Beta: RubyWings91
Warning! The following chapter contains a scene of hot, burning metal being pressed against human skin. If any viewers find this uncomfortable, then proceed with caution.
STRANDED IN THE DARK DEPTHS
The first thing I felt as I came to was that everything hurt; my arms, my legs, my chest and head, my heart felt as if it had been slammed up against my ribs multiple times.
Though my eyes were still sealed shut, my other senses worked just fine.
All around me, I heard the sounds of people shouting as they seemingly ran about in a panic; I could also hear cries of pain and moans of agony as people suffered. In the air, I could smell the lingering scent of smoke mixed with traces of cold saltwater.
My head was still foggy and all my memories of recent events were struggling to come back, but that was no reason to lay about.
Slowly, I managed to bring myself to open up my eyes, and as I did so, the backs of my eyelids lifted to reveal the scene of chaos.
The bridge was a mess, panels hung loose, and wires sparked, creating fires that burned throughout the room. I could see a few people rushing about as they tried to quell the chaos, either by attempting to put out the flames or by helping the injured. There was a couple of stray bodies on the floor- whether they were dead or alive I had no idea.
Out of all the overhead lights, only a few remained operational after...something happened that I was having trouble remembering; half the remaining lights were damaged, resulting in dim lighting that wasn't strong enough to illuminate the entire space.
As I surveyed the area around me, the memory of recent events came flooding back, and I realized what was going on - we had just crashed!
Upon fully realizing what was going on, the first thing I did was turn my head to check on the person that had been next to me.
I saw Lidia strapped firmly into her seat right next to me. Her body rested limply in the restraints, eyes closed and limbs and head motionless. For a split second, I felt a wave of hauntingly familiar terror wash over me; concern that one of the friends I had made on this voyage had perished. I thought back to the Aroura, how everyone on that mission died except for me and I was powerless to do anything about it.
But as I gazed at Lidia's lifeless body, the worries I felt began to quickly melt away as I watched her chest steadily rise and fall - Lidia wasn't dead, she was simply unconscious, just like I had been moments earlier.
Once I confirmed that Lidia was alive, the first thing I did was turn my attention to the straps that had held me in place during the crash. Fires raged, and people were dying but in my current state, I wasn't in the position to help anyone.
Taking the straps in my hands, I began to fiddle with the buckle as I tried to undo it. Unfortunately, due to being under the stress of this dire situation, my fingers fumbled shakily with the buckle as I repeatedly tried and failing to free myself.
After a few moments of consecutive attempts, I finally managed to extricate myself from the tangle of straps and belts - only to be caught off guard by a tugging sensation of gravity once I did so.
The next thing I knew, my forehead smashed into the floor, causing my body to curl into the fetal position as I clutched my head in my hands, groaning from the pain.
I laid there for several seconds, thrashing about on the red carpet as I waited for the pain I was experiencing to subside - all the while, disaster raged on around me.
Once the agonizing headache I was having finally abated, I let my body out of the fetal position and slowly sat up to get my bearings.
It was only at this point when I realized that the room and floor were slated at an angle; a 10 to 15-degree slope that left everything lopsided and unbalanced, which - judging by my empty seat - had caused me to tumble out. When we landed from the crash, the ship must have come to rest on an incline.
Smoke from the fires stung at my eyes, and the hot burning flames flitted around in my vision, like dancers performing on a stage. In this instant,
this, one, fateful instant, I suddenly found myself transported back into lifepod 5, on that ill-fated day. Everything between now and then lined up almost perfectly, from me having trouble getting out of my seat, to the smoke and fire that polluted the air.
As I sat there, I remembered those terrifying first moments I spent on this planet, the moments where everything still felt so sudden. I remembered the fear I felt at waking up on this world for the first time, how it felt, the scope of the situation, and all the terror that accompanied it.
And now it was happening all over again.
I turned toward Lidia. She was still out cold, strapped into her own seat.
Getting on my hands and knees, I started crawling up the incline towards her, hand over hand, knee over knee. Reaching her position, I grabbed the arm of her seat and used it to pull myself up. Taking hold of Lidia's well-defined shoulders and arms, I frantically began to shake her in an attempt to rouse her from her unconscious state.
"Lidia! Lidia, wake up!" I weakly muttered out, my voice barely more than a whisper.
After more shaking and a couple of light slaps to the face, Lidia began to stir softly before groggily opening her eyes. As I had, she viewed the scene of chaos before us with alarmed eyes, taking in all devastation that was unfolding right before her.
