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Chapter Text

There were only so many nutrient blocks and dried nuts someone could eat before eventually going insane, as Shuuichi Saihara learned sometime during his seventh week on such a diet.

“Who was the sad fucker who launched the dried desserts into space again?” his friend mumbled, slamming his own nutrient block onto the bar table between them and taking a seat.

Shuuichi sighed. “That was you, Momota.”

“I keep telling you to just call me Kaito,” he said, his frustrations with meals seemingly gone when he remembered the consequences of his actions. “That’s clearly outlined in our friendship contract.”

“Right. Sorry, Kaito.”

It had been some months since the two had renewed their friendship contract with new terms, since they had only met each other when the two had boarded the spaceship Aurora a year ago. Despite the amount of time in between the renewment and present time, Shuuichi had never quite gotten used to calling a superior crew member by their first name.

But it’s not like it was completely his fault. Life in Alterra space was either crushingly competitive or mind-numbingly boring. He had spent too much time with the latter life.

“Good afternoon, you two,” another person said, taking a seat down at the bar table with them.

“Good afternoon, Kaede,” Shuuichi said, careful to not make any further friendship contract violations.

Kaito, chewing his way through a nutrient block, held out his free hand for a high five, which Kaede took without a second thought.

This had been life for the past year. Wake up, do whatever a superior told him to do, sometimes meet friends for meals, then go back to sleep. There was so much more Shuuichi could do than his current routine, but with the sheer competitiveness from the other support crew on duty, it was impossible not to drown.

“How’d the meeting with the captain go?” Shuuichi asked before popping a piece of dried fruit into his mouth. His face scrunched at the texture, drawing laughter from the two around him. No matter how many times he ate dried fruits, he would never get used to that.

“It actually went quite well,” Kaede said, “I can’t tell you two much, but he liked my proposal. I think—”

Bang!

Silence.

“Wh-What was that?” Shuuichi asked, looking around at the sea of other equally concerned passengers.

The other crew members of the Aurora snapped their heads up at the ceiling, eyebrows furrowed as they wondered what exactly the sound could be. There was no maintenance scheduled for the upper decks of the ship at this time; there was no reason there should have been such a noise.

After a few seconds of silence, the crew members hesitantly returned to their conversations, their shoulders tense and eyes darting everywhere. The air held a nervous, almost frantic atmosphere that felt denser than a black hole.

“Anyway,” Kaede said, her smile strained. “That’s a new sound. I’ve never heard that one before. Do you think somebody fired the dried fruits into space this time?”

Kaito groaned as Shuuichi chuckled. Even though it had happened almost two months ago, there was no living down that mistake.

Their mirth was interrupted by another explosion detonating right above them.

Everything stopped.

After a few seconds of silence, Kaito broke the silence and whispered, “I don’t like that sound.” He stood up from his seat, the other half of his nutrient block left forgotten on the table, along with various other crew members.

Then fire enveloped the walls of the canteen, and all semblance of civility was thrown out the window.

Screams. Rapid footsteps. Smoke.

Shuuichi stayed frozen in place, watching his world burn around him. His throat constricted, and his feet felt as heavy as boulders. Something had gone deepy, horribly wrong.

Kaede stared at the ring on her finger wordlessly, her face betraying no emotion. Eventually, she managed to pull a smile onto her face and say, “I’m going to find my partner. I’ll be back.” She stood up and weaved her way through the frantic crowd.

Whatever emotion was on Kaito’s face faded. He signed in resignation. “I guess I’m going after her.” He turned to face Shuuichi with the most stern face he had pulled in their time together on the ship. Every muscle on his face was tense, and his fists were clenched. “Shuuichi, you need to listen to me very carefully before I go. Not as a friend, but as a superior.”

Shuuichi gulped and nodded, the sudden shift in tone sending a chill down his spine.

“Go to a lifepod immediately, and don’t let anyone else in. I don’t care if there’s supposed to be two people in it, I don’t care about whatever superior is going to tell you otherwise, I just don’t care.”

Lifepod? Ignore superiors? What was going to happen to them?

“W-Why do you sound like you know something I don’t?” Shuuichi asked, his hands trembling.

“Because I do. Shut up and go!”

“But you and Kaede—”

“Now!” Kaito punctuated his command by hauling Shuuichi out of his seat by the back of his collar and throwing him towards the entrance of the Deck A lifepods. When Shuuichi had managed to find his balance again and turn back, it was too late. Kaito had disappeared into the flood of frantic, desperate people behind him.

And if that wasn’t already enough to handle, a green beam shaved off half the ship, sending its parts and some unlucky passengers rocketing into the world beneath them. An alarm rang throughout what was left of the ship, and a woman’s automated voice spoke, though Shuuichi couldn’t make out what she was saying in his panic to escape.

Okay, no. Go, go, go!

Shuuichi rushed into the hall of lifepods, trying and failing to block the sounds of screams from the other side of the ship.

Three lifepods were left. Footsteps were coming closer. He was running out of air.

He pushed his way into lifepod five and shut the hatch behind him. He threw himself in the first seat he saw, pulled the security arm over his chest, and punched the launch button on the right side of the chair.

An automated message played overhead. “Launch in three… two… one…”

Then as the lifepod escaped the ship, Shuuichi looked up to see his home for the past year explode into a fiery ball of crushed dreams.

Shuuichi took in a deep breath and clenched his fingers around the arms of the chair. He felt as if he could throw up at any second.

Calm down, Shuuichi, you’re alive. You have oxygen. You’re in your dive suit. You escaped hell.

He was shook out of his thoughts when the fire extinguisher and a metal plate broke off the wall. His eyes followed the items as they bounced around the pod, wreaking havoc on the devices inside, before the plate made contact with his face, sending him into a black void.

Kaito… Kaede… you two are okay, right?

Something was too hot. Too bright. Too close.

Shuuichi opened his eyes, brushing his fingers against the bruise on his cheek imprinted on it, courtesy of the panel that had broken off.

Wait. What the hell is next to me?

He turned to his left, only to see half his lifepod in flames. His eyes widened, and his heart flipped.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck—

He smashed at the release button on his chair. Once the security arm was removed, he picked up the fire extinguisher fallen just a few feet away from him and put out the flames, coughing and squinting at the bright light. After just a few seconds, the fire was erased.

The fire was out. He survived.

Where… Where am I?

Shuuichi searched his body for any hint, his heart jumping at the feel of a metal tablet in his back pocket.

My PDA! Does it still work?

He booted it up with his fingers crossed. A sigh left his mouth upon the tablet rebooting in emergency mode and the familiar Alterra logo in place of the loading screen.

“You have suffered minor head trauma,” the PDA read, “This is considered an optimal outcome.”

Shuuichi would have rolled his eyes in any other circumstance. He had gotten ridiculously lucky in surviving the ship’s crash, and he knew countless others hadn’t been so lucky. Maybe even including his friends.

Or maybe they did. There was no evidence of either outcomes, so he pushed it to the back of his mind for now.

His inventory and paper doll showed up on the screen with five other tabs indicating blueprints, beacons, images, log messages, and the databank.

“This PDA has now rebooted in emergency mode with one directive: to keep you alive on an alien world,” the PDA read.

Fuck. There went any hopes for this being a familiar planet. How was he supposed to survive on a world when he didn’t know what anything on it was?

“Please refer to the databank for detailed survival advice. Good luck.”

Shuuichi tapped on the databank tab, going through the advice given.

     1. Administer first aid if required.

He brought his hand up to his bruised cheek and frowned. While it certainly stung, there was nothing on his body that was critically damaged. He could skip step one for now.

2. Take inventory of available materials and supplies, and decide on rations.

Well, there was a step that wasn’t completely useless. Shuuichi searched his lifepod before coming across a red storage box and flipping the top open. He sighed in relief upon finding two nutrient blocks and two bottles of water. Flares were included as well, though he had the feeling he wouldn’t need to be using them anytime soon.

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.

Shuuichi took a moment to count his blessings that the only things damaged were the radio and Lifepod Systems. The medical kit fabricator, fabricator, and solar power cells were left untouched.

He read through the rest of the survival guidelines and cursed whatever had led to most of the blueprints on his PDA becoming corrupted. While he could scan other machines for their blueprints, there was no telling what blueprints were even available out there.

But to do that, he needed a scanner.

And to do that, he needed a battery and a piece of titanium.

Which meant he needed to gather resources…

Shuuichi put his PDA back into his pocket and climbed the ladder up to the top hatch of the lifepod, his hands shaking with every step. He took a deep breath to steady himself before opening the hatch and climbing out.

His only reward was the sight of the Aurora crashed into an endless sea in flames.

