Alone and Afraid [Subnautica]

But Only If You Ride The Tide (2)

A grumbling sensation in my stomach brought me to my senses. Food. I needed food.

I very quickly kneeled over the hatch at the bottom and placed my hand over the "twisty thingy", as I have now dubbed it, and twisted said twisty thingy. I then pulled on the hatch, opening it, as I placed my mask and diving equipment over my head, slipping into the water. And, by god, the fucking water.

It was so goddamn clear, nothing like the disgusting, murky water back home. And the things in it.

The terrain was smooth, yet bumpy. Complicated, yet beautiful. There were caves, arches, coral, mushrooms, everything. And that's not even mentioning the things within-life was plentiful. The ecosystem was so diverse, I don't think any other known planet had this much life. Hell, maybe not even Earth was as diverse nowadays.

There were fish of all sorts. Fish with two sacs and one eye, fish that resembled a spade and had one eye, and fish that just had one big fucking eye.

Alright, so maybe not that diverse. Of course, it was all likely for a reason, and that's not even mentioning the other...things.

There was some kind of ray with a mostly black coloration, with blue edges and blue dots along it's spine. The tail looked soft, though in the shape of a pincer, and was blue on the outside, though orange on the inside. It had an actual skull, separated from the rest of its body, two eyes on either side of its head, and rabbit-like orange...ears? They were more likely than not some kind of sensory organ, but they resembled ears, so that's what I'm calling them.

One such fish really caught my attention, and that was a massive...well, I don't really know what the hell it was.

Some kind of murk-green pinniped-like creature. It's abdomen and tail were nearly spherical, and there were bright, neon green 'pods' littered all over the tail. It had flippers the size and shape of massive paddles, and the head was the strangest part, for it was shaped almost exactly like a gas mask. Damn thing was the size of an underwater elephant, if not bigger.

I shook myself out of my wonder and forced myself to think, until I realized thinking underwater, where I had very limited oxygen, was probably not the best idea. I looked upwards and swam towards the bottom hatch.

Upon re-entering the lifepod, I slumped back in my chair, absolutely stumped on what to do, or even where to start.

I jumped, a beep emerging from my PDA. I retrieved the waterproof device from my pocket, and saw a red icon on one of the tabs, so I tapped one it. It then brought me to a small list that the PDA must have constructed just now. It seemed to be a list detailing what I should do, which is exactly what I was pondering, so...thanks Ms. PDA voice, I suppose.

Hey, anyways, where the fuck did this voice come from, anyways?

I guess it comes with the lifepod and synced up with my PDA or something, that or my PDA just never felt like talking ever before. I feel the former is the most likely.

The list read: "If you are reading this, then you have survived an emergency evacuation of a capital-class ship equipped with Alterra technology. Congratulations: the hard part is over.

Your PDA has automatically rebooted in Emergency Mode. This operating system has one directive: to keep you alive on a hostile alien world. If that is not possible it will alert salvage teams to the location of your remains.

It features:
- Full monitoring of vital signs for timely survival advice
- Blueprints for fabricating a range of essential survival equipment, tailored to your environment
- Onboard camera, microphone and OCR technology for short-range situational analysis - Cross-compatibility with all Alterra-compliant products

NB Your personal and work files have been encrypted and may be retrieved at a later date by a licensed engineer.

1. Administer first aid if required
2. Take inventory of available materials and supplies, and decide on rations
3. Survey the environment for threats and resources
4. Construct necessary survival equipment using the lifepod's fabricator
5. Check lifepod for damage, and repair as necessary
6. Broadcast local distress signal using lifepod's short-range radio
7. Locate other survivors using line of sight or the radio
8. Find or construct a more permanent habitat
9. Maintain physical and psychological health until rescue

NB This information is meant as a general guide. In the first instance you should always follow the advice of your PDA, which has taken your particular circumstances into account."

I finished reading, and reread the list. Alright.

Step 1: Not much I can do, it's just a few minor bumps and bruises, although my headache is pretty bad.
Step 2: There should be a compartment in front of me. I located it, and opened it up. Inside were two brick-shaped rations, two bottles of water, and two flares. Not much those flare's do for me, but whatever. I really quickly took out one of the 7 inch rations and took a bite, before putting it back. One thumbnail-sized bite a day will hopefully be good enough, although I might half to eat more than that in order to have enough strength to swim and catch some fish to eat.
Step 3: Resources are in no short supply from what I saw, although with an ecosystem like this, there will undoubtedly be threats. I guess what matters is how big they are and how sharp their teeth is.
Step 4: I'll do this later.
Step 5: The lights are pretty badly broken, and so is the radio. I can't fix this without a repair tool, which I don't currently have.
Step 6: See above.
Step 7: Nothing but water for as far as I can see, save for the flaming wreck in the distance, although I doubt anyone still onboard survived that.

My throat caught.

Almost nobody on board survived that. The only hope for survival was being in those lifepods.

No. I can't think about it now, first I have to deal with my own survival, and then I'll make time to find other survivors who took lifepods. No time for tears or grieving.

Step 8: I'd have to have a special tool for this, although I think I saw a little green bump on the horizon. If I were to face the Aurora, it would be right of that, at about 3:00 or 4:00.
Step 9: This one will be tough, but I think I can manage.

For now, I guess I should grab some resources.