You eat together. Skye is relatively quiet for a change. When you're finished, you produce the freshly crafted thermal reactor upgrade and offer it to Skye.
"This tiny little cylinder is going to provide enough energy to keep the power cells charged, as well as charge spare cells for the Prawn Suits."
"How?" you ask.
"I dunno man. Video game logic."
With the upgrade installed, she takes her position at the helm and restarts the engine.
"Engine powering up. Rig for silent running."
"We're entering the inactive lava zone," she explains. "I don't think we have to worry about running into a Sea Dragon this far out, but we will have to watch out for Lava Lizards."
The walls get tighter as she maneuvers the massive submersible down. A red glow starts to emanate from the ground below, and the external temperature reading climbs.
"I'm going to leave the engine running," she says. "I think it's warm enough here to sustain the power level, but I'll turn off the auxiliary lights. I hope we won't attract too many Lava Larva."
"What do they do, again?"
"They suck power. Hopefully we're far enough away from the center of the zone that they won't drain the Cyclops by the time we get back. We've got extra power cells in case that happens by the way. But we'll definitely have to fend them away from the Prawn Suits."
"Yeah, Prawn Suits. Incidentally, what's your plan for that?"
"I'll show you."
You follow her down to the storage compartment where her fingers fly over the holographic buttons on her PDA.
"What can I do to help?" you ask.
She pauses. "Grab the materials to make a Prawn Suit. We'll also need to upgrade its depth capability right away. Might as well also make a jump jet upgrade, hull reinforcement, uhh, a storage compartment, a drill arm, and a grapple arm. We don't have enough kyanite left to make . . . anything . . . so we'll upgrade your depth module later and switch out the storage compartment for a thermal reactor module once we have enough."
Head spinning, you tap on the Prawn Suit icon on your PDA.
"Can you repeat all that again?"
Skye's master plan is to construct a moonpool at a thousand meters down. She places a thermal plant a short ways away and the chamber glows alive. Reinforcement paneling is required to keep it from immediately collapsing on itself.
Inside, standing on the edge of the moonpool, she mutters, "I hope this works," and tosses a bulky package into the water. The package expands into a mobile vehicle bay, and though the four remote drones bump against the moonpool's ceiling, she whoops with success. While you craft a Prawn Suit, Skye places a vehicle upgrade console. The Prawn Suit drops through the bottom.
"One minute. I'm gonna go get that. Can you pick up the mobile vehicle bay?"
"Sure thing."
She docks the Prawn Suit and climbs out. "It took some crush damage, but it should be good in here."
She installs the upgrades as you finish crafting them. Around you, the moonpool groans ominously.
"Don't worry. We got time."
Once it is finished, you amble over to the customization controller.
"Shouldn't we paint them?" you ask.
"Sure. I'll go get mine."
After painting – yours, black and red, hers, green and purple – Skye walks you through the controls while munching on a dried Peeper.
"What happens if I get attacked?" you ask.
She points to the left control stick. "Drill," she responds. "Don't worry, Stalker Bait. I'll be right beside you."
"Welcome aboard captain."
"Ready?" she asks.
You take a few practice steps in the new mechanical suit and swing your drill arm. Feelings of limitless power indeed.
"Ready."
She leads you down the corridor to where kyanite is found. You practice using the jump jet and the grappling arm. The first cluster of blue crystals is found a few minutes out.
"Go ahead and see how that feels."
You position yourself and put the drill to the large deposit. Though it takes a while, you eventually reduce the structure to small shards, most of which are automatically deposited inside your Prawn Suit's storage compartment.
"How do we get the rest?" you ask, eyeing the remaining pieces.
"The old fashioned way," she replies, opening her hatch.
"Isn't it too hot out there?"
"It's a little warm, but the reinforced suit makes it bearable."
She collects the loose shards and empties out your storage compartment, supposedly so you can continue filling it. She climbs back into her suit.
"Alright, onward. We need to get I-don't-even-want-to-say-the-number-but-it's-a-lot more, and we should keep steadily finding more the farther we go. Watch each other for attached Lava Larva, and we-"
Her PDA cuts off.
"Skye?" you ask.
No response. Her suit is still.
"Skye?" you try again.
You walk closer.
"Hey, you alright in there?"
"Sorry, coughing," she says, angling her suit away. "One minute."
You wait until she reactivates her comms.
"Phew. Okay, as I was saying, we continue this way."
The next deposit of kyanite is located across a chasm with lava at the bottom. Using your grappling arm, you make it over to the other side and mine the crystals. Once they are all collected and safely stored away in your PDA, you shoot your grappling arm back to the other side. However, before you reach the ledge, you mistakenly push the wrong button, and your grapple detaches. Scraping against the wall, your thrusters deplete, and you fall towards the lava.
"Help, Skye," you call.
Your suit touches down, but instead of alarm sirens, it stabilizes itself to stand on the partially cooled lava flow. Skye's green head pokes out over the top of the hole.