As soon as she regained awareness, she immediately sprung to action. She quickly undid the buckle that held her in, with me helping her to keep her balance and remain upright as she slipped it off.
She had trouble standing at first, with her legs wobbling and trembling as they struggled to support her weight. Like before though, I helped her keep steady, letting her lean on me while regained her balance.
Once she was able to stand on her own again, she gently pushed me aside as she stood to full height by herself.
I gazed at all the chaos unfolding before us, at all the death and destruction unfolding before my very eyes. I glanced at Lidia and from the look in her eye, I could tell she was doing the same thing.
As I stood there with Lidia at my side, I could see people suffering and dying around us, victims of the crash and the fires we had endured thus far. I thought about how I had been unable to help save anyone when the Aroura went down, how I was too late to answer any distress calls I received - always finding life pods that had been torn apart, the people inside them having been slain or eaten by the monsters on this planet.
This time...this time could be different, however. I could make a difference now, I could help save people, unlike how I failed to do so when I was here previously. But despite how much I wanted to rush into these burning flames, to fight past these walls of fire and help the people in peril - I knew it likely wouldn't be a good idea. No matter how much I'd like to, my better judgment told me that just blindly running into the fray would be unwise and would most likely only succeed in putting myself in peril too. Even though I had been in dangerous situations before, they had never been anything like this; I had never been trapped on a burning bridge with other people before, so my knowledge on what to do here wasn't that extensive.
Lidia, however, was a trained soldier. Experienced from years of service in the Mongolian navy, she would know more than me on what to do here; she would experience this kind of situation, so she would have a better idea of the best course of action for us to take.
"What do we do?" I asked Lidia as she stood across from me.
At the drop of my question, Lidia swiftly took action. Without opening her mouth to speak, she walked up to a section of the wall and opened a hidden compartment. Reaching her hand in, she pulled out a fire extinguisher and handed it to me, before grabbing another for herself.
"We need to quell these flames before they get out of hand!" She said with conviction.
With that, she made her way over to the nearest patch of fire and began to snuff it out.
I held the fire extinguisher in my hand tightly, a wave of familiarity washing over me. This simple tool was the first thing that saved my life on this planet, helping to get me out of several jams the last time I was here - so it felt good to be holding one again.
Following her lead, I went over to a line of fire that was burning along the wall to put it out. As I came up to the flames, I could feel the scorching heat as it baked my skin, while the smoke emitting from it caused me to choke and cough - thankfully, the ventilation system seemed to still be active, so at least the smoke had somewhere to go. Pulling down on the handle of the extinguisher, I unrelentingly sprayed the flames with the white foam that came out, not stopping until the fire was finally out, leaving nothing but charred and smoking black spot in its place.
As I and Lidia were putting out flames, we were suddenly interrupted from our work by a cry for help from the center of the room. Turning my attention to where the cry came from, I could see Commander Abigail hovering over the downed form of Captain Hill.
I turned to Lidia, who was helping another crewmember get away from the flames. "LIDIA!" I cried out, getting her attention before pointing at the Captian. Without exchanging any words, we both immediately rushed over to his and the Commander's side.
I ran past broken and burning terminals, tongues of searing hot fire lashing out at me, and stinging my skin with their intense heat as I passed. I also made a point to keep an eye on where I put my feet, watching my step lest I trip on any broken panels that had fallen from the ceiling.
When Lidia and I finally made it over to the two of them, we were met with quite a grim sight.
Captain Hill was in bad shape, he had cuts, scrapes, and first and second-degree burns all over his body that had his skin red and peeling in several places. But most notably of all was the fact that his right arm was pinned down by a heavy beam that had fallen from the ceiling.
Right by his side was Commander Abigail, kneeling next to him as she tried to pry the beam off. She had several cuts and bruises all over her body, as well, plus a sizable wound behind her left eye that left her face caked in blood.
Lidia and I rushed over to the two of them as fast as possible.
"Help me lift this!" The Commander strained through clenched teeth as soon as she saw us coming. Doing as told, we both knelt down to help lift the beam off, Lidia took position next to the Commander, while I situated myself on the other side.
The Commander made sure both of us had a grip on the beam before speaking. "OK. Three. Two. ONE!"
At her words, the three of us lifted together, groaning through gritted teeth as we lifted the heavy beam off of Captain Hill. My muscles groaned and ached as we lifted the beam, making my arms feel as if they were on fire from the strain I felt in doing so. As we lifted the heavy beam, a gasp of relief came from the Captain as the crushing weight was lifted from his left arm. Once he was free, we held the beam in place, our muscles straining under the weight as the Captain was forced to use his other arm to move the one that was pinned out of the way so we could set the beam back down.