And at the worst time possible, the PDA chipped in, “The Aurora has suffered orbital hull failure. Cause: unknown. Zero human life signs detected.”

Zero. There was nobody alive on that ship.

It should have been obvious from the way the entire ship was on fire, but with that phrase, reality sunk in.

As far as he knew, there was nobody alive on this alien planet except for the unlucky winner of the most fucked up lottery the galaxy had ever seen: Shuuichi Saihara.

Chapter Text

The ocean was not a friend. In fact, it wasn’t even friendly. It was more like that pesky neighbor who smiled constantly and acted like the most golden person in the galaxy before taking your blueprints and selling them to Alterra as if they were the ones who created them in the first place. Nature was a bitch, and the ocean was no exception.

Shuuichi checked to make sure his diving suit was on, running his fingers along the seams to ensure no holes were in the fabric. He opened his PDA again, running through the list of materials he needed to create the most basic items for surviving on a water world.

Two acid mushrooms, six titanium, one copper, two creepvine seed clusters, one cave sulfur. Don’t forget that.

Only two of those resources were familiar to him. Titanium was used in the building of the Aurora, so he could probably collect a good amount from the scrap metal undoubtedly lying around the ocean floor. Copper was stored in limestone outcrops, as was more titanium.

But acid mushrooms? Creepvine seed clusters? Cave sulfur? It was going to be a long journey trying to figure out where those were.

Shuuichi crossed his arms as he stared down into the blue depths underneath him.

Come on, Shuuichi, you can do it. It’s either this or death. No rescue is coming. Even if it was, you wouldn’t know about it because your radio’s busted. Go. Just go!

He shut his eyes and hopped off the lifepod, diving into an unfamiliar ocean.

In space, no one can hear you scream. The same holds true for the ocean.

Shuuichi bit his lip, clawing at himself in an attempt to calm the raging anxiety pulsing through his veins.

Despite his worries, the biome he landed in seemed quite safe. Nothing seemed to be attacking him yet. The only organisms around were small, fish-like organisms, some with huge eyes and others with weird colors. Another creature was reminiscent of a tiny manta ray. The only fauna larger than him swam much further away from the other fish in pods. The only thing he could make out from the distance was the body being an overall green color with yellow spots on the bigger end of it.

But the flora surpassed anything he had ever seen back at home. Rock formations covered every inch of the land, green algae contrasting against its tan color. Differing sizes of coral tubes were scattered around the seafloor, and other red and pink flora decorated it. So many different shades of green, so many colors…

Observing the environment, while gorgeous, only made his anxiety and fear climb up. Better to get it over with now rather than at night.

Actually, did this planet even have day and night cycles?

There was time to worry about that later. Shuuichi took another breath of air before diving deeper into the ocean.

The scanner tool is the most important. That’s a battery and titanium. Metal salvage, two acid mushrooms, one copper.

Metal salvage was easy enough to find. Its white color stuck out like a sore thumb against the softer colors of life in the ocean. He picked up two scraps and placed them into his inventory.

Acid mushrooms were… dubious. While the acid part in the name made him wary, they didn’t seem to leak anything poisonous or dangerous to human life. And that group of pink mushrooms near his lifepod looked an awful lot like the acid mushrooms shown on his PDA…

Fuck it.

Shuuichi gingerly plucked two acid mushrooms from the ground before he could think about it too much.

But copper… Where in the world would limestone outcrops be?

Shuuichi kicked his feet, propelling himself to the surface for another breath of air and a moment to think.

While he wasn’t quite the chief of anything in the Aurora, he knew enough about geology to know what a limestone outcrop looked like. If the PDA gave him a blueprint with that material included, it must be somewhere on the planet. But that would require diving deeper…

What would Kaito and Kaede say? Probably something encouraging him to dive deeper and explore. A word of encouragement to survive on this god forsaken planet.

So survive he will.

Shuuichi dove into the water once more, only for his heart to stop upon reaching a sudden drop.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Nobody warned me about this. It can’t be that bad, right?

A deposit of limestone outcrop glinted in the distance.

It’s not going to be that bad. It can’t be. Go. Just… go for it. Stop thinking.

Shuuichi looked around for any previously unobserved organism before swimming as fast as he could towards the limestone outcrop deposit. He was deeper down than he was comfortable with, but it couldn’t be helped if he wanted to survive.

A few taps on the rock in the right places should do it, right? That’s what Kaede said, at least. One, two—

He scrambled to pick up the copper ore before propelling himself back to his lifepod.

“Copper is an essential component of all powered equipment,” the PDA chimed in, “Your probability of survival has just increased to: unlikely, but plausible.”

Thanks, PDA.

That expedition was more excitement in what couldn’t be more than an hour than he had experienced in the last five years of his life.

But no matter. Shuuichi set the metal salvage he had picked up onto the fabricator inside the lifepod, watching the blue lasers cut it up into four pieces of titanium. He did the same with the other piece of metal salvage. The titanium went into his pocket before he set two acid mushrooms and a copper ore onto the fabricator, watching the same process repeat. And he had enough titanium to create a standard oxygen tank? He was surpassing every expectation he had of himself (which, to be fair, was quite easy when that was set at complete failure).

In the end, the scanner in his hand and the oxygen tank strapped to his back was worth the terror gripping him every time he so much as thought about going back into the ocean. But that terror would be alleviated just a bit if he knew what could and couldn’t hurt him. Knowledge was power.

“Detecting increased local radiation levels,” the PDA said, “Trend is consistent with damage to the Aurora’s drive core, sustained during planetfall.”

Nevermind, knowledge was not power. It was fear. Cold, gripping fear.

It then occurred to Shuuichi that he wasn’t as far away from the crash site as he would prefer to be.

His grip on the scanner tightened, and he repeated the list of resources he needed in his head before unlocking the bottom hatch to his lifepod and daring to dive deeper.

Oh, no. No, no, no, no. No! No!

Whatever biome he was in stopped when he reached the terrifying sight of long, creepy kelp stalks standing upright in the water. Light was blocked on the canopies of the forest, perhaps the cause of the greenish hue in the water. The seafloor wasn’t even visible from where Shuuichi was swimming.

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

So, that meant this biome would be nothing like the previous one. Great.

The horror multiplied when he matched the pictures of the resources he needed on the PDA to the biome in front of him.

A set of familiar orange bulbs glowed around the top of the kelp stalks.

Shuuichi gulped.

You only need two of those. Just go grab them. You’ve scanned everything in the previous biome, what’s so different about this one?

The obvious answer of “Everything” went unsaid as Shuuichi dove for the orange bulbs. He plucked as many as he could before paddling back to his lifepod, clutching the bulbs close to his beating chest.

… He probably should have scanned the kelp before he left.

Oh well. It was approaching evening, and Shuuichi didn’t think he could take any more terror for today. He climbed back into his lifepod and started fabricating everything he needed.

Oh god, he forgot the cave sulfur.

Even equipped with his new survival knife and fins, there was no way he was going outside of the lifepod at night, especially not to explore a dark cave system filled with who knows what.

(For future reference, he noted that a flashlight took a battery and glass to fabricate.)

Shuuichi ate part of a nutrient block and sipped at the water that came in the storage compartment of the lifepod as he reviewed the data he had retrieved through the scanner.

The life on this planet was fascinating, even if more than slightly horrifying. Scanning the first biome indicated that the biome was called the Safe Shallows, and he was more than willing to bet that the next biome was named either after how utterly terrifying it was or the plethora of kelp in the region.

Scans of the planet weren’t as optimistic.

“Planet 4546B. Category 3 Ocean planet with oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere and extensive biodiversity. May support leviathan class predators. Water contaminated with high levels of foreign bacteria. Planet is beyond federation space, rescue unlikely. It is not recommended to explore this environment without hazardous material suits and extensive support apparatus,” his PDA said.

Well, fuck.

The oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere was good news, though it wasn’t anything new to him. Extensive biodiversity was a major red flag, but he didn’t have enough information to know what to make of it. Leviathan class predators rang alarms in his head, as did high levels of foreign bacteria. Rescue being unlikely seemed like a given, but hearing his PDA confirm his fears was discouraging.

The PDA interrupted his thoughts again. “Caution. Continued degradation of the Aurora’s drive core may result in a quantum detonation. Continuing to monitor.”

Well, that couldn’t be good.

Shuuichi bit his lip as he climbed back up to the top of the lifepod and sat down, watching flames lick the side of the Aurora and the magnified orange moon passing by.

There was something beautiful about the calm ocean and the glowing lights underneath it. He had grown acquainted enough with the ecosystem to recognize the pink hues as acid mushrooms, the blue as some kinds of fish, and the other colors as beauty. It was dangerous, but he’d be damned if it wasn’t gorgeous.

