It had been so long since she had actually set foot onto land. Henry was sturdy, but he moved in the waves, something Dae had long gotten used to. At the first solid plant of her foot she nearly wept with the joy of it.
"Xander, look." She said reaching out and touching one of the plants that grew just beyond the small shoreline of the island. "Plants. Real ones. And dirt. It's land!"
Each step was an effort as her swim fins seemed to catch on every little thing. Dae stopped and dropped down onto the dirt, tugging the annoying flippers off and leaving them sitting near the shore.
"Footwear is recommended." Xander rattled off distractingly.
"I'll be fine, it's not the first time I've gone barefoot somewhere." Dae said, waving away the alert. She closed her eyes for a moment, scrunching her toes in the sand. Dae had felt grimy since she had landed on this planet. Salt had crusted her hair into an untamable mess, her visible skin was dry and trying to crack from the constant bombardment of saltwater. At least her lips were faring better now that she smeared the weird goo from the Creepvine seeds on them every morning. She was sure she had lost weight from the constant workouts and her limited diet.
Would any of the other survivors even recognize her? A deeper darker thought surfaced. Could she remember them?
Ever since her head injury it had been increasingly difficult to remember things from her past. She could hardly remember why she was aboard the Aurora.
Rocky craigs mostly made up the shoreline, pitted and jagged from erosion. Dae trekked her way up a sandy incline, wedged between two craigs, the sand hot enough to burn a little against her bare feet. She stumbled up the incline, her feet sliding a bit as she went, but eventually she pulled herself over the rise and her heart nearly leapt at the sight.
Trees that looked like no tree Dae had seen before. The tree itself looked more like pale thick vines had somehow wrapped around itself and bloomed on top. The underside was a pale glowing blue that Dae was sure was actually glowing, though the leaves up top looked normal enough. Emerald green and quietly shifting with the wind that blew off of the waves.
"Plants." She mumbled, aiming her scanner and pulling the trigger without any real thought. Shimmering blue lines shifted over the plant for a few moments before it clicked off. Not caring to stop and read she wandered into the small grove of trees, surprised to see smaller shrubs amongst the trunks.
One looked swollen, a few thick stems sprouting from the top. It looked as if something had nibbled at its roots, old sap dried around the wound. She depressed the scanners handle once more and watched the lights dance over the tree.
"Notice." Xander's voice sounded the moment the light shut off. "The body of this plant is edible."
Dae curiously looked the plant over, tapping at the large bulbous body. It sounded as if she were flicking a ripe melon. She pulled out her knife, quickly cutting a small section from the tree watching as thick viscous liquid leaked from her slices. It was horribly sticky, but smelled vaguely sweet.
At the first bite she nearly cried. The taste wasn't amazing, more pulp and fiber than anything too tasty, but it was her first bite of something other than fish in a while. The sap itself tasted sweeter than the flesh, but not by much. It was, however, incredibly sticky.
"I could make glue out of this." She muttered attempting to wipe her knife and hands clean on the grass. Dae moved on, trekking along what looked to be game trails until she made it out of the copse of trees. Towering above her were two small mountains. She felt her heart leap to her throat when she noticed the gleam of metal habitats.
"They're here." She told Xander excitedly, already taking one of the paths that led upward toward the gleam of glass and metal.
"Commencing local scan." Xander rattled off.
Dae ignored him, forcing her protesting muscles to stretch and pull as she climbed higher. Her arm hurt something fearsome, even worse when she had to pull herself up a steep incline of rock. Eventually though she climbed her way to the summit of one of the small mountains, thankful for the breeze that curled around her as she pushed herself up.
"This….doesn't look right." The metal habitats looked old. The colors had long faded from the facade, stripped clean and then stripped further until the metal had begun to erode a bit. It wasn't much of a base, if Dae was being honest with herself. Just a tube compartment with an observatory gleaming in the harsh sunlight. Rust had begun to take over the joints of the structure, and the hatch hung open, looking rusted in place.
Dae ran her fingers over the metal, noting the sun had heated it almost to the point of pain, it felt almost gritty underneath her fingers. Snatching her hand back she took a step away from the structure, as if it could somehow bite her.
Something akin to primal fear ignited deep in her stomach.
"Xander, this…..this isn't new." She muttered cautiously making her way toward the door. "Anyone home? Um….the base looks kinda worse for wear!" She called out trying to make her tone light and friendly.
Only the wind answered her.
Steeling herself she stepped into the interior, and winced as the structure creaked a bit under her weight. It was mostly empty, a dirty window letting in a bit of light though the most of the illumination stemmed from the observatory down the hallway. A strange sickly sweet smell dominated the interior, a hint of fermentation marring the very edge of the smell.
A faint blue flicker caught her attention, tucked into an alcove to the left of the door. A supply crate and a single PDA. With shaking hands she picked up the PDA, noting that the Alterra logo was heavily worn. With a click she downloaded the information and a male voice broke the eerie silence of the small base.
"This is the first time I've seen sunlight in months. After all that time in the deep I'd been dreaming of it. Now that I'm back here, I'm finding it hard to enjoy alone. Father was right: we should never have left this place. We shouldn't have gone so deep. They do not want us down there."