Once he was clear, the three of us set the beam down finally with an audible sigh of relief coming from each of us. Unfortunately, that relief didn't last, because as soon as his arm was free, it became apparent that we simply traded one problem for another.
Once Captain Hill's arm was free from the beam, it began to gush blood from an open wound he had sustained. Deep red crimson began to flow freely from the wound, saturating his clothing as it started to pool around him.
Lidia moved over to the Captain's side and began to inspect his injured arm. She quickly tore away at the fabric obstructing the wound, allowing for a clear view as she assessed the damage.
"How bad is it Lidia?" Commander Abigail asked her as the Captain and I watch the whole thing unfold in bated breath.
After a few moments, Lidia sighed and slowly shook her head. "It's bad!" She said finally. "When the beam came down on the Captain, I think something impaled him in the arm, puncturing an artery. Whatever did this." She gestured to the open wound. "Must have been acting like a cork, holding back all the blood and stopping it from escaping his arm. But when we lifted the beam, we also took away what was holding the artery closed." Lidia finished grimly.
"Well, can we get him to the med bay?" I suggested hopefully, but the Commander shook her head.
"No, we can't! We don't know if the med bay is operational or not, and even if it is, we have no way of knowing whether or not the path there is safe."
"Well, we have to do something!" I objected. "If the Captain isn't treated he could bleed out!"
"I know!" Commander Abigail said, the look of helplessness and concern in her eyes. "But there's nothing we can do about that. it's not safe to risk moving him, and there's nothing here we can use to help him; there nothing that can help stop the bleeding!" She stressed.
Those were all valid points that she raised, but we couldn't sit back and let the Captain suffer and possibly die - we had to do something. Lidia was currently pressing her hands up against the Captains' arm as she tried to hold the wound closed, but the flooding seeping through and around her fingers and hands was any indication - it was that she wasn't having much luck.
Desperately, I began to look around us, trying to see if there was anything we could use; if there was anyone that could help us. But, just like the Commander said, there was nothing. I clenched my hands in frustration, there had something we could do; that we could use. There were only the hot flames that threatened to burn my skin...
...Hot flames that threatened to burn my skin?
As I sat there, contemplating my thoughts, an idea came to mind, an idea that I didn't like, an idea that I would be happy to just forget, but as I thought it over, it became clear to me that this one, grim idea, was our only option.
"What if we sear the wound?" I said finally, remorse in my voice as I suggested the idea.
Both the Commander and Lidia looked at me in shock after I said that, the looks on their faces telling me that they despised the idea as much as I did. "What if we sear the wound?" I once again repeated, the distasteful idea making its way out my mouth again.
"Sear the wound?" The Commander said to herself unsure. "I guess it is our only option but...searing the wound?"
"It's either that, or we let the Captain bleed out," I noted grimly.
After a moment, the Commander solemnly nodded her head, before mentioning with her head for me to join her at the Captian's side. "Lidia! Commander Abigail said mournfully, catching the soldier's attention. "I need you to find something we can use to do this." She said, indicating the wound on Captain Hill's arm. "You need to find a piece of metal, a rod or something, anything that we can use to stop the bleeding."
While Lidia went off to do what she was told, I made my way over to the Commander and knelt down beside her. "When Lidia gets back, you and I are going to have to hold the Captain's arm down while Lidia soders the wound closed." Commander Abigail instructed me. "Do you understand?"
I stared down at the Captain's arm, blood gushing from the gash he'd sustained. The last time I was stranded here, I was attacked by things such as Warpers, Reapers, Ampells, and Bonesharks, often receiving multiple cuts, wounds, and bites in the processes. But, I never had to resort to these kinds of methods whenever I had to treat my wounds, I was always able to use medkits whenever I needed them, not searing any of my wounds closed - it was hard for me to imaging having to do.
"Ryley! Do you understand?" The Commander asked once more.
"Yes." I nodded finally. "Yes, I understand."
By this point, Lidia had finally returned. In her hand was a long metal rod, the end was hot and sizzling, a bright cheery red that glowed with intensity. I shuddered, I just couldn't imaging having to put that to my skin.
Approaching the three of us, Lidia knelt down on the opposite side of the Captain's arm and held the rod in position. She looked at both of us. "Are you ready?" She asked, checking. When we both nodded, Lidia looked at the Captain and gave him a firm look. "Brace yourself." She told him.
At her words, Captain Hill screwed his eyes shut and bit his lip.