Kaito would have loved this, he thought with a rock in his throat.

Shuuichi recalled the times on the Aurora when Kaito would knock on his cabin’s doors in the middle of the night, dragging him out of his room to just stare at the stars through the windows of the ship. Sure, it would annoy his roommate and Shuuichi would lose sleep, but there was nothing quite like seeing his friend’s face light up as bright as the stars he observed.

Shuuichi sighed at the sounds of the ocean, relaxing at the groans of the Gasopods and squeaks of the Peepers he had become acquainted with.

And again, Kaede would have killed for a chance to hear the sounds of the ecosystem. She was always an audio-orientated person, as far as Shuuichi knew. Since the moment he met her, she walked with a spring in her step as she hummed whatever classical piece had wormed its way into her head. She was the first to notice when some faraway part of ship had malfunctioned just from a specific groan in the distance and the first to imitate the sound of the fauna of whatever planet they had landed on just for the fun of it.

They were both amazing people and now…

Oh. He didn’t know he could cry in a dive suit.

He looked up at the giant red moon, his body suddenly seeming much smaller than he had ever felt it was before.

Was he the only survivor of the crashed Aurora? Why did it have to be him who survived? Was he truly alone on this alien planet?

Or maybe he was the alien. Maybe even an invasive species. He could wreck the planet without even knowing the full reach of his actions, and the planet could wreck him just the same. It was only a matter of time before somebody came out on top.

The thought sent chills down his spine. Shuuichi tried his best to push it to the side as he lied down on the top of his lifepod, watching the red moon float along the night sky.

The radio. He could repair the radio with the repair tool. How the hell did he not think of that before?

Shuuichi stretched his limbs and yawned as a star peeked over the horizon, bathing him in its golden rays. They were in the outer reaches of the Ariadne Arm, and the planet was called 4546B, so… this was star 4546?

That wasn’t a creative name, but it wasn’t like Shuuichi had any authority to change it. He went over his inventory again, checking off the required items for the repair tool.

Silicone rubber, I already have that. I have titanium, too. Cave sulfur…?

Right. He had forgotten that yesterday.

Judging by the name, cave sulfur was some kind of sulfuric compound found in caves. The PDA confirmed his suspicions, reading, “SO4Tr. Sulfur-based powder which collects within particular cave plants. Combustible underwater.”

Combustible underwater. In an ocean world.

Before Shuuichi could feel sorrier for himself, his PDA piped up again.

“Seek fluid intake. Calorie intake recommended.”

Shuuichi would have rolled his eyes if he wasn’t almost out of food and water. The only safe fluid he had to drink was half a bottle of disinfected water he found in the lifepod’s storage container. And while he still had a full nutrient block left, he had a feeling he would be staying on the planet for longer than a day.

Shit. There has to be something on this planet that’s edible, right?

Shuuichi dug through the data in his PDA, reading through every line of the profiles given for the fauna and flora in the ecosystem. His finger stopped on the assessment for the Peeper.

“Assessment: Edible (high calorie count), further research required.”

Was that last phrase implying what he thought it was implying?

The assessment for the Bladderfish stood out as well.

“Assessment: Edible (oxygen may be retrieved from the bladder and added to tanks on consumption); membrane has applications as a natural water filter.”

Natural water filter? And the oxygen inside it could be added to tanks? Hm…

Shuuichi opened the hatch at the bottom of his lifepod, took a deep breath, and dove in.

After countless fish slipping through the cracks of his hands and three instances of him giving up and embracing death, he had finally managed to catch enough fish to survive for the next few days.

Shuuichi rolled his shoulders in an attempt to ease the growing pain in his limbs from swimming and stood in front of the fabricator, unsure of what to do. Did he just set the fish—Oh.

Soon enough, he had a cooked Peeper in his hand. The PDA informed him the eyeballs were protein-rich and the fish overall was highly nutritious, but did he really want to eat something staring back at him with its dead, soulless eyes?

Yes, he did. He took a bite of the side of the Peeper, internally screaming at the texture of the dried, crunchy eyeball. The fish was bland (something he was thankful for), and the rest of the texture wasn’t too off-putting. He would have to keep an eye out for more Peepers.

The Bladderfish, however…

Shuuichi set the bladderfish on the fabricator and tapped on the icon for filtered water before looking away, not wanting to observe how exactly the water was filtered.

But after a few seconds, he had a bottle of filtered water in his hand. He gulped it down, revelling at the victory that it didn’t taste completely off.

Shuuichi brushed off his hands with a smile. Now he was getting somewhere.

The smile faded when he realized he still hadn’t found cave sulfur.

Shuuichi took a medical kit out of the medical kit fabricator and unlocked the hatch to the ocean. He checked for any breaks in the diving suit before slowly inching his way to a cave nearby.

Caves were supposed to be dark and scary. Shuuichi was supposed to abandon all hope of survival and cry in the corner of his lifepod when even seeing a cave. The depths of the ocean weren’t supposed to be beautiful.

But they were. The sun beamed its way down into the caves, illuminating the passage to the extent that it wasn’t frightening anymore. More colorful flora decorated the outside of the cave system in front of him, and the outcrops inside formed the cave into a sculpture. A single brown stump sat at the entrance of the cave.

Shuuichi approached the cave but stopped upon seeing an eye peek out of the stump.

What the fuck…?

He equipped his scanner and crept forward with his arm held out. Keep calm, Shuuichi, this is a calm biome. Stay relaxed. Being tense doesn’t solve anything.

All attempts at calming himself were thrown out the window when the stump popped opening, revealing an oval-shaped red fish with spikes growing out of its body. The fish gurgled as it drove straight towards him like a torpedo, and the sound only grew louder and closer.

Shuuichi’s eyes widened, and his heart stopped. He turned around and frantically kicked his legs in an attempt to put distance between them.

Boom!

Shuuichi yelped at the sudden pain on his right side, curling into a ball as he pressed against the pain with his hand. He opened his eyes to a cloud of yellow powder surrounding the area the fish had exploded, and the fish was nowhere to be seem.

Did… Did the fish just kamikaze me? And the yellow powder… it’s the same color as cave sulfur.

The yellow powder disappeared, and there was no trace of the fish left. His suspicions were halfway confirmed. To confirm it further, he would need to go deeper in the cave to the plant where it had previously resided.

Argh, he didn’t want to do that after being attacked by an exploding fish. Who knew if there were more out there?

But he needed to know more. If he wanted to continue to survive on this planet, he needed to be familiar with every animal in the ecosystem. Maybe even a bit too familiar.

So Shuuichi took a deep breath before swimming closer to the stump left behind.

Upon further inspection, the stump opened up into a red flower with four petals and yellow streaks. There was a hole as deep as the fish was big, and a yellow powder rested at the bottom.

Shuuichi’s heart jumped, and he rushed to grab as much of it as he could. He checked his PDA to analyze the substance, relief flooding his veins upon the recognition of the cave sulfur. He scanned the plant before rushing back to his lifepod.

He climbed through the bottom hatch of the lifepod and closed his eyes, thanking everything in the universe that he was still alive to survive that encounter. He opened the medical kit he had grabbed from the fabricator earlier and patched his wounds while his PDA read out the plant’s profile.

“These plants appear to serve as nests for the explosive organisms which guard them. The outer petals are undamaged by the presence of the inhabiting creature, suggesting a complex co-development. The plant has evolved to feed on nutrients and minerals deposited within it by the fish.Sulfuric deposits on the inner leaves provide an insight into the mechanism by which the creatures explode.”

It was nice to confirm that cave sulfur was found in those plants, but he cursed himself for not being fast enough to scan the fish. He would have to make his own name for it for now.

I want to be polite, but… it just tried to kill me. I’m naming it Red Bastard.

Shuuichi chuckled to himself as he patched the final part of his wound. Looks like I’ve spent too much time around Kaito on that ship.

He stood up, his legs wobbling before he managed to stabilize himself enough to walk to the fabricator. His gaze followed the blue rays of the fabricator and tapped his fingers against his thigh as the repair tool was being created.

Shuuichi’s lips curled into a smile as he gripped the repair tool.

Holy shit. How had he made it this far?

But no matter. He held the repair tool up to the Lifepod Systems and held down the trigger, watching the wires repair themselves. His smile only grew when the lights inside the lifepod were turned on like a ray of hope.

He switched his attention to the radio. After a few seconds of watching the systems repair themselves, his connection with the other potential Aurora survivors was secured.

“Captain, a new message has arrived,” the radio said.

A new message? Already? Then that must mean…

Shuuichi rushed to accept the message.

