The fabricator quietly hummed behind Dae, the lasers working tirelessly to create the mobile vehicle bay. Dae herself was carefully squeezing out the last dregs of the nanocream that she had used for her leg. Once she had enough she winced smearing the now stinging cream onto her cracked lips. It felt like fire for a moment and Dae sucked in a breath as if it could kill the heat. Of course it didn't and she instantly felt stupid.

Distracting herself she turned to see the fabricator finish the mobile vehicle bay which looked a bit bigger than the seaglide that was currently sitting in her chair. Pulling the machine into her arms she hissed at the weight of it her already abused body complaining. She sat it to the side breathing heavily for a second.

"Okay, ouch okay no talking hurts," Dae pressed her burning lips together and shut her eyes for a moment. "All I have to do is deploy this outside."

"Caution," Karen's voice suddenly bloomed into existence. Dae jumped slightly realizing last second that she hadn't actually spoken to Karen the entire day. "Continued degradation of the Aurora's drive core may result in a quantum detonation. Continuing to monitor."

"Oh yeah?" She muttered quickly moving to the ladder. Once on top of Henry she looked toward the Aurora. If anything the fires looked brighter as if they had found some new source of fuel. "A quantum detonation?" That was dangerous. Horribly so, she knew, and yet some part of her felt detached from it all. The sea air was nice though, as was the sun which warmed her normally cold body. Dae laid herself out on the top of Henry closing her eyes and letting the alien sun warm her. Eventually her lips stopped burning, then they stopped buzzing at all. She wiped at the cream seeing it come away a dark pink. Grossed out she took care to wipe away the rest of it feeling unbroken and soft skin underneath.

"Seamoth." She reminded herself cracking Henry back open so that she could clammer down into his interior. Once again the heft of the mobile vehicle bay made her already exhausted muscles scream, but she ignored it and dropped herself out of the bottom hatch. Almost immediately little cushions inflated partially suddenly negating the weight of the machine. Dae grinned and was happy to feel no pain to do so. She moved a little ways away from Henry, closer to the kelp forest before she held the machine out and clicked the little button on the side.

Instantly it ripped out of her hands as it rocketed to the surface unfolding as it did so. Dae followed it cautiously and hauled herself up onto the bobbing platform that it had created. Little drones quickly detached as she settled herself as comfortably as she could with the whole thing shifting and swaying with the waves. A screen came to life and showed what had to be the seamoth. The list of ingredients spanned out when she pressed the little button.

"That's actually not too hard to do." She muttered already sliding back into the water. It was too easy to glide back toward Henry. She hadn't been on the water planet all that long and yet 4546B had begun to affect her. If she could have seen herself when she first splashed down into the shallows she would have laughed at the uncoordinated flailing she had considered swimming.

Pulling herself through Henry's bottom hatch she frowned as a new thought came to her head. Just how much would she laugh at her current effort if she stayed here for much longer? How long would she be here?

Shaking the thoughts away as if they were water stuck in her ears she glanced at the fabricator quickly navigating to see what materials she needed to make the seamoth. It was time to go scrap metal hunting. If there was any bonus to the ship crashing, it was that it had shed metal like so many scales as it slammed through the atmosphere. Of course that also meant that she had to haul metal all day. Dae sighed and gathered up a small makeshift rope she had created out of the creepy yellow vines that the stalkers loved so much.

"Stalkers roaming through creep vines." She muttered to herself as she splashed back into the water. "Karen, rename alien kelp species to: Creep Vine."

"Confirmed."

It wasn't long before she had found a large piece of metal which she quickly strapped to her back. It was a good way to keep her arms free just in case a stalker decided to pick a fight. None did, thankfully.

Over and over she hauled metal on her back letting the fabricator break it down. Eventually she had gathered enough to create an ingot of the titanium. Dae tried hefting the metal and found herself straining to move it too far. It was a relief to shove it into Henry's onboard storage, though if she were being honest with herself Dae realized that there was less and less room the longer she lived here. Dae slowly spun in place, looking at the random bits and objects she had balanced on various surfaces.

"Karen, does it feel cramped in here to you?" Even her voice felt a bit too close. "Too small to be a home?"

