Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The last thing I remember is explosion, flashing red lights, accompanied by a loud, ear-splitting siren that made me want to hide and cover my ears. But the crowds of people running past in panic didn't let me concentrate and understand what was happening. But really... what was happening? Everything was too loud... and hot.

"Fire!" "Crash!" "Abandon ship now!" "To the escape pods!" Barely noticeable voices reached my ears through all this chaos. I blink through my slightly clouded vision, and quickly look around when finally what was happening began to catch up with me. And my next thought was to get to the compartment with the escape pods. And it seems I made the right choice, because as soon as I started running with the crowd in the right direction, another explosion was heard nearby...

Screams rang out, but I kept running. It seems that very soon I reached the right compartment. There were so many people here… and everyone wanted to get into the lifepods. But were there enough of them…?

I'm not sure what happened next… but suddenly someone grabs me, startling me. I quickly recognized the person as one of the mentors of our biology group on the ship… the woman shouted something to me, trying to be heard over the noise, but it didn't help.

I just froze.

My ears were still ringing.

But before I realized it, the woman was pushing me into one of the surprisingly empty lifepod. From her gestures, I could tell that she was instructing me to sit in one of the chairs. I did so without hesitation…

But before I could press the launch button, the woman was gone.

The hatch closed, and the safety trigger fell on me.

And the next second, the capsule launched, and with unbearable speed, it began to fly away from the ship. And only through a small window on the upper hatch... I watch as the Aurora explodes loudly drowned in fire.

Unconscious tears flow down my face.

The capsule begins to shake, as if during an earthquake.

Something ignited, another siren followed.

But then something metallic flies into my forehead, and finally darkness falls uppon my mind...

My ears were still ringing.

The unbearable smell of smoke suddenly woke me from unconsciousness, causing me to start coughing. Something was clearly burning… but what? It definitely shouldn’t be like this! I quikly open my eyes, and am greeted by a fire in this small space of the lifepod. Immediately, adrenaline catches up with my already frayed nerves, and I quickly press the panel until the seat mount releases me, and I jump to my feet.

At this point, everything went dark before my eyes, and the heat filling the room did not help, but even looking around, I was able to recognize a familiar red object - a fire extinguisher. Pointing it at the fire, I begin to quickly put it out…

To my relief, it quickly went out, and the smoke evaporated… most likely from the ventilation system.

Finally, it was more or less light, and I was finally able to start breathing normally. My lungs were slightly stinging from the smoke, but I hoped it wouldn't be a big problem. But I could definitely use some fresh air. But first, I had to figure out one more thing...

First, understand and comprehend what happened...?

I wasn't entirely sure, considering how something had hit me on the head. I grimace as I remember, rubbing my forehead, which was sure to soon have a bruise.
But then it suddenly dawned on me as one word flashed through my mind:

Crash.

Exactly... Aurora had crashed. The ship I was on with a group of other biologists, as well as a thousand other passengers... how many had managed to get into the other capsules? How many had died? How many had survived? My brain was noting the obvious - the fact that there were too small amount of escape capsules for such a large number of passengers.

Bravo, Alttera! Now, with a very "fortunate" circumstance, we had repeated the fate of Titanic itself, only this time in space! And even that, it wasn't any better.

Okay, I need to sit down. I thought, and carefully sat down on my knees, slowly so as not to scare myself with something bigger. Okay... and now I need to calm down, and stay calm. There must be other survivors somewhere, right?

While I was thinking about possible other survivors, it revived a new question in my slightly recovering consciousness: And where am I exacly? Obviously in the lifepod, but where exactly did I land? If my memory serves me right, then before the crash we flew close to the "Planet Ocean", because it was completely made of water and oceans!

It was a beautiful sight, from afar... anyway, it is quite possible that I landed here. And the slight rocking of the capsule confirmed my point of view. I anxiously rubbed my sore forehead, trying to do a breathing exercise, and calm the adrenaline. The fact that I was alone didn't help either!

There were so many people, and how did it happen that I was alone? It's hard to believe... maybe I'm dead after all? Although no, the dead people shouldn't feel pain! So fortunately, or unfortunately, I was still alive... a trembling sigh escaped me, and I rubbed my wet eyes, quietly whispering comforting words to myself, trying not to think about the loud siren, the red light that accompanied and brought me here... stuck on this alien planet.

My gaze involuntarily slid over the small room of the capsule, noticing the functionality of the fabricator on the wall, which is already good. But what attracted me most was the PDA lying not far from me. Quickly wiping my eyes, and ignoring the rapid heartbeat, I reach for the device, mentally telling myself that it was not the time to cry. Later.
I'm not a child anymore. And since I was able to get into the escape pod, it meant that it was my responsibility to survive, and find other survivors! I can't give up, not yet, not yet, nope!

Putting my thoughts aside, I focus on the PDA again, tapping the screen, waiting for it to turn on, and very soon the loading screen with the Altera logo appears, reminding me of what happened and as if mocking me, and I couldn't help but frown slightly before a distinctive voice spoke from the device, distracting me from my thoughts:

"You have received a minor head injury. This can be considered an optimal outcome. This PDA has been rebooted in emergency mode with one directive: to keep you alive in an alien world. Please read the detailed survival tips in the database. Good luck."

Well, it's good to know that I don't have to die yet. Oh, how I wanted to get to an alien planet before... and I did. And very much so! I laughed awkwardly at my own joke, shaking my head. But then the first thing I decided to do was read the survival manual that was in the PDA... just in case, because the thought that sooner or later I will have to leave the capsule makes me cringe a little, but at the same time feel excited about what I will see... an alien planet after all!

As I read, I couldn't help but wonder how much time had passed since the crash. Surely not too long, because if I had lain near the fire any longer, I would have died soon. So I was lucky to wake up in time!

An unpleasant shiver ran through my body, and the muscles under my skin contracted. Ugh... I better stop thinking about the crash and the people who died, otherwise I feel sick and uncomfortable in my own body! It's a miracle that I even became a biologist... not an official one yet, but a still a biologist. Shaking my head, I focus on reading again, trying not to get distracted, after all, my life and others are at stake! I need to be serious and calm... yeah, yeah...

Don't forget to breathe, and everything will be fine!

But... soon I got bored of reading the tedious instructions, instead deciding to check other functions in the PDA:

Blueprints: Useful thing! With their help, I can create things from the resources found in the fabricator. Things that will help me survive, or even get used to it until the rescue comes, because it has to come, right? Anyway, this is another reason to leave the capsule, which frankly scared me.

What if an alien shark bites me on the butt? Hmm ... yeah, a problem, well, if I can make at least a knife, I will be more or less calm. But that's later... what do we have next?

Some kind of voice log, in which I can record my own voice diary. Sounds like a good distraction, because every time at the end of the day I can write down notes and things that I was able to find while exploring my surroundings. This thought calmed me down, and kindled hope in my chest and a desire to get up and do something.

I will definitely use it! And then in my free time I can listen to it to distract myself and remember the good old days. If I don't die of course... but there's no harm in dreaming, and even more so, you need to think positively to keep your sanity.

The next one is a photo album, similar as the previous function, only now it's visual. It made me smile... I can take so many pictures.

If I survive.

Well, and the last one is a database, where I've already managed to read a little bit of the survival guide. Not much... well, I hope this information will help me (Although I already knew it, we were taught about it).

So, I seem to have checked everything. And everything seems to be working well. I'm checking because the PDA will be a very useful tool in survival! After all, it can give advice, well, and generally talk... heh. Sighing to myself, I tear my gaze away from the screen to look around the capsule from the inside again. My gaze stopped on the lockers... there should probably be food and water, and hopefully a first aid kit. I should check that too.

Putting the PDA back on the floor, I try to stand up carefully, which of course makes me a little dizzy, but fortunately does not knock me off my feet, so I go to the locker and check its contents. So... there were some sticks, most likely food, and of course bottles of water. And I can only dream of a first aid kit, yeah. And yet I was confused by how little food and water there was, it would not last even a for week!

I frowned, and decided to save these important needs for now, and close the locker, deciding to study the rest. And to my surprise, checking another locker I find a real swimsuit that covered the whole body, as well as a breathing mask. How ironic, considering that I am on an ocean planet. Despite some doubts, feeling the fabric of the suit, I decide that it will be better to wear it than my clothes, which will stick uncomfortably when wet. Instinctively, I look around, although obviously no one was there, and only then begin to change from my clothes into this swimming suit.

To my surprise, the suit was my size, which is nice, and fortunately comfortable... a reminder that I will have to dive into unfamiliar water. Goosebumps ran across my skin, but I discarded the thought, instead folding my clothes and hiding them in the same locker, in case I want to change again... but will I have to?

Ugh, I have a feeling I'm going to have a lot of sleepless nights, I thought jokingly.

And yet, no matter how scared I am, I will have to leave the capsule to collect the resources I need, and also food. I thought, nodding at the broken audio receiver... my only key to contact other survivors and the rescue. Think positively, you can do it...

Okay, making sure the suit fits me properly, I pick up the PDA from the floor and attach it to my hip with slightly trembling hands, mentally preparing myself for whatever I'll have to face outside.

A couple more breathing exercises, I fix my hair, and look at the upper hatch, through whose small window I could already see the blue sky. It's daytime now, the weather seems calm, there's no storm... I can go out.

I'll do it.

I repeated mentally, and with all my strength in my fist I approach the ladder, and I carefully climb up to the upper hatch.

Inhale, exhale, and I finally open the hatch, meeting fresh air and a slight wind that hit my face. I closed my eyes when I was blinded by daylight, and was a little frightened by a bird-like creature that quicklyit was smoldering when I began to climb with difficulty to the top of the capsule.

The first thought was that the air here was fortunately suitable for my breathing, which could already be considered a victory. But a barely unpleasant smell of smoke reached my nostrils, which made me frown and quickly rub my eyes to get used to the light.

And when my vision came to its senses, I was stunned by the sight that greeted me.

My capsule was indeed surrounded by an endless ocean, whose water looked unusually clean and pleasantly calm. But what horrified me most was what was almost in front of my nose...

Aurora. The ship's nose was submerged under the depths of the water, while the rest remained above water. I could clearly see how the ship was still burning in some places... and it looked terrible, broken, burnt, dirty... not at all the wonderful ship I had boarded. The sight itself was frightening... how many people died there? Hundreds? A thousand? All? I swallowed, and the vomit from my recent breakfast threatened to burst out. I need to breathe... then everything will be fine.

-W-wow... you look good. - I muttered, my dry and hiccuping voice seemed alien to me. - Time has certainly worn you out... nothing to say about that...

Perhaps I shouldn't joke in such situations, but I just couldn't help myself.

I forced myself to turn away from the ship, focusing instead on the water. Under which, by the way, I could barely see the outlines of the reef and the surface of the sand... wow, I was lucky that I didn't end up above some big depths.

PDA distracted me from my thoughts by telling me that the Aurora had suffered very serious damage... and also that not a single human organism had been found.

I snorted quietly. What do you mean not a single one? And who do you think I am? This thing must have hit its head a little! Or whatever it had... I tried to calm myself down, grimacing, but anxiety and fear were creeping up on me, threatening to grab me by the neck and strangle me.

Lucky and unlucky at the same time.

Sad story... and why did the ship crash? Was there really an incident in the kitchen, when they were trying out a new recipe? No, that's nonsense, stop thinking like that, or else we'll be haunted by the spirits of the people from the ship!

I think I should try to dive in and finally come face to face with whatever might be there. We'll leave the ship for later... I hope the water isn't poisonous.

Taking a breath in and out, I force myself to jump away from the capsule and land like a bomb in the water with a loud splash. I closed my eyes, and the breathing mask automatically closed my airways with glass, and for a little while... the water felt almost normal, didn't it? No poisonous bites or instant death, fortunately, I was alive.
The water was suitable for swimming.

I cautiously opened my eyes with anxiety, and they immediately widened as soon as I saw the underwater world itself. I was amazed by this beauty, even though almost everything was similar to the underwater world on earth. But here, the surface of everything around was covered with plants of incomprehensible shapes and types that I had never seen before.

I also could not help but mention the inhabitants of this place, the fish that swam past me, but tried to go around and far away from me. For example, this strange fish with a huge eye! Or another one that only looks more like a large underwater worm with fins. But also the underwather sounds... they were beautiful! My inner biologist was jumping with happiness and wanted to study everything. But in order to find out anything about the surrounding flora and fauna, I will need to make a scanner, and for this I need resources...

Yes, exactly, I need to survive here, not explore! And yet... I think no one will feel bad if I get a little fixated on studying these species, right? Haha, I think not, who will judge me here except the fish? I looked around, I was met only by water, and beautiful views of this area. Yes, it seems like no one... I wonder if anyone else landed nearby? I need to remember that I need to find other people. In the meantime, I think I can swim around and figure out where I was thrown, for starters. And if anything, I'll collect things if I find something useful.

PDA to the rescue! In a normal case, Google would say, heh...

Having decided to throw off the currently destroyed spectacle of Aurora out of my head, I begin to carefully swim around, trying to listen to the sounds and look at the fish, who were carefully trying to swim away from me. I collected a couple of purple mushrooms, and stones from rocky mini natural structures, I'm not sure what they are for, but when I get back to the capsule I'll figure it out. But how calm it is here...

I also meet a very strange fish about my length, with a slightly scary face and a tail that looked like it could do something, emit gas like a skunk. Luckily it was friendly, but I decided not to get too close, just in case.

And I managed to get some metal junk, probably from a fragment from Aurora, but I was sure that it was useful. And the PDA sometimes managed to mention something to me, for example, something about radiation from Aurora, which is not cool, and made me frown unhappy and sad from the thoughts that how many fauna and flora had to suffer Aurora's crash... and mentioning about the various types of flora and fauna in the biomes of this planet. And that was more interesting!

Time passed unnoticed, while I swam around the territories, collected resources that came across, filling all my pockets with them, swam to the surface when I needed to take in air, then dived under water again. A couple of times I almost drowned when I was too distracted. Fortunately, everything worked out...

After some time, I realized that I was really lucky with the landing place. This biome looks like a reef, and if you leave its territory, the depth will already expand and it will not be so comfortable. I did not want to go there yet, but I noted this fact for the future. Also near the reef there was a big forest of algae... but the inhabitants there did not look friendly, so I hurried to swim away and return only when I will get a knife.

It was getting dark. This was visible even from under the water, when everything around began to be painted in beautiful relaxed colors of the sunset. I would like to stay to observe how everything will look at night, but something tells me that, as in any environment, night is the most dangerous time. I do not argue, so I hurry back to the capsule as quickly as possible.

Having opened the lower hatch, I go inside the capsule, closing it behind me. And finally, I empty my pockets full of all sorts of resources for the whole day of sailing. And for a second, sitting on the floor, I only understand how tired I am... the muscles, not used to such movements, and also after such a long amount of swimming, ached unpleasantly, along with the bones. And yeah... I feel like I'll have to get used to this.

What else I realized was how much I wanted to eat and drink... my stomach was twisting unbearably inside. I grimace awkwardly, realizing that I was so absorbed in the new surroundings that I completely forgot about my needs. I need to make a list of what to do for myself...

Standing up with difficulty, I go to the cabinets and take out a bottle of water, and that same stick from something to eat.

After that, I sat down again and began to eat little by little, drinking water, and at the same time thoughtfully examining the materials that I collected. What is needed and not needed, I made up in my head, hoping that I would have enough of them so that the manufacturer would make something useful for me. I was so deep in thought that I didn't even notice right away how I had already finished a whole bottle of water and that very stick. Well, at least I'm full and watered now. And now it's time to craft!

I got up and went to the crafter and looked through the things that I couldn't make at that moment. To my regret, I soon noticed that, despite the number of things that I had gotten all day, they were not enough for the most important things! Which made me feel disappointed, and also my muscles hurt...

Okay! It's okay, it's not that bad, at least tomorrow I'll be able to start looking for what I need, and everything will be just great! At the moment, my goals were: a knife, a scanner, a repair tool, and so on. And it seems like I don't need that much if you think about it... if I try, I can handle it! If I'm not mistaken, the resources that I lacked were not far away, I'll just have to look a little better.

Tomorrow. I remind myself, nodding.

And now... I need to rest. Although the floor wasn't a good option, I didn't really have a choice. It's not like I expect to be able to sleep, but I'll lie down and try to relax... like I said before, sleepless nights! This will definitely have a bad effect on me...

Sighing, I start to clean up all the scattered resources, and the floor to the side to create a place for myself to sleep. By the way... it was already completely dark, and the entire capsule was immersed in darkness, which made me afraid that I might accidentally step on some titanium or crush a mushroom... and yet, I'm sure you can see the stars in the sky from here too, maybe if I can't sleep you can go out and admire the stars? Usually this calms me down, and calmess is the first thing I need right now. I smiled at the thought, and I once again reached for one of the resources on the floor—

But suddenly something hit the capsule, causing a jolt of it, which tore a surprised breath out of me and lost my balance, causing me to fall to the floor:

- Holey soup-! - I squeaked as I fell, but fortunately I softened it with my hands, and didn’t break anything. - Ugh... neighbors... - I grumbled under my breath, trying to sit up again. Wait. - But I don’t have neighbors...

I blinked in confusion, and I carefully looked around the room, immersed in darkness, and the capsule barely swayed and came into shape after such an unexpected blow.

A voice in my head and also an experience intold me that it was definitely not some small fish.

Something flashed under the lower hatch, a barely noticeable yellowish light that quickly disappeared.

My heart jumped, and I laughed awkwardly, rubbing my forehead. Wow... it looks like my capsule has attracted someone's attention. And to be honest, I'm already scared to guess who it is... maybe stalkers from that forest with algae? Although it doesn't look like they often leave that place.

Then who?

I swallowed.

- I'm not tasty... - I wishpered into nothingless.

I tried to calm myself down mentally before I carefully lay down on the floor, looking at the ceiling and trying to relax, and not pay attention to how fast my heart was beating. I didn't feel particularly sleepy, despite being tired, to my regret and disappointment. So remembering my PDA, I take it out of my belt, turning it on, and illuminating myself a little with the blue light from the screen, and begin to look through it, looking for something interesting.

Until I remembered about the voice diary that I planned to keep after the end of each day on this planet! Well... if I die, then someone will be able to listen to this and find out what a loser I am, if they find me of course. If I die of course, ha.

I smiled slightly, blinking slowly, and again find this function. In my mind I think about what I can say, and I had something to say and tell, like on the very first day and the first emotions after what happened, even when my head was in disarray, before doing a couple of breathing exercises, I turn on the recording...

I was suddenly woken from my sleep by the voice of my PDA, notifying me of something I hadn't had time to process. Slowly blinking my eyes open, I was immediately greeted by the pain in my back, now illuminated by daylight. I let out a yawn and pulled myself up before slowly sitting up, rubbing my eyes. Ugh... when did I even fall asleep? I can't remember...

Slowly coming to my senses, I look around and find my PDA lying next to me. I pick it up and check what I was doing, only to find my first recorded voice recording.

Oh yeah... the voice diary, right. I guess I'll listen to what I wrote there later, my sleepy brain couldn't remember it. So, swimming and water will help me wake up, and if my memory serves me right, I have a lot of things planned for today! And now I know what I need to survive on this alien planet. This made me feel confident that I can handle it, and I can do what I want today.

But I was only a little bit hungry… I could eat another stick bar, of course, but there are so few of them, and I didn’t want to finish the meal quickly. So, slowly getting up, I decide to eat later, when my stomach will hurt too much. I wonder if the local fish are edible? I wasn’t sure, but maybe I’ll have to find out. But not now, now I’m ready to go hunting for resources! It seems to me that I’m too happy about this… well, I need to maintain my normal state.

And so, I pull myself up again, stretch a little, and yawn, noticing that I clearly didn’t have enough sleep… but as I said, I haven’t had time to sleep yet. So I’ll leave it for later.
Having now done a routine breathing exercise, I put the PDA on my belt and open the lower hatch, looking at the now illuminated water and the fish swimming below, with a thoughtful look.

Then I remember the evening shaking, when something big hit the capsule from which I kissed the floor a little, heh... I'm of course curious who it was, but goosebumps on my skin said that it was better for me not to know. I hope that creature has already left... I may be a biologist, but even I know about huge predators, and studying them up close is not finished with anything good!

Throwing out the thought with a shake of my head, I inhaled more air and plunged into the water.

At first I was blinded by bubbles in front of my eyes, but then I again saw the same view as yesterday, fortunately I did not notice any large creatures. This is good.

I couldn't help but smile at the beautiful view, and then looking back I chose the path I decided to take today and try to find something in the caves that were here. Yesterday I certainly didn't want to go there, but then I found out that there were some resources there that I needed.

While I was swimming, I accidentally managed to catch a bubble fish (as I recently learned it was called) and I humm contentedly when the PDA says that you can make fresh water from this fish, which is exactly what I needed. Sorry fish, but I need to survive... I mentally apologized, examining the fish closely, curiously trying to understand what this fish was made of. Oh, this desire to study...

But this also confirmed the fact that fish can still be used for water, and hopefully food. I'll have to try to hunt for them sometime later.

While I was examining the fish, not straining myself too much, I suddenly felt an unpleasant tension... as if someone was staring at the back of my head. I blink in confusion and slowly turn around...

But as expected, it was empty and nothing unusual was observed.

I looked around, was this what the relatives of this fish cursed like that? Although it is not very possible, it still seemed strange to me. Quietly swallowing, I put the fish away and decide to continue what I was doing, trying to ignore the feeling of the gaze. Most likely, the feeling of loneliness is catching up with me...

On the ship, I was not a very sociable person. I did not communicate with anyone except our mentors, and only when there was a need for it, so I did not really know anyone, and loneliness was a normal thing for me... but right now, what I wanted most was to have someone to talk to.

Okay, better not to think about it.

After some time of swimming, I finally find one cave. Bingo. Making sure that my air supply is normal, I carefully swim down to the cave.

It was narrow and even a little dark, which made me want to get a flashlight, which I didn't have. Oh well, it's not as dark as at night... probably at night it would have been just pitch black, but now I'm sure everything was fine.

Very soon I noticed a quartz, and I sang contentedly, swimming up to it and picking it up. And now I was about to swim away further, when suddenly I heard some kind of buzzing sound as if from nowhere, and it was approaching me very quickly... I quickly turned around to notice how a small and big-eyed red fish with that same buzzing was swimming up to me at a frightening speed and—

I didn't have time to react as it hit me and exploded into pieces, from which I let out an "Ouch!" sound, from which many bubbles came out of the mask.

Not far from me I heard some strange worried chirping and trills, noticing something yellow out of the corner of my eye. But turning around, some orange fin disappeared from sight... but the pain that struck the place where the fish exploded, my shoulder, began to spread, which made me hiss quietly and rub the place, and forget what I saw very quickly.

There was a slight ringing in my ears.

What was that?!

Did it seem to me or did the fish just explode? Or am I going crazy?

I blinked, puzzled, looking at the yellow liquid that looked like blood floating near me.

In the name of all the stars, what was that…

"Oxygen" Reminded me PDA.

Oh yeah… so, I need to swim out of here quickly! I hurry to push off from the bottom and with quick movements I find myself on the surface, greedily gasping for air. Uhh… I almost drown again. And all of this fish is suicidal! I condemn it by the way.

Now my shoulder also hurts… and this will definitely complicate my swimming. Well, thank you! What kind of fish would kill itself?? Well, strange… okay, better not to think about it, otherwise I will feel sick again.

After doing a couple of breathing exercises, and when the ringing in my ears and heartbeat calmed down, I dive under the water again.

The PDA tells me that cave sulfur can be found in the caves, which sounds like a nudge to return to the same cave that was below me. And even though my mood (and health) was ruined, I remind myself that today I will definitely find something useful! So, having gathered my courage into a fist again, I dive back into the cave, and continue searching for resources, only this time even more carefully.

After swimming, I found some more quartz and even titanium, which is good. But then I found some kind of red open flower, similar to a nest. Inside which I just found cave sulfur.

Is this by any chance the nest of that red suicidal fish? Should I climb on their nests now...?

Horror... first time I see something like this in my entire practice! Sighing quietly, I continue my way through the cave until I fill my pockets with everything I need, and finally leave the cave. Hooray!

Okay, now I can go back to the capsule and make some useful item! I smiled slightly, nodding to myself, and began to swim towards the capsule.

Having climbed inside, I immediately begin to work with the fabricator, checking what I can now do. To my surprise, I was finally able to make a first aid kit for myself, which was very useful for me considering the state my shoulder was in. Quartz glass, which is also useful. And a battery... oh! this is what I need to make a scanner!

In a fit of joy and excitement, the fabricator first makes the battery itself and then I quickly make the long-awaited scanner.

Having received the item, I triumphantly lift it up, admiring the it. Now I can explore this planet much faster! I can't wait to learn more about the inhabitants and plants here and then-

Before I could celebrate my luck any more, something shook the capsule again. Not as hard as last night, but enough to surprise me, almost losing my balance, but this time I managed to hold on.

Behind the capsule, I can barely hear the trills again, until everything goes quiet.

I stand there, blinking in confusion.

Hmm... I think I was too happy! I need to be quieter... or else that creature from outside will get me. And how did it, being so big, stay out of my sight? Or maybe it only occasionally enters this reef, and it turns out that my capsule is on its way. I hope this won't end badly for me...

After taking a couple more breaths, I slowly lower myself to the floor, deciding to occupy myself with arranging my newly acquired resources around me. Although my gaze continued to fall intently on my scanner, I decided not to go outside for now... well, you never know, that creature is still there, waiting.

By the way, I have a bubble fish! I can scan it right now! (and then make myself some water from it)

Slightly smiling, and letting out a quiet laugh, I reach for the scanner and begin my first study, as we were taught on board... oh right, and also my sholder, i shouldn't forget that. And so i try to preocupy myself, trying not to think of the Aurora, or any other possible threats, just like I always do...

Not even suspecting about the yellow-orange creature floating and eavesdropping from outside the pod.

Chapter Text

Well, another day has passed. Another attempt to sleep, but it didn't go so well. Another day of searching for resources... and also studying! Since I now had a scanner, after I went back into the water the next day (not without making sure there were no large creatures outside) I began scanning everything I could. Later I will occupy myself by reading the information, but that's later.

I also finally managed to make a knife! I noticed it as soon as I returned to the lifepod around lunchtime to check what I could do in the manufacturer.

I look at the knife a little uncertainly, and turn the object in my hands. On the one hand, it is nice to have a weapon... but on the other, I was confused by its small size, and the fact that it was the only weapon provided! As the PDA told me, this was done due to some incidents, they did not give exact details, but oh well.

I think I can work with this.

I thought and nodded to myself. Well, at least now I can go to the seaweed forest and not be afraid of those crocodile-like stackers... oh, I remember getting goosebumps right there. But what could I do, there's probably a lot of useful things there, I reassured myself, mentally patting myself on the shoulder.

I hope they won't eat me, otherwise it would be awkward... and scary, heh.

After doing a breathing exercise, and emptying my pockets, leaving the scanner and knife, I finally go out into the water again through the lower hatch. The water was pleasant as always, and the beauty of the surroundings calmed me down, and I couldn't help but smile slightly and start swimming... before I noticed something strange.

It was suspiciously quiet around, and all the fish had disappeared somewhere, or if they were there, they were very far away. This was clearly never a good sign in nature - a lull. There is a good chance that there is a predator nearby... the thought immediately sent shivers down my spine, and I swallowed uncertainly.

It seems that something has returned here...

Immediately, more than anything in the world, I wanted to return to the pod and sit it out, like yesterday, when something came and pushed my pod. I would have been happy to, but then I remembered that I have a knife! Thinking, I pull the knife out of my hip... I am, of course, a biologist, and not a person with experience in battle, but if necessary, I will have to defend myself as best I can. I need to show that I am not afraid! Yes, exactly...

Actually, no, I was scared... but it can't be that big because it simply wouldn't fit in this shallows, right...? It wasn't exactly calming.

I begin to carefully look around, there was a feeling that I was being closely watched again, and I tried my best to find at least some sign that it just a halucination, and I wind myself up, and go crazy... Celestia this is no better!

I was about to start swimming slowly back to the pod, almost instinctively, my palms were already starting to sweat from anxiety and—

Suddenly I hear something – like a quiet trill and chirping that reached my ears.

I held my breath and slowly looked around, trying to figure out who was making these sounds. At first there was nothing, but then I finally noticed something strange… behind one of the rocky-sandy natural structures something was peeking out… yellow? The head was round, divided into a crescent, on one side light yellow skin and on the other orange. The head itself was surrounded by large fins resembling flower petals or sunbeams.

Two large empty white eyes looked at me without blinking… like I was seen as a food.

I froze, as did my heart.

What… in the name of all my biology lessons is this…?

Whatever it was, we stared at for a while, not taking our eyes off each other. I didn't know what to do, realizing that I felt like I was locked in a cage with a tiger. So, regaining some control over my body, I begin to slowly swim back to the pod, not taking my eyes off the alien fish, trying to breathe very carefully. They seemed to notice my movement, the fins on their heads twitched. My heart jumped as they also slowly moved out of the rocky structure, swimming away from it with careful and deliberate movements, also not taking their eyes off mine, fins twitching almost nervously, giving me a chance to notice the rest of their body.

And even despite the distance between us, oh my god... they were huge.

But what struck me most was that they had a thin neck, then shoulders, a torso, and even arms... wait arms?! After the torso there was a beautiful and long tail, which ended in another large orange-yellow fin. The whole body itself was also divided into yellow and orange colors, although on the tail you could see a couple of red stripes, as well as fins of the same color on the back, and on the tail.

I also could not help but notice barely noticeable golden spots on their body that sparkled and shimmered with colors from the sunlight that broke through the surface.

Fascinating...

Inner admiration for the beauty of the creature, and also the desire to study them, and learn more about them than ever, which I now recognized as a mer folk, or a siren...
My other side of science screamed at me that merfolk is a myth, and they do not exist, as I was taught... but what is in front of me clearly throws off all doubts. Although they did not look like what is usually shown in pictures of books or on the Internet. Moreover, I am on an alien planet...

Suddenly I realized that all this time I was standing in place, almost without even noticing how the mer had already swum closer to me... much closer, only a meter away from me!

My heart began to beat in panic, and my hand tightly clutched the knife. Swimming from this predator is clearly useless, it is larger and more resilient and will certainly be able to quickly catch up with me if it wants... I will have to fight, even if I have to harm such a beautiful individual. I swallowed, mentally cursing myself for getting distracted until I noticed that the mer had stopped as well. Their fins dipped back nervously at the sight of my weapon, but then they looked back at me, letting out a soft chirp. Their gaze was no longer intense, but looked almost… curious, concerned? And their mouths had taken on a thin line, as if modest and cautious.

The muscles in this creature's face allow them to express emotion almost like a human face… amazing.

I blink, coming back to reality, recovering from the shock, when the mer chirps again, a little louder, clearly wanting to get my attention. Only now do I notice that their hands are… painfully human-like, folded at their chests, as if holding something there.

Finally convinced that I have their attention, they carefully move their hands, and holding them together, they hold them out to me. I dare not move, although I strain myself, looking at the unnatural actions of this predator.

And then, opening their large hands, I see that in their palm (which, by the way, also had five fingers! And claws, clearly dangerous) there are some objects... or rather, resources! And obviously those that I have never seen before, but you don't need to be a genius to understand that I needed them.

My eyes widened in disbelief, looking at the offering.

I quickly began to scroll through in my head what this could mean: usually gifts between representatives of the fauna are a sign of peace, friendship, well, or in the mating season, attracting partners. But could this also mean a sign that they are unhappy with me being on their territory?

I carefully look into their eyes, trying to understand what they are thinking. The body language gives away no signs of aggression: the spiny fins on the back were in a lying position, as were those around the head between those very fin petals (the spiny fins are probably poisonous, I guessed), and this clearly looks like a friendly gesture.

It seems that the mer does not want to eat me, but just want to be friends.

After studying them with my eyes a little more, I take all my courage in a fist to raise my free hand, and pick up the items from the mer's palm, trying not to touch the dangerous claws. He in turn perks up a little, slowly moving his hand towards themselfs, the fins shaking when I began to examine the donated resources...

This mer is behaving surprisingly... intelligently. Oh my god, did I just come into contact with an intelligent species on this planet? The thought made my chest tingle with excitement and my curiosity grew.

And then, remembering that I was still holding the knife, I decided to boldly show my friendliness in return, and carefully put the knife back on my belt, albeit a little hesitantly.
But it was worth it.

The mer, who had been watching me closely all this time, immediately perked up when he noticed my gesture, and the tail behind him began to twitch back and forth like the tail of a happy dog. They folded their hands together, and for the first time a wide smile spread across their faces, revealing sharp, shark-like fangs behind them. It seemed as if they shone a little brighter, like a real sun...

Of course, this confused me, but I couldn't help but smile back... they are so beautiful, I have never seen anything like this in my life, I thought, looking at them as if hypnotized. But this is not bad, it even encourages me to continue my mission of survival, as well as studying this mysterious planet. I really much wanted to reach out and touch them--

Mer let out joyful trills at me, and with a sudden underwater pirouette he turns around and quickly swims away in an unknown direction, leaving behind a surge of water that pushed me back, leaving me blinking in surprise, looking where the mer had just been a second ago.

Then I look at the resources in my hand, my heart was pounding in my ears, and I realize that I am unconsciously smiling widely. Then I quickly turn around and swim quickly to the capsule, holding the newly received resources in my hands like a treasure. Entering inside, I hurriedly go to the locker and put the resources there to later use them in the manufacturer.

And taking out the PDA from my belt with trembling hands, I plopped down on the floor with my legs crossed, not paying attention to how the water is pouring down from me like hail, twitching like an excited child and quickly find the voice recording function, and taking a couple of calming breaths in and out, since my heart did not stop beating quickly, but now not from fear, but from joy and excitement, but I tried my best to make a professional and calm voice. In the end, I quickly press start:

"-Day three on the alien planet, after the crash of the ship Aurora. I am recording this entry earlier than usual because something amazing has just happened to me! It seems that I have made contact with the intelligent specieman of this place... believe it or not, but it turned out to be nothing but a real merfolk. I know, I and others were taught that merfolk and other fairy tales were myths, and simply something invented by people. But this is not like that! The one I met is proof of this.

