Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hey there! This is just an advertisement chapter to get people interested in this work before I post the first part. If anyone is interested I really appreciate kudos and comments, so drop some below, thanks! Btw, if you see any spelling/grammar errors or just errors in general please point them out so I can fix them!

Chapter Text

Kai locked himself into the chair, hands flying up to grip the restraints in fear. 

“Launch in 3…2…1.” The pod jerked as it flew away from the ship. He could see the remnants of the Destiny’s Bounty falling away from the hull. An explosion destroyed the rest of the shuttle, and the shockwave rattled through his pod. The fire extinguisher fell off the wall and the electronics panel disconnected from the box and slammed into the ground. Kai flinched and tightened his grip on the arms of his chair, closing his eyes momentarily. By the time he opened them again the lights had flickered out. The pod rocked violently, sending the panel into the air again. The last thing Kai saw before he blacked out was the panel speeding towards his face.

Kai awoke and slammed his hand down on the button, scrambling desperately to get out of the chair. The restraints lifted and he stood up, quickly getting a head rush. He coughed, the pod was filled with smoke and the crackling of fire reached his ears. He fumbled across the floor, finding the fire extinguisher and spraying it hastily across the flame. The pod grew dark and Kai shook his head, blinking rapidly. He closed his eyes again, his head hurt, really bad. He pulled out his PDA, frantically tapping the screen. 

A yellow notice flashed onto the dark screen. Booting in Emergency Mode.

The screen had the Alterra loading screen with a small spinning triangle. 

“You have suffered minor head trauma,” The PDA announced. That explained his headache. “This is considered an optimal outcome. This PDA has now rebooted in emergency mode with one directive: to keep you alive. Please refer to the databank for detailed survival advice. Good luck.” Kai had a bad feeling about a computer telling him to stay alive. PDA stood for “personal digital assistant” and Kai suspected it would be his only companion for now. He closed the PDA and tucked it into his belt. He looked around, taking inventory of the destruction to his pod. The secondary systems had wires exposed and was sparking and the radio was making a hissing sound. He pulled the storage compartment open. 

“Alright, two flares, two water bottles, and two nutrients blocks.” Kai noted, hopping he wouldn’t forget. He tapped on the screen that displayed the pod’s vitals. A yellow warning was flashing above the red text: 

- Circuitry Test: FAILED
- Secondary Systems: OFFLINE
- Radio: OFFLINE 
- Distress Signal Broadcast: FAILED
- Flotation Devices: DEPLOYED 
- Hull Integrity: OK 

The PDA’s computerized voice came on suddenly, and Kai leapt out of his skin with a string of curses. 

“Detecting increased local radiation levels. Trend is consistent with damage to the Bounty’s drive core, sustained during planetfall.” The PDA drawled. Kai shuddered.

“Shit, that can’t be good.” He stomach growled and the PDA sprang into action once more.

“Calorie intake recommended.” 

Kai rummaged through the storage and pulled out one of the nutrients blocks, crunching his way through it.  He drank most of one of the water bottles to wash down the blocks’ gritty flavor. 

“Vital signs stabilizing.” The PDA announced. Kai groaned, his head still hurt and he didn’t know where he was. He coughed, the pod was still very smoky. He climbed up the ladder and pushed the pod hatch open, climbing out into the warm air. A creature screeched at him as he clambered out and he stood on top of the pod. A shudder of disbelief laced through him and he stared fearfully out at the water. The salty breeze blew across his face. 

“The Destiny’s Bounty suffered orbital hull failure. Cause: unknown. Zero human life signs detected.” The PDA said. Despair was the next thing that jolted through Kai. His friends had been on that ship with him. And then there was the other fact. What was strong enough to have brought down the Bounty? That ship was a brand new model from Alterra. All he knew about The Bounty was that it had been attempting a gravity slingshot around the planet. He couldn’t remember what planet. Kai buried his head in his hands and slumped down on the top of the pod, staring out at the burning carcass of the Bounty. He hated the ocean, and from the looks of it, where he’d landed was nothing but ocean. Or at least in the middle of the ocean.  The PDA announced again.

“Caution. Continued degradation of the Bounty’s drive core may result in quantum detonation. Continuing to monitor.”

The sun began to sink below the horizon and Kai shuddered, sliding down the ladder and back into the pod. He chugged the water bottle, which was unfortunately his last, and curled up in the corner, head buried in his arms. He was going to die here, alone on a desert planet, surrounded by ocean and radiation. He’d be impressed if he didn’t go within the week. He didn’t know how long he sat there.

“Seek fluid intake.”  His PDA chimed in, overpowering the noise of the sparking wires. 

“SHUT UP!” Kai unclipped the PDA and flung it across the pod where it crashed into the wall and slid to the floor. He didn’t need a computer telling him he was dying faster than he thought. His eyes drifted shut. He knew how dangerous it was to sleep after a concussion, but he was too tired to care. 

When he woke up, he lifted his head and retrieved his PDA. He had a missed message about how he needed fluids immediately. How the hell was he supposed to get drinkable water? Obviously that’s how he’d die. Die from dehydration on a planet that seemed to be nothing but water. Ironic. He climbed to the top of the pod and stared down before taking a deep breath. He leapt off and into the water below. He stared around. He could see twisted, molten metal lying on the sea floor, and small creatures swimming about. In the distance he could see tall plants waving in the current. He shuddered and treaded water until his lungs screamed for air and he doggy-paddled to the surface.  He could see the exterior of his pod now; he’d taken Lifepod 5. Smoke was still rising from the pod and creatures were gliding through the air. 

Kai never learned to swim properly, he could doggy paddle and tread, that was it. He dove back under, looking at the massive hollow structures that lined the sea floor. They had smaller corals growing from them and fish darting in and out. He boarded the Lifepod again and shivered. He was thirsty that’s for sure. Kai missed the Bounty. It’d been his home since he and his friends were recruited for the crew. He shook his head, he needed to focus, he needed to find food. The others were fine. He settled the growing pit of anxiety in his stomach for the time and it gave way to hunger. He could try catching one of the fish, he supposed. He hated fish, he hated the ocean, he hated water in general. 

He huffed a sigh and buried his head in his hands. He needed to focus. He opened the hatch to the pod and slid into the warm water again. He swam down until he could touch the sandy floor.  He reached out quickly and grabbed a small large-eyed fish that was swimming near a rock. He swam hastily back to the pod and pushed the hatch open climbing in. The fish wriggled and he tossed it disdainfully on the floor.

“Now, what the hell will I do with this?” He asked the empty lifepod, gesturing at the flopping fish. He sat down  in the intact chair, tugging  his PDA off of his belt. It’s screen brightened and it revealed his blueprint log. He frowned and scrolled through the list, stopping on the one that said ‘cooked peeper’.

“So you’re a peeper?” He asked the fish on the floor. He was slightly surprised it didn’t reply, but he didn’t know what he was expecting. He was talking to an alien fish, in an alien ocean, on an alien planet. He scrolled further down the list until he found an icon that read ‘fabricator’. He clicked on it. 

Basic survival fabricator. Atomically rearranges raw resources into useful objects. The PDA read. He looked up at the  fabrication on the wall. 

“Okay, it doesn’t tell me how to use it soooo…” He picked up the dead peeper, gagging slightly, and set it on the Fabricator’s tray as it unfolded from the wall. He pressed a green start button and a menu popped up. He clicked into the ‘sustenance’ section and found the cooked peeper icon. Two small lasers flashed across the fish and Kai looked away, looking at lasers was never a good idea. At least that’s what his sister and Jay told him. An affirmative beep informed him his peeper was cooked. He wrinkled his nose and grabbed the crispy fish, taking a tentative bite of the tail. He winced it was chewy and the texture, he shook his head and tried to focus on something else. He finished munching his way through the last of the cooked fish (thankfully without throwing up) and he dug through the storage compartment again. He found a third water bottle that had stale, slightly cloudy, water inside of it. 

“Not drinking that.” He sighed and tossed the water bottle over his shoulder. He examined the flares and due to the bottom of the compartment. Shoved into a corner was a waterproof satchel that had a zipper. Kai pulled it out, thankfully it wasn’t wet, so that meant that the pod wasn’t leaking. The bag was musty, but he slung it across his shoulder for future use. He tucked the last nutrients block and the flares into it and shut the compartment. He didn’t know what to do now, and he still needed water. He glanced at the suspicious water bottle before grabbing it and climbing to the top of the pod. He dumped it into the ocean.

“I am not dying because of some shitty water.” He declared tossing the empty bottle back into the pod before climbing down. His muscles ached. He’d only been here for what, a day? Still, he was exhausted. He sat down on the floor of the pod and opened his PDA. The computer had mentioned something about survival advice.

He scrolled until he found the ‘databank’ tab and he clicked on it. A small icon read survival package. He clicked on that and a small drop-down menu expanded. One tab read start here so he did. 

If you are reading this, then you have survived an emergency evacuation of a capital-class ship equipped with Alterra technology. Congratulations: the hard part is over.

Kai scoffed. The hard part was definitely not over. He glanced at the sparking wires in front of him. 

Your PDA has automatically rebooted in Emergency Mode. The operating system has one directive: to keep you alive on a hostile alien world. Of that is not possible it will alert salvage teams to the location of your remains. 

Kai shivered and scowled at the PDA. He hoped it would make him feel better, not worse.

It features:
- Full monitoring of your vital signs for timely survival advice 
- Blueprints for fabricating a range of essential survival equipment, tailored to your environment. 
- Onboard camera, microphone, and OCR technology for short-range situational analysis
- Cross-compatibility with all Alterra complaint products.

NB your personal and work files have been encrypted and may be retrieved at a later date by a licensed engineer. 

Kai blinked. Why the hell did he care about his work files? He wasn’t even that important! He clicked on the next tab in the drop-down menu, which read survival checklist. 

1. Administer first aid if required 
2. Take inventory of available materials and resources 
3. Survey the environment for threats and resources 
4. Construct necessary survival equipment using the lifepod’s fabricator 
5. Check lifepod for damage, and repair as necessary
6. Broadcast local distress signal using lifepod’s short-range radio 
7. Locate other survivors using line of sight or the radio 
8. Find or construct a more permanent habitat 
9. Maintain physical and psychological health until rescue 

NB This information is meant as a general guide. In the first instance you should always follow the advice of your PDA, which has taken your particular circumstances into account. 

He sighed and clicked on the last tab. A low rumbling caught his attention and then he heard what sounded like an explosion. The pod rocked slightly. His PDA sprang into action as he attached it to his belt and scrambled up the lifepod’s ladder. The Destiny’s Bounty was smoking and rumbling in her watery grave. 

“Emergency: A quantum detonation has occurred in the Bounty’s drive core. The reactor will reach a super critical state in T- 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3-“ The PDA’s voice glitched and a static-y ‘2’ and ‘1’ could be heard. The Bounty exploded, and the shockwave almost knocked him off of the pod’s roof. His PDA’s Geiger counter beeped loudly once before settling into a steady hum. Kai watched in horror as part of the hull crashed into the ocean, sending up a massive wave of water. A plume of smoke flared into the sky, causing a dull haze around the Bounty’s fiery corpse. Kai sank to his knees. He’d harbored some delusional hope that maybe he could fix it, that maybe he could leave with the ship. After all it’d been his home for many years. 

“For your convenience the radiation suit has been added to your blueprint database.” His PDA announced. Kai seriously considered tossing the tablet into the ocean. He slid back down the ladder and opened it. He frantically scanned the blueprints until he saw ‘filtered water’. The recipient was grayed out and it read ingredients unknown. 

“No.” He growled. “You’re supposed to be keeping me alive!” He was shouting at the device now, and it remained silent. He sighed and opened the hatch again, dropping down. He swam back down to the floor and reached out, grasping at a purple-ish pink fish that looked like a balloon. He grabbed it and it wriggled furiously, but he swam back to the surface, taking in large gulps of air. 

“Alien lifeforms may have unexpected applications. Utilizing alien resources is a proven survival strategy.” The PDA chimed. Kai looked at the fish in his hand and tilted his head. That meant this fish was useful for something. He hauled himself back into the pod and tossed the fish on the floor. He clicked on the fabricator’s menu and something was blue. He clicked eagerly into the ‘sustenance’ menu and saw that he could make water. This ballon-fish could make water. He grinned broadly and set the fish on the tray, looking away as the lasers danced across its scales. When he looked at it again there was a large bottle of water that he drank gratefully. Now that he could make water, maybe he could survive here. It was a pretty big maybe, but it was a maybe nonetheless. 

Chapter Text

Kai leapt off of the top of the pod and into the water again. He swam to the bottom and touched the floor before grabbing some of the purple…mushrooms(?) that were growing there. He didn’t think mushrooms could grow underwater, but then again, he didn’t think he’d be stranded on an alien planet.  He swam through some of the rocky arches that hung above the seabed, and he found a large clump of rock. He grabbed a different stone and hammered it onto the rock before grabbing whatever fell out and swimming back to the surface. 

“Copper is an essential component for all powered equipment. Your probability of survival just increased to: unlikely, but plausible.” His PDA stated as he examined the small greenish ore.

“Never tell me the odds.” He muttered as he lifted his water-proof bag out of the water, unzipped it, and tossed the sea-mushrooms and copper chunk into it. Then he dived back down to look for anything else useful. His night of reading had revealed that he needed titanium for most of the things that were going to help him. And that the purple mushrooms and copper were going to make him a battery. He managed to find some titanium in one of the caves, alongside a piece of raw lead. He wasn’t sure it was safe to be holding that, but he did it anyway. He made his way back to the pod and tossed his bag in before climbing up after. He’d also found a small spiky piece of quartz that he knew could be used to make glass. The fabricator opened as he stepped next to it, water draining from his suit onto the pod’s floor.

He selected the battery icon in the fabricator and laid the mushrooms and copper on the tray, looking away as the lasers made his battery. He picked up the electronic with a grin and tucked it away in the pod’s storage compartment. The second he picked up the battery, the PDA announced: “new blueprint acquired.” He looked through the fabricator’s menu and selected the scanner tool, setting the battery and titanium on the tray. He picked the finished scanner up and inspected it. 

“The Scanner can be used to synthesize blueprints from salvaged technology, and to record alien biological data.”  The PDA said. Kai frowned and pointed it at himself, pressing the button that read ‘scan’.

“Self-scan complete. Vital signs normal. Continuing to monitor.” A piece of him was relieved at the announcement, but the ‘continuing to monitor’ was what made him nervous. It was probably nothing. He made a few more cooked peepers and his PDA announced:

“It is common for those accustomed to synthetic foods to be repulsed by eating an animal carcass. Remember that humans survived this way for millennia too. The fabricator cooks small organisms, while disposing of the skeletal structure, bodily fluids, and internal organs, thus rendering them safe for human consumption.” 

Kai frowned. He needed to make a repair tool to fix his pod. But he needed cave sulphur, which he had no idea where to get. His PDA had mentioned something about finding cave sulphur in the shallow cavern he was investigating earlier. And he still needed an oxygen tank. He went out again, finding a small chunk of titanium, a metal salvage, and some more quartz. He grinned at the victory and shook the water out of his hair as he climbed into the pod. Kai grimaced; he was never one to get his hair wet unless he was showering. It was his best feature, why would he ruin it? Well second best feature, besides his general good looks of course. He set the metal salvage onto the fabricator and it broke it down into four chunks of titanium. He set three pieces of the mineral onto the tray and watched this time as the fabricator crafted his new oxygen tank. He slid it on. Thankfully, it wasn’t too heavy, and it did provide about 40 more seconds of diving privilege. He made himself some water as well and chugged it, tossing the empty bottle into his “water bottle” corner. 

He paused and looked over at the water bottle corner. He picked up one of the empty bottles and uncapped it, setting it cap-side down so that all the water would drain out of it by the time he got back. He had an idea, but it required paper. He had no clue where to get paper. His PDA had no recipes for it, and he doubted there were any trees nearby. He remembered something and climbed to the top of the pod, looking up at the sky and tilting his head. If there were airborne creatures, they needed a place to land and to nest, and he didn’t think they were going to use what was left of The Bounty for that. There must be an island, or land in general, land of some kind where they lived. If there was land then there might be trees. But he needed the paper now, otherwise he couldn’t figure out the location of the island, assuming there was an island in the first place. It was all very circular, he couldn’t find the island without paper and he couldn’t make paper without finding the island. 

“You got any tips?” He asked the PDA. “Damn, I really am losing my mind. I’m talking to an overpaid tablet who tells me shit about how likely my survival is.” His PDA still didn’t respond. He sighed, maybe there was some paper in the bottom of the storage compartment. He dug around in the compartment when a crinkle caught his attention. 

“I found paper? Paper! Oh, yes! WE HAVE PAPER!” Kai shouted in joy, yanking the yellowed parchment out of the compartment and spreading it against the wall to avoid getting it wet. 

“Alright. Now, one of these critters here has to have some ink, because I need a pen. Unless.” He looked back at the compartment, and sure enough there was a pen. Finally his luck was starting to turn. He folded his paper up neatly and tucked it back into the compartment with the pen. Everything was still sparking and he didn’t want to risk his pod catching on fire…again. 

He needed something to fix the pod, maybe a screwdriver? The repair tool would be best but he needed cave Sulphur for that and he had no idea where that stuff was. Maybe there was a screwdriver in the compartment. He searched for a few minutes and sighed.

“I guess storage can’t have everything.” Kai shrugged. Maybe he could make a pencil out of something from the ocean. He had found lead…but he also didn’t want to accidentally get lead poisoning. He sat down on the intact chair and lowered his head, fingers spread over his eyes. 

“The others would know what to do.” Kai sighed, lifting his head and dropping it back against the headrest. “Even Jay. Actually, especially Jay. And Zane. And all of them, god, I’m gonna lose it if I can’t find them.”  His chest ached with the longing for a familiar face, for a familiar voice, for a familiar anything. He sighed again, he had to keep going. He had to find them. There was no way they weren’t out there.  They were all ten times more capable than he was, and if he was doing fine, they were doing fine. He steadied his breathing and opened his PDA. He found the repair tool in his recipes and clicked on it. 

Multi-purpose repair tool, functional in all environments. The entry read. To make one he needed silicone rubber, which was made from creepvine seed clusters, cave sulfur, which he didn’t know how to find, and titanium, which, thankfully, was easy to come by. Kai opened the hatch in the bottom of the pod and slid into the warm water. He tightened his oxygen tank’s straps and swam to the bottom of the shallows, touching the sand. 

