S1-162
Into The Unknown
2:19 PM
04/13/3273
Yionus's moon, Zuter - IMC testing site Echo-918
Chamber 137
Music
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - Briefing Room & Ambience Theme
While the Shadow was... 'feeding' in dimension 2, Michael spotted a new Dimension Key laying on the console, sporting some sort of bizarre underwater image. He grabbed a Chrono-Extractor and tossed the new Key into the arch, opening the portal.
Dimension 13
UNKNOWN
Music
Subnautica - Ahead Slow
When Michael arrived on the other side, he was greeted by the sight of an open ocean, and he was on an island, and standing on some strange structure.
As per protocol, Rocco transmatted in the locator arch just behind the rift, which Michael steadily pushed toward the portal until he heard the surge that indicated a complete temporal-physical integration of the locator arch and the cross-dimensional rift. The only thing he needed to do now was examine the structure. "C'mon. Let's take a closer look at this thing." As Michael dropped down to enter the structure, Rocco stowed the Chrono-Extractor, while also transmatting in Michael's G1 Pilot equipment.
Music
Subnautica - Caverns
"{I'm not detecting any movement in the structure. It's... abandoned.}" Michael made his way deeper into the building, coming across an alien terminal. Rocco appeared and interfaced with it. "{This terminal is running on emergency power, but I think I can pull its data.}"
"Do it."
"{You got- What in the name of the Traveler...? OK, that's a new language. We should check in with the Shadow and see if his Taken Vex Minds can decipher this stuff.}"
"I don't want to interrupt the Shadow's 'SCP eating frenzy', so let's wait on that, OK?"
"{You got a point.}" Eventually, Michael came across another terminal, which Rocco accessed. "{Some sort of alien map data, but it seems as if there's an elevator ahead.}"
There was no elevator; just a drop straight down.
Michael tried to jump down, only for some form of localized gravitational tech to quickly send him down, slowing his descent as he neared the bottom. "What was this place?"
"{No idea. We just got here, so how should I know?}"
"Sorry."
"{Another thing worth noting is that my scans can't seem to determine whether the wall patterns are simply decorations or if they're vital for some function or another.}"
The large room ahead seemed to be a sort of pressurized submersible docking chamber, which didn't seem to hold Michael's attention for more than a second as he made his way past it, ending up in a sort of alien stairway, but the stairs were more like ramps, and in that room were two containers.
In the first container was a sort of extraterrestrial rifle, although it seemed to be suited for usage by humanoids.
The second container, two floors up, held a very strange device that seemed to detect Michael's presence, seeing as it slightly expanded and started shaking and beeping, only to stop and close back up as the Pilot made some distance. "{For the love of the Traveler... This thing has enough energy to destroy the entire planet, and potentially most of the solar system! However, it looks as if it's malfunctioning, and experiencing a detonation failure.}"
"Alien tech like this might actually confuse the Vex, don't you think?"
"{You're thinking of using this stuff to confuse reality-bending killer robots?}"
"Yeah."
Eventually, Michael reached the top of the ramp-like staircase, finding another chamber. "{I'm picking up an inert energy signature, but there seems to be enough power here to overload the Pyramidion on Io.}"
"Is such a thing possible?"
"{I've been talking to Sagira, and I think I have a basic understanding of Vex tech from our conversations.}"
"I thought you didn't like her."
"{I realized it wasn't her fault, so I apologized.}"
"Glad you're both on good terms."
"{Yeah. Anyway, let's take a look at that terminal up ahead.}" Michael approached a terminal, finding what appeared to be a compact power core station. The terminal seemingly unfolded itself, exposing a sort of power button. "{If we turn this place on, we might learn something.}"
Michael's right hand pressed against the button, only for some sort of force field clamp to hold his prosthetic arm in place. The small formation above the button was then revealed to be some sort of serpent-like security probe. A needle jutted out of the thing's 'face', followed by the sub-construct attempting to jab it into Michael's right arm, only for metal to hit metal.
Despite having no form of optical components, the sub-construct seemed to be questioningly eyeing Michael's prosthetic limb with curiosity. It then turned its 'head' to face Michael, rotating its front as if confused.
The Pilot's armor and weapons then vanished, revealing his prosthetic to the machine.
The energy clamp was dropped, allowing Michael to pull back his artificial limb.
For a few moments, Michael and the serpentine sub-construct exchanged glances, until the machine turned its attention to the Pilot's left arm. Upon noticing this, Michael defensively grasped his remaining human limb, stepping away from the console. "Keep your metallic proboscis to yourself!"