"The lifepod is not considered proper housing."

"Right," Dae muttered slipping outside and letting the vastness of the ocean both soothe and terrify. "What can I do about it?"

"I do not understand your question. Please rephrase."

Dae found herself swimming to the large coral tubes that littered the edges of the safe shallows, she knew that she had seen multiple clusters of crystal in some of the larger ones. But with enclosed spaces also came the threat of the exploding fish, Crash Fish as she had named them.

"Is there a tool that can help me have more room?"

"Room building is a function of the habitat builder tool." Karen answered faithfully. Dae edged into the mouth of one of those tubes and breathed out a sigh of relief. None of the little pods were lining the walls nearby, so it seemed safe enough to use her knife to pry the crystal free. She would need a good bit of them in order to make the glass needed.

"I don't know if I should use the habitat builder." Dae bit her lip slightly, the feeling sharp but not quite painful. It helped center her mind. Karen remained silent but she imagined her robotic voice twisting slightly becoming warm and concerned. Asking why. "Because," Dae tried not to think about what she was doing, "if I make a habitat it feels like I'm conceding that I'm going to be here for a while."

"On the other hand, it seems like I'm in a pretty safe place, or at least as safe as it can be." The rhythmic motion of trying to pry the quartz away from the wall gave Dae the space to think. Lulling her. Each satisfying pop as the rock finally came away intact, the dance of her hands as she used her rope to knot around the rock. "The other passengers might be grateful for the space." If I find them, the thought was harshly shoved out of mind. "Having two people in Henry as he is will be hard to deal with."

It took several trips for air, but eventually Dae had a strange sash tied around her body that was absolutely packed with crystal. It didn't take her long to get back to Henry, who felt just as small as before. Dae sat on the hatch freeing the crystal which she then fed into the fabricator.

A soft beep rocked through her body. The radio slowly and softly flashed it's red light. Another message. Dae nearly tripped over herself rushing over to press the button.

"Playing pre-recorded distress call…" The electronic voice buzzed.

"This is Officer Keen in Lifepod 19!" Dae felt her breath catch in her throat at the commanding tone. It was a man, and from the sound of it he was distressed. "The captain is gone. I have assumed command. The last thing the captain did was give me co-ordinates for dry land. We regroup one and a half kilometers south-west of the crash site." Dae wrapped her arms around her middle knowing that she needed something akin to human contact.

"Stay together. Good luck. This message will now repeat."

The silence felt leaden. Crushing her underneath the weight of another human calling out to her from this deadly water planet. Dae couldn't remember anyone named Keen, but then again she could hardly remember anything. She wondered just how hard that metal covering had slammed into her.

"Rendezvous co-ordinates corrupted. Transmission origin co-ordinates downloaded." Dae jerked, yelping a bit as Karen's voice echoed in the pod.

"Did….he say there was dry land?"

"Affirmative."

"That's not….possible." Dae quickly scrambled up the ladder pulling herself up and on top of Henry. Dae let herself scan the horizon, which was quickly trying to slip into night. There was nothing but the Aurora. "I don't see land."

"Rendevous co-ordinates corrupted." Karen rattled off again. As if that made it better.

"But you got where it first broadcasted from…" The massive moon, red and terrifying hung bloated and sickly in the sky. Slowly shifting across the horizon.

"Affermative."

"Dry land.." Dae laid back exhaustion claiming her body. The wind tasted of salt. "They found dry land. All I've got to do is track them." One of the alien birds fluttered overhead it's body a mere spot of black against the glow of the moon. "I've never tracked anything that I can remember, but it can't be that hard…."

Her own voice was doubting her. The waves gently lapping against the side of Henry laughed at her ineptitude. Mocked her obviously forced confidence. As if the entirety of the planet knew that she was just putting on a brave face until one of her outings left her like Ozzy.

"I still need the seamoth. Tomorrow...I'll finish it tomorrow and find them. I'll find everyone." Dae muttered. The water underneath her was lit with neon hues. The flash of bioluminescent fish creating a hypnotic dance between light and dark, all the while the fires of the Aurora flickered in the distance. "Tomorrow."