He found a small cave entrance and swam into it. His PDA had warned him against swimming into caves, especially alone. The chittering clicks of the large-headed creatures reached his ears and he shuddered. He hated that sound. It was dark in the cave, and it took a second or two for his eyes to adjust. He tilted his head, studying an eye-like structure on the wall. A fish with a massive eyeball poked its head out and latched its gaze on Kai. Kai blinked in surprise as the fish catapulted towards him and exploded near his ear. He yelped, sending out a string of bubbles. His mask had cracked. He looked back at the fish’s structure and saw a sand-colored object inside. He pulled his scanner out of an outside pocket on his waterproof bag, and scanned the structure. He grabbed the powder, shoved it into a pocket, and swam hastily to the surface. He coughed and took in a large breath of air. He paddled over to the pod and hauled himself on top, yanking off his mask and swinging his legs over the side. He pulled out the powder and studied it before opening his PDA.

Cave sulfur. SO 4 Tr. Sulfur-based powder which collects within particular cave plants. Combustible underwater.

He relaxed and laid back against the pod, looking up at the cloud-streaked sky. 

“Cave sulfur, finally. Gotta keep an eye out for those exploding fish, though.” Kai murmured. “I bet that’s why the fish explode, because they live in the plants where the sulfur collects. And now all I need is a creepvine seed cluster.” He sat up and made his way down into the pod. He tucked the powder in the driest part of the storage before jumping back into the water. He could see the dark green plants swaying gently in the current. 

Alright, all that’s over there are those dinosaur fish. And they’ll bite you, keep that in mind. Kai thought. He stretched out his arms, cupping his hands to obtain the most speed possible. He darted towards the creepvines and yanked a seed cluster off. A screech cut through the water and Kai swam hastily to the bottom of the shallows. He flipped so his back was to the sand and watched for the creature. He swam, face-up towards the pod and away from the creatures. Once he reached the shelter of the rocks, he flipped over again and swam hastily towards the pod, pushing open the hatch and scrambling in.  

“Too close.” He sighed, muscles relaxing. But now he had everything he needed to make the repair tool and fix his pod. He set the seed cluster on the fabricator and swiped until he found the silicone rubber recipe. The lasers deposited his rubber on the tray and he quickly laid the other materials on as well. In a few seconds he was holding a brand new repair tool. He rifled through the storage until he found his purple mushrooms and copper and made a new battery. He put the battery in and clicked the trigger. He grinned. 

Kai pointed it at the secondary systems box and held down the trigger. He watched, amazed, as the wiring pulled itself back into place and the sparking stopped. The lights flickered on in the pod and he sighed with relief. 

“Lifepod secondary systems online. Running full environment diagnostic and outputting results to databank.” His PDA announced.

He spun in a circle and raced to the radio. After a few seconds the red light began to flash. He pressed the ‘relay message’ button and the radio had a seconds of static before leading into the message. 

“This is Destiny's Bounty. Distress signal received.” A high-pitched robotic voice said. The voice gave Kai chills. He didn’t like it. As much as he wanted to hear another voice, this one was too inhuman for him. 

“Rescue operations will be dispatched to your location in 9-9-9-9-9,” The radio glitched and repeated the number for a second. Kai’s heart dropped with fear. “Hours.” 

“Radio online. Broadcasting emergency distress signal.” A quieter robot voice said beneath the first one. 

“Continue to monitor for emergency transmissions from other lifepods.” The first voice finished. The radio became silent. 

“Are there other transmissions?!” Kai shouted at the radio, which remained voiceless. He turned off the tool and shoved it into his bag. He didn’t know what to do now. 

“I gotta make the map and find the island.” He shook his head and opened his PDA. “It did say something about a full ecological scan.” 

He scrolled through the databank until he found the tab titled 4546B Environment Scan. 

He took a deep breath and began to read. 

-Category 3 Ocean Planet

-Oxygen/Nitrogen Atmosphere 

-Extensive biodiversity 

Safety Warnings:

-May support leviathan class predators 

-Water contaminated with high levels of foreign bacteria 

-Planet is beyond federation space, rescue unlikely 

It is not recommended to explore this environment without hazardous material suits and extensive support apparatus.

Kai frowned anxiously. Leviathan class predators? If the small predators here are as bad as they are, he couldn’t imagine how dangerous the leviathans were. And high levels of foreign bacteria? That didn’t look good either. His stomach sank as he stared at the words ‘ rescue unlikely’. 

He shook his head, he had to stay mildly hopeful, otherwise he was never going to survive here. He pulled out his repair tool and fixed the crack in his oxygen mask. He opened the medical kit fabricator and found a waterproof bandage, pressing it across a small cut on his temple. He sat down in his chair, opening his PDA again and finding his databank, maybe it had something useful. 

Limestone Outcrops

These unusual geological structures often form titanium and copper deposits, and are distinct to this planet. Closer analysis reveals the stone around the metal has been hardened against erosion, but the mechanism remains unknown. 

Assessment: titanium and copper source. 

Kai sighed; he knew that already. 

Scattered Wreckage 

Analysis confirms this wreckage is from the Bounty. 

Outer layers of the material have oxidized, suggesting it has been heated to over 1200 degrees Celsius. This pattern is consistent with hull disintegration during atmospheric entry. 

Salvage of intact portions of Alterra vessels is prohibited at legal, moral and technical levels, however scraps such as these may be reclaimed for their titanium content at any Alterra fabricator. 

Kai shuddered. 

“Hull disintegration?” Kai whispered. “How did anyone survive that? Oh, god.” Kai bit his lip and rubbed his eyes in dismay. 

“Nope, nope, they’re alive, they have to be. I’ll just wait for a signal.” Kai took to pacing his small pod. “At least the lights are on.” He opened the hatch and slid into the water. He swam through an arched rock and found a small glowing, light green egg. He picked it up and swam to the surface. His PDA beeped. And he found his databank. A new tab had been added and it read ‘advanced theories’ . 

He swam back to the pod and opened the tab. 

Alien Eggs

Evidence suggests that a substantial number, if not all of the local species reproduce through egg-laying. Eggs can be found resting on the seafloor, buried beneath detritus, or even wedged into cracks in the rock. 

Different species likely favor different biomes as their nesting grounds. Eggs discovered in the wild are in some form of natural stasis, likely awaiting ideal conditions in which to hatch, or the delivery of some vital enzyme which will kick start the process. 

It is possible to calculate the species of the egg from the exterior, however it may be possible to stimulate a hatching response if an egg is relocated to a suitable alien containment unit. 

Kai looked at the egg. 

“So, you’re not hatching anytime soon, are you?” He frowned. “Man, an alien pet would be kind of cool.” He pulled out his scanner and scanned himself. Relief flooded through him when the scanner flashed a green ‘normal’ sign. The sun began to slink below the horizon and Kai slid down the ladder. He set his bag on the chair and stretched himself out on the pod floor, using his arm as a pillow. A loud beeping woke Kai up and he sat up so quickly he hit his back on the chair he’d been sleeping under. 

The radio’s light was beeping. Hope fluttered in his chest and he scrambled to the radio, pressing the relay button. 

“Receiving pre-recorded distress call. Playing back.” The radio’s shrill robot voice gave way to the actual message. 

“This is Lifepod 3, uploading out coordinates. We’re plugging some holes in our emergency Seaglide, so if we're late for the rendezvous, don’t panic. Also, don’t go home without us. Seriously. 3, out.” The message finished. That wasn’t one of his friend’s voices. His PDA beeped and he pulled on his mask, pressing a button on the side. 

A holographic image of a beacon appeared in front of his eyes, with a list of meters beneath. He clambered out of the pod and launched himself into the water, paddling towards the beacon but stopped. 

“I need my stuff, don’t I?” He asked his PDA as he surfaced. He swam back to the pod, throwing his bag over his shoulder and devouring a crispy peeper. He chugged a water bottle and hopped back into the water. He had to take it slowly so he didn’t get a cramp. He wove between the creepvines, looking fearfully behind him to make sure he wasn’t being followed by any shark things. He saw the red number painted on the side of Lifepod 3 glare through the green water, before he surfaced then dove again. 

Kai stifled a gag as he saw the massive hole ripped in the side of Lifepod 3. He put a hand on the side of the pod and swam inside. An abandoned PDA illuminated the pod with a dim blue glow. He grabbed the PDA and shoved it in his bag, before opening a data container that held a small piece of technology. He added it to his bag and swam to the surface before turning back to his pod. After reaching, he scrambled up the ladder and yanked off his mask. He rubbed his eyes and pinched his brow. 

“They didn’t make it.” He murmured. “Whoever was in Lifepod three, they’re gone. Something tore through the metal of their pod. I need to stop talking to myself.” He startled himself with a laugh. He climbed down the ladder and retrieved his egg from the storage. 

“I guess I can talk to you, little unborn alien critter. I think you’d make a good pet someday.” Kai said, tapping the egg gently. The egg remained motionless but warm. “I wonder what you’ll be. I could be holding a baby shark thing in my hands someday.” 

“Or maybe you’re a cute little turtle or something.” Kai tilted his head. “Then, I can put you into one of my little pockets and carry you around. Aw, Lloyd would love you. He really wants a pet. I hope he’s doing okay.” Kai sighed. 

“I’ll do my best to take care of you, little fella. God knows you might’ve been eaten already, just like the person in lifepod three. Or maybe they got away, they did mention a rendezvous. Maybe we just need to find that island.” Kai talked to the egg. He slid the egg into his bag and jumped into the water, pulling out his scanner. He swam hastily after a rabbit-looking critter and scanned it as it breached the surface. 

“Hm.” He tilted his head at the scanner as his head broke the surface again. He swam back to the pod and climbed on top, setting the egg at his side. “So, that was a rabbit ray. Is that what you are little fella?” He set his PDA down and knocked the egg into the water. 

“Shit!” He yelped, diving in after it and scooping it up. “I am so sorry, little fella, I swear not to do that again.” He climbed back up the ladder and set the egg in his lap. 

“One thing’s for sure, eggy, we need to find that rendezvous.” Kai said, staring out at the sunset. “But first, sleep.” He slid down the ladder and laid himself on the floor, making the egg a comfy nest on one of unoccupied chairs. 

“Night, eggy.” He murmured, draping an arm over his eyes. 

He blinked awake to a low beeping and he reached over like he was turning off an alarm clock.

“Five more minutes, Nya, the pool isn’t going anywhere.” He yawned before blinking open his eyes. He sat up and scowled at the beeping.

“What is that- the radio!” He stood up and grabbed the radio, pressing the play button. 

“This is Avery Quinn!” An unfamiliar voice crackled over the connection. “Of the trading ship, Sunbeam. Destiny's Bounty, do you read? Over.” There was a long pause and Kai thought that it had been the whole transmission. He didn’t know how to reply, from what his pod’s status screen said, his outgoing transmission was still offline. 

“Nothing but vacuum.” The voice came back, making Kai look up. “These Alterra ships. They run low on engine grease, they send an SOS; you offer to help, they don’t pick up.” 

“I can’t pick up.” Kai growled at the radio, taking to pacing the small space. 

“Bounty, I’m out on the far side of the system, it’s going to take more than a week to reach your position, do you still need our assistance? Over.” The voice continued. 

“A week?” Kai echoed incredulously. 

“I’ll try them again tomorrow. Damn charter’s going to have us blowing our credits running errands for Alterra.” The voice sounded somewhat annoyed. “See what the long-range scans pick up in the meantime.” 

“That’s it?!” Kai shouted as the radio clicked off and the message ended. “That’s fucking it?! I’m gonna be stuck here for even longer?!” He threw a chunk of titanium from the storage at the radio and it bounced harmlessly off of the iron panel. He kicked the pod in anger and immediately regretted it.

“Fucking shit.” He swore, clutching his bruised foot. “Goddamn stupid son of a bitch fucking hell. Sorry, eggy, you shouldn’t have had to hear that.” He shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. 

“Ew, my hair is literally crusty as shit.” He scowled. “Goddamn salt water. Jesus, if any of the others saw me like this.” He shook his head with a slightly affectionate grin. 

“I hope you get to meet them, eggy.” Kai sat down on the floor of the pod and patted the chair the egg was tucked into. “Now, these oceans are violent, eggy, I’m not gonna find the others if I sit here and mope. I need a knife.” He picked up the chunk of titanium, found a second piece, and dug out his silicone rubber. He plopped the materials on the tray and watched as the fabricator spat out a knife. 

“Weapons were removed from lifepod fabricators following the massacre on Obraxis Prime. The survival knife is the only exception.” His PDA chimed as he spun the knife in his hand. 

“Very comforting, computer.” He told the device, opening the screen. He scrolled through his blueprints, searching for something specific. 

“Ah, the seaglide.” He sighed. “I need to make a seaglide. Fuck, ingredients unknown.” He grabbed the egg and tucked it gently inside his bag. 

“Let’s go find a seaglide, Eggy.” He shouldered the bag, opened the hatch, and jumped into the ocean. The warm water stung his skin slightly and he swam towards the Bounty’s smoldering wreckage. He needed to find the remains of a seaglide. After about a minute of swimming, he saw the twisted beams of debris. He turned over crates until he could scan the seaglide fragments. He found two and his PDA registered the recipe and he swam to the surface, shouting his victory at the Bounty. 

“Suck it ocean planet!” He yelled, swimming back to the pod. 

“Alright, now, what do I need?” He asked, sitting down atop the pod and pulling out the light green egg. “Lube, copper wire, a battery, and titanium. Easy peasy.” He patted the egg and pushed it back into his bag, jumping back into the ocean. 

He swam towards the creepvine forest, knife gripped fearfully in his hand. He sliced a chunk of the creepvine off and grabbed a seed cluster. A shriek cut through the normal ocean sounds and Kai barely had time to whip around before he blocked a shark thing’s  jaws with his knife. 

Jesus fuck! He thought as he slammed a foot into the creature, scrambling away while releasing a cloud of bubbles. He breached the surface, but was slammed underneath again by a shark thing’s tail. He thrust his knife into the creature’s side, gritting his teeth as he pushed against the creature and launched himself away, yanking the knife out of the thing’s scales. The creature released a shriek of pain as a cloud of yellow blood filled the water. Kai swam away as fast as he could, gasping as he surfaced near the pod. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” He pulled himself out of the water and buried his face in his hands, breathing heavily. He grabbed the front of his suit as his breaths turned panting. His lungs didn’t want to work anymore and tears sprang into his eyes. They rolled down his face and into his hands. Shaking, he pulled out his egg and cradled it gently against the tightness in his chest. 

“In, two, three, out, two, three.” He wheezed. His voice became stronger as his breathing began to steady. “In, two, three, out, two, three.” He unclenched his grip from the egg and opened his eyes, lifting a shaking hand to wipe them. He let out a long breath and took in another large one. 

“You’re okay.” He whispered to the egg. “I’m okay. We’re alive.” He went back into the pod and heard the hope-inducing beep of the radio. He set the egg gently on the chair and pressed the relay message button once again, pacing the length of the pod. 

“Bounty, this is Sunbeam again. We just picked up a massive debris field at your location.” The voice from before echoed over the message again. “I didn’t know how bad…how many of you…I didn’t know.” It sounded like ‘Avery’ was genuinely guilty. 

“We are now en route to your location. We’re going to bring you home. Sunbeam out.” Avery said. There was a moment of silence. 

“What else can I say?” Avery’s voice sounded like he was talking to someone else. “The only time I parked a rig this big on a rock that small was in VR, and I blew it. Oh, it’s a bad option alright, but so are all the others.” The message ended. Kai shuddered fearfully. He sighed. 

“At least I can make a seaglide now.” He told the egg.

Chapter Text

Kai set the seed cluster on the tray, and made himself some lube. 

“Lubricant is essential in construction of vehicles and power plants.” His PDA announced. 

“The jokes Jay and Cole would make.” He chuckled nostalgically as he set the bottle in his storage container. He made some copper wire. 

“All that’s left is the battery, and I just need one more mushroom. Be right back, Eggy.” He said to the pale green shell, slipping out of the pod and grabbing a mushroom. He made the battery and then set all of his items on the tray. It took a few moments, but the seaglide was ready.

“The seaglide will increase your effective exploration range.” His PDA said. “For your safety, please pack supplies for long journeys, and stay within five kilometers of the nearest Lifepod or habitat.” 

He pressed a small button on the side of the seaglide and it shrunk, small enough to fit in the outer pocket of his bag. 

“Nice, now to wait for the Sunbeam to get here…I guess.” He picked up the egg and sighed. “I think you’re just Eggy from now on, is that okay?” He tapped lightly on the shell and heard a faint response from inside. 

“Awww.” He cooed, cradling the egg close to his chest. “Welp, you’re my child now, and I guess your papa’s gotta go scan some stuff.” He tucked the egg into the chair and climbed out of the pod, stepping off the side and falling into the water. He opened his PDA, small bubbles floating up as he moved. 

So I can make mesh now, from creepvine stuff. I don’t know if I can go back there, though. Maybe if I’m quick… He thought. He swam towards the creepvine and cut as much off as possible before returning to his pod. The radio was beeping again. 

“Signal location uploaded to PDA.” A shrill robotic voice said before giving way to another voice. “Playing pre-recorded distress call.” 

“This is Ozzy from the cafeteria.” Kai blinked, he knew Ozzy. “What the hell guys?! They didn’t warn us this might happen! Our pod was almost crushed by the sea moth bay on the way down, now we’re hanging on the edge of a cave system and this grim-looking snake thing’s trying to eat through the hull! Come get us already!” 

“Us?” Kai echoed. “Eggy, Ozzy was with someone. It could be my sister, or Lloyd, or any of them! I have to find that pod!” He hastily retrieved lead from the storage and made a radiation suit, scrambling into it before packing his supplies. He pulled on the radiation mask and a loading Alterra symbol flashed for a moment before revealing the coordinates of the pod. He tucked the egg into the chair and promised to be right back. He climbed the ladder and prepared to dive into the sea again. 

“Under attack my ass, I’m gonna tear that creature to shreds.” He growled. He leapt in and expanded his seaglide, using it to power himself through the ocean. He neared his destination within a few minutes. An armored fish was tearing through the sand around the pod. Kai’s heart sank. 

“Short range scans suggest this biome supports extensive biodiversity, and connects to a number of small cave networks.” His PDA’s voice came through the headset on his new radiation suit. He scanned a fragment outside of the pod before swimming around to investigate. The red ‘Lifepod 17’ stood out against the blue ocean. 

Kai could see the massive hole ripped in the pod’s side, and he swam in, grabbing an abandoned PDA. He climbed back into the pod and yanked off his mask, chugging a water bottle. He felt sick to his stomach. Ozzy was gone, and whoever had been with him was gone too. He picked up his egg and sat down, pulling out his PDA. 

He had to listen to the PDA recording. He had two to listen to, one from each of the pods he’d investigated. 

He pressed play on the one from Lifepod 17. 

“Ozzy’s log. It’s the day of the crash. I don’t know what the heck is happening. I’m scared and I’m not going outside. There are shadows in the water under the hatch but I can’t tell if rocks, or alien, and there’s weird looking caves nearby.” Ozzy sounded so defeated. Kai clutched his chest anxiously. “The Bounty was carrying everything needed to build the phasegate: mobile vehicle bays, bioreactors, propulsion cannons…It had a cinema. There was a zero-G gym. My cafe. I don’t understand how we’re here now. I don’t know why no one’s coming for me.” The recording ended and Kai slammed a fist into the side of the pod.

