Chapter 2: Underwater

It was a new day. Jik awoke in the early morning, right as the sun was just cresting over the horizon. He was checking to see what was inside the lifepod’s storage unit. Inside he found two reusable flares, two nutrient bars, and two bottles of water. He’s stomach growls, but he resists the urge to open one of the nutrient bars. He thinks to himself, “I should save those for when I really need them.”

    He grabs his PDA from his side and taps the screen. The screen comes to life, displaying a data log. The computerized voice speaks, “Good morning Captain, how may I be of assistance?”

Jik thinks for a moment before replying, “I need you to upload a list of the materials that I need for the Repair Tool to my helmet.”

“Uploading list now. I will also update your helmet, so that it will be easier for you to identify materials and items.”

“Now, the other day, you said that the atmosphere was an Oxygen, Nitrogen atmosphere. Does this mean that the air here is breathable?”

“That is correct. The atmosphere here resembles that of several planets in my data banks. Those planets are Orion Pax, Gemini, Lux, Andromeda, and Earth.”

“That’s good, that means I can refill my suit with air whenever I need it.”

“Your suit comes with a built in air bladder that can hold up to two minutes of air. My advice to you would be to fabricate an Oxygen Tank. This will increase your survivable exposure time in hostile environments.”

“Why does everything have to be hostile? We don’t know the first thing about this planet. What if there’s nothing hostile here?”

“That is highly unlikely.”

Jik sighs before climbing up the ladder, “Well if an Oxygen Tank helps to increase my chances of survival, upload a list of materials that I will need for that too.” Jik now stands on top of the lifepod, he stares at the world around him. Nothing but miles and miles of ocean. Small waves skim across the surface, gently rocking the lifepod back and forth.

    The computerized voice speaks, “Upload complete. You now have two ongoing list of materials for a Repair Tool, and an Oxygen Tank.”

“Thanks.” Jik pauses for a second before continuing, “You know, I feel like I should call you something other than PDA, or computer.”

“You would not be the first.  If you tell me what you would like to call me, I will update my data banks so that my programming will respond to whatever name you give me.”

Jik thinks for a moment before responding,

“How about Dawn? Yeah, I’ll call you Dawn.”

“Updating data banks, program responds to ‘Dawn’.”

Jik looks to the water, clicks the button on the side of the helmet. The glass pane slides across and turns on. A cursor appears and tracks the movement of Jik’s right eye. The oxygen indicator appears in the lower right hand corner. The list of materials need for the Repair Tool and the Oxygen Tank was located on the left hand side. And right towards the top-center of the pane, was a depth indicator. He then jumps into the water. It wraps around himself, small bubbles rush by clouding his vision. After a couple of seconds, he could see perfectly. The underwater world that greeted him was breathtaking. Jik looks around, everything was foreign to him. The fauna and flora of this world was like nothing he had ever seen. He watched fish-like creature swim right by him. The fish was small, kite-like, and had a rich blue color. It had a yellow beak, and on the sides of it’s head, were large yellow eyes. The creature made a small high pitch chirp as it swam by.

“Hey Dawn, is there something that I can fabricate to help me record data on this planet.”

“You could fabricate a scanner.”

“Scanner?”

“The scanner can be used to synthesize blueprints from salvaged technology, and to record alien biological data. Uploading list of materials needed for scanner to your helmet now.”

“Thanks.”  

      Jik swims around, taking in the environment. On a small rocky ridge in front of him, were a cluster of mushroom like plants. The mushroom like plants were a brilliant violet color. The cursor tracks over the mushroom like plants. Dawn speaks, “Scans indicate that these fungi contain an acid that can have battery applications.”

Jik grabs a handful of the mushrooms, and places them inside his suits storage pockets. Around him was more flora, small spread out patches of tall grass-like plants that seemed to glow a blue-green color. Coral tubes in all sizes were scattered on the floor of the shallows. The coral tubes bent in a all sorts of directions. Round plates of coral grows on the rock ridges.

