.

SURVIVOR

Survivor

Words could never describe how painful it was to be the last one standing. Words could never describe the grief, guilt, and utter sorrow he felt listening to those logs. The last moments of men and women he had called his friends. Men and women that he had known well and laughed with and drank with. Words could never describe how agonizing it was to hear the fear recorded in their voices by the logs they left behind, or the distress messages that regularly came in but always too late. Not that words had ever done him much good anyway. He'd been born mute. Sign language and writing had been his means of communication.

The first few messages he'd dared hope had been new. Fresh cries for help. Lives he could still save if he just got there fast enough. It killed him inside that he could never seem to reach them in time no matter how fast he moved or how close to him they were. He had been so confused about how they could just-just disappear like that! Then slowly it began to dawn on him that no matter when the distress calls came on the radio, no matter how recently they'd pinged, he was already too late… By the time the recordings reached him, they were hours if not days old, and those who had sent them were already long gone.

Jochi, Ozzy, Hollister, Huggins, Fournier, Danby—those had been some of the toughest to swallow. He'd been close to each one. Hinkle, Elheim, Wilson, Keen, Yu, Berkeley—they shouldn't have… Keen and Yu should have been in the top five when it came to survival odds. People like Jochi, Ozzy, and him? They'd been among the least qualified to survive in a place like this, yet here he was! Not Ozzy or Jochi though. Not Keen or Yu or Danby or Berkeley. It just… It didn't make sense. None of it made sense. He couldn't have been out for days! Hours at best! How could everyone he'd ever known, everyone who had escaped, have been lost in just hours? Even if some predator had snatched them up and devoured them, there should have still been something left! Some memorabilia besides PDAs. Blood, remains, anything. For pete's sake, he'd been told specifically to retrieve what was left of Jochi and bury him, but there hadn't been anything there to collect! People didn't just disappear within a few hours without a trace. Yet here he was. Completely alone… Like something had just taken the survivors away…

He remembered the Warper messages. He'd never known how old those were, but if they'd been real-time, then that meant there had still been others alive out there while he'd been exploring and searching for them but never finding them, and that meant he'd failed them! He'd failed! He liked to pretend instead that something else had gotten to them first. That the 'something' had brought them somewhere safe. At least the ones who could have and should have still made it. It made it easier to cope that way.

He listened listlessly to Ozzy's last recording again for what felt like the hundredth time.

"I don't understand how we're here now. I don't know why no one's coming for me!"

"I'm sorry Oz…" he thought to himself as he closed his eyes and remembered back to a time long before this nightmare had begun.

He sniffed and looked up towards the sky. The Sunbeam was due to arrive soon, but he wasn't sure that was a good idea. Something had brought the Aurora down. He wasn't sure what, but whatever it had been, it was still out there. What if the Sunbeam was its next victim? Even if they made it, was it safe for them to bring him anywhere? He'd run multiple self-scans at this point, and whatever weird alien disease he had picked up, it was just getting worse! The last thing he wanted was to get anyone else sick. He sighed in frustration and stood up to head to the designated location where Sunbeam would arrive. He briefly wondered if Maida, Bart, and Paul had ever made it to the location he was being pinged to.

The Degasi… Another story of tragedy. At least none of them had crashed down here alone, though. Then again, they'd probably all died alone... He wasn't sure which one was the worst prospect.

Drawing a breath, he slipped into the water and swam over to the always-reliable Seamoth. Boarding it, he set off for the coordinates pinged by Sunbeam. It was uncharted territory for him so far, so he was the furthest thing from comfortable going there. Still, if it was anywhere near as bountiful as the Floating Island had been—why on earth had the Degasi trio ever left? He was under the impression Maida and Bart had both underestimated the place and the bounty on and below it—then he was set for a good long while.

He drove in silence, and as he neared the destination his eyes slowly widened in awe, lips parting. What on 4546B…? Dubbed Poseidon by him, by the way. The building in front of him… It was unlike anything he'd ever seen! Once upon a time, intelligent alien life had lived here. Not animalistic like the creatures he'd met already, but a genuine, sentient race with technology probably hundreds if not thousands of years ahead of their own! And that beach! Almost reminded him of home and one of those places he would have loved to vacation in but could never get to. There weren't a lot of opportunities for people like him on Alterra.

He drove the Seamoth up on the beach, though not far enough to landlock it, and got out, approaching the massive structure in awe. He heard something crack beneath his feet and looked down with a gasp only to see a broken tablet. There was no way he'd been the one to break it, he figured. He scanned it then knelt down to get a better look, holding it together. It wasn't self-repairing, apparently. He set it down and began to explore the island a little more. This place was rich in metals! Hopefully ones he wouldn't need anymore, if he was going home soon, but it was good to take note of just in case Sunbeam couldn't get through to the planet. He stopped when he saw a purple tablet on the ground up ahead. What on the planet was it doing here? He approached it and picked it up. Fully intact. He kept exploring and was bowled over when he found another in the same condition! How was that for luck? It was unsettling too, though. Why would they have been left here like this?