“I didn’t get there in time. I could’ve saved him and whoever he was with. If only I hadn’t been knocked out for so long after the crash…” He growled. A soft tap inside the egg made him look down. 

“Your planet sucks, little buddy.” He said, taking a deep breath. “Okay, next recording.” 

“You really think it’ll carry two of us?” A voice Kai didn’t know asked. 

“Your regular seaglide tows a mass of eighty kilograms at over thirty kilometers an hour. The power cell I rigged to this one should double that.” Another unfamiliar voice answered. 

“You think there’s something out there faster?” The first voice sounded worried.

“Oh, sure. And that’s assuming it doesn’t overload three meters from the Lifepod.” The second voice replied.

“You’re calm about this.” The first voice observed. 

“I’m seeing the engineering problem. If I stop seeing the maths I’ll be terrified.” The second voice finished. The recording ended there. 

“They got eaten, didn’t they?” Kai asked the egg. His head thunked back against the headrest as he sighed. “Dear god, I hope the others are okay. I’m not even religious, but I’d pray for them.” He held the egg up to his face. 

“With everyone gone, you’re my only friend here, Eggy.” He murmured. He smiled slightly at the faint tapping from inside. “Maybe I should go to the Bounty. I have the radiation suit now, so that can’t hurt me.” 

Kai laid down on the floor and stared up at the pod’s curved ceiling. 

“I miss the others, Eggy.” He whispered. “Especially Cole, we were almost, we almost, it was…ah, you wouldn’t get it, you’re an egg. Not that I don’t like you, but I need a human conversation soon.” 

“But I even miss Jay!” Kai exclaimed, looking up at the egg on the chair. “I don’t know why I’m so mean to him, actually, I really like him. I would pay to hear one of his jokes right now.” Kai managed a weak laugh. 

“I even miss him freaking out, ha.” He sighed. “Even though he couldn’t ever stay calm, his freaking out always cleared the air at least. I really miss him, Egg.” He sat up and the radio began to beep.

“Yes!” He jumped up and pressed the play button. 

“This is Sunbeam.” The radio announced. “Y’know, Bounty, we’re from a little trans-gov on the far side of Andromeda, and we have a saying there. There’s no bad without good, no good without the bad.” Kai tilted his head. 

“Sounds like you tasted a bunch of the former, but that only means you’re overdue a whole lot of the latter.” Avery said. “Might just be we’re it.” Kai’s mouth dropped.

“We’re scanning for somewhere to park as we speak, we’ll be in though when we find it. Sunbeam out.” The radio clicked off. 

“We’re getting rescued, Eggy!” Kai exclaimed. “If I get outta here I can find help for the others! Or maybe the Sunbeam will park on the island I’m looking for and send the coordinates to me. I gotta figure out how to contact the others.” He paced the pod, shaking his head. 

“Maybe I could catch one of those birds and follow it to the island.” He paused. “Or it might be time to visit the Bounty.” He nodded. He looked down at the egg, shoved a spare water bottle into his bag, and grabbed the cured fish he’d begun storing in water bottles. 

“I’ll be back, Eggy,” He pulled on his mask and climbed the ladder. “I’ll be back soon.” He exited through the hatch and dove into the ocean, expanding his seaglide. After a minute of propelling through the ocean he backtracked in surprise. A massive whale-like creature was drifting aimlessly through the current. It’s low call shook Kai to the bone and he shuddered. He kept moving forward. A dark shape loomed out of the darkness, and a red four glared through the sandy water. 

Lifepod Four. Kai thought. The pod was capsized, floating upside-down in the ocean. He shrunk the seaglide and swam around the pod, before finding an opening torn in the side. He snagged a first-aid kit that was on the floor and opened the databox, then grabbed the abandoned PDA. The dark shadow of the Bounty fell over him, seemingly lowering the temperature. The water close to the Bounty was dusty, murky…ominous. He swam through the gaping gash in the hull and shuddered. The entire structure shook around him.

“Lifeform readings in this region are sparse.” His PDA chimed over his headset. “The Bounty’s radioactive fallout will have devastating effects on the alien ecosystem if not contained within the next twenty-four hours.” A dark joy jolted through Kai. Maybe he wanted this ecosystem to die, this was the place where the Bounty was brought down, after all. Where so many lives ended. He shrank the seaglide and shoved it into his bag, standing up. The Bounty shook again and Kai nearly fell down. 

“Warming: ship’s structural integrity is low. Fire suppression equipment and laser cutters may be required. Exploration is conducted at your own risk.” His PDA cautioned. Some crab-like things scrambled away from him. He grabbed his knife in case they wanted a fight. As if on cue, one of the crabs launched itself at Kai and embedded its mandibles in his suit. Kai stabbed it and kicked it away aggressively.

“Fuck off!” He growled, brandishing the weapon at the crustaceans. He jogged up the ramp, looking fearfully at the burning rubble around him.

“Caution: scans show the digestive tracts of nearby lifeforms contain human tissues.” His PDA delivered. Kai got sick to his stomach and gagged aggressively, looking away from the crabs. He raced towards a supply container and yanked it open, doing the same to one nearby. When he grabbed a water bottle from the crate his PDA sprang into action again. 

“Preparing the day’s water ration, ahead of time, will help ensure against dehydration, and eventual death.” 

The crabs were skittering after him and he glared at them, before looking around frantically for a way out. He found a fallen beam and ran across it, arms out for balance. There wasn’t anywhere to go but closer to the ship. He squeezed through a flaming door, pressing his back against the doorway. The dark hallway was lit only by crackling flames, and the dim blue glow of a PDA. Kai grabbed it quickly and scanned a fragment that rested within a crate. 

“Bounty systems are running on local reserve power. Unable to remotely download black box data.” His PDA said. A white, glowing sign that read ‘Administration’ caught his attention. He turned down that hall. The door was filled with fire. He scowled and looked back in the other hall. A grin split his face after finding an abandoned fire extinguisher against the wall. He sprayed the fire extinguisher as much as possible, before tossing it to the side and coughing. A glowing screen in the room displayed a picture of a green page. He approached it, tilting his head. It must be a data terminal. He pulled out his PDA and set it on the terminal. 

“Integrating new PDA data.” His PDA announced with an affirmative beep. He scanned the various items in the room and then sprinted out, nearly falling again as the ship shook. The metal supports creaked ominously. He scrambled onto the beam, but his foot slipped and he tumbled into the water. It wasn’t too far of a fall but he tucked his limbs and clenched everything, deploying his mask. He sank into the water and kicked furiously, yanking his seaglide out of his bag. There was a loud shriek and Kai’s eyes widened. 

A long creature was slinking through the waters. Massive pinchers lined its face, and its red markings contrasted with its teal body. He began to back up slowly. But he couldn’t go back, he’d be devoured by crabs, but go forward…he didn’t know what would happen. It shrieked loudly again and disappeared into the water. A bad feeling sank into his stomach and he fled back to the ship. He paced, fending off crabs for a moment before they skittered beneath the rubble. 

“I don’t have a choice.” Kai growled. “I gotta get back to the pod. I’m gonna risk it, if I can make it to that abandoned lifepod, I might have a chance.” He dropped the seaglide into the water and jumped in. 

I’ve gotta make it. They need me, they’re coming to get me. He thought to himself. The water rushed past him and he didn’t relax until he saw the abandoned pod. He closed his eyes momentarily and kept going. He didn’t know what he was swimming over, but his PDA decided to announce something over his headset. 

“The biomass in this area is dominated by plantlife. Picking up faint Alterra vehicle signatures.” Then the PDA reminded him to surface. He saw the rocky shallows of the biome where his pod had landed, and he swam eagerly towards it. He sighed and climbed into the pod, curling up in a corner. 

“Thank fucking god.” He whispered. “I need to see that data.” He sat down in the chair across from the egg. He skimmed the text and dropped his PDA in frustration. 

“Nothing but goddamn public documents. I want to know why the Bounty went down! I want to know where my friends are!” He punched the pod’s wall. “Fucking shit.” He shook his hand in dismay. He climbed up the ladder and was bathed in the humid mist of the salted breeze. The sky had turned a dark orange and blue gradient and the moon hung heavily in the sky. 

He hated how beautiful the planet was. He despised how he could admire the majestic seascapes and the twin moons, all while his ship, his home, smoldered in the distance. The stars flickered in the deepening twilight and Kai rubbed his eyes. His skin almost always itched nowadays, and everything was crusted in salt. He would kill for a shower, for any luxury, for any ounce of comfort. He stared down into the black waters, watching small schools of Peepers drift near the surface. Nya probably loved it here. She loved everything to do with the ocean, and she adored water. The only sound in the darkness of the night was the gently lapping of the waves at his pod. 

His PDA shattered the tranquility with a reminder to eat or he would die. He climbed back down into the pod, rummaging through storage for something to eat. He chewed through a cured Peeper, grimacing at the jerky-like quality. He laid down on the floor, his back protesting loudly at another night of sleeping on a hard, unforgiving surface. Between the strenuous physical activity, sleepless nights, and cramped living conditions, he couldn’t remember a day he hadn’t woken up in pain. After a few minutes of uncomfortable laying, he got up again, cracking everything he possibly could. 

He paced the pod, before turning to his makeshift map. He’d pinned it to the wall with a sharpened piece of titanium stabbed into the pod. His pen had been out of ink after all. Instead of ink, he’d scratched letters lightly on the paper with his knife, he’d go over them with a pen someday. He had begun to map the area around his pod, and towards the Bounty. He’d named where his pod landed the ‘Safe Shallows’, and he called the wavy forests of ‘seaweed’ the ‘Creepvine Caverns’. The one red-grass area where he’d discovered one of the pods was called the ‘Crimson Plains’. He’d started marking where he’d seen predators too, and scratched a massive ‘X’ around the entrance to the Bounty’s skeleton. Until he managed to scan it, the creature he’d seen there would be called the Grim Crab. Creative? No. Catchy? Also no. 

He rolled out his aching shoulders and massaged his neck, hanging his head. He jerked it up a moment later when the radio beeped. He took a deep, calming breath, pressing the relay button. 

“Bounty,” It was Avery again. “We’re approaching the planet now, and we have a landing surge for you that’s…we’ll, it’s better than the alternatives.” Kai’s breath caught in his throat with disbelief. 

“We’ve sent you the coordinates. It’ll take us a couple of days to align our orbit, we should be able to establish direct contact with you during that time, then we’re coming to get you.” Avery said. “We’ve included the earth-time approximation of our arrival in our transmission with the coordinates. Cross your fingers the weather holds, and don’t leave us waiting. Sunbeam out.” The radio clicked off. 

“Holy shit.” Kai murmured, staring incredulously at the radio. “Eggy, we’re getting out of here! Well, maybe not you, I might have to leave you behind.” The thought of leaving the egg made his heart ache slightly. 

“But I can find my friends! And you can hatch and find your loving family.” Kai said, scooping up the egg. “We need to sleep though, if that’s humanly possible with this kind of news.” Kai pulled on his mask. There was an Alterra loading signal, then the point appeared with the words Sunbeam Landing Site written in glowing blue letters. It was around 959 meters away from the pod, farther than he’d ever been before. In the upper right corner of his visor, a blue box had appeared, with a countdown. It was at 39:26, thirty-nine minutes and twenty-six seconds Earth time. Thirty-nine minutes and twenty-six seconds until he could find his friends, and get out of this place. 

Kai laid down on his side, setting his egg near his face. He tucked an arm beneath his head, watching the egg. He laid there for five minutes before he couldn’t stand it anymore. He stood up, scooping up his egg. He tucked his supplies in his bag, and gently nestled Eggy in a corner, wrapped in his map. He climbed out of the pod and climbed down the ladder and into the water. He expanded his seaglide and geared it into action. It’s turbine spun and propelled him through the water. The he waters turned greener as he swum over the Creepvine Caverns, praying for his life that none of the sharks noticed him. 

500 meters to go. He thought. A mountain loomed out of the gloomy water, and Kai nearly ran into it. He swung his legs wildly, and surface, gasping for air. He stared up at the towering mountains of an island. The island. The one he’d been looking for, where the birds lived. He dove back down. He glanced around at the landscape below. The mountains trailed down into a steep drop-off. Kai didn’t even want to know where that went. 

“Detecting a massive energy signature in the region. Cannot identify.” His PDA said over the headset. He arrived at a beach and shrunk the seaglide, stepping onto the stand. He fell to his knees, burying his hands in the sand. The warm waves sloshed over his legs as he hugged the ground. He checked his visor. He had plenty of time before the Sunbeam arrived, he deserved an excuse to explore. Especially on land, where it was safe. He kicked the sand, grinning wildly as he stood up. He wandered over the beach, before a dark shadow fell over his body. He looked up.

“What the fuck?” He whispered. A massive building towered over the island, almost as tall as the massive peak itself. It was constructed of a dark material, with green details. It gave him a foreboding sense of doom, of how little he really was in the universe. How insignificant. How some things were so much bigger than himself. It was a feeling he hadn’t felt since his first trip into space. 

He slid into the water again, paddling slowly towards the structure and peering into the depth. The building extended into the ocean too. A glint of silver caught his eye. It was a circular object, buried in the sand. He reached out and pulled. The sand gave way and the object popped out, sending up a cloud of dust. He dragged it into the beach and scanned it. His scanner said it was a ‘cyclops’ fragment. The cyclops was a deep-water exploration vehicle. Kai propped the fragment against a rock and dove back in. He needed to make sure there weren’t any creatures capable of coming onto land to kill him. 

He found a small green crystal with copper veins, and he picked it up. He scanned it. His scanner read ‘uranium crystal’. He grimaced and held the crystal away from himself. He set it gingerly on the beach. That was something he didn’t need to take back to Earth. He took a deep breath and pulled himself out of the water. He approached the structure with a feeling of dread lurking in his stomach. 

A crushed object crunched beneath his feet when he neared the building. He scanned it. It was a ‘purple tablet fragment’. He tilted his head. He moved closer to the building. The entrance was blocked by a  green forcefield. He reached out and touched it. It felt solid, though it looked as untouchable as light. A whirring caught his attention and he noticed a panel opening up. He scanned that too. It was the control  for the forcefield. It has a glowing icon of the purple tablet. 

“I need to put one in.” He whispered. Where was he going to find one of those? He turned towards a well-walked trail to the right of the building, and hiked up it. He inhaled sharply. A glowing purple tablet was lying in the sand, covered by a thin layer of material. He picked it up, blowing off the dust. He sprinted back to the panel. The panel opened up as he neared, and he raised the tablet over it. It seemed to be pulled towards the control panel by a magnet. He looked up at the forcefield, which flickered and disappeared. He took a deep breath and stepped into the building. The air was colder, mustier, and carried a faint whiff of something old or dead. The entryway opened into a hall, and the walls were lined with glowing green markings. 

“Scans indicate this structure is composed of a metal alloy with unprecedented integrity. No matches found in database. Performing structural analysis.” His PDA said. The feminine, robotic voice echoed down the halls. He moved down the hall, pausing in a doorway. He pulled his knife out of his bag, deeply unsettled by the building. He peered into the next room before creeping in. It was filled with a complex structure composed of beams. He wondered what it was for. Kai looked into the next chamber. A glowing symbol floated above another panel, green pixels drifting around the hologram. He approached it and pulled out his PDA, setting it gently on the terminal. 

“Unknown language. Attempting translation.” His PDA announced. A series of whirs, clicks, and chirps followed. 

Was that their language? Kai thought, listening intently. His PDA beeped. The data had been downloaded and translated, and it was ready for him to read. He would do that later. He needed to finish his expedition before the Sunbeam arrived. A glowing green cube was settled on a pedestal that lifted higher when Kai neared. He scanned it. It was an ion cube. He reached out and took it. He could practically feel the energy radiating through the cube. He tucked it into his bag. He went left. 

“Analysis of the patterns on the walls cannot ascertain whether their purpose is aesthetic or functional.” His PDA informed him. “Further data required.” The hall turned to the left again, opening into a wide room with another data terminal inside. Another ion cube rested on a pedestal, and he picked that one up too. He made it to the terminal, resting his PDA on top of it. 

“Unknown language. Attempting translation.” His PDA said again. Another series of electrical sounds. A second hall rested to the left of the terminal and he walked into it, footsteps echoing loudly on the dark, metal floors. He approached a drop, and wind lifted his hair. Green particles floated in an up-flowing breeze. 

“Your best probability of interfacing with this facility is achieved by accessing the control room in the lower section.” His PDA advised. 

“I don’t know how to do that.” He frowned at the draft. He nervously edged towards it, before closing his eyes and stepping into it. Instead of falling he floated for a moment, before being pulled gently down. He was weightless. His stomach dropped and he quickly became motion sick. The air-elevator deposited him in a lower floor, and he leaned against the wall, trying to quell the anger in his stomach. Once he felt good enough to walk again, he stepped into a massive room. A massive pool took up most of the room, with a door that opened into the ocean. Another doorway was located at the right end of the pool and he walked towards it, looking nervously at the pool. He’d never been down this deep, and it was dark outside by now.

 The next room was a mishmash of diagonal ramps, all leading upwards. He tilted his head and looked at an object suspended in a display-case. The glass was protected by the same forcefield. He scanned it and learned that it was an alien rifle. It looked very similar to the rifle he’d learned to use in training. Maybe these land-dwelling aliens were humanoid. That thought scared him more than he would admit. He shook his head and focused on heading upstairs. He grabbed another ion cube that he found. Another purple tablet rested on the left end of the third-floor. He grabbed it and hefted his bag; it was getting heavy. 

Another orb rested in a display case on the fourth level and he scanned it. He shuttered. It was a doomsday device. He moved on quickly. He arrived at the top floor, the fifth, and advanced towards another area that was blocked by another forcefield. 

“Scans indicate the facility’s control room lies behind this doorway.” His PDA said. 

He inserted his tablet into the panel and the forcefield dissipated. A long walkway extended into the room, framed by large black pillars that lit up as he walked by. He turned again. He stared at a large pedestal that rested in the center of the room. The pedestal expanded. He scanned the energycore that the pedestal was attached to. The pedestal had a glowing green square and circle. Kai reached out tentatively and pressed the button. Two prong-like structures jolted up and held his hand in a forcefield. Kai panicked and tried to pull his hand back. A snake-like part of the pedestal emerged and moved towards his arm.

“Fuck off!” He yelped, tugging frantically at his immobilized arm. The snake studied him before extending a long needle and stabbing it into his arm. 