Dawn speaks, “Like most oceans, there is an area that is considered a ‘safe zone’ from predators and other hazards. These safe zones allow for fauna and flora to flourish, and the depth of these zones aren’t deep.”  Jik continues to swim, until he sees bits and pieces of wreckage and scrap metal. Jik looks at the piece of metal. The cursor in his helmet tracks over the piece of metal.

Dawn’s voice speaks through the helmet, “Analysis confirms this wreckage is from the Aurora. Outer layers of the material have oxidized, suggesting it has been heated to over 1200 degrees Celsius. This pattern is consistent with hull disintegration during atmospheric entry. Inner layers contain enough residual titanium to be reclaimed at the fabricator.”

“That’s good, the Scanner and the Oxygen Tank both need titanium.”  Jik notices that there was a bunch of scrap metal throughout the shallow floor. “Well looks like I have a decent supply of titanium. There’s wreckage spread throughout the floor.”

“Thirty seconds of oxygen remaining.”

          Jik swims up to the surface, and looks around. He was about 125 meters from his lifepod, facing to the south. The reality of him being out in the middle of an ocean, by himself, alone, sent a spike of fear through his body. All in one moment, he felt alone, and scared. The thought of being so far away from the lifepod made him uneasy. He quickly turned around and started to swim back towards his lifepod.

***

Jik stares blankly at the fabricator, he’s not sure what to do. “Uh Dawn,” He pauses, “How does this thing work?”

“It is simple. Simply pull down the fabricator hatch, and place whatever items you want to fabricate on the fabrication platform. Then the screen to the left of the fabricator will display what can be fabricated based on the materials that are on the platform. When you are ready, press the fabricate button on the screen.”

“Sounds pretty easy.”

     Jik pulls down the fabricator hatch, and places the piece of metal salvage from earlier on the platform. The screen to the left of the fabricator turns on. Jik takes a look at it. The only thing that the screen displayed is smaller pieces of titanium.  Jik pressed the button, and the fabricator came to life. Within seconds, four pieces of titanium were created. Dawn’s voice can be heard, “Titanium is a versatile and essential construction material.”

    Jik picks them up and moves them to the storage unit. “Okay, that was awesome. But, I still need a lot more materials. This titanium that I have now will be enough when I go to fabricate an Oxygen Tank and the Scanner. Now, I just need to find a way to make a battery.”

***

Jik is back under the water trying to get a layout of the Shallows and trying to find a way to make a battery. He looks at the list of materials. Only two items left to find, an acid substance and Copper. From Dawn's analysis, the 'Acid Mushrooms’ the he had found earlier, contained an acid substance that could be used in battery fabrication. Now all he needed was Copper

“Copper? Where the hell am I gonna find Copper?”

His helmet’s cursor stops on something on the side of a rocky ridge. A zoomed in picture appears on the helmet’s glass screen. The zoomed in picture is of a pale color rock. Dawn speaks, “These unusual geological structures often form around titanium and copper deposits, and are distinct to this planet. Assessment: Titanium and Copper source.”

“Thanks Dawn.” Jik swims over the the pale stone, and hits it with the palm of his hand. The stone cracks, and Jik repeats the process two more times before a chunk of copper is reveal. Jik picks up the dull brown metal.

“Copper is an essential component of all powered equipment. Your probability of survival increased to: unlikely, but plausible.”

“Is that last part suppose to make me feel better?”

“Well giving that before, you’re chance of survival was almost nothing…”

“Dawn, that question was rhetorical.”

Jik swims a little longer, off in the distance he could see tall stalks of a seaweed looking plant gently moving in the ocean current. Jik swims closer to the new biome.

“Dawn, what do you make of this?”

“Life on this planet grows in unusually distinct and diverse ecological biomes. Further study recommended.”

      A low growl emitted from within the new biome causing Jik to swim back a ways. He looks for the cause of the sound and sees a long snouted, shark-like creature. The creature looked prehistory. It was a pale, grey color with purple on its dorsal fins and front fins. Fear began to creep up Jik’s body, he was frozen. The strange creature was about ten feet in length. Dawn’s voice, was what dragged Jik back into reality.

“Thirty seconds of Oxygen remaining.”

Jik swam to the surface then back to his lifepod, wondering how long he would survive on this world.

Author's Note

Ignore grammar problems and spelling mistakes