, but I finally finished the cut, making a rough oval big enough for me to fit through. I shoved the door away, breaking open the wreck for the first time since it landed.
The entire section was already flooded, but nothing had really been small enough to get inside save for some Rockgrubs, small, bioluminescent crustaceans that glowed a bright, neon green. Rockgrubs like to scurry around in places that other creatures couldn't get to, and preferred dark, quiet rather than bright, busy reefs, forests, or shallows. I flicked my flashlight on, not worried about predators in an area with Rockgrubs, considering that Rockgrubs tended to not even inhabit areas of potential danger, and looked around for supplies.
What I found were base parts, one of which was a spotlight, which was an automated light that searched for potential threats near the base and shined a bright spotlight on them to highlight the nearby danger. Not too far from where I found and scanned the spotlight, I came across more lighting structures. I found an intact floodlight, which was essentially a battery-operated, high-powered deployable floodlight for illuminating areas in a certain direction. Next to the floodlight, I found and LED lamp, which was a watered-down version of the floodlight, with less powerful lightbulbs, but the light from it went out in all directions like a usual light instead of a directed one, illuminating the area around it in full. Like the floodlight, it was deployable and battery-operated, and I scanned them both, each of them being fully intact and only needing one full scan to add to my blueprints. The LED was actually small enough that it was fabricated at a fabricator, whereas the floodlight was constructed via the builder, being fully positional unlike some of the other buildable structures.
I saw that there wasn't much else besides empty cargo containers in that area, so I searched for a bulkhead door to move on to the next compartment. The bulkhead door was unlocked, surprisingly, but I strained to get the necessary leverage to operate the latch to open the door. I had to use a nearby titanium rod from the wreckage to use as a lever to slowly rotate the handle into place. "That's odd." I thought aloud. "All turn-handle bulkhead doors were replaced with lever operated ones almost a decade ago. This IS the Aurora, right?"As I went around exploring the next compartment, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. I didn't recognize any of the containers as ones we had on the Aurora, and many of the standard safety features that were mandatory in every room of the Aurora were absent in the rooms of the wreckage. I had my suspicions, and as I returned to my Seamoth for air, I decided to coast around the hull to look for a ship name. I saw what looked to be the start of the word "Aurora" on one part of the hull, but the rest was covered in sand. As I went in for a closer look, the current from the USS Explorer blew the sand off of the rest of the name. It read: "Alterra Atlas".
After a deep breath, I said in a shaky voice "Karen. Bring up any and all files pertaining to an Alterra vessel by the name of 'Atlas'." *C'mon, it's probably just the name of a smaller vessel docked in the Aurora's hangar.* I thought to myself, trying to calm myself down. After a quick *beep* of acknowledgement, Karen began reading the most relevant piece of information she could find. "The Alterra Atlas was a colony vessel that was en route to [INFORMATION REDACTED] when it was [INFORMATION REDACTED], crashing on the surface of [INFORMATION REDACTED]. The Atlas's crew was presumed MIA or KIA, with all hands being considered lost. Maiden flight: May 26th, 2098. Last flight: June 19th, 2099."
My blood ran cold as this revelation hit me, like a stab to the heart, piercing my very soul. "They knew. This whole time, they knew we were going crash here." I whispered to myself in horror. "The Alterra Science Company sent us here on purpose! They knew the risks of coming to this god-forsaken planet and they sent us here anyway! They didn't CARE about the consequences, only the RESULTS! They figured that if the ship crashed, no one on board would live to expose them." I can't let them win. I promise to bring the Alterra Science Company down. I will persevere. I will survive. They'll hear... THE TRUTH!