Taking the second tablet, he made his way back down to the beach, examining the strange objects, and approached the facility blocked off by a forcefield. His scanner beeped, indicating something nearby could be scanned. Curiously he pulled it out and looked around. Maybe that pedestal there? He approached and scanned it. As he neared, it opened up and showed the purple symbol. He caught his breath, eyes widening, and quickly pulled out a purple tablet. Maybe… He looked at the pedestal again and placed it down carefully. Almost immediately the pedestal closed over it and the force field went down! Ryley stared at it a moment, considering his options, then decided why not? He had time to kill. Checking that he had everything he would need for exploration, he made his way inside.

Subnautica

It was with a chilling dread that he realized what this building was. The massive needle plunged into his arm checking for infection, and the mention of a gun told him everything he needed to know. Figuring out what had shot Aurora out of the sky had been no issue after that. Realizing what fate awaited the Sunbeam horrified him. The only way to save the crew was to find a cure, but he didn't even know where to begin looking! He scrambled anyway, searching desperately for any possible way to fix this before it was too late. He couldn't let anyone else die, he couldn't! He didn't want that blood on his hands. He didn't want that guilt! He didn't want to be the cause of anyone else's death!

He had two days at most. The hours ticked by like seconds. It wasn't okay. He wanted to save them. Needed to save them! He got so close. He reached the facility in question! Then he saw it needed a blue tablet. Where had there even been a blue tablet?! He couldn't stop the sob that escaped his lips as he drew his hands through his hair. He wouldn't make it. He couldn't. He'd barely made it here with his life. He almost hoped he didn't make it back out, just so he wouldn't have to watch them die and know he'd failed again. For real this time.

All he could do was return to the island. All he could do was try to warn them not to come. Morse code maybe? All he could do wasn't going to be enough, and he watched in numb horror and overwhelming grief as the Sunbeam drew near and the massive alien gun tilted to meet it. He watched in shock as the gun fired and the ship exploded. For a second, just a second, he could have sworn he saw escape pods fall out of range of the blast, but at this point, he felt beyond hope. He sank to his knees in crippling grief and guilt and gave a shout of terror when he saw the fate that befell the Sunbeam as it was dragged down to Poseidon's surface and vanished beneath the waves…

That was it. His last hope of escape. Maybe he could build a rocket, sure, but that would be a miracle and a half to pull off, and even if he did get away, what then? What even was left for him to return to? Sill, return he would, though he didn't know why. In fact, he got the feeling he'd regret this decision immensely, but someone needed to tell their stories. Loved ones, if there were any, needed closure. For them, for the Sunbeam, for the Degasi, he had to return. He couldn't let this all be for nothing. Alterra needed to be warned about this place, he needed to get it marked designation red, and no one could ever come back here again. All he was able to do now was press on. He needed to cure this disease anyway. He sniffed and closed his eyes. He felt tears sting them but not fall. He wished he'd been good enough…

Subnautica

On the fortieth day, he found it. The source of his visions.

"Are you here… to play?"

She was as beautiful as she was terrifying.

"Others came here once. They built these walls. They played… alone. They bored me. Now they're gone. And instead… we have you. We are curious whether you swim with the current, or fight against it as they did.

She let go of the platform and began to swim away. He watched after her, totally awed. He explored her chamber. He found her eggs. He examined the architecture all around while his PDA rattled off information. She came and set herself down in front of him, large and majestic. He looked up at her slowly, both unnerved by yet somehow trusting of her. She observed him a moment then began swimming again.

"My young need to hatch. To play outside this place." She landed a second time. "We have been here so long. The others built a passage to reach the world outside. I asked them for this freedom, but they could not hear me." She roared then began to blow on a large pile of sand. He watched in awe as a large portal gate was uncovered. "If you help us, I will give you freely what the others tried in vain to take."

His brain immediately went to his crewmates. He didn't know why, it just did. "My friends back?" he mentally asked, assuming she would be able to read his mind if she so pleased to. He felt like a fool the moment he thought those words. Even if she'd had that kind of power, it wouldn't be his friends she brought back. It would be her lost child. Who knew if she'd even heard him anyway? The look she gave him, though... it almost seemed sympathetic. She offered no response, just went back to swimming around. He opened the gate shortly after and she returned almost immediately, landing once more.

"With the passage you have opened my young can leave this place. But first they must feel the time is right and break free of their shells. This is what the others could not force from me. To you, I give the secret willingly." The blueprint appeared out of nowhere. He knew what he had to do and set off to do it.

