Hidden in the Depths

Chapter 9

The salve did seem to work just as the scans predicted. Over the next few days, they applied the salve every day, twice on the most severe wounds. While the healing would still take a long while, Tubbo felt a lot better, able to move around with something stable to hold on to by the third day. The scaring itself on the weaker burns and on his face developed fainter than they had assumed, so while it still will be a permanent scar, it won't look as terrible as it could have without any treatment.

During the whole healing process so far, the creature had not once returned. At least not that they had noticed. While Techno and Fit still remain on high alert whenever they entered the water, the general atmosphere in the pod was lighter than before. For a little while Techno even felt the pressing paranoia leave him, as the feeling of burning green watching him lessened, even vanished once.

It was odd, but he accepted the chance for a good sleep.

With Tubbo feeling better and able to move around, he sat down together with Fit and helped him repair the radio. They basically ripped apart every single connection, cable and some circuits, made twenty different organized piles and had Techno grab cables and plating from the crates down below. At least it helped Techno feel a little less useless, being the only one who had no idea what to do with all the different electrics.

Two people working on the repairs did speed up the process. By the end of the fifth day after applying the healing salve on Tubbo, the boy carefully screwed the metal casing back onto the radio, declaring it repaired. The different buttons and lights were lighting up again, so at least something as been successfully fixed. A little Radio message started playing as soon as Fit booted up the full radio system.

"Radio back online. Sending distress signal to all nearby receiving radios. Would you like to attach a message?"

The group shared a look, hesitating for a second. Eventually Techno just shrugged and took the lead. Pressing the blinking button to attach a message along their distress signal.

"This is Technoblade from lifepod 04. My pod is located on the south-west side of the crashed ship, maybe two miles out. I have crewmembers Fit and Toby with me, all of us in relatively good shape. Are there any functioning pods receiving us?"

He let go of the button, allowing the radio to process and send out their signal. "So now we wait?" "Yes. We can't really do much more than to send and receive messages. All we can do now is hope that there are other working pods out there that can hear us." Tubbo eyed the hatch that led out to the top of the pod. "Shouldn't we be able to pick up already existing messages?" "That depends on how far away the pods are. Our signals aren't exactly strong. Especially with an already damaged radio."

The youngest sat in the only functioning chair still mounted on the wall, staring at the slow blinking lights of the radio. "What if we never get any messages? If we are the only..." He trailed off, leaning his head onto his palm. "Some radios might be broken. You and Fit would not be able to contact anyone from your pod either. Doesn't mean you are dead. It's just another chance for us to find other survivors."

"Well, at least the three of us are together. We have some company to keep us distracted. And speaking of distracted, since we will be notified when we get radio messages, let's do something productive. I saw this fun little device called a habitat builder and I would like to experiment with it. Techno could help me grab some resources for it. Maybe you could come down into the water too, there should be a second oxygen mask in here somewhere."

Fit began to rummage through the storage and in the two little wall containers. "Did you just say 'habitat builder'?" Techno watched the other move around the pod, eventually making a little happy noise as he held up a functioning oxygen mask and tank for Tubbo, who instantly got up and grabbed it from Fit's hands. "I did! I have never used one before, but it seems like a useful thing. If we find more people, this or any pod will be way too small. We already have to squeeze together when we sleep."