Michael then made his way out of the massive structure, finding himself back on the island's surface.
"{My scans are picking up another signature nearby. Follow me.}" As Michael followed his Ghost, Rocco transmatted in the Pilot's equipment.
He made his way past the ancient alien facility, up a path, and through a sort of cave system, finding himself at some sort of energy field. "What is this thing?"
"{I don't know. My scans are inconclusive.}" Deciding upon how to test it, Michael tossed his helmet into the green energy whirlpool wall. "{I'm detecting your helmet's signature from... over a thousand meters away? It's a teleporter!}"
Michael jumped through the teleporter, finding himself in another cavern, and his helmet was lying on the ground nearby.
Michael eventually made his way out, finding himself on another island. "Oh... my... cotton... socks..."
Music
Subnautica - In Bloom
Rocco flew out and examined the area, finding a place Michael could get to with his Grapple. "{Michael, jump out and slingshot yourself upward!}" Michael broke into a full-on sprint, jumped out of the cave, fired his Grapple at the surface above the cave exit, and pulled himself high into the air with his Jump Kit. By doing so, he landed on another path. "{Nice moves.}"
"Thanks, Rocco."
Michael dusted himself off, then looked around, seeing some sort of structure on a nearby mountaintop. He climbed up with his Grapple, reaching the top in seconds.
The structure appeared to be more... identifiable. It was clearly made of titanium, and it looked as if it had been there for a VERY long time. The sphere at the end of it also appeared to be comprised of a hardened glass, and its very transparency allowed Michael to identify the hardened glass orb as a sort of observation deck.
The other mountaintop held another identical structure, with its own observation sphere, but that one seemed to contain something different, seeing as the one Michael was currently in held a desk and chair, along with an abandoned tablet of unknown design.
Rocco proceeded to interface with the device. "{I just pulled an audio log from this PDA. Playing it now.}"
An elderly voice was heard. "This island is a godsend! Look out of the window! No predators! Fresh food!"
A grown woman's voice joined in. "No buildin' materials, nothin' left of the ship, and your kid says we're gonna starve without more grow beds. Speak up, kid."
A younger voice was heard. "It's true, father. The natural growth rates are too slow to keep supporting us."
"All I'm sayin' is, ocean's got us surrounded. No use hidin'. Sooner or later, we'll get our feet wet."
The male elder spoke up again. "The rest of your life may have been a fight, Maida, but I've made my decision. You want to forfeit your emergency pay to take a swim? Go ahead."
"Believe me. I'm thinkin' on it."
Michael then spotted something along the shore, and he couldn't miss it. There was a massive structure, but it seemed... newer. He headed out of the observation point and slid down the side of the mountain, making his way to the newly discovered base. It wasn't covered in moss, and it looked as if the place was still functional.
He pulled open the entrance, granting himself a way in. A computerized voice could then be heard. "Warning: Unregistered occupant detected. Warning: Unregistered occupant detected. Warning: Unregistered occupant detected." It was looping over and over and over again.
"Rocco, can you turn that off?"
"{It's annoying me too. I'm on it.}" With that, the Ghost looked around for an access point, locating an abandoned tablet of the same design as the other one. He accessed it, then caused the looping voice message to stop.
"New crew member registered. Welcome aboard, captain."
Music
Subnautica - Habitat
Michael eventually made his way over to the PDA Rocco used. "You had me registered, huh?"
"{I couldn't risk deleting any information, so I added you to the local roster instead of resetting it.}"
"Good point." With that, Michael proceeded to investigate the PDA, finding the Habitat crew manifest. "Hmm... The only other person listed here is 'Non-Essential Systems Maintenance Chief Ryley Robinson'. Huh. Wait... 'War Veteran and Technical Specialist Michael Johnson'?" He chuckled.
"{Well, you are.}"
"OK. OK. Fair enough. Hmm... Downloaded voice logs? Let's take a look here... 'Degasi Voice Log #3'... 'Aftermath'..."
The two members of the recorded conversation were ID'd 'PAUL' and 'MARGUERIT'.
"You see, Chief? You brought us to this sodden planet. Told us we'd see a lush payday. Now what do we got, some six weeks later? A dead crew. A Habitat that's half buried. Food washed away!"
"I suppose the executive decisions would be better left to someone with your extensive experience of hittin' people in the face?" Michael snickered at the remark.