“Gah!” He shouted in pain as the needle took his blood. The prongs disappeared and he yanked his arm back, rubbing the spot. The once green square turned red and the pedestal closed. A low, growling sound echoed from some unseen speakers, in the same electronic language he’d heard when downloading the data. 

“The control panel is broadcasting a message. Translation reads…” The PDA explained. The next words turned Kai’s blood to ice. 

“Warning: Infected individuals cannot disable the weapon. This planet is under quarantine.”  

Chapter Text

Kai stumbled away from the pedestal, clutching his wrist. He stared wide-eyed at the machine before tripping backwards and landing on his back. The pedestal loomed over him like a harbinger of malevolent tidings. His mind was reeling, the shadows seemed too dark, the lights seemed too bright. 

“Infected?” He whispered weakly, staring at his hands like he didn’t recognize them. They were still his, the same burn scars from hours of welding, the small nicks and cuts from training, nails red from painting them with his friends, but his perception of them had changed. He didn’t feel human now. He felt as alien in his body as the planet he’d crashed on. He didn’t know what to believe anymore. 

“The weapon.” He looked up at the pedestal again. “This building is a weapon. And I can’t stop whatever it’s going to do.” Icy veins of fear crept through his body, freezing his skin. He stood up, shaking and sprinted out of the room, bag thumping heavily against his hip with every stride. 

“Translating background broadcast. Downloading summary to databank.” His PDA said. Kai’s running footsteps were thunder in the silent halls, an echoing rumble that seemed to fill the corridors. He ran through the first doorway he saw after jogging down the ramps. Distantly in his mind he wondered where the alien rifle was. He appeared in a room, a room that was not the room he’d left when entering the display hall. A rhombus-shaped  structure was set into the floor of the room. 

He walked in slowly, staring at the structure. It radiated inhuman. Nothing about it was familiar. It gave him a sense of foreboding. Of frustration for a topic he couldn’t comprehend after ages of trying. His scanner beeped, prompting him to scan the structure. It was an alien arch. Kai backed away, scared to turn his back on the arch. He didn’t know what it was used for…what it could be used for. He shuddered and made his way into the hall, only turning when he was close to the doorway back into the display room. 

He kept glancing back as he ran, maneuvering through the winding hallways. He felt the floor disappear from beneath him, and he was submerged. His PDA had sensed that he was nearing water and deployed his mask automatically. He checked the icon in the center of his visor. Ninety-five meters down. Some force compelled him to swim out of the entrance that opened into the ocean. It would be faster than making his way back up the weapon. He expanded his seaglide and propelled through the doorway. He then turned and went directly up. 

He saw almost arm-like structures running from the weapon to something deeper within the water. He wasn’t going down that far, no way. He made it to the surface and swam to the beach, emerging into the daylight. He looked up at the building…no, the weapon, in fear. It looked like a weapon now that he realized it. He shrank his seaglide and tucked it away. He stood up and climbed the mountain to where he’d found the tablet. The trail extended farther up the peak, so he followed it. It led both further up the mountain and down to a secluded beach. He slid into the water. He found a chunk of rock and pulled out his knife, crushing it. He grabbed the object inside and went back to the beach in wonder. He was holding a diamond. A real diamond. His PDA came on with an announcement. 

“Remember that materials you gather are the property of the Alterra corporation. You will be liable to reimburse the full market price. Your current bill stands at three million credits.” Kai’s jaw dropped. Maybe he didn’t want to go back at all if he had that much debt. He considered throwing the diamond into the ocean. He tucked it into his bag where it was bathed in the gentle green glow of the ion cubes. He stepped back into the water, dropping over the edge of the beach and treading water with a hand on the face of the rock. 

Almost immediately as his eyes adjusted, he saw beneath him a Grim Crab. Its long tail lashed through the waters as it moved and Kai froze, hand clenching into a fist as he stared at the creature. It shrieked loudly and Kai jolted back to moving. He’d never been out of the water faster. He shuddered and paced the beach. A large dark green object with purple spots caught his attention and he scanned it. 

“A gel sack? Ew.” He wrinkled his nose but picked it up and added it to his bag. After shoving it into one of his water bottles so it didn’t leak on his stuff. His stomach growled and he needed food. He suspected that there were hardly any animals that actually lived on land, besides the flesh-eating crabs, and he didn’t want to cook one of those. A tree caught his attention. It was growing out of a crack in the rock. He scanned it and found it to be called a Bulbo Tree. In training, he’d learned that some trees were edible, and even had water inside. He cut a chunk of the bark off; it was surprisingly soft. The tree made a squelching sound as he cut and water trickled out of it. He shrugged and ate the bark. 

It wasn’t as soft as he expected it to be after all the squelching. It didn’t taste horrible either. When he bit into it, it crunched but also quenched his thirst with the water stored inside. Kind of like an apple. After a few more chunks of bark, he was satisfied. He looked up at the mountain and then down at the trail. He began the hike to the top. He paused midway up to look over the light glinting off of the ocean. A chittering crab launched itself at him, but he was ready. He smacked it away with the flat of his knife and it sailed over the cliff edge, landing in the water with a distant plop. He smiled slightly. 

The trail led to a cave. He peered cautiously into the darkness before pulling out his seaglide and expanding it, relying on its flashlight to see. Some glowing mushrooms cast a soft pink light across the stony walls, and Kai scanned them, before tilting his head. He frowned at his scanner and then scanned himself. A red light flashed on the screen. 

Infected. 

“Self-scan complete. Bacterial infection in your system is progressing. Detecting skin-irritation and immune system response. Further data required to identify bacterial strain.” His PDA informed him. 

That could explain why his hands had started to flake so much. He just attributed it to all the salt. And maybe that was why his body aches didn’t go away, though, sleeping on the pod floor wasn’t helping anything. The tunnels led to another alien arch. This one he approached, resting a hand on the cool metal. A clank behind him made him turn. A small cube-shaped terminal had opened. Kai tilted his head in confusion. 

“What do you want?” He asked the box, as if expecting it to respond. A slight epiphany came to him and he grabbed one of his ion cubes, inserting it into the terminal. The ion cube was pulled out of his hands as if attracted by a giant magnet, and the terminal closed. Immediately a low whirring filled the cavern and green energy shimmered through the arch. Kai scrambled back, brandishing his knife at the portal as if aliens were going to come through it. When nothing happened he straightened his aching back and stowed his knife again. 

He left the tunnels where he entered them, and saw that the tunnel led up further. The secondary set of tunnels led into a massive cavern with stalactites dripping from the ceiling. A deep pool settled in the bottom of the chasm, and Kai estimated it was about a ten-foot drop. He stowed his seaglide and jumped, pencil-straight down. He wasn’t supposed to jump into foreign bodies of water, especially not in a cave, but here he was. He landed in the water, his feet barely scraping the bottom before he hauled himself up onto the stone. He led his oxygen tank refill before sliding into the water once more, pulling out his seaglide for light. 

It’s deeper than I thought. He mused as he swam to the sandy bottom. He scanned the bioluminescent plants that waved gently in the current, and tried his best not to get confused with the darkened stone crevices. He descended into the depths, maneuvering through the caves, until a pink glow caught his eye. Another tablet was resting against the sand, and he grabbed it, propelling to the surface. He searched for the way out, shrinking his seaglide. He paddled through the lake until he found the entrance and located the first tunnel that led up. 

It was dark by now, and the red moon of 4546B lit up the night sky like a midnight sun. He was thirsty again, and he sought out one of the bulbo trees. He ate until he was full then laid down on the beach, looking up at the stars. They glittered and twinkled brightly. He remembered how the stars looked on earth, only the brightest could be seen through the thick light pollution. That’s why the Alterra Corporation had been founded,  to search for alternate planets, like Earth, that were habitable and suitable for human life. That’s where The Bounty had been heading, for a planet that was suspected of being habitable. He pulled his egg out of his bag and piled leaves under his head. He sighed. 

The air was warm and humid, comfortable enough to contrast the cold damp air of the pod. The sand was soft beneath his back, the leaves cool against his head, and the egg nestled comfortably against his side. He traced the overlapping mint scale structures on the egg and tapped it gently. The creature within the egg tapped back softly. The waves lulled him into a light doze, which he was frequently woken from by a distant clatter of rocks or a splash in the ocean. He woke up finally when the sunlight stabbed into his eyes. Time was so different on this planet. The planet’s sun was lifting over the horizon, its warm grace settling on his shoulders. He hummed at the pleasant feeling and pulled on his mask, checking the time left before the Sunbeam arrived. Four minutes give or take. 

A jumble of feelings curled in his stomach, joy, apprehension, fear, worry, anxiety, and many other things. He made his way to the rendezvous spot, holding Eggy against his chest. He plopped down on the sand, resting his heels in the waves. The clouds were a light orange, and they drifted across the sky at a lazy pace. This planet was so much like earth that I made his heart ache. Two minutes. He took one last look around, before fixing his gaze on the sun, which was hidden behind the building. One minute. A low creaking filled the air, and the soft hum of machinery. 

The building had begun to move. The building had begun to move. 

Kai’s stomach filled with dread as he watched the building adjust. He stood up, eyes fixed on the weapon. It extended to its full length and rotated to the right, lowering so that it looked like a massive person with a massive rifle aimed at the sky. 

“No, no, no, no.” He whispered, panic flooding through him. The Sunbeam was going to be destroyed. He had no way to contact the ship. Ten seconds. A low horn echoed across the barren waves, loud enough to be heard for miles. Kai almost dropped Eggy in his haste to cover his ears. Five seconds. His heart raced. The horn sounded again. A voice came from his PDA. From a black dot in the distance. Zero seconds. 

“Survivor, we see you!” It was Avery. “Man, I don’t know how you held out down there.” The weapon buzzed loudly, like it was charging. 

“We’ve broken atmosphere and we’re descending towards the landing site.” Avery announced. Kai waved his arms and shook his head, praying to god that they noticed. The weapon rotated again, the metal groaning as it locked onto its target. 

“Is that a building down there?!” Avery hadn’t turned the speaker off. He was talking to someone else. “What do you mean you can’t identify it?!” Tears clouded Kai’s eyes as he set Eggy down and desperately tried to signal them to turn back. He couldn’t save them, and deep down, he knew it. He could see the ship now as it descended through a cloud, blue boosters firing. 

“Hold on, no turning back now.” Avery said. Kai shouted at them to do the exact opposite, to get their asses away from this planet and leave him there. 

“Positions everyone,” Avery was calm. “Touching down in 10, 9, 8-” the broadcast cut out and static filled his PDA. He could hear a frantic beeping from inside the Sunbeam over the communication. 

“It’s coming from the building?!” Avery was yelling now, his words mangled by the crackled of static. “Change course! Set thrusters to-” The feed cut out again. Green energy surrounded the top of the weapon, spiraling towards the metal. A charging hum filled the air. All of his hair stood on end. 

“No!” He screamed as the glow grew brighter. The beam hit the Sunbeam square in the center of the ship. A massive halo of fire exploded around the destroyed vehicle, and debris rained down over the ocean. The roar of the explosion rumbled out for miles, even being heard in the most distant lands. Small fireballs drifted down from the sky like fallen stars, settling into the sea. Kai dropped to his knees, slamming his fist into the sand in anguish. The weapon returned to its position as if nothing had happened. 

Those aliens were heartless bastards. He thought, wiping hot tears from his eyes. A jolt flashed through him. That must’ve been what hit The Bounty. It was destroyed by the weapon. The horn sounded again and the noise faded off into the distance, replaced by the soft rush of the waves. He stared up at the sky, eyes narrowed against the glint of the sun. 

He couldn’t believe it. He was going to die here. Without a doubt. He buried his face in his hands, sobs shaking his shoulders. All the fear, anxiety, hopelessness, anger, loneliness, and everything he’d been shoving down since the crash ahd bubbled up and exploded out of him. He clenched his hands into fists; he wanted his punching bag, he needed it. 

“You fucking shitty ass planet and your dumbass weapon and your godforsaken weapons and your ocean and your monsters and all your other goddamn fucking issues!” He shouted at the sky. He was on his feet now, fists clenched at his sides, tears of rage boiling in his eyes. “I HATE YOU! I FUCKING HATE YOU!” 

He sobbed again and sank to the sad, slamming his fist into the beach. He was never going to find the others.

“They’re all probably dead anyway.” He muttered, sitting up and staring out at the desolate ocean. “All because my dumb ass got knocked out on the pod. Gah, I was so stupid. It shouldn’t have been me. I shouldn’t have been the one to survive.” Eggy rocked slightly towards him on the sand, and Kai looked numbly towards the sound. 

He scooped up the egg and set it in his lap. He sniffed and tapped the shell. The creature inside tapped back. He managed a watery smile that quickly faded. 

“I guess I failed you, too, huh?” He whispered, lifting the egg to be eye-level. “I took you from your home in the Shallows, now maybe…maybe you’ll never hatch. All because of me.”  He looked out at the ocean and covered his mouth, crying silently into his hand. 

He didn’t know how long he sat there for, but eventually he pulled himself to his feet, numbly wiping his eyes and hefting his bag into his shoulder. He picked up Eggy and tucked him inside, making his way up the mountain and towards the caves. 

He’d arrived at his destination, and he stared into the pale green portal. 

“If this vaporizes us…I’m sorry, Eggy.” Kai murmured, stepping into the portal. He looked up and he could see the top of the arch. The light spun around him, making him feel dizzy. The light flooded out in front of him, and he felt like he was flying forward at a thousand kilometers per hour. He was deposited in a similar cave. He stepped out and his legs collapsed. He promptly threw up. The cavern was dark. He shakily stood up and made his way around the portal, hunting for the way out. 

He made his way up a slanted ramp of rock, hugging the wall in case he fell off. Light flooded in from another cave and he climbed up, stepping into the sunlight. He blinked and looked around, mouth slackening at what he saw.

This wasn’t the same island he’d been on. This was a completely different island. He took another step and was falling into a pool of water below. He scrambled to the surface and climbed onto a beach. 

“Picking up multiple energy signatures on the island’s surface.” His PDA informed him. “Unidentified heat signals as well. Continuing to monitor.”

He gasped heavily and took a deep breath. He felt something man-made against his hand and jumped. An abandoned PDA rested in the sand. He picked it up. He transferred the data to his own PDA, which beeped affirmatively once it had received the information. He stood up, gripping his bag’s straps defiantly as he looked for a way out of the gorge-like area he’d fallen into. He found a worn trail that led upwards and began to climb. He looked around. 

In the distance he could see the smoldering ruins of the Bounty. He was behind the ship by now. He flipped on his mask. 1386 meters from his pod. He’d never been that far. He shivered, going back would be a nightmare. The trail led into a forest of the Bulbo trees, and he followed it up, lifting Eggy out of his bag. 

“Look at this place, Egg.” He murmured, turning in a small circle. “I hate to admit that it’s pretty.” He scanned a flowery looking plant with teal-green leaves. 

“A voxel shrub? Interesting name.” He said, aloud, tucking the scanner away again. Then he found some orange mushroom-like things. 

“This island is massive.” He said, making his way carefully down a cliff and into a valley. He sprinted away as he saw some of the killer crabs. He ended up on a beach. A glimpse of silver made him gasp. 

Pod number eight rested against the mountain side, buried in a small crater in the sand. The force of the impact had torn open the side of the pod, leaving a massive hole. A secondary hole had been forced into the side. It looked like the damage to the other pods. A predator had attacked it too. Disappointment and grief settled in his stomach as he moved on. He found a grub-basket, which looked like an orange mushroom on steroids. And he found a ming plant. He kept walking on the dusty, beaten trail until he saw a small grove of trees with lantern-like fruits. Through the grove there was something that looked like an old, abandoned habitat. He scanned the tree, yep a lantern tree, and then jogged to the habitat. 

He found a fragment of stasis rifle in a crate and stabbed a killer crab. He scanned a few plants that were growing in a rusted garden bed, then he turned his attention to the habitat. The setting sun bathed the habitat in an orange glow. Inside one of the abandoned rooms there was a desk. Next to the desk, on the floor was another alien tablet. 

A soft sigh huffed  from Kai’s mouth. So these people, the ones here before him, knew about the weapon. They knew about these higher aliens. He wanted to know what happened to the people. He picked up an old PDA. It was an older model. He wondered distantly if this island had once been underwater. It was growing quickly darker, and he clambered on top of the roof of the habitat. The metal groaned and creaked under his weight. He found a databox and opened it. He examined it and connected it to his PDA, which downloaded the information. He climbed down into the habitat and curled up in a corner. It was dark now, and he was tired. 

He rested his head against the habitat’s wall and drifted into an uneasy slumber. His mind was plagued by hellish dreams of explosions and disintegrations. He woke up several times to the echoes of his frantic murmurs in the passages of the abandoned habitat. He stirred when sunlight filtered through the ladderway from above. He sat up and began to finish his exploration. He opened a supply crate and took out a charged battery. He allowed himself a small smile as he slipped the battery into his bag. He took two more abandoned PDAs that he found and climbed back up the ladder. He jumped off the roof and landed on the ground, sending up a small cloud of dust. 

He scrolled through the options of his PDA, hoping he could mark the location somehow. He found a tab that read ‘photo manager’ and clicked the camera icon in the corner. He tilted his head in surprise and pointed his PDA at the habitat. A small notification popped up on the screen as the image was saved. He searched for a way to reserve the camera, to take a picture of himself,  but he couldn’t figure it out. 

A green spotted killer crab skulked around the edges of the habitat before dashing towards Kai. He smacked it away with his knife before stabbing it into one of its legs. The crab shrieked and then Kai stabbed it through the back, anchoring it into the dirt below. He pulled his knife back as the creature twitched once before stilling. He smiled at the rare victory. 

“Take that you stupid crab! You’re not eating me today!” He kicked the crab’s carcass away with a scowl. 

The crunching of gravel behind him made him whip around. His mind leapt to the worst possibilities. A land-bound predator, a leviathan that could move between, a higher alien. He stared at what had appeared behind him in disbelief. The sound he heard next practically made him faint. 

“Kai?” The name was whispered, as if saying it would make him disappear. 

“Jay?” 

Chapter Text

The same curly ginger hair, freckled face, mismatched eyes, and lopsided grin stared back at him. Jay’s hair had grown longer since he’d last seen him, and it was tangled with small sticks and leaves. 

“Jay!!” Kai ran towards him. 

“Kai!!” Jay opened his arms and wrapped Kai in a hug when he reached him. Kai buried his face in Jay’s shoulder, holding him as tight as possible. Jay smelled salty, most likely from the sea spray, but underneath he smelled like dirt and grass, like the island. 

“I thought you were dead.” Jay was crying now. “I know how much you hate water, and my pod got torn open by something.” 

“I saw it! Down on the beach. I landed near the Bounty, in a shallow area.” Kai pulled back, but he didn’t let go. 

“Oh, wow, your hair, it’s a little…” Jay wiped his eyes and stifled a giggle. 