On the forty-fifth day, he had collected all that was needed, synthesized the enzyme, and returned to her. He hatched her young. He saw himself failing yet another companion. She was dying, he knew. Would there be any end to the death he was witnessing on this planet? "What will it be like, I wonder, to go to sleep and never wake up." A lump formed in his throat that he painfully swallowed over. Those words above all others for the rest of that conversation struck him. He left her with great reluctance and shut down the alien gun even though it wasn't in time to save Avery and his crew. Failure after failure.

He built the Neptune, he built the time capsule—though he hoped it would never be found given what it would mean if it was—but he didn't leave just yet. There was one more thing he wanted to do.

Subnautica

Going around the crater one last time - one last search - he built a small memorial base over each and every one of his companions' pods, and one extending out over the void in memory of Avery and his crew. Even though he knew his crewmates and the Sunbeam's were probably all dead, he put a medkit, fabricator, radio, bed, and a locker with some food and water inside each one of those bases, and on each one he left an epitaph. One on the Aurora as well, and three more on the Floating Island for Bart, Paul and Marguerit, but mostly Bart. Bart was the one he'd felt most connected to out of all the Degasi crew.

Jochi Khasar – You really were one of the good ones.

Oswald Jones and Aubrey LaFette – I miss you, Oz. Take care of him LaFette.

Jonathan Keen – I'm sorry for hating you.

Cameron Berkeley and Saran Yu – I only wish I'd had your courage.

Victor Huggins and Josephine Fournier – Here's to you, the baddest of asses.

Peter Hinkle and Ava Elheim – I wish I could have saved you. I'm sorry I was too late.

Sarah Wilson and Unknown Passenger – You did your best, both of you.

Captain James Hollister – I owed you everything. I only wish I could have repaid it.

Unidentified – Here's to a stubborn old man who wouldn't give up.

Thomas Danby – I forgive you.

Marguerit Maida – Marguerit, I hope you went out in a blaze of glory.

Paul Torgal - You did the best you could. You protected them the only way you knew how. I wish you could have succeeded.

Bart Torgal - I wish you'd understood the visions I suspect you saw. I wish you could have been spared. I wish you could have lived. I'm sorry it took so long for anyone to come for you.

Avery Quinn and Crew – I am so, so sorry. I wish you'd never come for me.

He had a lot of wishes, he noted as he finished off the last epitaph and floated away from the edge of the void while looking out into its inky blackness and hearing the distant shrieks of the ghosts. He swam back to his base in the shallows.

Subnautica

Cuddles the Cuddlefish floated around in the water beneath him as he logged his last log. The one that would be locked in the time capsule with whatever he decided to leave behind.

On the fourtieth day I found it. The source of my visions. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. On the forty-fifth, I found what she sent me for.

Where am I supposed to go from here? Back home like nothing happened? Like I didn't lose everyone I knew and loved on this planet I call Poseidon? Like I didn't fail to save a single person? I don't know. I feel so lost…

I built a shelter in each of their memories. In Sunbeams's too, over the Void. And in the Emperor's. I never found the bodies. Not any of them. I suppose that at least this way I can pretend like maybe somehow, someway, they survived too and will one day be found or return. I should have been faster. Maybe then they'd still be here. A part of me wishes I'd died with them…

Take care of Cuddles for me, if you find him swimming around the Safe Shallows. You'll know him to see him. He's the only friend I have left. Maybe get him a little buddy or two. I know there are other eggs out there somewhere.

In Memory of the Crew and Passengers of the Vessel Aurora, of the Vessel Sunbeam, and of the Vessel Degasi. Non-Essential Systems Maintenance Chief Ryley Robinson signing off.

PS: Hey Bart, wherever you are, at least there's still the view.

He smiled a little at the last entry and tucked the message into the time capsule. He slipped into the water to say goodbye. He wished he could take the little one with him, but who knew what kind of sick experiments Alterra would conduct if they ever got their hands on it? It was better off here anyway in its natural habitat. He teared up saying goodbye, he was man enough to admit as much, and honestly he had second thoughts about leaving at all, but his friends, his crewmates, Sunbeam and Degassi… Those stories needed to be told, he reminded himself again. Though how he could hope to tell them in a way that did them justice was beyond him, given his mutism. He would try anyway though. He wouldn't stop trying until their tale was heard. He went to the Neptune, he boarded up, and he got the hell out of there once and for all. Also made sure when he hit that stupid debris field that he didn't get knocked out again.

As he went, he heard her voice one last time…

"What is a wave without the ocean? A beginning without an end? They are different, but they go together. Now you go among the stars, and I fall among the sand. We are different. But we go… together."

She slowly faded away, and he realized he was crying again. Sniffing, he buried his face in his hands and at last let himself sob for all he'd lost...