Then Lidia brought the burning rod down upon his skin.
The first thing I heard as I held his arm down was the horrifying sound of metal against human flesh, an awful, sizzling sound as Lidia pressed the tool into the wound, the skin around it being burned and fried.
The second thing I heard was the Captain screaming out in pain, a strangled, roar of agony as he was put under extreme conditions.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" He cried out, thrashing his leg around, and beating his other arm on the floor as he was forced to endure such pains. I could barely look as Lidia pressed the red hot metal up to the poor Captain's skin, my heart crying out in sympathy for the man.
...
It had been a couple of hours since I had first woken up, and in that short time so much had happened.
Thanks to the combined efforts of Lidia, myself, and several other crew members, all of the fires around the ship had been taken care of swiftly. All of those injured during the crash had since been taken to a makeshift med bay in the mess hall alongside the Captain to receive treatment for their wounds and any reports of flooding on the ship had been taken care of. All the chaos had since been tamed.
I stood silently on the bridge. Where it had previously been a hotbed of activity with people screaming and running about in a frenzy, it was now hauntingly quiet. Now the only people on the bridge aside from myself were Commander Abigail, Lidia, and one other crewmate - one I wasn't familiar with - who the Commander was conversing with about the state of the ship.
"Most of the primary systems are back online; life support included." He stated. "The fires have been taken care of, and the flooding in the lower levels has been dealt with."
The Commander nodded her head. "And where are we on causalities?" She asked solemnly.
"All together, we have four dead; three died in the crash and the fourth due to injury in the med bay." He told her.
"What about damage to the ship?"
"Well..." He began slowly. "It not pretty, between the flare and our crash landing we got really banged up; we lost the engines, the navigation systems, most of the equipment in the launch bay - although a couple of Seamoths did survive. And that's not even mentioning all the fires and the water damage caused by the flooding - long story short, this bird's not going anywhere for a while."
"Well, what about the other ships, any word from them?" Lidia inquired at the man.
"I saw two of them blow up in orbit." I supplied grimly, to which the crewmember simply nodded in agreement.
"We have no word on the other two ships as of yet; we don't know what happened to them, we don't even know for certain if they survived the crash as we did - for all we know, we may be the only ones left."
This was terrible, so terrible, all this guy was telling us was bad news after bad news. Between the fires, the flooding, the deaths, and the crash, today was shaping up to be just terrible, and so far it showed no signs of slowing down. What I really wanted to hear right now was some good news; something positive to turn the mood around -but as if on cue...
"Do you have any good news to report?" The commander asked hopefully.
He only shook his head. "Unfortunately no ma'am."
The Commander sighed deeply while putting her forehead in her hand. "That'll be all." She said, dismissing the crew member.
I watched the other guy as vacated the room, coming up upon the large double door and pushing it open. However, the number of occupants in the room managed to stick at four, because Kevin happened to walk in just as the other guy left.
As Keven approached our small group, my mind wandered back to when we last spoke, which had been before the crash. Through all of the chaos that had unfolded over the last couple of hours, I hadn't given Kevin much thought; my attention had been occupied by more pressing matters, such as putting out fires and helping apply first aid.
"Hey Kevin, are you okay?" I asked him as he approached.
He simply shrugged his shoulders in response. "Eh, I got a couple of minor bruises, but, other than that I'm pretty much okay. I was lucky enough to not have been in the lab when the ship went down - I guess the fact the power going out in the lab, and me having to go to engineering to fix it, had a bit of a silver lining to it. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for my colleagues, while I wasn't in the lab when the ship when down, they were, and they ended up sustaining mild to serious injury from the falling equipment and chemicals."
"I'm sorry I didn't come to check on you sooner." I apologized.
"Don't worry about it, the last couple of hours were pretty hectic, I don't blame you." He then turned to the Commander. "Speaking of the crash, I'm here to report that much of the lab equipment was destroyed; we lost a sizeable amount of what we had."
The Commander and I let out a groan at hearing even more bad news.
"Please tell me that we have spares of what was lost." The Commander begged.
"Don't worry Commander, while the crash destroyed some of our supplies and left the lab in a wreck - a lot of our equipment survived."
As the Commander and Kevin talked, I began to pass the time by aimlessly looking about the bridge. I couldn't believe how much had happened to it in the last couple of hours, it started off as beautiful and pristine, the jewel of the ship...now, it was a dead and lifeless shadow of what it used to be. The once white walls were charred and blacked with soot, the vibrant red carpet was now stained with burn marks and unseeable blood spots. And wires and broken panels hung loosely from the walls and ceiling. Seeing it like this, in such a dismal state, I couldn't help but want to go and find a repair tool to fix it up a bit.
