Log 0057—Day Cycle 36

I need to pull myself together.

…

Okay, let's do this. Summary from yesterday. I showed up at the island and awaited the Sunbeam's arrival. They came down, and I actually made visual contact with the ship through the pouring rain. It was a little trading ship, a crew of ten, maybe fewer. They were utterly helpless when the weapons platform rotated and fired a massive energy beam.

The Sunbeam was a lot closer, and a lot smaller, than the Aurora, and it didn't simply get disabled, it blew up in a huge explosion that launched me backwards and deafened me. I still have troubled hearing.

I suppose I was lucky not to get hit by debris.

The thing is, I feel awful, and not just because my best chance of rescue was just blown out of the sky. I feel bad. It's like the flu, but accompanied by itching, lots of skin irritation, and tiny little blisters are starting to break out on my skin.

I know nothing at all about virus or biology. So, my best hope is to find someone that does. The crew of the Degasi lived here at least for a while. Maybe they encountered this and figured out a cure.

It's a desperate hope, but other than sitting on my butt and hoping for the best, it's all I've got.

So, new focus, new priority. I need to track the Degasi crew. They started off on the surface, and I found their Seabase there. The weather was so bad they had to head down into the water, and Amanda tracked their location to a cave not too far away in the Grassy Plateau. It's time to find out what they knew.

Log 0058—Day Cycle 36

I put some more work into the Seamoth. I've fashioned two cargo containers to fit onto the sides of it, just behind the cockpit, so I can move resources more efficiently. Then, after putting in a fresh Power Cell, I headed out.

I found the entrance to the caves. It's an entirely different biome down here. It would be completely black, but there are large, bioluminescent Jellyshrooms that provide illumination. It's made of a tough, trunk-like base with a fragile purple membrane. It was unclear what they used for sustenance, until a giant eel launched out from inside it and smashed into the Seamoth, scratching up the glass.

These Crabsnakes are long, maybe ten meters or so, and also bioluminescent. They have two pincers near their mouth, with a set of smaller, exterior teeth.

They appear to prey on smaller fish, such as the Oculus, which is similar to a Peeper but twice the size with two large bioluminescent magenta eyes and no beak.

The Crabsnakes and Jellyshrooms have a symbiotic relationship, with the Jellyshrooms protecting the Crabsnake's eggs, and feeding off the scraps of fish from Crabsnake kills.

The cave is filled with stalagtites and stalagmites, and is rich with resources. Lots of shale, diamond deposits, rubies, and a new type of resource called Magnetite, which is a metal oxide with magnetic properties which can be useful.

…

If this sounds dry, it's because it's intended for followup scientific teams after I'm long gone. I intend to leave a copy of my logs in my base when… if, I don't make it.

So, Amanda has picked up hints of titanium in the area. That must be the base.

Log 0059—Day Cycle 36

Alright, it's time to get my act together if I'm going to make it through this.

I'm back at base now. Lots to report. I found their base, and it was significant. The Degasi crew obviously put a lot of work into it. It consisted of several multi-purpose rooms built on a foundation near one of the exits to the Jellyshroom cave. They'd installed a water filtration system, which will be extremely helpful here, pulling out water and salt from the ocean.

They'd also installed a thermal reactor, which generated power from the thermal vents nearby. This is the only power method without access to the sun that doesn't require input, either biological for the Bioreactor or nuclear fuel rods, for the Nuclear Reactor. They'd also developed an Ultra High Capacity Oxygen Tank. It's bulky, making it more difficult to swim unassisted, but with the Seaglide it shouldn't matter, so long as I have power for it.

Unfortunately, the base had cracked and was infested with Drooping Stingers, which created electrical discharges if approached too closely.

They'd also created some sort of defensive weapon called the Stasis Rifle. I got some pieces of it, but not enough to make one of my own yet.

Perhaps most importantly, they had information. Unlike the battered surface facility, their computer system was at least marginally intact, and I read through their records. Things weren't going well. The kid, Bart, came up with a way to reinforce glass to withstand greater pressure by combining it with a natural substrate in the form of Stalker teeth. That's going to be invaluable, but the relationship between Torgal and Marguerite had degraded into a power struggle. In the end, Marguerite pointed out that they were shot down and any rescue would be shot down too unless they could figure out how to stop it, and they went deeper looking for answers instead of waiting and hoping. Unfortunately, they were both right. Waiting didn't stop the weapon system from shooting down the Aurora, but going out to figure it out obviously hadn't worked out either.

Bart's records on which plant life is edible will also be invaluable. I'm going to need to make another run up to their island base and bring down some plants and start growing them myself. Growing enough for three is tough – for one is simpler.

The records also indicated where they were going – another base, five hundred meters below sea level and about a kilometer northeast. Apparently they picked up something on scanners that Amanda missed.

…

I'm not ready to go that deep yet. For starters, the Seamoth would be crushed at that depth. The glass is the greatest structural weakness, so replacing it with the composite glass Bart came up with should hopefully make it work. But even if I get that working, I'll show up in the Seamoth and wave hello, and that will be all I can do. Getting out of the Seamoth would immediately kill me in about five different ways.

…

So here's my plan. First, I need to scout the area where I'm going to make this dive. Next, I need to prepare, probably making a base about as far down as the Degasi base, where I can still be confident the Habitat Constructor materials will still hold up. Then I need to gather edible plants and start some grow beds in the base, plus add the water filtration system. That should cut down on going from two hundred meters down to the surface over and over, which I seem to recall does bad things to you.

That deep I probably won't have much luck with solar panels. If I can use a thermal reactor that would be great, but if that's not available I'll have to use a Bioreactor and put some exterior growbeds nearby to ensure I have a supply of bio material. Then I need to build a Prawn suit, which has manipulator arms that I can use to actually do things.

If the Jellyshroom base was any indication, there's a good chance that the base is flooded, so if I want to get inside and look at their records and equipment I'll need to be able to patch the base back together again, and for that I need hands.

…

It's going to take a lot of work. And I'm definitely sick. The blisters are getting worse pus is starting to get in them. Nausea is starting to, which is bad news when you breathe in an oxygen mask.