Warnings: None
Characters: Jackieboy Man, Chase Brody, Marvin the Magnificent
POV: Jackieboy Man
(( Disclaimer: I uh. Lost my paper where I'd written down what triggers all of the events in the game and don't have the patience to make a new one or rewatch/replay a whole playthrough before continuing the fic- ^^" so yeah, I might write some things out of order without meaning to. I'll try to look up things in the wiki when I remember to, though ))
They had the Seamoth blueprint, as with one for the mobile vehicle bay. They just needed to be built.
Jackie was grinning. He'd found the last piece for the vehicle bay. Now he just needed to toss all the supplies for it at their fabricator so Chase and Marvin could get the Seamoth pieces ready for it.
"Hey James!" Jackie glanced over his shoulder when Chase called for the chef. "You wanna get a radio put up on one of the walls?"
"Of course," Jameson signed, grabbing a builder out of one of the lockers. Damn were they organized so nicely now. Jackie was glad the man had done that; they could actually find the stuff they needed now!
The radio finished right about as the fabricator was finishing with the mobile vehicle bay. The light was blinking and Jackie grimaced.
"Uh…none of us have been up to Pod Five for a while, have we?" Jackie asked. Someone cleared his throat and there was a lot of shaking heads. "Let's hear it. Hopefully we're not too late."
Jameson jammed his thumb into the button and stepped back.
"Playing pre-recorded distress call..."
A voice—a human voice—spoke over the radio, "This is Officer Keen in Lifepod 19! The captain is gone. I have assumed command. The last thing the captain did was give me co-ordinates for dry land. We regroup one and a half kilometers southwest of the crash site. Stay together. Good luck. This message will now repeat."
Keen's voice gone just as quickly as it was there, everyone's PDAs chirped with, "Rendezvous coordinates corrupted. Transmission origin coordinates downloaded."
Silence.
Jackie was the first to break it. "…Did he say dry land?"
"He said southwest from the ship, but the coordinates got all effed up." Chase shook his head and smacked his PDA's screen. "But…we've got a signal for Pod Nineteen's exact location. We head there, maybe we'll find Keen or at least the coordinates he tried to send."
"And," the security guard added, "the mobile vehicle bay's finished. Could take a Seamoth once we've got it built 'cause that's a long way."
Marvin crossed his arms. "They're single-person, aren't they? Who's gonna go down there?"
The others glanced between each other, but Jackie only shrugged. "I mean. How hard can it be to pilot one? I'll go."
"Seamoth's gonna start with a depth max of…200 meters, I think?" Chase gestured at the bulkhead locked tight; just beyond it was the hatch that would take them outside the habitat. "You're not a good swimmer, but you'd have to swim the rest of the way to Nineteen."
"I'll bring a Seaglide. Besides, we don't know what's down that way. One of us gets attacked, best that it's me; at least I've got a chance of defendin' myself."
"Okay. Fair enough." He gestured for Marvin, then, "You get the vehicle bay up to the surface. We'll start bringin' the supplies topside."
Back-and-forth, back-and-forth, to and from the habitat and vehicle bay. If the Seamoth needed this many supplies, Jackie could just hope they wouldn't need a Cyclops. He didn't even want to think about how much it would need. That is, if they could even piece together a blueprint for one. Those things were apparently massive.
One last metal, then the little robots set into the vehicle bay got to work.
Jackie arched a brow. "Are they…supposed to build it so high outta the water?"
Chase looked just as perplexed as he probably did. "I have no idea."
A little above the surface, sure. The little robots probably didn't want the vehicle flooding after all, but that high? Ah well. As long as they were doing what they were supposed to, then whatever.
"I'd get off the vehicle bay if I were you." Both men glanced back over their shoulders; Marvin was treading water a little ways away.
"…Why—"
Jackie's question was cut short when the Seamoth dropped into the water, its splash causing the bay to rock violently and throw both of them off of it. The security guard floundered back up to the surface, coughing and spluttering, and could hear Marvin laughing even through the water in his ears.
"Told you."
"How'd you know that would happen?"
