Muscles screaming Dae pushed herself faster through the water. Behind her, not far from her new flippers, she heard the distinct clack of teeth. Just when she had started to get the hang of being in a water world it threw something with teeth at her.

The Kelp Forest was much deeper than Dae had realized. Deep enough that she scoured the fabricator for any way to move faster. The Seaglide, while useful, required things that Dae had not been able to find in the Shallows. Flippers, however, were useful and didn't take much scavenging. Neither did air tanks.

She ripped a breath through her teeth darting through a few clustered together kelp strands hoping to break the fish's line of sight.

Air tanks were interesting when added to her suit. The nanothread buzzed and wrapped around the tank until it sat firmly between her shoulder blades. The first time she jumped into the water she had been surprised to have her suit create an entire mask around her head filling it with air. It hardly felt there, she couldn't really see the material but could feel it as she tapped on the strange hard material. She could breathe normally with the mask on. No claustrophobia. No fog.

It was a good thing the suit regulated itself so well because she felt her body break out into a cold sweat as those teeth clacked behind her again. Further away, but not much. Her left leg was burning with much more than exertion. Stupid fish snuck up on her. It's long body and aggressive movements were enough to have her steer clear of them while exploring the depths.

That didn't save her when one got behind her and attacked her leg. Just when she thought they were kind of cute playing keep away with small hunks of metal. The suit had sealed itself over the injury expelling the water it had let in, but that wasn't the biggest issue she was facing right now.

She was weighed down a bit with the gold and silver she had spent the day finding.

"Silver based computer chips are an essential component of the habitat builder." Karen had told her.

Dae rocketed up and over the edge back into the Safe Shallows, but the monster behind her didn't pause its pursuit. She skimmed the sand knocking it up slightly as she kicked harder. It made a small frustrated sounding noise and she ducked through one of the large coral tubes ignoring the sharp pain as she knocked her shoulder into the side of the natural formation. She hissed in pain, the sound amplified in her new mask. She moved on and was pleased with herself when she realized the sand she had kicked up had made the beast lose sight of her for a moment. She pulled herself into Henry trying to ignore the angry hissing and shrieking that was quickly receding back into the distance.

"Karen temporarily disable suit repair." She huffed as the mask peeled away from her face.

"Suit repair disabled."

She sighed and popped the med-kit fabricator open grabbing the small package out. She went to her chair and sat heavily, pulling out her knife to carefully cut open the section of suit that had repaired around the repair.

It looked like a worse version of a dog bite, Dae noted distantly.

"Evil fish." She grumbled ripping the cap off of the spray can. Dae bit her lip staring at the blood sluggishly leaking out of the deep bite marks. Her eyes burned slightly as she stared. She wasn't sure why but she suddenly felt heavy. Dae took a steadying breath before spraying each gash. Her leg lit up like it had become molten and she panted with the effort it took not to scream. She squeezed some of the stim serum in each making sure to coat it fully before she leaned back closing her eyes.

"Karen, enable suit repair."

"Suit repair enabled. Tissue damage detected."

There was a soft beep from the surrounding machinery but Dae tuned it out that heavy feeling thickening into something stifling.

"I'm scared." She confessed to the pod. To anything that would listen. The beep answered her and she felt the tidal wave that she had been holding back, the rising storm in her body, break out of her violently. Dae sobbed curling into herself on the unforgiving chair. "I'm going to die here." She whispered the cold hard truth of it washing over her. Beep. "There's no one coming for me. I'm going to die without even remembering why I'm here to begin with!" Her voice raised until the sound was gutterally wrenching from her throat burning and damaging as it went. Beep. "Will you shut up?" She hissed turning toward the sound only to feel her body lock up on itself.

The radio which had sat silent and dead since the moment she had fixed it was slowly blinking its singular red light. Like some great and sleepy eye patiently waiting for her to take notice. The soft beep sounded again and she threw herself forward yelping as she came down hard on her healing leg. She brushed past the ladder and reached out to press the button.

"Playing pre-recorded distress call." The radio said in its pinched and robotic voice. "This is Ozzy from the cafeteria." A male and very human voice called out. Dae felt every hair stand on end at the sound of his voice. "What the hell guys? They didn't warn us that this might happen!" He sounded as distressed as Dae herself had been. Something in her chest burst at the sound of him. How genuinely scared and worried he sounded. Her stomach flipped over itself. "Our pod was crushed by the seamoth bay on the way down, now we're hanging by the edge of a cave system and this grim-looking snake-thing's trying to eat through the hull. Come get us already!"

"You're alive!" She gasped.

"Uploading lifepod coordinates." Karen rattled off. There was a moment pause and then a small flicker over her eyes. Dae slowly spun and laughed when she realized Karen had placed a visual marker on her HUD. It was a soft blue which stood out starkly against the white of Henry's walls.

"I have to go!" She gasped but immediately stopped herself. "I can't just rush out. That's stupid. I'll get myself killed." Dae took a deep breath steadying herself. "Okay, I'm going to make some water to take with me. Eat before I go. And make the seaglide. That should get me there faster. I think I have all the materials."

By the time Dae had finished hunting for food and water and gathered what materials she needed for the seaglide her leg was aching a little less. She dropped into the water and glanced in the direction of the ever steady point of light that was the beacon Karen had set. She automatically pointed the seaglide out in front of her.

"The seaglide will increase your effective exploration range. For your safety please pack food and water for long journeys, and stay within 5 kilometers of the nearest lifepod or habitat." Karen gently lectured as Dae speared through the water. Just like the quasi memory she could feel the water parting around her as if she had found a slipstream. She tried her best to ignore the prickle of unease as she left the Safe Shallows. This would be the furthest that she had gone. She passed that unseen barrier quickly and found herself glancing around making sure that there were no creatures going after her. Hope bloomed in her chest as she traveled further Ozzy's words ringing in her ears.

"I won't be alone long Karen." She muttered keeping her eyes on the steady dot.