“I know! This ocean water is terrible for it.” Kai huffed, he let go of Jay’s shoulders and pulled his hands back. “Have you gone into the ocean yet?” Jay shook his head, ginger mane bouncing slightly.

“No, why?” Jay tilted his head. Kai sighed and looked down. “Kai, why does it matter?”

“Do you have a safe place you’ve been staying? We need to get away from these crabs, they eat people.” Kai said. Jay gagged and grabbed Kai’s hand. 

“I’ve been living in one of the old Degasi habitats up on the mountain peak.” Jay said, leading him to the trail. They climbed through many tunnels, all leading up. 

“I chose the one that was hardest to get to so the crabs couldn’t follow me. I didn’t know that they ate people, I just know that they tried to attack me. Gave me this.” He gestured to a cut on his arm. 

They reached the top. 

“Wow, you can see everything from up here.” Kai spun in a small circle, he patted Jay’s arm. “Look! Over there, that silver dot, that’s my pod. I got number five.” Jay followed his gaze. 

“Ohh, I thought that was debris. Is it in better condition than mine?” Jay asked. 

“Yeah. It’s livable, my radio’s outgoing transmission doesn’t work, otherwise I would’ve tried to contact you guys earlier.” Kai explained. 

“Have you gotten any transmissions?” Jay sat down with his legs dangling over the cliff. He patted the ground next to him and Kai sat beside him. Kai bit his lip in dismay. 

“Yeah. I’ve been receiving distress signals from other pods, specifically pods seventeen, thirteen, and four.” Kai wrung his hands in his lap. “None of them were the others, and…none of them made it this far.” 

“Their pods were torn open like yours. Destroyed.” Kai murmured. “And the other transmission I received was from another ship. They got the Bounty’s distress signal, and they were coming to rescue me…but.” He stopped, taking a deep breath. 

“It’s a very long story.” He said. “So the ship, the Sunbeam, wanted me to go to a rendezvous, which was at another island. When I found it, there was this building. It was built by aliens, not the ocean or crab aliens, but smart aliens, like us. That building turned out to be a weapon and they blew up the Sunbeam as it tried to land. I had tried to disable the weapon but it wouldn’t let me. Then I found this portal and it teleported me here. Then I found you.” 

Jay listened, staring down at the ocean. 

“Why wouldn’t it let you disable the weapon?” Jay asked, reaching over and gently squeezing Kai’s hand. 

“That’s what I wanted to tell you.” Kai reached into his bag and pulled out his scanner. “Can I scan you?” Jay nodded. He scanned Jay and the scanner beeped. 

He showed Jay the result. Normal. 

“Yeah? I’m normal. What about it?” Jay asked, confused. Kai took a deep breath and scanned himself, showing Jay the result.

Infected. 

Jay inhaled sharply, staring at Kai with fear. 

“What does that mean? Are you going to die? How did you get it? Is it contagious? Is-” Jay rambled before Kai grabbed his hands. Jay flinched. 

“Jay, it’s okay. It spreads through the water. You haven’t touched the water, you haven’t been in the water. It’s bacterial, not viral. Just don’t go near the water and you’re safe.” Kai said, looking down. “You’ll be fine.” 

“But what about you?” Jay’s voice was small. Kai bit his lip again to keep from crying. 

“I’ll be fine.” His voice broke and he cleared his throat. “I’ll be fine. I’ll figure out how to cure it.” Jay looked sadly down at the ocean and dropped his head onto Kai’s shoulder. Kai rested his head on Jay’s, as Jay reached for his hand.

“You haven’t heard anything from the others?” Jay asked, quietly. 

“No. No sign of them at all.” Kai answered. “Oh, but I haven’t been alone the whole time.” Kai sat up and reached into his bag, pulling out the light green egg. 

“I’m calling him Eggy.” Kai lifted the egg proudly and held him towards Jay. 

“Oh my god, Kai, this is like the cutest thing you’ve ever done. Do you talk to him too?” Jay asked, tilting Eggy and gently holding him up to the light to see the creature inside. 

“Yeah,” Kai rubbed the back of his neck embarrassedly. “About a lot of stuff, actually, pretty much everything. I take him everywhere.” 

“Awww.” Jay cooed, gently tapping the egg shell. There was a soft tap from inside. “And he responds! You’re gonna make a great pet when you hatch, Eggy.” He passed Eggy back to Kai who set him back in his bag. 

“Oh yeah, I found a lot of cool alien tech in the weapon building.” Kai pulled out one of the purple tablets and an ion cube. Jay’s eyes lit up. 

“Alien technology?!” He exclaimed, taking the purple tablet that Kai passed him. 

“It’s a purple tablet. I found it on the other island and I used it to disable the force-field doorways in the weapon building.” He opened his PDA. “Here’s what the databank says.” Kai opened the tab about the tablet. 

“It says, ‘this carbon-based device is lighter than it looks, and features a symbol which resembles a ‘U’, lit up in purple. Despite the onboard power still functioning, algae growth on the exterior indicates it was abandoned hundreds, perhaps thousands of years ago. While the technology is far behind federation levels, and there is no obvious way to interface with it, it should nonetheless be possible to fabricate a precise physical copy of the device, if necessary’.” Kai read as Jay studied the tablet. 

“Fascinating. It’s really incredible that aliens on this planet were more advanced thousands of years ago than we are now in the twenty-second century.” Jay murmured in amazement, tracing the purple lines with a finger. “And this thing.” He picked up the ion cube. 

“Woah.” He blinked and looked at Kai, startled.

“Yeah, that thing is powerful.” Kai nodded. “That’s what I used to activate the teleportation portal. The databank entry says that it was most likely grown artificially and that each cube contains the equivalent ionic energy of 5 kilotons of TNT.” 

“Wow.” Jay nodded and handed the cube back to Kai. “Was there anything else in the building?” Kai shuddered.

“A doomsday device.” Kai replied, calmly. 

“WHAT?!” Jay yelped. Kai snickered. 

“It seemed to have malfunctioned, and the scan said that it wouldn’t work. It had enough energy to potentially destroy the planet and most of the solar system.” 

“Damn. I’m really glad that it didn’t work.” Jay shivered.

“Have you found anything up here?” Kai asked, looking out over the ocean and swinging his legs so that his heels lightly touched the mountain. The breeze ruffled his hair slightly. 

“Yeah,” Jay sighed. “I found an old PDA, here, I’ll go get it.” He got up and went into the rusty habitat. He came back and plopped back down next to Kai. “We can listen to it together, I haven’t had the heart to play it yet.” 

They both downloaded the data to their PDAs and Jay pulled it up to play it. 

“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.” A sad, defeated voice said over a recording. “Father was right: we should never have left this place. We shouldn’t have gone so deep. They do not want us down there. Despite my best efforts ill-health is taking hold of me. The visions are getting worse. 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.” The recording clicked off. 

“That was awful.” Jay murmured. 

“Yeah.” Kai looked down. “This planet has killed so many people. And I bet those folks weren’t even from The Bounty.” 

“No, I don’t think they were. The guy in the recording is named Bart Torgal according to the PDA, and I don’t remember anyone on the Bounty having that name.” Jay said. 

“How do you manage to remember everyone’s name?” Kai asked. Jay shrugged and looked down. Kai’s stomach growled.

“Do you have any food?” He asked. 

“Yeah, if you don’t mind alien fruit.” Jay got up again.

“Jay, I’ve been eating fish since I landed on this godforsaken planet. I would kill for fruit.”  Kai huffed. “I never want to eat another fucking fish again.” Jay managed a weak smile and reentered the habitat, returning with a large pale brown fruit. It looked like a chocolate watermelon. 

“It’s called a ‘marblemelon’,” Jay explained, taking the knife that Kai offered him to cut the fruit with. Jay sliced the fruit in half before cutting it into eighths. He handed Kai a piece and Kai took a cautious bite. 

“This is so much better than fish!” Kai exclaimed, devouring one of his pieces. He bit into a second chunk and drank the juice, quenching his thirst. The fruit was watery, but sweet with a hint of sour. It was a lot like watermelon. 

“So, I brought a survival book with me,” Jay chewed thoughtfully on his melon and reached behind him for the book. “Even though it’s not about survival on alien planets, it’s pretty good.” Kai read the book title as Jay flipped to his dog-eared page.

“Clutch Powers?” Kai scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Jay, we’ve met the guy, we know he’s a fraud.” 

“Yeah, doesn’t mean I can’t like his book.” Jay defended himself with a glare at Kai. Kai shook his head and rolled his eyes. 

“Listen to this! He recommends vocal exercises,” Jay said. “Bro bro goo goo.” He sang. 

“It keeps you calm by relaxing your face.” Jay answered Kai’s skeptical look. “Bro, bro, goo, goo.” He lowered the octave. 

“Whatever keeps you happy, man.” Kai shook his head again, propping his elbow on his knee and resting his chin on his hand. He watched Jay blink and tilt his head. 

“A few weeks ago you would’ve destroyed me for saying something like that.” Jay laughed. “I knew you had changed when I saw you, but I didn’t know it was this much.” 

“I’m just happy to be with someone again.” Kai replied, grinning against his hand. “Give it a few hours, I’ll be back to normal soon.” 

“Aww man, I was enjoying sweet and sappy Kai.” Jay smirked and nudged Kai’s leg with his own. “He was tolerable.” 

“Hey!” Kai lifted his head off of his hand and punched Jay in the shoulder. Kai laid back against the dirt, staring up at the clear-blue sky. Jay laid next to him, nudging Kai with his arm and showing him the page of the book he was reading. 

“See relaxes your face.” Jay grinned. “Broo broo gooo gooo.” 

“Okay, I believe you.” Kai chuckled. “I can’t tell you how much I missed talking to a real person.” Kai sighed and stared up at the sluggish clouds. Jay sat bolt upright, almost giving Kai a heart attack. He’d thought Jay had slipped towards falling off the mountain. 

“Do you smell that?” Jay inhaled deeply. 

“No??” Kai narrowed his eyes in confusion and sat up. 

“You can’t feel it either? There’s a storm coming.” Jay announced, pointing to a slightly gray spot on the horizon. “There it is!” 

“How do you do that?” Kai asked, impressed. Jay smiled innocently. 

“I’m just talented.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Kai rolled his eyes. Jay looked at him and snickered. 

“Your hair is so flat.” Jay observed. 

“Hey!” Kai snapped again, shoving Jay’s shoulder slightly. “There’s no soap here, I can’t wash it.” 

“Just wait one moment.” Jay raised a finger and hopped up. 

“Jay, I swear to god if you have soap.” Kai stood up and stretched, watching as Jay vanished into the habitat. Jay tossed a small bar at Kai. 

“Jay, I could literally marry you.” Kai stared down at the soap. 

“Shower first, though, dude, you smell awful.” Jay frowned. “Also, Nya would not approve.” Kai laughed. 

“Here, take these spare clothes.” Jay tossed a bundle of clothing at Kai and it hit him in the face. Kai pulled the outfit off of his head and pocketed the soap, making his way down the mountain. He reached the forest and set his satchel on the ground next to a tree. He pulled out an empty water bottle from the bag and readied his knife. 

He sliced open a bulbo tree and filled his water bottle. He peeled off his salt encrusted radiation suit and poured the bulbo water over his head. He sighed. It was nice to bathe in non salty water…even if it wasn’t hot. He poured another bottle over his head again and began to lather the soap into his hair. He rinsed the soap out and cleaned the rest of himself, pulling on Jay’s dry clothes. 

He was glad Jay liked baggy clothes, because they still fit Kai even though he was taller. He poured a few more bottles over his suit and scrubbed the soap into it before emptying the bottle completely and putting it back in his bag. He looked down at the shirt Jay had given him. Jay really was obsessed with Thor. Now that some time had passed, Kai could feel the electricity in the air, the heaviness of an approaching storm. He made it back up to Jay’s habitat and set his bag down. 

“Oh, welcome back. I couldn’t smell you coming this time.” Jay smirked at Kai who glowered at him. “We should probably move underground if there’s going to be a storm. I’m already almost packed.” 

“Holy shit, you have a lot of stuff.” Kai blinked. 

“Yeah. I grabbed my emergency bag on the way out.” Jay answered matter-of-factly. “I was lucky enough to be in my room when the ship started goin’ down.” 

“Damn,” Kai nodded. “I had absolutely nothing when I got down here. ‘Cept my PDA and, even then, she’s not very much.” Jay slung his bag over his shoulder and began to lead Kai back down the mountains. 

“Ooh!” Jay turned around and grinned, Kai almost head butting him and running into him. “You could take me to the building! Through the portal, it's in the caves, right?”

“Oh, yeah, I hadn’t thought about that.” Kai pushed past Jay and continued down the trail. Thunder rumbled in the distance. “Last I checked, though, the cave was, like, filled with evil crabs and I’m the only one with a weapon.” 

“I have a weapon!” Jay pulled a long metal rod out of his bag and whipped it through the air with a swish. 

“Jesus, where the fuck did you get that shit?” Kai dodged another swish from Jay’s rod as Jay walked at his side. 

“Ripped it out of my pod when I landed.” Jay shrugged. 

“Yeah, your pod was really torn up,” Kai replied, grabbing the mountain as his foot slipped. “Jesus- Anyway, how did that happen?”

“I don’t know.” Jay whacked a rock with his rod. “I didn’t land on the island, either. I landed on the other side, in the ocean. Something dragged my pod under the island and back up on the other side. They tore a hole in it and slammed it into the beach. I barely made it out without my pod flooding.” Kai shuddered. 

“Did you see any part of it?” Kai asked.

“Yeah, kind of. I saw some red and teal. And a long tail.” Jay answered. 

“Sounds like a grim crab.” Kai paused, rummaging through his satchel to find his map. He uncapped the bottle where he was keeping the map and pulled it out. “Do you have a pen?” 

“Yeah.” Jay gave him a black ink pen and Kai sat down on the trail, spreading the map on the dirt. Jay sat down next to him. “Woahhh, you started a map? Nice.” 

“Yeah,” Kai began to outline his marks. He labeled a large ‘X’ where the grim crab had been seen. “This is the only other place I’d seen a grim crab.” Kai circled the mark near The Bounty’s wreck. 

“What is a grim crab?” Jay asked, tilting his head. 

“It probably has a real name. But I named it that because it looks like a massive shark-eel with crab pincers.” Kai explained. “A combination of grim reaper and crab.” He circled  the ‘X’ near the island. 

“Wait, let me put my mask on to see how far from the pod we are.” Kai pulled on his mask and waited as the screen loaded. The light blue display read over one thousand meters away. He wrote ‘one thousand’ on the map. “I’m not sure how far this island is from the other one. I think it might’ve been nine-hundred meters, maybe?” He wrote nine-hundred with a question mark between the building island and his pod. 

The air had grown more humid, and Kai was sweating by now. He stood up again and helped Jay to his feet. Kai swayed slightly and shook his head. 

“You alright?” Jay asked before stopping. “Oh right, you’re overheating. We’re almost down, it’ll be cooler closer to the ocean.” After a few more minutes of slow hiking Kai stopped again. He wiped sweat off of his forehead. 

“I know,” Jay said sympathetically. “We’re almost down; just a little longer. Can you keep walking?” Kai nodded weakly. He never understood why he overheated so easily. They made it to the ground level and Jay slung one of Kai’s arms over his shoulders.

“Here, sit down,” Jay gently lowered Kai to the ground and Kai slumped his head onto Jay’s shoulder. Jay searched through Kai’s bag for a water bottle and made sure Kai drank it. 

“Just rest, buddy, it’s okay.” Jay patted Kai’s head and gently laid him on the ground. The air was less warm at the base of the mountain, but it was still unbelievably humid. Jay used the bottom of his shirt to wipe off Kai’s forehead as Kai rested. Kai stretched out with his head on Jay’s chest. The warmth of the air lulled Jay into a doze as he gently drew his hand through Kai’s damp hair. He’d missed being able to do this with his friends. Back on Earth they would have picnics like this, just all of them laying and enjoying the summer sun. Thunder rumbled loudly overhead and the sunlight disappeared, giving way to the darkness of the clouds. Waves lashed the beaches as the wind picked up. 

“Kai.” Jay murmured, opening his eyes fully and nudging Kai with his elbow. Kai blinked open his eyes and winced. “Welcome back.” Kai stood up shakily.

“Take it slow.” Jay ordered, standing up alongside Kai as the brunet rubbed his eyes. “You were out for a bit.” Kai wiped sweat off of his forehead again and sighed. 

“I wish I wouldn’t go that easily.” Kai grumbled as he picked up his bag again. “It makes doing anything in the heat unbearable.” 

“At least you don’t freeze to death like the rest of us.” Jay observed. Kai shrugged and kicked a rock down the trail.

“I guess,” Kai sighed. “This way to the cave…I think.” Jay reached for Kai’s hand when he slipped. Kai caught him and steadied him with a hand on his shoulder. 

“If you die out here I will kill you.” Kai said sweetly as he patted Jay’s arm. 

“Aww, there he is, I missed the aggressively nice Kai.” Jay smirked at him as Kai rolled his eyes. Jay’s grin faltered and they walked in silence for a few minutes. 

“Kai?” Jay shattered the thunder-ridden quiet.

“Yeah?” Kai asked. 

“You’re gonna stay, right?” Jay sounded scared. “I mean on the island.” Kai looked down, kicking a rock that clattered away. 

“Jay…I want to, I really do, but all of my supplies, my radio, is back in my pod. Once I can make a habitat builder, I’ll build up here.” Kai explained. “Or I’ll figure out a way for you to come to my pod…without touching the water…I guess.” Jay sighed. 

“I mean…you’re right. I can’t live in that habitat forever, I’ll get tetanus.” Jay shuddered. “Or electrocuted during one of the thunderstorms. Been through that once, not pleasant.” He flicked his wrist beneath his chin and gestured to the flowering electricity scars over his face. 

When Jay was still in training for space travel, he’d been electrocuted during a routine repair drill. A branching scar had been seared into his skin and it had discolored his eye, bleaching it and making it nearly white. They’d all gotten their fair share of scars at the academy. Kai himself had gotten a cut or two over one of his eyes as well as a few burns on his hands. Nya had an acid scar on her stomach from an accident, Cole had a jagged scar that discolored one of his eyes, and Lloyd had dozens on his arms. Zane and Pixal usually got repaired pretty regularly or they repaired themselves. Thunder rumbled loudly. 

“Yeah, that was a terrifying experience.” Kai sighed and held a bush aside for Jay. “I thought you were dead. You might’ve been if Zane hadn’t known CPR.” Jay flashed a grin. 

“Please, it would take more than a little electricity to kill me. I’m basically the master of lightning.” Jay chuckled. “Besides, after that, now I can sense the storms. How cool of a power is that?” 

“Just don’t go standing on the mountain top with a pole trying to get shocked again and we won’t have any problems.” Kai dramatically moved aside the vines concealing the cave entrance. “Here we are.” 