"Don't be such a baby. You're fine. Center yourself and either jet or grapple your way out."
It takes a few tries, but eventually, you crest over the edge and land safely.
"I'm free," you exclaim.
"Congratulations. You're still on the wrong side," she deadpans.
You look around, swearing under your breath when you realize you landed approximately where the kyanite deposit was located.
"And you've got a Lava Larva stuck to your back."
As you continue farther down into the inactive lava zone, the population of Lava Larva increases. You take turns stabbing them until they drop off your suits. Every now and again, you hear a roar from deep within.
"Sea Dragon," Skye says, echoing your thoughts.
"Are you gonna scan it too?" you ask, poking fun at her frantic dash to scan an elusive Red Eyeye.
"Not unless it sits down for a nap," she says.
"You think it likes Peepers?" you ask, snacking on one.
"I doubt it, though you're welcome to try."
You chase the dry fish with some water.
"How much kyanite do you have?" she asks.
You open your PDA and count. "Eight."
"I've got seven. Let's see. Four, three, six . . . I want at least ten for the rocket. I think we'll be good if we can mine two or three more deposits."
"Roger that," you say, walking your suit forward.
As you search for the last few pieces of kyanite, the lava chambers you traverse begin to open up. You're approaching the edge of your Prawn Suit's depth capacity.
"I think that's the lava castle," Skye says, scouting ahead while you mine. "It's where the thermal plant is."
"It's also where a Sea Dragon is," you remind her.
"I know, that's why I'm not getting close."
Once you finish mining the current deposit, you join her by a protective rock face.
"We need to go there, right?" you ask. "We can just go now. Save us the trip."
"No, I want to use this kyanite for the last of the upgrades. Then we can take a break and bring the Cyclops down here. Safe and slow, with a good fallback position. We've got time."
"One of us'll have to walk."
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I guess you're right. Besides, we left all the alien tablets on the Cyclops."
Your walk back to the Cyclops is relatively uneventful, save for the handful of Lava Lizards that get territorial all of a sudden.
"When we get there," you say, "let me handle the crafting. You focus on taking the weight off your leg. With how long we've been in these Prawn Suits, I know it could use a rest."
She sighs. "Okay."
And she does. Skye sits on her bed, watching as you dart back and forth through the Cyclops, crafting and installing and crafting some more. PDA in your hands, you pause and look up. She smiles.
"I'm turning into you!"
She smiles wider.
You eat together, fresh-caught Magmarangs and marblemelons.
"I want you to be careful, Mark." She pulls another piece of meat off the bony cooked fish. "From what I remember, the Sea Dragon is really big, really aggressive, and it spits fire. If anything goes wrong, I want you to focus on getting somewhere safe."
"I'm not leaving you behind," you say.
She shakes her head. "It's not about that. It's . . . Just promise me you'll stay safe. I brought you down here. I don't know what I'd do with myself if you got hurt."
"The same goes for you."
Skye pilots the Cyclops to the divide that looks out onto the lava castle. The passageway gets thin in some places, and you hail her over the PDA to help guide her through as you walk beside the Cyclops in your Prawn Suit.
"I don't think I'll be able to fit the Cyclops inside the castle," Skye says. "Either way, we'll scope it out with the Prawn Suits first. I'll be right down."
The bottom of the submarine opens and Skye's green and purple Prawn Suit drops out. As she approaches, the thundering roar of a Sea Dragon drowns out what she was about to say.
"I think it's a fair bet to assume there's a Sea Dragon nearby," she says. "We'll go slow until we have to go fast. If you see anything, point it out."
You begin the long walk to the collection of towering spires that comprise the lava castle. The water is murky – with what, you're not sure – and it reduces visibility from inside the Prawn Suits.
"Up there," you say. Skye looks, but there is nothing there. It may have been a trick of the light. It may have been a Sea Dragon, on the prowl for prawn and their gooey filling.
When you reach the massive structure, you find yourself in a matrix of crisscrossing caves. Lava flows through the bottoms like rivers, and you grapple to get from foothold to foothold.
Your PDAs chime in sync, "The volcanic rock which has formed in this area can be carbon-dated to between eight hundred and three thousand Earth years ago."
"Hold up," Skye says, bringing you to a halt.
"What is it?"
"Warper," she says, gesturing to the purple floating creature. "I'm actually surprised we haven't seen more of them."
It looks small, but inside, it is part machine.
"How do we kill it?" you ask.
"You don't. Not because you can't, but because it's a waste of time. If you ever get caught by a Warper, the biggest thing is to not panic. They'll probably pull you out of your Prawn Suit and try to claw you from there. It'll be disorientating, but as long as you keep moving, and keep moving away from them, you'll eventually get away."
You watch the Warper for a few more seconds until it suddenly vanishes in a vortex.
"Where did it go?" you ask.
"Don't know. Probably not too far away, so let's keep moving."
Through a few more passageways, you reach the center of the lava castle.
"There it is. Right where it's supposed to be."
