Subnautica: Echoes

Chapter 2: All For One

All Ryley wanted to do was rest. His ears vibrated with the shouts and angered yells of his fellow board members, his brain throbbing from the hours of stress-fuelled arguments and stubborn pride. He shoved the door to his apartment closed with an exasperated grunt and ambled into the hallway, eyelids drooping and the siren call of sleep tempting him to his bed. His stomach gurgled.

The strip of lighting beneath the wall-mounted cupboards activated as he entered the kitchen. The fridge hummed softly and the digital clock on the screen ticked towards midnight. He discarded his jacket over the back of the dining chair, rescuing the dinner Lyra had promised to leave for him and cramming the plate into the microwave. Placing his elbows onto the worktop, he wiped at his face, palming his closed eyes to erase the notion of slumber from them.

"Is it true? Have you arrested Marguerit Maida?"

Ryley swivelled at the tiny voice, blinking away the blur covering his field of view. "Lyra? What are you doing up? I assumed you were in bed."

"Couldn't sleep," she replied plainly, staring at her father with hurt in her eyes and padding into the kitchen. The smooth, metal flooring tingled cold against her exposed feet. "You didn't answer my question. Have you arrested Marguerit Maida?"

Ryley hung his head, grasping the surface behind him. "Yes."

"On what charge?"

"For working against the interests of the Alterra Corporation."

Lyra gritted her teeth, the frenzy in her blood simmering. She tightened her fists and took a moment to collect herself. "That planet is not the property of Alterra."

"Yes it is," Ryley told her, spitting out the words harsher than he meant to. "They have invested enough time, money and effort for them to claim it as their own. With no sentient beings to communicate with, they class the planet as empty and open for takers." The microwave pinged, and he jabbed hard at the switch, the door releasing and swinging wide to discharge a cloud of steam. He wafted it aside and used a towel to pick up the scolding hot plate, sliding it down onto the countertop to cool. "I have come from a difficult meeting. Everyone's at odds. Nobody wants to agree on what to do. I haven't got the strength to argue with you."

"What do you want to do?" In her heart, she understood this wasn't what her father wanted. The purple smudges beneath his eyes and the withering angle of his demeanour were sufficient indicators of the stress and strain he was under.

Ryley opened his mouth to speak, to unhesitatingly express his wish to see Maida freed, but it didn't matter. He didn't have that power. His position on the board of governors was an honorary one, a false act of generosity after the press had pressured them into making a hero of him. Nothing he said counted. Not that he hadn't tried. He'd put forward countless suggestions, seeking to make Alterra better for everyone, but the ruling elite weren't interested in the welfare of their staff or the ethics of what they were doing to the planet below. All they craved was information on how they could strengthen their profits. "When I..." He gulped down the gnarling anxiety coiling from his stomach and dropped his eyes to the floor. "When I was down there, I found an island. Some survivors of the crash planned to meet there, only they never made it."

Lyra's resentment ebbed; he'd not spoken like this in a long time, and he scarcely talked about his ordeal after the demise of the Aurora.

"While I was there, I found Degasi bases and journals. Marguerit survived a crash like the Aurora's with two others. A Torgal CEO and his heir, if I remember rightly." The memories floated like specks: the rush of the tide on the shore, and the algae smell of the sea air. The sweat dappled on his brow in the radiating heat. "It didn't go well for them, and from what I understood from one particular entry, Marguerit had died. Claims were she was last seen drifting away on the back of a Reaper. I must admit, having come up against those bastards, I'm rather impressed."