Subnautica: Echoes

Chapter 4: The Previous Owners

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Nothing any of us can do about it now. I didn't have a clue what had befallen either of them until I hacked into the Torgal network and found the records. Alterra located some of Bart's journals when they were excavating around the Aurora and sent notifications. Apparently, a Crabsquid got Paul. Dumb idiot never knew when enough was enough, but Bart he..." Marguerit swallowed thickly and rubbed at her cheek, hunching over her juddering legs. The recollections came like a rainstorm, each droplet soaking through to her core where she hid those painful memories. "Bart caught the Kharaa. I suppose you can guess what happened to him."

Lyra sat in stunned silence, still as stone and heart pounding with each devastating revelation. Even if she'd have wanted to say something, she wasn't sure what she could say.

"He was nineteen, and he died in pain and alone on some alien world," Marguerit breathed, angry more than anything else that Bart had had to suffer so horrifically. "But that is what this planet does, and you're a fool to be going down there."

The tannoy crackled, the speakers on either side of the cockpit door churning out flickers of sound.

"If you look to the left, you'll see the Vesper station, famed for having faculty members so unemotional, they may as well have sticks up their asses," Cassidy announced, followed by a short snort of laughter from Hunter before the pilot cut the transmission.

The two women peered over their shoulders as the base came into view, hovering outside the blue planet's atmosphere. Samuel peeked around the drapery from the back room to get a glimpse.

"There is a little birdie down there causing quite a lot of trouble for them," Marguerit commented, sullen eyes trailing the space station as their pod drifted just out of tracking range.

"Where did you hear that?" Samuel asked, venturing out into the connecting module.

The mercenary turned to the man wandering closer to the window, a smirk creeping across her lips. "From the little birdie herself."

* * *

"How is he?" Lyra inquired. "Still asleep?"

Samuel nodded, meeting her by the elliptical window and chancing a brief peek at the dim, unforgiving depths of the universe. "Out of all of us, I thought I'd be the one throwing up. I'm surprised I haven't. I always get travel sick."

Behind them, Marguerit stirred in her slumber and turned her back on them as she tucked herself closer to the wall.

Lyra covered her with a coat and returned to the window, following Samuel's gaze out into space. "I'm glad you're here," she whispered. "I'm aware you don't want to be." She held her hand up to prevent him from insisting he did, his mouth hanging open before he resigned himself to the truth. "I know you will always be by my side, no matter what stupidity I bring your way, and I can't blame you for being hesitant. This isn't just stupid; this might kill us all."

"You're not wrong there," Samuel replied, trying to force a smile onto his face. "I'm not adventurous like Cassidy, and I'm not eager to jump into danger like Hunter. I'm rather weak, really."

"No." Lyra shook her head and leaned against the hull. She glanced around Samuel to the rear module where Hunter's snores permeated through the curtain. "You're the bravest of us all," she told him, infusing sincerity into every word. "You may not be bold or willing to throw yourself into the middle of peril, but that doesn't mean you're not brave. You're scared, terrified out of your wits, I'm sure, but you're still here, and that means more to me than anything." She brought him in for a tight embrace, arms circling his shoulders and her forehead pressed to the crook of his neck. "You, Hunter, and Cassidy are my best friends, and I love you all dearly," she affirmed, the whisper of his fingertips soothing down her back.

"We love you too," Samuel assured her.

Lyra beamed and held onto his arms, the golden sheen of his hair glittering in the incoming glow of a nearby sun. "Whenever you feel scared, just imagine of all the cool stuff we will find down there. Artefacts that no human has ever seen, and you will be the first."

He pretended to ruminate on the thought and grinned. "As long as we don't encounter any sleeping Mesmers, we'll be fine," he chuckled. Lyra chortled with him, and he enjoyed the moment while it lasted.

Out of the window, 4546B came into view, a blue stream of light washing over the interior of the ship as they neared the planet's atmosphere.

"Thank you for having faith in me," he said sincerely, holding onto her hand. "It's more than most have."

* * *

The ship swung through the atmosphere of Planet 4546B, tails of flame rocketing from the hull as it wrestled with the forces eager to bring it crashing down.

Lyra loosened the straps around her torso and swivelled in her seat. The clear blue sky opened to them as they broke loose of the pressure, and splotches of land grew below. Speeding towards an island in the northern reaches, she spotted a shadowed mass fixed in the calming waters. As the light shifted, she realised what it was. The skeleton frame crawled up to the clouds like writhing vines, the main bulk of the Aurora struggling to remain afloat, slowly descending into the depths. In a few years, it may not be there at all.

"We're coming in to land," Cassidy informed them. "Might be bumpy so tighten your belts."

The hull creaked as the ship lurched forwards and dipped. Lyra kept her eyes on the world outside, watching as the ocean rose towards them at speed. The wheels lowered and just when she thought they may hit the waves, sand shot up and sprayed the windows. With a few bumps and a sway, they trembled to a standstill.

The clamour of the engine faded, and the pistons fired to drop the door and let the sunlight in.

"Scans have approved the area," Cassidy reported. "You're all clear to vacate the craft."

Hunter was the first out of his seat, vaulting down the steady incline and throwing his head back in bliss.

Samuel clambered out after him, eyeing the terrain suspiciously before he took those initial tentative steps. The warm sand prickled his feet, and the blasts of heat radiating from the sun burrowed beneath his dive suit.

"Breathe in that fresh air, Sammy boy," the doctor gushed. "Have you ever smelled anything so clean?"

"I hate it when you call me that," Samuel grumbled, holding his hands out to stabilise himself as he traversed the uneven sands. Something circular crawled towards him, a bioluminescent ring glowing from the top. The creature launched itself at him and he stumbled back into Hunter.

"Careful of the cave crawlers," Lyra called to the pair, shielding her eyes as she descended the ramp with Cassidy and Marguerit following close behind. "They're not dangerous, but they can give you a nasty nip."

"Now you tell us!" Samuel squeaked, hiding behind Hunter as the spindly beast scuttered away.

Lyra pushed her way towards the shade beneath the island's mighty mountains, her vision adjusting and granting her a better look at the layout. The peaks rose and pierced the clouds and plant life sprouted around the area, but the most prominent feature was the alien structure jutting from the western side of the island. Each block built it higher, but there didn't seem to be any logic in the construction. "The design of this tower is like the facility my mum was in," she said, glancing up at Samuel. "Have you got the coordinates?"

Samuel swiped at his PDA and clicked his tongue as the information loaded. Green paths wove around the map, charting their current location and the way ahead. "Once we've constructed the sea pod, we need to head that way," he instructed, pointing them south. "I don't know how the hull integrity will hold up as we get deeper, so we may have to swim the last hundred metres, but there should be an opening-"

"If we're clever, swimming won't be necessary," Marguerit told them, four sets of inquisitive eyes turning to her. "The previous owners of the planet built complex teleportation systems that could take them from one end of the world to the other." She gestured to the mountains and swished her hand out to the sprawling seas. "I can show you. There should be an archway close by."