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Swoop, dodge, dive, dash.
The white waters of Dark Bramble were usually quiet. The anglerfish that lived there had little to eat, and if you didn’t provoke them, drifted slowly without thought. They couldn’t see, so anyone exploring would be just fine as long as they didn’t make any loud noises.
Unluckily, that was one of the few things Feldspar’s ship did not excel at.
Speed, yes, surviving crashes, yes, but those thrusters had no silent setting. So now it was up to them to manoeuvre their way, at a breakneck tempo, around and over and through the large spiky vines that this place seemed to be infinitely infested with. There wasn’t any time to ponder this strange endlessness though, because behind them was the fastest, biggest, and angriest anglerfish Feldspar had ever seen. Of course, that wasn’t saying much, as this was the first active anglerfish they’d seen so far.
Left and right the two swerved. The anglerfish was quicker than the spacecraft, due to size and evolutionary advantages. The only thing stopping Feldspar from becoming fish food was their incredible skill in flight, and even that had its limits. It was pointless to start worrying about dying now. That meant there would be room for failure. And Feldspar didn’t fail. They were the best of the best out here in the outer wilds. If this anglerfish could be shaken off, they would be the one to do it.
The adrenaline rushed through their veins. If it had been possible to concentrate even a little less, they would’ve revelled in the experience. Space was beautiful, sure, with the most wonderful and insane views and feelings, but Feldspar lived for the thrill of flying. The crashes and the explosions that came after weren’t a downside if you didn’t lose a limb from them.
“C’mon, you halfwitted, secondhand lightbulb!” they muttered under their breath. “Is that all you’ve got?”
It seemed the anglerfish took that to heart. With an awful snarl it sped up. Not by a lot, but enough for one of its teeth to clip against some of the more important parts of Feldspar’s ship, like the engine and the electrical system. The spacecraft, no longer steerable, spiraled. Feldspar instinctively braced for impact. There were sounds of shattering glass, crunching metal and snapping wood as it hit a large, snaking vine at full force. They were thrown forward, head slamming against the control panel. It hurt like hell, but it could’ve been worse. Their seat buckle had prevented them from being totally launched out the now broken window.
Feldspar only spent a few seconds in dazed confusion. Then their brain snapped back to function, and they scrambled to get out. At least the anglerfish had vanished. Praising their own intelligence for deciding to wear their suit while flying, they almost forgot to grab the emergency supplies in their haste. They had a foreboding feeling they wouldn’t be able to return back to their ship after this.
As they jet packed over to the vine, they found their suspicions were correct.
The tooth had broken some of the electrical wires. The crash had almost completely smashed the circuits. Combining that power with the water around it created what could only be described as a deadly field of lightning. Feldspar would’ve been electrocuted to death if they had stayed a moment longer. What a horrible thought.
They watched their ship for a while. It crackled and sputtered and fizzed. It wasn’t planning on stopping. Out of all the times Feldspar had broken their ship due to some risky stunt or other, this one definitely took the prize for most impressive. And, they realised, most difficult to return from as well. Their radio had been inside their ship. Their log of where they’d been and which route they’d taken to get here. And it had been their ticket out of Dark Bramble. Feldspar doubted it would be a good idea to try and jetpack their way out of this place, with the weird way space inside it worked.
No one had any way of knowing what happened to them. None of the Hearthians, none of the other pilots, and none of the original Outer Wilds Ventures team, who were the ones who came to get them if things went south. Not Hornfels, not Slate, not Gossan. They had no power, and not like when their electric systems shut down when the ship accidentally drifted into one of those very interesting, terrible tasting jellyfish.
This was a very weird kind of power outage. There was certainly no lack of power. But it was an unusable power, the fatal kind. It couldn’t power the ship. It couldn’t power a signal. All it could do was kill anything that came near it. If that anglerfish decided it wanted a second try, it was in for a bad time. Honestly, even another ship would start acting funny in its vicinity.
Feldspar was completely alone for the first moment in a long while. Nobody could nag them, or worry about them, or complain they’d messed up something again. Nobody could expect anything from them, or think that they’d always do the best, be the best.
There wasn’t a lot of pressure out here, in this foggy quiet. You could maybe even set up a proper camp somewhere for a while, light a fire, plant the emergency trees. Take it slow, without anyone wondering why. It wasn’t like they had much of a choice. Feldspar had had quite a lot of adventures recently, and while they’d never admit it out loud, a little break would be nice. This planet was ominous and remorseless and savage enough to not be boring. It didn’t have your friends working themselves up over your health and safety. Instead, you had bristling interdimensional vines, plus snapping spiky marine life. Maybe even some ancient Nomai tech. But it was also peaceful, in a backwards sort of way. You only found danger if you went looking for it.
Hopefully the others won’t miss me too much. Feldspar frowned at the thought, then shook their head. No, everyone back on Timber Hearth (and the few on various alternative worlds) would be fine. Maybe they’d be a tiny bit concerned, sure, but they knew what Feldspar was like. They knew they would come back. They always did. They only needed to figure out how exactly they were going to achieve this.
But for the moment, they would be better off fretting over where to set up first camp. After all, their oxygen tank was running low.
And so Feldspar set off on their next journey.