“Damn, that was cool, even for you.” Jay picked up a stick. 

“What do you mean ‘even for you’?!” Kai’s head whipped towards Jay who was inspecting his stick. “I’m cooler than you!” 

“Sure, buddy, whatever you need to tell yourself.” Jay swished his stick through the air with a whoosh. “Eh, it makes a good sword but I would prefer my nunchucks. You can have it, you’re the sword guy.” 

“Psh.” Kai rolled his eyes and took the stick. “Nothing like my katanas. Come on slowpoke.” Kai trotted through the caves, tapping his stick against the ground occasionally in the darkened locations. 

“Don’t you have a flashlight in your bag?” Kai asked, squinting into a dark curve in the tunnel. There were some suspicious skittering sounds from up ahead. 

“Oh, yeah.” Jay reached into his own bag and pulled out the flashlight, clicking it on. A crabby shriek reached his ears and Kai whacked away the crustacean that had launched itself at his face. There was a flat smacking sound as the crab hit the wall. Jay looked over Kai’s shoulder from where he’d hidden himself behind the other. 

“I guess it does make a decent sword.” Kai inspected his stick weapon. Kai slipped on a rock and caught himself with the cave wall. Jay snickered and Kai glared at him. 

“Sorry, I was just reminded of when we went roller skating.” Jay giggled. “Remember Chen’s rink? You could not stay on your feet to save your life. You took everyone else down with you.” 

“Yeah, that was an…experience. Sorry again about hurtin’ your wrist when we fell.” Kai replied, scratching the back of his neck. “And it’s unfair that you’re so good at skating.” 

“I‘ve had years of practice.” Jay smirked. “I am a skating champion after all.” Thunder shook the mountain. 

“Jesus Christ, thank god we’re underground.” Kai shuddered. “The storms here are worse than anything I’ve seen on Earth.” They moved through the main cave entrance and Jay stared up at the alien arch. The arch quivered with energy and the pale green light illuminated the cavern. 

“Woah.” Jay whispered. “Oh my god, this thing is so cool!” Jay darted towards the arch and held up his PDA, taking pictures with his camera. Kai smiled affectionately and made his way towards Jay. He’d missed the ginger’s geek-outs. The metal rod Jay was using as a weapon had been tied to his bag, and Jay grabbed it and hit the arch with it.

“What are you doing?!” Kai yelped. “You could break it!” 

“This is alien technology.” Jay replied. “It can withstand one guy hitting it with a rod.” 

“You don’t know that!” Kai protested, grabbing Jay’s rod and yanking it out of his hands. 

“Heyyy.” Jay whined, reaching for the rod that Kai smugly held over his head. “I hate that you’re taller than me. It’s not even by that much but still!” Jay crossed his arms as Kai lowered the rod.

“Look, do you want to go to the other island or not?” Kai asked. 

“Yeah.” Jay nodded.

“Then let’s go!” Kai pushed Jay towards the arch. “I don’t like the rain anymore than I like water in general. Let’s get this over with; I don’t like that island.” 

“Okay, wait,” Jay wriggled away from Kai and took a step back from the arch. “You’re sure it’s not going to incinerate us, right?” 

“Yeah, but it will make you nauseous. I won’t judge if you throw up, like I did when I first used it.” Kai said. “You’ll be fine.” Jay was still eyeing the arch nervously. Kai extended a hand towards him and Jay took it anxiously. 

“You’ll be alright.” Kai reiterated. The two took a step closer to the portal before Kai ducked in, tugging Jay into the green light with him. He felt Jay’s grip on his hand tighten and Kai closed his eyes, trying to quell the nausea that was rumbling in his stomach. Before he knew it they were stepping into the darkness of the second cave. Jay gagged loudly and jerked his hand away from Kai’s as he threw up near the cavern wall. Kai shook his head dizzily and patted Jay’s back, holding his curly ginger hair away from his face. 

“Oh, ew,” Jay stood up and shakily wiped his mouth. “I haven’t done that since the ship went down.” 

“I did the same thing, don’t worry, bud.” Kai rubbed Jay’s back as Jay wiped his mouth again, grimacing. “Now, let’s go see that building.” He led Jay to the cave entrance and they were both nearly knocked off of the mountain by the wind.

“Jesus fuck!” Kai yelped, grabbing Jay’s shirt and slamming him against the wall to prevent him from being blown over the cliff.  He threw an arm over Jay’s back, keeping their faces turned towards the mountain face. 

“Get to the next cave!” Kai yelled over the wind. Jay began to shimmy towards the second cave and Kai followed slowly. They made it to the sheltering mouth of the tunnel and Kai slumped against the wall with relief. 

“I was not expecting that.” Kai huffed, shaking his head. “It should be easier to get the rest of the way down because the wind is on the other side.” Jay shuddered and extended a hand to help Kai up. 

“Jay,” Kai accepted Jay’s hand and hauled himself up. “I’m sorry I’m so mean to you all the time.” Kai sighed. 

“It’s just something I’ve been thinking about lately. I was literally so happy to see you, it made me regret I’d ever been mean to you.” Kai scratched his arm before grabbing Jay in a hug. “God, you have got to punch me when I’m mean to you.” Jay patted Kai’s back.

“I will keep that in mind,” Jay laughed quietly. “I could get used to punching you in the face.” 

“I’m trying to be serious, here, Jay!” Kai protested, leaning back from the hug. Jay covered his mouth to stifle his laughter. 

“Sorry, sorry, payback.” He giggled. Kai rolled his eyes.

“Fine, I’ll just never be nice to you ever again.” Kai ruffled Jay’s hair and jogged away from him.

“That’s not what I meant!” Jay chased after Kai, laughing. “I like sweet ‘n sensitive Kai!” Jay smiled and poked Kai’s arm affectionately. 

“I forgive you for anything you've ever said to me.” Jay grinned. “And anything you will say to me.” Kai made his way out of the cave and into the stormy light. 

“I could change!” Kai argued. 

“Yeah, right.” Jay dodged a punch from Kai. Jay prepared to round the corner but Kai grabbed him and covered his eyes. 

“First, this should be a surprise, it's pretty mind-blowing, second, promise me you won’t faint.” Kai said. 

“Uh, okay, I promise not to faint.” Jay raised his hand. “Scout’s honor.” 

Kai rolled his eyes and began to lead Jay towards the building. “Please, we all know you made that up to impress Nya.” Jay shrugged.

“Welcome to the weapon,” Kai said, feeling a shiver roll down his spine as he moved his hands, allowing Jay to see the towering building. Jay tensed and his jaw dropped as he stared at the building. 

“Holy shit.” He whispered. Kai nodded. 

“Just wait until we get inside.” Kai grabbed Jay’s wrist and led him towards the building. He kept Jay on the side of him that was farthest from the ocean. 

“Here’s the panel that I put the purple tablet in to deactivate the forcefield.” Kai said, patting the panel with a small grin. “The forcefield was like a green glowing energy that felt solid when I touched it.” 

“Ooh.” Jay inspected the panel then made his way to the entrance. 

“Careful, watch the water.” Kai warned. Jay stepped dramatically over the wave line. Kai frowned at the ocean and pushed Jay all the way inside as a wave surged up over the sand. 

“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea, Jay,” Kai said, eyeing the entrance. Water had started to seep into the building. “What if the entrance floods and we can’t get out?” 

“Aww, please.” Jay slung his arm over Kai’s shoulders. “We’ll be fine! Since when did you become an actual thinker?” 

“Hey!” Kai crossed his arms. “I think, Jay, I’ve managed to keep myself alive out here, however impossible that may seem, I’ve done it. Now, I have to keep you alive too. We can’t risk you getting infected.” Jay looked down and sighed. 

“We don’t have to stick around for long, okay?” Jay compromised. Kai nodded nervously and stepped away from the water that was still seeping into the building. Jay stared down the hallway before waving Kai along after him. 

“Wow.” Jay looked up at the large beam structure. “I wonder what they used this for.” Jay trailed a hand on the wall.

“Colder than I thought,” He mused. “I wonder if these markings are their language. Like hieroglyphics!” Kai smiled as he watched Jay explore. 

“I hadn’t thought of that.” Kai replied.

“What was here?” Jay asked, gesturing to the now lifeless data terminal.

“A terminal.” Kai answered. “I downloaded the data and the PDA had to translate it. It mostly just talked about how further research of the building was required. You can record it off of mine if you need to.” Kai led Jay towards the ramps into the lower levels. Jay jumped when the pedestal extended. 

“What’s that?” Jay asked, stepping towards it. The pedestal lifted again. 

“Woah! Is it motion activated?” Jay asked, zipping around the stand. “Where’s the sensor? Is it inside of the floor? What's the minimum weight that would trigger it?” He asked rapidly. Kai smiled.

“I have no idea, Jay.” He said, watching as Jay whacked the pedestal with his rod. Kai rolled his eyes.

“C’mon.” Kai waved Jay down a hall. “This is another terminal, but I also already downloaded it. I don’t remember what that one talked about, I’ll have to go back and listen to it again.” Jay examined the terminal as Kai walked on, before jogging to catch up with him. Kai paused near the end of the corridor. He tilted his head and listened. He thought he could hear water below. 

“What’s this thing?” Jay asked, leaning over the edge that led to the lower levels. The wind from the ‘elevator’ tugged his hair upwards. He grabbed the back of Jay’s shirt and yanked him away from the hole. “The hell, Kai? I wanted to inspect it.”

“I’ll show you how it works, chill out, sparky.” Kai replied. He stepped into the hole and smirked as Jay’s eyes widened in panic. Kai floated in the air for the moment before spiraling downwards. 

“Kai!” Jay yelped, staring over the edge and down at him.

“I’m fine, Jay!” Kai called back. His eyes narrowed with concern as he saw water creeping down the hall. The underwater pool must’ve flooded. He splashed into a shallow puddle of water. 

“Jay Walker, don't you dare follow me down!” Kai yelled up as he heard a clatter. 

“Uhhh, too late.” Jay yelled back. He slowed as he neared the floor and Kai lunged to grab him. He caught Jay and lifted him over the water. 

“Really, Jay? You dumbass.” Kai sighed heavily. Jay grinned sheepishly and looked down at the water. “Yeah, we’re not going any further.” 

“Come on! What if you just carry me over the water?” Jay begged. “I promise it’ll be quick!” Kai sighed deeply again. 

“Fine. But if you fall in and get infected, don't come crying to me.” Kai said. “Hold on, and if you get too heavy we’re turning back.” Jay wrapped his arms around Kai’s neck as Kai cautiously stepped into the water. It was icy and cold, probably stirred up by the wild currents from the storm. 

“That’s a big pool.” Jay murmured, craning his neck. 

“Careful! You’re gonna make me drop you.” Kai hissed, hefting Jay in his arms again. “I’m not that strong.” 

“Well, there goes my whole belief system.” Jay replied, sarcastically.

“Hey!” Kai snapped. “I can still drop you!” He dramatically feigned dropping Jay and lowered him a few centimeters. Jay yelped in surprise and dug his fingers into Kai’s shoulder.

“Ow.” Kai huffed, carefully moving around the pool.

“That’s what you get.” Jay nodded. Kai rolled his eyes as they entered the hallway to the right of the pool. He had to go up two of the small ramps before he was completely out of the water. He set Jay down. 

“This is crazy.” Jay murmured, staring up at the vaulted ceiling. He gasped and pointed at the first display case. “Is that the rifle?!”

“Yep.” Kai nodded as Jay ran towards the case to scan the device with his PDA. Kai flexed his arms and rolled out his shoulders. 

“Come on, Jay, we gotta go up. The water’s still rising a bit.” Kai waved to Jay who was talking to himself as he inspected the rifle. 

“I bet they were humanoid.” Jay was saying as he walked back towards Kai. “Even this weapon-building resembles a skyscraper, not to mention a hand-held rifle. But the ramps could indicate that they couldn’t go up or down stairs…”

“Earth to Jay.” Kai flicked him on the forehead. “That’s a good theory though, that they might have been humanoid. I bet they had tentacles instead of legs.” Kai wiggled his fingers and grinned. 

“That would make sense!” Jay exclaimed, startling Kai slightly. “Why are you making theories that make sense?!”

“I make more sense than you do!” Kai replied.  

“Since when?!” Jay challenged taking one last picture of the rifle. 

“Since always!” Kai shot back, rolling his eyes. “Now move it, the water’s still rising.” Jay sighed as Kai led him up the first few ramps. 

“Here’s the doomsday device.” Kai pointed at the small glowing red and blue orb in the display case. “Don’t hit it with your fucking stick, I swear to god.” Jay raised his hands. 

“I’m not that stupid, jeez.” He said, scanning the orb and taking a picture. 

“And this is the control room.” Kai led him to the uppermost level. The lights of the alien columns lit up as Kai stepped forward. 

“Ooh, they’re motion activated too.” Jay said, walking down the raised pathway. He turned and looked into the room beyond. “What’s that?” 

“That’s the snake needle thing that stabbed me.” Kai showed Jay his arm, where the large puncture wound was still red against his suntanned skin. “Don’t go near it.” 

“But I want to go near it. Maybe I can disable it.” Jay replied. 

“There’s no point. We don’t know if it has a reset timer or something.” Kai shook his head. 

“Wait, it took your blood?” Jay asked, turning slowly to look at Kai again. 

“Yeah.” Kai nodded, confused now. “What about it?”

“So, we’re assuming that this platform has never seen a human before.” Jay sat down, hands in front of him. Kai knew what he was doing; Jay was going into full nerdy explanation mode. “Because the people who built the habitat on the island, they couldn’t get the portal to work.” Jay had his eyes closed now, tapping the floor. 

“Yeah.” Kai sat down across from him. 

“The other humans most likely didn’t know this island existed, and that poses the big question. How did it read your blood?” Jay opened his eyes and fixed Kai with a grin. 

“How did it read my blood…” Kai trailed off. “It’s obvious that their technology has advanced far beyond our own, maybe it was automatically built like that. With a translator, like the chips in our necks. They can translate any known language in the universe. It’s like that but for blood?” 

“Orrrr-” Jay exclaimed excitedly. “These higher aliens were similar enough to us that we had common blood types. Or common blood make-ups. Since I’ve noticed that the creatures that live here are mostly fish, they’re all most likely cold-blooded, I’m assuming that the aliens were like that too.” Kai nodded. 

“Man, now I really want to examine it.” Jay’s fingers twitched. “But we should probably get back up to the surface. I’m getting tired. This place’s time is so weird.” Kai stretched and stood up, helping Jay to his feet. Jay sighed. 

“Hey, remember that time I crashed that picnic you and Nya were having?” Kai elbowed Jay with a grin as they went back to the ramp room. “You dared me to put honey in my hair.” 

“I can’t believe you actually did it!” Jay laughed. “You had bugs chasing you all the way back to the monastery.” 

“You never did pay me.” Kai tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I guess you’ll owe me once we get back to Earth.” Jay’s grin faded somewhat quickly, and Kai knew where his mind went.

“We’ll find her, Jay, I promise.” Kai sighed. “Nya’s the toughest out of all of us, I know she’s okay.” 

“Is it like your sibtuition?” Jay asked.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that.” Kai shrugged. “I can’t feel her pain or anything, but I can tell that she’s alive.” 

“Can I see Eggy?” Jay held out a hand. 

“Oh, sure.” Kai blinked in surprise and pulled the egg out of his bag. A few dry scales flaked off. 

“You need to put him in water for a few minutes, rehydrate him, y’know?” Jay examined the egg, holding him up to the light. “He’s an aquatic animal, so his egg should be in water more than out otherwise his stasis might destabilize, causing him to hatch prematurely or die in the shell.” 

“Oh, shit, yeah I’ll go put him in the water as soon as we get you to the surface.” Kai picked Jay up and Jay wrapped his arms around Kai’s neck to keep himself stable.

“Christ, you’re heavy.” Kai grumbled, carrying Jay carefully back to the wind elevator. He deposited Jay into the glowing green particles.

“I’ll be right up!” He yelled up to Jay. “Do not touch anything!” 

“Too late!” Jay yelled back. Kai rolled his eyes and deployed his mask, pulling Eggy out of the bag again. He jumped into the overflowing pool, staring out at the darkness of the yawning exit into open water. 

He turned to look down at Eggy, who’s shell seemed to turn a little less pale. He ran his finger across the raised, light green scales on the eggshell. A low, deep rumbling caught his attention before a deafening roar cut through the water. It was a bone rattling, teeth shaking sound that he could feel in every part of him. His brain seemed to vibrate in his skull, and everything went blurry. The low frequency was like an ice pick in his mind. He surfaced and yanked himself out of the pool, sprinting to the elevator and staggering towards Jay. 

“Kai! What happened? Are you okay?” Jay reached out but hesitated, backing away. Kai was still dripping water on the floor. Kai was panting, eyes screwed shut, egg clutched to his chest, and ears ringing.

“Don’t…don’t touch me until I’m dry.” Kai huffed, hands on the back of his head to breathe easier, after gently setting the egg on the floor. Jay nodded and pulled a towel out of his bag. He threw it at Kai who took it and began to dry his hair. His hair had gotten longer than he usually liked it, and it had developed a slight curl, like Nya’s. 

“What happened down there?” Jay asked as Kai sat down, leaning against the wall. 

“I heard something.” He picked up his egg. “Something…terrifying.” Jay’s mismatched eyes widened. He knew it was something bad when Kai was scared.

“I heard a roar.” Kai shivered and held the egg close to his face. “It was like a dragon, it shook my whole body, it practically made me deaf. My ears were ringing, Jay, it was insane.” Jay sat down a few feet from Kai, careful to avoid the puddle he’d made. 

“What if it was a massive creature? Like the biggest thing on the planet.” Jay asked. Kai groaned. 

“Don’t say that.” He shook his head, but he knew how likely the scenario was. “I don’t want to think about any more massive creatures than I have too. Jay, you need to get back to your island. It’s not safe here.” Jay leaned against the wall across from Kai, dropping his head back against the dark material. 

“I know.” Jay’s enthusiasm had disintegrated within a matter of moments. “But I don’t want to leave you. We’ve been on our own this entire time…I guess I figured that once I found one of you we’d stay together.” 

“I want to stay, Jay, I want to stay with you so badly, but it’s too risky.” He shook his head, scattering a few droplets. “I’m infected. If there’s any hope of us getting off of this planet, I need you to stay healthy. If it comes to it, you might be the only way to disable the weapon.” 

Jay listened, staring up at the ceiling, his mismatched eyes watching the green veins flicker. He sighed heavily and nodded. 

“Let’s get out of here.” Jay stood up, gesturing for Kai to follow him. Kai rose on slightly unsteady legs and tucked Eggy back into his bag. He and Jay made their way to the surface in silence. The quiet was only broken by a quiet reminder from Kai to Jay about stepping over the rapidly rising waves. 

