Hazel and Klunk (An RnC Subnautica AU)

Chapter 5: What the hell happened here?

When dawn finally broke on Day Twenty-Three, I took myself out to go investigate the other island on the horizon. By Orvus I found growable food and two Degasi Seabases. I took abandoned PDAs, scanned everything I could, and gathered whatever materials there were. There were multipurpose rooms, bulkheads, beds, observatories, floodlights, desks, chairs, tables, even wall planters and grow-beds. Through the PDAs, I found out what happened to the Degasi. According to Bart Torgal, the three of them died. Two of them—Paul Torgal and Margarite Maida—were killed by creatures of the deep, and Bart himself was killed by ill health. However, what piqued my interest was the mention of visions and flu-like symptoms. I looked out over the landscape and seascape from the top of the mountain, listening to the wind whispering in my fluffy ears.

"That was really weird... So... Bart experienced the same things I am..." I started on my way back down, careful to avoid falling off the thin path. "I gotta go share this with Klunk."

The information I shared led Klunk to believe that whatever disease I had—likely Kharaa—Bart had died of too. It took a few more days to finally finish the labs and find all the fragments we needed. I finally found Thermal Plant fragments and constructed plenty of them around the vent for power. I went down into the Grand Reef region and found another Degasi Seabase, and then another one below us in the Jellyshroom Caves. The more I found out while Klunk was busy, the more I understood about the planet.

Back at our base, Klunk was making some progress on the bacterium research. He wasn't a biologist by any means, but he knew enough to understand how they worked and reproduced. In the lab, he created two alien containment structures—one for infected creatures and another for a control group of un-infected creatures. It was fun for me to watch the fish and observe how they behaved. I even noticed them breeding over the week! Meanwhile, in the main base, I set up two Multipurpose rooms, one on each side of the base, with the purpose of being used as bedrooms. I put in windows and in my room I set up posters, a bed, some planters for decoration, and a worktable. There was also storage placed around the room, but I had already made a dedicated storeroom. For the most part, I stayed out of Klunk's room unless I needed something from him. Ditto for the lab.

We built two Moonpools and Vehicle Upgrade Consoles off the deeper side of the base. This meant that Sally II could finally charge and be repaired at the same time. Because I had all the PRAWN Suit parts, I built two of those too. As for the Cyclops, I was missing one fragment and it was pissing me the fuck off. I was sick and stressed enough as it was, I didn't need this gnawing at me!

Day Thirty. I was just returning from an unsuccessful search for the final fragment in my PRAWN Suit Pepper when I noticed the base seemed eerily quiet. I put Pepper away in the Moonpool to let her recharge and asked Sally II where Gadget was. I'm not entirely sure what made me start calling Klunk "Gadget," but I know it happened between days Twenty-Three and Thirty. After thirty days together and constantly calling him "Clank" in my head by accident, it just seemed right. He didn't seem to mind, and perhaps enjoyed the new name. He was very interested in my technology and gadgets after all.

"I do not know, Captain," Sally II said. I looked through the water toward the other PRAWN Suit—which I made for Gadget—and it was still there. Sally II continued, "I have not seen him leave the seabase since this morning."

"I see... Thanks for your help, Sal. I'm going to check the lab." I walked through the hall toward the storeroom, then went through the bulkhead toward the lab. "Gadget? Klunk, are you in here?" I asked, knocking on the closed door.

No response.

"Gadget, you're not fooling me. I know you're in there."

"*Nnnngh...*" I heard a groan. I'd never heard that sound out of him before. It sounded like he was in pain. There weren't any alerts that the habitat was damaged, so what could be going on? I spun the lock on the bulkhead door and opened it. There were broken test tubes on the floor, and spilled chemicals in a puddle around a Lombax figure with gray base fur and white stripes. His black hair lay strewn about the floor around his head, and there appeared to be small screws, bolts, nuts, wires, and even metal shavings scattered around the vicinity. I didn't dare touch the chemical, but despite the obvious panic I felt I couldn't just leave him lying there. Most reason and common sense may have been pushed to the back of my brain but who else could it be?