Log 0069—Day Cycle 43
Well, I'm still alive, so I guess it worked. Something about there not being any spotlights plus looking at twenty giant Crabsquid eyes finally clicked in my brain. They have lots of eyes—they must use them. And lots of animals down here glow. So, they look for lights. And the base doesn't have lights.
I turned off the Prawn's exterior lights and as many of the interior ones as I could figure out how to, then sat and watched as they floated around, coming closer, closer… and then floating away again.
Once they wandered off I took another look at the base, though it was hard to see with only the Anchor Pods' illumination. The place had been cracked by something big, either that huge Crabsquid or even bigger, like a Leviathan. Fortunately, the damage was mostly limited to one section that had flooded the whole base.
Stripping some Titanium from the foundation they'd built their base on and using the repair tool on the Prawn's arm I was able to patch it up again. The next problem was getting the water out – the standard pumps would do the job, but they had no power. So I docked the Prawn with the Moonpool and reversed the power flow, so instead of the dead system charging the Prawn, the Prawn sent juice back into the system. After a couple minutes and a frightening amount of juice, the Moonpool powered back up and the base started to pump out all the extra water.
Once completed I popped the hatched and moved into the Degasi's base. It was dank, with water dripping from every surface, it smelled horrid, and the lights were flickering from the Prawn's jerry-rigged power, but it was there and the air recyclers were working, so long as the Prawn had power. There wasn't any time to waste.
The computer systems were the most intact I've seen on this planet, as they were the most recently used. Lots of logs which will be interesting when I have time to look at them, but at the time I was interested in one thing – power. And I found it. Like me, they'd opted to build a Nuclear Reactor, but when they left there was no one to replace the Fuel Rods and it had run down. It didn't take long to find them and, after very carefully checking the reactor for issues, putting one back in. After a few minutes the Reactor fired back up and the flickering internal lights stabilized.
A good first step, but it also meant there were lights on again, which could bring back the Crabsquids. Looking out the window showed that the big one was moving back this way.
I went back to their computer systems, which were now fully powered up, and searched through them. They had found a blueprint for the Cyclops Shield Generator and had adapted it into a sort of base defense mechanism. But instead of create a forcefield it created an electrical pulse that didn't need power all the time.
I looked up to activate it and saw the Crabsquid latched onto the side of the Multi-Purpose Room, right up against the glass, watching me. I hit the button, the power pulsed, and the Crabsquid darted away with an angry chatter.
I was utterly spent. Even that little walking around had about finished me off. There were beds, the oxygen worked, the defense mechanism was automated to trigger on movement, and the Prawn Suit was charging. I banked it on everything being as good as I could get it and went to sleep.
And I woke up, so I was right.
Today, I need to figure out what went on here, then probably see if I can get back out to get more supplies. I didn't intend to stay down here an entire night.
Log 0070—Day Cycle 43
Well, now I know exactly how screwed I am, which is more than I knew before. I guess that's something.
I searched the base and there is a lot of scientific equipment here. Microscopes, fluid analyzers, even a large glass specimen container, plus other machines I can't even figure out what they're supposed to do. I'm an engineer, not a scientist.
Fortunately, their records are pretty clear. They were sick, too, with the exact same thing I have. Worse, it's not just us – he detected it everywhere, in every organism on the planet. And it's not just killing me, it's rewriting my genetic code itself.
That bit of information at least got them working together again as a team. For a bit, at least. Marguerite starting bringing in samples to study, until she brought in a dying Reaper. An actual, semi-alive, Reaper. She was insane! Paul thought so too, and they started fighting. Bart went out to sit in a Seamoth and stew, when another Reaper showed up and attacked the base. Marguerite went out to fight it in a Prawn while Paul was thrown clear to be crushed to death.
And that's it. They had no cure, had only just started working to figure out how the virus worked. And then they all died.
I always suspected this, but finding out, for sure, that they died seems to have deflated me. I don't have the energy to go back to the Prawn, to get back to the Grand Reef Base, and figure out another course of action. It's just… too much, and I'm so tired.
There is nothing left.