"Because gravity's a thing and big objects make big splashes?"
"You suck."
The entertainer only laughed. "Yeah, yeah. Just take these," he shoved the Seaglide that had been floating next to him at Jackie, as well as a water bottle and first aid kit. "Find Keen or those coordinates."
"If you die, we'll kill you," Chase added helpfully as he tossed a rebreather at Jackie. When the repairman had gone back into the habitat to grab it, he had no idea.
Jackie snorted. "Okay, all right! I'll be careful. …Uh. Mind helpin' me get these in the Seamoth?" A poor swimmer with his arms full. That wasn't a disaster waiting to happen, he thought with a chuckle.
Rebreather on, first aid and Seaglide in easy reach, water bottle at his hip, broken flare pinned between his back and the seat for easy grabbing as he got out. How hard could this be?
The submersible lurched forward before he stopped it. Okay. A little touchy, but you've got this, he thought. He waved to his comrades through the windshield, held up his PDA and moved it until the signal for Nineteen came onscreen, then eased the Seamoth forward.
You've got this. Just…don't crash into anything. Easy.
The Seamoth took off.
Deeper, darker, heartbeat in his ears. This place gave him a bad feeling.
Bioluminescence. It stood out here, with the waters so dark. Trenches, that seemed to stretch on into darkness. Tight spaces that could render the Seamoth trapped and leave its pilot with a long way to the surface.
Jackie swallowed.
The Seamoth's warning beep startled him. He pulled back until the beeping stopped. He'd reached its limit. His turn.
He made sure his rebreather was sealed, Seaglide at full charge, tucked his "spear" under one arm.
Deep breath.
The windshield cracked itself open to allow the cabin to flood slowly, then swung up completely. When Jackie pushed it shut again, vents in the sides of the submersible activated to drain the water.
He could see Nineteen. It was still so far. He had plenty of air, but who knows what creatures were down here.
Just go, Jackie, he thought. Don't let your fear get to you.
The Seamoth dragged him through the water. Closer. Closer.
His stomach dropped when he saw the side torn open. Oh, god. Please tell me Keen got outta there?
Down, down—
A yelp was left muffled by his mouthpiece was something zipped past him. Another, a third. Where was it—there! A plant was—
He cursed, the word sounding like nonsense with his helmet. That plant—it shot needles? He bit down on the mouthpiece and yanked one out of his thigh. As the plant kept firing the sharp little projectiles, Jackie darted the last stretch for the lifepod; he could hear one last needle strike the metal when he got inside, then the plant stopped.
He grabbed his scanner from his hip and scanned the needle he'd been struck with. No venom. Good. Just a sharp little bugger. He'd have to warn the others to watch out for those plants. Who knew a plant could be so feisty?
With the light on his Seaglide shining bright, he swept it through the pod, looking for signs of—there! A little data log. Not a PDA. That's a good sign. It told him Keen might have gotten out and taken his PDA with him.
Jackie snatched up the log and inserted it into his PDA.
Keen's voice carried over from the device, "To all crew: If you are reading this then you have followed the automatic distress signal broadcast by this lifepod's onboard computer, contrary to my orders." Jackie rolled his eyes. Can't really follow his orders if the coordinates were corrupted; that's why I'm here in the first place! he thought. "I have been forced to evacuate. Your orders are to disregard my safety and attempt to reach the designated rendezvous co-ordinates at the nearest landmass. I hope to see you there."
His PDA chirped. Coordinates. Actual coordinates to dry land.
Jackie would have grinned if not for the rebreather.
He was just about to go darting back to the Seamoth when a light next to the pod caught his eye. He reached for it—flipping off the plant when a needle nearly caught his hand—and snatched it up before making a beeline back to his vehicle. The moment the water drained from the cabin, he threw the helmet off and inserted the new data file into his PDA.
"Ultra high capacity tank?" The blueprint downloaded immediately. Well, that's one less thing to worry about.
Now, he really did grin. Keen was probably alive on the landmass (the dry land he now had coordinates for!). Maybe other survivors were there, too.
Jackie just had to get back to their habitat and share the good news.