Dae's stomach dropped. Nausea rose to mingle with her fear. This was the sound of a defeated man. Younger, if she had to guess.
"Despite my best efforts ill-health is taking hold of me. The visions are getting worse." Visions? Ill health?
"Marguerit and father are now part of the ecosystem of this incredible planet. It's reassuring to know that when I go, I'll join them.
Until then... well, there's always the view."
"I don't….I'm not sure….." Dae wracked her brain trying to place the names but got nothing. Something was nagging at her. Just on the tip of her tongue.
Busying herself she popped open the supply crate and was rewarded with a plastic bottle of water. Much bigger than the kind she could make herself using bladderfish. She quickly stowed it in her storage and wandered deeper into the seabase. She almost startled when she saw a strange tree growing in the observatory, orange teardrop shaped fruits hanging from the branches. A few had landed on the ground and broken open spilling pulp and juices onto the floor.
The fermented sweet smell was stronger here, nearly burning her eyes. Blinking back tears she quickly scanned the tree and then the observatory before backing out of the habitat entirely.
Dae took deep breaths of the salty breeze trying to clear her sinuses.
"It seems the PDA you found indicates that people have crashed on this planet well before the Aurora." Xander's voice cut into the awful silence. For once she was insanely grateful for it.
"Yeah...he mentioned not seeing daylight for months. So this can't be our survivors' habitat." Dae cast her gaze out at the endless shimmering water. Relief washed through her at the thought, along with a sharp stab of guilt. To find any positive emotions from this had to be bad.
"It is unknown how long ago these people lived here." Dae nodded running a hand over her crusty hair.
"Still, to die alone of some disease on an empty planet seems…...cruel." She muttered wandering a little ways away from the habitat and sitting on the grassy side of the mountain top. Her arm throbbed dully, reminding her of her injury. It couldn't have drained enough blood to matter, she comforted herself. Her entire body ached. It seemed the longer she was here the harder it was to get around. She was so tired. It was so hard to deal with everything.
"Your blood samples indicate a lack of fundamental vitamins." Xander butted in after a few minutes. She wondered how long he had been running her blood in the background.
"Well, a diet of alien fish isn't really the most rounded source of food." She shot back, already feeling the tightness in her skin that meant a sunburn was well on it's way to forming.
"Lantern fruit contains some of the vitamins that are missing from your diet. It is highly recommended that you attempt to supplement your diet with this newfound fruit."
Dae thought of the sickly smell inside the habitat and felt her stomach roll. No way she was going back in there right now. She turned her gaze back to the island, letting her gaze roam downwards towards the center of the floating isle. A slight shimmer and glare of metal caught her attention. Another habitat, this one half collapsed underneath a wave of dirt. It was hard to make out details, but her skin was demanding she do something other than just sitting in the dirt.
"Xander look, another habitat." She said pointing down at the larger structure. "Maybe the other survivors saw that too. It's where I would check out if I were them."
Shoving to her feet the world spun for a moment before she began to carefully make her way down. The soles of her feet began to ache and sting as rocks jabbed into them. Still she eventually made her way down the slope, sighing as she finally hit a pocket of grass. Overexertion hit her hard and she carefully sat herself down, tucking her head between her knees as she panted.
"You are growing weaker." Xander commented quietly.
"Yeah." She blew out a breath feeling a round of shivers skittering over her body. "I guess so."
A poor diet, even poorer sleep quality, and working herself to the bone every day had started to wear on the woman. Her skin was flushed, but even so she could tell the pale sickly quality to it. Her arm ached something fierce. Her scalp burned most of the time now, knots and tangles constantly tugging and creating sore spots.
Something had to give, and she had a nagging suspicion it was going to be her if something didn't change. But everything should change when she finds the second officer. Keen had to know what to do, how to help her.
Dae forced herself back up, despite the world swirling around her, and stumbled her way into a small grove of what looked to be those lantern fruit trees. The sweet smell rode the air, but the thick scent of fermentation wasn't prevalent here.
"You said, to eat these right?" She sighed, reaching up to tug a few of the strange looking fruits down. Once she had about three, each bigger than her hand, she plopped herself back down in the shadows, the grass cool through her suit.
"Correct, the lanternfruit should be a good supplement to your diet." Xander answered quickly. Dae blew out a heavy breath and prodded at the food. The flesh of the fruit was taunt, reminding her vaguely of a water balloon. It was a sunset orange, and indeed seemed to glow the slightest bit in the boughs above her were laden with the fruit, and they seemed to grow big. Some of the biggest pods were easily the size of her forearm.
She steeled herself and then took a bite. The skin split underneath her teeth easily, nearly popping, as juices poured over her hands and gushed into her mouth. It was sweet, exceedingly so, and slightly warmed by the sun. Dae let out a soft pleased sound and took another bite. The flesh of the fruit was watery, hardly held together at all. Closer to a gel than something solid, and the juices that rolled over her fingers and lingered on her tongue were almost oily in consistency.
Dae forced herself to take her time, cooling in the shade and eating on the laternfruits until she felt stuffed to the brim. Sloshy almost. She'd be no use to the other survivors if she passed out before she could find them.