The storm was still raging outside and the rain pelted down, stinging Kai’s head as he deployed his mask to protect his eyes. He held up an arm in an attempt to shield Jay as they started the trek up the mountain. The wind whipped Kai’s hair out of his face and the thunder was a deafening roar above their heads. 

They reached the shelter of the caverns and soon they were bathed in the sickly green light of the alien arch. The fresh rainwater had cleaned Kai of the ocean water by now. Jay faced him, eyes narrowed to prevent the tears gathering there from falling. 

“I’ll visit, I promise.” Kai rubbed his arm. Jay grabbed him in a hug, burying his face in his soaking wet shoulder. 

“Okay.” Jay hiccuped, pulling back and wiping his eyes. 

“You’ll be okay getting back by yourself?” Kai asked, squeezing Jay’s hands comfortingly. Jay nodded and pulled back, turning around to face the portal. 

“I’ll see you later, Kai.” Jay looked back at him and wiped one of his eyes again. He stepped through the arch and the green light enveloped him. He emerged on the other side after a few moments and gagged violently, throwing up against the wall. He lifted the bottom of his shirt and cleaned his mouth. He slumped down against the wall, head buried in his arms as he listened to the angry growls of the thunder. 

The storm began to quiet. He raised his head and began to make his way to his habitat. He kicked a small pile of pebbles and watched the rocks cascade down the mountainside. The storm clouds gathered in the distance, a purple blemish in the gray sky. 

Jay looked over the sea, over the burning wreckage of the Bounty. He found the small silver dot of Kai’s pod. The glint of the hazy sunlight on the ocean’s surface made him think of Nya.

“I guess that guy was right,” Jay chuckled quietly as he murmured to himself. “Until then, there’s always the view.”

Chapter Text

As soon as Jay had vanished through the portal, Kai slumped to his knees, letting out a choked sob as he covered his mouth. He knew that if he’d started crying in front of Jay, he would never have left. There was the chittering of a crab to his right and he scowled, wiping his eyes and pulling himself up with the wall. He shook his head. He had to keep it together until he was safe. He fought off a couple more crabs, spearing them into the stone with his knife and a cruel grin. Then he waited out the storm. 

He stepped out onto the path that led down to the beach and he stumbled down, a piercing headache becoming an ice pick in his skull.  He covered his ears as a low warbling filled the air, but his hands did nothing to block the sound. A faint image appeared in front of his face, glowing eyes shimmered before his eyes like a hologram. 

“What…are…you?” The hologram asked as the corners of Kai’s vision turned hazy shades of purple and teal. The voice was feminine, and their English was halting, as if it hadn’t been spoken in many years. Kai closed his eyes in a desperate attempt to make the hologram disappear. The vision faded and Kai gasped as the pain vanished just as suddenly as it appeared. He kept his hands over his ears and opened his eyes cautiously. 

“What the fuck was that?” He whispered, but his only answer was the waves crashing against the shore and the receding rumble of the storm. He scanned himself again. Infected, but no change in his condition. He hadn’t hallucinated since he was diagnosed, and it seemed unlikely that he would start now and his PDA wouldn’t tell him. He shook his head and shuddered. 

“If it didn’t know what I was, how did it know English? Or was my translator working? But it hasn’t worked for any of the other languages here…” He shook his head again. 

He needed to get back to his pod. He activated his mask. He was almost a thousand meters from his shelter. He practically threw up at the thought of going back in the water after hearing that roar. 

He sought out a Bulbo tree, ate his fill and then shoved as much bark as he could carry into his overstuffed bag. He walked as far as possible along the beach before pulling out his seaglide and enlarging it. He slid into the water. The warm liquid climbed above his shoulders as he descended, and he gazed fearfully into the shadows. 

The sunlight above him vanished in an instant. His eyes widened and he surfaced immediately, looking around desperately. One of the planet’s moons had blocked the star, causing a total eclipse. Kai shuddered again. Depending on how fast that moon rotated, eclipses could be a weekly occurrence. An eerie red glow covered the planet, and Kai froze. He wasn’t going to move until the eclipse ended, that was for sure. And thankfully it did. The sunlight returned and he turned his seaglide in the direction of his pod, activating it and moving deeper. 

The rippling tendrils of the creepvine forest reached out at him, snagging his legs and almost catching in his seaglide’s propeller. He sliced them away with his knife, scowling. He surfaced for oxygen a few moments later and closed his eyes before diving again. He just wanted to be back in his pod. 

Finally. He thought as the water turned from ghoulish green to a gentler blue and the flotation devices of his pod came into view. He shrunk his seaglide and pushed open the hatch on the bottom, hauling himself into the space. The loud beeping of his radio made him whip his head towards it, as he tripped over himself in his haste to play the message. 

“Playing partially translated broadcast.” The radio announced. Kai tilted his head in confusion. 

Partially translated? He thought. But almost every language in the universe is known, unless- He was silenced by a series of inhuman noises.

“Nine new biological subjects designated. Mode,” The radio said in a deep, cold voice before trailing into the dark growl. “Hunting…analyzing. Sharing subject locations with other agents.” The radio stopped. Kai covered his mouth and stared at the radio in horror. He yanked off his bag and pulled Eggy out, holding him against his chest. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck.” He panicked. “That message wasn’t human, Eggy, and that clearly wasn’t fish-talk. It must’ve been your damned aliens. They’re hunting me! And there’s more than one of them. Nine biological subjects? Does that mean nine people left? What about Jay? He’s alone on that island.” He shook his head rapidly. He forced himself to stop and take a few deep breaths. 

“I have to get the hell off of this planet. I have to find everyone and leave.” He shivered. “I’ve got to go back to the Bounty.” But to do that he needed a laser-cutter, like the PDA had advised. And maybe a propulsion cannon if he had time. He checked his recipes, both were unknown. He scowled and unpacked his bag, setting the ion cubes, tablets, and singular diamond into his storage container. He set Eggy back into his bag and climbed to the top of his pod. The air was still heavy and humid. He expected that there would be another storm rolling in soon. 

“Let’s go find some wreckage.” He activated his mask and leapt off of the pod. He pulled out his seaglide and enlarged it. The turbine spun and propelled him through the water as he looked around. He didn’t find anything other than a gravity trap fragment and part of a beacon in the first pile of rubble he tracked down. Small rocks drifted in the distance, and he surfaced quickly before diving and swimming closer. 

Transparent pink creatures had embedded themselves in the rock. Kai scanned them. They were called “floaters”. He chuckled to himself behind his mask and continued to search the ground. A loud whale-like noise startled him and he almost dropped his scanner. He looked around, treading water carefully to stay in place. A massive shelled creature was drifting aimlessly through the blue. He swam closer. The creature rumbled and he rested his hand on its shell. It seemed sturdy enough…

He hauled himself up, standing carefully on the creature’s back. It was close enough to the surface that he could actually be out of the water while perched. He scanned the creature. It was called a Reefback. He watched the creature for a moment before swimming back below it. A small object glinted in the sand beneath him, and he dove down. 

It was another massive heap of debris from the Bounty. He grabbed a crate and searched inside. He found a fragment of a laser cutter and grinned before scanning it. He was glad he found one piece, but he still needed two more. 

“Scans show a nearby cave system. Depth 90 meters and leads to an unknown environmental biome.” His PDA announced over his headset. He found two fragments of a scanner room, surfaced, then returned to the wreck. A second laser cutter fragment. He found a second pile of debris filled with things. He found pieces of a nuclear disposal system, a bioreactor, and a seamoth. The light from above began to dim, and he tilted his head. He hadn’t adjusted to the way time worked here. He swam to the surface for oxygen and returned to his pod. His radio was beeping. He almost didn’t press the relay button; he hardly wanted to hear it. 

“High priority automated message from Aurora Lifepod 13. Coordinates attached.” A robotic voice announced. “Lifepod is carrying high priority passenger ‘Jochi Khaser. I said Khasar! Why do I have to record this anyway?’. Send immediate burial detail.” Kai sighed. 

“I would if I could.” He grumbled. He’d known Jochi. The signal beeped in his ear to inform him that the location of the pod could be viewed from his mask. Kai sighed heavily and shook his head. 

“Another one gone.” He slid his hand down his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. “At least it wasn’t any of my friends.” He peered at his radio. 

“I need to get the outgoing message online.” He murmured as he set Eggy on one of the chairs. He slid his hands around the radio, looking for any way to get it open or turn it off. He needed a screwdriver for all of that. He glanced at his repair tool and placed his foot on the wall, hooking his fingers in the radio before yanking it off the wall. The front piece came disconnected from the metal, sending him back into the ladder. 

“Ow.” He grumbled, leaning forward and rubbing his back. He was going to have a big bruise tomorrow. He examined the exposed wires, they all seemed to be in place… There. He found a space where there should’ve been a wire, but there wasn’t. 

“How the fuck does a whole ass wire disappear?” He asked, blinking. He peered closer, resting his hand on the side before jerking or back as he was shocked. 

“Fuck!” He growled, shaking his hand and flexing his fingers. “There’s a reason Jay does this!” He didn’t know shit about repairing anything electrical. He put the panel back on and fused it with his repair tool. He sighed and activated his mask. He pressed the relay button on the side. Static. He pressed the scan button. No available channels. He pressed the broadcast button. Broadcast unavailable. He ran a hand through his hair with a scowl.

“I thought that this damned tech was supposed to be good for something.” Kai deactivated his mask. “We didn’t advance this far for nothing.” He groaned in frustration. 

“This place is infuriating!” He shouted. His voice dinged off of the curved metal walls and echoed back at him. He scowled. “I need that laser cutter. I have to get into the files.” The radio beeped again, and Kai pressed the button.

“This is Alterra HQ. This may be our only communications window.” A rushed voice said. “We can’t send a rescue ship all the way out there, so Bounty, you’re just gonna have to meet us halfway. We’ve uploaded blueprints to the ship’s computer!” Now Kai really needed to get into the Bounty’s mainframe. 

“We’re doing a sandwich run, are you in?” An off-mic voice asked in the background. “Uh yeah, give me a second.” The main person was back again. “Blackbox data shows the high security terminal in the Captain’s quarters is still functional.”

“Becky’s leaving in like five minutes.” The offmic said again. Anger flared in Kai, making him snarl in outrage. How could someone be so crass, lives were in danger. “Alright, tell Becky I’ll just take the regular.” 

“The regular?”

“Yes! She’ll know what I mean.” 

“And if she doesn’t?”

“Just tell her the regular, dude!”

“I say regular, and she’s like ‘what’s the regular’, and I have to come all the way back up here.” The offmic person’s voice faded out, like they were leaving.

“The code should be 2679.”

“What’s the regular?” Offmic was back.

“Ham and cheese!” The main person snapped. 

“Okay.” Offmic said. The recording ended. Kai punched the radio. Something cracked beneath his fist and there was an obvious dent in the metal. He repaired it quickly with his tool and shook his head. 

“I need that laser-cutter.” Kai nodded resolutely to himself. He climbed up the ladder and launched himself into the water. The liquid splashed around him, engulfing him in tropical warmth as he enlarged his seaglide and propelled into the depth. He would make the laser-cutter, go to the Bounty, retrieve the data, and then he would find Jochi’s pod and see what he could do for his ‘burial detail’. Kai’s seaglide hummed lowly in the water, and Kai directed himself towards the crimson grassy area. That’s where he’d found the other laser-cutter fragments, so he assumed that’s where he’d find the last one.

A massive chunk of wreckage loomed out of the greenish water, and Kai surfaced quickly to refill his oxygen before descending towards it. The wreckage was twisted and deformed. He found fragments of scanner rooms and bioreactors. He couldn’t even put his finger on where this wreckage could’ve come from on the ship. Heavily armored sharks launched themselves out of the sand in the distance, their erratic ripping body movements making Kai nervous. A rupture in the side of the wreck allowed him inside access. He swam inside. He found a vehicle bay fragment, and, as his PDA beeped to tell him his oxygen was low, he saw it. A twisted chunk of a laser-cutter. Kai grinned beneath his mask and he scanned it, hastily kicking to the surface. His Seaglide was concerningly low on power. He’d need a new battery when he got back to his pod. He surfaced beside his pod before snagging a few mushrooms and climbing inside.

He didn’t have any copper. He sighed, checking his recipes. He needed two diamonds, he only had one. He’d have to go back to the weapon island and look for more. A chance to visit Jay. He thought, smiling to himself. Then he could go to the Bounty and retrieve his data. He needed more cave sulfur too, he’d have to investigate the caves beneath his pod for that in the morning. He curled up, resting his head on his arm. He really needed a pillow. Maybe he could find that towel Jay had given him back at the weapon when he looked for a diamond tomorrow. Until then, he needed some sleep. He closed his eyes, lulled into a doze by the gentle rocking of his pod in the tides.

“Nya you know I don’t like water!” Kai protested, standing on the white tiles in his swim shorts. The black void of space sprawled above them through thickly reinforced glass, and fluorescent lights mixed with starlight to dapple the pool with glinting shades. 

“Come on, Kai!” Nya spun in the water like a fish, her dark hair clinging to her forehead and shoulders. “It’s fun. You have to learn how to swim at some point.” She laughed, splashing water over the tiles at him. Kai sprang back from the soaking radius, scowling. “Come on, even Jay did it!” Kai’s jaw set with determination. 

“If Jay can do it…” He mumbled. He slid into the pool. The water climbed up his torso, it was about mid-chest for him. Nya was taller, though, not by much. Kai shuddered. He hated the way water felt. Consuming him, like it was trying to devour him, drag him to its depths and never let go. 

“See? Was that so bad?” Nya teased, floating on her back. 

“Yes!” Kai panicked as Nya took his hands and led him to the deeper end of the pool. He was up to his chin now. “Nya, Nya! Too deep! Too deep!”

“It’s okay, you can float. Here, come to the side of the pool and just lift your legs—float.” Nya said. Kai fumbled to the side, grabbing onto the tiles with his fingernails digging into the drains that lined the pool. Kai lifted his legs, keeping a firm grip on the sides. He did float. The water was warm, less constricting than he thought.

“Such a drama king.” Nya commented from beside him, resting her arms on the drains and looking up at the stars. “It really isn’t that bad.” Kai followed her gaze. Turquoise and amber eyes watched the stars drift lazily overhead. 

“Yeah…I guess it’s not.”

Kai woke up with tears in his eyes and Nya’s voice echoing in his ears. God, what he wouldn’t do to see her again, to know she was safe. He wiped his eyes on his salt-encrusted suit, wincing. He needed to head out. He emptied his bag and sighed, picking up Eggy. 

“You need to be submerged again, don’t you?” He asked the pale eggshell. He nodded to himself and pulled out his Seaglide. He enlarged it and changed the battery, tossing the dead one in a corner. The seaglide shrunk again and he shoved it in his bag, zipping it shut. He picked up Eggy and climbed the ladder, activating his mask for directions. He leapt into the water. He let Eggy soak for a moment while he treaded next to the pod, before he slipped him back into his bag, holding it out of the water. He enlarged his seaglide and aimed it in the direction of the weapon island. 

The waters were dark, still shadowed by the sun that was rising in the distance, bathing the sky in orange and teal. He angled his seaglide down, searching for the entrance to one of the caves. He still needed cave sulfur. He found one and shrank his seaglide. A jet of boiling water shot out from an underwater vent, making him yank himself back from the cave. I didn’t know that there could be underwater vents this close to the surface. He thought, remembering what Nya had told him. He waited for the boiling water to dwindle before he launched himself through the water and into the cave. 

“Be advised: a common complication for cave divers is a loss of orientation, followed by eventual asphyxiation.” His PDA warned him over his headset. Kai shuddered, despite the warmth from the boiling water just behind him. He peered cautiously around the rounds of the tunnels, searching for an exploding fish. A low growl in the water announced that one was nearby, and he smacked it into the wall where it detonated and showered him with pebbles. He grimaced and retrieved the cave sulfur from the fish’s nest. He hurried back to the surface, flinching as he felt the boiling water skim his back. He refilled his oxygen tank and returned the cave sulfur to his pod. 

He set his sights on the island next. He reached the island, hauling himself up on the sand. The sun was warm on his shoulders. He eyed the shallows, before slipping in again to look for a second diamond. He found a cyclops engine fragment clinging to the steep drop off, and a uranium crystal tucked into the depths beside it. He broke open a few rocks, finding mostly silver and iron. He really needed a diamond. He only had one beach he could search off of—especially since the other one had a Grim Crab beneath it—and he was not finding anything. Lead, silver, copper, gold, then, finally, a diamond. He grinned, lifting the shiny material and admiring it through the sunbeams in the water. He surfaced. The weapon watched over him, daunting and unforgiving. He activated his mask, he needed to get back to his pod so he could make the laser-cutter. 

The water parted around him and his seaglide. He was low on battery again. He climbed into his pod, the beeps of his radio making his head turn. He shook himself.

“Laser-cutter.” He nodded. He grabbed the materials from various storages, dropped them on the fabricator, and pressed the laser-cutter application. He shoved it in his bag and braced his hands on the wall beside the radio, preparing himself before pressing the button. He took a deep breath. 

“This is Lifepod four! We’ve landed close to the Bounty, flotation devices activate, but we’ve got some big old fish in the water with us and I don’t know how long we’re going to last.” Kai inhaled sharply. He’d already seen pod four and the massive hole ripped its metal. “We’re close to the crash site so bring radiation protection. Four, out.” Kai shook his head, sighing. 

“Signal coordinates corrupted. Approximate transmission origin recorded to databank.” His PDA announced. He’d already seen it. He steeled his gaze, looking at his bag. He had everything he needed to get into the Bounty now. He climbed the ladder, watching the scorched bones of the ship glimmer in the distance. He expanded his seaglide and dropped into the water. The seaglide’s motor was slow, an indication of severely low power. He shrunk it again. He needed a new battery first. He scrounged through his storage and his lockers, finding the required items for the battery before assembling it quickly with his fabricator. He climbed back up the ladder again and started his trip to the Bounty.

Lifepod Four drifted in the water near the hull, surrounded by the calls of Reefbacks. Kai frowned, closing his eyes briefly before opening them again and moving on. The ship shuddered heavily, like it was a massive beast taking a stuttering breath. He climbed onto the debris, standing up. Water ran down his face from his hair as he looked up at the destruction. He’d seen it before but it looked so much worse now. His mask made everything look bluer. A sharp static jolted through his ears. 

“Fuck!” He swore, trying to cover his ears. He couldn’t take the mask off, that was insane, he’d die from radiation poisoning in minutes. His hand found the volume settings on the side and he flinched. 

“D-” The voice was garbled, and Kai’s eyes widened. That was not his PDA. “Do y-you r-r-r-rea-d-d-d me-e? Do-o-o you r-read me? Do you read me?”