“Receiving pre-recorded distress call. Playing back…”

A familiar woman's voice took place of the radio’s robotic one. “This is Lifepod 3, uploading our coordinates. We're plugging some holes in our emergency Seaglide, so if we're late for the rendezvous, don't panic.” She paused. “Also, don't go home without us. Seriously. 3 out."

That had to be Kirumi Toujou, his superior during his time working for the support staff. The two weren’t too close, though Shuuichi had grown to respect her, and she to him.

Though her words implied someone else was in the lifepod with her. Could there be two more survivors on the planet?

Shuuichi’s heart raced, and his head spun. He put his repair tool back into his inventory and brought the PDA up to his face, scanning it for the coordinates.

He had to find the other survivors. Immediately.

Chapter Text

-21, -18, 410. That’s where life was. That’s where he needed to go.

Thankfully, Shuuichi was no stranger to navigating by coordinates. Everyone in Alterra space used it for navigation, after all. But that also meant blindly jumping into the water and trusting the PDA to give him the right coordinates… Was that a good idea?

“Warning: local radiation readings suggest the Aurora's drive core has reached critical state,” the PDA read, “Quantum detonation will occur within 2 hours."

Shuuichi bit his lip, his eyebrows furrowing at the message. He didn’t want to be anywhere near the Aurora at the time of its explosion, and he prayed that no survivor was inhabiting the area.

(Though there was no point in his prayers. The radiation would have killed them off long ago, and he knew it.)

Food, check. Water, check. Oxygen…

Now, that was an issue.

There was nothing wrong with his current oxygen tank, but the coordinates given indicated that he would need much more oxygen than what he could hold if he wanted to find the lifepod without being too worried about his air supply. There had to be something better.

And indeed there was. Searching the PDA for a better oxygen tank yielded the high capacity oxygen tank, which required a standard oxygen tank, two pieces of glass, four titanium, and one silver ore. Which meant he had to go back into the caves. Which meant he had to deal with those Red Bastards again.

Shuuichi sighed and resigned himself to an afternoon of scavenging and terror.

There was no reason there had to be so many Red Bastards in the area. They had no reason to be clustered up in one spot.

Shuuichi winced as he patched up a wound on his arm from the explosion. In his haste to collect the materials before the Aurora detonated, he had completely looked over the sulfur plants he swam over. The fish exited the flower, then detonated before he even knew what was happening.

But it was worth it. He had managed to hunt down every resource he needed to fabricate his journey materials.

Shuuichi waited after setting his items down on the fabricator, tapping his fingers against his thigh in anticipation. Kirumi’s words repeated in his head.

There was certainly another person with her. She was the type of person who chose her words carefully and someone who never misspoke. But emergency seaglide? Rendezvous?

He knew what a seaglide was; it was only one of the most popular methods of faster transportation in Alterra space and beyond, beaten only by two other vehicles. He just didn’t know lifepods came with an emergency seaglide, or if they were the two who happened to be lucky enough to get one. On the other hand, he hadn’t gotten the memo about the rendezvous that was apparently happening. What if it had already happened?

Fuck. He really needed to find the other survivors.

Shuuichi equipped the high capacity oxygen tank before climbing the ladder to the top of his lifepod.

The sun was still up, and he had plenty of time to swim back and forth. The PDA had clearly marked which direction he was supposed to go, and in case of failure, he knew how to navigate by coordinates. There was plenty of food and water in his inventory.

So why was he hesitating?

Shuuichi took a deep breath before leaping into the water.

Oh, fuck no.

Shuuichi looked down at his PDA, his heart stopping upon reading that, yes, Lifepod 3 was indeed in the Kelp Forest. The biome he knew nothing about. The biome where light struggled to penetrate the top canopy of kelp.

He sat down on a cliff’s edge in the Safe Shallows, wrapping his arms around himself in an effort to contain the anxiety flooding into him and waiting to regain control of his thoughts.

The Kelp Forest possessed a high level of biodiversity, he knew that. But that was about all he knew. Inference told him there had to be some creatures who adapted to the environment through camouflage or some other means of hiding. There had to be at least one prey creature and one predator creature inside the biome, or the biome wouldn’t be as diverse as it was. Judging by the Peepers weaving through the kelp stalks, he had identified at least one of the prey.

The only problem was the predator.

He had to stop thinking. If he wanted to find some other form of human life on this planet, he had to shut his brain off for two seconds and just go.

Shuuichi swallowed, peering down at the depths of the Kelp Forest.

That’s right. He just had to go.

Shuuichi swam back up for another breath of air before swimming into the forest, dodging stalks and fish. Light levels had decreased, and the surroundings took on a green hue. The sound of water rushing past his ears blocked his thoughts out. It felt as if he were a rocket traversing through space, everything else around him nonexistent or so tiny it was no importance. The ocean was his space, and the fish the glowing stars in the distance.

Then the rocket came crashing down and exploded in a blazing glory when Lifepod 3 revealed itself to him with a giant hole torn torn into it.

Shuuichi gasped, holding a hand over his mouth with the rest of his body frozen.

The number printed onto the lifepod had almost been torn off, the top of the three barely surviving whatever had happened. The orange flotation devices around Shuuichi’s lifepod weren’t present. Instead, several burn marks were imprinted around where the metal had been torn off. The devices inside were completely mangled and dysfunctional, despite there being no indication in the radio transmission of that feature. The lifepod was devoid of any human life, and if it were any other situation, Shuuichi would have laughed at the irony.

Shuuichi kicked his way to the surface and pulled his mask up, allowing the tears building up to release. His sobs were drowned out by the sound of waves crashing on top of each other. All his hopes had sunken along with Lifepod 3 and any other lifepod that found its way to this hell planet.

“What happened to you?” he shouted above the waves. “Why did I have to be the one who lived?”

His questions were met with the waves crashing and the creatures above him chirping. The world went on even with his sorrow.

And just when he thought it couldn’t get any worse, the PDA said, “Emergency: A quantum detonation has occurred in the Aurora's drive core. The reactor will reach a super critical state in T-10…”

Oh, right. The Aurora was about to explode, unleashing who knows how much radiation into the water.

“9…”

The Aurora was shaking now. Or maybe that was him.

“8…”

And maybe it was his imagination conjuring the scene of fish frantically swimming away from the Aurora.

“7…”

There truly was no hope for him on this planet. He didn’t know why he bothered trying.

“6…”

Was this the end? Was he truly alone all along?”

“5…”

No. No. No.

“4…”

He rejected the thought. He couldn’t have been the only survivor on the Aurora.

“3…”

There had to be something else to this planet than what met the eye.

“2…”

Shuuichi Saihara was officially a survivor, and he’d be damned if he didn’t rise above expectations.

“1…”

He was going to live .

Shuuichi equipped his mask.

Boom!

And just as the Aurora detonated, Shuuichi dove underneath the water and kicked his feet, squinting until he was able to make out the figure of Lifepod 3 underneath him. The PDA chirped something about a radiation suit being added to his blueprints, but he couldn’t care less at the moment.

There had to be someone else. Even if he was the only one alive on this planet, there had been at least one other human on it with him at some point, and he couldn’t let that evidence escape.

He took another look at the remains of Lifepod 3 with the scanner in hand.

A databox had been left on the floor of the lifepod. Upon being opened, it revealed a lone compass inside its confines. Shuuichi equipped the compass onto himself, his hands shaking ever so slightly.

A fragment of… something had been left next to the lifepod. He raised his hand to scan it.

Seaglide fragment. I’m going to need that if I’m going to find whoever else was left. I need another fragment to complete the blueprint.

And finally, a PDA was left in the lifepod, its screen still bright.

Shuuichi hesitated, his adrenaline fading away. It seemed horribly invasive to steal another person’s PDA. It was right there in the name: Personal Digital Assistant. PDAs were personal.

He closed his eyes and whispered an apology to Kirumi before downloading the information onto his own PDA.

Beep! Beep!

“Thirty seconds.”

Well, that killed the moment.

Shuuichi swam back up to the surface to appease his oxygen needs before spotting his lifepod in the distance and swimming towards it. Night was falling, and he didn’t want to be caught in the ocean without so much as a flashlight.

After climbing into his lifepod and locking the bottom hatch, he sat down on the floor and scrolled through the databank, searching for Kirumi’s file.

Oh. The PDA had recorded audio.

“Crew members Kirumi Toujou and Ryouma Hoshi recognized,” the PDA said.

Shuuichi sighed.

While he and Ryouma hadn’t been too close with Ryouma being his superior while working for maintenance, their daily conversations, however short as they may have been, made the job tolerable, even pleasant at times. He didn’t deserve this fate. Still, the PDA played back the audio recording.