The alien thermal plant is a cube-shaped mass, connected to the surrounding rock by a series of enormous cables. It harnesses the geothermal energy of the planet and supplies power to all the other alien structures. Even the Warpers draw their power from the plant.
"Detecting alien materials and a massive energy signature. Reading originates within the natural structure at the center of this chamber," says your PDA. An echoed response plays over Skye's comms.
"How come my PDA is only telling me these things now?" you ask.
"What do you mean?"
"You said it introduces biomes and vehicles and other annoying stuff, but mine doesn't do that."
"I copied my data onto yours," Skye explains. "It probably registers that information as already delivered."
After finding the entrance, you breach the transparent force field and suddenly find yourself much heavier.
"There's air in here," Skye says, opening her hatch. "Might as well leave the Prawn Suits behind. They're liable to get stuck on something."
"Good idea," you reply.
You explore the plant until you come to a locked door.
"I've got it," you say, approaching the terminal to insert a purple tablet.
"Watch out," Skye calls. In the blink of an eye, she whips out her repulsion cannon and aims it directly at you. You have no time to react before the pulse hits your chest, sending you flying back. Your suit squeaks against the smooth floor as you slide, eventually coming to a stop against a wall with a gentle bump.
The ceiling spins as you struggle to breathe. It feels like you were punched in the chest by a Reaper Leviathan.
Skye appears above you.
"You okay? Can you breathe?"
After a couple minutes, you nod. She pulls you to your feet, which begins another round of gasping and wheezing.
"I guess it's a good thing these reinforced suits are so sturdy, otherwise you may've had a broken rib."
Bent over, you glare at her.
"Don't look at me like that, you didn't see the thing dropping off the ceiling. If I didn't act quick, it would've landed right on your head, and you were an easier target to shoot."
Once you regain your breath, you return to the door and are surprised to see the remains of a small, Cave-Crawler-like robot.
"It must be a defensive drone of some sort," Skye says. "There's probably more."
You pull out your scanner, because you know Skye will if you don't. Then again, maybe she already has. You wouldn't put it past her.
"Heh yeah. Get scanned bitch."
Inside the room, you find a blue tablet. After scanning it, you pick it up.
Colors explode in your vision, and you hear an otherworldly voice.
"Come here . . . to me . . ."
"What is it?" Skye asks, approaching from behind you.
"I think," you say, holding your head, "the Sea Emperor just spoke to me."
"Oh. Yeah. She does that on occasion. I forgot she made contact here. Wait, did you remember to scan the tablet before picking it up?"
"Yes," you groan.
"Good. There's ion crystals out here. Let's grab them and then continue on."
You return to the Cyclops after thoroughly plundering the thermal plant of ion crystals and terminal data. On the way, you see neither tooth nor tentacle of the nearby Sea Dragon. Skye immediately plants herself on her bed to read the new information, transferring a copy to your PDA as well as copying the entries on the blue tablet and robot drones onto hers.
"Why do you obsessively read that thing?" you ask, cutting fruit.
"The smallest piece of information could be valuable – the difference between life and death. I don't want to die here, especially when a stupid mistake can be avoided with a little light reading."
You swallow your response.
"Did you remember to wash your knife?"
Guiltily, you look down. "No. It was in the water with me. Why, what's the worst thing that can be on it?"
"Lava Larva."
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."
"Lava Larva," she says, louder.
"I swear, I'm turning into you," you say, admiring the tasty spread of vegetables and Peepers that still look very much like Peepers.
As you eat, Skye steers the topic of conversation onto the next step – always the next step.
"I remember we'll need the blue tablet to get into the primary containment facility, but I don't remember if we'll need more. So let's make two."
"That'll take kyanite," you say, recalling the recipe. "Are you okay with having only eight for the rocket? We can go and get more."
She stills, thinking. "I'm okay with eight. If we run across any really convenient deposits, we can stop to collect them.
"So, we ran across one entrance to the active lava zone earlier, but I'm pretty sure there's another one. One the Cyclops can fit through. Through the process of elimination, I'm pretty sure I know where it is. We'll have to leave one of the Prawn Suits here. When we reach the containment facility, we'll have to pack up again – pack up like we're not coming back. Enough food and water for a few meals, essential tools, and as many building materials for the rocket as we can carry. Let's bring the mobile vehicle bay too, though we might have to go back to the main base for more stuff."
Rubbing her eyes, Skye sighs.
"You doing okay?" you ask.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be a lot better soon." She pauses. "This is it. The last leg of the journey – the final push. As much as I'd like to hope, I don't think we'll get as lucky evading the second Sea Dragon as we did with the first."
You nod in agreement. "Yeah."
"Hopefully it'll give us a little room when it has to pick on something its own size. And we've got those creature decoys. I think I've got two or three left. But they didn't work on the Ghost Leviathan, so I'm not sure how a Sea Dragon will react."
You put your hand on Skye's shoulder, a gesture she used to give you confidence numerous times before.
"We can make it. I know we can," you say.