"I know enough not to take unscheduled detours to uncharted planets. That's somethin' you don't wanna learn the hard way."
"Easy to judge a decision in hindsight. Harder to come up with a plan of your own."
"Got one already. We take what we can carry and hunker down in a cave somewhere. I scouted a site. Couple hundred meters deep. Lots of metal deposits."
"How do you imagine we'd live?"
"With ready access to buildin' materials? Like damn queens! Couple-a water filters, a bioreactor, fresh fish... but, Chief, we'll eat seaweed salad and drink our own urine if that's what it takes. All that matters is... Do you got somethin' better?" Michael felt disgusted upon hearing the part about consuming urine.
"Send the coordinates to my PDA. I'll review your proposal."
"Drinking- ugh... I think I'm gonna be sick..."
"{Calm down, Michael. There's something called a 'Water Filtration Machine' in the 'Multi-Purpose Room' below us.}"
Michael jumped down the hole in the floor, ending up in another large space, and there was a machine in the corner, but there was a layer of dust on it. Michael didn't care; he just shook the dust off and popped the cap off the bottle of filtered water. He was about to take a drink, but he saw a sort of mold growing from the water, so he tossed away the bottle, spilling its moldy contents on the floor. "I am NOT drinking mold!"
Just then, a humming sound was heard from the Water Filtration Machine. Another bottle of moldy water was ejected, but the machine was still whirring, its two tanks bubbling up. "{I think it's filtering another load of water to pour into a bottle.}"
"What about the mold?"
"{Those two bottles have been sitting out for a while. I'm pretty sure this one won't be moldy.}"
"Right. Why don't we bring back what we can from here to our dimension?"
"{We're not the Fallen! We're not scavengers and pirates!}"
"Well, according to this PDA, Ryley Robinson departed from this planet, named '4546B', around 13 years ago. We're just cleaning up."
"{When you put it that way, I guess I'd be alright with this. How do you suppose we bring everything back?}"
"We'll need to find our way back to the portal site first, then we can worry about picking up abandoned materials."
"{No argument there.}"
"According to the PDA, there should be a... 'Seamoth' docked in the 'left Moonpool', with a 'Cyclops' out in the water."
With that, Michael made his way through the Habitat, finding the Moonpool that housed a submersible vehicle. He hopped in, triggering an auto-release as the hatch overhead closed with a watertight seal.
Music
Subnautica - Into The Unknown
The Seamoth was dropped into the water, where the controls were then engaged. A different computerized voice was heard. "All systems online. Welcome aboard, Captain."
Getting a feel for the controls, Michael turned the Seamoth around, finding a much larger submarine.
The bottom of the Cyclops opened, allowing Michael to drive the Seamoth into the large vessel's docking bay.
A deep male voice blared as the Pilot climbed out of the smaller submersible. "Welcome aboard, Captain. All systems online." Michael made his way to the cockpit, taking hold of the steering wheel. A sort of holographic display appeared from the window, showing that the engine was offline. He pressed the button that looked like a fan, causing said fan to begin spinning up. "Engine powering up."
"{Displaying rift site location on the interface.}"
"Ahead flank. Emergency speed." Michael pushed the wheel in, causing the Cyclops to accelerate through the ocean. After about a minute of driving straight, the onboard AI bellowed an alert. "Warning: Engine overheat."
"{Looks like the engine's temperature is reaching dangerously high levels. You might wanna slow it down.}"
"Solid copy."
"Ahead standard."
2:42 PM
04/13/3273
Dimension 13
Planet 4546B
Mountain Island
Music
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - Briefing Room & Ambience Theme
Michael had arrived back at the island upon which he first entered this dimension. He pressed the engine button, then went away from the controls. "Engine powering down."
Michael hopped back into the Seamoth, then drove it softly up to the surface, where it then rested in the sand for until he would return.
Before returning to the portal arch, Michael eyed a floral specimen, which the recovered PDA identified as a 'Bulbo Tree', detailing it to have a high water content, and saying it was safe for human consumption.
He pulled out his Data-Knife, then carved out a sample, which then vanished into Rocco's storage. He cut another piece, then plopped it into his mouth. It tasted vaguely like watermelon and cantaloupe mixed together... with a hint of orange. "Hmm. Not bad." With that, Michael continued on his way home.
We have entered the world of Subnautica! Did any of you expect that? Probably not.
Anyway, I will most definitely see you next time. Farewell.