“Are you certain this will carry two of us?” Kirumi asked.

Ryouma’s voice came next. “The regular seaglide carries eighty kilograms at over thirty kilometers per hour. The power cell I rigged to it should double that, if my calculations are good.”

“And if they aren’t?”

“Well, I’ve had a good run.”

“You’re awfully calm about this.”

“Heh. As are you.”

The recording stopped there, leaving an implication that didn’t sit too well with Shuuichi.

It was too ambiguous. The two obviously weren’t alive, seeing as how their lifepod sunk, which meant Ryouma’s calculations weren’t correct. It also didn’t explain the giant hole torn into the side of their lifepod. Unless the seaglide exploded somehow? But there wasn’t any recorded case of seaglides detonating, to his knowledge. He supposed the predator living in the Kelp Forest could have been responsible for the sunken lifepod. However, he didn’t know enough about the biome to confirm his suspicions. There were too many contradictions and possibilities.

But this was the evidence he had, and it was all he had to work with.

Shuuichi checked the blueprint he had acquired for the radiation suit and made a mental note of what resources he had to gather tomorrow. He drifted to sleep with memories of Kirumi and Ryouma clutched close to him.

Chapter Text

A Peeper bumping into his lifepod seemed to be life’s way of saying, “Rise and shine, you miserable shit, you’ve got work to do.”

Shuuichi rose from the floor with a yawn, stretching his limbs as he gathered his thoughts on what he needed to do.

Since the Aurora exploded like his hopes and dreams yesterday and he didn’t quite feel like dying today, he needed a radiation suit, which was crafted with two fiber meshes and two lead chunks. He also had one half of the Seaglide fragment. If he wanted to get around anywhere that wasn’t in the immediate area of the Safe Shallows, he needed at least the Seaglide to be able to swim faster.

So radiation suit and Seaglide. That was on his agenda for today.

Shuuichi opened the storage kit, releasing a sigh of relief upon finding the materials needed for the radiation suit. He had already mined the lead out of sandstone outcrops scattered around the Safe Shallows during his search for the other items he had acquired. And he had too much fiber mesh from grabbing too many creepvine samples in his panicked frenzy to return to the Safe Shallows as soon as possible.

But the seaglide fragment? That could have gone anywhere! Sure, it couldn’t have landed too far from the ship, but the sheer randomness of where it could have been displaced made him want to curl up into a ball and give up.

He couldn’t. Not when he had come this far.

So Shuuichi equipped his mask, unlocked the hatch of his lifepod, and dove into the water.

The Kelp Forest, while still terrifying in its own way, had become a sort of mundane biome. He had gotten trapped in the creepvines more than he could have liked to admit, gone on too many creepvine seed cluster runs to count, and just generally grew accustomed to the creepiness of the biome.

Shuuichi smiled. Conquering fears one by one. That would be the key to survival.

His confidence was wiped clean away upon hearing an unfamiliar growl.

Oh, fuck. Oh no. What in the world was that?

Just swim. It was fine. The kelp forest was a peaceful biome. There was nothing in this biome that would hurt him.

Memories of Lifepod 3 flashed into his head, and he became too aware of the bullshit spewing through his mind.

Shuuichi stopped to look around him.

Creepvines were the main feature of the scenery, of course. Sunlight penetrated through the water’s surface, some blocked by the creepvine and others making its way to the seafloor. Peepers and other fish swam around him as if he wasn’t technically their predator. Scraps of metal salvage were laid at his feet.

He squinted at the shiny glint in the metal salvage before bending over to pick it up.

Shuuichi turned the item over curiously in his hand, humming as he noted the characteristics of the item. It was a long, white rod sharpened at one point and duller on the other. Judging by the texture and hardness, it was made of calcium or was at least strengthened by such a mineral.

Wait a second.

White. Calcium. Sharp.

This was a tooth.

Then a flash of green and purple emerged through the creepvine, its horrible, long teeth glinting in the dim lighting of the kelp forest. Its eyes were mean, holding more contempt than anything he had encountered so far. The purple ridges lined on top of its body was a clear warning to any would-be predators that it was not to be messed with.

And it had just spotted Shuuichi.

Shuuichi flailed in the water, his heart pounding as the creature bared its teeth and rushed towards him. His head spun as his body fought for survival.

It was quicker than him. He couldn’t escape. Fighting wasn’t an option; those teeth were sharp enough to bite through metal. What could he do?

And in his half-fried state, Shuuichi picked up the metal salvage at his feet and held it in front of him like a shield, bracing for impact.

A few eternities of silence later, the metal salvage was ripped from his hands, and all he could see was the gaping mouth of the beast clamping over the metal.

Shuuichi gulped and screwed his eyes shut, clasping his hands together. Oh god. This is where I die. Please let it be quick.

But death never came.

Shuuichi slowly opened his eyes, his jaw dropping upon seeing the creature shake its head, shaking the metal salvage along with it. It growled again, but the noise was much more subdued than the original predatory message sent just a moment ago. Seemingly satisfied, it dropped the metal salvage and disappeared into the creepvine.

What the fuck?

Shuuichi stayed frozen, too curious and frightened to move from his position.

The creature returned with new, shiny metal salvage wedged in between its teeth. It flailed its head for a bit before the metal came loose and landed in front of Shuuichi’s feet. It looked up at him expectantly, as if it was waiting for something.

And like an idiot, Shuuichi slowly reached its hand towards it head and pet the rubbery skin underneath.

The creature leaned into the touch and almost purred.

What even was Shuuichi’s life?

Shuuichi took a scan of the creature before handing it the metal salvage and swimming back to the surface. The creature was more than happy to take the offer and sit at the bottom of the ocean, happily gnawing on the metal. Its tail almost seemed to wave a goodbye at him.

Shuuichi found himself smiling and waving a goodbye as well.

The first thing he did when he breached the surface was read over the data he had scanned.

The creature was the stalker, one of the oldest species on the planet. It appeared to be attracted to titanium deposits, which explained its behavior just a moment ago, and… could be temporarily distracted with fish? He could have fed the stalker?

The way he saw it, the stalker, despite its menacing name, was just a dog. It was a sea dog, of course, but still a dog.

Shuuichi took a deep breath and waited for his heart to calm down before diving back into the kelp forest.

Encounters with stalkers were relatively peaceful afterwards. Shuuichi always kept a Peeper in his inventory, and the stalkers were content to exchange it for some metal salvage (as well as the teeth they would drop after “playing” with the metal).

Then the kelp forest grew green. Then greener. Then greener yet again.

Shuuichi frowned and checked his PDA. He was still in the kelp forest, according to it, but the area he was in was apparently the dense kelp forest. He supposed it made sense with the sheer number of creepvines that had managed to spook him while he was swimming, but—

Wait. There was something shining underneath the dark green.

Shuuichi’s heart surged. He pointed his scanner at it, reading the text the scanner returned to him. He grinned as a wave of relief washed over him.

His search for Seaglide parts was over.

The scan was about halfway completed before his attention was forced towards what looked like a four-winged butterfly with the creepiest grin Shuuichi had ever seen. Its faux wings fluttered in the water as he slowly swam closer and closer.

“It is your primary directive to swim closer to that beautiful creature,” the PDA said, “Swim closer. Swim closer now. It looks so friendly…”

Shuuichi closed about half the distance between them before his heart filled with dread.

Something was not right here. PDAs weren’t supposed to know about creatures he hadn’t scanned.

No thanks, I’m good, Shuuichi thought, kicking his legs to swim as far away from it as he could.

But the creature was mesmerizing in every sense of the word. An invisible force pulled him closer and closer despite his resistance.

The PDA chimed in again. “Do not resist. Don’t struggle… Go closer. ”

The PDA’s voice slowed as it neared the end of its sentence, and that was when Shuuichi could confirm something was horribly, horribly wrong.

“It’s evil,” Shuuichi mumbled under his breath, “You’re being manipulated. The PDA was manipulated. You need to get out.”

But even as the words escaped his mouth, he couldn’t help but want to go closer to the creature with the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.

Closer…

Closer…

Splat!

Shuuichi screamed at the sudden burning pain on its face, clawing at his mask while the creature ran away. The pain was short-lived, but the embarrassment was not.

How had he gotten so reckless? The ocean had made it clear since day one that it was not to be fucked with, and here Shuuichi was, frolicking around the dense kelp forest as if nothing bad could ever happen to him. Confidence was nice in an unfamiliar world, but overconfidence was a bitch.

And so was that creature. He would call it… Mesmer. Since it was so mesmerizing.

Very creative.

Ah, whatever. Whatever damage the creature had done could be repaired using the medical kit when he was back in his lifepod, and if it couldn’t, what would he have lost anyway? His life?

