Chapter Text
“Lucky bastard… Guys! There’s another lifepod.” Mei Yu, or as she preferred to be called by her peers Lynn, called out to the others as they surfaced.
Osvald Larson and Nicolas Berkeley, a café owner and an engineer respectively, looked past her at lifepod 5, the Aurora slowly burning in a distance behind it.
“I don’t think that guy is any luckier that we are, there’s smoke coming out of it!” Nick said and resumed swimming in the direction of the lifepod, regrouping with the second officer had to be put on hold.
Ozzy started swimming as well, still catching his breath after having to swim up from his own drowned lifepod. He managed to escape the weird pink snake things but the person who boarded with him wasn’t so lucky, disappearing in the caves after being caught by the creature. When he surfaced, he noticed two distant heads poking out of the water some distance away.
“Please, don’t let it be him.” Ozzy said quietly to himself.
Lynn looked at him as they swam more slowly. Both Lynn and Ozzy were shorter than Nick, who also frequented the onboard gyms more often than either of them, therefore he was able to swim much faster than the already exhausted CTO and café owner. “What do you mean?” She asked, looking at Ozzy’s worried face.
“One friend of mine. I really hope he made it.” Ozzy sighed.
If they weren’t swimming, Lynn would put her hand on Ozzy’s shoulder to try and comfort him. “Aurora had a lot of lifepods, I’m sure he got into one.”
The rest of the swim was made in silence. When they saw Nick climbing up on the lifepod and opening the hatch only for more smoke to come out of it they forced themselves to speed up.
Nick quickly slid down the ladder only to find the solo inhabitant knocked out cold with blood running down his face as the other side of the small space was up in flames. “Piece of garbage of a lifepod.” He cursed to himself as he grabbed the fire extinguisher and took out the flames.
“Nick! Is anyone even inside?” Lynn called out as she climbed up the outside ladder.
“Yeah, there is. He’s knocked out though.” Nick said, dropping the fire extinguisher to check the guy’s pulse.
Lynn slid down into the lifepod with Ozzy following behind her. “Ouch.” She winced at the sight of the deep gash on the guy’s forehead.
“Sweet Christ, Ryley.” Ozzy breathed out. It was Ryley Robinson, Ozzy’s childhood friend and non-essential systems maintenance chief (a fancy name for a janitor).
“I guess that’s the friend you were talking about.” Lynn watched as Ozzy nodded. “You two get him out of the seat, we’ll bandage him up and wait until he’s conscious again.”
Ozzy and Nick nodded and did as told. There wasn’t enough space to lay Ryley down, so they sat his limp body by one of the walls. Lynn then made a quick work of the wound on Ryley’s forehead. All she needed to do was disinfect it and clean off some of the mostly dried blood.
It didn’t take long for Ryley to start waking up. “What the fuck.” He mumbled when opened his eyes.
“An accurate reaction for sure.” Nick shrugged.
Ozzy rolled his eyes. “What’s the last thing you remember?” He asked instead.
Ryley pointed at the loose panel. “The Aurora exploding and this hitting me in the face.”
Ozzy nodded, relieved that Ryley wasn’t too confused. They both looked up to see the two engineers examining the large screen on the wall.
“How is it possible that the lifepods are this messed up?” Nick asked, genuinely confused.
Lynn only shrugged before sitting down. “I know this lifepod had some trouble with the radio but that’s all I remember.”
“Wait, all of them are messed up?” Ryley asked. The day before he made a report on the lifepods’ maintenance, noting that number 5 had busted radio but that was all.
“Ours and Ozzy’s sunk immediately to the bottom. If we hadn’t escaped when we did, we would have to swim up 500 meters and Ozzy ended up by a cave.” Nick explained.
“The guy who boarded the lifepod with me got caught by a weird snake thing.” Ozzy added.
They fell silent as they absorbed their new situation. “What now?” Ryley dared to ask.
“We need to fix this place up. So far, it’s our best bet while it’s still floating.” Lynn said and got ready to stand back up.
“Hold on, take a break for a minute.” Ozzy said. “Doing this exhausted won’t do any good.”
While resting they chatted, mostly about the blueprints in their PDAs and how strange the new recipes were. Soon enough they got back into the water.
The area was thankfully shallow and less dangerous compared to what they’ve seen so far. They also decided to swim in pairs just to be sure – Lunn with Nick and Ozzy with Ryley. It made gathering resources a bit faster and by the time the sun was almost down they each had an air tank and few basic tools.
