Log 0074—Day Cycle 46
I think I have it—the Cyclops. It's the only thing big enough, and mobile enough, to house even a scaled-down Alien Containment tank. Assuming I can find the resources for it, and get the upgrade plans I found working properly, that should give me nine hundred meters of depth, or enough to find the Alien Research Labs. And if I get the docking module working, I can detach the Prawn for deeper dives.
Now I just have to get out there with the Prawn and start drilling for resources.
Log 0075—Day Cycle 47
…
Log 0076—Day Cycle 48
This isn't going to work. I need more Titanium than I can find at these depths. Unless… I'm going to head back to those wrecks and see if I can tear them apart for use.
Log 0077—Day Cycle 48
I couldn't find the last wreck I cracked open, but while looking for it I found another one up at four hundred meters. Nothing new in there, except that when I was ripping out a bulkhead I saw a small computer system. It confirmed what I'd always suspected – Alterra has surveillance units hidden in the walls listening for key phrases to record. In this case, it was tripped by the Mongolian emissary talking about religion.
Log 0078—Day Cycle 49
After four days of hard work, the sub is built. Just getting the raw materials was a huge effort, but the real cost was that it cleaned me out of special materials. Every scrap from every Fabricator I've found is now in that Cyclops. It is irreplaceable.
And because of that, I'm going to upgrade it in every way I possibly can before taking it anywhere.
Log 0079—Day Cycle 50
The Cyclops is a remarkable ship. Fifty-four meters long, twelve meters wide, and fourteen meters tall, she's quite big, too, designed for a crew of three. That makes her quite spacious for just me, including a full crew quarters section!
The only way to safely navigate her is using three cameras built into the ship on the bottom, top, and rear, with the cockpit up front. She runs on six Power Cells, and she needs every last drop of power for her engines and the Fabricator built into her.
I was able to add the Creature Decoy Tube launcher, with two decoys that mimic the noise and lights of the Cyclops for about a minute, as well as the Docking Bay Repair Module for the Prawn, and the Sonar Module to get a feel for the surroundings, but I just haven't been able to find suitable resources to make the Fire Suppression System, the Thermal Reactor Module, or the Shield Generator.
I'll just have to make do.
Tomorrow is the trickiest, most important part – setting up the smaller Alien Containment and moving over the Peepers.
Log 0080—Day Cycle 51
It's done! The Peepers are in, the Prawn is docked, the supplies are loaded, and it's time to head out. The Cyclops is now home base until I run low on power. It's time to head deeper, moving forwards through the caverns and down.