What Lies Beneath ( A Subnautica story)

(Chapter 7) Birds and Buildings

It had been a few days since James and Squishy had found the Destroyed Lifepod, the two still saddened by their discoveries had barely left their own pod after finding it, only leaving to get food and water, not like they ate much anyway but enough to keep them alive nonetheless.

Today however was rather different, the familiar feeling of being watched had returned itself to James' subconscious, only this time he didn't decide to brush it off.

He'd also noticed Squishy was more....zoned-out than normal, which not unusual for the squid normally but now it was getting rather annoying when James would have to repeatedly ask Squishy a question multiple times before they even acknowledged him.

James had begun to realize that whenever the squid zoned out, they would stare into the surrounding biomes, almost as though they were watching something.

The next time Squishy zoned out, James asked "What are you doing?"

The squid shook itself awake and let out a questioned bubble, "You keep staring at something" he told the squid.

Squishy then pointed to something over in the creepvines, it looked like a....human?

Then it turned and spotted James staring at it,quickly fubling gor something in its pockets before equipping a Seaglide and speeding off, James equipped his own Seaglide while getting Squishy to wrap around his arm while he turned on the Seaglide and chased after the elusive figure.

The two had managed to keep up with the figure for a while before losing them in the kelp forest, "Dangit" James spoke as they lost sight of the annoyingly nimble figure.

They searched the area for a few hours before it had started to get dark and they decided, albeit begrudgingly for the Human in the pair.

(Timeskip brought to you by Disappointment Incorporated 😎💅)

Once back in their home sweet temporarily home James had started making their dinner, consisting of bread-

(I know that lifepods didnt have bread in the game but i wanted them to have some form of real food so sue me)

-,Creepvine Kelp and a pinch of defeat, Squishy happily accepted the meal and began eating without a single care in the planet, James however, couldn't eat a bite, he was too shaken from earlier in the day, the frustration of being unable to catch the figure was getting to him.

And before he knew it he also couldn't sleep, so he eventually found himself sat upon the roof of the Lifepod and stared at the stars and various moons circling the planet, he heard a fluttering noise coming from behind him then a thump, a bird-creature had landed besude him with a small chirp.

"Aw hey little guy"

James reached out his hand for the bird, which it gladly snuggled into.

After telling the bird to stay put for a minute, James went in the pod and quickly grabbed his scanner before climbing back up the ladder where the bird was waiting to greet him, James held out his scanner and activated it.

The skyray has a bird-like head, and feathered wings which enable it to fly. Skyrays are commonly found circling floating structures, and rarely venture far out to sea. They will perch on dry land, but are prone to flee on approach.

Assessment: Presence may indicate nearby dry land.

"Oh your a Skyray?"

The Skyray seemed to nod in response.

"I'll name you.....Connor"

Connor chirped in agreement, "Alright then let's get inside".

Clambering down the ladder with the Skyray in his hand James watched Squishy turn and see Connor in his hand, Squishy let out a questioned bubble "This is Connor" James said with a small smile on his lips, the Squid slithered over to greet their new roommate letting out a bubble of greeting, the Skyray giving its own greeting chirp shortly after.

As the two began to chat and play, James was preoccupied at the fabricator looking for the Habitat Builder blueprint, because they had another friend now, they'd need some more space than just a tiny Lifepod.

After a quick scan of his items James obtained the necessary components for the Habitat Builder and walked back up to the fabricator and clicked the Habitat Builder icon and placed the items on the fabricator's shelf, the machine immediately crafting the small tool.

"The builder tool is designed to construct habitats capable of withstanding extreme environmental conditions."

James let out an excited Yelp as he picked up the freshly crafted tool, he heard both a confused chirp and bubble from behind him, he turned to see the concerned Squishy and Connor wondering what all the fuss was about "Come outside I'll show you!"

James climbed up the ladder while Squishy and Connor struggled to keep up with their crazy human caretaker, once the three were all at the top James told Connor to stay there, to which the Skyray gladly complied as James picked up Squishy and Jumped in the water.

Before Squishy could comprehend what they were doing, the water surrounded them both and James as the larger of the two let go and began swimming the the seabed, Squishy swam to him when a blue hologram appeared in front of them, displaying a large room ( James' PDA wasn't corrupted too much like Ryley's was so he doesn't need to scan that many blueprints).

James was excited to say the least, He and Squishy had already gone and gotten a lot of titanium in case they needed it, so now was a good time to use it.

They'd also gathered some glass and quartz for storage, windows and a hatch, James activated the tool and it began crafting everything they'd need although Janes had forgotten they'd need solar panels for power.

So after almost an hour of crafting gathering and....... lunch, their base was completed, James had originally wabted Connor to come see before realising that Skyrays cannot breathe underwater.

So he left Connor to guard the Lifepod for now, routinely checking up on them and giving them food.

As for the base, it wasn't really a home yet, but at least things were starting to look promising.