Splashdown is a little different with two people inside the Seamoth. You're more concerned with touching Skye's hurt leg as little as possible instead of the half second of weightlessness when your stomach leaps into your throat.
She engages the automatic stabilizers and pilots the small craft out from under the moonpool's footprint. From there, it's just a few short minutes to the edge of the blood kelp forest, which you had previously only seen from the outside. Up close, the ghostly kelp resembles a multitude of tiny tentacles, coyly reaching out to touch you.
Brown and white Blighters, a haunting hybrid between an anglerfish and an oversized tadpole, flee from the trespassing Seamoth. Skye points out a solitary Ampeel, but it is far away, and not an immediate threat.
The trench itself comes into view and she instructs you to hold on as she points the Seamoth's nose down. Natural rock bridges scan the gulf and she maneuvers around them with gentle adjustments to the controls. The roots from the Bloodvines above stretch through the stone into the caves below, identifiable by their white glow and gelatinous red blisters.
As you leave the blood kelp behind, the atmosphere subtly shifts. The fish down here resemble those found on the surface, but they appear almost skeletonized. It also gets dark. Very dark. You eye the depth meter projected on the glass.
Skye levels out the Seamoth, announcing, "We're in the corridor."
She slows the Seamoth to a crawl. Pointed rock formations with glowing tips protrude from the floor.
"Hold on. I always get these mixed up," she says, approaching an opening in the rock face. After a few seconds, she turns around. "Not this one."
The second one she tries is the correct passageway.
Then she turns out the lights.
"Why'd you do that?"
"Don't need 'em," she says. "Look."
She pushes a button and releases a sonar pulse. The Seamoth interprets the returning data and overlays a three-dimensional wire map of the surrounding area on the glass window. She navigates through the cave system by the pinpoints of light from the deep coral species and occasional sonar readouts.
Suddenly, she drops the Seamoth to the floor and kills the engine.
"What is it?" you ask.
"Shh, listen."
You listen but hear nothing. A minute passes.
"Do you hear that?" Skye says.
You try, but besides the gentle breath of the Seamoth's oxygen recirculation system, the only thing you hear is faint clicking. You originally assumed it was another one of the Seamoth's life support systems.
The clicking stops. You strain to listen.
"Calorie intake recommended."
The loud voice of your PDA startles you, and you jolt in place.
Skye rolls her eyes, unaffected by the sudden noise cutting through the silence. "Eat something, please. We need to stay alert." She looks up at the hatch. "Give me your flashlight."
You feel around where you wedged the tool and place it in her waiting hand.
"I'm going to go out and look around. Stay here."
With that, she pops the hatch and is consumed by the darkness. She doesn't even turn on the flashlight. Why'd she ask for one in the first place?
The low clicking resumes while she's away.
When she returns, you're licking the juices from a lantern fruit off your fingers. Your hands instinctively cover yourself before she makes contact with the seat.
"Calm down, I'm not gonna stomp on your nuts. Not intentionally anyhow."
"What was out there?" you ask.
"Crabsquids," she says. "If they catch us, we're dead in the water."
"Do they know we're here?"
"They know something's here, but not exactly where. That's where the flashlight comes into play. They're attracted to light, hence why we're running dark."
She waits, fingers drumming lightly on the control panel.
"I hope they notice it. We'll probably have to pass pretty close, so I'm going to be going a little faster. You might want to strap yourself in."
She leans forward so you can do up the harness that you don't normally use.
"What about you?" you ask.
"I can brace against the front," she says, interrupted halfway by an echoing screech and many answering clicks.
"That's our cue," she says, engaging the Seamoth's engines and lifting it from the floor. She pilots the craft through the darkness, guided only by the bioluminescent organisms scattered about. At one point you catch a glimpse of a large group of Crabsquids, congregating around a single point of light. The clicking grows louder the closer you get, but fades away after you pass by. They seem thoroughly preoccupied with the abandoned flashlight.
"Shit," Skye exclaims.
The Seamoth collides with a solitary Crabsquid. It grabs the submersible with its rigid legs and tips it back and forth. Its bulbous eyes inspect the dim glow emanating from the controls within.