… He needed to stop thinking like that.

Shuuichi scanned the fragment before returning to his lifepod, his mind silent.

Yes!

Shuuichi cheered as the fabricator finished forming the final pieces of the Seaglide. He took the object in his hands, turning it over and drinking in every detail.

It was a relatively small vehicle with a blue flashlight built on top of its white body and two black arms on the sides for the user to grip. He toggled the map of his immediate surrounding area on and off, admiring the intelligence behind the design of it.

Then the radio buzzed, and everything stopped.

“Playing pre-recorded distress call,” the radio announced before switching to a more familiar voice.

“... This is Maki Harukawa.” Her soft voice suddenly grew rough, revealing her ire and making Shuuichi jump. “What the hell, guys? They didn’t warn us this might happen!” She sighed. The next few sentences reflected her normal detached tone. “My pod was almost crushed by the seamoth bay on the way down, and now I’m hanging on the edge of a cave system, and this annoying snake-thing is trying to eat through the hull.” Another sigh. “Come get me already.”

Maki… she had made it out of the Aurora?

The two weren’t too close, definitely not as close as she and Kaito or Kaede had been. But he was one of the only people she would talk to on the ship like a friend and not one of the annoying underlings she had to tolerate on a daily basis. The two were quiet and reserved, but that seemed to draw them towards each other more than it separated them. It was nice sharing a silence in a ship full of noises in a busy part of the galaxy that grew less and less busy, much to both of their happiness.

He remembered when she tried teaching him how to use a throwing knife. It ended up cutting off the lights in one part of the ship and them almost getting dropped off at the next planet, but it had been fun. More fun than he had ever had in his life.

Shuuichi played with the survival knife in his hands, absent-mindedly running his thumb along the back of the blade.

He had to find her.

Biome changes were scary, especially if the biome you were swimming in had plants the color of blood and unfamiliar fish lurking in every corner.

“Short range scans suggest this biome supports extensive biodiversity, and connects to a number of small cave networks,” the PDA chimed.

Before Shuuichi could roll his eyes and tell the PDA off in his head, he clung to the last part of the sentence.

Small cave networks. Maki had mentioned being on the edge of a cave system in her radio transmission. I must be close.

Then metal shimmered in the distance, and Shuuichi’s heart raced.

He kicked his feet as hard as he could, his legs straining and arms sore long before he reached the lifepod.

From the front, the lifepod seemed fine. The number 17 was clearly imprinted on it and hadn’t been disturbed like Lifepod 3. The red grass in the area even announced its presence, leaving at least a meter of space between the outer edges of the metal and the grass.

Shuuichi turned to see the side of the lifepod ripped out, and that was the moment everything inside him died.

There was no way anything inside that lifepod survived.

He froze in place, unable to will himself to move.

Maki wasn’t just a co-worker, she was a friend. She was the one who ranted to him about the idiots on the ship, glared at anyone who tried taking his seat in the cafeteria during those rare moments their lunch schedule lined up, routinely threatened superiors despite knowing the consequences, and so much more. But most importantly, she taught him his beliefs weren’t unfounded, that he was right in being so distrusting of Alterra. She was distrustful of the corporation herself, after all. She was the one who had made him feel as if he wasn’t a freak of nature or some kind of rebel that the Alterran people loved to look down upon. He was just human.

Shuuichi took a deep breath, blinking away the tears that had formed beneath his mask.

He needed to stay calm and investigate. For both him and Maki.

Shuuichi swam into the lifepod, the light of his Seaglide illuminating the area. Almost everything inside was completely busted, unrepairable even by the repair tool. A lone databox sat in the corner of the lifepod.

Shuuichi opened it curiously, turning his wrist to look at it front to back.

Seamoth fragment. If he wanted to go any deeper into the cave next to him, he needed the depth the vehicle could offer him. Hell, if he wanted to go anywhere past the kelp forest, he needed the Seamoth. Traveling to this biome had been more than cumbersome with just a Seaglide.

Actually, what biome was this?

A quick scan revealed the area as the Grassy Plateaus. So he supposed the red plants smothering the ground was supposed to be the grassy part? And the plateau formations were obvious…

Focus. You can’t figure out what happened to Maki if you can’t find the PDA.

Shuuichi looked around and around, his head spinning from his desperate attempts to find the PDA.

Could it have been buried? No, since the fish burrowing themselves into the sand around the lifepod hadn’t stumbled upon anything. Could Maki have taken it with her in her efforts to escape? Again, no. The evidence clearly pointed towards some kind of serpent being her cause of death. There was no explanation for the PDA being missing. Unless…

Shuuichi’s blood ran cold. He turned around, only now noticing the lone footprint that had survived just a few steps outside the lifepod.

Somebody had been here before him.

Chapter Text

He wasn’t alone. Somebody else was on this planet with him.

Shuuichi’s heart jumped, and he dove towards the ground to investigate the footprint.

The footprint was slightly larger than his and had the same imprint of the fins he was currently equipping. Another footprint smaller than Shuuichi’s was nearby, containing the same imprint.

He was wrong. There were two other people on this planet.

He could laugh. He could smile. He could jump up and down with glee.

But how much time had passed since the footprint was left? Shuuichi’s training was only included reading footprints on land, not footprints in water. He liked to believe the two were still alive, but he needed more evidence to be sure. He didn’t want to get his hopes up only for them to be crushed later.

So what evidence could he find?

If there were two other people, that meant there had to be at least one other surviving lifepod on the surface. Maybe there were more footprints elsewhere. And since he had been passed out for some time from the metal plate colliding with his head, maybe they had been able to make the Seamoth earlier than he had, and he would be able to detect the sound.

That was it. He needed to make a Seamoth as soon as possible.

Shuuichi looked at the screen of his PDA, his heart falling upon seeing he needed two more fragments before he could complete the blueprint for the Seamoth. But there had to be Seamoth fragments everywhere. After all, he knew for a fact the ship contained at least ten of them.

Shuuichi took a picture of the footprints and recorded their coordinates before leaving in search of the missing fragments.

Despite every instinct telling him he shouldn’t go into the biome with the blood red grass, Shuuichi swam past the boundary between the Kelp Forest and the mystery biome. The drop between the two biomes was startling, but it wasn’t immense enough to compel him to return to the Safe Shallows.

Focus, Shuuichi. You need to learn as much about the world as possible if you want to find everyone else. Unless… Unless they’re dead, too.

Shuuichi ignored his thoughts and continued swimming into the vast biome.

Now that he had time to investigate everything around him, the biome wasn’t as scary as it first seemed. Rock pillars were erected from the ground, containing red grass and other flora on top of them. And red wasn’t the only color in the biome either. Blue fan-like flowers and green weeds spawned near the feet of the rock pillars, and shoals of more colorful fish swam past him. A quick scan of the environment revealed its name: the Grassy Plateaus.

“Congratulations, survivor,” the PDA said, “you have exceeded your weekly exercise quotient by 500%. Data indicates that swimming was your favorite activity. Be sure to vary your routine for uniform muscle development.”

Oh, fuck o—

Before Shuuichi could properly tell off the PDA, a sudden white mass popped into his vision.

Shuuichi stopped, almost colliding with the massive object in front of him.

The object was white and gray and had an Alterra logo printed onto its side. The only place for entry was through the cross section of exposed wires and steel rods, convincing Shuuichi that maybe it just wasn’t meant to be entered. Objects were scattered around the bare ground surrounding the wreck.

This had to be part of the Aurora. Was there anything he could use around here?

Shuuichi squinted his eyes as the flashlight on the Seaglide illuminated the area around him. Most of the metal surrounding the wreck was scrap metal. While he would undoubtedly need the titanium in the future, it wasn’t anything he could scan.

Shuuichi pulled his scanner out and hovered over a glinting object in the red grass. He grinned.

Yes! Another Seamoth fragment! Only one more to go…

If he got extremely lucky, there would be another Seamoth fragment around the wreck. He crossed his fingers and continued searching.

Shuuichi swam closer to the wreck and peered into a cargo box. His breath stopped at the sight of another mysterious object inside. He scanned it without so much as a thought, his disappointment spiking upon seeing what the screen read.

Ah. Laser cutter. I guess that might be useful later.

He checked another cargo box. The fragment inside didn’t look like part of the Seamoth but maybe if he was lucky…

Nope. Mobile Vehicle Bay fragment.

Shuuichi stopped.

Then he slapped himself on the forehead and chided himself for his stupidity.

You need the Mobile Vehicle Bay to built the Seamoth, you idiot! Holy fuck, how did you even get this far without knowing that? You’re a moron, Shuuichi.