Description: An individual of fairly large size, typically thin in build, but muscle mass is still present, approximately ten or twelve feet in length, age and sex have not yet been determined. Gills are present on the neck and ribs, they seem to work steadily. The entire color spectrum of the creature consists of yellow and orange colors, there are red stripes in some places. Characteristic orange-yellow fins around the head, creating the feeling of a flower, or a real sun, between them there are spines, probably poisonous. The remaining fins are on the back, hips, and also on the tail. The skin does not consist of scales, but of very interesting skin that can reflect light, or was it biluminescent? The eyes are large, for some reason completely white, seemingly blind, but it seems to me that this is not so. Their fangs are similar to sharks, sharp and seemingly healthy and strong.

The muscles on the face allow the measure to express emotions like humans, the ability to smile was noticed, and also to rejoice, worry, and even be curious.

According to the environment, they are most likely a diurnal creature, which is confirmed by the bright colors, and the time of the meeting: day.

In what places such live, is unknown, other biomes of the planet have not been fully studied. But it seems to me that my landing place may be their territory. Their behavior is surprisingly friendly for a predator, to the one who broke into their territory, and, probably, too nice... also, the mer provided a peaceful gift in the form of the resources I needed, which I did not notice in these territories! They did not show any aggression and clearly tried to show complete friendliness, and were even happy when I did this in response, accepting their offering.

There is an assumption that they are the culprit of the shaking of my lifepod, which I mentioned in previous voicediary, since their size clearly gives them the opportunity and strength to move my pod, but fortunately they never tried to sink it.

This is all that I managed to find out during the first meeting, since I did not have time to scan them, but if I succeed I will do it next time, I will definitely do it!

I call them (After thinking a little about the name, one word almost immediately comes to me when thinking about the mer) ... Sun.

Further research is in progress. "

After breathing exercises and trying to calm down, having come to my senses, I begin to work. A quick check of what else I could do with the new resources in the manufacturer, I was shown that I can finally get my first O2 tank! What I will definitely need for staying underwater longer, and just in time for my mini-trip to the seaweed forest.

Smiling and putting on the tank, I mentally thank Sun - that's what I called the solar mer - for bringing me exactly what I needed, and then I check everything I need for sailing.

PDA - checked. Knife - checked. Scanner - checked. O2 tank - checked. And just in case, water and unfortunately the last chopstick... I definitely need to hunt some of the local fish.

I feel like I'll not only have to pump up my muscles while I'm swimming, but also lose weight at the same time. I wonder what I'll look like then? Okay, let's not think about it, I have a mission! Although maybe the seaweed forest is not so bad? I'll hope so.

And so, after being fully prepared, I finally go back into the water, and having gotten my bearings a little, I swam towards the seaweed forest, of course, not without having time to scan a couple of fish that swam past me. The tank really did miracles, now I could stay underwater longer! This will be very useful to me when I'm in greater depths.

Another thing I noticed was that I no longer noticed or felt the presence of the solar mermaid nearby. It's not that I wanted to put a couple of bricks under myself like recently, when I first saw them, but it seems to me that this bro was watching me before, and the fact that the feeling that I was being watched before, that absent seems unusual. But who knows, maybe they went about their business.

Although what kind of business can mermaids have? Most likely hunting somewhere in the great depths where larger creatures are, because... they themselves are large. The thought sent shivers down my spine, but I couldn't help but smile at the same time. It's a miracle that I wasn't eaten. If this mermaid wasn't smart, they would have done it almost without thinking, like any other predator.

But why blame predators for being predators? This is their nature, and we must respect it, and try to protect ourselves from it.

But since we have such things, maybe I can establish a good relationship with Sun. Uhhhh, I can't wait to scan them! It's not every day that you meet a creature from a fairy tale, is it? This is a real miracle! A very beautiful miracle! My inner biologist wanted to study the mermaid as a species very much, but I decided it was better to abstain... ha-ha, sometimes my thoughts scare me.

Very soon I saw this very forest of algae, which from afar looked slightly... threatening? It's probably because the water there is green, and it's also much deeper. But I have nothing to fear when I have a 
O2 tank and a knife with me!

Carefully, not without looking back, I enter the forest area, immediately swimming up to the huge algae, which I looked at with surprise and admiration. They grew many meters up, a little more and will reach the surface, also having rich foliage, which I can probably try to cut off to use, but I decide to do this later. It is interesting that on this planet, things familiar to us seem much larger! And this is probably due to the different gravity and atmosphere of this planet from the earth.

After I came to the surface for a second to take a breath, I set off to swim deeper and deeper into this forest.

I also collected some yellow sprouts from the algae, not knowing what it was, but I am sure that I will need it later. The deeper I went, the greener and a little darker it became. It was scary, but I tried not to worry about it too much, concentrating on searching for resources, and also observing the local flora and fauna.

I didn't have to swim for long before I noticed something swimming under me, scaring me a little. It was a large whitish fish with a mouth like a crocodile and a tail similar to a shark. It seemed to be the same creatures that I saw earlier, which made me not want to go to this forest earlier.

I was already ready to pull out a knife, instinctively, but fortunately the fish did not notice me and seemed to be busy playing with metal objects scattered along the bottom instead. I was almost relaxed, when out of nowhere several more of the same fish swam and joined the game. Despite my curiosity, the instinct of self-preservation made itself felt, and I decided to swim to another place for now before these guys noticed me. And you don’t have to be a genius to understand that they are predators, and dangerous ones, despite the at first glance amusing game with metal, which they grab in their mouths and gnaw like a dog chews its plush toy.

Don’t forget that I can become this chewing toy. And there are somehow too many of them here...

Having swum away from the pack of predators, I continued my study, periodically picking up and appropriating various objects, hoping that I will need them in crafting things. Sometimes I stopped, scanning some plants, smiling to myself, already feeling my curiosity about what else I could learn about this planet.

Oh, if only I had a notebook! I used to write down my notes of my studies, and what our teachers told us to learn. But unfortunately this notebook burned down, like Aurora itself... fu, better not to think about it!

I need to concentrate.

After some time, I accidentally came across some interesting pink plant with holes. By the way, bubbles were coming out of them, and accidentally getting under one of these bubbles, to my surprise, this led to the spraying of the air supply in the tank. Which I was pleasantly surprised by, but I was also glad that now I have an easier way to fill the air supply.

What a useful plant I came across!

I smiled to myself and continued exploring the area. Soon I found more caves, which by the way had a lot of useful things, like resources, which I needed for some other important things! Maybe I could finally make a repair tool so that I could fix my capsule, and finally contact rescue and other survivors with radio. This thought made me feel more confident in my search. And so I immersed myself even more in collecting resources, trying to fit them in my pockets, and sometimes getting distracted by interesting fish swimming past me.

And I also did not avoid being a victim of persecution by those same toothy fish... and I barely managed to hide from them, it was scary! Periodically, I filled the tank with air from those same interesting plants... and so I lost track of time.

I don't know how much time passed, but I didn't immediately notice how it began to get dark, when evening was falling on the surface, and then night itself.
And it seems I noticed it too late...

Once again, I got out of one of the caves, scanning another plant, smiling contentedly to myself, and to the new knowledge... until I stopped. Only now did I notice how dark it was, that only blackness was visible.

I looked around uncertainly, and my brow furrowed. All the excitement of exploring disappeared as soon as I realized that I had forgotten myself for too long.

But it's okay! Everything is okay! I'll just carefully return back to the capsule, and everything will be fine, right...? I swallowed nervously, and swam out of my cave, trying to get my bearings. The blessings of PDA could show me in which direction the capsule was, where I began my journey.

I hope those toothy fish don't attack me in the dark... I don't think I'll be able to escape easily then. My eyes slowly began to adjust to the darkness, and I finally began to pay attention with a newfound admiration to what was emitting real biluminescence! Although, then I quickly noticed another strange fact... for some reason it was strangely quiet. I did not hear a single sound that other small or large inhabitants of the underwater world usually make. It was... frightening. As if I was alone on the entire planet.

I tried to throw it at the fact that most of the animals here are simply diurnal, and that they are currently sleeping... but the new feeling of a close gaze and presence sent shivers down my spine.

I stopped.

Could it be Sun? The mermaid had watched me like this before, it must be them!

But something was wrong... the feeling was more dangerous, colder... like a predator that has opened the hunt for its prey. Moreover... didn't I say earlier that Sun is most likely a diurnal creature? I swallowed, and without realizing it, I took the knife from my belt, clutching it tightly for my comfort.

Strange... animals can't have such a piercing gaze! Surely this is the work of some other intelligent species on this planet... are there any others like Sun? If there are, then I have a feeling that something is stalking me now, clearly unfriendly... my intuition should not fail me on this matter!

Swimming and moving carefully, I try to think rationally, and also try to ignore the predatory gaze in my back, and the eerie silence (well, at least someone would make some kind of sound!), which was frightening and made the situation better.

But then I came across the bubble plant again, and decided to quickly take advantage of the moment to fill my tank with air. You never know...

What are the chances that I can die? What are the chances that the new creature is big and dangerous? The probality is high... to my horror. My mental calculations should not fail me, but this time I really wanted not to be able to think about such things at all! My hands were shaking, and I tried to breathe carefully so as not to waste my air, but my chest was squeezed with anxiety, and I wanted to swallow air like crazy ... but I refrained.

I need to somehow get out of here... how far was I from the life pod and that shallows? I was not sure, since I no longer had the strength to pick up the PDA because my body began to go numb with fear. Strange, considering that I was not even as afraid as when I met Sun! But, perhaps, this is because the solar mer tried with all their might to be friendly, and did not pursue me with a murderous and even hungry look.

Something there... is in the darkness, but I do not even know if I want to turn around to find out who it is. Although, if I at least do this, I will die seeing something new, or perhaps beautiful...! Ugh... who am I kidding? I promised myself that I would survive! Although dying to some beautiful alien species would be a source of pride for me in some way— aaaggh! Why do I even think like that?! I think I'm going crazy, and the fear of being a victim fills my body and mind, I need to do something, not joke around!

While I was trying to calm myself down, I suddenly heard a growl and something swimming quickly towards me. This time I quickly turned around, armed with a knife, barely noticing in the darkness the outline of one of those same big toothy fish, which was clearly even more aggressive than during the day. And it was clearly swimming towards me! Oh no--

My heart got stuck in my throat when I almost stopped breathing from fear... it's not every day that something like that swims up to you! The pursuit that was before was completely forgotten by what was happening now under my nose. Ugh, why couldn't I have kept track of the time better! I myself broke my own rule about not going out at night... and now what?! While it was far away I quickly tried to swim back, seeing as the fish, swimming towards me at high speed, opened its mouth, emitting another growl, ready to bite something from me and—

Before the dangerous fish even has time to swim towards me, something huge suddenly, as if from nowhere, cuts off the fish with an obvious loud sound of impact, as well as tearing of flesh, when something pushed itself and the fish to the rocky bottom.

The blood froze in my veins when I saw this, eyes widened in shock and blinked in confusion. What was that...? I slowly turn in the direction where something with the fish disappeared from my field of vision... that was a mistake.

The huge something that I barely made out was large, and had a long tail, with fins that I could not see from there... but the body was clearly scattered with many small and large yellowish spots of biluminescence that resembled the night sky.

The thing itself pressed the already half-dead fish to the rocky surface with a force that was almost nothing compared to the size of this huge something. The fish was clearly still fighting, trying to get out of the grip of the huge creature, but it was strong, not letting go of its prey and then-

It suddenly plunged its mouth into the fish, tearing the skin and flesh without much effort, and even tearing it off in pieces without sparing, and the claws of its hands (hands??!) also dug into the skin of the fish, from which a lot of yellowish blood began to accumulate in the water, as the meal of the terrible and huge creature passed. I may be a biologist... but even for me this picture was terrifying, and I couldn't help but turn a few shades paller as I watched, unable to move, and my eyes growing dizzy. No wonder I was told me that I'm the most sentimental of everyone...

The fish, despite the battle, began to slowly lose life, while the creature greedily devoured it, and the sounds of tearing flesh and bones that made my head spin.

Okay... calm down, I need to get out of here before this creature decides to eat me too! The thought made my stomach twist with horror and a little nausea from what I saw.

I tried to slowly start swimming back... but as luck would have it, a sob escaped me, causing several bubbles to fly out of the mask.

This immediately attracts the creature's attention, causing it to pause for a second... before their head suddenly turns to me, and I immediately meet the gaze of large bloody red eyes, which paralyzed me in horror. You could barely see the yellow blood from the fish it had eaten on its snout (or face?). And just as I was thinking about it, a tongue came out of its mouth and licked its teeth, and its gaze said it all...

I'm next.

I swallowed, the blood leaving my fingers, and I tried to keep a tight grip on my knife, and I tried to move...

Come on! It's going to eat me if I don't try to do something right now! But the only thing my body did was slowly start to swim back, until my back touched the stone wall behind me, making me flinch.

I'm cornered.

Me both and the creature didn't take our eyes off each other for what felt like an eternity, and I could feel my heart beating fast in my chest... my rational part was telling me to breathe to calm down, but I just held my breath, unable to do even that.

What am I supposed to do--?!

Suddenly, unexpectedly for me, the creature moves faster than my eyes could catch, towards me. The only thing I saw was a large clawed hand reaching out to me before I screamed and miraculously dodged the blow. I could feel the creature's claws hit the rocky wall hard, leaving a mark there, but I don't wait for the creature to come to its senses and finally start to swim away, hearing the creature's devastated growl when it frees its hand.

I can already feel the pursuit behind me again, as soon as I swim with all my strength and as fast as my body allows, feeling the adrenaline cutting through my veins. I tried to swim in zigzags, between rocky surfaces and large seaweed to confuse the pursuer, who was not going to let me go so easily, hearing his low but aggressive growl behind him.

I need to hide urgently!

Think, think!

My eyes looked around in panic in the darkness, hoping to find something that could help me, or some kind of shelter. But, as expected, there was nothing in the darkness that was unclear, except that I didn’t know where I was or where I was even swimming!

The strength was leaving my body, and I dared to look back… only to see the emptiness of darkness. No growls or red eyes… the same about the biluminescence, you can’t see it.

The predator evaporated into thin air.

This puzzled me until I suddenly crashed into one of the large algae, from which I let out another surprised sound. Quickly, I tried to untangle myself from the leaves, and swim back, deep breathing…

Then I look around for the predator, but there was no trace of them! The deafening silence fell again.

Air supply is running out soon... I need to get out of here-

A sudden growl from the side, but before I understand, a large and sharp jaw grabs my hand, sinking its sharp fangs into the flesh, causing me to scream in pain, and many bubbles leave my mask. I drop the knife from my hands, and raising my fist, I hit the bloody eye of the creature with all my might, causing them to growl in pain, and they let me go, stepping back, clutching the wounded eye.

I do not wait for them, and again begin my escape, holding tightly to the wound on my hand, which was bleeding heavily, leaving a mark behind. Vision in the corners darkened, and my heart pounded in my ears. Eyes darted in horror in search of shelter, until my gaze falls on one cave, and without thinking, I swim down there.

The entrance was small, and I could barely fit inside. And the space itself wasn't big, and I forced myself to press myself against the farthest wall of the cave. It was terribly dark... and quiet, but that didn't stop me from seeing how quickly the water was turning red... it was probably from my blood. I was already scared to imagine how bad the wound looked... and the smell of blood would most likely soon attract predators here...

I'm going to die, right? If they don't eat me, then from blood loss or suffocation when the air runs out. Which of these can I bet on...? Most likely the third, from the loss of air I will lose consciousness, my brain and all organs will stop their activity, as well as my heart... and then I will die faster than from blood loss, and then the fish will find me and eat me. Hmm...

I try to stabilize my breathing, but quiet sobs are still escaping from me, and the pain pierces the nerves of my arm strongly. I look towards the cave exit, as if expecting to see that creature waiting there again... if I think about it, I could have most likely lost my arm if I hadn't started defending myself, considering how that creature killed that fish and tore it apart without much effort...

I sigh quietly. I couldn't stay here, and I knew it. If I didn't get out, I would die... and if I did, I would most likely meet that thing again, and most likely die too... they could have already found out where I was from my bleeding.

The edges of my vision begin to blur as I try to decide what would be the best choice.

Well... what did I say about dying from an exotic underwater creature earlier...? I made my choice a long time ago, and I don't even know if I'll be lucky enough to swim out in time...? Also no... well, good luck to me, I have no choice anyway, and time...

After taking a couple more breaths in and out, I finally move towards the cave exit, and force myself to carefully walk out. A quick glance around tells me that there is no one, but I knew better when I felt a murderous staring on me.

I knew that it knew where I was. So I use all my remaining strength to push off the rocky surface to curl up while I swam like crazy in an unknown direction. Then I heard another growl from the creature when it began to pursue me again.

I don't have much time left, I thought, swimming wherever my eyes look, although I knew that I had no chance. But instincts did not allow me to stop, already feeling the approach of the creature behind me, as well as death itself. Very painful...

I was about to close my eyes when suddenly at one of the turns I see a blinding purple-pink light... I already thought at first that these were side effects from a lot of lost blood, when suddenly I fly into this glowing something--

I close my eyes when the light envelops me everywhere, and I finally stopped, expecting pain and finally death.

Counting the seconds, I realize that it never came... instead I feel small smooth movements around me, like something like little antennae?

I slowly open my eyes, expecting anything.

And as soon as I open my eyes, they widen in surprise at where I was. I was surrounded by... jellyfish? And there were, lots of them! But they didn't look like the ones on earth, not really. These were big and long, half my height or more. Their biluminescence on the tenacles shone with bright iridescent colors of pink and purple, while their caps were the color of the night sky, with small yellow spots like stars, although on the top of their heads they had a large light yellow sign of a five-pointed star.

They were... beautiful.

They didn't seem to be bothered by my intrusion into their tight group, continuing their slow movements.

A roar from the creature came from behind me, but it clearly wasn't going to enter the group of jellyfish... that's right, their tentacles were poisonous. And it seemed like my diving suit miraculously protected me from the tentacles that were touching me. I felt strange and yet surprisingly calm and good.

Slowly, I began to swim forward, as if hypnotized, even forgetting about my wound and everything else. I felt... tired. I wanted to sleep. But I couldn't sleep here, could I? The jellyfish continued to slowly swim around me in a pleasant silence.

"Oxygen" The PDA's warning voice echoed past my ears.

And I looked around until I noticed something strange... something that stood out. Among the pile of jellyfish I noticed some figure, it seemed to be a jellyfish too, but... at the same time not?

My vision started to blur, although I tried my best to look closely to understand what I was looking at... until suddenly I met red eyes. No, not bloody, these were ruby ​​eyes... and they came from some figure that stood between the other jellyfish as if it were one of their own, but at the same time not...

I look into their eyes, they look back, a half-closed gaze reminiscent of a cat's gaze.

I couldn't see more... it seems I'm hallucinating, but I'm not moving, I'm not running away. The adrenaline left me long ago, and instead drowsiness and fatigue came.

It was getting dark before my eyes, I hadn't been breathing for a long time, when I smiled slightly at this beautiful and calm picture that I would probably see for the last time...

The figure seemed to shine brighter, and through the blurriness I saw how it slowly floated closer... I thought I heard a quiet cooing, and then it stretched its hands towards me... they were only slightly larger than mine, but blue, something I could only see through my blurred vision. With the last of my strength, I raised my hands and placed them in theirs, noticing that there were no dangerous claws in them, instead there was a pleasant feeling of their strange delicate skin.

And only then did I allow myself to relax, and my consciousness plunged into darkness...

Beautiful...

Something pulled me out of my unconscious awareness, a sound or something else, I didn't know, but I still flinched, in my place in a sitting position. Oh, sleeping like that would definitely give me a backache... I thought with a disgruntled groan. Slowly, I tried to open my eyes only to be blinded by the daylight, making me hiss, and I raised my hand to cover them.

Blinking a couple of times, I tried to figure out where I was. The first thing I saw was the surface of the ocean that stretched far beyond the horizon. This already raised questions in me, and I slowly looked around. And only now did I realize that I was sitting on my lifepod.

Okay... how did I even get here?

I blinked, my head was foggy, and also some pulsing. Something happened that I couldn't understand... why would I fall asleep in such a place, and with such a headache? And it wasn't just my head... my whole body ached, especially the stretched ones! As if I'd played sports without warming up first. And my face and palms were itchy, ugh...

I rubbed my forehead, frowning, and tried to brace myself with my hand to sit up more comfortably, only to be met with a stab of pain.

I blink and look at my hand, only to see something I didn't expect... a crescent-shaped bite mark stretched across almost half of my arm on both sides, flaunting itself just like the torn sleeve of my diving suit.

The longer I stared in horror at my hand, which began to tremble, the more memories began to pile up on me like a wave.

Gulping, I risked looking around, a sea of ​​questions began to flood my head.

For example, like: what happened? What kind of creature was that? How did I survive? And what does jellyfish have to do with it?

I blink, confused, and try my best to rack my brain because it seemed like there was something I couldn't remember. But all I got was a headache that made my face twist... ugh, it's no use. But what happened didn't fit in my head.

Something attacked me in the middle of the night in a seaweed forest, and chased me, and almost bit off my arm. Then a swarm of jellyfish and then darkness... but there was one big piece missing from all of this.

How in the name of the whole universe did I end up here?! And alive, too!? I don't understand anything! I was too deep to save myself! After all, I had already lost consciousness then...

I frowned even more, trying not to panic. Looking at the bite again, I notice that it has surprisingly stopped bleeding, and it seems to have already begun to heal, which is very strange for such a deep wound. And it doesn't hurt either, at least not much. Some kind of gypsy tricks are that?! It seems that this planet has more than just some strange inhabitants. I don't remember being able to teleport...

Rubbing my forehead, I decide to check my pockets to distract myself, and notice that all my resources that I collected there were still with me. And now I can probably make many more things! Hurray I guess... gosh I feel so tired after everything what happend. And the bite will sure syat as a scar and reminder! Ugh...

Sighing quietly, I sit down more comfortably, trying not to tuch my injured hand that I will have tp patch up and dizinfect when I get back in the pod, and look at the endless ocean deep in thought.

Well, at least I'm still alive... albeit miraculously.

Chapter Text

I don't know how long I sat there, on my pod. Aimless, and not moving from the spot. Still thinking about what happened, trying to understand... a simple walk for resources and research that turned into some kind of adventure and escape from some kind of predatory creature... large and very aggressive! Which ended with me somehow getting from there to here... although technically I could have already died! And yet I'm here... a miracle!

I checked my records on the PDA more than once, finding a lot of new information about plants and animals that I was able to scan. This also confirmed what happened... what kind of creature attacked me? What saved me? My head was spinning... this can't be possible... just like the existence of a mermaid, but I still met one.

I even tried to understand from the bite that adorned my hand what kind of animal it was... but this is the first time I've seen such a shape of bite and jaw! So my knowledge is useless here...

I probably would have sat there for a long time, recovering from the shock... if my PDA hadn't suddenly spoken out of nowhere, scaring me a little:

"Danger: a quantum detonation has occurred in the Aurora's drive core.

The reactor will reach a supercritical state in 10, 9..."

This definitely takes me out of my thoughts, and makes my eyes widen in surprise. What... what detonation? Aurora?! I jump to my feet as if out of my mind, almost losing my balance from dizziness, and turn towards the half-sunken Aurora ship in a panic. Mentally trying to understand why, I only find out about it now...

"...4, 3... 2... 1."

And so, suddenly a huge fiery explosion penetrates the ship, and also an accompanying explosive force that shook the air and water, causing waves. I miraculously stayed on my feet, and I even had to squat down to avoid accidentally falling when the waves shook the pod. Aurora, although was far away from me, but the explosion was still strong enough to shake everything around.

I am horrified and almost in awe of the explosion, how the fire penetrated the structure of the ship and how the smoke began to rise into the sky, and small pieces flew in all directions and fell somewhere into the water, and from the volume my head was spinning even more.

And then... silence.

Everything finally died down: the explosion, the fire, and also the waves.

I sigh quietly, doing a breathing exercise to calm down. Right now I feel very sorry for the infrastructure... not only from the explosion, but also the smoke that rose into the sky, that can lead to a toxic rain, which, by the way, will then fall into this same ocean. I swallowed quietly, and risked getting back on my feet when the pod stopped shaking so much. I can't imagine the stress the animals must have been under... and I couldn't help but worry about Sun, hoping they weren't exploding nearby, who knows what could have happened... and why am I worrying about that? I don't know, I always seem to have a soft spot in my heart for nature and its inhabitants, even for the alien kind.

I do another breathing exercise until I finally calm my brain. Okay... enough sitting around! We're dying and that's enough, time to do something useful, or I'm going to die here for sure! Nodding to myself, I take one last look at Aurora, and then open the top hatch of the capsule and go inside.

I never thought I'd be so happy to see my lifepod, the descendant of which I was so sure not long ago that I wouldn't come back here! Heh... right! I need to fix my arm, and quickly, I've been holding it so loosely for long enough! I might get some kind of infection... that's the last thing I need.

First, I ate, and to my regret, the last nutritional bar, uff... I knew it would come to this, but I still wanted to eat, what can I do. After eating a little of the bar with melancholy, I wash it all down with water, and decide to do something useful to distract myself from anxiety. Too much stress... Approaching the manufacturer, I check what I can do now, and to my pleasant surprise, I can finally make a repair tool! And a new knife... because the previous one disappeared without a trace. After waiting a little, the manufacturer gives me a repair tool, which I hold in my hands and examine with curiosity, what a useful thing it is! I thought, and began to repair my pod.

Finally, the sparking wires were connected again, and the light and heaters started working in the interior. Now it's brighter and warmer inside, much more comfortable than before. But still, this doesn't change the fact that I'll probably have to build myself a base to get along...

By the way, about the base! The blueprints told me that I have very few resources left to build the base itself! So, I'll have to sweat a bit... who knows, when I find other survivors, we could build a big base together! And survive together, and wait for help. Ah, in my dreams it looked pretty good, but let's focus on reality.

Sighing, and coming out of my thoughts, I look at the radio receiver, which I left as the last thing I could fix. Nervously squeezing the object in my hands, I go to the radio receiver, and start fixing it.

After the radio was fixed, it also turned on, came to life, and holding my breath I listened to the message that started playing on its own:

"Radio on. Transmitting emergency distress signal: Aurora speaking. Distress signal received. A rescue team will be sent to your coordinates in 9...9...9...9...9 hours. Scanning frequencies for emergency transmissions from other capsules."

I blink, and my face fell more and more as the message went on. And only after a while, when the message ends, there is silence, and the only thing that can be heard is the sounds of fish somewhere outside.

I blink, trying to comprehend what I heard... but I heard it right? Because it seemed like I imagined it all, but I knew that it was not so. Rescue will have to wait a very long time... and if anything, it is even better not to wait, so as not to go crazy.

Everything is fine, just don't panic! Panic won't get me anywhere. Everything will be fine.

Taking a deep breath through my nose, I thought to myself that the idea of ​​a large base with other survivors sounds really good. Since we'll have to live on this planet for quite a long time... not that I'm against it, I'll have enough time to study the nature of this planet better! And maybe I'll be able to pull in other survivors too... ah, it looks so good in my mind!

Sighing, I shake my head, mentally calming myself down, and deciding to do something else since the capsule was already fixed. Putting the repair tool aside, I remember that I still need to heal my arm! Right, even though the bleeding has stopped, the wound is still open, so I should hurry up and do it quickly!

With that, I take out a spare first aid kit, I sit down on the floor, placing the item next to me. Then I carefully removed the injured arm from the suit sleeve, and finally carefully examined the wound, and oh... this looks bad.

The bite itself looked scary, but also the yellowish-purple bruises surrounding the area would probably make a sentimental person feel sick.

But I suppressed the urge, instead focusing on studying the depth of the bite better. Normally, a bite like this would require stitches, because I clearly remember that the creature's fangs could literally bite off my arm! A frightening memory of what happened flashes before my eyes for a second, but I shake my head and focus on reality.
But to my surprise, the bite looked like it was already healing at an amazing speed! Maybe there is something magical in this alien water...? Or did something happen that I don't remember? Either way, stitches will no longer be needed. After studying, and taking a few photos from my PDA to study later, I begin disinfecting the wound. While I was busy cleaning the wound, I was deep in thought, trying to remember the details of the creature that attacked me.

First, the creature was obviously huge! And very long. Not so much to call it a leviathan, but still large. What also confused me was that it clearly had arms, and claws on its fingers. Which clearly hinted that this creature was most likely a mermaid too! Something like Sun, only um... more aggressive, as I understood. Also nocturnal, and with frightening eyes... but with such beautiful biluminescence!

Pft, this beauty almost ate me, and I'm sure he'll do it again if I go swimming out at night.

Lesson learned.

Next time I'll be more careful.

And as much as I wanted to know what this creature looked like, I decided that it was better to put my health first for now. Especially since... I've already met one sun mermaid, who is clearly more pleasant to deal with than anyone else, so yeah, I'll have to refrain.

In the end, I finally bandage the wound with bandages, after finishing the disinfections, still amazed by the size of this creature's jaw. And mentally I couldn't stop myself from trying to imagine what it looked like by the standards that I managed to notice during the attack... but it's better to stop myself.

Sighing and examining the bandaged wound, I felt calmer, and I smiled slightly. Then I carefully pulled the suit back on, mentally noting that I would have to fix it later anyway.
Forcing myself to stand up, I approached the manufacturer again, and after studying a little what I could make, I was pleasantly pleased to notice that I could make myself fins. Now I could swim much faster! This could already be considered a victory. Smiling to myself, I waited for the manufacturer to be ready, and then finally received my fins.

After examining them a little, I finally put them on my feet. It was even a little funny, since walking in them is not very comfortable. Although I won’t need to walk in the near future anyway, since the pod is still small, and I will only have a base later. Oh well, fins are already good, and together with a breathing cylinder even better! Not bad constructions considering what happened at night, it’s a miracle that I didn’t lose anything.

Nodding to myself, already in a more elevated mood, I push the resources that are not needed yet aside, mentally noting that I should make myself waterproof boxes, which were in the blueprint database, so that I could put the necessary resources there, otherwise there was almost no space left! But I still need to sleep.

And so, mentally thinking over what I need to do, get, thinking about whether I should go out into the water at this moment or not remained in question...

But the answer itself came when something gently pushed the capsule, forcing it to move slightly, which scared me a little, forcing me to freeze... until I heard a familiar chirping coming from outside.

I recognize this voice anywhere! So, having calmed down, and instead filled with trepidation and also excitement, I move, almost automatically, and hurry up the stairs to the upper hatch to get out, of course carefully so as not to hurt or strain my injured hand.

It's funny, I mentally noted that this reminded me of how children used to call each other to go for a walk when there was no phones to call each other, and I couldn't help but smile slightly from the comparison.

And so, having gotten out, and having received some fresh air, I look back at the water, waiting with anxiety, but also with interest, with only one thought: They're back!

I didn't have to wait long, looking at the calm water today, and as always pure blue.

Suddenly, a familiar sunny face looks out from under the water. I couldn't help but stare in amazement and a bit shocked, as if for the first time, at Sun, whose large white eyes blinked a few times before their mouth stretched into a smile looking at me.

And the skin and fins like sunbeams reflected the daylight, and under the water you could just barely make out their long and bright tail under the water. And I really hoped that I wasn't staring at them, because how can you look away from something so beautiful? Certainly not me! Especially when it's something about flora and fauna. I wonder what the fins around their heads are for? I could stare at them all day if I could... for science of course.

Sun let out a few clicks and trills, and I didn't need to see to know that its tail was wagging slightly under the water.

The sounds they made I interpreted as a greeting, and I couldn't help but smile, and since I didn't have a mask I could finally reciprocate:

- Well hello, Sunny, glad to see you again... - My voice sounded tired, but there were still notes of excitement and joy.

Sun's eyes immediately widened upon hearing my voice for the first time, and their mouth formed an "O" shape, which I mentally called cute. But my night's adventure reminded me that Sun is still a predator... and you never know what could happen.

I decided to quickly dismiss the thought, and instead focused on watching the mermaid, who chirped, and the fins on their head twitched cheerfully. I can't... how can such a creature even be considered a predator? They are too cute! Basically like cats and dogs... hmm.

Sun chirped something, and swam closer, placing hands on the edge of the capsule, looking up at me as if in anticipation. I couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive as I looked at their hands, on one hand trying to understand how they were able to get hands during evolution, and on the other hand that there were definitely dangerous claws out there, but at the moment I did not see them. Then I notice that expectant look, and it’s clear that the mermaid was trying to hide their excitement about something. I blinked in confusion, but risked asking:

-You… want me to jump into the water? - There’s obvious apprehension in my voice.

Sun nods cautiously, as if I were some child they were trying not to scare. The mermaid, like in our first meeting, tries to look harmless and friendly. And yet, after what happened, I can’t help but feel worried… although if they wanted, they could have eaten me at the first meeting…

And now I wonder how they understood me and what I asked…? Or didn’t they understand? I don’t know anymore… this is too much information for me, too much…

Although you know what?! Dosen't matter I'm in!

Taking all my courage (and madness) into a fist, I rise up, and quickly push off the roof of the pod, jumping into the water before I change my mind.

In the name of science!

Before I dive into the water, out of the corner of my eye I could see the startled face of the mermaid, who clearly did not expect my unexpected jump. After all... if I want to study this interesting species, I should be braver and trust them, because without trust and mutual understanding nothing will happen, right?

Once in the water, I try to get used to being in the water a little, slowly blinking.

Very soon, Sun appeared in my field of vision, who also dived under the water, and was at a comfortable distance from me, so as not to scare me, which I certainly appreciated.

They smiled at me, with amusement, and I could not help but smile back. Oh, how beautiful they are! I can't wait to get to know them better...

In the end, in front of me was a friendly (and beautiful) mermaid, who yesterday gave me a couple of useful resources. They clearly wanted to be friends, it was clear as day, at least to me, so I reassured myself that I shouldn't worry.

Sun chirped something to me carefully, the corners of his mouth lifting cutely (how do they do that??) ... eh, I guess I was staring again. I hope the mermaid doesn't think I'm weird! Although they themselves are looking at me with curiosity, even if their pupils are not visible.

Before a friendly atmosphere could be formed between us, Sun suddenly frowned, sniffing in my direction, and then their face twisted in confusion, and then completely with worry and anxiety.

Oh ... it seems they were able to smell something strange in me... most likely another predator, or my wound. I couldn't help but panic a little, are they really going to eat me because the smell of blood provoked them?! And such things happen! But nothing terrible happened, but Sun, having come to their senses, raised their hand to point to my injured hand, making worried clicks. From the expression on their face, they resembled a worried parent... perhaps they could even be one, if they are already adults of course.