“What did you find?” Ryley asked as he watched Nick scroll through his PDA, the scanner lying next to him.
Nick frowned as he read something. “A Boomerang…?” He said and turned the screen around to show the others. “I’m not eating that, brother.”
Ozzy scowled as well. “I don’t we’ll have much of a choice.”
Everyone groaned in disgust.
“Hey, do you have everything for the repair tool?” Lynn asked. “I’m missing the Sulphur, other than I have everything.”
Ozzy sudde9syarted laughing. “Ryley has some.”
“And I’m never getting more.” Ryley grumbled and handed her the materials. “A damn explosive fish was protecting it.”
“What the hell is this planet.” Lynn sighed and got up to use the fabricator. Few minutes later the lifepod systems were back up.
“Let’s see what this thing has to say.” Nick said and reached up to turn on the radio for any received messages.
The radio scrambled a few times before a voice came through. “This is Christopher Keen, lifepod 19… The captain is gone, I have assumed command.” The second officer’s voice was shaky and heavy with emotion. He paused obviously trying to keep it together. “Before I lost contact with the Aurora I was sent coordinates for dry land west of the crash site, we regroup there. Keen out. This message will now repeat.”
The group of four just starred at each other as Christopher’s message was repeated in the same broken voice.
“Well… at least we have a plan now.” Ryley said.
“Fuck!” Christopher yelled when he surfaced from where his lifepod sunk to the seabed. Even though he saw mostly the engines of the large ship, it still didn’t hide the massive flames.
Never in a million years would he think that they would crash on an alien planet with a brand-new ship. It was a mission to build a phasegate and try to establish contact with the Degasi since, as he had to argue many times, it was thanks to the Mongolians that they even had the fuel to fly so far into the space.
But he didn’t have time to worry about the past, even if it was only a few days since the last argument, he was now responsible for any possible survivors. He looked around and thankfully saw the island barely visible through the fog around it and started swimming.
By the time he reached the sandy beach his lungs were burning. He laid down on his back to catch his breath. After a moment he heard quick footsteps approaching and he jumped up to his feet but when he turned around to come face to face with someone who wasn’t part of the Aurora crew.
Christopher knew exactly who the man was. “Bart Torgal?” He watched him nod. “How is this possible?”
“I’ll explain everything later.” Bart said. “But we should try and regroup as much of the crew as possible.”
“They have the coordinates…” Christopher trailed off to swallowing heavily again. “The captain sent them to me before the impact.” He watched as Bart nodded. “Christopher Keen, by the way.” He held his hands up.
Bart shook hit firmly. It felt strange since he didn’t have any contact with other people for almost a decade. “Is there anything I can provide you with right now?”
Christopher was quiet for a moment before shaking his head. “I worry not. I’ll need to see how much of the crew I can regroup before further planning.”
“How many people did the Aurora carry?” Bart asked as they both looked at the ship.
“Around 150. Majority were Alterra employees, but we had some passengers.” Christopher explained. “A Mongolian emissary Jochi Khasar was one of them. If I remember correctly, he boarded the lifepod 13.”
Bart swallowed at the mention of their long-time family friend. He was a decade older than Bart but still felt like his brother.
While they waited both Bart and Chris recapped the crashes to each other. Bart explained everything about the Degasi and how Paul and Marguerit died while Christopher told him more about their main and side mission.
When they were about to conclude their conversation, Bart suddenly called out. “Somebody’s swimming towards the island.” He said, pointing in the direction of a person swimming towards them.
They ran into the water is much as the island allowed them, stopping right by the edge of the floating island with only the dark depths below them. They recognized the black and blue suit.
“God’s, Jochi!” Bart couldn’t help himself as they pulled him from the water.
Jochi took a souple of seconds to realize who was hugging him tightly. “Bart?!” He pulled him away slightly to look at him. Even though Bart was almost ten years older than the last time he saw him Jochi still recognized him. Bart was even taller, his dark hair kept how he used to, and his face was covered in scars. Jochi pulled him back into a hug.
After a minute they pulled apart again. “Are you alone?” Jochi asked as he looked around them.
Bart shrugged. “I am. father and Marguerit have been gone for a long time.” He said quietly.
Jochi squeezed his shoulder before turning to Christopher who was standing more to the side. “Is there no other crew alive?” He asked.
“I sent a distress call with coordinates to this island.” Christopher explained.
“I must have missed that one.” Jochi sighed. “And the captain?” He asked but was met with silence from the officer.
“He attempted a controlled descent. He must have died on impact along with the rest of the crew still on board.” Christopher said.