"Hold on, I'm going to try to scare it." Skye activates the sonar system and the exterior lights at the same time. Blinded by the strong beams, the creature screeches and drops the Seamoth, but it also releases a powerful shockwave.
Caught in the blast, the Seamoth goes dark. Your fingers tingle.
"Warning: emergency power only. Oxygen production offline."
"Shit," Skye repeats, jolting the controls back and forth.
"What do we do now?" you shout.
"I'm working on it," she shouts back.
The Crabsquid advances, silhouetted against the glowing cave beyond.
Skye looks at the hatch release, then flips the switch that controls the stabilizers.
"What are you doing?"
"Evasive maneuvers," she replies, also flipping the switch for the exterior lights. "Hold onto something."
The Seamoth hums to life, control console glowing, and Skye jams both sticks to the left. The craft twists and flips, glowing points outside blurring across the glass. Your hands fly to her waist, holding her down as the submersible nearly inverts. She activates a sonar pulse while continuing to speed away.
Without the stabilizers, the controls appear much more sensitive – the slightest bump translates to a rapid turn or dive – but she operates it like a professional. She retains her laser focus throughout the twists and turns; even a glancing blow off a jutting rock isn't enough to break her concentration.
At long last, the corridor opens up to a large cavern that glows a sickly green.
"Welcome to the bone fields."
Gigantic skeletons litter the floor, and Skye guides you through some of their open mouths so you can marvel at their size.
You point at a glowing trail along the bottom and Skye brings you closer. The carcass of a Ghost Leviathan lies within the bones of a much larger creature. Only a small amount of bottom-dwelling scavengers congregate to feed.
"It deserved it," Skye explains. "It wouldn't stop attacking my Cyclops. Incidentally, those creature decoys don't work for shit."
Now you know where the Ghost Leviathan entry in your PDA came from.
At the edge of the bone fields, you see what looks like an abandoned base. It sits on a lip overlooking another massive chamber, this one tinted blue. At its center sits a giant tree, and within its branches, glowing blue balls.
"This is the Seamoth's limit," Skye says, approaching the base. "Give me a minute to restore power, then dock."
She exits the Seamoth and disappears inside. A minute later, the familiar glow of a moonpool breaks through the darkness.
"A new crewmember has boarded the habitat."
The base is small, but equipped with the essentials. Water purifiers, indoor growbeds, and a single alien containment tank filled with Peepers. Four power cell charging stations line a hallway, each waiting with fully charged cells.
"We're not stopping long," she says, examining the restarted nuclear reactor's status. "Empty the tank, all but two, and preserve them over there." She points to a fabricator. "I'll start making trips to the Cyclops."
"The captain has disembarked the habitat."
"Welcome aboard captain."
"The captain has disembarked the habitat."
"Welcome aboard captain."
With your heavily salted meals situated for the next few days, you meet up with Skye in the moonpool.
"Ready to go?"
"Sure."
"The captain has disembarked the habitat."
You jump in. At eight hundred fifty meters, the water is a little chilly, even through the reinforced suit. Looking around, you cannot see any Cyclops.
"Where is it?" you ask.
"Huh. I guess I could engage the lights."
Skye fiddles with a heavy cord. A moment later, a small handful of floodlights come on, illuminating the giant shape floating above you. It is a jet black Cyclops.
"I thought it was an overhanging rock," you exclaim, swimming for the hatch on its underside.
"That's the point," she responds, waiting for you to board.
"Welcome aboard captain, all systems online," the Cyclops greets Skye as she climbs up.
She shuffles between lockers in the initial corridor, looking inside each one and moving materials back and forth. She grabs your PDA and adds it into the mix, muttering to herself.
"Awesome. I think we got everything we need." When she is done, she offers it back to you. "You need to drink something."
You snatch the tablet, scowling.
"C'mon, this way," she says, leading you up to the bridge. Seeing her walk reminds you of her limp.
The bridge is beautiful – a self-contained mobile base. Inside, she has constructed a fabricator, a modification station, a radio, a medkit fabricator, a battery charger, a power cell charger, and a bed. Plants grow in small pots scattered throughout.
Hands lightly resting on the wheel, she turns to look at you. "Are you ready to go?"