Oh... yes, it would have been worth guessing that the mermaid, as a predator, would have sensed this injury on me, but fortunately, did not decide to eat me, but instead became worried about it. How... human, even very frightening! And sweet.

Swallowing nervously, I was not sure what to answer them, considering what happened... well, I can't say that another mermaid attacked me(probably a mermaid)! This will most likely lead to fights... I know that very well! But at the same time, it seems to me that Sun has already guessed who did it without me saying anything. So I tried to make a throwing away motion, with a comforting smile, hoping that the Sun would understand what I was trying to tell them. Let them not to worry! I have already learned my lesson, I think it will do me good... and for memory, because the wound will most likely remain as a scar. I was not sure if it would work...

But at this Sun let out many worried and filled with anxiety trills, which left me standing in a stupor, since I did not understand at all what they were trying to say. So I hurried to make a comforting sign, or even there was an urge to pat them on the shoulder, but I refrained, reminding myself that this is not a human... uhh, it seems that loneliness on this planet makes me think and do strange things, but this is quite expected.

It seems that my sign worked, and even if Sun frowned a little at my hand, they then looked somewhere into the distance, with a thoughtful look, deep n the thoughts. I couldn't help but frown in concern myself, but deciding to leave them for a second to rise to the surface to fill my tank with air before diving back down, which brought Sun back to reality, looking at me.

Sun was clearly worried about me... it was easy to understand, and it really touched my heart. Because I can't remember the last time someone was so really worried about me... well, better not to think about it, concentrate!

Shaking my head, and coming to my senses, I decided that since we were in the water after all... we could swim together to look for the necessary resources, of course, if Sun will want to.

But it seems that as soon as they noticed that I was starting to swim away cautiously, signaling with my hand, asking, but also inviting them with me, they immediately hurried to catch up and swim next to me, from which I smiled at them, and they smiled slightly back. In their eyes, you can still see the concern... really, how can they be so alive and human?! It's almost confusing... but it also awakens interest in how I can study how smart they are, but this is for later, now the main thing is to find resources, and maybe new study, which is very desirable.

Probably, swimming with a predator is not the best idea... but Sun proved that they are smart enough and even kind enough to accept me as another smart creature, and not eat me, which is already nice. Moreover... this means that I am also under protection! Like... who will decide to attack me when such a pleasant companion is next to me? I had no doubt that at first glance they look cute, and can stand up for themselves and protect us.

But I decided not to rely on this too much, so I have a new knife in my pocket! The first one sank like the Titanic... ha-ha.

While we were sailing in some direction, and collecting resources that I know, and just happened to be on the way, what I need, and Sun periodically sailed away to help me in the search. And I will not stop saying how amazed I am by them! Especially how fast they can move, and even with some elegance that I could not help but notice.

Today I decided that we will sail further from the bladeless reef to head out and find new places, and maybe new useful resources that no one has canceled. But certainly not to the seaweed forest! I will not return there soon after what happened... and I did not want Sun to encounter that aggressive something.

Having driven away the thought, I orient myself a little with the help of memory, with it I choose a course that will not lead us to the forest of algae. Fortunately, Sun did not leave my side, which calmed me down.

Fortunately, over time, their mood returned to almost normal again, and they began to swim again, smiling, and swirling in the water, forcing me to stare again, watching how they easily move in the water, despite their very long and beautiful tail, and of course I clapped, from which their facial expressions were filled with amusement and pride. It was funny... and beautiful, and I will not stop talking about it! Just look at these colors! Plus in the piggy bank and for kindness.

I do not know how to say... but Sun was a very comfortable person, despite their status in this nature. Well, like... they are a predator, but at the same time they were able to make me feel protected, and as if we had been friends for a very long time, and it was nice considering what a longing from loneliness began to creep up on me.

Throwing the frightening thought away, I continue to focus on our so to speak... a walk? I don't even know! Heh...

After some time, I didn't immediately notice that we reached a new biome, until my PDA suddenly reported that I had entered a new biome with a new type of flora and fauna, and that further study was also required. This immediately stopped me, returning me to reality... oops, it seems I looked at the mermaid too much, I hope they will forgive me for this.

Finally, I decide to look around and find out what this new biome is. To my interest, this biome was almost a flat surface, which was made up of folding rocky surfaces, and interesting plants grew on the ground, and most importantly, it was periodically spread with red grass, which also grew on large stones, which made my hands itch from curiosity and scanning these things. What else could I notice, since it's deeper here, so I need to be careful with my air supply.

I wonder what kind of inhabitants live in this place? I asked myself mentally, but then I cringed when I remembered what happened last night and quickly shook my head. There won't be any dangerous predators here, right...?

I immediately looked at Sun, who seems to be quite relaxed, which seems like a good sign. After all, they probably know this underwater world better than me. I inhale and exhale. Well, here we go.

I thought, and swam closer to the bottom, starting to search for resources and maybe some other useful things. And you know? I don't know how long Sun and I swam through this biome together, but I'll be honest, to my surprise we really found a lot of new and useful things!

For example, I found and scanned parts of some glider, and even a moth! At least my PDA told me that's what they were called. I wasn't sure what it was... but something tells me that I'll really need it in the future, and it will be useful, so I kept that in mind.

Meanwhile, Sun managed to go a little overboard with the number of new resources they found for me... I have no idea how they managed to find so many of them so quickly before I noticed their absence. But looking into their happy and proud eyes, I couldn't help but try to take everything I could from them until I eventually ran out of room in my pockets.

And I had to rise to the surface and barely explain to them that I can't carry anything anymore. To which Sun smiled at me shyly, clearly realizing that they went a little overboard. I can't... they're so cute! And yet I thanked them for their efforts and help, to which they looked very happy, and I myself could not help but smile, looking at them attentively and studying.

Then we returned to the depths again. But since we were still here, I began to study the place and space, trying to collect as much information as possible from the scanned flora, and fortunately the otherwise friendly fauna... 

By the way, about the fauna...

While I was scanning another found scanning object, things that were probably scattered from Aurora itself... I did not immediately notice the movement of something fast past me, and someone's growl. I turned around in order to dodge a very strange black and toothy fish in time... fortunately it was not big, but it was very fast! And clumsy, judging by the strange movements...

I panic and try to quickly swim away when I notice that the fish is swimming towards me again, but before I can reach for the knife, a huge yellow tail suddenly hits the fish, throwing it far to the side, somersaulting. I blink in amazement and look at my sunny savior, who with narrowed eyes and bared teeth looked towards the fish as if it was their worst enemy. I watch attentively and with curiosity as their smooth fins around the head fluffed up, and the spikes on the body stood ready for combat, trembling with every low growl coming from the mermaid.

The fish in the distance, which miraculously still remained alive after such a blow, finally catches its balance again, and seemingly forgetting about me, begins to swim away to its fish business. Sun stares at the fish for a bit before relaxing again and smiling at me casually, only to tilting their head when he notices my expression.

I'm smiling stupidly right now, am I? Yeah!

I was absolutely thrilled to be able to witness with my own eyes what this predator's protective appearance looks like! It's just beautiful...! And also terrifying... but more of the former! Did you see how Sun used his tail to defend himself? They must be very heavy and could hurt even me that way if they wanted to! Amazing! And the way they bared their teeth? And the way their fins rose in a threatening manner? I was right when I said that the creatures here were somewhat similar to ours from the Earth! I'll definitely have to write that down. I wonder what else--

I was pulled out of my turbulent thoughts only by a quiet trill from Sun, who cautiously swam closer, looking at me with a questioning look. Oh... stupid me, they probably don't understand what's wrong with me, I need to stop getting so lost in my thoughts. (and also keep an eye on that siren, or they'll start feeling uncomfortable around me at this rate)
I let out an awkward laugh and give them two thumbs up. They didn't know what that gesture meant, of course, but from their newly lively smiles, they took it as a good sign.

What a smart young one... putting the knife back on my hip, I decide to continue our journey, looking around for anything useful... until I notice something strange.

In the distance across the water, I notice the silhouette of something incomprehensible. A structure or something, although it reminds me of something, in fact, there shouldn't be any structures or debris in the depths of this planet. Or... wait! It's probably a fragment of the Aurora! I should have guessed ha.

My eyes widen in amazement and I look at Sun who, noticing my gaze, tilted their head to the side questioningly. So I decide and point them to the ruined structure, which makes them blink puzzled at first, then look where I point, and they let out a curious but at the same time anxious sound.

I make a comforting sign again, trying to calm them down. But they frowned, and their look reminds me of a worried parent who just wants to tell me that it is not safe. I was about to laugh at the comparison, but I smiled reassuringly at them before I start swimming towards the ship.

As much as Sun did not like the idea of ​​approaching this wreck, they still swim and follow me. Trying to be close to me, and run their eyes over the surroundings in case of danger. But fortunately the horizon was clear, and only small and withoutbad fish. But on the other hand, if you look at it from the mermaid's point of view, I wouldn't want to approach strange structures that fell from the sky and exploded too...! Speaking of explosions...

Sun, when I saw them this morning after the explosion, seemed worried and a little scared, although they tried not to show it. But since I understand body language well, it could be noticed by some behavior, like the restless fluttering of rays and fins. Looking around all the time, eyes wide open, and so on. These are signs of stress that manifest in both people and animals, but more in animals since they are very sensitive to the world around them.

Maybe right now, by this moment, Sun is already calm, but the anxiety has not gone away, and this is already from the rational part of them. They are probably afraid that that fragment can also explode...

Poor thing, I thought, frowning and watching them out of the corner of my eye. I didn't notice it right away, I guess I was a bit stressed myself if I think about it... so much had happened.

And the explosion itself. I had a feeling I needed to do something about it, but I wasn't sure what exactly. Of course, most likely, to prevent other explosions, I'll have to fix the engines on the Aurora... but how am I supposed to get to the ship itself when there's so much radiation around it? I don't understand... I wish I could find a antiradiation suit.

While I was deep in thought, we finally swam up to the wreck. Oh, it was big, towering over me... but most of it was burned and dented, creating a huge hole like from an explosion, which at the same time could be considered an entrance for me. I wonder what kind of compartment it was? It's hard to tell from the damage. It doesn't look very good... it must have had an unpleasant smell...

The way Sun sniffed and their face twisted in disgust confirmed my guess, and I let out a worried hum. Looking around the wreckage, I mentally decided to go inside, maybe I could get something that survived, or at least plans for something useful? Perhaps I can try... I thought, slowly swimming closer.

Sun's head immediately jerks up from my movement, and as if reading my thoughts, they swim up to stand in front of me, looking at me with a disapproving look, and the rays twitched anxiously around their heads. They chirped something to me, clearly not wanting me to come closer or even go into this wreckage.

My face softens. Oh, I wish I had a mask that I could talk in, so I could calm my solar companion and friend... but unfortunately, my mask didn't allow that. Maybe I could find the blueprints for one? It would be expensive, and I really don't know how to communicate with them.

I think for a moment about what I should do, looking at the worried mermaid, and how I should tell them that everything will be okay, and I know what I'm doing. Although, it's not entirely true... I really will get hurt, right! Let's not think about it! Ugh!

And so I try to calm Sun again with soothing movements, but Sun, watching me, doesn't seem to be going for it, still looking worried.

Strong one, okay... I take a deep breath, okay, another approach, an idea, but a little risky and crazy one, but I went for it. In the name of science!

Carefully, I raise my hand and extend it to Sun, stopping for a second halfway to watch the mermaid's reaction. Sun watches my hand closely, but does not move away, instead tilting his head to the side. Realizing that the mermaid is not bothered by my movement, I continue to stretch my hand until it is above their head, or rather the upper ray of such fins.

Sun's eyes watch my hand, tensely, but boldly remaining in place. Then, holding my breath, I finally place my palm on their head, very gently and carefully. The upper fin felt pleasant to the touch, since it was still slightly covered with a little fluff, and I could not help but stop to look at it in amazement...

Sun at first tenses from the touch, but then realizing that there is no danger in this, relaxes, for the first time, probably all day, closing their eyes. My face softened and I couldn't help but feel a little touched by the sight. They looked so cute and calm... the poor thing must have been scared by the explosion... my biologist curiosity was immediately piqued and I gently stroked the top fin with my hand, being careful of the venomous spines between the head fins, and moving very carefully to try to touch the lower yellow fin, which I could only touch with my fingertips, which made all the fins on the head twitch and a quiet hum came out of the mermaid, painfully reminiscent of...

Purring??

My eyes widened and I couldn't help but let out a surprised laugh. This mermaid continues to surprise me more and more. And I will never stop getting tired of it... no matter how hard I try.

Now Sun resembled something like a huge hybrid of a cat with a dog and a fish. Also, a small relaxed smile blossomed on their face now... who would have thought, an alien mermaid who really loves physical contact, and also to have their heads stroked... whoever I tell them won't believe me! Until they see it for themselves. And it looks like I'll be the first one who was able to touch and interact with an alien mermaid! This can be considered an achievement for someone like me... and it was really nice. Almost like touching a very affectionate cat. Ha, funny comparison.

I shake my head with a smile, so big, dangerous, bright, and so soft... I can't wait to write this down in the voice diary itself.

Speaking of which... I wanted to go inside the wreckage! How could I forget. There must be useful things for survival there... and how could I forget? Although it's easy to forget here. And as much as I didn't want to let go of Sun and stop watching that lovely face, I knew I'd have to break away for now...

And so, holding my breath, I carefully remove my hand from the mermaid's head, watching their reaction for a second. It seemed like they didn't even notice the absence of my hand right away, still in a relaxed state for a couple of seconds. I took advantage of this to quickly but carefully go around the mermaid and try to get inside the wreckage through the huge hole.

And when I was already inside, out of the corner of my eye I noticed how the Sun's head quickly jerks up, apparently finally noticing my absence, and looked around with wide-open eyes. I couldn't help but smile at this, apparently having found a weak spot in the mermaid, which I would need to remember in the future... of course, only for the good purposes of science.

It was certainly dark inside the wreckage, and everything was broken, destroyed, or fathoms. But despite this, I had already begun to notice familiar things in what was broken, and I'm sure it could be scanned.

It seems that as soon as the Sun realized that I was inside the wreckage, I already started to hear worried trills and chirps from outside, and I mentally apologized to them, and hoped that they would trust me in what I was doing. I feel like I will have to pay for this later, but that will be later so yeah... sighing, I take the scanner out of my hip and start scanning things that looked more or less recognizable.

I got a couple of blueprints for a table, a chair, storage boxes and... oh! it's a bed! Thank the universe! At least now I will have a place to sleep when I get my first base. Well, that's a good start, you can already count it as an achievement. I also scanned another item, only for the PDA to tell me that now I have a blueprint for a sea glider? I wasn't sure what this was, but it looks like it would be very useful too. Another achievement to add to my collection. Yay!

After spinning around a bit more, being careful of course not to accidentally hit anything that could hurt me, and making sure I checked everything, I finally decide to leave this place. Slowly, I swim to the exit, and walk back into the light, feeling better as soon as I got out of that closed and already dead space... how this thing pollutes nature here, ugh.

As soon as I got outside, I was immediately greeted by Sun, which suddenly appeared in front of me, which scared me a little. They looked at me frowning, and with disapproval, arms crossed over their chests. Well, now they definitely look like a displeased parent. I can already hear them say: "It's all because of the phone!" oh- oh- they don't have phones, haha, well that makes it all the funnier.

But on the other hand I could see the worried look, and instead of laughing I smiled softly and just nodded, as if trying to say that everything was fine. A quick glance at me confirmed this, and they relaxed again, lowering their hands, and letting out a small trill. At this moment I really wanted to pet them again to calm them down, but I decided that it was better not to do it yet. That they let me touch them at first,  was already a miracle! But I'm not going to waste my luck yet.

Thoughtfully I look up at the distant surface, and notice that the water is gradually starting to turn orange, which indicates the approaching sunset, and also night. At the thought, I twitched slightly.

Don't think about it. I reminded myself, shaking my head. Inhale exhale...

Well, since sunset is coming soon, we should hurry back to the capsule, so that no night walks this time! And the Sun in its own way does not look like a creature adapted to the darkness of the night, so we both should hurry.

The mermaid seemed to have noticed the fact that night was approaching, looking up at the surface, his fins twitching anxiously (this bro definitely has anxiety issues, poor thing) then their milky eyes quickly turned to me, letting out a chirp. I didn't need a translator to understand what they were saying, and so without thinking I nod and open my PDA to get my bearings where my pod is.

But Sun didn't seem to need orientation device, they already knew where to go, and so I hurried after them. They were clearly in a hurry, which is not surprising, but their speed is still many, many times faster to mine. So despite the fatigue that was already creeping up on my muscles after swimming all day, I tried to swim quickly. But Sun seemed to notice my fatigue, and still slowed down to swim next to me, side by side, in the direction where the shallows should be. And if you think about it and look around, you can build a large base in this biome. Why? There's quite a large part of it - it's a flat surface, and there's no danger, except for the clumsy fish that you can easily get around if necessary. Well, the view is beautiful, and there are enough fish to catch, a very pleasant place. I think other survivors might like it here.

I smiled slightly at the thought, and then focused on the path, since I could already see the familiar outlines of the shallows in the distance. Relief filled me, and I was glad that I followed Sun, they clearly chose the shortest path, apparently.

As soon as we found ourselves in there a little later, I couldn't help but feel relieved, and Sun was now less tense. So everything was fine, I thought with a smile, but then looking back I suddenly noticed something light and something that I did not expect to see here...

Something small and colorful was floating right next to us, and I could not help but quickly stop to look at this little miracle.

The little creature turned out to be a jellyfish, which was calmly floating past us. It was small, which probably meant that it was still a baby, and probably from afar someone would say that it was an ordinary jellyfish, like on earth... but no! This jellyfish had an interesting and alien appearance. Their cap was two-layered, the upper one was orange in the shape of a pentagonal star, with another yellow one on the top that glowed with biluminescence, and the upper part was made of yellow fins circling them like a dress. The tentacles were a little curly, and a beautiful radiant red color, which reflected the daylight, creating beautiful contrasts.

I watched the jellyfish with a small smile. What a cute creature! I hope they don't overpopulate the planet here like they do on Earth haha... although most likely not, considering that there are no humans living here who would pollute the nature with plastic and other toxic waste, ugh... although who knows, maybe jellyfish have a different place in nature here.

I didn't immediately notice Sun, who also stopped next to me to also look at the jellyfish. To my surprise, they were also looking at the little creature with a relaxed look, and a small smile, almost with... care? Hah, what did that mean I couldn't understand. Although it would be funny to assume if it was because of the similar coloring. Well, or the Sun just finds these creatures cute, who knows.

For some reason this little  miracle reminded me of those jellyfish that I saw that night, although they obviously look like different species... hm, usually my intuition does not fail me, but how can this be connected with the whole situation? Unfortunately, I couldn't understand this...

Remembering that I have a scanner, I quickly pull out the device, attracting Sun's attention, and quickly scan the jellyfish before it goes too far. And fortunately, the scan went quickly, and now I have new information about this species in my PDA, but I'll read all this later.

I smile and look at Sun again to notice their puzzled look at the scanner in my hand. I blink, looking at them, then at the scanner, and remember one big detail... I wanted to scan them all this time! But I couldn't remember and finally do it! And we were about to part ways soon, because the water was acquiring more and more orange and pink colors, from the shallow depth here. I wanted to hit myself on the forehead, but refrained... oh, my memory, crazy.

Sighing, I look at Sun again, who is now looking at me questioningly, clearly not understanding what I did. Smiling, I pointed the scanner at them, and then made a larger motion, trying to say that I wanted to get to know them better. But they didn't quite seem to understand, and swam back a little warily, moving away.

I felt a moment of disappointment, not wanting to force my new companion to do something they didn't want, but then it hit me, and instead I pointed the scanner at myself to be scanned. Sun watched in amazement as the blue light from the scanner surrounded me, and then went out, after which the PDA began to notify me of my health status, which was fortunately stable.

Nodding to myself, I look at the mermaid expectantly, hoping that my demonstration that the scanner was completely harmless convinced them.

They blink, first looking at me, then at the scanner in my hand, letting out a curious hum, and finally swimming closer, the fins on my head twitching with interest. I smiled at them, and then raised the scanner to finally scan them, only for Sun to dodge the blue light.

I blink in confusion to see the playful glint in their eyes as they smiled cheerfully.

Ah, so that's how it is... I thought, and a sly smile blossomed on me too. Well, hold on!

And then the game of chase (or tag) began, where Sun had to hide and dodge the blue light of the scanner, which I was trying to catch them with. Luckily, Sun gave me a head start by not moving too fast for me to still catch up with them, at least a little. They managed to fit and hide in small holes in the rocky structures, moving quickly and peeking out of them before hiding again. And sometimes I managed to catch them a little, which made them squeak in surprise and hide.

I couldn't help but laugh at that.

By the end, as the scanner finally got a hundred percent of the information, my cheeks were already hurting from how long I was smiling. Who would have thought that such a big mermaid was also playful! It's terribly cute... but it was really starting to get dark, so I finally decided to stop, and fortunately Sun realized that the game was over and came back to me, clearly looking pleased, and I was just happy to see them in a good mood.

Then we continued swimming, and very soon we reached my life pod, and at the sight of him my muscles and body seemed to become twice as heavy, phew... I already wanted to say goodbye to Sun, as with my last strength climbing inside into the pod , and had already turned to close the hatch, only for the head of the solar mermaid to suddenly poke inside, looking at me with their big curious eyes.

Oh well, it looks like Sun is not going to leave me yet. I slowly move back, finally sitting up, feeling a wave of fatigue wash over me, and I sighed softly, rubbing my forehead. What a day…

While I was busy emptying my pockets, the resources from which I had collected, Sun dared to rise higher, placing his hands on the edge of the hatch, and looking around the capsule from the inside with amazement and curiosity, fins twitching with interest and trepidation.

They were probably seeing such a surrounding for the first time, and their confusion was expected, but I still couldn’t help but smile. Although this picture of a mermaid inside my capsule looks funny, I didn’t mind, and was even glad of someone’s company. Thank you, at least I won’t die of loneliness, it’s calming. Shaking my head at my joke, I force myself to stand up and stretch, from which the bones made an unpleasant crunch. Then I go to the fabricator, and the first thing I decide to make is a waterproof storage box, because my capsule really is starting to look like trash at this rate, and this way I can free up some space. Nodding to myself, I turn on the fabricator and wait for it to make me the boxes I need, the sound of which clearly scared Sun a little, which made them look at the fabricator with wide eyes, now looking like they had a blue screen error in their heads.

I laughed at this, which made the mermaid look at me questioningly:

- It's okay, don't worry... - I say, my voice sounds very tired. Then letting out a lonely yawn, and pulling myself up again, I thoughtfully look around, my back against the wall, rubbing my face. - It's hard... hard... and also the food and water are gone, and I forgot to hunt fish again, as I understood most of them here are edible for me... but it seems I'll leave it for tomorrow.

Sun tilted their head to the side, listening to me, and looking worried. I smiled slightly, and decided to talk a little:

- You know, I'm glad you're here with me... well, not trying to eat me and all that, I really need this... thank you. - I admit it. - Besides, who wouldn't be glad to have such beautiful company? - I tease, telling the truth in a sense, because they really are beautiful, to which Sun, after thinking for a while, perks up, and joy and pride appear on their face.

And how do they even understand me?

Be that as it may, very soon the manufacturer finishes his work, and I tear myself away from the wall to go and take the boxes, oh, they are big, well, time to clean up!

And so I began to remove all the resources from the floor, and put them in the box, and if I need them later, I can always find them again. Sun, noticing and seemingly understanding what I was doing, also began to help, reaching for the resources closest to them and handing them over to me. I smiled at them in response and said a quiet thank you, to which they looked proud, chirping something... but then I began to notice that they, too, had begun to look sleepy.

Very soon the capsule looked clean again, and I couldn't help but rub my forehead tiredly. Well, now I'd give anything to go to sleep in a real bed, whose drawing I found today. But that would come later... when the base will be ready.

I yawned, stretching again, and then I noticed that Sun yawned too, revealing their huge mouth with numerous sharp teeth. The view was mesmerizing, but at the same time it made me laugh, watching the mermaid blink tiredly out of sync.

- Looks like someone wants to sleep. - I say, trying to sound playful. To which Sun quietly chirped in response. - Really, I think it's time for you to go to sleep, you've been following me around all day, fr.

Sun looked up at me, tilting their head to the side, and I finally sit up, but on the free space of the capsule floor, and yawn again. Oh, how tired I am.

The mermaid looks at me for a while longer, then looks around the capsule room before looking at me again and smiling, finally nodding and straightening up, the rays lying tiredly behind. Then they chirped something, and trilled, longing the sound with some effort before I suddenly heard:

- Bye!

I stopped, but Sun had already dived under the water, closing the hatch behind them with one hand. Silence fell, and I look in confusion at the place where the yellow mermaid had just been. Then realizing that they were already gone, I take a deep breath and whisper:

- Good night, Sun...

No one answered.

I imagined it? I guess I was just too tired huh.

And yet, today was a good day. If you don't take into account what happened last night, but it's better not to think about it.

I sigh and fall back on my back, looking at the ceiling. God. How I want to sleep. But at the same time, I really wanted to read what the PDA found out about Sun, and about their species. My hands were already itching, really badly, and the inner biologist and the assumption after today's pleasant time spent with the mermaid, which only now began to catch up with me with awareness, hah.

After taking a breath, I reach for the PDA and raise it above me, turning on the screen and starting to search for a scan of Sun in the device files, which fortunately I quickly found. Well, with inner trepidation and curiosity, I begin to read:

"Solneva - is one of the rare types of alien mermaids, known by their bright colors and fast movement in the water, as well as the possession of intelligence.

Habitat - these individuals prefer light, and hunt only during the day, and can live in shallow biomes to be closer to daylight, and are rarely found in deeper places, or cave biomes. An interesting fact, this species are blind in the dark, and the level of orientation is very low, so during the night they sleep.

Distinctive features - this mermaid has many fins, as well as venomous spines that can put the victim in an intoxicated and drunken state, which gives the mermaid a chance to easily catch the victim. The mermaid also has larger and more dangerous fangs, with a strong jaw that can even gnaw through a piece of metal. They have hands, and five fingers (why it happened is unknown) on which there are dangerous claws that can easily injure with a simple touch, easily amble to tear appart their victim, and it is better not to fall under their attack, because it can be the last and fatal.

Life cycle - This scanned mermaid is recorded as a male. Age is close to an adult. Length at the moment is eleven feet. This species can reach fifteen or twenty feet at the end of adulthood.

Life in packs - This species cannot live alone, so in most cases they live in a packs, or in pairs with other individuals of their species or even from other ones in rare cases.

Reproduction - These individuals have the ability to reproduce without, asexually, but since this species is designed to live in packs, the chance of finding a partner is much higher.

Diet - They can feed on any small fish, and some certain plants, but in adulthood they can hunt larger animals, and in the worst case, even attack leviathans.

Biluminescence – This species of mermaids, like most other inhabitants of this planet, have biluminescence, which they use to communicate, navigate in the dark, and attract prey.

Intelligence – These mermaids have been noted to have great intelligence, in behavior, and even communication between peers, as they use their own language with the help of different sounds that they able to create woth their throat and voice. They can also learn by observing and analyzing, otherwise it is used to come up with tactics for attacking this or that prey. An interesting fact is that they are also capable of quickly learning an unfamiliar language, for example, the language of other underwater inhabitants, or even humans. There is a theory that they may be sentient, but further research is required...

Behavior – Otherwise, this species is not aggressive, and will not attack you, but it is advisable not to get too close, otherwise the mermaid may consider you a threat.

Conclusion - beware at all costs, and never get too close!

Further observation is required... "

The next day it was hard to wake up, but there was a lot to do, so I had to get up, especially since staying on the cold floor was not so desirable, to be honest. So, getting up and stretching, I started to replay yesterday. How good a time I had with Sun yesterday... I couldn't help but smile. What a nice company, I won't argue.

And that's not all! I was able to get information about his species and himself with the scanner, just like I wanted! (not without fooling around of course) What I learned is almost what I expected to hear, but some things really surprised me! Now I have questions about why the Sun is alone and I have never seen others like him... and this means there are more of them! But why is he alone? Is he lonely? Lost? Are the others somewhere, but I just haven't seen them? I'll probably have to find out later.

And most importantly, learning unfamiliar languages ​​quickly? This is something new... but, and also explain how Sun began to understand me, and it really quickly! How is this even possible? Is there a chance that his brain can be even more developed than humans? And how is it that they have their own language? Yes, I heard it when Sun spoke to me with trills and chirps, but how does it work? How does understanding work? Study?? Or is it somehow related to telepathy? For example, whale language or even dolphins! So? I was not sure... it's all so complicated.

I have so many questions, but so few answers...

So, I think that for now it's time to stop thinking about it. There are things that it looks like I'll have to study on my own. But later! Then... yeah, I need to calm down, calm down, inner biologist, then, first I need to think about myself.

Also what a pretty name for the specimen he has...

Nodding to myself, I, ignoring my still slightly sore muscles, go to the manufacturer to check what else I could do... so, it seems I can make myself this very sea glider! Still not sure what it is, I decide to make it anyway, what if it's all that good? Because it sounds cool.

And you know, it turns out I was right. This thing was big and a little heavy, and after hearing it for a while I understood its purpose! This thing can help me swim much faster, which is why I can't wait to test it, but that will be a little later...

So wait a second, is it just me or... how did I get the blueprint for the anti-radiation suit?? I'm pretty sure it wasn't there, did I miss something? I wasn't sure, and just blinked in confusion, looking at the PDA screen and then at the manufacturer. Hmm... okay, at least now I'll have it. Although I still don't have the resources to make it... but I have almost everything ready for the base.

Well, let's count it as something good. I thought, rubbing my eyes and trying to drive away the sleep. Having made a few more items that I had enough resources for, I put them in the storage box to use later.

Sighing, I lose my forehead, and mentally consider what I need at the moment. Until a sudden rumbling and painful squeezing of the stomach brought me back to reality. I made a dissatisfied sound, holding my stomach, and then sighing. Well, yeah... the last time I ate and drank was... yesterday morning? Wow, how am I still alive... and I'm terribly thirsty.

Well, yeah, I got so carried away looking for resources that I didn't even notice that I was hungry. I could die like that! Or even lose consciousness!

But since, to my great regret, all the supplies in the capsule have run out, I'll have to go hunting on my own, if I have enough strength, of course. I frowned, but then remembered that I now have a new device in the form of a sea glider! Maybe with this thing I can catch fish faster? They are so nimble.

After thinking for a bit, I sigh and take the device, well, I don't really have a choice. Looking around the capsule one last time, I open the lower hatch and go down into the water that enveloped me and woke me up a little more. Everything seems calm in the underwater world, the fish are swimming, that's already good. Looking around a little more, I try to choose my victim, until my gaze falls down.

Strange... there was something lying on the bottom right under my capsule. Was it there? I'm not sure.

Consumed by curiosity, I carefully swim down, using a sea glider, which made the landing abrupt and frightening, but I was happy for what I found.

It was a whole bunch of fish! From those with big eyes, to the bubble fish that were needed to produce water. And they were all dead... but fresh! That makes me happy. But how could this bunch have ended up here? And in such quantity? I'm pretty sure it can't happen on its own...

Then after thinking for a bit, a bell finally rang in my head, and I couldn't help but smile with gratitude. Who else if not the Sun himself? Like, who else could have enough intelligence to catch me some fish and put them right under my capsule so I'd notice it.

My chest felt warm, and looking around I tried to spot the familiar orange figure, but I couldn't. He must have gone hunting too, considering I hadn't seen him hunting or eating yesterday, all day! He must be hungry tooy, like me right now, haha... cute fish. I thought and laughed at the joke myself.

And so I tried to collect all the fish in my pockets, and then hurried back to the capsule before I actually die of hunger. Quickly getting inside, I immediately go to the manufacturer, and make myself a couple of bottles of fresh water, and also cooked a couple of fish, and put the rest in the storage boxes to eat a little later.

Taking the first cooked fish, I examine it before taking the first bite. I don’t know if it was because of hunger... or something else... but the fish was really very tasty! And after this thought, I quickly ate this one, and two more... oh, well, that was probably unnecessary, since I seemed to have overeaten. Oops.

Well, at least I’ll be full. I thought, washing it down with water, finally refreshed, and letting out a satisfied sound. Now I will need to figure out how to pay Sun for food... but that will be later, I'll sit for a bit, and then move on.

And indeed, I sat down on the floor for a bit, and took out my PDA, and reading the information on the plants and animals that I scanned yesterday. Oh! Who would have thought! It turns out that the jellyfish here are also different in that instead of poison, there is electricity in their tenacles! Whose charge can become high if the jellyfish senses danger, and that can affect other creatures around depends if the jelly is small or already big adult.

Cute, but scary. I was lucky that yesterday I didn't get a couple of volt rollbacks with Sun, ha!

Shaking my head, I read about the underwater world for a while before I decided it was time to go back into the water, continue my business, and I had rested enough. And so, getting up from my seat, stretching, and doing a breathing exercise, I take my glider again and go back into the water.

The water is as always pleasant in temperature, and after getting my bearings a little, I turn on the sea glider, finally deciding to test and understand how it works.

The speed that suddenly struck me, took me by surprise, and terrified trying to figure out how to control this thing. The speed made me panic, considering that it was the first time I was holding something like this in my hand, and the terrain below and above me was passing at high speed, as well as the blurred colors of the fish that I was swimming past and which barely managed to dodge me, and I did not have time to understand where I was going before I crashed into a large seaweed and got stuck there with the glider, which fortunately finally turned off.

Phew... I thought standing entangled in the seaweed. This is probably the most shameful thing that happened to me in this place, it's good that no one except the fish noticed it. Next time I need to figure out how to change the speed on the glider. And also deja vu, as if I had already been stuck in seaweed ... wait a second, seaweed??
I froze, looking around and realizing where I was... this is the freaking forest of seaweed!

Goosebumps ran across my skin, and I tried to mentally calm myself down. Everything is fine, it's daytime now, it's unlikely that the creature from before is here... right? Looking back at the greenish and muddy water, as well as other large algae surrounding this place, I didn't notice anything strange.

Why did I had the misfortune to end up here...