Jochi didn’t know what to say to both Bart and Chris.
“It’s now a waiting game. Hopefully more people find this island.” Bart broke the silence. Jochi and Christopher agreed with him and allowed Bart to finally take them back to the half-buried base on the other side of the small hill.
“If we bring him a tank he can make the swim up no problem.” Lynn said as they prepared to go out and help the medical officer, Matthew Danby, back to the shallows.
“If he doesn’t bleed out first.” Ryley pointed out that Matthew mentioned that he was injured pretty badly.
“Isn’t he medical officer?” Nick asked and looked over at Ozzy. The redhead already established that he managed to befriend Matthew after he began going to his café instead to the ones intended for personnel in higher positions, it also explained why both he and Ryley were on first name basis with the medic.
Ozzy sighed. “Be honest, when was the last time you heard about a doctor actually doing a surgery?” He looked at the blonde.
“Um…” Nick was caught off guard.
“Right. They don’t even fix dislocated joints because that’s what robots do now.” Ozzy said.
Lynn stopped at what she was doing as realization hit her. “Is his license even legit?”
Ozzy shook his head. “He’ll be mad at me later, but he admitted that it wasn’t. He did learn more medical stuff on his own but never practiced. All he did was read stuff from screens while robots did all his work.” He explained.
“That’s… depressing.” Lynn said.
“Don’t get me wrong, robots are helpful but there is a limit and in the medical field they crossed that line by a lot.” Ryley said. And it was true, doctors were still some of the most well-paid positions but who knew when the last time was a surgery was done by an actual human.
“Legit license or not, we still need to get as many people together as we can. Then it’s time to find Keen on that island.” Nick said and finished fastening all his equipment to his belt.
“Let’s get us another friend.” Lynn said more sarcastically lighten the mood and they set out to make the long journey to lifepod 12.
It took them a little longer than anticipated but eventually they found the lifepod down between large bulb plants with a bunch of large aggressive fauna swimming around.
“I hope we got you in time.” Ozzy said as he slid down into the lifepod after Nick with Lynn and Ryley following close behind.
Matthew chuckled from his place by one of the walls. “Maybe, but it’s a close call.” He held his bloodied hand from the gash on his abdomen.
“Oh, this will burn like a bitch out there.” Nick hissed.
Matthew shrugged. “It’s my own fault I chose the worst career path.” He gave Ozzy a knowing look.
“How do you know I told them?” Ozzy blushed at being caught so easily.
“You suck at keeping secrets.” Matt said bluntly.
“Fuck you.” Ozzy said but still crouched by him with the few med kits they brought with them. “at least I know how to sow shit together.”
“I know how to do that but not in this situation.” Matthew removed his hand from the wound.
Lynn examined it from her spot behind Ozzy. “What happened? Did a panel fly loose like in Ryley’s lifepod?”
“No.” Matthew managed to say before he groaned loudly as Ozzy disinfected the wound. “Tried to go outside but I wasn’t welcomed.”
“I see.” Lynn hummed. “Well. Once you’re fixed up, we’ll get you out of here.”
“Keen is regrouping the crew on an island. It’s pretty far but we already have seaglides.” Ryley explained.
Matthew couldn’t help but be impressed. “Damn, you’re lucky with the PDAs in emergency mode and all.”
“You know what they say, there’s strength in numbers.” Ozzy shrugged and finally began sewing the skin together.
“Let’s just hope that we won’t be the only ones showing up.
They were the only ones showing up, at least they were the only new people showing up to the island.
“You look like you need a drink.” Lynn said when Christopher, along with Jochi and Bart, met them at the shore of the island.
“I could say the same thing about Danby.” Christoper said, eyeing the medic in concern.
Matthew sighed with guilt. He was slightly hunched over as the injury burned from saltwater soaking through the exposed bandages. “It could be worse.”
“Is this really everyone?” Bart asked in shock, his gaze switching between the small group of survivors and the ship.
Nick nodded. “So far, all the lifepods we found were destroyed or out of reach due to the radiation from the Aurora.”
“The drive core is damaged?” Christopher asked alarmed.
Lynn nodded. “The walls of the core must have been damaged during the fall, there’s radiation all around the ship and if we don’t want it to kill the environment we have to fix it.”
Jochi rubbed his face tiredly. “Oh lord.”
“I think we should retire for the night. We’ll work on a better plan tomorrow.” Christopher let out a long and exhausted sigh.