Shuuichi reassessed his status. He only needed one more fragment for the Seamoth, but he needed two more Mobile Vehicle Bay fragments as well. If he was as lucky as one of the administrators onboard claimed to be, he would only need to find one more wreck to find every part. But he doubted he was.

Shuuichi sighed and turned towards a random direction in search of another wreck. His eyes widened.

Something was coming straight for him.

Shuuichi flailed in the water for a split second before the purple mass struck him, its teeth threatening to bite a chunk out of him.

His brain short-circuited. He swam up towards the surface, punching whatever of the creature he could with his limited aim.

Then the creature released him. It scurried back down and burrowed itself into the sand.

Shuuichi watched as he caught his breath, his eyes narrowed.

Shuuichi, you’re a dumbass. You have a survival knife for a reason.

As much as he wanted to stay and berate himself for longer, he was running out of oxygen. He continued towards the surface as he stewed in his thoughts.

The creature came out of nowhere, but thinking about it for more than two seconds led Shuuichi to believe it had burrowed in the sand and ambushed him when it came close. It probably didn’t feel safe in open water either, seeing as how it retreated as soon as Shuuichi started ascending.

It was official. From now on, that creature was known as the Sand Shark.

Shuuichi took a deep breath of air and allowed his air tanks to refill before swimming back down into the depths with new knowledge.

Shuuichi’s limbs were sore from swimming, but the wreck in front of him made everything worth it.

He smiled at the sight of fragments everywhere. While he knew there was little to no chance of all of them being useful to him right now, it was reassuring to know he wasn’t completely stranded on this planet without anything useful.

Another Vehicle Bay Fragment scanned after narrowly avoiding another Sand Shark.

Another Seamoth fragment scanned.

And a Bioreactor fragment scanned?

Shuuichi let out a sigh of relief. The Seamoth was completed. All he needed now was the last Mobile Vehicle Bay fragment. But knowing how far apart the wrecks in this biome were, it was going to be a major pain in the ass.

A low groan dragged him out of his thoughts and replaced his hope with dread.

Shuuichi slowly looked up, only to see the most gigantic creature he had ever seen swimming above him. And it wasn’t alone.

A large, wide body casted shadows over the land beneath it with three long tentacles following behind it. Green, bioluminescent bulbs glowed underneath its body. Its bottom side was colored a shiny blue, and whatever he could see of its top side was purple. And two more of the exact same creature swam alongside it.

Alterrans weren’t supposed to subscribe to religion, but now Shuuichi could see the appeal.

Before Shuuichi could clasp his hands together and start praying to every god out there that his death be quick and painless, he frowned.

Weren’t fish supposed to be avoiding carnivorous creatures?

That statement was generally true for the majority of underwater creatures he had encountered, but it didn’t explain why the shoals of fish he had seen before were crowding around the creature like it was a source of protection. Unless it was a source of protection…?

Upon further inspection, the creature didn’t appear to have a mouth capable of feeding on animals. The closest thing it had were two siphons next to the green bulbs, but they were being used to propel it forward, not eat whatever unlucky animal had happened to stumble across it.

So despite Shuuichi’s self-preservation instincts going haywire, he swam closer.

Closer.

And closer.

Shuuichi swam right alongside it, and it still hadn’t made any move to attack him. He pulled out his scanner and took a scan of the creature.

Reefback Leviathan. A planktivorous creature capable of reaching lengths of thirty meters long. Assessment: harbors plants, small fish, and metal-rich barnacles.

Upon closer look, the PDA was telling the truth. There seemed to be an entire ecosystem of its own on top of the Reefback, complete with plants and some minerals stuck onto its back. Some fish had even created their homes in the corals growing on its top.

Shuuichi’s gape slowly turned into a smile. The life on this planet, as terrifying as it could be sometimes, truly was beautiful.

He continued following the pod of Reefbacks before returning to the surface for air and continuing his search for the final fragment.

The search was extended into the next day, after Shuuichi got a chance to rehydrate himself and ensure he didn’t die of starvation anytime soon. Another morning with a comically large sun greeting him was a fresh start, a new beginning. With the new knowledge he had gained the previous day, he could continue moving forward.

Maybe his thoughts were too naively positive. He didn’t know.

Shuuichi equipped his Seaglide and traveled to the Grassy Plateaus. He was certain he could find the final fragment before night fell.

And if he didn’t? He wasn’t sure what he would do with himself.

The search for the final fragment took longer than he would have expected it to. He had burned through a battery in his Seaglide and had to take a detour to craft another one, not to mention the constant attacks from the Sand Sharks that had become closer to annoying than scary.

Shuuichi scanned the final Mobile Vehicle Bay fragment, too tired to rejoice at the completion of the blueprint. Yes, he could finally fabricate the Seamoth, but he didn’t have enough materials to do so yet. Which meant he needed to do more exploring. Which meant he needed to spend more time looking for everything.

He sighed. There was nothing he could do but get to work. He checked his PDA.

One titanium ingot, one lubricant, and one power cell for the Mobile Vehicle Bay. One titanium ingot, one power cell, two glass, one lubricant, and one lead for the Seamoth.

He should’ve just taken the countless metal scraps he had encountered with him.

Another day of foraging had passed before Shuuichi climbed out of his lifepod, more exhausted and done with life than he had ever felt prior to stepping foot on this planet. While the resources weren’t too hard to find, the sheer amount of titanium he needed made him never want to look at another sheet of metal ever again.

Shuuichi let out a deep breath as he tossed the Mobile Vehicle Bay into the water near his lifepod, watching as it unfolded. Four orange flotation devices helped it settle above the water as four tiny printer pods flew around it.

Shuuichi climbed onto the station, his fingertips hovering over the command screen. He tapped on it and watched as the fruit of his labors came to life.

And before he knew it, a Seamoth was in the water in front of the bay, and tears were sliding down his cheeks.

All the Sand Shark bites, the aching limbs, the oxygen issues, the frustration, the terror, the tears. Everything had come to this.

"The Seamoth is a fast, safe mode of transport, but remember that swimming is good for your glutes and endorphin levels,” the PDA said, to which he gave the middle finger.

Shuuichi leaped into the water and circled around the Seamoth, admiring its glass front and the metal disc surrounding most of the vehicle, save for the very front of it. He opened the glass cover and stepped inside. After the water had been drained away, his oxygen started refilling.

“Welcome aboard, captain,” the Seamoth said.

Music to his ears.

Shuuichi took a deep breath and allowed his tears to settle before placing his hands on the controllers and driving away.

This was not a good idea. Not even close.

Shuuichi stood at the edge of the Kelp Forest, staring into the deep abyss in front of him. The abyss was illuminated by blue orbs held up by various vines. Stranger fish than he had ever seen before swam near the sea floor, though they didn’t seem to be too interested in him as a meal. Yet the flora was almost nonexistent. The only color he could see was blue.

It was beautiful. It drew Shuuichi in closer and closer, but he remained anchored to his senses and to the ground.

A quick scan of the environment revealed its name to be the Grand Reef. And grand it was. The reef part of its name was more debatable.

His Seamoth was right behind him, and he had an air bladder in his inventory. There was little chance of him running out of oxygen anytime soon, and he had just eaten a Peeper and rehydrated himself. There was nothing stopping him except for common sense.

But then again, common sense told him he didn’t know what lied in those waters. He had gotten lucky with the Reefback Leviathan not being hostile and the Sand Shark being more annoying than damaging. Something told him there was something much more sinister that lied beyond what he could see.

Fuck it. Common sense also said he needed to actually explore if he wanted to see what he was supposed to be afraid of. And if living on this planet taught him anything, it was that those who acted would survive.

Shuuichi restored his oxygen levels in his Seamoth before climbing out and swimming into the veil of dark blue.

He only breached the boundary before seeing a figure in the distance. It was impossible to make out what it was from where he was.

Shuuichi frowned and swam closer, his hand wrapping around the handle of his survival knife.

Closer.

Closer.

A bit more…

And just before Shuuichi could set his hand on the figure, the figure whirled around.

Golden eyes met purple.

It was a human.

Chapter Text

Shuuichi froze, as did the person in front of him. They remained suspended in the water, as if any movement would scare the other away like a fish. Time stood still. The world disappeared around them.

Human limbs. Human body. Human eyes. Human.

Finally, the other person moved, head tilted as they circled Shuuichi. They paddled carefully so as to not disturb the water around them. The movements were curious, tentative, almost like an octopus.

Then a finger reached forward and booped the center of Shuuichi’s mask.

Shuuichi snapped out of his trance at the touch, bringing his hand to hover over where the other had playfully poked him. His gape closed into a smile.