Pfft! Oh, screw it!

I thought and hurried to get out of the algae prison. Fortunately, it was easier than the first time, but then I also had to get my glider out, which was tangled inside. Pulling harder, I fly back, but already with the glider in my hands. And before I have time to mentally celebrate my victory, I feel my back hit something, or rather someone...
I hear a growl before I see him, quickly looking back I see the stalker himself... whose name is justified, you have to be able to approach so quietly!

In a panic, I manage to dodge the sharp teeth of the fish in time, which clearly did not like that I touched it. In a panic, I quickly turn on the glider, and again with unbearable speed I swim back in the direction from which I came, hearing a disgruntled growl behind me from the stalker. And then the pursuit itself. My heart was pounding in my ears, and I barely notice that I swam back to the shallows, only thinking and hoping that the stalker is not as fast as my glider. But fortunately for me, the pursuit did not last long and the stalker eventually left me alone. Thank God...

Turning around for a second and making sure that the pursuit was over, I thought about how I could stop now—

I didn't have time to look back ahead, when suddenly I crashed into someone again, from which the victim let out a surprised squeak, along with me, and from the collision I let go of the glider, and it floated in circles for some time before finally turning off, and I with the one I hit fell onto the sand floor, scattering sand everywhere in the water like flying dust.

And the only thing I saw was a fleeting and almost familiar orange color. Coming to my senses from the fall, and the collision, and the sand that was scattered across the water began to dissipate, I sat up and wanted to apologize to Sun... only to meet eyes, not with familiar milky eyes... but large ones with light blue pupils, like the color of the sky in daytime.

My and the stranger's eyes widened in shock, and not even a second had passed before this someone suddenly moved, throwing sand in front of my eyes again, and swimed away fast. And the only thing I managed to see, trying to remove the floating sand in front of my eyes with my hands, was a large red tail fin, which disappeared behind one of the rocky structures as soon as I looked.

Now the sand really did fall back to the bottom, and my vision cleared, I looked around in surprise, trying to understand what it was all about. But I didn't see anything strange, even the fish all ran away from the commotion!

What was that??

More precisely... who?

Well, what a thing... nothing but questions.

Holley molley, I thought, running my hand through my hair, which had strangely stood on end, like from electricity, and it wasn't even from fear! People can't do that... hmm, okay, it's better calm down now, whatever that was.

After taking a couple of breaths, I find my glider lying nearby on the bottom with my eyes. Taking my last breath, I leave the cordon and carefully swim up to the glider, taking it back into my hands. My heart was still pounding in my ears, my hads shaking and a million questions were flying past my head... but I tried, right now, to calm down, or better yet, to go and do what I had planned for today, yeah-yeah. Too much stress is bad for your health, so you need to stay calm, I'll go and get some air and everything will pass.

Yeah... yeah... yup, right...

Did as said.

Phew, what a day...

...

Chapter Text

It's been... um, a couple more days since then. Not many things have happened really, except that I finally built a habitat, and also found all the parts of some 'Moth' thing, which by the way turns out to be a small submarine, which was very handy, what I needed. But the main thing is that I was finally able to learn how to use the sea glider, and how to change the speed on it, which has already gotten better.

But the most interesting thing is that my radio in the capsule received a message from the ship Sunbeam, which got the call for help from Aurora, and was already flying to us to save. But unfortunately, none of the survivors answered them, and for some reason I couldn't do that too, or didn't even know how. But in return I received the coordinates for its landing site, and the gathering place for all the survivors. It's good that there's still a week left before their arrival, maybe I'll have time to build this moth thing before then, to move in the water even faster, and most importantly more conveniently.

The message itself made me happy and calmed me down. Maybe we won't be stuck here forever, huh... well, with this thought I continued my survival.

But otherwise, my attention was always taken by Sun, the mermaid, who always insisted not to swim too far from the safe shallows, and you know? I decided that it was best to listen to him. Otherwise, you can really wander where you shouldn't, and maybe even where it's more dangerous than here, if you know what I mean. But it's better not to think about it, and instead I began to strengthen my friendship with Sun, and study him closer, which I was delighted with, and the Sun himself was not against it.

But to my shock, Sun suddenly began to speak human words. At first I thought I was imagining things, but then when he started greeting me in English, I was completely confused. Then I remembered that the PDA said that Sun's mermaid species can quickly learn foreign languages, which now explains how he started talking... but I still couldn't understand how that could happen, considering that they are still fish in some sense. But that didn't stop me from lighting up with joy, and the desire to communicate and have a conversation with someone other than myself.

And so, I began to teach Sun to speak, starting with ordinary words to small phrases that he barely understood and tried to repeat. It was fun, although it took a lot of time, but both Sun and I liked spending time like that. At least that's how Sun learned my name, and who I was, and how I ended up on this planet. I could chat for hours about what happened or funny stories about myself, and Sun seemed to really like it, looking with his curious gaze and wagging his tail like a happy dog.

Anyway, I was just glad that someone was finally listening to me... usually other people didn't really like it when I chatted, and tried to get rid of me as quickly as possible. It turns out that mermaids are nicer than people... yeah.

Besides, I could notice more than once, in the middle of the night, when I sometimes sat up late reading the information scanned during the day about the flora and fauna, that something strange and large floated under my capsule, and even touched it, causing the capsule itself to stagger. Something told me that I knew who it was, since the only thing I could see in the darkness was the biluminescent yellowish spots on the creature from the street. From this, fear stuck in my throat, and I just froze until the creature finally left.

Well, what a horror... Fortunately, I remained unharmed, and I continued my modest survival, already over all the days spent here I began to get used to it, and create a routine, which fortunately made me pilaf in such situations. Of course, my back, which was already aching from sleeping on the floor, disagreed with this. Well, yeah, I definitely need to make myself a base soon and a bed in it, uh... but everything has its time.

Anyway, it's time to start a new day...

 In the morning, as always, it was hard to wake up, and all because of my sore back, but I tried to do it, and then do morning exercises so that my back really didn’t hurt. It helped a little, but the stretching didn’t go away, ugh. Then, having prepared some fish to eat and some water to drink, I had breakfast, and now that I was ready and in shape, well, almost, I could finally go out and look for something useful.

Coming out of the capsule, through the upper hatch, I notice something new. To my surprise, clouds began to gather in the sky. And not just clouds, but rain clouds, which means that rain may soon begin, or even a storm. Moreover, the clouds began to block the daylight, and the ocean water was no longer as calm as I was used to seeing before, even the wind began to rise, but not enough to bother yet.

I knew this was bound to happen sooner or later, but I was hoping until the end that I would be able to get off the planet before then. But no. Well, I like the rain, but now I'm worried that my capsule might sink in a storm, which I don't want to happen, but I wasn't sure what to do in this situation yet. Taking a deep breath to smell the faintly pleasant scent of rain before I jump into the water. I wasn't sure what to do, but I knew that the best thing I could do now was finally gather all the resources I needed to build a base, there was only a little left...

The water itself, too, due to the lack of daytime sleep, was darker and grayish, which created an interesting and slightly frightening look. And the fish around, tried to swim in deeper places, so that the force of the waves and the current would not touch them, which I think I should also keep in mind. Well... since I'm here, it's time for me to start looking faster--

-Boo!

A sudden voice, sounding behind me next to my ear, accompanied by bubbles, scared me so much that I almost jumped out of my suit from fear. I turned away, ready to take my knife in panic, only to notice a familiar sunny face looking at me with amusement.

Sun giggles quietly, clearly pleased with himself, rays twitching cheerfully. Well done! He scared me after all! I thought and began to slowly calm down, looking at Sun in playful resentment, but he only swims back a little to give me space, innocently looking at me. And how did he sneak up on me like that? How can you be so big and quiet? Oh, these animals and their ability to sneak up, you can die from a heart attack or a hammer! Eh... but how can you be offended by this cute face? This predator can apparently deceive anyone and then eat them. But Sun is my friend, and he won't do that. So I just smile and hold out my hand to him, which makes him look at it for a second. Then he raises his hand and presses his large palm against mine. I smile wider, feeling the warmth and smoothness of his skin, as does Sun, whose tail wagged merrily. What a beautiful and wonderful creature he is, I can't help but think. Eventually I pull my hand away and he pulls his away before I do a doggy-style motion trying to explain to them what I have planned for today.

But since he didn't understand, I had to go to the surface to try and tell him that the only thing I had left to build a base was some quartz, and some titanium. Now he understood better, nodding quickly with a smile. Then I went back underwater again, pleased that I had been understood, and if my memory serves me correctly, I can most often be found in caves, so that's where I was headed, with Sun accompanying me. I didn't have to search for long, since there were many cave holes, and while I climbed into one, Sun went into another, since he still couldn't fit in everything, especially with me. I didn't mind, and took a hair dryer out of my pocket- oh, no, a flashlight. Which is very suspiciously similar to a hair dryer. I don't know who thought of this, but it's funny. Well, at least I can already see better in the darkness of the cave holes.

It turns out that I needed to search quickly and easily, since this place itself was filled with the necessary resources, which I tried to quickly collect. And everything would be fine, if I didn't suddenly hear a painfully familiar buzzing sound approaching me at an uncomfortably fast speed...

I quickly turn around to see how this red and exploding fish is swimming towards me again. In a panic I remember the last time this fish exploded in my shoulder, and it hurt so much... and I immediately try to quickly swim away from it, but the fish is faster, and as soon as it is in front of me, ready to explode, I raise my hand and hit it with all my strength, causing the fish to fly back, and crash into the other wall of the cave and explode there.

I blink in shock, my heart pounding in my chest, and look at my hand. Did I seriously just defeat the fish with a slap? After a few more seconds of confusion, and despite the fact that I condemn the suicide of the fish, I finally smile, praising myself. It seems that I really pumped up my muscles while swimming every day haha. Shaking my head to myself I continue my search for resources. Too bad Sun didn't see that, such a brilliant survival tactic.

Gradually recovering from the shock, I continued my search, wandering through the cave holes, even finding a couple of friendlier creatures, which I of course scanned, and then swam on. Of course, the cave was a bit dark and scary, but believe me or not, it was still beautiful here. I had never had to do this on Earth, we studied the theory in general, and the practice was an observation from the side, we were not allowed to dive in head first, so as not to risk our health or lives. Anything can happen... But it seems that the whole situation in which I now found myself may not be so bad if you think about it... it's even beautiful and pleasant here. Although a little claustrophobic... but it is bearable if you do not pay attention to some narrow places. And the funny thing is that the place was so narrow that I was even able to catch one of the cave fish myself, hurray! Sorry fish. In the end... it's all in the name of science! And hunger...

After a while, all my pockets were filled with the resources I needed, and I, smiling and satisfied with my work, began to look for a way out of these labyrinths in the caves. I was still surprised how they could be so long under water. And also I couldn't help but think about how Sun was doing, I hope he didn't get lost there, and I hope that I didn't either...

Having put this thought aside, I continue to swim up the cave holes, and eventually I see the light, and swim towards it. And so, I came out of the cave holes, in some place. Looking around, I realize that I got to another place, far from where Sun and I started. Wow, there really is its own underground world, like ants have holes, haha. But, I was glad and relieved that I was still close to the safety of the shallows, and the PDA could always tell me the way back to the capsule, so everything was fine. But here was kinda empty, very little fish swimming around...

Finally getting out of the hole, I rise to the surface to breathe air. And oh ... yes, now the whole sky has darkened, and it seemed that it was already evening, but in fact, it was only the middle of the day. The waves began to hit harder, almost carrying me away, I had to try to keep myself afloat, which was difficult, I am not the best swimmer, despite the circumstances.

M-yeah, it would be funny if thunder roared with lightning in addition. I thought with amusement.

But as soon as I thought about it, I heard a loud thunder in the sky, which made me shudder. Well, now it's definitely going to rain very soon... I couldn't help but worry about my capsule, hoping it would survive the storm, and then deciding that it wasn't very safe on the surface, I dive back underwater.

Well, since that's the case, I guess I'll hurry back to the reef and find Sun, he's probably still there. I thought and was about to swim back, like for underwater plants, when I notice something orange out of the corner of my eye. I blink and quickly turn to see what it was. But it was only big grass like looking plants, swaying slightly from the current, which created waves on the surface.

Hah, how strange, I was sure I saw something.

Maybe Sun wants to scare me again? He likes to play like that sometimes... decided to hide in the plants, the naughty boy. Although something told me this wasn't quite so. Feeling curious and a little apprehensive, I carefully swim closer to the plants, examining them carefully. Hmm... just plants, maybe I'm already hallucinating everything that's happening in the world. Moreover, could Sun hide in such plants? He's not small like me to do that.

I already shrugged my shoulders and wanted to leave, not wanting to risk meeting some kind of predator, until suddenly through the plants I accidentally notice two large light blue eyes looking at me. My eyes, like my pursuer's, widen, and we both swim back with surprised squeaks until I stop...

Wait, this seems familiar, but where from?

Blinking, and coming to my senses from the shock, I look at the plants again, and the inner biologist was burning with the desire to understand who I saw. Well, it's already clear that it's not Sun... he has white eyes, but these blue ones. But who is it? There was a thought, but I couldn't be sure of it, so I continued to stand in my place, paralyzed by interest and hope that this someone would not eat me, or attack me. But from somewhere my instincts tell me that this will not happen.

But still I stood at a safe distance, keeping my hand ready to take a knife if necessary. I must know... something told me that I should.

I did not have to wait long, so I again noticed those same eyes from the plants looking at me, in obvious bewilderment, and, probably, curiosity...? I could not help but look in surprise, and mentally trying to understand who it could be. I tried not to make sudden movements when I raise one free hand to carefully wave towards the unfamiliar creature. The pupils followed my movement, and I heard barely quiet chirping, which was painfully similar to how Sun makes it, only this voice was softer and higher, almost childish? Or is it just me..

Could this be another a mermaid?

I thought and in my chest I immediately felt agitated, but tried to stay calm, most importantly calm, so as not to scare the creature that was in no hurry to show itself, for obvious reasons. I didn't know why, but I really wanted to look at them, but for that the creature had to come out, and I didn't want to scare them... oh, damn my biological person, this will definitely lead me to death someday. But I wanted to know, now or never...

After thinking a little, I came up with an idea. It probably won't work, but you can try.

And so, taking a breath in and out, I dig into my pocket and find the fish I caught in the caves not long ago. I look at it, and then lift the top to show it to the creature, whose eyes are watching my movements carefully. Then, carefully, I hold the fish out towards the plants, and come a little closer. The creature visibly tenses, but the offered fish clearly confused, but also interested them.

I wait a little, and then, holding my breath, I watch as the creature cautiously swims closer, and I did not believe that this really works. What did I say about gifts between mermaids being a sign of friendliness...? Do I look friendly? I hope so.

And then the creature hesitates for a second, but finally looks out from the plants, and finally I can see them better...

At first I was struck by how similar they were to Sun in coloring and the shape of the head, as well as the eyes. Their skin was also light yellow, and their face was also divided by a spotted orange color on the right side of the face, and also a little on the cheek of the left side. And I would say that they were the same species as Sun if the fins around the head did not look different ... they were also two-layered, the first in front was depleted in the form of a seven-pointed star, orange in color, and near the head was already yellow, and on the corners of the fins there were small white dots (which are clearly better not to touch). And those fins that were behind were similar to those Sun's ones, yellow, but more curly and wavy in appearance.

Behind, and also between the yellow fins, there were even longer and red fins that beautifully shimmered with colors, and also swayed in the water (And I could not help but assume that perhaps they should not be touched either).

The eyes were large, white, but with light blue pupils like the daytime sky. And I couldn't help but notice little spots on the creature's cheeks and toes, like freckles. But what I wanted to point out most was that they were clearly smaller than Sun, and that their face was a little chubby and also looked like... oh my god, this is a real baby, or rather a child. A big child, no doubt about it...

As I stood there trying to wrap my head around what I saw in front of me, the little one (I have no doubt it was a child, just look at them!) looked around nervously until his gaze fell on me, blinking, cautiously but curiously, his head fins laying back (what I noticed from Sun is a friendly sign) and just studying me a little as I studied them with my eyes.

Then, with a quiet moo, the little one finally dares to make a move first, raising their hand (Hand! Five fingers too!) and carefully and slowly extending it to the offered fish, which I had forgotten that I was holding, still watching me attentively, like that same cat watching its owner before throwing something off the table. Their hand was also orange, up to the fingers, and on the very tips of the fingers, with barely noticeable small white spots that glowed. Also on the back of the palm was a light sign of four corner star. Their hand was a little bigger than mine. And I do not dare to move, still holding my breath, when their hand barely touches mine to take the fish from my palm, and a little faster pull it towards themselves.

I also remove my hand towards myself, watching how the baby examines the fish a little before opening the mouth and carefully put in the fish. The fish was not big, but after living a little, you can see from their look that they liked it. After living for a while, they look up at me again, but with a modest look. Another loud thunder sounded from the surface, which sounded muddy underwater, but still made the baby twitch a little and look up with alarm, fins twitching nervously, from what I assumed that they are afraid of loud sounds.

When no more thunder sounded, they slowly looked up at me again.

Then they make a soft chirp, and I blinked and couldn't help but think... god they are so cute, why do babies have to be cute everywhere? I quickly nodded in response, not knowing what exactly what they said in their language meant. We looked at each other for a while longer before they made another sound, and with one last curious look at me, they hide among the plants again, dissapearing from sight.

And there I stand, blinking, trying to figure out what just happened. But then a charmed smile adorns my face, and with that look I took the PDA and swam towards the capsule, hoping to find Sun there. I had so many questions… but I didn’t regret meeting that miracle one bit. I kept thinking as I approached the shallows again, in a good mood, even despite the bad weather on the surface and the thunder.

To my surprise, it was not difficult to find Sun, he was already waiting for me near my life pod, and noticing me, he perked up and swam up to me to greet me cheerfully.

And I couldn’t help but relax at the sight of my sunny friend, waving to him, also greeting him. Then, with a wave of my hand, asking him to wait, I quickly climb into my pod to lay out all the resources I had found there, humming to myself.

But the Sun still looks inside my capsule, through the lower hatch, but not empty-handed. He laid out all the resources he had found on the floor, and I couldn’t help but look in amazement, but also gratitude:

-Thank you, friend, I think that’s enough for me. - I laughed, and then began to split everything he had collected into storage boxes, while Sun watched me with pride and a smile. And looking at him, I remember who I had recently met, and immediately perked up, and excitement filled my chest. - Sun, you won't believe who I met when I got out of the cave...

I started, and Sun tilted his head to the side, making a questioning sound. And then, smiling broadly, I began to speak, and tell him what had happened, with amazement and admiration, and Sun, while listening to me, his eyes widened more and more, as if in recognition. And when I finished, I looked at him expectantly, while he looked at me in surprise.

A question blossomed on my tongue, but before I could ask, a sudden beeping sound caught both of our attention. It was the radio! It seemed to have received a new message. Closing the box I was working on before, I walk up to the device and nervously click on the message player that came in:

"RADIO: Playing pre-recorded distress call...This is Ozzy from the cafeteria, what the hell guys?! They didn't warn us this might happen! Our pod was almost crushed by the seamoth 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!"

The message cut off at this point and I blink with wide eyes. It was a survivor! I knew I wasn't alone, and no one believed me ha! Although I immediately frowned when a certain snake creature was mentioned that was trying to attack them, and apparently eat them. They urgently need help!

With that thought in mind, I quickly turn back to Sun, but he suddenly chirpede me a quick goodbye and quickly disappear into the water, going somewhere, and leaving me to look puzzled at the place where my sunny friend had just been. Oh... looks like he found himself some business, I guess that's fair, I hope everything is okay. But still, I still need to find this survivor before it's too late! Even if I have to do it alone.

Confidently nodding, I equip myself with a knife, a scanner, and a glider, and one cooked fish and water, in case I still get hungry. The PDA already automatically had the location of the coordinator that the survivor sent, and now I just need to find them.

And so, fully focused on my task, I go back into the water and take the glider and start swimming towards the necessary coordinators. I didn't know who Ozzy was, since I didn't really interact with anyone else on the ship except our teachers and classmates... but I couldn't waste any time, whatever the snake creature mentioned in the message was, it was obvious that it was something very dangerous, and most likely large.

If only I could make it in time!

After a while of hurried swimming, I stopped as soon as I realized that I was in front of the seaweed forest again, which made me frown with concern. With this weather, this place still seemed scary from the outside... most likely, the pod could be somewhere there or behind the forest, I couldn't say for sure. So what should I do now? Without Sun, going there alone seemed like a dangerous idea... but I had to find and save a survivor, so... so screw it! I'm into rescue missions, nothing should stop me!

So, gathering all my courage into my fist, I swam into the seaweed forest. I kept looking around to see if there was anyone, and also tried not to deviate from the course. Right now it felt like the water here had become even darker and murkier than before, which made goosebumps run through my body, and my hands tightly clutched the glider.

Focus.

Somewhere a stalker or some other creature screamed, which strained my nerves, but I tried not to pay attention to it. It would be better to focus on not accidentally crashing into one of the algae again. Luckily, soon I finally came out of this algae forest, and I would have felt relieved if I had not seen what was further, beyond the forest, where I had never been before.

This place, where the depth dropped even lower, and the place itself was almost deserted, and the water in the distance was just empty and blue. Only numerous small or large fragments from the Aurora decorated the depths and stone landscapes. It was also frighteningly quiet and empty here... and I definitely didn't want to know if something dangerous could live in these depths. And in addition, there were waves on the surface that looked strange if you look at their more movement from under the water. But it was even beautiful... although this place caused unpleasant thalassophobia, and I could not help but swallow at the thought.

Creepy, uh... and yet I still took out my PDA to take a photo, as a keepsake, because I'm not sure I'd even want to swim there, despite my curiosity... although Aurora should be in that direction. Shaking my head at the thought, I decided to go to the surface to breathe in a little air. Only for a couple of waves to hit me, and I swallowed some water... yeah, the weather is not for the faint of heart.

Back underwater, I check the location of the coordinator again, and I understand that I am already very close. And so overcome with excitement and anxiety, I begin to quickly swim back to the depth, which has already begun to increase, looking for the pod with my eyes, and mentally trying to ignore the bad presence of my chest.

Inhale exhale... inhale exhale, I can do it. I will do it.

Mentally I calm myself down, feeling how my muscles tense the closer I swim to my destination. It seems that I was lucky to land in shallow water... I thought mentally, and frowned, clenching my jaw and trying to stay calm, if anything, I am ready to fight if something attacks.

And so, just a little bit, I swim closer, looking around, looking for the capsule, until I finally see it, capsule 17, lying in the depths, as if nothing had happened. Out of my mind with joy, I quickly swim towards it until I stop, freezing...

Only now, looking closely, and getting closer, I saw a hole on top of the capsule, which looked like some huge animal was aggressively trying to get inside, and it seems they succeeded... the capsule looked in terrible condition, and also dead.

I was not sure what I was looking at..., and I don't know when my breathing began to become intermittent, and my hands were shaking, when I unconsciously swam closer to the capsule to look inside the hole, as if there was something there... but it was empty and dark, and only a lonely PDA lay on the floor turned on. Slowly I go down inside to take the device in my hand, and looking at it for a while with an empty look.

From somewhere on my tongue there was an unpleasant taste of blood, and I clenched my jaws. No... it can't be... I-I... am I too late? But I... I was so close I could... my shoulders shook, and I suppressed the urge to hit something. I could save them... but I couldn't... I was too weak and scared to even try to come here sooner. Stupid... stupid... STUPID...

Unable to bear it, I grab my hair, tugging it aggressively, and then, as if not in myself, swinging my arm, I hit the wall of the capsule, from which I heard a dull sound of impact piercing the walls. Breathing heavily, and trying to suppress tears, I shake my head, and quickly float out of the capsule. There were people there... they were waiting for salvation, and I was not there when they needed me... how stupid. Shame...

How long did they have to wait until death reached them? Did it hurt? Was it fast or slow? How long ago did it happen...? Who were the people here... many questions, but few answers.

Gritting my teeth and clenching my fists, I feel hot tears pouring down my eyes. Why couldn't I just be useful just once... why? I promised myself that I would save them... I promised... but it seems like I lied to myself. Grabbing my hair again, I began to do a breathing exercise trying to calm myself down, which was difficult when my ears were ringing from all the rage I had drained into myself.

I... I'm sorry that this happened... what am I doing? This isn't me, I'm not like this... I need to calm down.

There was a strange feeling, a feeling that I was being closely watched. It seemed painfully familiar, but I didn't pay attention to it, trying to calm myself down at that moment, because I don't want to accidentally go wild and start killing everyone in sight... as strange as it sounds. Hah... bad joke.

Just as I was about to finally calm down, I hear a strong but distant roar that I have never heard before. This made me finally move, and look around in a panic. I didn’t understand what kind of animal it was… but I didn’t have to be a genius to figure out that it was huge. I couldn’t help but remember that Ozzy (RIP) said that it was a huge snake creature that wanted to get them out of the capsule… and it wasn’t hard to guess that it was still nearby.

Swallowing, I look around, and realize that the sound was from that same unknown area far away, and it’s better for me to leave here right now. Sobbing, I quickly swim and pick up my glider from the depths, which I must have accidentally dropped, I don’t remember when… turning on the device, and taking one last look at the broken capsule, whose grave this depth has become, I finally swim back to the seaweed forest, but this time to the side of my pod, and preferably as quickly as possible, I would not like to meet another dangerous creature right now.

Still swimming, I continued to console myself in my mind... trying to say that everything will be fine, and that I will still have time to save others, there must be those who managed to survive, right? It must be so! Everything is fine... we will all build a big, no, huge base together, and we will all live there. We will study the underwater world together, fish, survive, and in the evenings we will gather and discuss plans for the next day, sipping tea. I can already imagine their shock when they meet Sun... who would not be surprised to see a real mermaid? Hah... In general... waiting for help, if it comes at all.

It all seemed so good... but it is an illusion, and whether it will ever come true, I do not know, but I must try to make everything look exactly like that. Shaking my head, I continue on my way until I reached shallow water again, but I was no longer as relieved as before, I was just... tired. I think it would not hurt me to sleep, andtry to forget what happened... that's what I do best.

Although I couldn't help but think about the other life pods... how many were left? How many had died? How many were still alive? I didn't know, and it was scary to think about it... it's better to concentrate, not think about it.

Inhale, exhale... and now I can see my pod in the distance, and as soon as I swim to it, I climb inside. The warmth of the capsule greets me, and I breathe in a little air before I remove all the gear I brought with me, and sit on the floor, deciding to eat and drink in the water... slowly and lazily, while staring at the wall, trying not to think about anything.

But it was difficult... I felt tired and very useless. I didn't know why, but I didn't want to pursue the thought. The water didn't help much in washing away the taste of blood on my tongue, which still lingered unpleasantly there, which made me frown and sigh quietly. Anyway, I think I could use some rest and silence...

By the way, just now, listening, I heard raindrops from the street hitting the capsule's body, which created a pleasant and calming sound. If you close your eyes, you can imagine that I am at home... on an ordinary evening, lying on the bed, and listening to the rain hitting the window. I even relaxed a little... but it was still oppressively lonely.

I was about to think about the bad again, when suddenly I heard the lower hatch open, and I immediately opened my eyes, panicking, but calming down as soon as I saw the familiar sunny face of my mermaid friend, who was also smiling as if he had brought good news, the rays trembled cheerfully. But as soon as he saw my appearance, his face immediately distorted in surprise, and then in complete worry...

Oh, I probably look bad right now, poor Sun, probably thought of something bad. But before I can smile slightly, and say that everything is fine, Sun has already started to let out quick worried sounds. And then, before I understand, he, leaning his hands on the floor of the pod, lifted himself higher, frightening me when his face came closer to me, and he looked at me scared and worried, continuing to chirp and trill something at me.

- Friend! Why sad? Bad...? Sick?! - Then Sun switched to human language, bombarding me with questions while I was recovering from the unexpected closeness.

I blinked, slowly coming to my senses, and sitting up straight again, looking into the worried Sun's eyes, I tried to smile and with difficulty spoke:

- Everything is fine, Sunny... I just... - My voice seemed so dry and trembling that I did not recognize it. - Something bad just happened... not to me... no, but to others...

Sun frowned, making a quiet questioning sound, still looking me up and down, now reminding me again of that same worried parent. I shrugged, crossing my legs, and sighed quietly, wiping my face with my hand... it was still wet, hmm... how could I forget to dry myself.

Sun's gaze softens, his ray fins fall back, and then he moves cautiously closer, and before I know it, his big muzzle is gently rubbing against my cheek, and my head, with careful movements, and also wary of my touching the poisonous spines on his head, while letting out soft moos. I froze, clearly not expecting such a touch on myself, and for a second I panicked until I realized... ah, he's trying to comfort me, silly me. I relaxed again and couldn't help but smile slightly at the display of kindness and concern from my sunny friend.

For animals, it was like the equivalent of a hug for us humans, since they don't have arms. But Sun has arms, and I couldn't help but wonder if they can hug... it seems like it would be a good idea for me to find out someday.

It felt warmer and calmer… he now resembled something like a huge dog that would comfort its owner in the same way, and I couldn’t help but find it cute. Unconsciously, I lean into his touch, and sigh softly, finally relaxing. Who would have thought… a huge friendly mermaid comforting me, what could be better…? It’s cute, and calming… I unconsciously close my eyes, as if sighing softly, strangely, but finally feel calm. Also, he’s so warm…

Sun makes a soft, contented sound, and finally pulls away, which makes me come to my senses, and feeling disappointed inside. I look at Sun who is lowering himself to rest on his elbows, and questioningly tilted hs head to the side, it seems clearly wanting to know what happened. And so, mentally trying to push away the desire to press me back to the warm and soothing touch of the mermaid, I rub my face and sigh. It looks like I will have to tell him what happened after all... he should know, especially since it is always good to have someone to share your problems with. It has been scientifically proven that it is good for mental health. So...

Having collected my thoughts, and thanks to the sunny embrace, I will finally be able to explain everything calmly, and I hope it will get even better. I look at Sun, who is looking at me, still worried, with rays twitching in alarm, but still ready to listen to me attentively, his gaze as if silently saying: "Take your time." If only he knew how sweet and kind he is:

- Well... it happened right after you left...

Consciousness came a little slower than I would have liked. Although why wake up when you are wrapped in such pleasant warmth? I want to continue lying and return back to a pleasant dream. Especially on such a pillow, which also breathes- wait a second, breathes?! With such awareness, I immediately began to wake up faster than I could barely open my eyes and blinking, trying to drive away the haze before my eyes.

The first thing I saw was the ceiling of the capsule I was in, but also the fact that the capsule itself was slightly swaying from the storm outside. I hope the capsule hasn't drifted anywhere at this rate... I thought, slowly blinking and rubbing my eyes to wake myself up. Uhh... what am I even lying on?

The answer came to me itself, as soon as I heard a quiet trill next to my ear. Freezing for a second, I turn my head only to meet the gaze of Sun, who, noticing my awakening, smiled widely, and chirped a greeting at me. Looking back again I realize that I've been using it as a pillow to sleep on all this time. Oops.

How did that even happen?

Trying to contain my amusement as well as my awkwardness, I carefully finally remove my head from the mermaid to sit up. Sun immediately, as soon as he was released, quickly rolls over onto his stomach again to stretch, somewhat reminiscent of a cat. I smile slightly at the comparison, but then I can't help but think... how did I even manage to fall asleep? I couldn't remember, I must have been really tired or something. Humming thoughtfully to myself, I check my PDA and notice that I've slept for about an hour... oh well, not as long as I feared.

Sighing I look back at Sun who, steaming himself on his elbows, looked at me with a slight smile, as if nothing had happened. I look at him a little hesitantly, and I have this feeling like I forgot something... but I couldn't figure out what. But then I very quickly decided that the best thing to do would be to try to apologize for somehow falling asleep on him. So, clearing my throat, I look at them, mentally chasing away the sleep (it's okay that I won't wake up!) and say carefully:

- Hey Sun... - I start, and Sun tilts his head to the side, a questioning look in which there was a sparkle to the point of freedom. - I wanted to apologize for sleeping on you... I don't know how it happened, but I didn't need to... well, hold you hostage. - I tried to say the last part playfully as a joke.

Sun looked at me in surprise then, his mouth making an "o" shape, as if he didn't understand what I was apologizing for, and then blinking a bit, he smiled calmly again and nods, chirping something before speaking in a familiar language:

- It is fine! - He chirped.

I smiled (how hard it is to get used to the fact that he can speak in human language), relaxing, and then thinking for a bit I add:

- Yeah, and thanks for putting up with me, hah... - I laugh, rubbing the back of my head.

Sun makes a coo sound, and then nods proudly. But then their gaze slips to the still open lower hatch, in which half of the tail still lay underwater. He makes a quiet moo, and I look at him questioningly when he gestures with his head to the hatch, chirping something to me, excitement visible on his face again. It looks like he wants me to come out with him... I wonder why? But before I can ask, he moves back fast and plops back into the water, leaving me alone. I blink in confusion and look at the place where he was just now. Hah, well, then I'll go see what he wants to show me. Filled with curiosity, I slowly get up and stretch, making my bones crunch.

It's strange if I admit it... but I really feel rested, despite the circumstances. And the sleep itself was pleasant... and how did I even manage to fall asleep on my sunny friend? Well, that was awkward... but pleasant. Sun is too kind for this world... I thought with a smile.

And now with a more alert mind, I check my PDA again, and to my pleasant surprise I notice that I now have all the necessary resources to build a base! Hooray! Well, finally, I thought I would never finish making a home for myself in this world. But then I remembered one detail... the detail is that I hadn't chosen a suitable place for the base! Oh, biscuits... yeah, that problem will have to be solved too. Maybe I can convince Sun to look for a good place together, if of course I can explain to him what exactly I want.

And yet, something was wrong, and this thought did not go away while I checked the records in the PDA. I'm not sure what I was looking for there, but I had a feeling that I needed to check. And it turns out my intuition was valid, since I found a recent voice message, clearly downloaded from another PDA...

Suddenly, I started remembering again... A message for help on the radio from one of the rescue capsules, searching for that very capsule, only to find only the remains and emptiness left after the death of those people who were in it.

I did not notice how I began to breathe deeply, hoping to somehow calm myself down. After inhaling and exhaling a few times, I frowned in panic, looking around as if danger might be waiting me even in my own escape pod. Gritting my teeth, I couldn't help but wonder how I could have forgotten that...? It felt like I was going to cry again, but unfortunately, or fortunately, my tears had already been spent earlier, so now I was trying to focus on calming down.