The group couldn’t really protest, they were all tired and Matt was barely standing plus his bandages needed to be changed. The weather was thankfully nice, so they didn’t have to squeeze into Bart’s small base and sleep outside under the stars instead.
As the sun slowly set behind the horizon the group settled down around a small fire. It wasn’t cold but the campfire was a nice touch.
Matt was now decently drugged with pain medication and antibiotics, resting on his back as he stared up at the stars in his sleepy state. Ozzy was taking a look around the rather big garden Bart had set up over the years. Ryley was standing close to Ozzy, listening to whatever his friend was saying as he stretched his muscles, some of which he already managed to strain while swimming away from a stalker. Lynn was chatting with Chris while they tried to figure out their best course of action if no other survivors showed up. Jochi was still questioning Bart about the last decade. Lastly, Nick was idly messing around with his knife.
Bart looked around as unease filled him. He subconsciously rubbed a spot on his hand.
“Bart, are you alright?” Jochi asked quietly when Bart quieted down suddenly.
Bart sighed before he spoke more loudly to catch the others’ attention. “There’s something you should know about this planet. It might even explain how we all ended up here.”
All eyes were on him now. Even Matt, who was fighting sleep with all his drugged-up might, watched him.
“There’s another island. It’s mostly a mountain but there’s this thing called the Quarantine Enforcement Platform and it’s what shot down both the Degasi and now the Aurora.” Bart explained.
“This planet is under quarantine?” Lynn asked.
Bart nodded and took off one of his gloves, revealing the small green blisters on his hand. “This is Kharra, a bacterium that is all over this planet. To be honest, it should have killed me a long time ago, but I found a way to delay it.”
Jochi stared at him in horror, the others did as well.
Bart used the silence to explain further. “If you saw a Peeper leaving behind a strange golden trail, it’s because it’s carrying a certain enzyme that slows down the spread of this sickness. My theory is that it could possibly cure it completely, but I didn’t have any blueprints for any further upgrades for my seamoth and couldn’t explore any deeper.”
“How deep does this place go?” Nick asked. He was now sitting up, the knife stabbed in the ground next to him.
Bart shrugged. “Definitely deeper than half a kilometre down. “Our deepest base was at five hundred meters, and we had enough data to upgrade our seamoths to go all the way to six hundred.”
“Damn.” Nick hummed before he looked up at Chris. “I think there were blueprints for more upgrades at the Aurora.”
“I’m sure there were but we can’t get in or any closer to it with the radiation.” Chris said, making a strong point.
Ozzy and Ryley were now standing by the campfire. “We saw parts of the ship in the shallows, that’s how we got most of our blueprints.” Ryley said.
“We should explore as many of them as we can. From experience, any blueprint is a big step forward.” Bart said.
Everyone nodded. “And the bacterium? How worried should we be about that?” Ozzy asked, the mention of a possibly incurable alien disease was making him anxious.
“I’ll try to gather as many of the Peepers as I can to extract the enzyme to have in storage. If we manage to get more upgrades for any vehicles we can go deeper and hopefully and a cure for this thing.” Bart explained.
“Are you sure the place we need to find is deep under?” Jochi asked. He didn’t like questioning Bart’s intelligence, especially with the cerebral implants and his experience on the planet, but Jochi lacked the confidence that Bart had.
Bart nodded. “There are vents around the Crater and scans show that the end point is deeper than the scanner can reach. I found six of these vents and saw only Peepers going in and when they were swimming back out, they carried the golden trail.”
Even though none of the Aurora crew saw it themselves, Bart’s confidence in his research filled them with determination.
“Alright.” Chris said. “Starting tomorrow, we’ll try to gather as many materials and blueprints as we can. Matt will remain here until he recovers. Be mindful of the fauna. From what Bart told and showed us, it’s nothing to mess around with.” He addressed the remaining Aurora crew as they looked to him for further instructions.
“Copy that, captain.” Lynn said, more as a joke, knowing that Chris will absolutely despise that title.
Chris rolled his eyes while quiet chuckles escaped the others, even Jochi and Bart. “One more thing… no titles and first name basis only.”
“Are you sure?” It was Jochi’s turn to ask. Back on the Aurora there were only two people who could call Chris by his name and not address him as ‘officer Keen’.
Chris nodded. “There’s no ship to be a captain of. My job now is to keep you guys together and alive.” He glanced at Matt who was now out cold, all the meds beating him. “Hopefully it will actually work out next time.” He said with a slight scowl.
This time quiet laughter spread between the group before the camp fell silent again. Slowly, everyone started settling down to get some sleep since they had a whole lot of swimming ahead of them.