You shrug, still taking in the various instrument clusters and holographic readouts.
"You wanna sound the horn?" she asks.
"No," you snap.
She engages the engine.
"Engine powering up."
"Alright, here we go," she says, toggling through her exterior camera views.
"Ahead slow," the Cyclops reports.
"What about the lights?" you ask, looking down over the base.
"They'll go off on their own," she replies. "Really, they're just to help me park against the cave wall, and if all goes well, we won't be coming back here anyway."
The Cyclops runs smooth, and you gaze in amazement as it passes the massive tree. You only wish it had more windows.
"Won't sounding the horn, I don't know, attract predators?" you ask offhandedly.
"Nothing down here but the Ghostrays," she says, stepping to the side to offer you the horn.
You press it, giddy at the deep, rumbling blast.
"Can I drive?" you ask.
She frowns briefly, then steps aside. "Just be careful with it." Every now and again, she puts her hand on the wheel to correct your inexperienced turns.
"Can't we go faster?" you ask.
"Let's just play it safe," she replies.
Despite its size, piloting the Cyclops is rather boring. Skye takes over when you reach a vertical drop. Briny waterfalls flow over the edge.
You travel through one large chamber after another. Skye says the final alien structure that houses the Sea Emperor is about fifteen hundred meters down, and that's still a long ways away. As she drives, you take the opportunity to pop the hatch over the built-in vehicle bay and get your first look at a real Prawn Suit. She hasn't painted it, and you look around inside after confirming doing so won't dump you out the bottom. You recognize some of the controls from the Seamoth; the rest are completely new.
Climbing down the ladder, you reach the Prawn Suit from below. It has a drill arm equipped, as well as a grappling arm. The drill is surprisingly sharp. You notice some scratches and pull out your repair tool to fix them up. There is only one Prawn Suit, but Skye says she has a plan.
You doubt you can fit two people inside a single Prawn Suit.
"Engine powering down."
You return to the bridge.
"Why'd we stop?" you ask.
"I'm just getting a little tired," she says. "I think I'm going to have a lie down."
You walk over to the bed with her, in case she wants to hold onto your shoulder.
She sits with a tired sigh. "We're just on the edge of the inactive lava zone. It's where I was mining kyanite when I got your distress signal. Speaking of which, I wanted to see if I still had enough kyanite left over to make the thermal reactor for the Cyclops."
You put your hand out to stop her from getting back up.
"I'll take care of it," you assure her. "You rest."
She lies down, eyelids sagging immediately. "We're still in a safe area," she says. "You can take the Prawn Suit out if you want to. I know I haven't gone over the controls with you yet, but they're not that hard. If you don't go too far, you can reach me on the PDA."
"I'm staying here, and I'll be here when you wake up."
You eat a preserved Peeper and pick some fruit, planning to cut it up for Skye when she wakes up. Going through the lockers, you find the mother lode of supplies. Returning to consult the Cyclops upgrade crafter, you retrieve the necessary materials to construct a thermal reactor upgrade module. You could install it, but you hang onto it instead.
You explore the engine room. You look through the external cameras and come face to fins with a Mesmer. Moving the camera seems to startle it, and you wish it would come close enough that you could strike it with the camera. You open the underside hatch and stick your foot out. The water is getting warmer.
You craft a bench with a few pieces of borrowed titanium and, taking a page from Skye's book, sit down to go through some of your less-read PDA entries. Your itching skin prompts you to read up on the infection that put this whole planet in quarantine in the first place. It's hard to imagine that an alien race capable of essentially downloading their consciences onto machines was unable to stop the spread of this killer virus. And all they had to do was work with the Sea Emperor instead of against her.
You worry about Skye. You know she's in pain, although she tries to hide it. Especially when she thinks you aren't looking, her expression falls and she grimaces.
But it'll all be over soon. Kyanite is the key. Once you have enough, you'll be able to reach the final two Precursor bases: the thermal plant, which provides all other connected structures and mechanisms with power, and the primary containment facility, which houses the Sea Emperor. Once the eggs hatch, you'll be cured, and will be free to construct the escape rocket to take you off this cursed planet. Just as long as you don't forget to disable the big gun.