Placing the PDA on my hip, I sigh and walk around the capsule for a bit, eventually stopping to rest my forehead on the wall. God... I'm so pathetic. I couldn't do anything about it unfortunately... but now was not the time to think and scold myself for it, I'm sure that next time I'll definitely be lucky.

Pulling myself away from the wall, I started doing a breathing exercise. Inhale, and exhale... like this, I can do it. Everything will be fine, I can definitely handle it. And after all, I'm not alone, I have a slightly unnatural, but still very pleasant company and support...

I'm not sure how long it actually took, but in the end I was more or less able to calm my panic and anxiety that was creeping up on my body... but I think I probably still look a little sad. But there was nothing I could do about it, but I can at least try to look better. I sigh quietly, rub my face, and remember that a little earlier Sun called me to swim... right, how could I forget? He must have been waiting for me while I was trying to calm myself down here.

Shaking my head to myself, mentally wondering what my sunny friend was so excited about, collecting all the necessary things, and also just in case the habitat, if we find a good place to build, of course, just in case. And so, trying to focus on curiosity about what Sun wants to show me, I finally go down through the lower hatch into the water.
I was glad to notice that my pod remained in the same place even while the storm was going on, which watching it from under the water is a beautiful, but also a frightening sight. The water seemed to have become even darker, as if it was evening now, but the evening will come not now, but soon. So yes. But for that, the underwater world turned on its beautiful biluminescence, which can only be seen at night. And it was a beautiful sight.

Looking around, I look for my sunny friend. But I didn't find him at first, which puzzled me by his absence, had I really been out for so long? I couldn't ask myself the question with anxiety. But fortunately I didn't have to wait long, and I noticed how a familiar figure was quickly swimming towards me, from the rocky landscape, as if he was hiding there. And I notice with a smile that his biluminescence on his body was also slightly glowing, which made his appearance even more beautiful and breathtaking.

Swimming up to me, Sun smiles, and the rays twitched cheerfully. I smile back at him, which pleases him, because I was in a good mood again, at least I try. Then looking back I questioningly tilted my head to the side, trying to quietly ask what he wanted to show me all this time. Sun seemed to guess what I was thinking, and he nodded and then began to chirp something to me, carefully explaining something that I unfortunately did not understand, also showing me a comforting gesture before saying:

- Everything is fine, friend, do not be afraid ... - They chirped carefully, carefully watching my reaction.

I blink in confusion, trying to understand what he was talking about, but if he is calming me down, then everything is fine? I nod slowly, as if I understood something, but in fact I did not. Well, now I am definitely interested in what he was planning there, although it was a little alarming, I decided to be patient.

Sun looks at me contentedly before floating a little to the side, next to me, and he himself looks back a little. At first he does nothing, while I carefully and curiously watch his actions, waiting for something. Then he began to make sounds that reached my ears in pleasant vibrations, and that spread across the water. The sounds reminded me of a mixture of dolphin sounds and whale songs, and I could not help but listen with admiration.

Is he calling someone, or is it just me? Because it sounds like a call, why was he calling... anxiety crept into my soul, and at the same time excitement.

Then he stopped, which finally brought me out of the trance, and I noticed that Sun was waiting for something, the rays twitching. I, too, looked around, trying to understand what would happen now... of course, at first I saw nothing, until suddenly I saw a distinct light that attracted my attention.

Someone was cautiously peering out from the rocky landscape. By the light blue pupils that glowed in the slight darkness, and modestly looked at us. My eyes widened in recognition... suddenly remembering and understanding who it was. Sun, noticing the new arrival, began to carefully chirp and trill, as if inviting them to come out of hiding, while I looked in shock at him, then at the baby, and a thousand questions flying through my head.

The baby was shy to come out at first, but then, it seemed, Sun's soothing sounds helped, and having gathered courage, they began to carefully come out of hiding, and as usual I could not restrain myself and look, in admiration and at the same time surprise.

Now that I saw them completely, I can say that they were somewhere 7-8 feet long, most of which was taken up by the tail, of course, but in size they were clearly smaller and softer than Sun, confirming their youth. Despite the huge similarities between them and Sun, I can say that they were still different species ...

Firstly, the baby's fins were without spines, at all, and they were all red and moved freely and gracefully. The fins themselves were located along the entire length of the back to the tail fin. Secondly, their tail fin was large, red, and curly free, unlike the Sun. Also, their head fins look different, which as I mentioned earlier reminded me of a jellyfish... by the way, their tail was also divided into light yellow and orange colors, which is probably, as I noticed, a fairly common form of coloring.

Also, all the fins on their body were glowing, as well as small yellow spots on the body, reminiscent of freckles or stars.

To say that I was delighted is to say nothing... these mermaids must clearly be proud of their beautiful appearance, and I simply will not believe it if it turns out not to be so. Nuh uh.

While I was in a trance, the baby swam closer, and Sun goes to meet them, which makes me come to my senses when he stands next to them and chirps something, looking at me, then at the baby. The baby themself looked at me modestly folding his hands, and looking at me with curious eyes, but still with some apprehension. As I watched them with wide eyes, and only broke my gaze to look questioningly at Sun, trying to understand something.

It seems that all this time Sun had a small and cute friend! Adorable ... although, watching how Sun quietly chirped, and rubbed the baby's cheek with one movement, as I understood, was a calming supportive gesture so that the baby would not be so nervous with me, since I was still a stranger and an outsider, and in response received a quiet trill, I understand that they are probably very close. Like a parent with their child ... I immediately assumed.

Sun looks at me again, smiling cautiously, and then swimming a little closer to me, he tenses up and then said:

-F-family. - He said softly, pointing at the young mermaid, making me perk up and look at him and the baby with surprise and curiosity. - Was curious, and watched you a little.

The last part Sun playfully looked at the kid with a disapproving look, who smiled modestly and innocently, letting out a quiet giggle, and I couldn't help but feel touched. That look, that innocent look! The same feeling as when an ordinary unfamiliar child smiles at you, just like that, and it's so cute, like they are good with connecting. I can't help but smile widely too, and besides, he and Sun are family, I was right. It's not surprising considering that they are so close. And about them following me? Well, I even guessed about it in a way when I accidentally met them earlier... but who would have thought? Oh, these children.

Sun also smiled, rays twitched joyfully, glad that we were able to get along, and liked each other. And I couldn't help but feel relieved that Sun was not lonely after all, and he had such interesting company. He put his hands together and chirped triumphantly, which made the baby smile even wider and his tail wagged happily. God, they are both so similar, so cute and cheerful! It seems that all light-colored mermaids are like this, although who knows, there are many more interesting things that I will have to learn and study on this alien planet.

I come to my senses from the trance when I notice that the baby swam up to me, and gently tapped my mask with his finger, which made them look with surprise, but I could not help but laugh myself in surprise. Sun chirps something to them, and the baby swims away from me with a modest smile, rubbing their hands. What a cutie... I could barely stand the first cute creature called Sun, and now this miracle? Not that I'm complaining, I'm even glad that now our small team has expanded.

I couldn't help but wonder how many more of their kind were out there, because my PDA told me that Sun species was technically a separate species of mermaid on this planet, which clearly suggested that there were more of them out there. I couldn't help but be filled with awe and biological curiosity, though, to find out more about it, though the baby was clearly a different species of mermaid, that's for sure. But I'll only find out after I scan them, but I'll do that later, so as not to scare the baby in the end.

I watched the interactions between Sun and the guppy with a smile, and how Sun looked at them with concern like a real parent, while the baby seemed to be having a good time. But also that they had a family relationship, which made the whole situation even cuter, although it was obvious that they were not related by blood.

Then Sun looked at me again with a smile, and trilled again, motioning for us to walk, and I was even glad, nodding quickly. What could be better than mermaid therapy? Probably a cat therapy, but unfortunately, there are no cats here, so I will hang out with mermaids, as weird as it sounds. At this, the baby chirped happily, and the three of us swam for a short walk, the thought of which made me chuckle.

Well, my walk with Nemo and Marlin began... and how did I even come up with such an idea??

Did Sun really want me to meet the baby? I'm pretty sure he found out about it after my first meeting with them today, and decided to introduce us anyway. Or who knows, the baby themself could have insisted on meeting me... after all, I have no doubt that children on all planets behave the same. Hah.

While we were swimming together, I carefully watched the behavior of both mermaids. From tSun, who watching me, then the baby, as if I was a child here too, and the baby, who was happily spinning in the water, but never swam far from us. They turned to smile in my direction more than once, which made my heart melt with affection. I was glad that they were becoming more and more comfortable with me, but maybe it was also because Sun was here. It was clear from their eyes that they were seeing someone like me for the first time in their lives, which is fair, and I can make an exception for them when they themselves looked at me curiously. This is karma flying at me, ugh... ha.

Now I could definitely say that with such a company I would not die of boredom and loneliness, because they simply would not let me do it. Ha-ha. And the Sun seemed to have become like a parent to us, if I remember all his interactions with me, and how he always helped me, and took care of me. It's sweet, and you know? I was even glad. I doubt I would ever trust a person to take care of me like that, it would be strange... but for some reason I feel much more comfortable with a mermaid. Hmm... I wonder why?

Who would have thought... Sun is a parent. I laughed. Although it was already a little obvious from his behavior, but to me it was sweet, and I think I guessed correctly. You have to be careful, parents are always scary when it comes to protecting their children. I laughed to myself, realizing that until I have a child myself I will not understand what it is like, but it is better not to think about it for now, heh.

Shaking my head, I focus on having fun on this walk of ours, while everything is calm and beautiful. Hmm… I guess I should give the baby a name, I can’t always call them “baby” now can I? If that’s the case, I’ll have to think about it some more… considering they’re both bright sunny colors, maybe I should give the little mermaid a name that’s also related to that theme… but the name “Sun” has already been given to my friend, so I’ll have to improvise a little.

While I was thinking about a name, I noticed that we had come to some kind of rocky formation underwater, and I couldn’t help but stop to look at this natural structure. I swam closer, looking at this, feeling the curious gaze of the mermaids behind me. Looking around, I noticed that this rock was between two biomes, the shallows where we came from, and the one with the red grass, although the height of the rock showed that it was a bit deep in this place... but if you place yourself on top of the rock, it will be even very good... right?

Moreover, this is a completely safe place, there is no one. And also between two good biomes and not far from the capsule... hmm... I think I should think that this is a pretty good place to build the first base, no? I nodded to myself and smiled, feeling excited and confident.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice how the mermaids swim up to me, and Sun makes a questioning sound, tilting his head to the side. I smile at him, and try to show him with my hands what I want to do, but it seems my signs were not very clear to my friend. And so, instead, I take out the habitat, and show it. Sun looks and makes an understanding sound, smiling cheerfully, and the rays of joy twitched. The kid asks the same question and Sun carefully explained to them, which made them look at me with curiosity.

I carefully swim back, adjusting the device, and then make a sign with my hand for the mermaids to move a little further, which they do, swimming back, and sitting down, settling down comfortably on one of the rocks, lying on their stomachs next to each other, and both watched with excitement and curiosity what I would do.

I smile at them, nodding, and then look at the device again, straddling the inhale and exhale. I hope it won't be that difficult... I thought to myself, and began construction.

I have already seen mechanics use these things on the ship more than once, but stilllooking at how the structure seemed to magically build out of nowhere. But this is Altera technology, what can I say. The first thing I built was a special platform, which can be considered a foundation, which makes a flat surface for the base. While I was focused on making everything build properly and evenly, I could already hear both mermaids making surprised sounds and chating clearly in shock from what they were seeing, and I couldn't help but smile.

Cute...

After finishing the foundation, I turned to look at the mermaids and gave them a thumbs up. They looked back at me with the same amazed expression, which was funny, they both looked like cats... I laughed at the thought, I returned my attention to the construction, mentally imagining what the base would look like, and finally deciding, I began to set up the device again, and continued building.

Looks like this will take some time, hopefully not for long. I thought, nodding to myself, continuing to build my first base... while it was starting to get dark on the surface.

The base was almost ready, in my head I had a picture that the base would be in the shape of a square, as strange as it may sound. In the corners there would be rooms, and they would be poorer tunnels, which by the way are glass, so you can walk and observe the underwater world from the inside. Ah... it sounds so comfortable in the mind.

While I was busy with the construction, it had already gotten dark, indicating that it was already night, and the water was illuminated only by the biluminescence of the plants and my mermaid friends. The baby had already curled up in a ball, deep in sleep, and the Sun was just beginning to fall asleep, it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep my eyes open dozzing off. Oops, it seems we were a little late... oh, this hyperfixation. Shaking my head, I decide to speed up, mentally feeling confident that there are no predators here, and we are safe, but it would not hurt to finish quickly and finally go home with the mermaids.

Even on the surface, it began to rain, which is sometimes very pleasant to distract and watch. Who would have thought that rain looks so beautiful from under the water. Even when I swam out, rain and cool air immediately fell on me, the thought sent shivers down my spine, but it's even a little funny. Although I hope the rain isn't toxic...

Shaking my head, I look at the mermaids again, and notice that Sun has already fallen asleep, his head resting on his crossed arms in front of him, and the little sun is moving to lie closer to him... oh, how cute they are, I really want to join them, but I'll better refrain...-

Sun... little sun... Sunny...Sannie ... hmm... what an idea! It seemed to dawn on me, and I couldn't help but smile widely and triumphantly. So they came up with a name for the baby! I thought with a soft smile looking at the sleeping baby... Sannie, simply brilliant. Well, at least now I have something to call them, especially since it suits them. They are so small and cute! (not exactly small in size, but mentally yung for sure, also reminding by the fact that those guys grow up naturally very big)

Smiling I return to my work, trying to focus on finishing the base as quickly as possible to send the mermaids and myself to safe places from the night... although I felt quite normal, ignoring the anxiety and the feeling of the presence of a stare from complete darkness, when two red dots open...

Chapter Text

To be honest, I always considered myself a bit of a careless person, which sometimes led to problems and small incidents. But who would have thought that this carelessness would manifest itself to a greater extent after I got in this alien planet, where every corner is teeming with dangers, and at the most inopportune moment... (you still blame that hit to the head during the ship crash for this)

Night, darkness, and also a storm on the surface, which was accompanied by lightning that lit up the sky, and also thunder (which managed to scare me every time). And I, who continued to build my first base, and was already very close to finally finishing and releasing two sleeping mers home, as a sudden roar from the darkness made itself known.

I froze, and goosebumps ran across my skin from recognition and also the coolness of the water. The hand tightly squeezed the device that I held, trying to take a careful breath to calm down, trying not to pay attention to how my heart began to beat quickly, as soon as I finally felt this intense and hunting gaze from the darkness, the feeling of which I clearly remembered and will not forget any time soon. My hands were shaking, and I slowly began to turn around, mentally already guessing what I would see, but my body refused to react differently.

Turning around, I finally see the culprit of my fear, immediately meeting the gaze of two red dots, which were the pupils, those that did not leave my nightmares and haunted me almost everywhere. My face turned pale, and even if in the darkness I barely saw the body of the creature peeking out from the rock, small yellowish spots resembling stars glowed with a familiar biluminescence, confirming my fears. My hands are frozen, and I watch as the creature stares at me with obvious displeasure and a desire to attack me, slowly continues to swim towards me, as if they enjoyed feeling my fear. As if it was a game for them... I swallowed, the only thing I could hear was the pounding of my heart in my ears, and the thunder ringing above the surface, which did not calm my nerves at all. Despite this, I try to slowly move back, trying to create more distance between the creature and myself, taking advantage of the fact that it is in no hurry to attack me... for now.

Slowly, and with trembling hands, I carefully remove the device that I held on my hip, freeing my hands. At the same time, I try to breathe, carefully taking deep breaths in and out, not removing eye contact from the creature even when my eyes began to water from looking at those same glowing bloody pupils, almost without blinking.

What do I do? This thought did not leave my head, realizing that this time I would definitely not be able to swim away from the creature this time. Also cursing myself for being distracted and relaxing too much... Breathing through clenched jaws, I could not think of anything better than to carefully and slowly raise my palm towards the creature, and the other hand hovered over the knife on my hip, in case I still gave in to fighting. I did not know if it would work here, on them... but at least it would delay the creatures from attacking and approaching. Well, it happened to Oven with Blue? Maybe I will get lucky too... with hope. Although I knew that it was naive to assume that it would work. I could only hope that the creature would not touch Sun and Sannie (as you decided to name the kid mer)...

The creature's gaze fell for a second on my palm, directed at them, and I could see how their eyes narrowed and another disgruntled growl burst out of their mouth, which sounded louder than the previous one, which made me freeze in fear again, and without even noticing how the sound clearly made one of the mers begin to wake up...

I swallowed, clenching my jaws. Well... at least I tried, it seems I will have to fight, as much as I do not want to.

After taking a couple of breaths in and out, the hand hanging over the knife began to slowly grasp the weapon, and I mentally prepare myself for the fight, and a lonely tear flowed down my cheek.

The creature immediately went berserk, its spiked fins raised and twitching, its biluminescence blinking menacingly, letting out another loud aggressive roar, and finally lunging at me in a lightning fast motion. But before I could react, and look at the creature standing in front of me with its clawed hand outstretched ready to grab me like a slow motion shot before a bloody clash… as the yellow something knocks the creatures off to the side, pushing the creatures and itself away from me, which was accompanied by a surprised squeak and a heavy sound of impact, leaving me hanging there in the water in complete shock, and with a rapid panicked heartbeat.

I stand there for a second before realizing what had happened, and turn to look at my savior… who was none other than my friend Sun himself, standing with his back to me, clearly shielding me. Its yellow-orange biluminescence shone and winked brightly, making it stand out in the total darkness. The spikes and fins rose protectively and twitched, while the mermaid herselfstood in a defensive and threatening pose with claws outstretched, and I with a dangerous warning look, ready to fight.

Sun saved me... when I was on the verge of death.

The creature that was thrown back from the collision was clearly in shock, and having come to its senses finally looks at its attacker in the eyes with a threatening look and a growl ready to avenge such an impudent move... only to stop as soon as they meet Sun's eyes. To my surprise, their eyes widened as if in... recognition? But then very quickly returned to a threatening and offended look, starting to emit a series of hissing growls in the direction of the solar mermaid.

Sun answers them, hissing, sounding offended and displeased. The eyes of the creature seem to look at Sun almost in bewilderment and narrowing even more they stand in a threatening stance, clearly throwing down a challenge. From where I stand I can already feel Sun frowning, but then after a few hard seconds he gives me a look that I thought was alarming for a moment before turning back to the creature and seeming to take up the challenge by swimming closer to the other…

There was now a clear tension between the two mers, draining away the intention that there would be a fight… oh no, not that! This was what I had been afraid of from the start. But something told me there was nothing I could do about it, and the look in Sun’s eyes clearly showed that he didn’t want me here to see this. He wanted me to swim away, to safety… but I couldn’t…

The mers began to circle each other like two predators who had a disagreement and were ready to fight over it, sending low growls and hisses at each other, and whatever that meant, it was clearly not good! My hands started shaking, I didn't know what to do, on the one hand I wanted to swim away from here as quickly as possible, on the other hand I wanted to help somehow! And the stupidest part of me wanted to stay to watch what the mermaid fight would look like... ugh!

I didn't have to think for long, because among the hustle and bustle, I managed to hear a faint chirping, and I immediately remembered that we were not alone all this time. I quickly turn to the rock to notice how Sannie, just began to wake up clearly, hearing strange sounds that disturbed their deep sleep. Then I understand that I can still do something useful...

Without waiting for the two adult mers to start a fight, I force myself to get out of the cordon and quickly swim up to the young one, who sleepily but worriedly began to look around, clearly not noticing Sun next to them. But noticing me, they don’t even have time to make a sound as I grab their hand, with a strong, but still careful grip, I push off from the rock and start to swim in a hurry into the darkness away from here, from which the merchild let out a surprised squeak, but they allowed the shallows to lead them... (the poor thing probably couldn’t even see anything in the darkness, judging by his disoriented and slightly frightened look)

We didn’t swim far as I heard the sharp sounds of the fight that had already begun, and Sannie behind me made a quiet worried and frightened sound. Gritting my teeth, I continued to swim, feeling how my palm was pricking, and slightly burning with pain that clearly came from the electric charge from Sannie’s fin on my hand (which I didn’t even notice in my haste that I also grabbed along with my hand). But this even made my adrenaline boil stronger, and I speed up to swim away from that fuss. And despite the fact that the mer themself was a bit heavy, and it was hard to drag them along, but this did not stop me.

I would never in the world have left this child to see this fight!

Through the rush, I could notice the familiar biluminescence of plants, which told me that we were in a safe shallows, which also meant that my escape pod should be somewhere nearby. And fortunately, I was right, after some time that seemed like an eternity, I finally catch a glimpse of the familiar light of my pod, and I swim there, beside myself with relief.

Opening the lower hatch, I climb inside the pod, and drag the surprised mer along with me. As soon as we were inside, the light inside turned on, blinding me for a second, forcing me to rub my eyes in displeasure. Having come to my senses, I look around at the familiar surroundings and finally sigh, and my heart is still pounding in my chest. Taking a few more breaths in and out, I carefully stood up and walked back and forth across the small space, trying to calm myself down.

Everything is fine... this is normal, this happens in nature... this is normal... so why am I so scared? Why am I so worried...?

Luckily, the sounds of the fight were not heard in the capsule, which was already good, but the thought still made goosebumps run across my skin, and I swallowed. Finally, I remember that I am not alone in the pod... oh, this adrenaline. Hesitantly, I turn my gaze to Sannie, who had already completely climbed inside the pod. Their eyes were wide, the fins on their heads twitched in surprise, looking around, and examining my lifepod from the inside with their eyes, almost puzzled, but also with admiration...?

I blink, trying to understand what is going on, and why such a reaction... but then I realize.

They are the first in life see something like this.

For the first time seeing a human structure, it is no wonder that they were so surprised. Their eyes were shining like a child who found himself in an amusement park for the first time... and it was a cute sight. I was glad that at least they found a distraction from what happened... and did they even understand what happened? I did not want to ask and bother them again, so I decided to leave them to admire the interior of the capsule, since they were curious.

After doing a few more breathing exercises, and counting to ten, I slowly walk, and carefully sit down on the floor, not far from Sannie, sighing tiredly, and drawing their attention to me.

God... I am so tired.

Just sitting down I began to feel how the adrenaline began to disappear little by little, leaving behind emptiness and fatigue. Rubbing my eyes and sighing again, feeling how drowsiness begins to creep up on me me, I notice out of the corner of my eye that Sannie is watching me, a worried but also confused look, clearly not understanding something.

I lower my hand from my face, and try to smile slightly at them, and after a couple of seconds I finally find my voice:

-Hey… - I began carefully. My voice definitely caught the mer's attention, and I hoped that it didn't sound bad. - I'm sorry for grabbing you like that… I didn't know what else to do… anyway… I wasn't myself… - I paused to breathe again. - I just… didn't want to leave you there, you know?

From the way they blinked, and then tilted their heads to the side, I could tell that they didn't quite understand me. But even so, I decided to continue, making a comforting voice, hoping that they would at least understand the meaning of my words from my tone:

-This is… my lifepod. - I say, making a gesture to show the entire room, and the look mermaids watching my movements. - It’s safe here, at least a little… I hope…

I hate how my voice is filled with doubt at the end, because if that creature really wanted to, it could clearly turn my capsule upside down and flood it. And I have no idea how to calm a baby mer I’ve only known for a couple of hours, and it’s discouraging. My arms are falling, I’m feeling overtired, and Sannie is quietly chirping, the fins around their head twitching, looking from me to the lower hatch, where is the complete darkness of the night, with a worried and sad look. It doesn't take a genius to guess who they're worried about...

-Yeah... I know, I'm worried about him too. - I say, also looking towards the hatch, hoping for the best. - But I'm sure he'll cope, he's strong, you know that, right?

Sannie still looks at the hatch thoughtfully before letting out another quiet chirp, lowering their head.

Poor guy.

I couldn't help but think, remembering the different situations that happen in nature that I've been through... where cubs can lose their parents in unpleasant incidents. And I was even scared to think if something bad happens to Sun... he's my friend, the only and first friend in this dangerous world, who has always helped me when I needed...

No, don't think about it. He'll be fine, I know it. I feel it.

After taking a couple more breaths in and out, I look at Sannie again, and a little nervously, I still carefully raise my hand to them, an open palm. This attracts their attention again, and they look at my outstretched hand a little in confusion, but make no moves to move away.

A careful breath in and out, and I extend my hand further towards them, before it carefully rests on their head. At first they flinched a little from my touch, but then, noticing that I did not pose any danger, they relaxed, carefully laying back on their fins on their heads so that I would not accidentally touch those that could shock me, showing trust in me (which was more facilitated by Sun and our friendship with him), which made my heart melt with affection and relief.

I smile slightly, watching their also sleepy and tired face that had replaced the earlier anxiety, showing that they, like me, were sleepy. Then I gently stroke their head and say:

- Everything is fine ... - I begin, carefully choosing my words. - Everything will be fine ... I promise.

Sannie only responds with a quiet trill, and then letting out a yawn, exposing small fangs similar to shark teeth, they move, pulling their tail to themselves, and settling down more comfortably, curling up into a ball. This position made them look smaller, but I guess that's the point of animals. Smiling, I carefully remove my hand, watching as they first look back at the capsule room a little and only then the mermaid's eyes stick together, and then finally close, falling asleep.

I hope... they have good dreams. Although, can they dream? Who knows, it's quite possible.

Here's another small (not so small) daytime creature...

The thought made me laugh, followed by my own yawn. Phew... okay, I think it would be better to go to sleep, this should help me calm down even more. Rubbing my eyes, I look at Sannie one last time, who was already quietly snoring, and I smile a little and move to also find a place for myself on the floor and finally lie down, holding back a tired groan.

Phew... what a day, I couldn't help but think, quietly sighing and looking at the ceiling. In such silence I could still hear the rain outside, whose drops hit the walls of the capsule, but fortunately were pleasantly muffled, creating a pleasant background as my eyes began to close.

I hope Sun is okay...

And with this thought my eyes closed, and I slowly sank into a world of dreams.

It was dark… and it seemed like I could still see something out of the darkness. I could hear the sounds of rain on the surface and thunder, but they weren't as scary now… because what had caught my attention was more to worry about at the moment. Red pupils, glowing in the darkness, looked at me like I was prey, ready to swallow right now, at this very moment.

No, not again… not this… not again… how did I even get here?

Everything remained unanswered.

I tried to move only to realize that I was paralyzed and couldn't move. Fear hit my throat, like the water itself… I couldn't breathe. Eyes were getting closer, it seemed like I heard some kind of low chuckle, enjoying my torment. I couldn't do anything, felt nothing but fear, and the desire to move.

And then the creature was in front of me, and I looked into its eyes with a blow. The world around me goes deaf and there is silence, like in slow motion or before death, as soon as he reaches out his clawed hand to me and…

...I feel something poking me in the face, and a couple of wet drops, most likely water, fall on me. Then I hear a chirping sound, and I feel myself being shaken slightly. The picture of the dream begins to blur away, leaving only emptiness, as soon as my consciousness began to slowly wake up and come to its senses.

I am shaken again, and more trills in a hurry. I slowly shake my head and make a dissatisfied sound, trying to open my eyes. Blinking, to my surprise, the first thing I saw was the familiar face of a merchild hanging over me, which, to be honest, scared me a little... I blink again in surprise, trying to drive the haze out of my head, and understand what is happening. Sannie, noticing my awakening, smiled contentedly and made a trill in greeting. I can tell from them that somehow they are still wet from last night… which is certainly an interesting fact to write down, but it explains why my face is now a little wet.

I sigh and clear my throat I say:

-Hey… good morning?

The baby tilts their head to the side again, seemingly not understanding again. I sigh and motion with my hand for them to finally release me from the “captivity of awakening”. Luckily they understand, and finally move away from my face to curl back into their tail next to me, watching me closely.

Finally free, I stretch, feeling the pain in my back, and then sit up. I could feel my throat literally being dry, which made me wince in displeasure. I chalked it up to a weird dream I had last night… as weird as that sounds. Yawning, I stand up and stretch a little, then go to the cabinet for water, not without carefully stepping over the mer lying on the floor so as not to accidentally step on them.

Taking out a bottle of water, I drink from it, finally wetting my throat and sighing in relief. Although I drank, I still had no appetite... so I decided to eat later. Putting the bottle back in the cabinet, I hear a quick and insistent chirping, which made me turn my gaze to Sannie, who was already sitting near the lower hatch and insistently pointing at the hatch, clearly wanting to get back into the water. Oh, right, how could I forget about this little detail!

Laughing to myself, I go to the hatch and carefully open it. Sannie carefully watched my actions, and at the end let out a long surprised whistle.

- There, you can come out, buddy. - I nod towards the water, which was already bright and illuminated by daylight.

Sannie looks at me, then at the open hatch, and then lets out a chirp, quickly diving into the water, and before I know it their tail is out of sight under the water.

I blink, but then smile slightly, closing the hatch back before standing up and looking around thoughtfully. But the good mood did not last long as an unpleasant memory from that night decided to surface... the image of how the red-eyed thing was approaching me did not want to leave my mind, from which my face twisted into a grimace and goosebumps ran through my body. Well, I can officially say now that I'm left traumatized by the creature!

Hmm... how can they even have red eyes...? And those that can glow. Never seen anything like it. My biologist side was very curious to know how it worked, but I decided it was better to leave it for later, and stop thinking about what would have happened if a predator mermaid had torn me apart. Thank goodness Sunhad saved me in time...

Sun...

My heart skipped a couple of beats right away.

God, how could I have forgotten! As if out of my mind, I put on a breathing mask and an O2 tank, as well as a glider, and before I knew it, I opened the hatch and plunged into the water, ignoring the pain I had on my palm. The water was no longer as calming as before, but the first thing I heard was the echo of a familiar sound reminiscent of a whale or killer whale's call. And judging by the child's like voice, I understood that this was Sannie's, and I had no doubt that they were also looking for Sun.

Looking around and quickly getting my bearings, I turn on the glider and begin to swim towards the place where everything happened yesterday, not paying attention to anything else. My head was spinning with thoughts, each time coming to the worst outcome, and my heart was beating in my chest in panic and anxiety. Oh, if only everything was okay with Sun! This thought made me swim faster, gritting my teeth.

If only I could make it in time... if only I could make it in time...

You can't lose your friend like this... not like this...

In my anxiety, I spot something yellow ahead, and I thought it was Sannie, and I was about to swerve to avoid accidentally crushing them with my glider, until a painfully familiar face peeks out from the rocky landscape. My eyes widen...

No way... it is...

I was so carried away that I didn't even notice that I forgot to swerve the glider's path... and a second before impact, Sun and I met with wide eyes in shock before I crashed into him. Both of us made surprised sounds, and I let go of the glider, which began to float in circles in the water on its own until it finally passed out (I have deja vu...) and fell to the bottom, while Sun and I were reduced to a tangled mess of arms and legs (and tail, ha). Luckily, I didn't feel any damage, which is good...

Blinking in confusion, I meet the equally surprised Sun's gaze. We stared at each other for a few seconds before the realization hits me and I literally scream his name in shock and relief, although the only thing I could hear was the bubbles that came out of my mask and into face of my now even more confused sunny friend.

Oops.

Sun! Right in front of me! Alive, and seemingly okay... relief enveloped me like a blanket, and I even relaxed a little, and the panic and adrenaline slowly subsided. But it didn't last long, because I noticed something else...

I carefully take Sun by the shoulders and carefully look at the damage on his body. Clear scratches and bruises of a yellowish color... but the wounds do not look deep, and it seems that they have already been treated.

Well... this was the best outcome that went through my thoughts...

I sigh again, tired, and scolding myself for worrying too much, and panicking once again... well, who could doubt it? Sun may be kind and sweet, but at the end of the day he's still a predator, an adult, and can take care of himself.

Now I need to breathe and calm down...

- Friend? - The muffled sound in the water barely reached my ears, but it was finally able to bring me out of my thoughts.

I raise my head, Sun was looking at me puzzled, but also slightly worried, as if he hadn't had to fight the creature himself. But from his eyes and body language I could tell that he was tired, and a little sleepy, poor thing...

Then I remember that I'm still holding him, and with an awkward laugh I let go of him and swim back, innocently blinking my eyes, hoping that he won't worry about my little trifles. But it didn't quite work on Sun, he tilted his head to the side, still a little worried, letting out a quiet trill before he said it with words:

- Everything okay? Does it hurt? - He asked carefully, looking me over with his eyes as if he expected me to have some kind of wound.

I blink, why is he asking me? He was the one wounded!

Shaking my head, I point at him, silently asking him the same. He hums softly in response, and looks down at himself before smiling at me as if nothing had happened:

- It's okay! It happens. - He answered cheerfully like it was nothing.

I stand there, blinking in confusion, not understanding how he can be so calm about this? I wanted to grab him by the shoulders again and shake him well so that common sense would finally visit his head, but I decided it was better not to. But looking at him, I couldn't help but think and wonder... how did he even get out of the fight? Who won...?

But before I decide to process this question, I hear a loud and joyful squeak that caught my and Sun's attention. But before I could even dodge, the familiar second young mer, smiling from ear to ear, swims at breakneck speed straight towards Sun, beating him for the second time.

Oops...

But Sun lets out a giggle as soon as Sannie embraces him tightly, turning into a tangle of tails, arms and fins again, making relieved trills and chirps as the older mermaid hugs the kid back, also checking them for any damage. Luckily, he found nothing and went back to hugging Sannie tightly and carefully, who happily snuggled up to him, seemingly not going to let go anytime soon.

I couldn't help but smile at this, they were so cute... so cute that there was some desire to join them. Oh, this starve for touch... but I decided to stay aside to watch them. Parent-child interactions have always been very cute to me... Poor Sannie was probably very worried about Sun, but fortunately everything is fine now, and there is nothing to worry about.

I even noticed how Sun looked at me, and in his eyes I could clearly read gratitude, which made me smile even wider and nod in response. Oh, really cute! I raised my hand to wipe an invisible tear from my mask.

I wonder... how long will they be there? I didn't know, but I was ready to watch this forever.