As I took in the devastated room in its entirety, my eyes soon came to fall on the glass viewport, and a fact that I had previously neglected made itself known. As I stared listlessly at the viewport, I began a slow walk towards the large glass pane, my eyes locked on it like I was in a trance.
It was mind-boggling how I had failed to notice. I mean, yes, the last couple of hours had been crazy, there were all kinds of chaos that had been going on throughout the ship, ones that didn't really leave time for one to stop and pay attention to an overlooked feature. but, you know while there are other, more pressing problems at the moment, there are also countless windows all over the ship, and all it would take would be for someone to take just a quick glance outside to come to the grim realization I was now.
As I made my way towards the window, stepping over debris and burnt patches of carpet, the others began to take notice of my actions, watching me with concern as I kept my eyes trained on what was ahead of me.
"Ryley, is everything all right?" Commander Abigail called over to me, hints of worry in her voice.
I didn't respond.
By now, I was within a few feet of the window, and already the imposing area beyond loomed over me. I had heard people mention reports of flooding, but I hadn't given it much thought until now; I was so preoccupied with other problems that were going on, that whenever someone talked about flooding, I never realized just what exactly that would mean.
I placed my outstretched palm against the glass, it was cold. And as I kept my eyes glued to the window, I watched as a yellow and blue Boomerang fish swam into view, its arch-shaped fins helping it glide through the dark space outside the ship with ease.
And as I stared at it, I kept wondering to myself, how could I have missed this?...
... Because we were underwater!...
...Deep underwater!
"Ryley?" Kevin tentatively began, having moved slightly closer to my spot at the window. "Are you all right?"
"...How far down are we?" I spoke back breathlessly.
It was the Commander who answered my question. "We estimate that we're somewhere around a thousand meters beneath the surface."
It took me a second to fully comprehend her words, once I did, it was hard to handle it. "A thousand. Meters?!" I looked out at the rippling water that lay beyond the glass in front of me, it was hard to see out in the water ahead of me, as not much light filtered down from the surface, it was dim, at best.
By this time, Kevin had come up to stand beside me. "Are you alright, buddy?"
"How could this have happened?" I said in despair, sinking to my knees.
Kevin put his hand on my shoulder comfortingly. "It's alright Ryley. Don't beat yourself up over this. It was just an accident; this is no-ones fault!"
In the lower levels of the ship, far from any prying eyes, an un-named crewman moved quietly through partially flooded rooms and halls. Luckily, the electricity in this part of the ship had been power down, so they didn't have to worry about possible electrocution. They moved around crates and machinery, their feet splashing in the water as they slinked through the shadows stealthily.
They came up upon a large storage box placed right in the corner of two walls. Along the edge of the box, there was a small gap just big enough for a single person to fit through.
Approaching the gap, they began to squeeze their way into the small space, shimmying their way down the length of the gap until they came upon an entrance that had been hidden by the box.
Entering this hidden entrance, they found themselves in an area that was only a few feet wide. Turning on a small light, the room was dimly illuminated, revealing nothing but a single radio station in the back.
Pressing some buttons, the crewman began to fiddle with the radio till it was transmitting on a secure channel, then they spoke.
"Alterra, this is agent woods, over."
(Static)
"Alterra, this is agent woods, do you copy, over!"
"...We copy agent, what do you have to report?"
"Our plans have been derailed a bit. Earlier today, our mission leader disabled the long-range scanners so the Mongolians wouldn't see the Alterra fleet approaching. But...unfortunately, that action had consequences, because the scanners weren't active, we didn't see a massive solar flare coming until it was too late. It left us stranded deep below the ocean's surface."
"How has this affected the mission?"
"We are currently licking our wounds from the crash. We lost a lot of equipment, but we're still alive down here, and I believe that it's only a matter of time before our mission can get back on track."
"Very well then; and what about your mission leader? What is their whereabouts?"
"Our mission leader is still as convincing as ever, no one even suspects that they're a double agent. They would be here to speak with you right now if they could, but they're currently tied up with pressing matters at the moment."
"You'll get in touch when the target is in hand?"
"Of course, when we get our hands on the Enzyme, you'll know."
"That'll be all for now, over and out."
"Over and out."
And with that, the radio cut out, leaving the small room silent once more.
SURVIVOR COUNT: 146
DEATH TOLL: 104
So, it seems that the crash wasn't really an accident now does it.
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