The transmission got clearer as the connection grew stronger. Kai froze. He must be dreaming. The voice came into focus in his ears. He had to be dreaming. The only other time he’d heard his sister’s voice on this planet had been when he was dreaming. 

Chapter Text

“Nya.” He murmured, his hands clenched at his sides. “Nya!” He frantically pressed the broadcast button on the side of his mask. 

“Broadcast unavailable. Broadcast unavailable. Broadcast unavailable.” His PDA repeated each time he pressed the button. He had to find Nya, the only place the broadcast could be coming from would be the ship. Anywhere else would have so much radiation and metal distortion that the signal wouldn’t come through. He had to be close enough and Nya’s broadcast had to be working. 

“Do you read me?” She repeated. “Do you read me? Do you rea-” She cut off abruptly. 

“No, no!” Kai panicked. He raced up the mountainous slope of destruction, tripping over himself in his haste and shaking the uneven metal surface. 

“Bastard!” He shouted, stabbing a crab that had latched onto his foot. The creature twitched and went still. He kept running. He slipped on the beam that led him to the rest of the ship, his foot falling into empty space as his knee hit the metal. 

“Shit!” He barked, pain searing up his leg. He dug his fingers into the beam, knife in one hand as he dragged himself fully onto the metal. He had to keep moving. He had to find Nya. He found his way through the flaming doorway, limping as pain ached in his knee. The only door he couldn’t get through was blocked. 

“No, no, no, no, no, no,” He repeated. He slammed his shoulder into crates and boxes. “I have to get to her!” He needed a propulsion cannon, but there was no damn time for that. His shoulder burned. He pulled back, looking around. There, a rail alongside the wall that led to a burning overhang he could drop onto the blockage from. He climbed up, carefully shimmying to the overhang. Flames lapped at his radiation suit, stinging his skin through the reinforced fabric. 

He leapt down onto the boxes, tumbling forward into a roll and landing on his knees in the hallway. He grinned, using the wall to pull himself up. His knife was still gripped in his hands and his suit was spattered with yellow crab blood. He ran down the hall, loose wires shoved out of his way as he moved. He yanked open a supply crate, found a battery, and shoved it into his bag. 

“Scans of damage to the Bounty do not match any known offensive technologies.” His PDA offered uselessly. 

“Well no shit, Sherlock.” He snarled. He slammed his fist into the keypad to let him into the rest of the ship. It sparked around his hand and the door retracted. He was led into the cargo bay. 

A massive hole, rimmed with fire, was torn in the ceiling and smoke clung to the air. Sparks and flares flickered in the dark light. He grimaced. He made his way down the ramps, arm thrown up to protect his face from the shower of sparks that rained down on him from flaming wires. He grabbed a PDA that lay glowing on the floor. He shoved it into his bag for later. He desperately searched each crate he could get his hands on for food or water. He chugged a bottle he found through a safe opening in his mask. He kept moving. 

The only way onward was through a vehicle bay. He eyed the scummy water in the bottom before sliding down the ramp and into the dank, cold liquid. The water led to a split hall. He chose the one that said “drive core”. 

“The drive core shielding sustained internal damage during collision. Do not attempt repair without proper qualifications.” The PDA said. He went into the drive core room.

Black smoke was heavy across the ceiling, and the room was filled with water. A data terminal read ‘no signal’. There were rips on the cores. 

“Warning: local radiation at maximum tolerable level.” The PDA said as Kai stepped onto the rickety walkway. He scanned the drive core shield, eyed one of the rips, and yanked out his repair tool. He patched a rip.

“Containment breach repaired. Further breaches detected: 10.” His PDA announced. He nodded. So, it was fixable. But that wasn’t his priority. Finding Nya was. He left the drive core room, and slid back into the flooded hallway, aiming for the next room. He turned right from the drive core hall. At the end was a scorched door, and this corridor was almost completely full. He pulled out his laser-cutter, paddling to keep his head out of the water while he cut. 

The laser buzzed as it sliced through the metal. He shielded his eyes from the show of sparks. There was a low groan and the metal circle gave way, rust around it still glowing molten orange. He swam through. A locker room. This one was completely flooded. He found a PDA in an open locker. And a second one with a first aid kit against the wall. He swam up the prawn bay hall, gasping as his oxygen refilled when he surfaced. 

He used his repair tool to fix the electronic lock on the door. The door slid back. The prawn bay was in shambles. A massive hole was torn in the floor, exposing pipes and wires. Melted metal suits hung from the ceiling and fires flickered in the corners and on the walkways. 

“Living quarters.” He read aloud, sprinting up the ramp towards them. He scowled at the fire in his way. He paused, there was no fire extinguisher nearby. He didn’t care, he needed to find Nya. He launched himself through the flames, teeth gritted as his skin burned beneath his suit. 

“Picking up a faint blackbox signature, originating on the other side of the hull breach in this room.” His PDA informed him as he lay panting on the metal. “Radio signals recorded nearby. Continuing to monitor.” He dragged himself up, hanging in the doorway with his hands on either side. This part of the ship was tipped ominously to one side. Sweat ran down his face beneath his mask. He checked each of the rooms. His cabin wasn’t on this side of the ship anyway, but Nya’s was. He turned around, confused by the doors on every side of him. 

“Kai!” The voice cut through his mask, directly into his ears. He turned around. Silhouetted by the flames was his sister, her dark blue radiation suit and mask hiding her face, but the slight tremors in her shoulders gave her away. Kai knew how he must look. Burned, stained with alien blood, bag on his hip, knife in hand.

Nya crashed into him, lifting him off of the ground with the force of her hug. 

“I thought you were dead!” She sobbed through their commlink. Kai hugged her back, arms shaking. He inhaled, his breath trembling with the force of holding back his tears. Here, in the rubble, in the fires, they’d found each other again. 

“Can you not talk back?” Nya asked, holding his head gently to examine his mask. Kai shook his head, tapping the disabled broadcast button on the side of his jaw. “I’ll have to see what I can do to fix that. I have a notebook, you can write until then.” She dragged him into Cabin Six, and let go of his wrist to look for her notebook. Kai found his scanner and started to scan the objects so he could make them for a habitat. He really needed to be able to fabricate a bed so he could genuinely sleep on something comfortable. 

A bed was flipped up on its side by the door, so it could be easily moved in front to act as a fire barricade to keep flames out. The bed farthest from the door was messy, obviously where Nya had been sleeping. 

“I have some PDA data for you,” Nya said, grabbing the PDAs and handing them to him. He downloaded the data onto his own and the screen went blank. He did the same with the other PDAs he’d found along the way. He stacked them in one of the lockers. “Here, you can also have these.” She handed him a bottle of water, a battery, and a first aid kit. 

“You look like you need them more than me.” She explained. She found her notebook and a pen, handing them to him. “What did you need to come back to the Bounty for? Did you get my transmission?”

Yes. Kai scribbled. But not until I got here, metal/radiation interference. Need files from captain's quarters. Nya read over his shoulder, nodding. 

“We’re going. We can get out of here now. We’ll raid the other rooms for the rest of the supplies, and get your files. I can take a look at your mask for the broadcast link soon. And we need to fix the drive core shields. I know they’re busted, and we’re not doing ourselves any good by letting more radiation out.” Nya explained, shoving items in her bag. Kai had to tell her about Jay, but they didn’t have time now. 

Nya gestured with her head towards the door. Kai shuddered as the ship lurched ominously. Nya flinched. 

“Let’s go.” She waved him forward. They split up again, searching each room and piling their stuff together in Nya’s bag. Nya raided the canteen and storage closet as Kai found his way to the captain’s quarters. He searched through his PDA’s recordings until he found the one with the captain’s quarters code. 

“2679.” He murmured to himself as he closed it and typed in the code. The door turned green and slid open. Kai slipped inside, closing it behind him. The heat from the fires in the hall was off of his back for a moment. He snagged a PDA from the bed and turned to face the data terminal embedded in the wall. The glowing green light was the only thing illuminating the dark room. 

He set his PDA on the terminal, watching anxiously as it downloaded. His PDA pinged loudly to alert him that the data was successfully downloaded. Nya pounded on the door from the outside, making him jump. Kai opened it.

“Did you get it?” Nya asked. Kai nodded, opening his mouth to speak but remembered she wouldn’t be able to hear him. 

“We’ve got to get out. We have to fix the drive core!” Nya said. She led the way down the hall, Kai following in her wake. He hated the feeling of his radiation-proof mask. It was heavy, and it weighed his head down. 

Kai helped Nya stack boxes on the prawn bay walkway to get over the fires that were smoldering against the metal. 

“There’s something we need to get from in here,” Nya said over their commlink. Kai nodded. He couldn’t remember what it was called, though. Kai’s leg still hurt from his fall on his way into the ship. He grimaced as pain jolted through when he landed from climbing over. Now that the adrenaline had been replaced by relief that he’d found Nya, everything was starting to hurt again. Kai looked around the prawn bay, arms drawn into himself as he scowled at the fires.

“Kai, I don’t have an air tank,” Nya said, getting his attention. “You’re going to have to go down. I can direct you. Can you do this?” She rested her hands on his shoulder. Kai eyed the water. Electrical wires hung too close to the surface, and there seemed to be oil leaking into the liquid. 

“Kai.” Nya said again. “You’ve got this.” Kai nodded, steeling his gaze. He walked to an overhang that hung over the pit of water. He slid in, looking over at Nya who gave him a thumbs-up. Kai submerged. 

“Okay, can you hear me?” Nya asked. Kai stuck his hand out of the water in confirmation, before swimming deeper. Alright, swim as far as you can to your left.” Nya directed. 

“Then, turn left again. It’s going to be a very tight fit, but I know you can handle it.” Kai doubted that. “If that hallway isn’t flooded, go up for air.” Kai surfaced, expanding his seaglide for light. A flashlight was the next thing on his list to make when he got out of here.

“You should be able to go through that door.” Nya said. He definitely couldn’t go through that door. Kai grimaced and looked down. There was a different door that he went through. The ceiling had a massive, flaming gash ripped through the metal. He swam over the railing. Papers floated around him as he found the blackbox terminal. 

Perfect. He thought to himself. His oxygen was getting low. He’d need to surface again. He surfaced quickly, avoiding the burning ceiling before diving down again and turning to a door that was behind him. There was a locked door at the end of the second hall. He found his laser-cutter and burned through the doorway. The metal fell away and he swam to avoid it. He could feel the Bounty screaming around him. The way the walls creaked and the ceiling trembled. 

There was a large tube in the next room, illuminated by neon lights around his exterior. Heavy electric wires hung exposed in the air. A PDA glowed in the gloom, and Kai swam to pick it up. He swam into the main room again for air, before returning back down. The door into the lab was closed—locked. He scanned his PDA’s information quickly, finding the lab access code in his downloaded data. He typed it in quickly. He surfaced quickly again for air before returning to the lab door. He found a PDA on a desk and started scanning the lab equipment. 

If he were ever to make a habitat in this world, Nya would want to do scientific studies of course. And Jay would want to help her. Given, if he could get Jay there. He shook his head—focus. He found a data terminal and rested his PDA against it, downloading quickly. 

“Databank corruption was detected on your PDA,” That explained a lot. “Your repulsion canon blueprint has been resynchronized." He opened another door. Thank god, there was air by the ceiling. His head scraped the top of the ceiling but it was air to refill his tank with.  

The next room had a collapsed ceiling, the sloped metal leaving a small gap at the bottom that led to the tube-room. He turned around and swam up the sloped metal, appearing in a small hallway. There was a flaming doorway, but his fire extinguisher was out. He searched through his bag, finding a second one. 

“Yes!” He said in his mask, grinning. He sprayed down the doorway. He went up the hallway but it led to a blocked doorway. He couldn’t hear Nya anymore, just soft static. She must be worried out of her mind. He made his way back down the sloped metal, and swam through the cut door, going back to the blackbox room before swimming up and through the pipe room. 

“Kai! Kai!” He could hear Nya now, the panic in her voice. Kai breached the surface, shrinking his seaglide and turning towards her. “Thank god.” She whispered. She helped him out of the water. 

“Did you get the data?” She asked. He nodded. He gestured to the room and pulled out his scanner. He needed information for blueprints from these items. Nya nodded and started down the hall that led to the drive core. Kai scanned the prawn suits until he had the full blueprints. He left the prawn bay. The locker room below was fully flooded, but, thankfully, it wasn’t very long stretches without oxygen so Nya could make it safely. He’d have to make her an air tank. 

He found Nya in the drive room, scrolling through her PDA. He tapped her shoulder and held up ten fingers and mimed cutting with a knife. 

“Ten cuts left?” She asked. He nodded. He held up his repair tool. He motioned for her to stay here. He couldn’t see her face through the radiation suit, but he guessed she was frowning at him. 

9. He held up nine fingers after he repaired one. He walked along the metal railing, looking into the water. He frowned. He could see something small, wormlike, moving. He shuttered. He did not want to know what that was. He submerged, looking for the rest of the rips. A wormlike creature latched onto his arm seconds after he got into the water. He grabbed his knife, letting his repair tool float before he sliced it in half. The toothy mouth released his arm and drifted into the water above him. He grabbed his repair tool again, looking to fix the rest of the rips. 

“Containment breach repaired. Further breaches detected: Eight.” Kai’s PDA announced over his headset. He swam to the surface. 8. He held up eight fingers for Nya. Another worm-like leech creature sank its teeth into his suit as he dove down again. He yelped in pain and sliced it in half. He swam around the drive core, looking for more breaches. He found two more on one pillar. 

6. He held up the number for Nya, making sure she saw it before he dove again. He moved to the next pillar. 

3. He surfaced, holding up three fingers. 

One left. He thought, holding up one finger. A low growl in the water made him flinch. He slashed his knife through the water at the leech, cutting its head clean off. Last breach. He patched the last one near the back wall. 

“Drive core breach sealed. Radiation levels decreasing.” His PDA announced, he swam back to Nya, and she hauled him out.

“Good job, Kai!” Nya squeezed his arm. “Now, we need to get out. You know how to get out, right?” Kai nodded, waving for her to follow him. 

We shouldn’t need radiation suits around the pod now. Kai thought, carefully checking the hall before letting Nya in behind him. Nya grabbed his arm. 

“South Bay.” She said, pointing at the busted door. Kai nodded and fished out his radiation tool, pulling wires back into their panel. He opened the door. He surfaced. The two of them were barely tall enough to stand above the water in the room. Glowing signs illuminated the space. Kai swam around, looking for things he could scan. 

Seamoth fragments. He thought, scanning the items. 

“Kai!” Nya said. Kai turned. She was holding a PDA, he swam over to her, nodded and slipped it into his bag after he held it out of the water. 

“Now we get out.” Nya said. “Up goes into the cargo bay, right?” Kai nodded, readying his knife in case any other leech creatures had seeped out of the drive core and into the other flooded areas. One latched onto his arm and he slashed it. He scanned the body. 

Called a Bleeder. He thought. Fitting. Fucking water vampire. He opened a few supply crates as Nya climbed up and into the cargo bay. He joined her at the top of the ramp. Kai let her go first, and he closed the door to the cargo bay behind them. The ship shivered. 

“It’s blocked. Did you climb in?” Nya asked. Kai waved his hand. More-or-less. He crouched down, offering his hand to help her climb over. Nya stepped on his palm, hauling herself onto the crate. The crate wobbled concerningly, but Nya stayed stable. Kai hopped onto a smaller crate and stepped to the one she was on. He hurried her over and she dropped down into the hall. Kai dropped beside her. 

“Did you already check the administration?” Nya asked. Kai nodded. He pointed forward. Kai led her towards the door. T Kai stepped through the flaming doorway, the wild night winds of the planet whipping through the smoldering corpse of The Bounty. Embers and smoke were flung into the sky by the gale. It was night, and stars glinted in the distance. 

“Woah.” Nya whispered. Her hand sought Kai’s and she squeezed it. “Kai, I didn’t know it was this bad- How did you-?” She shuddered. “How did anyone…?” Her questions trailed off, but that didn’t matter. Kai didn’t know the answer even if she could hear him. Kai readied his knife in his free hand, pulling Nya forward. 

She stared into the flaming destruction. Kai could feel her heart breaking all over again. She had known it was bad, but even her worst case scenarios couldn’t imagine this. He felt like they were young again. 

Kai was walking her through the crowded streets of Ignacia, smog hanging heavily over the city. The marketplace was crowded with shouting vendors, offering otherworldly goods. New fruits and vegetables cooked up through genetic engineering on the Lunar and Martian colonies, clothes and tapestries woven on interstellar flights, cheap loans for property beyond the solar system. Nya’s hand was small and curled into his own, and he was staring straight ahead, leading her back to their parents’ shop. 

The memory was over just as soon as it flashed across his consciousness. The darkness beyond the ship swallowed everything, encompassing the whole world. Kai had never felt so powerless. Now that the adrenaline from the drive core had worn off, everything was starting to hurt. The ship rattled, metal groaning, fires crackling. Kai hated it. Kai pointed to the beam they had to cross, getting Nya’s attention. 

The sun started to rise over the horizon, bathing the water in orange and teal. Kai crept across the beam, Nya beside him. He kept his knife handy, looking around for crabs. They skittered away from them, chittering loudly. Nya looked at them with fascination, but Kai tugged her along, shaking her head and gesturing at the knife. 

“We’ll have to stay close to the surface.” Nya said as Kai expanded his seaglide. Kai nodded. He made room for Nya to hold onto the seaglide and they stepped into the water. 

They hovered near the surface, as the waters around the wreck turned from murky brown to softer blue as they cleared the debris and dirt. After a few minutes they reached Lifepod Four. 

“This is one of the lifepods.” Nya murmured, dropping into the water to examine it. “The damage looks like it was caused by something big. Something with the ability to rip through metal.” She was talking to herself, but Kai listened anyway. He paused and climbed on top of the capsized pod, looking up at The Bounty. He sighed and waved at Nya. She joined him atop the pod, and Kai pointed to the distance where his pod glinted in the sun. 

“That’s your pod?” Kai nodded. He dropped back into the water, and Nya followed, grabbing onto the seaglide. 

“WHAT IS THAT?!” Nya shouted through their com, making Kai let go of the Seaglide in surprise. He punched her shoulder as she swam towards the Reefback. 

“Look at this, Kai! He’s definitely a Leviathan, look at how big he is.” Nya swam around the creature. “He supports biodiversity on his back. That’s so cool.” 

Now is not the time, Nya, I need to be able to talk to you. Kai waved at her, showcasing the urgency. Nya sighed and swam back to the seaglide. They arrived at Lifepod Five a few moments later and Kai shrunk the seaglide, swimming under to climb inside as Nya climbed over the top. He climbed in and moved out of the way as she slid down the ladder. He took off his mask, breathing in the damp, musty air of the pod.  

“Hey, sis. Long time no see.” Kai grinned.