It almost took forever. It turns out that Sannie is a cheeky guy! (jokingly) As soon as Sun wanted to pull away, they persistently continued to hold on to him and did not let go, while at the same time smiling a wide and playful smile. And Sun all this time dramatically tried to unhook the clingy child from himself, but never used all his strength, apparently still deciding to play along. And I watched this quietly giggling, amazed at how similar these mers were to humans in behavior.

In the end, Sun still managed to unhook his child from himself, who giggled joyfully and triumphantly, for which Sun playfully pressed his muzzle to their cheek, from which the young mermaid giggled even more, clearly enjoying the attention. Yes... children are the same everywhere, even on other planets.

When everyone calmed down, the three of us decided to swim back to my capsule so that I could leave my glider there. On the way, I glanced at Sun more than once, who was swimming slower than usual, reminding me of his tiredness, and I didn’t mind swimming slower too, to keep him company, for which I received a cheerful look of gratitude.

I… was just glad that he was okay.

Very soon we swam to my lifepod, and asking the mermaids to wait a little, I climbed inside, and left the glider there. But as soon as I finally wanted to return to the water, as the rumbling in my stomach immediately changed my plans. Oops, it seems that my appetite returned, that’s good. I decided to quickly cook myself a fish on the fabricator, and sitting down on the floor, I carefully began to eat, with obvious appetite… I hadn’t eaten since yesterday! I really need to try to follow my eating schedule better…

After my stomach was full again, I decided that I would jump into the water through the upper hatch.

Slightly smiling to myself and nodding, I carefully climb up the ladder and open the hatch. I am immediately hit by warm air and the smell of rain. The sky was already clear again, and there were a few clouds visible. In short, the good weather had returned. I felt relieved... although the Aurora spoiled the view of course. No, better not to think about it now... not now!

Shaking my head, I take a couple of breaths in and out, preparing to make an epic jump, when I see something... strange on the air cushions that keep the capsule afloat. Something white... that I am sure should not be there. I tilt my head to the side, and filled with curiosity, I carefully slide down, holding on to the ladder along the wall of the capsule, and squat down to see what it is.

Taking a closer look, I realize that it is... a tooth. Or more precisely, a fang.

My eyes widened and I carefully picked up the object. The fang was almost as long as my palm, and most importantly it looked new and clean and... sniffing it I realized that it didn't even smell like anything. Amazing... this is a real treasure! I wonder what animal it belongs to? It's scary to imagine, but I couldn't help but smile, and my inner biologist was jumping for joy at such a find...

But here's the rub. How did this fang even end up here? And in such good condition! Suspicions began to creep up on me... there are two candidates here who could most likely answer this question. By the way, about mers...

While I was examining the fang, holding it in my hands like a treasure, already knowing that I would study this thing later, when I had time, I heard the sound of water next to me, and turning around I noticed that Sun and Sannie looked out of the water, with questioning looks, clearly not understanding why I was so late. Turning around, I looked at them, and then lifted the fang to show them, sitting down more comfortably:

-Look what I had lying here. - I say, and the mers swim closer to look at my find.

Sannie lets out a puzzled whistle, looking at the fang with curiosity, while Sun first looks surprised, and then thoughtful, looking at the thing. I watch both of them and their reactions, trying to figure out which of them could have done this, but for now suspicion fell on Sun... although, how could he have managed to do this if he was first in a fight and then somewhere healing wounds? It seemed strange...

- Well... does anyone know what this is? - I asked, hoping for an answer.

Sun still thoughtfully looks at the object for a little while, clearly wringing his hands underwater, and then finally spoke quietly:

- We fought... badly, you can't... - Sun began, attracting my and Sannie's puzzled attention. Then he looks up at me. - Family, we shouldn't fight... we come to an agreement.

I blink, and exchange a puzzled glance with Sunny, who doesn't understand anything themself. What does he mean... a strange thought came to mind, but I didn't decide to voice it until I was too sure and made sure...

- And... what does that mean? - I asked carefully.

Sun looks at me a little, and raising his hands, he places them so that my palm, on which the fang lies, is between them, on which the fang lies:

- This, an apology. - He explained, smiling slightly. - He apologizes, in this way... he won't touch you anymore, promise.

I blink in shock... he doesn't mean that creature right now...? Although it can't be any other way if you think about it... it was hard to believe after what happened.

- But who... - I began hesitantly, looking around nervously.

Sun lets out a quiet laugh, tilting his head to the side and says:

- Family... brother. - Pause. - My brother, my family.

If my jaw could fall, it would fall into the water now. To which Sun cautiously raised one of his hands to close my jaw back, after which I could hear a quiet laugh from Sannie. All this time... this very creature that tried to kill me twice, and which was also a mer, turns out all this time was Sun's brother?? Of course, it should have been worth guessing considering that he lived nearby, but it was not so obvious considering the difference in appearance and behavior... and yet... I was shocked. I look down uncertainly at my hand, still held by Sun, and frown thoughtfully.

Now that explains why Sun doesn't have that much damage... the creature never wanted to hurt its kin. But I don't know what they decided there... but here I am holding in my hand what was given to me by the same creature that haunts my nightmares as an apology. Should I be worried? I don't know... but Sun said he wouldn't hurt me, so that's how it will be. Hopefully...

Sun is still watching me, as I take a breath to calm myself down, I can feel his thumb rubbing my hand soothingly. Hah... when did I start to panic? I don't remember... but my friend's presence was calming, though I couldn't help but glance worriedly at the scratch marks on his shoulders. Hah... it's really weird when he's so... calm? It's probably because he's tired... he should definitely be go to rest, not babysitting me and Sannie.

-Friend? Are you okay? - Sun asked.

I take a final breath and nod.

-Yes... thank you. - I say with a slight smile.

Sun smiles too, and squeezing my hand one last time, his hands leave me, causing goosebumps from the coolness to run down my now freed hand. Hah, I didn't even notice when it wasn't his hands that warmed mine. Before I could come to my senses, Sun also pats me on the head with a soft movement, and swims away from me with a satisfied, relieved smile. I blink, puzzled by such a touch, obviously repeating my own actions, I let out a chuckle, and also smile. The mers smile at me too, although Sannie still had a questioning look, most likely not understanding a single word and what our dialogue was about.

Sun then chirps something to Sannie before looking at me one last time and diving underwater, disappearing from view. Sannie chirps back, and then happily to me before they swim underwater after Sun. I nod back at them, though they probably didn't see that. Then my gaze falls on the fang, which is also lying in my palm...

Come to think of it, there's no way the fang could have been that clean. It must have been cleaned before being left as a gift... there's probably some mermaid message in it, but the thought of it makes my skin crawl, and I have to swallow.

Well... alright, I'll accept the gift. Because... how could I not accept such a treasure! Oh, I'll study it well, oh, I'll freeze! I laughed to myself at the thought, still pleased with the gift, even if thinking about who gave it to me scared me... better not to think about it.

And so, admiring the gift a little more, I finally put it in my suit pocket, and jump into the water after the mers...

Later, my two mermaid friends and I swam back to the place where we left my base yesterday to finally finish building my base. Although I was already feeling less comfortable in that place, Sun assured me again, as if he had read my thoughts, that his brother would not touch me or bother me anymore. Of course, I felt doubt for a second, but looking at Sun's tired expression, I decided to just finally believe him.

And so, armed with the habitator, I continued building the base. Meanwhile, Sun lay down on a rock, stretching out more comfortably and resting his chin on his crossed arms, watching me for a while, while Sannie swam nearby and with the same surprise tried to understand how my device worked, which builds things out of nowhere! Haha, they are so cute, but I did not mind their company, they did not bother me at all. But very soon Sun fell asleep, we didn't even notice it until we checked on him with our eyes, seeing how his eyes were closed and how he was quietly snoring. After that, Sannie joined him, but not to sleep, but to guard and protect. They looked so confident in themselves that I even laughed, but I was glad that someone was at least looking after Sun, he deserved a rest.

Meanwhile, I finished the construction of the base, and the final touch was the solar panels so that they would charge the base with electricity during the day. The base is now without energy, so recharging may take some time, but I have it, so there is no need to worry. But I still decided to go inside to assess the situation, and even put a couple of things.

Having entered inside using the large hatch, which was the entrance, I noticed that yes, it was still a little dark here, but thanks to the numerous windows, the room was well lit. I smiled, starting to explore my base from the inside, mentally rejoicing that I would finally have more space to walk and do something. Also looking around the rooms, I chose for myself what and where, I will put it, and do it.

Then nodding to myself, I came back to the entrance, and since I had so much time, so why not arrange the base at least a little?

With this thought, I reconfigured the habitat for furniture, and began placing. At the entrance, of course, I put storage cabinets, several pieces, because I am sure that I will need them, or even more, and next to it, of course, the manufacturer. The first room was more or less finished, although perhaps I will add something else here to add charm to it. I decided that I would make the next room a small personal laboratory in which I will study samples from this planet and do experiments! Oh, how beautiful it sounds in my head!
But for now it remains with only one table and chair, for now, since I don’t have any laboratory equipment in my plans, which is a pity. But then we’ll leave that for later. I’ve already decided to make the next room my own, and I made a bed there (finally!), another table and chair, well, that’s all for now…

Who would have thought… the bed looks so inviting, like never before. And with this thought, before I know it, I fall onto it, in a star pose, but the end is stretched out. The bed is not soft, but not hard either, but it doesn’t matter! It’s a bed! And I’ll finally be able to sleep normally at night, and my back will thank me!

Goodbye, cold hard floor! Ha!

I sigh with relief, feeling triumphant and comfortable, never thinking that a bed could be so comfortable… I didn’t even have the strength to get up again. Well... in principle it is not necessary, since I have not decided what the last room will be, but maybe someday I will think of something. And just lying like this and looking at the window, behind which there is only clear water, and alien fish sometimes swim by... I could say that it is beautiful and relaxing. Like in an oceanarium...

With this thought my eyes began to close, and now I was ready to plunge into my pleasant sleep, on a comfortable bed (Hurray!) ... when suddenly I am brought out of half-slumber by a signal emitted by the PDA, which meant that a message was being played, making me shudder.

Having made a dissatisfied sound that I was interrupted, I still listen to what the PDA is saying.

The PDA reported that the radiation emanating from the Aurora continues to spread at a dangerous level, putting the ecological component in great danger and the risk of destroying a large part of the ecosystem on the planet. There could also be more explosions on the Aurora… and all from a damaged engine.

Well, it couldn't get any worse, but here I am… somehow this message and the information in it made me wake up, open my eyes and frown. This is… bad, really bad! Just awful! Radiation is like the worst thing that could happen here… what if it gets here? It will kill all the plants, animals and even… my mer friends. It makes me sit up, staring at the wall with a thoughtful, intense gaze. This is not what I want… even after what this cruel world has done to me, with its dangerous plants and animals… you don't want it all to die…

Because this is nature. And it is beautiful, and it deserves to live and develop.

But for this, something needs to be done about the problem that has arisen. And most importantly, fixing the Aurora's engine to stop the spread of radiation. And no one else can do it but me.

I swallowed. Fear and anxiety began to creep into my soul again... I don't want to go to the Aurora when it is falling apart more and more every day. But on the other hand, I don't want my friends to die or be injured. I will do it, even if I have to die there... but the risk is worth it to save many lives... my friends... beautiful creatures... to be at least somehow useful to at least someone, saving them.

Taking a confident breath in and out, and with this thought, I take out my PDA and quickly look through the drawings until I find the drawings of the anti-radiation suit, which had been lying there for some time, as if waiting for its moment. A couple more breathing exercises, I force myself to stand up, and with fear in my legs and arms, but confidence in my soul, I walk towards the exit from the base.

I have to do this.

And I will do it.

Sannie was extremely surprised when they saw me leave the base, and hurriedly began to swim to my pod. Although I tried to smile at them, it did not look convincing, but despite the anxiety, the young merdid not want to leave the sleeping Sun alone, so they remained in place, seeing me off with a nervous look, and twitching his head fins.
I felt bad that I left them in the dark about the situation, but I still could not explain anything since they would not understand what I was even saying. But I did not want to disturb Sun, and his sleep... he needed this rest after the night fight. I will tell them, but later... when I am ready. Most likely, they will not want to let me go... but I will have to go, it is for their own good.

Finally, I swim to my pod, and climb inside, and without any doubt I go to the manufacturer and set up the creation of the suit I need. And so, watching the creation of my new suit, I do breathing exercises... think about the good, if I die, then only with a certified mission! I nodded to myself with this thought, and sighed. A small squeak emitted by the device notified me that the craft was finished, and I can take the suit.

With some trepidation, I take the suit, which itself was white and gray shades, and to the touch was clearly thicker and made of a different material than the one I had been wearing all this time. The kit also included, to my surprise, no, not a mask, but a glass helmet, which will obviously have to be put on and taken off manually, but it does not matter... if I am right, then most likely I will be able to talk in this helmet, that's the main thing. This instilled hope and a desire to try it... and I decided to do so.

Taking off my old suit was a little difficult, considering that for all the days spent here I never took it off, and it practically became my second skin. But despite the discomfort, I managed to do it, and in exchange, I started putting on a new suit.

The suit was my size, which is good, and after making sure that it was good, but I should I looked myself over a little. This suit drains differently, as if it were heavier, a little, but bearable. I warmed up a little to get used to it, mentally preparing myself for what awaits me... tomorrow, I decided that I would go tomorrow, in the morning, and if I survive... then maybe I would return by evening.

I swallowed at this thought, but it sounds too good to be true... after all, I don’t know what awaits me there, on Aurora, and what dangers surround it and also fill it. For example, the fire... it still hasn’t gone out, even after yesterday’s rain. I will have to be as careful as possible... I don’t know what awaits me there, but something tells me that nothing good. I must be crazy with these ideas… some will think I'm crazy, hit my head. Maybe I am… but I want to help, and I will. With this in mind, I carefully fold my old suit and mask, and put them in the storage box where I took them from the first time. I paused for a second to look at them before closing the locker.

I do a couple more breathing exercises, and then deciding to test the new suit in the water, I take the helmet, and after a little practice in how to put it on correctly, I finally manage to do it. Hmm… it turns out to be more comfortable than the mask I've been wearing all this time, now at least my face and eyes won't be squeezed. I probably look like an astronaut now… but oh well.

Opening the lower hatch, writing there for a while, I finally dive into the water. Instinctively, I close my eyes and hold my breath, but then quickly realize that I don't need to.

Oh… the view of the surroundings was much larger and more comfortable in this helmet, and I could see better… and my face was free of the constriction of the body mask. It was so much better! It was so much better to look at the underwater world this way. Without obstacles, and it made things better, let's just admit it. But let's not forget what this suit was for in the first place. Shaking my head to myself, I swam around for a bit, letting myself enjoy the world around me while I could, trying not to strain myself too much. My thoughts were floating, and I let them, my gaze thoughtful, and yet a small spark of doubt was in my soul… no one wants to die, even if they forced themselves to think so… the desire to live is an instinct that is embedded in every creature, and each of them does everything to live, to survive. But sometimes, you have to risk yourself for something greater… for those you love. Sometimes situations just have no other way, like mine... if I do nothing, this planet may perish, and me along with it. The result leads to one thing...

Hmm... strange, since when did I become melancholic? It seems that some alien bacteria or invisible radiation is starting to affect me... who knows. I shook my head, driving out these strange thoughts. It's better not to think about it, nothing should stop me, and I must remain calm, this is the key to success.

To distract myself, I decided to look back, and even just in time, when I saw two familiar figures in the distancey, clearly floating towards my pod. It seemed that Sun had already woken up, and was already looking better than before, which was reassuring. Even from here I could hear them talking to each other with sounds that were and sounded like music to the ears, I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of them. It seemed that they hadn’t noticed me yet… but as soon as I thought about it, Sun and Sannie raised their gazes to look at me.

A second, and one blink, they stopped, and then their eyes opened wide in shock and confusion. I smiled again, and waving at them, I began to swim towards them, since they were still standing there, frozen, and with a cautious look. Coming closer, I smiled cheerfully and finally said:

-Hello, hello, how do you hear me? - I spoke, and in the helmet my voice sounded muffled, but still audible.

As soon as the mermaids heard my voice, their eyes widened even more, and they began to make surprised sounds, trills and chirps to each other or even to me, looking at me and then at each other, with twitching fins, apparently not expecting that I would be able to speak underwater. But their reaction is simply priceless!

Finally pulling himself together, Sun spoke carefully first:

-Friend... is that you? - Sun asked uncertainly and almost worriedly, still keeping his distance from me.

It seems that I was not recognized.

Oops.

I couldn't help but let out a chuckle, from how funny and a little awkward this situation seemed.

- Yes, it's me. - I laugh, smiling at them. - I just made a new suit, how do you like it? Now I can talk to you underwater, isn't that great?

I asked, making a presentable circle. Sun finally relaxed, and then obviously translated what I said to Sannie, who was cautiously standing next to Sun, also unsure of my identity. But realizing that it was still me, but just in a different suit, their mouths formed an "o" shape, and they looked at me puzzled. I can understand them... because I would also be shocked if one day my friends just came up to me, but they were a completely different color. Yes, it sounds like a funny situation, but I hope that this will not happen.
Meanwhile, Sannie dared to swim up to me, and carefully began to poke my helmet, making surprised sounds, clearly not understanding how I was talking and breathing there. I couldn't help but laugh, and let them circle around me and watch me with incomprehension. I would gladly explain to them what it means and how it works, but unfortunately, they will not understand.

But my fun did not last long, as Sun, after some time simply watching me, finally swims closer to me and looking at me with an intent gaze, asks me this question:

- Why? - He asked as if he sensed that there was some good reason behind the creation of a new suit.

Oh, and he is right ...

I swallowed from the nervousness and anxiety that hit me. If Sun has such a look, then he is very serious, and clearly wants to hear the truth. Well here I am, how to explain...? What will he think? I didn't know what to do... especially under his intense gaze so I just decided to be honest with him and tell him everything as it is, that's what true friends do, I just can't lie to him... he needs to know what situation we're all in and the scale of it.

And so, for a few seconds I gather my thoughts while Sun patiently waits for my answer, and despite the intense gaze, he was still soft and caring. Finally choosing my words, I took a breath and exhaled before I started to speak:

-We're in danger... all of us. - I started, and Sun visibly frowned, but continued to listen, even Sannie stopped, hovering over my shoulder probably sensing that some serious conversation was going on. - The ship I arrived on, Aurora, is broken, very much so, and a very dangerous substance has entered the water and is beginning to spread, killing everything in its path... - Here Sun's eyes widen, and he looks around worriedly, then at me and the puzzled Sannie. I could feel his fear and anxiety very well, and so I hurried to continue:

-But. This can only be prevented in one way. - I began, raising my palms up to try to calm my Sunny friend. - To stop the spread of the substance, it's needed to go to Aurora itself, and fix what is broken. - Sun stopped again for a second or two, and his eyes immediately fixed on mine. From the widened, worried look, I could tell that he already guessed what I was about to say. Taking a careful breath, I say. - And I will do this. - A pause and I hasten to add. - This suit, a new suit, another one that can protect me from the dangerous substance, and I will be fine, really.

Heavy seconds of the look passed and then Sun began to make worried and fast sounds waving his hands, which I had no doubt was a refusal to agree to such a decision from me. Before I have time to say anything else or try to explain, I am grabbed by the shoulders, frightening me. Sun looks into my eyes, with a steadfast and serious look that made me cringe internally...

-No. - He simply says, his voice serious, but still slightly twitching from anxiety.

He stood so close to my face that I could even see the barely glowing white pupils looking into my soul. My face fell, and I myself could not help but feel my chest tighten from understanding to what Sun felt. He did not want me to go God knows where... and most likely not even return after that. I swallowed and then took a deep breath, I knew it would be hard to convince him to let me go and it really hurt… because I didn’t want to go and leave them here and lose the chance to leave this planet. But if I didn’t, they might die…

I lift my hands and with a careful movement take Sun’s hands, taking them off my shoulders and just holding them in front of me, luckily he lets me do it, feeling how his hands were shaking slightly.

-Sun… -I began, choosing my words carefully. - You’re the best friend I’ve ever had… and I’m not kidding. - Sun pressed his lips together and looked away, sadness and anxiety began to break through his serious look, but II continue. - And I don't want anything to happen to you. - I say this, looking from him to Sannie, who now also looks worried, feeling the tension in the air between us. - You have helped me survive more than once in this unfamiliar place for me... let me help you now, I beg you, please.

I say, looking at Sun with a pleading look, feeling how the corners of my eyes are pricking, and a strange itch, but I did not admit it. Sun was still looking down, afraid to meet our eyes, his lower lip twitching slightly, but he was clearly thinking about something, judging by the unfocused gaze into the void, and I could not help but feel guilt and heaviness in my soul. It hurt to see him so upset, when I was used to seeing him in good health... everything just happened... time flies so unnoticed... silence fell between us, and I had already taken another breath and exhaled, ready to say something else, when suddenly:

-When? - The question sounded almost firmly, albeit with a tremor.

I blink, and my eyes widened. Maybe I didn’t hear from the water...?

-What...?

The question came out on its own, trying to understand if it seemed to me.

Sun’s lips pressed together, and he finally raised his eyes, looking at me again with a serious, but still noticeably sad look.

-When? - He repeated this time louder.

This time I’m sure that I heard correctly, and my mouth opened in surprise. He... is really letting me go? The thought itself seemed unreal, but it is...

-Tomorrow morning. - I try to sound confident, but the Sun's eyes, which for some reason sparkled in the light, pulled at my emotional strings.

Sun nods slowly, as if mentally trying to come to terms with my choice, his hands wrap around mine in response, and squeeze reassuringly.

-Friend...

-Yes?

There was a moment of silence between us, where we simply looked into each other's eyes, as if that would help us understand each other better. And I don't know how... but it seems to work...

-Go rest... please. - He said, looking at me with soft and caring eyes, his thumb rubbing soft, comforting circles on my arms.

I blink, and then gently relax, nodding slowly. Honestly, he's right... I'm going to need some strength if I'm going to take on such a risky journey, who knows what the outcome will be.

-Okay. - I nod again.

Sun smiles slightly, but it looks more forced than sincere. Then I notice how he leans forward, his forehead resting slightly on mine, and he closes his eyes. I blink, not expecting such closeness, but something tells me that this was normal, and... right? I lean towards him hesitantly, but still, and close my eyes. We linger like that for a couple of seconds, maybe even ten, before Sun is the first to pull away, opening his eyes, and I'm still a little confused, but I do the same, feeling as if my soul has suddenly become... lighter, calmer. I wonder why this is...

He looks at me for a little longer, and only then finally lets go of me, and pushes me towards where my base is, still maintaining a soft look, but I still noticed the twitching on his face, which left an unpleasant emptiness in my soul. I look at him, then at Sannie next to him, and try to smile at them too and wave goodbye:

-Okay then... hah, should I go rest or something? See you sometime? - I ask, trying to sound more cheerful, although there is obvious doubt and sadness in my voice.

Sun only nods slowly, I Sannie frowns even more, pressing their lips together, looking at me and Sun with incomprehension. I wave to them, and decide that it is better to leave quickly, deciding to keep the farewell short, so as not to accidentally open up even more bad emotions in myself that could make me doubt what I have started... and this should not be! I do this for their own good... but, still, the pricks of pain in my soul weighed on my being, and it was difficult to ignore... maybe if I rest, then I will feel better. Or not...

Before I had time to swim far, I feel something grab my hand from behind and stop me. I blink in confusion and turn to see Sannie... their hands carefully holding me, and their eyes, which now also sparkled in the light from sadness, and the lower lip trembled, and the head fins lay back twitching. Oh, they certainly weren't trying to hide their sadness, poor thing... I wonder how they knew I was leaving? I didn't know, and I may never know. My face softens, and I move to look at them, and then I raise my hand, hovering over them for a second to test their reaction, and when they don't pull away, I place it on their head, and they let me, quietly chirping,

-Hey, it's okay... it's going to be okay, it's just... - I pause, because my voice was swallowed, and I swallow and sigh. - ...Just be there with your dad, okay? - I say, stroking their heads in soft, comforting movements.

They close their eyes, resting their foreheads on my palm, making a sound that sounds like a whine. Sigh... but why do they have to play with my feelings like that? I didn't think they would get so attached to me so quickly... but here I am, and I can't help it, because I've gotten attached too.

Finally I remove my hand from their head, and from their grip, and they open their eyes to look at me with their big sad eyes. I smile softly at them, and then I wave goodbye, turning around with a deep breath and starting to swim away. I could hear a soft chirping behind me, but I couldn't bring myself to look, and I just settled down, feeling my chest tighten as I breathed harder.

I was glad that Sun had decided to trust me, and let me help... I was grateful, happy, but also upset. I was pretty sure that nothing good awaited me on Aurora... and most likely I would never return, and they would never see me. And I won't see them... and my home... this place that has almost become home... and the Earth again... although it has already happened and doesn't matter anymore...

Just don't look back just don't look back...

And I don't need to feel the gaze of two mers, seeing me off from their places.

And then I understood something, like an epiphany or a realization. A strong desire in my soul, and without realizing it I decided... I will have to go back.

And I will go back. Alive, no matter what this stall is for me...

Waking up the next day was hard, but the alarm I had set on my PDA was doing its job. Reaching for the device, I turned off the sound, and just lay there... on the bed. Although I was glad that I finally had my own base and wouldn't have to sleep on the floor, but to be honest, I wasn't feeling so good right now... my head was drooping like cotton wool, and my body was heavy. And all this because I had to get up and go to Aurora if I wanted to save my friends, whose looks I would never forget... but, I got it. I don't want to die.

That's understandable... but I really wanted to come back here again, and continue my modest survival with my mer friends...

I want to go back... but for that I'll have to stay alive. And now I'm looking forward to doing everything I can to survive...

Hmm. Why does it sound like I'm some kind of soldier going to war...? Hmm... better not to think about it, think about the good, we agreed! I can handle it... I can... I let down the people who are stuck at the bottom in the escape pod... but I don't want to let down my only friends.

And so... sooner or later I'll have to get up, but for this I need to pull myself together, mentally and physically. Come on, slowly... I started doing breathing exercises, folding my hands in the middle of my body, I closed my eyes and concentrated on my breathing.

Deep breath... and exhale... again, and again...

Breathing exercises helped, and more than once saved me in this place, for which I am grateful to my past self that I decided to learn this. The body began to relax and come into shape, and the haze from sleep in my head and consciousness began to dissolve when I returned to normal, waking up from thoughts and restless sleep. Finally, I stopped, and opened my eyes to look at the ceiling, and then look around.

It was still a little dark outside, since it was still early morning, but it would soon get light. It's time to get up and get ready...

Nodding to myself, I finally sit up and get out of bed. The next thing I did was warm up and stretch a little to at least physically prepare my body a little. And only then I headed to the entrance to the base to the lockers where I left all the things I would need ready. So the list: Glider, knife, bottle of water, flashlight, repair tool, high-capacity breathing cylinders, and so on...

It seems I won't need anything else. I didn't take any food so as not to accidentally attract any predators with the smell, and I had no appetite... so I drank on the road to come to myself and that was enough for me. I look at the exit from the base again, and do a couple more breathing exercises before making sure once again that I am ready, and finally put the helmet on my head, securing it properly, and only then did I finally get outside.

Well... let's go.

Before going I swam to the surface to get my bearings in which direction is Aurora, which could be easily seen in the darkness due to the fact that some places there were still on fire. I sighed and turned around to see a huge red moon in the sky, which hung too close for comfort in the sky... it always scared me, but at the same time caused admiration because it was easier to see it like that... but I don't need to be distracted. Shaking my head, I take a deep breath and dive under the water again. There I pulled out my glider, and having got my bearings I began to swim in the direction I needed. I tried to look only forward and not to renounce, any thing could knock me off my newfound calm and even consciousness, because?

That calm is the path to success... panic will never help. So I continue to swim calmly at an accelerated speed with the help of the glider, not paying attention to the fish swimming by, and to anything else... even when I was swimming over the forest of algae I did not notice a single stalker out of the corner of my eye, thank the stars at least for that.

Although sometimes it seemed to me that I saw someone's tail spotted with biluminescence... but I forced my brain to think that it was a hallucination. But if anything happened, I could always defend myself, I was ready, even if it was not visible on me. But fortunately, nothing attacked me, although there was a feeling that I was being pursued... no, it seems to me, concentrate.

Inhale and exhale, look ahead, swim on. After a while, I finally got out of the seaweed forest, and I expected that the depth would grow beyond it and then all I would be sitting there was underwater emptiness and depth, but despite this, I was ready to face it... it wasn't the worst thing that could happen. But as soon as I walked around the last few huge seaweed, in addition to the ocean emptiness, I saw something else... a painfully familiar yellow and orange biluminescence, which, although it didn't glow very much, I still noticed it because it stood out in all this darkness...

Sun... what was he doing here?

I look at him in surprise, his back was turned to me, and his gaze was directed into the watery emptiness ahead. We stand like this for a while, while I tried to understand why he was here... the mer seemed to sense my presence and finally slowly turned around.

And we meet each other's eyes.

There is silence between us.

Our eyes look at each other, I frown uncertainly and nervously while Sun looks almost emotionless, or perhaps tired and sleepy. How did he even know that I would be here? And how exactly did he determine the time if I did not give him any details...? Why is he not sleeping now? I do not know how long we just stood there, looking at each other, but in the end I decide to make the first move, slowly swimming closer to my sunny friend, as my voice finds me:

- Sun...why are you here? - I ask quietly, as if someone could hear us, holding out their hand to him.

Sun looks at me with an unchanging gaze, and then at my hand. He swims up to me in response, and gently takes my hand in his, making goosebumps run across my skin from the warmth of his hands. His thumbs gently stroke my hand in a comforting motion, Their gaze is fixed intently on my hand, a thoughtful and intense look, but in the end, he finally plucks up the courage to speak:

- Friend, I... - They pause, their faces becoming thoughtful for a second, and then plucking up the courage, they look up at me and say. - Please... come home.

Home...

I look down and let out a quiet laugh. It was hard to look him in the eyes when he looked so pleadingly... I couldn't tell him no, but at the same time, you know that you can't say an exact yes. Eventually you just nod and say:

-Okay… - That's all I'm saying, because I can't promise to come back. But I want him to know that I'll try. So I look up to look him in the eye with confidence. - Yes.

Sun looks at me for a moment, searching my words and my face for doubt. But finding nothing, he finally smiles, and then leans forward to rubs into my cheek… um, I guess I'll have to get used to their customs of showing attention, but I don't mind.

-Okay… be careful, friend, it's very dangerous out there. - Sun said quietly, his voice sounding worried, but also confident.

I was glad that they believed in me, and I couldn't help but smile, but for real.

-I will…

Sun finally pulls away, and it seems that he already feels a little better, although tired. Was he able to sleep that night? I really hope so. He lets go of me and with one last sad smile he finally starts to swim away and I turn around to watch him swim towards the seaweed and he turns back for a second to look at me. I raise my hand and wave goodbye to him… he waves back slowly. But he doesn’t go… he just stands there… probably wants to see me off with his eyes, I don’t mind if it makes him feel better.

I look at him one last time, smile and then finally force him to turn on the glider and start swimming towards the frightening oceanic emptiness, while trying to breathe and stay calm as I swim further and further away from the camphorous biome I’m used to being in, feeling the watching gaze of my sunny friend… and also someone else’s gaze, watching me closely and attentively as I disappear into the distance among the dark and frightening waters…

Slowly as I moved further, it began to get lighter, but even so I noticed how empty it was around. Not a single fish... this is an alarm bell and a bad sign. But looking around, and also listening, I did not hear anything strange, but this does not mean that there is no one there. Such is Murphy's law. But I tried not to think about it, although I looked back more than once, nervously biting my lip.

I felt that I was getting closer to Aurora, and from this the anxiety became more and more, and my chest was tightening with anxiety, expecting the danger that most likely lurked in this water, feeling how a strange heavy feeling was gathering in my head, causing dizziness. But for now it was quiet... even very quiet, only the sounds of muffled water. As I looked around worriedly, remembering the look that followed my friend's gaze, I forced myself to feel bolder, but I couldn't help but listen, just in case...

But the calm didn't last long, as my dizziness brought about the whole world around me becoming muffled, and I stopped, an unbearable itch and a heavy feeling gathered behind my eyes, which also made my vision begin to blur, as if sand had been thrown into my eyes. It seemed to me that through the blurriness in front of me I saw a huge figure, and my heart began to beat faster, and my breathing quickened... and all this lasted for a second, when suddenly I heard a voice as if in my own head:

- What... are you...? - A cautious question sounded from some soft female voice.

Before I even understood what it was, everything disappeared as quickly as it appeared. My vision and hearing returned to normal, and the heaviness in my head and behind my eyes evaporated as if it had never existed, leaving me sitting in shock and not understanding what had happened at all, or what that was.

It seems that I'm already hallucinating... I thought, starting to do a breathing exercise to calm myself and my still pounding heart, and only then I hesitantly continued on my way, pressing my lips together, still in confusion.

Very soon the PDA informed me that we were entering a radiation zone, and after taking a couple of breaths in and out to stay calm, I decided to look back. Since it was already getting lighter on the surface, it was already easier to see the surroundings, but the water still remained impenetrable for seeing anything except the very depths... but what I noticed was that the water here was still... strange, dirty, and almost brown. I wasn't sure if it was from the radiation or because Aurora had landed here, but I tried not to dwell on it.

The further I went, the more debris lay on the bottom that even exceeded the large sizes, but in steel it was just burnt remains, the sight of which made me swallow, but I tried not to look for too long. I knew that I was already close. There was not a single fish around either… but I was not going to relax, and continued to swim, and was grateful that I had a glider that accelerated my underwater movement, because I already felt how tired my legs were from paddling for so long.

But after a while, I finally noticed something familiar ahead and I stopped. I immediately realized that I was already near the ship, as soon as I saw its wall under the water. Feeling some triumph, I swam to the surface. As soon as I got out, I suddenly remembered how huge the Aurora really is, which hung over me like a very wide and large multi-story building. Almost the same draining I got when I first saw it and climbed inside before flying away... but if then it was beautiful, majestic in the sense that it was working, now it was majestic in that it was all dirty and crumpled, and also in some places it was still burning.

I could hold back a grimace from the thought of how badly it could stink from all this smoke... but, also anxiety from how huge this ship was. Okay, the first part of the plan was completed, get to the Aurora, now I need to somehow get inside. I hadn't thought of that... ugh. But maybe if I sail the ship around, I can clearly find at least some kind of entrance, I'm sure of it, since I'm here, let's get this over with. Nodding to myself, I began to sail the ship along, going towards the back, closest to the engine, where all the radiation comes from, hoping that I will find what I need. By this time the sky had turned from the orange of the morning to its usual blue, and at that point I had reached the back of the ship, but what I didn't expect to see was this... the entire back of the ship was literally missing, burned to the ground, and still burning in some places, leaving a huge hole where, well... everything was missing. I looked around in horror and surprise at the terrifying sight of burnt-out metal debris sticking out of the part of the ship that was still more or less intact.

I swallowed, my hands gripping the glider tightly as I floated around the perimeter and assessed the damage. Well, yeah... time had taken a toll on her, and the fire was certainly strong. I wished I could make a joke, like I usually do to calm myself down, but I couldn't think of one or remember one, so I decided to justrefrain from any comments.

Otherwise, you never know what might fall on my head! I didn't need that, I already hit my head when I first arrived on this planet...

A memory of deafening alarm sirens rang in my ears, and the sounds of panicked people running towards the capsules, and also explosions...

I quickly shook my head, driving away the memory, feeling an unpleasant constriction in my chest from guilt and anxiety. Why? I didn't know... but I didn't want to think about it now, otherwise I'd die here from losing my head. I didn't need that, so I had to end it as quickly as possible. Nodding to myself, I began to look around this whole burnt area trying to figure out how to get inside or even onto this platform safely... it doesn't look safe at all, and I don't want to accidentally damage my suit, which is the only thing that saves me from radiation...

But then, a sudden loud roar from under shook the, making my heart sink into my heels. This time, I didn't wait to figure out what it was, and when I got there, I already climbed in and found myself on the platform I was so afraid to climb. Luckily, I only got a little dirty, but I was still surprised how I managed to get onto the platform so quickly.
I hope that whatever was in the water won't be able to get here... I laughed nervously at the thought, looking around warily at the water, but not finding anything, I decided to start exploring the platform. I walked around, carefully going around and stepping over small debris, and fire in some places, mentally praying that nothing would accidentally fall on my head from above, because it was quite possible given the state the ship was in. Unfortunately, or fortunately, there was nothing useful here, but I could say that I had completed the second part of the plan, now I needed to try to find a way to get inside the Aurora, and the rooms themselves.

So, breathing carefully and moving forward through charred things and metal, I looked around and tried to find something with my eyes that would help me get inside the rooms, without sudden movements that could cost me my life. Mentally, I was glad that I hadn’t taken off my helmet, because I probably would have suffocated here very quickly from the fiery smoke and I’m sure that it wasn’t just the smoke… I swallowed and chased the thought away, and tried to focus on my mission, which could already be considered half done! Hurray… phew… well, maybe I was afraid for nothing, everything is not so bad ha-ha! ... who am I kidding...

After a while I finally notice something in the distance, a small light that is surrounded by rubble. Looking closer I realize that it was... a door! Bingo. Sighing, I begin to carefully move towards this door hoping that it will not be closed and will lead me where I need to go. Carefully going around the obstacles, I find myself in front of a door that was also battered, but it was illuminated only by a barely surviving red light bulb. Looking around I try to open the door... but obviously it did not open right away, so I had to use some physical force to finally open it.

Peeking inside, I notice that the door led to some kind of corridor, in which there were a couple of things that were still under the fire. I swallow, but still go inside. The corridor was long, and most of it was unlit, so I had to get a flashlight to light my way. It was eerily empty and quiet, if not for the unpleasant sounds of the walls grinding or the sound of something breaking somewhere, the blinking of lights, each time making my heart sink into my heels.

Sometimes I checked the doors, some of course were closed, and those that were open led to rooms that were shabby beyond recognition, but I still managed to scan a couple of things. For example, a couple of posters, my favorite was with a cat astronaut... so cute, it's a miracle that any of the posters survived at all.

The corridors changed more than once, turning two or three. And this more than once made me strain my brain and force myself to remember at least something, anything from these paths. But in what state they were now, they all seemed... the same. This gave me the thought that I was lost... no, it can't be, it shouldn't be like this, everything is fine, I'll manage. Although, walking through these corridors, and looking at the signs trying to see what was written there, they gave nothing, everything was useless.

One staircase up... now another, but down again, the elevators were still broken. But the fact that I was lost and did not know where to go was not the only problem. I also began to feel dizzy, and not only from the long walk, but also... it was terribly hot here. How long had I been there? It felt like an eternity. My ears began to ring unpleasantly, and my step became faster and faster as I walked around, previously along familiar corridors, and now something that is alien and dangerous to me ... it felt like I would go crazy.

These corridors seemed to go on forever. I no longer remember what I managed to scan from the spruce as surviving objects, but was it important now? My ears were ringing more and more ... just walking like that made me it seemed that I heard someone else's steps besides my own, but as soon as I looked back everything again froze, and then again... somewhere a distant scream sounded, somewhere else... but by the sounds you could tell for sure, it was all in my goal, and my situation and location forced my brain to voice such an unpleasant memory. I shuddered again when a siren rang in my ears, a bunch of steps and screams ran by... all this was moving away like a non-existent echo in my head.

My breathing became ragged and I stopped to rub my forehead with my hand, but then I remembered that I still had my helmet on. I made a quiet, disgruntled sound, shaking my head, as if it would somehow make my headache go away. Of course it didn't help, my head was throbbing and felt like it was about to explode... too hot.

Where was I going? Why am I even here...? Why did I come back...? To join those people who all died horrible deaths here...? It would be strange of me, but it seemed that the ghosts of this place would not leave me alone so easily. I mumbled discontentedly to myself... I shouldn't have come back, this place is cursed, it always was... another explosion and a chorus of screams sounded in my ears, and I grimaced. I felt tired... maybe I should sit down, take off my helmet and breathe normal air, maybe then I would feel better.
Slowly nodding to myself, I leaned my back against the wall, and let myself sit up, sighing quietly. The world seemed to blur in the corners of my vision, and my hands lazily played with the flashlight in my hand. The only light was a couple of flames that were still burning the remains of things that could still be destroyed completely, at least this... the darkness is scary, danger can most often lie in wait from it. That's better... now I can sleep more peacefully, and then... I'll go, yes... home.

My head ached, and it seemed that common sense had left me... maybe I hit my head, but forgot about it? There was a haze in my head.

Who knows... everything was dissolving before my eyes, and all I saw were silhouettes and barely visible colors... but oh well, it doesn't matter anymore... nothing matters... I just need to sleep... my eyes are starting to close... and that's it... the world is getting dark...

Suddenly I see familiar silhouettes before my eyes. Sun and Sannie look after me, sad and full of anxiety eyes that sparkle in the light like human tears. The picture is not clear, far and close, dark and light at the same time, and for a second it seemed to me that a familiar soft as music voice in my ear was telling me...:

-Get up.

Suddenly my consciousness is refreshed, as if under spilled water, and my eyes immediately open wide, and I quickly look around as if expecting to see something.

What was that? Why am I on the floor...?

Blinking in confusion, I frown, feeling an unpleasant pain in my head, and I shake my head. Slowly holding on to the wall, I force myself to stand up, even when my legs felt like cotton wool, gritting my teeth. It doesn't matter... I need to go further, I need to find the engines and... my gaze falls on one of the walls of this corridor, noticing a large inscription on it with an arrow indicating the way.

"Engine compartment"

Bingo...

As if beside myself with joy and relief, I quickly move, and despite the dizziness I run. I run in the direction where the arrows continued to point, breathing heavily, but not stopping, until I finally reach one double door above which is written "Engines". If it were possible to die from relief and happiness, then it would be me. I finally found it... taking a couple of breaths in and out, still breathing heavily from running, I approach the door near which there were many signs with warnings, and fortunately it opens for me itself and finally I go inside.

The room itself was large, and, to be honest, almost flooded with water, almost knee-deep, from which the radiation stress was felt even through my protective suit from this. I breathe carefully, and look around, trying to find a breakdown. The engines themselves were obviously also large and there were many of them standing in two rows, through which I carefully walked through them, taking out a repair tool from my pocket, carefully examining each engine to find the breakdown that caused all this chaos.

Luckily, I didn’t have to search for long, and I immediately used my device to fix each breakdown, which was on different engines, doing all this with holding my breath.
As soon as I finished, the intercom suddenly turned on, which scared me almost to a heart attack, but since it was broken, it sounded a couple of glitches before it turned off again ... yeah ... it seems that this place can quite possibly be inhabited by ghosts.

Then the PDA spoke, informing me that the engines were fixed, and now the radiation will stop spreading. I finally relaxed and let out a strong sigh ... feeling better knowing that the main problem was finally fixed. I mentally praised myself, feeling triumphant... ecologic was saved, the problem was solved... and now, a new problem has appeared. How do I get out? Now that's a completely different question...

I promised Sun that I would return... so I will do it. Whatever this stall does to me.

Taking a breath in and out, and looking at the room for the last time, I go out, and with a confident step I begin to walk again through these labyrinths to find a way out of this ungrateful and cursed by the stars place. Now my mission is to return back to my friends, safe and sound... and most importantly, alive. Of course, fatigue has already begun to creep up on me absolutely everywhere, but this should not stop me, even if God knows how much time I spent here, there are no windowsto check.

I wandered around for some time, trying not to touch the fire or fragments, although I was already almost completely covered in soot, I did not stop. My instinct told me that I would find a way out, and I would definitely get out of here. Mentally pushing myself to courage and confidence, which I had accumulated well after I finally fixed the engines, saving not only myself, but the entire planet, and all that was left was to get out.

Fortunately, my instinct turned out to be correct, because very soon I found a hole in the wall... which led to the outside. Again, beside myself with happiness, I approached closer, the hole was large, and large enough for me to get out, but looking through it I realized one nuance ... it was high up here. I don't know how it happened, but I was definitely on one of the high floors of this ship, and from here I could clearly see how the line of the ocean water stretched far and wide, and from the colors in the sky I could tell that evening would soon come. It was getting dark… and the water itself seemed too far from where I was.

I swallowed…

Okay, let's think logically... if I just jump into the water from here, then most likely I'll turn into a pancake. But! If I jump correctly, then the chance of getting by without major damage is much higher. And I don't really have any other choice... considering the situation I'm in. So, looking around my place and the hole, I mentally calculate how the correct jump should happen, also without hitting anything and without breaking anything... difficult, but doable. It's strange to say this on behalf of someone who has never even done swimming before. Phew...

Okay, having figured it out, I do breathing exercises to calm down, and when I'm sure that I'm ready, I step back a little, still breathing carefully, but with a pounding heart, I get ready. Then, as soon as I was mentally ready, I took a running start, and...! I jump, purposely stretching my arms forward like swimmers do, and holding my breath, feeling gravity pull me down towards the water, I close my eyes and…

As soon as I hit the water, I don’t even immediately realize if I’ve sustained any injuries at all, more focused on how the cool water felt like heaven compared to the hellish stuffiness I encountered on the ship.

And here I am in the water.

Finally!

Relief… although I may have put down a few bricks during this whole trip… ha.

Sighing in relief, I begin to look around. It’s still light underwater, but it’s better to hurry back to the safety of the reefs before it gets too dark, I had no desire to swim through these waters blind. So I do a quick breathing exercise, I pick up my glider where I had hooked it to my back, and turn it on. After a little orientation, I begin to swim in the direction I need to go. Luckily, the hole I jumped from was on the right side...

I was mentally happy, realizing that I had managed to complete the mission, and now everything would be fine. Moreover... everything wasn't as bad as we thought, right...? Anyway, at least I was lucky for that... although on the Aurora I could have easily died from the fire, even if I had accidentally touched it, most likely spontaneous combustion would have occurred.

Ugh, but it's better not to think about it! I got out, right? Yes, that means everything is fine, the last thing left to do is to get out of this zone. And I really hope that there are no predators waiting for me around...

Swallowing, I continue to swim, going around the too large debris, and occasionally glancing at everything that was left of the ship lying on the bottom. If we take logic into account, then this ship can rust so much, and probably in a hundred or two hundred years it will sink... take the Titanic as an example, it began to gradually disintegrate only after a hundred or more years of being underwater, and it is not a small ship. But the Aurora is simply gigantic! And this spectacle will "please" us for a very long time, unfortunately. Underwater microorganisms feed on metal and this is a fact.

I shook my head and continued to swim, and after a while I finally lost sight of the Aurora, and the further I swam, the water again acquired blue colors, although with the sunset you can say that it was already simple orange and pink, and I could not help but smile slightly. It seems that I will soon leave the radiation zone, if I have not already, which is good news. Well, now everything will be fine...

I thought, smiling, and probably got distracted by the beauty of the water too much, too much... but I manage to feel the barely noticeable vibrations of the water behind me before—

Suddenly I feel something crash into my back with a strong blow, forcing all the air to leave my lungs, and then send me forward a couple of meters from the impact from shock and adrenaline, dropping my glider. Easily, like an owl catching its balance in the water, I cough... and then I hear a painfully familiar loud roar, meeting the gaze of a huge something... several times larger than Sun, and has a huge mouth, and four small eyes, white skin, and four huge red horns sticking out of its head? Spikes? Whatever it is!

I notice just in time how the creature swims towards me to make another blow, but probably a fatal one, and I miraculously manage to grab my glider which fortunately is not far away, and in a panic I manage to dodge so that the creature swims past me, letting me notice that their body was long and snake-like with a red tail at the end.

My heart is pounding in my chest, and I watch as the creature, which was undoubtedly a leviathan, made a circle in the water to head towards me again, opening its mouth wide full of teeth, and letting out another deafening roar. I wanted to scream, but the only thing that came out was a sob, and I hurry to quickly dodge and use the glider to swim away. But it seems that the creature is not going to leave me alone, instead it began to swim around me and sometimes attack. And this continued, as if endlessly...

It played with me before it finally eats me. Now I understand whatSun was so worried about... I should have guessed.

The water was getting darker...

I try to use my glider again to try to swim away, but I can already hear the leviathan swimming at a dizzying speed towards me from behind. I won't make it... I thought, clenching my jaws, my eyes watering from disappointment, and the fear continued to rage in my body like a hurricane.

And now I already thought that it was over, when suddenly I see something big floating past me, throwing me aside. In shock, I try to regain my balance again, hearing the leviathan make a sound... pain? I froze and turn to see what was happening... I did not immediately understand, but something attacked the leviathan, but I could not see it as the figure deftly healed from the clumsy giant while at the same time inflicting injuries, clearly angering the leviathan.

At some point, the figure finally stopped, in front of me, and only then, looking closer, I realized who it was. Red pupils, shining brightly turned for a second to look at me with a narrowed gaze, and if my jaw could drop, it would have already ...

Moon... that's what you decided to call this mer, after you received a gift from him in the form of a fang.

What was he doing here ...?

I did not know how to answer, but I could not move and tear my eyes away, when Moon again looks forward at the rival, and his biluminescence began to glow brighter, now adding to the set of orange and yellow spots on the tail that I did not know he also had, clearly thus challenging and attracting the attention of the leviathan ... I also noticed for the first time that he had a long appendage growing from his head sprinkled with small glowing spots like stars, and ending with a small light bulb bait. What beauty... I couldn't help but think with wide eyes. The leviathan itself, having come to its senses after a dizzying race, lets out a devastated roar and swims straight to Moon, making my heart sink.

But Moon attacks the leviathan in response with lightning speed, confusing it. If I see correctly, Moon is half the size of the leviathan, taking advantage of the giant's clumsiness. It was already difficult to see anything intelligible in the darkness except for the biluminescence of the lunar mer, who moved too quickly for me to understand what was happening.

Then I remember that I have a knife! Which I quickly pulled out to defend myself just in time to notice the leviathan swimming towards me again, but this time I dodged and also stabbed the creature in the head, mentally apologizing to Mother Nature and causing the giant to let out another roar and swim away from me. Moon at the same time stopped to look at me with wide eyes for a second before squinting again and continuing to pursue the leviathan, clearly not wanting to let it go without a fight to the death.

Oh... I did it... but I wasn't going to feel triumphant for wounding the animal, nope...

But then I realized something... this was my chance to escape.

Immediately the paralysis was gone, and I grabbed the glider tightly, and turned in the right direction before I turned on the device at high speed and tore out of there as fast as possible. I was breathing heavily, trying to process what had happened! What I realized was that I almost died... again! Feeling panicked, I continued swimming without stopping, but as soon as I swam a long distance from the fight, I heard somewhere from there, a distant and echoing last roar before it was interrupted, and silence and the sound of my heavy breathing fell on the water again.

I tasted blood in my mouth, which I ignored and continued swimming. It seemed that Moon had won this battle... but that was a thought that could be thought about later! For now, I concentrated on swimming away as quickly as possible, and not paying attention to the heavy silence that fell on the water, which tickled my nerves.

But the silence did not last long, as in the distance I noticed a familiar forest of seaweed, repentantly the same one from which I came out this morning. But before I could feel relief and get too close, I suddenly heard a loud squeak, reminiscent of a cry and the sound of a whale song mixed with a killer whale, echoing, so it was not immediately clear where the sound was coming from in the first place. This made me panic and look around in fear before I saw an orange yellow something that was shining brightly in the dark, swimming towards me at lightning speed straight from the algae. At first I was scared, but when I realized who it was, my hands limply let go of the glider, which slowly began to descend to the bottom.

And after a second or two, warm arms swooped down on me and embraced me, tightly pressing me to themselves in an embrace. I just froze, listening to the worried and happy chirping and twittering from my sunny friend, who pressed himself tightly to me, putting his face on my head of my helmet and clearly not going to let go soon, and also warming me with his pleasant warmth. I didn't need to see his face to know he was crying, consumed by fatigue and sleepiness even more than this morning... like he'd been waiting for me this whole time.

I stood there frozen for a few seconds before I pressed myself against him in response, wrapping my arms around my friend as well, avoiding the spikes even though they were tightly placed on his back, but holding them so tightly I didn't even realize it, as if my life depended on it. For some reason I started to tremble, and Sun calmed down a little and began to make careful and comforting sounds, rubbing my back in circles, soothing me as if he were my parent or a family member, although in a way he was. We were both afraid that I would die and not come back... but I was here, and I was back. Alive.

Tears started to flow down my face, and I began to sob, squeezing my friend even tighter...

I was home...

Truly home.

Chapter Text

It's been... how long? A couple of days since what happened. And yes, I had a huge bruise on my back where the leviathan crashed into me back then. And Sun, somehow finding out about it, insisted to help with it, but I refused in every way, feeling embarrassed that they wanted to help me so persistently, although it was nice in a way. But Sun, although he still did help me, bringing me a couple of herbs and plants that would help with the bruises, as he explained to me, which is very interesting, and I used most of them, albeit with difficulty without help, and left the rest as samples for study later.

But that's not the most important thing that happened... since the base began to charge through solar panels, there was already light and electricity, then it became my home, and... I was put under house arrest... literally! After what happened, Sun insisted that I stay at the base and rest, and made it clear that he did not want to see me swimming around when I was so exhausted and also injured, physically and mentally...

Although I tried to argue, to continue my modest survival, collecting resources and doing new and useful things, but looking at the worried and sad look of my sunny friend hidden behind a serious look, I could not argue with him, since I still remembered how tightly he hugged me when I returned from my risky journey. So I gave in...

And so I spent several days, at the base, resting, and otherwise lying on the bed, sleeping, or talking through the glass with Sannie who was also happy about my return, and had fun with me, swimming and watching me and what I was doing through the glass at the base, which I built a lot. What's also funny is that they were in cahoots with Sun, and if I showed any desire to leave the base, they would be right there, and with their weight they would guard the hatch so that I couldn't get out... not that I was going to, but it was still a funny sight.

We also played hide-and-seek, where I had to hide somewhere behind the furniture, and Sannie had to find me through the windows. And vice versa, I had to find which coral or rock they were hiding behind from the inside. I was glad that I finally began to find a common language with them, and they gradually began to understand me too, and I had another listener for my stories... who would have thought, it turns out that Sannie is a very good listener, watching me with big eyes, pressing their face and palms against the glass in a funny way when I telling something intriguing, and I think they like this stories, and I was happy to share them.

And so we spent time with them when Sun was going away to hunt or do other things.

It really helped me mentally, to communicate and interact with someone other than myself. And the comings that happened a couple of days ago began to leave my mind little by little, and the wounds began to heal, albeit slowly, but it was still not as painful as at first. Still, Sun was right, I needed this rest...

I also decorated my base even more, with things that I was able to scan on Aurora. And with the remaining resources, I was able to make myself a pretty good lab! I don’t remember how and when I was able to scan lab equipment and items, but I was glad to know that I had them. And now, for sure, sometimes, when I felt rested, and there was nothing to do, I studied all sorts of fish and plant samples that I received. And the fang that was given to me by Moon got its place of honor in a special storage jar, with a special liquid so that the fang would remain in good condition for a long time, but also from where it would be easy to observe it and take samples. In safety.

Hm, and yes, is it just me, or does it seem to me that the donated fang is suspiciously similar to those that the leviathan that attacked me had? Hm, hm ... who knows, maybe I will have to find out someday.

But this is for later, I was very happy that I could finally do what I liked, and at the same time with my actions astonishing my mer friends, who sometimes stopped to watch me work. The room now looked more lively, and in work, and this is the main thing, and I could not help but hold my joy and excitement every time I went there and mentally thought about what I would do today.

But this morning I woke up in good health, and the only thing I wanted to do was go and swim around, of course, collect a few resources so as not to be idle. But I quickly remembered that I was under house arrest, and I would not be able to leave... unless of course I could cheat. This thought was strange, and very funny, which made me feel like a child... I thought I would grow up here, and not get a few more years younger.

But be that as it may, I decided to give it a try, because I was already itching from a little swimming. I sighed, and got out of bed, mentally thinking over a plan for my little escape. And it seems I have already thought of something...

A familiar figure, Sannie, swimmed past the window, and they quickly woke me up and pressed themselves against the glass with a big smile, cheerfully chirping in greeting. I couldn't help but smile at the cuteness, and wave back, while carefully looking around. Sun is not visible, so they are alone here... good. Of course, the plan was not to convince them to let me go, because I already tried that recently, and it did not work. So I had a different approach... I noticed that sometimes Sannie, when they stayed near my base for too long, and there were no fish nearby, would go off to hunt (I think), but then quickly return. Here it is, the window, if I'm lucky, then I will manage to slip away while they are gone... and then quickly return, no one will notice! Although it is unlikely, but it does not hurt to dream, I want to find fun in this place at least somehow, right? Right.

Well, in the meantime, I decided to play and have fun with the young mermaid, this time playing tag... how do you ask? It's very simple. I will have to run along the corridors and hide, and Sannie will try to catch up with me, but since we can't touch each other, the closest hit with the palm of the hand on the glass where I will be is considered that I have been caught. Strange, I know, but this is not much that we could come up with... although secretly Sun does not really like it when we play this, because he is afraid that I will accidentally slip and hit myself, or Sannie in a burst of speed will crash into a metal building and get hurt.

But we try to be more careful! So, I touch the window in front of which Sannie is standing, and showing that they are "it" and with a wide smile I start to run away, hearing behind me the surprised gasp of the mer, before they swim along the windows trying to catch up with me, swimming obviously fast in the water. But I am not a failure and make turns through rooms and corridors to confuse them. But even so, I could hear their cheerful giggles somewhere outside, making me grin.

But my fun did not last long, because on one of the turns, Sannie appears right in front of my face and before I understand, a palm lands where I was very close to the glass. I stopped in surprise, blinking... oops, I lost.

Sannie smiles triumphantly, and I laugh, breathing heavily after all the running, but they do not seem to be tired at all.

- Yes, yes, you won, congratulations. - I nod, and Sannie chirps cheerfully. - But you cheated, you can't scare them like that. - I said, wagging my finger at them. The mer smiled inocently at this, looking away, and I laugh again. - Okay, you win, but don't do that next time, okay?

The mer nods at this, and we decide to take a break from running, and instead I did a little warm-up stretching to liven up my body even more, while Sannie watched me a little puzzled, it seems they don't quite understand what the meaning of my exercises was. But the funniest thing is that sometimes they tried to repeat it, but they didn't quite succeed, and it turned out funny.

But in the end, that very moment comes, and I almost forgot about my plan, until Sannie chirps something to me at some point before swimming away somewhere. I pause for a second, wondering where they went, and then hurry to the other window to see where they were, it seems they were distracted by a group of small fish to eat. Bingo. As much as I wanted to stay to watch how their kind of mers hunt, I needed to take this moment to go outside.

I quickly run towards the hatch, grabbing my helmet along the way and putting it on my head, also putting on my air tank before I open the hatch and finally go outside. The feeling of the water was heavenly, although it brought back scary memories, it was still relaxing, and I did not regret that I decided to go out. Then I quickly looked around, and began to swim in the opposite direction where I saw Sannie and headed along the rock to somewhere... I was not sure where, where I will not be noticed by the mers, but I could use a walk, or corectly a swim. 

I hope Sunny won't quickly suspect the fact that I'm absent from the base. I'll definitely have to apologize to them... but it's in the name of science! And health. So I continued on my way. On the way, I managed to collect quite a bit of titanium, which was on the walls of the cliff, which made me feel triumphant, and continue on my way.

But after a while, something strange happened, where the PDA tells me that it found caves nearby, which were a passage and led to a completely new biome under the cliff, which of course immediately awakens curiosity and excitement in me, and I began to look for these very caves... it shouldn't be difficult, right? And considering that the PDA told me about them right now, it can be assumed that the caves should be somewhere nearby.

And I was right! Very soon I came across one of them, and looking inside I realized that it was dark there... very dark, because daylight didn't reach there, but not only that, I could also notice that there was some light there... pink? Purple? Both, most likely someone's biluminescence. I let out a curious whistle, mentally imagining and assuming that there was... it's a pity I didn't take a flashlight, but there was no time to go back, since they would catch me and lock me back in my own base. I laugh and shake my head at the thought.

But... if I take a peek inside, nothing will happen, right? Just a peek... I won't be for long. Usually after such words you get stuck for a long time, but I decided that it was better not to think about it, right now. And so, looking back once more, and doing a breathing exercise, I carefully begin to swim inside the cave, which was decorated with interesting plants, which I of course scanned, and to my surprise, I didn’t have to swim for long for the PDA to tell me that I was already in a new biome.

And oh... it’s wonderful.

I seemed to be in a large, no, huge room under a rock relief, which was filled with many, huge and small plants that resembled jellyfish caps, and which glowed brightly with pink biluminescence, from which the zone itself was not so dark that nothing could be seen. Fish were also swimming around, from the most familiar ones that I had already seen to those that I was really seeing for the first time.

My mouth was open, and my eyes, wide open, ran around trying to choose what to focus on. This picture reminded me of the area from the movie Avatar, where everything is with biluminescence... it was so beautiful that I was already going out of my way to go there and take a couple of samples, and also scan it all. And you know... I did! Before I realized it, I was already swimming down towards the amazing plants to look at them closer.

And of course, I was amazed by the beauty of this, although not very large, but in some sense still large biome, I began to scan everything that came to hand, in order to study these phenomena later. From plants, to fish, which tried to keep their distance from me, and somehow I managed to do it. What won't you do for science... oh, these biologist instincts! Okay, it seems I got distracted... what was I on there?

After a while I found myself at the bottom of this place, and was already scanning the plants that were on the bottom smaller, and continuing to admire. Until the moment I saw something else... right next to me, there was a jellyfish, right behind a stone. The jellyfish was big, and by the bluish and purple cap, as well as long pink tentacles that shimmered somewhere in a more crimson color, and somewhere blue... I could say that somewhere I still saw such... but I could not remember exactly where.

But... the strange thing is that it did not move, only slightly from the flow of water. But by how beautifully its biluminescence glowed, I could say that it was alive... maybe it is in a state of dormancy? This can also be, but then why leave your biluminescence so that predators can notice it? Although, as I understand it, jellyfish here have electric charges in their tentacles, so no one particularly worries about them and does not try to eat them. Really... who would want to eat something electrical? It's like putting a wire in your mouth and chewing through it... oh.

Be that as it may, I decided to take advantage of this moment of it's stillness to scan it. I slowly, without knowing why, began to creep up on in, holding my scanner ready. And as soon as I was close enough to scan, I point the scanner at it, and immediately the jellyfish is enveloped in a blue light from the scanner-

It would be nothing if at that very moment, the jellyfish did not suddenly squeak and literally jump back from the blue light, causing me to scream in shock from what a sight and swim back, with widened eyes, and a heart that sank into my heels. The jellyfish twitched for a couple of seconds before turning to me... and then I meet the gaze of a widened and just as frightened look, like me, red... no, ruby ​​pupils and black big eyes. I immediately froze in shock, and the jellyfish(?) also froze, not taking its frightened and puzzled gaze off me. With my heart pounding in my chest, I dare to examine this... new creature? Looking closely, I realized that the creature had a head, arms, and even a torso... the jellyfish cap itself was located on the creature's head, and where the face was, there were only a couple of short blue tentacles barely covering the face, somewhat reminiscent of a hand-made fringe. The creature's skin itself was bluish and even darker shades and spots that spread over the body in familiar locations, and barely noticeable white spots were everywhere on the body that glowed with a dim light. By their build, I could tell that they were thin, and it also reminded me of something... they also seemed to be a little bigger than me, although who knows how long their tail was, I could not see from my angle.

They were... beautiful... but they also reminded me of someone. In two ways.... One, that I had seen someone like them before, and the other, that I seemed to have met them somewhere.

So we stood there, looking at each other with cautious glances, it seemed that in the eyes (I have no doubt now that it could also be a mer) there was a flash of recongition for a second, as if they recognized something, but then, their gaze calmed down, which cannot be said about the body, which was still tense, ready to fight if anything. I could feel the familiar feeling of electrical tension right from here in the water.

Looking into their ruby ​​pipils, it seemed that long-forgotten memories began to visit my head, but I could not force myself to work through them. I swallowed, and uncertainly I squeezed the scanner in my hand tighter, the only thing I had at hand to calm my pounding heart. And after what seemed like an eternity, I finally open my mouth, and say:

-I... I know you. - My voice sounded dry, but clearly surprised and uncomprehending.

The supposed jellyfish mer frowned slightly, but did not give any answer. Obviously, they most likely did not understand me either... oh, this language barrier. But this did not stop me from looking at them carefully, trying to understand where I had seen them before...

But then the mer makes a sound like a grunt and then finally the first one moves. I see them turn around and start to swim away, which gives me a glimpse of their tail where I notice it is obviously long, but they also had fins running the length of their backs, and at the end a nice big tail fin that was the same color and light as the tentacles.
As they are already out of sight, I can't help but feel a little disappointed that they are gone. But then I carefully approach the rock they were behind earlier and look down, and feel relieved when I notice that they haven't gone far, but have simply swum away to sit on a rock of the cliff, and do something with their hands, which I couldn't see from where I was.

Seemingly sensing my gaze, the mer looks up at me, and looks at me with some imperturbability. That same look like a cat's, from which you feel like you are being judged. After this thought, as if on purpose, the mer lets out a quiet, barely audible hiss, clearly warning me not to come closer, not that I was going to, but thank you! (It sounded familiar, I wonder why?) Although I couldn’t see much… but the thought made me let out a quiet chuckle, but I stayed in my place to watch this mer from afar. In my mind, I couldn’t help but think and wonder, how many more beautiful creatures are there on this planet? I didn’t have an answer to this… but I really hoped that there were a lot!

What can I do… it seems I am powerless against the beautiful creatures on this planet.

The mermaid still returns to her occupation, deciding not to pay attention to me, and was even glad. After looking a little closer, I realize that they are holding some kind of seaweed, which they are twirling in their hands as if it were a thread… or as an anti-stress. To be honest, I did the same thing, if I found some thread or thing, I myself did not understand it, I twisted and played with it in my hands to distract myself, but it was not quite that I could stop, and if I am not mistaken, that mermaid seems to have the same problem. Not that it was a problem, it is simply considered a nervous tic or signs of anxiety, and the body with the help of the hands tries to relieve stress with different hand movements, which are then difficult to hold in place ... you always need to hold on to something.

I make an understanding sound, to myself, and nod.

After measuring the mer with my gaze a little, I understand that most likely they are the same size and height as Sannie! And that means... oh, they are also a young mer? Most likely, considering that I've been thinking about it myself recently and visually, and realized that Sannie is a jellyfish mer, judging by their behavior and appearance... and also that I got a small electric shock from them on the first day we met, although I haven't scanned them yet, just a visual guess. And there's another mer jellyfish down there, just as big as Sannie... I may be right or not, I don't know, I haven't seen them up close yet.

Hmm... a mer jellyfish, so what? Fits, and sounds as cute as it looks, and I couldn't help but smile and let out a small chuckle at the thought.

But then another strange, but possible question popped up, which made me stop. Could they be somehow related with Sannie…?

But I don’t have time to continue this interesting thought, because I hear a muffled call, which, like whale music, has become pleasant, familiar and dear to me, and the sound itself was clearly coming from outside this cave, which means only one thing. I froze at the same moment… as did the mer below, but I didn’t notice it right away.

Sun.

I noticed that the mer below also raised their widened gaze in the direction of the call, which caused a couple more questions in my head, which I decided not to voice. I didn’t need to be a genius to understand that it was me he were calling… so without wasting time I wave goodbye to the mer below:

-Bye, see you somehow!

I speak quickly, and then fast, as soon as I can, I swim up to the exit of this beautiful place, so quickly as if I were being chased, but it was more of an instinct. And finally reaching the exit of the cave I realized that all this time the ruby ​​gaze was still following me with its gaze all this time until I disappeared from sight, blinking once, almost... confused?

Finally I got out of the cave, and I was immediately met by daylight, as well as a familiar figure not far from my position. Sun. I could see how he swam and looked around, in his eyes obvious concern. But as soon as he looked up, he finally saw me, and his eyes widened in relief, and quickly he swam towards me meeting me, and I swim towards him, expecting anything after I went against his prohibition.

Finally, when he was in front of us, he immediately began to examine me for damage, and I had to make a sign that everything was fine. After making sure I was okay, he relaxed, sighed and let out bubbles... but then he made a serious face, and then carefully took my hand, and began to swim back towards my base.

I laughed uncertainly, listening to how Sun was probably scolding me in his language. Well, I should have expected it, I probably even deserved it, no matter what he said there. Finally, very soon we found ourselves in front of the entrance to the base, and I noticed Sannie sitting nearby, nervously sorting through a stone on the bottom, and I felt sorry that I had to scare them so much with my disappearance, but noticing us, they perked up, and quickly swam up to us to see everything just fine, just to witness our dialogue.

- Friend, you can't go out! - Sun threatened me with his finger. - It's dangerous, you need to rest and-

And so he continued to say something, scolding me for leaving without permission as if I were some kind of child, but I still kept quiet and listened. Yes, as scary as the situation should be, I couldn't take the mer scolding me seriously, although I should have... but I could understand my sunny friend, and the reasons for his concern, but hey! I was fine, I think a couple of days of rest were quite enough for me, and my back almost didn't hurt anymore. So...

After a while, I finally decided to interrupt Sun before he became too anxious for his own good:

-Sun. - I say, carefully, but he still stopped to look at me, his face distorted in worry. I inhale and exhale, continuing. - I'm sorry I scared you and Sannie, but you wouldn't listen to me any other way... - Sun slightly tilted his head to the side in confusion, and I carefully took his hand in mine, and he lets me. - I know that you're worried about me, and you want to take care of me the way you think is right for our species, but... I'm glad I was able to rest all these days, but you understand that I can't stay there forever? I also want to go out, swim, collect resources, and of course spend time with you, but face to face, you understand?

Sun listens to me attentively, and lowers his head in thought, before he distorts himself now in wine, and I hurried to pat his hand comfortingly to remind him that everything was fine, which made him relax slightly. And then after some time of thought, he says:

- Friend... is everything okay? Does it hurt? - He asked, looking at me worriedly. I smile slightly with concern and shake my head:

- No, it doesn't hurt, it's okay, I promise. - I say carefully, choosing my words so that they sound right and they can understand me.

Sun thinks for a while, his head fins twitching slightly, and then he finally nods:

- Okay, sorry for holding you... you can come out now, but be careful! - He warned.

I laugh and nod, feeling relieved that he listened to me.

- Thank you... but now I'm going inside, I need to do something. - I say, and Sun nods, and so I swim to the hatch, and stop to look at the mermaids again. - Let's swim tomorrow?

Sun and Sannie both perk up at the offer and both nod... they are just copies of each other! Or this is typical Sun parenting. I smile and wave at them before I go inside the base and start unloading all the resources I found into the lockers, before I take off everything unnecessary, like my helmet to finally get some fresh air, and with a smile on my lips I go to my lab, take out my PDA and sit down on a chair. Well, it's time to read what the PDA has learned from the things I scanned, and maybe I can add my own small observations and notes.

It's a pity, of course, that I didn't have time to take more than one sample... but I'll come back for that later.

In the meantime, I'll just read what the PDA has learned, and then I'll go to bed in the evening. I thought, and out of the corner of my eye I noticed that both mers were watching me from the window, Sannie with curiosity, and Sun with cautious interest... probably trying to figure out where I was that I got carried away reading from that blue thing again?

The thought made me smile mischievously and wave at the mers, which earned me a vigorous wave back from Sannie. I laughed, which made both mers smile (they seemed to like my laughter) before I finally went back to reading my PDA, and the mers stayed there for a while, although they were doing their own thing among themselves, but still kept me company, which I was grateful for as always…

 The last thing I saw... were jellyfish, lots of pink jellyfish, as the world in front of my eyes began to darken, and all I saw through the darkness was pink light. I couldn't breathe, I wanted to rip the mask off my face in hopes of getting some air, but another part of me knew I was still underwater, and that would only lead to me drowning... but I also couldn't leave, knowing that someone was still waiting for me, out there in the darkness...

All I saw was pink light... the surface was too far away... I closed my eyes and...

Suddenly I felt arms wrap around me, holding me tightly, cool with something. Then I felt a strong current of water, as if I was swimming at an amazing speed through the water... but I knew it wasn't me, but I couldn't bring myself to care anymore. But then, suddenly, I feel my head hit the surface and the cold, drying air hits my face as the mask automatically lifts up. With some difficulty, I take a breath, which then makes me cough violently before I try again, breathing in and out, refilling my empty lungs with air.

Although my head was still hazy, my vision began to clear somewhat… I never thought I would want air so much… I thought, swallowing.

The first thing I saw was a dark sky filled with stars, and also an endless ocean, shrouded in darkness. Strange… how did I end up here? Am I already dead? Strange questions filled my head as I slowly blinked, trying to get myself back to normal, but I still felt unwell… my body felt like cotton wool, and could not move, and I did not understand how I could stay on the surface in such a state.

Until I remembered and realized that those same cool hands were holding me in a gentle embrace, preventing me from falling under the water. I blink slowly, realizing that someone is holding me, and carefully turn my head to look at my savior, moving with difficulty. The first thing I see is ruby ​​pupils in dark eyes... and at first I was scared until I realized that these are not the same bloody red ones. My savior slightly moves his head back from me, as soon as I turned to them, their eyes slightly frowned... but more from worry than embarrassment, although they still continued to press me to their chest, preventing me from falling into the water, and holding my head high above the water as much as possible, albeit with difficulty. With a cautious look, I examine them with some trepidation and admiration, noticing that they have a cap on their heads like a jellyfish, and from there also came out many of the same pink and long tentacles, which glowed like a night light in this frightening darkness.

Like a jellyfish...

- Beautiful...

I could not help but make a quiet sound of admiration, and I already wanted to raise my hand to touch the tenacles, but they made a quiet, but warning hiss so that I would not touch them. My hand falls back into the water, and I puffed up... how could I not touch something like that... if I won't touch it, I won't know what it does. But I decided to obey, since the little common sense that remained in me told me that this was for the best. I could also barely make out on their round face, which reminded me of my new sunny friend, little spots on their cheeks and nose, which resembled freckles, some of which even glowed faintly in the dark like stars in the sky. I couldn't help but notice that, unlike Sun, their face looked more... childish? A little chubby? I wasn't sure, but that's all I could tell since it was dark, and all that illuminated us was the biluminescence of the tentacles of this mer jellyfish.

Strange... is this a fish paradise on this planet...? I can't call it anything else. Where else would you find a disco ball like that? If I were to say anything about their biluminescence... well, I guess I'm dead... very dead to see things like that. Yeah... and this isn't some crazy idea I made up out of shock and stress that prevents me from thinking straight, nuh... uh...

The supposed mer relaxed, a little, though I could hear their own hearts pounding, and I couldn't help but wonder what exactly they were afraid of, but then they noticed something else... namely, how the water around us was turning red. It was blood... um... considering all creatures on this planet have yellow blood I can only assume it was coming from me.

And it turned out to be true, as the mermaid pulled one hand free to take mine and oh... my hand was adorned with a nasty and frightening large bite mark, from a large and wide jaw. Ugh... I'd forgotten that I had it. Now that's clear... I've lost a lot of blood.

The mer behind me frowned, looking back at the water and then at my wound with concern. Blood might attract predators... well, one I didn't want to run into again. And so calculating their options, they make a displeased sound and bend down to my wound to lick it. I blink a little confused, trying to figure out what it was for, but then, as soon as the mermaid pulled away, I noticed something strange... the wound somehow magically began to heal at an amazing speed, leaving me with my mouth open and a shock that I could not normally and sensibly feel from the haze in my head. Now the blood has definitely stopped... yes, these mermaids are also wizards... oh stars, god where have you thrown me in?

I hear the mer let out a sigh, and then adjusting their grip on me so that my head remains on the surface. And then they, carefully holding me, begin to swim somewhere, without diving into the water, while slowly blinking, feeling how the fatigue after everything that happened fell on me like a brick, and I carefully laid my head on their shoulder, feeling how the electrical charge from the tentacles made my hair slightly fluff up. The mer did not express anything to this, but I could feel some comforting movement of their hands on my back, from this I wanted to sleep even more...

With difficulty remaining conscious, I felt how the mermaid looked back more than once, clearly with anxiety, as if they were expecting that someone would pursue us. It is possible of course... I am very easy prey right now. But most likely it is already their anxiety, considering how they slightly twitch sometimes, as soon as they look back each time. Although they were worried, but to be honest... I felt for some reason... safe. I'm pretty sure the electric charge in the mer's tentacles and fins would scare anyone, no doubt about it. It's me, the crazy masochist, who finds it funny, as weird as it sounds... I blamed it up to the fact that I almost drowned and also lost a lot of blood.

I sigh softly, and finally let my eyes close, just deciding to trust this mysterious and beautiful mer. But I even managed to fall asleep when I feel that we stopped, and the mer moves to take, and lift me, tearing me away from them, from which I make a disappointed sound like a child. But then I feel myself being placed on a familiar surface, which makes me slowly open my eyes and blink. I see how the mer's hands move away, and they sink more under the water swimming back a little, and looking at me with their larger eyes, blinking.

I blink and look around, realizing I'm on my pod, at the bottom. Oh... they brought me back. I relax at the thought, already turning to look at them again, only to notice that they had turned and were about to swim away, which made my heart ache with disappointment. And with the last of my strength, I raise my hand, and through a cough, I find my tired voice:

- W-wait...

The mer didn't seem to hear me, but they still stop to look at me cautiously for a second, I could tell from their eyes that they were tired too, and no doubt a little scared too. We stare into each other's eyes for a while, silent and in the stillness of the night, before I find my voice again:

- T-thank you...

That's all I can bring myself to say before my voice breaks. I was... so tired...

The mer looks at me for a bit, blinking. But then they let out a soft hum that sounded like an acceptance of my gratitude, before they looked at me one last time, and finally sank silently under the water. I watched their fading light for another two seconds, until it became invisible, and the mer finally left...

I stared at the place for a while longer before I fell back against the wall of the life pod and let out a deep sigh. It was so strange... but at the same time so interesting... but I was so tired that I didn't even have the strength to process what had happened. I felt my eyes closing, and a small smile touched my lips...

I hope I can meet them again...

I feel my consciousness returning again as my dream or a memory faded back into the corners of my consciousness and I began to slowly wake up. I felt like I was lying on a bed and there was darkness behind my closed eyes… I lazily opened my eyes and let out a yawn, realizing that it was still night considering how dark it was now. Ugh… what a dream… I thought, even though I knew it wasn’t a dream, it was a memory that I somehow managed to forget! But I didn’t have the strength to scold myself for it now, and so I sit up with difficulty and rub my face.

I wasn’t going to wake up, no, I still wanted to sleep, so badly. But I wanted to think about what happened for a while so that I wouldn’t accidentally forget again, because I know myself! I let out another yawn and then I notice something strange…

So, what was that red light? I blink a little, realizing that something was wrong, and that there was something extra in the darkness. And holding my breath, I slowly turn my head towards the light... only to see two red pupils staring at me outside the window. I was about to scream, but the large red-eyed figure outside the window hurried to disappear before I could make a sound, leaving me in complete darkness again, alone.

And so I sit there, with my mouth open and my heart pounding with one question:

And what was that??

What is this, cosplay of ghosts from those very horror movies??

Okay, that's two questions already... and still! I couldn't help but swallow at the thought of how long he stood there, watching me sleep. I'll blame it all on the strange mer's habits, not a reason to scare me, nope...

I decided to do a breathing exercise to calm myself down, also looking around out of the corner of my eye, but fortunately not finding any red pupils. But it didn't remove the feeling of being watched... although maybe it was my imagination, nothing more. But I could never know for sure... who knows what else these mers can do? But I hurried to remind myself of the promise of Sun that Moon won't not touch me anymore. But it seems the promise did not mention that I should not be scared, ugh...

But shaking my head, I decided to ignore this feeling, convincing myself that I was safe. So I decided to think about what I wanted to think about from the very beginning, that dream, and the memory that I forgot...

It all happened that day when Moon attacked me for the first time, in the kelp forest... and at some point I simply ran out of air, and I could have died, but miraculously woke up the next day on my lifepod. I wondered more than once what happened then... and I finally found the answer, yesterday meeting with my other mer savior, (What would I do without these mermaids?) who pulled me to the surface, and also somehow magically healed my wound, and then brought me back to the pod.

It's weird that I forgot it... but maybe I can blame it on the fact that I was feeling bad then, not myself, and acting strangely. Phew, that was awkward... I hope the mer jellyfish did not remember me as a drunk cherry. Ha... I laughed at my own joke.

But the most important thing is that there is another mer here! Expressing another question to Sun about this... but something tells me that the mer is still somehow connected to him and this whole mer pod. As for me, I have a feeling that this mer is somehow related to Sannie, considering that although they are different, they are very similar, from age (?), shape, color, body type and size, to the fact that they are both jellyfish mers. It makes sense, right? Because I am quite sure that if this territory were other alien mermaids, Sun or Moon would figure it out.

Questions, questions... be that as it may, I cannot be one hundred percent sure of my assumption until I ask Sun myselelf or even Sannie. Most likely, then I will get an answer to my question. But that will be tomorrow, and now I need to relax and get my useful and pleasant sleep!

But even so, I couldn't help but smile and mentally thank that mer for saving me that night, I probably would have died there if it weren't for their intervention. Maybe I'll have to figure out how to thank them sometime later... how do mers do it? Oh yeah, gifts, maybe I'll give them something interesting... but I'll have to think of something good for that.

Okay, that's later... by the way, I haven't scanned myself for a long time, I should fix that. I thought, remembering that the last time I scanned myself was after Aurora crash... so it wouldn't hurt to check. Nodding to myself, I decided to distract myself by taking the scanner and scanning myself. Blue light enveloped me for a couple of seconds before the PDA's voice spoke and began reporting my condition. I was expecting the usual message that I was okay, only to have my hopes dashed through the window when the PDA informed me that an alien bacteria had been found in my body, but it was not causing any harm so far.

You must be kidding me...

I thought and fell head first back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling with wide eyes. I knew it would be like this, and I was afraid of it, but I couldn’t help but prevent the circumstances that brought me out during my survival. Cool… just great! And what should I do now? Of course, I can try to take my blood and study this bacteria, but I was not a professional in this matter, and this bacteria is not something we studied on earth in our biology classes, definitely not!

And there is only one thing left… to pray and hope that it is just a small bacteria and it is harmless. There is no harm in dreaming… I thought with a tired sigh. Well, one more thing I will ask Sun.

Sighing again, I close my eyes, pressing my lips together, and feeling anxiety spreading in my chest. Well, this night will be long…

I didn't get enough sleep. That was the first thought that came to my mind as soon as I opened my eyes in the morning. But despite that, I forced myself to get up and do my routine. I hadn't seen any of the mers by my window yet, so it was quiet and just me alone with myself. Not that I minded, I seemed to have enough time, and I could talk to Sun at any moment about some things that interested me... and also worried me a lot.

I sighed quietly, and continued my modest affairs. Eat, drink, and do a little exercise and morning warm-up to stretch out well. And after that, I went to take my PDA and see what other plans I had, maybe I could build something else for my base to distract myself... and you know, something still caught my attention.

I had another free room, but I still hadn't decided what to put there, but that was earlier! Now this room can be called a pool. Why is that? Well, it's not really a pool, it's just a big platform that was like another open entrance to the ocean, and through which my mer friends can look in to visit me, isn't that great? I think it's really cute. I can already picture us gathering here, them looking out of the water, while I sit on the floor and tell them stories from my life.

Does that sound tempting? Probably, but I think it's really cute. Like a living room, for example. But I couldn't help but imagine myself sitting on a little stool, a sunhat on my head, holding a fishing rod in my hands and fishing through this so-called big hole in the floor. I laughed at it, shaking my head, and then looking around so no one could see, I decided to leave this room as it is for now. Maybe someday I'll come up with something attractive here. After that I went back to my lab and did some of my mini experiments on the plant samples I got to distract myself. I wasn't a good chemist, but that doesn't mean I'm bad at it! But I still try to be careful with all the experiments I acquired.

But my silence and solitude didn't last long, as a familiar figure appeared at the window. Looking up, I smile at Sun, who also seemed to be in a good mood, and we wave hello to each other. Then I carefully put all the experiments stuff away in a safe place, and after I'm done, I motion to Sun to follow me. He blinked a little, confused, but followed me down the hallway to the very room with the pool.

I point down again, and looking through the window he notices the pool and makes a surprised sound before he disappears for a second, but I don't have to wait long, as he soon appears, but from the pool itself. I smile as Sun blinks in surprise and looks around, apparently not expecting such a new building.

- Really cool? - I started, drawing my sunny friend's attention to me. - Now you and Sannie can visit me here whenever you want.

Sun blinks, then swims closer to where I'm standing and straightens up:

- Visit? - He asks puzzled, albeit excitedly, his fins twitching cheerfully.

I nod, smiling, god he's so cute... what would I do without him.

- Yeah, feel free to drop in, as they say.

I say, waving my hand to emphasize my point. Sun smiles broadly and nods:

- Okay!

Then he continued looking around, assessing the empty and modest room for now, and I mentally reminded myself that I wanted to talk to Sun about something... and so coughing into my fist, I gather my courage, and sit on the edge of the pool with my legs crossed.

- Listen Sun... I need to talk to you about something. - I say, and Sun looks at me questioningly, bending his head to the side. I breathe in and out, mentally choosing where to start. - This is important.

I say, biting my lip, anxiety tickling my soul in my chest. Sun blinks, and carefully swims closer to where I am sitting and settles down next to me, rising slightly, and folding his hands on the edge of the platform next to me. His spines and fins lay back, and he was ready to listen... of course, not without asking me a question:

- Is this... about the ban to go out? - Sun asked cautiously, his voice uncertain, and his gaze shifted to the side for a second.

I blinked, trying to understand what he was talking about, and then, when I remembered, I quickly shook my head:

- No-no-no! I mean something else, we already decided that question, and everything is fine, I promise. - I try to calm my friend down.

Luckily, Sun relaxes and nods, and then looks at me again with a questioning look:

- Then... what happened, friend? - He asked, looking me up and down.

I swallowed, and folded my hands together. So... how should I tell him? I hope this won't scare him... maybe I'm just making a mountain out of a molehill and making this up? No, I still have to tell him, he should know, he is my friend after all. And so, having gathered my courage, I began:

-Tonight, I decided to get scanned… but what my PDA gave me worried me. - I say, and Sun frowned slightly, but continued to listen. I swallowed. - I was told that I have some kind of bacteria in my body… but neither I nor the PDA are sure if it is dangerous or not, and I am not sure what to do about it, and how to deal with it if something happens.

Sun, hearing this, blinked, then his eyes widened in concern as if in realization, and before I realized it, he moved, rising on his hands and ending up in front of my face, which slightly scared me.

- Virus?! - He blurted out, panic in his voice.

Now it was my turn to blink in confusion:

- Virus…? - I repeat, uncertainty in my voice, I tried to understand what he meant. Sun hesitates, his gaze averts, and by the way his fins twitch, you can tell he's feeling anxious and worried. Then he nods slowly, and lowers himself back into the water, giving me my space back, an apology on his face, which he also muttered underwater. But my personal space is not what I was worried about right now... now I can definitely tell that he knows something...
I frowned with concern, and asked carefully:

- Sun, my friend, please tell me what you know... what virus are you talking about?

Sun hesitates a little more, and then pops up again, his head nervously choosing his words for a couple of seconds, and then he begins:

- The virus, here, everywhere... dangerous, almost everyone is infected. - He began, and I nod slowly, pushing him to continue. - It's hard to fight it... it always gets the upper hand... you can get sick, green spots will appear on your body, and then... death.

He said the last part almost in panic and fear, that I wanted to raise my hand to calm him down. But then he calmed down himself, and looked down with a sad and worried look.
Well... now it makes sense. Most likely, the bacteria in my body is a virus that has spread across the entire planet and can infect any living creature, and nothing can stop it. And in the end, your body will be covered in some green spots, and then death itself... the thought sent shivers down my body, and I swallowed, there was a desire to start scratching, but I refrained.

Well... this is an alarm bell...

- And... what should I do? - I asked, my voice trembling a little.

Sun uncertainly looked away, but then he swam closer again, and took one of my hands in his, consolingly rubbing my hand with his thumb:

- Everything is fine, friend... we will help, we... we know how! Don't worry, we'll show you... - Sun carefully consoles me, making a soft smile, but it looks rather forced, but I don't blame him.

I took a careful breath in and out, forcing myself to calm down, and then I nodded. It seems that Sun knows more about the situation than I do, but I decided to trust him and close the topic for now. In the end, I have another question that I would like to ask. And so after breathing exercises, with the help of my friend, I was still able to calm my anxiety and some panic, which I did not even immediately notice that I had...

Having taken a last breath, I look up at my friend, and smile slightly and say:

- Thank you, Sun...

Sun smiles, but more sincerely and nods, the rays twitching joyfully.

-Your welcome, friend! I'm glad to help. - He said more cheerfully, but still with a note of anxiety.

And so, squeezing my hand one last time, he lets go, and moves away to give me space. I nod in gratitude, and then I mentally think about how I will ask the next question, trying to put aside the new information I learned for later...

-By the way... I have another strange question. - I begin, smiling slightly and fidgeting.

Sun has already managed to frown again, and tilt his head questioningly to the side, and I let out a quiet chuckle, because fortunately this question is not as bad as the first one, not even close!

-What exactly, friend? - Sun asked cautiously, expecting now anything.

Okay, I will not scare him anymore, and I will tell him everything as it is. Poor guy... he worries about me too much. So I thought for a second how to formulate the question, about the one I met yesterday, and tried to forget about viruses and such for now... not now. After a few seconds of thinking, I finally say:

-Yesterday, when I was going out, I came across a cave that led to some new and beautiful biome inside... and there, I met someone. - As soon as I said this, the fins around his head rose, as if to hear better. - And... I'm not sure who it was, but they had beautiful colors that glowed in the dark, similar to a jellyfish, and were also somewhat similar to Sannie. And so I decided to ask you about it... well, if there is any chance that you know what I mean.

Finally, when I finished, Sannie blinked in surprise, but the fact that he does not look scared is already good, his gaze is directed into the void, and he thoughtfully freezes for a few seconds. But then, after thinking for a while, it was my turn to be surprised when a smile spread across their face, and he began to giggle, palm to mouth, shoulders shaking and eyes filled with some awkwardness and amusement:

-Oops, I forgot, friend! - He says, amusement in his voice.

I blink in confusion, trying to understand what he was talking about...

-Um... what exactly did you forget? - I ask carefully, hoping that laughter from him is a good sign.

He nods, and then finally stops to look at me with a smile, before he finally starts to explain:

-You're right, they look alike! - He starts, and I sit up straighter to listen more carefully. So he knows who I'm talking about...? But before I can finish that thought, he gives it to me. - This is... my child, Sannie's sibling. - Sun explained carefully, smiling softly.

I blink, and my eyes widen. So I was right...? Wow... Although Sun wouldn't lie to me, especially when it comes to his family. I can't help but smile, at the thought of Sannie having such an interesting sibling, who also saved my life... and the fact that they are probably the same age as Sannie, that means they are a child too! I laugh and shake my head. Now it all makes sense:

-Why didn't you tell me earlier? You need to warn about things like this! - I say, playfully raising an eyebrow.

Sun shrugs, apparently just glad that I'm in a good mood now, and after thinking for a moment he says:

-They asked... not to drag them into this. - Sun said, smiling apologetically at me. - I agreed.

I nod slowly, making an understanding sound. The kid clearly looked like they preferred solitude, and who was I to deny it? Especially after our strange first meeting... uh. Oh well, I was just glad that at least I would know who was where and how things were in their family... And since that they are participating in this mer little group, I was thinking that I should name them somehow, I will have to think about this later... but then I already got hit another strange question:

-That makes sense, but thanks for telling me. - I say smiling, from which Sun straightened up and smiled, nodding at me and chirping something. - But tell me honestly... are there any other mers in your family here that I should know about?

At this, Sun looks at me in surprise for a second, blinking his eyes, but then, having processed my question, he smiled and laughed again, shaking his head.

- Nope! Just us, I promise! - He added cheerfully.

I let out a chuckle from his amusement, and dramatically sighed deeply:

- Good... and I was already scared that there was a whole crowd here. - I'm saying it as a joke.

Sun giggles and shakes his head, smiling cheerfully at me again:

- Just us, don't worry, friend! - He reassures me.

- That's good, otherwise I was already afraid that I would meet new faces every two days.

Sun lets out a long moo at this, clearly amused by this thought, but only shakes his head again, chirping. I let out a chuckle too, and raise my hand to gently pat my friend on the head, slightly confusing him:

-Well, thanks for at least telling me, I appreciate it. - I say, smiling.

Sun smiles, and leans into my touch, nodding. I could barely contain my affection, but why do these mers have to be so cute?? I had no answer to this, even though I had turned my entire lab upside down. Laughing at my own thought, I finally remove my hand from my sunny friend's head, albeit with difficulty, and remember one detail:

-Hey, remember we agreed to go swimming today? - I asked.

Sun immediately straightens up, thinks for a bit, then quickly nods, looking at me with big eyes in hope.

-Are we going? - He asked carefully.

I smile and nod before starting to get up, and stretch a little from the fact that we were sitting so still on the hard floor for a little while:

-Yeah, just let me run for the helmet, can you wait for me outside, okay?

Sun quickly nods at my offer, smiling widely:

-Okay!

He said, and only then did he dive under the water, disappearing from sight, and in the meantime I headed down the corridor towards the entrance, seeing how Sun's shadow followed me through the window. Once in the right room, I take the air tank, and put on the helmet. And only after I made sure that I looked more or less normal, I finally open the hatch and climb out into the water.

The water was as always welcoming and a pleasant temperature, and I couldn't help but smile at the thought that swimming and water had become like something native to me. All that was left was to turn into a mer myself, I laughed at the thought, and looking back I noticed my friend, who was already there, waiting for me. Noticing me, he smiles and swims closer, chirping a greeting. I smile back at him and wave, and then looking back I say.

- Well, let's go?

I ask, and he nods, and so we began to swim together, enjoying a nice day, and of course collecting resources along the way that we came across. But after a while I look around, but not noticing any other mers, I asked:

- Listen, where is Sannie? I can't see them.

Sun smiles, and simply says:

- They are hunting, today themselves. - He explains, pride in his voice.

- Themselves? What good kid. - I say, chuckling.

Sun giggles and nods in agreement. I could see his thoughtful and caring look in his eyes, that was so sweet... And as strange as it was, I had another question that I had been asking myself since I first met Sannie. But as strange as the question sounded, I still decided to ask:

-Hey, Sun. - I begin, and Sun hums, showing that he is listening to me. - This will probably be a strange question, and even personal, you may not answer If you want to! - I quickly assured him, and my sunny friend looked at me questioningly. Taking a deep breath, I finally found the courage to ask: - I couldn't help but notice that Sannie and that other one, well... obviously aren't your real children, please forgive me for this... so I wondered how it happened that you were raising them?

I expected that Sun would be touched by this question, but to my surprise, he made a thoughtful and puzzled sound, clearly noticing my curiosity about this topic. And when I already thought that he was not going to answer, this personal question, he suddenly spoke:

- It's okay, friend, I'll tell you if you want. - Sun nods calmly and smiled reassuringly. I relaxed and nodded, feeling curiosity growing in my chest. After a couple of seconds, Sun finally spoke: - Back then my brother and I were younger, and we lived in a different place... alone, trying to live on our own. We were doing well, and everything was as usual, but... one time, I accidentally found two eggs in a cave, and... they had been abandoned for some time, buried inside... and I felt, well, strange... I didn't want to leave them there... - Sun tells, making faces a little, because he couldn't explain how the parental instinct felt wit words, but I understood it. - And, that's how I decided to take them... my brother was against it, but I still didn't want to leave the eggs... and then there's another, long story...

I blink, immersed in the Sun's story, and let out a quiet humm:

- So... you don't know who their real parents are? - I couldn't help but ask.

Sun shakes his head, his gaze thoughtful. Well, such situations also happen in nature, anything could happen, anything that could lead parents to abandon their cubs. Be it the death of the parents, or simple rejection... it also happens. But it seems that those little ones were very lucky that Sun found them, and even in time...

-They... are very lucky to have you. - I could not help but say it out loud.

Sun's eyes widen and spark from such a statement, and he looks at me puzzled and in shock, and I just smile. Then he looks away, and I did not need to see to know that he was smiling too, touched by the compliment.

I decided not to go into more details about the life of Sun and his children, but I could not help but smile from the fact that I was able to learn a couple more interesting things about my friend, and the language barrier was no longer a problem. I'm still amazed at how quickly they learn languages... anyway, we decided to sail on, concentrating on our modest walk, immersed in the relaxed and calm silence between us.

Some time later, Sun brought me back to the base, where we said a warm goodbye before he went hunting. We hadn't collected much resources for the entire walk, so I decided to check my habitat to see what else I could craft that would be useful... and I quickly learned that I could make something called "Transport building". I thought that would be cool and useful, so that's exactly what I did.

The device itself was a small platform that floated on the surface, and had sides. It puzzled me a little, but I climbed on it anyway, realizing that it could only hold one person. But up ahead, I noticed a small screen that showed several sea transports, showing which ones I had unlocked, which ones I hadn't, and which ones I could make right now! Like the same Moth, whatever it was... but I figured since I had enough resources, why not make one? Because something told me I'd need one. And so, having pressed a couple of buttons, the device comes to life, and suddenly several small round Drones fly out of the platform, and now they are already in the air not high above the surface and have begun crafting the transport itself. And I stand there in surprise and admiration watching how the transport itself is being built. And very soon, the "Moth" itself, after finishing construction, freely falls into the water, plunging under, causing a few waves that shake the platform on which I am almost knocking me down.

But I laughed, smiling widely from the miracle of technology, I allow myself to fall into the water. Under water, I am already looking at this very Moth, which was standing in place and waiting to be used. I carefully study this transport, counting on it being large, but at the same time not so large that it could accommodate at least two people. There was only one place, for the one who would operate it.

I make an impressed sound, okay, I just need to admit that I will need this thing. Who knows when... and my hands were already itching to get behind the wheel and try it out.
But it seems I was so carried away by the new thing that I didn't immediately feel someone sneaking up behind me, and the realization came only a second before someone grabbed me from behind. From shock and surprise, I let out a squeak, but I didn't have time to get scared because I heard a familiar giggle behind me, and I turned around just in time to be released, and I saw not someone else but Sannie, who was giggling happily at their little prank.

I relaxed, realizing that they weren't trying to eat me, and I smiled too, unable to hold back a tsking. Of course it was them... what's with these mers and their ability to sneak up so silently? It will remain a mystery.

- Hey kid. - I say, also patting their head carefully, like with Sun earlier. - Are you playing?

Sannie happily snuggles into my touch like a kitten, chirping something. I let out a chuckle, pretending to understand what they said, before I pull my hand away and they make a disappointed sound. I just shake my head… not mers, but kittens, not kittens then puppies.

-Oh, come on, you'll get over it. - I laugh, shaking my head.

Sannie pouts slightly, but then their gaze catches the figure of the Moth, and their eyes immediately widen in surprise and curiosity. They swim past me to carefully, but with interest, study the new device. I smile and swim closer too:

- Yes, it's a moth, an underwater transport for people like me, helps to swim faster and deeper. - I tried to explain, noticing some wariness in the mermaid's eyes, looking at the transport as if it could come to life at any moment. - Don't be afraid, it won't bite you.

Sannie looks at me, and I smile at them reassuringly, trying to convince them that the Moth is not a living creature and will not hurt them. And fortunately, they decided to check it themselves, and began to swim around the device, examining it and lightly poking, fortunately not too hard. It seems that after a while they are finally convinced that this thing is not alive, and looking relieved by this fact, they come back to stand next to me.

- Well, you see? I told you, it can't touch you. - Then, after a pause, I smile and say. - Better see what it can do with my help.

The mer is puzzled, but attentively watching me as I examine the submarine, and try to figure out how to get into it. And after a while, somehow the front window opened, and I climbed inside, and the window closed behind me. The first thing I realized was that there was oxygen inside, and the second was that I was sitting on a seat and in front of me was the control panel itself and all sorts of other buttons that I didn't understand what they were for.

Fortunately, the PDA had already started listing instructions for me on how to use this submarine and what it could do, which made my head spin a little from all the information. Meanwhile, Sannie looked at me from the outside in surprise and shock, and I smiled at them comfortingly and cheerfully, waving. Fortunately, their surprised look quickly turned to curiosity and admiration, their blue eyes sparkled, seemingly no longer afraid of the submarine, but stillslightly worried about my presence inside, their fins twitched.

I smiled at them and said:

-Everything is fine, that's how it should be! - I calm them down.

They calm down a little, and watch close to the window as I study the buttons. So it seemed like this was to start moving forward... I was about to press it, but then I quickly remember that there is a "pedestrian" in front of the transport, so mentally hitting myself on the forehead, I look at Sannie and make a sign for them to move away. They blink, but fortunately move away attentively, watching me from the side. When I made sure that I would not accidentally crush them, I press the button... and slightly regret my life choices, when suddenly the submarine moves forward at a dizzying speed, making me and Sannie squeak as they separates.

Somehow I manage to grab the steering wheel and turn it, a little more and I would have crashed into the rock, but everything worked out. But now the Moth was swimming forward towards the biome with red grass away from the reef. Holding the steering wheel tightly, I try to recover from the shock... yes, I have always been bad at driving vehicles, any of them, but I still tried to force myself to turn the steering wheel if I approached some rocks or stones.

At least I hope I won't crush someone... my anxiety whispered mentally.

But very soon I noticed that I had company. Next to the windshield was swimming Sannie, who can somehow swim at the same fast speed as a submarine. I smiled nervously, and in their eyes I could see admiration and amusement... although I have to admit, it really is fun! If I don’t pay attention to the little things.

Although I really hope Sannie doesn't decide to jump ahead of the sub. Because if a glider crashing into them doesn't hurt them, I'm sure a big heavy sub going fast would cause them injuries! And why did they even follow me in the first place?? Sun will kill me. I gulped at the thought, but luckily Sannie was having a lot of fun swimming along. Well, at least they were having fun... they seemed to think we were playing, and I didn't mind having a little fun spinning the wheel and swimming in zigzags while the mer tried to catch me, but I would try to be careful at the same time.

They were laughing and giggling, they were having fun, and I was happy for that...

And this submarine is really cool if you look at it that way, and you'll need it if you want to go on some long journeys. And so we continued to swim, on our little, as I hoped, journey, just circling around, and swimming away from each other, not without being careful. But in the distance I could already see a new biome... and it made me stop and ask myself this question.

Games are games, but does anyone know how to change the speed...?