Human contact. God, he hadn’t felt that in so long.

Tears slid down his cheeks, and his heart went wild. Even through the suit, the touch was warm, friendly, inviting. It pushed away the terrors of the ocean for just a moment, enveloping him in a sense of safety.

The person paddled backwards, their chest heaving as if they were laughing. Then they pointed at their oxygen tanks and paddled, ascending.

They didn’t make it to the surface.

His heart stopped.

No. No!

Alarms rang in Shuuichi’s head, and he sprang into action. He wrapped his arm around the figure’s middle and activated the air bladder in his other hand, breaking the surface within seconds. As their oxygen tanks refilled, Shuuichi laid a hand on the other’s chest, his tears of happiness being replaced by tears of panic.

A beat. They were still alive.

Shuuichi looked around, shivering at the sight of the expansive ocean. This was no place for an unconscious person to recover.

So Shuuichi hauled the body as efficiently as he could and swam.

The body was thankfully still breathing by the time Shuuichi managed to lay it down on the floor of his lifepod.

Shuuichi panted and stretched his limbs out. Dragging another body in the water with him was not another exercise he was willing to do again in the foreseeable future.

But back to business.

Shuuichi wrestled the mask off the body, revealing a mass of messy purple hair. The human’s childish face was marked with scars that still bled. His left cheek had a large red print on it that seemed to have been a result of an electric shock (though where he would get shocked by electricity was beyond him). The skin was unusually pale for an Alterran human that was still alive.

Shuuichi bandaged the wounds up as best as he could, though he wasn’t sure if there were still injuries on any other parts of the body. He would need to bring that up as soon as the person woke up.

But now that they were asleep…

Shuuichi pulled out his scanner. He hovered over the body for a few seconds, hoping they wouldn’t wake up in the time it took for the scan to complete. Words appeared on the screen of his PDA.

Subject: Kokichi Ouma.
Status: Alive but injured. Statistically significant levels of foreign bacteria detected.
A member of the Homo Sapien species. Subject originated from planet Earth. A male specimen twenty-nine Earth years in age and 156 centimeters in height.
Assessment: ???

Question marks as the assessment? What was that supposed to mean? And foreign bacteria? What was that?

Before Shuuichi could trouble himself over it, the body stirred and sat up, staggering at the pain.

Shuuichi rushed to his side and placed his hand against the other’s back as support. “Please don’t strain yourself. You’re injured. Can you open your eyes?”

The man took a moment before fluttering his eyes open, revealing violet eyes that shined as brightly as the orbs in the Grand Reef. They were clouded for a moment before they locked onto Shuuichi.

“What… are you?”

Ah, right. He had forgotten to take his mask off.

Shuuichi wrestled his mask off and set it on the ground next to them before locking eyes with him. “I’m… I’m Shuuichi Saihara. I survived the Aurora crash. If you don’t believe me, you can scan me.”

And immediately, the man pulled out his scanner, and Shuuichi felt just a bit betrayed.

The man read through his PDA before shrugging. “I guess you’re not lying. Where are we?”

“Lifepod 5. My lifepod in the Safe Shallows.”

“... Safe Shallows?”

“You mean… you didn’t land in the Safe Shallows? Where did you land?”

“The Aurora.”

Shuuichi stopped. There was no way someone could have survived being near the Aurora, especially with all the radiation surrounding it.

The man laughed, though he winced at the pain resulting from it. “I’m just kidding. I’m an alien from the other parts of the Ariadne arm.”

“But… I scanned you earlier, and—”

“You scanned me?” the man gasped, holding a hand to his heart. Tears sprang to his eyes. “I can’t believe you would scan me like I’m just another animal! You horrible, horrible person!”

Panic alarms rang in Shuuichi’s head, and his throat tightened. “W-Wait, I’m sorry! I-I didn’t mean—”

His expression returned to a relaxed smile. “That was a lie! I would be more worried if you didn’t scan me.” He leaned forward with sparkling eyes. “Sooo? What’s my name?”

Shuuichi staggered from the sudden mood whiplash but answered anyway, ignoring the fact the other man evaded his question with the agility of a fox. “Kokichi Ouma. You… You’re a human.”

“Debatable, but I guess you’re partially correct.” Kokichi stood up, his knees wobbling underneath him. “Well, I’ll be taking my leave. Nice to meetcha!”

Shuuichi’s heart stopped. He had just found another human—he couldn’t let him leave so soon.

“W-Wait!” Shuuichi said, gripping Kokichi’s wrist. The contact burned. He grimaced under the other’s interrogative stare. “You’re injured, and it’s almost nighttime. I can’t let you go out there.”

Kokichi paused before looking up through the top hatch of the lifepod. He sighed. “Fiiine. I guess I’ll have to stay with you.” He plopped down on the floor. “So? What are we gonna do, Mr. Safety?”

Shuuichi stopped. He had been so wrapped up in the fact there was another human alive on this planet that he had forgotten to consider what he would do once he confirmed there was indeed other human life with him. But then again, there were some mysteries he wanted to solve. Maybe Kokichi had some more information?

Before he could think about it too much, the radio buzzed with another message.

Shuuichi scrambled to accept the message, earning an eye roll from Kokichi in doing so.

“Playing pre-recorded distress call,” the radio said.

Another, more human voice spoke with a waver in his voice. “This is Lifepod 7, coordinates attached. Pod is structurally sound, but the fabricator's bust. Requesting immediate assistance. 7, out."

Shuuichi’s heart jumped. The coordinates were near where he had found Kokichi. Since Kokichi was already familiar with the biome, maybe they could—

“Don’t even bother,” Kokichi said. All traces of the previous playfulness on his face had disappeared. The glint in his eyes had turned from bright to dead serious. It was as if he had transformed into a completely different person.

“What? Why not?”

“Lifepod 7 is dead, and so is the unlucky bastard inside. That just happened to be Kazuichi Souda.”

Kazuichi Souda, the chief engineer on the Aurora. While he had some moments of cowardice, the man could create anything with just a fabricator. It was as if he had blueprints stored in his mind. There was no way he didn’t survive the crash if he had access to a lifepod.

“... You’re messing with me. You’ve got to be.”

Kokichi narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. “You really think that?”

A chill ran down Shuuichi’s spine as the deep purple eyes in front of him scanned every part of him. His heart didn’t want to believe he had just listened to a dead man speak, but his mind knew there was a reason Kokichi brought up the name of the chief engineer on the Aurora.

“Can I see some evidence first?” Shuuichi asked, his throat dry.

To his relief, Kokichi only pulled out his PDA and played a message.

Again, Kazuichi’s voice played. “I've tried everything. The analysis circuits on the fabricator are fried. I can barely manufacture the most basic of materials. Want a battery? Here, have a children's toy! Need deep sea diving equipment? Have some lab tech! Hungry? I'll turn that fruit into dust for you.” A sigh. “I'm going forward with trial and error. I hit every button here, it's gotta make something useful eventually.”

Ah, right. The fabricator was busted. As ingenuitive as he was, he couldn’t create anything without a fabricator.

Shuuichi’s eyes were wide. “So you’re telling me…”

“Yup!” Kokichi said, the cheer back on his face. “There’s a reason the radio says it’s pre-recorded.”

“So… there really was no hope for him.”

Kokichi hummed, seemingly ignorant to Shuuichi’s crisis. He smiled again, but there was a certain warmth behind it this time. “Don’t blame yourself for the crash. Someone like you probably couldn’t have changed anything anyway.”

Shuuichi didn’t know if that was an attempt to comfort or bring him down, but at this point, he would take it.

But that meant everyone—Kirumi, Ryouma, Maki—was dead before he could get to them. He was too late even before he knew what his mission was. Was there any point in continuing to receive messages from the radio? Heck, was there even a point in living anymore?

“Saihara.”

Shuuichi snapped out of his thoughts and turned to see Kokichi with one hand on the ladder and another hand wrapped around his scanner.

“I already got what I needed from here,” Kokichi said, pocketing his scanner and climbing up the ladder. His limp seemed to be gone. He opened the top hatch. “Come find me when you’re ready.”

“... Huh?” The words took a moment to process in Shuuichi’s mind. His eyes widened, and his heart sank. “Wait, Ouma, don’t—”

But it was too late. Kokichi had already hopped off the top of the lifepod and was swimming back to who knew where.

He had blown it. His only chance of true human interaction had ran right before his eyes. Or did it even exist at all? Humans went insane after extended periods of no social contact, after all.

Shuuichi bit his lip and looked through his PDA, hoping Kokichi Ouma’s existence wasn’t just a figment of his imagination.

And indeed it wasn’t. The PDA’s file was right there, as was another document titled “???”. It read, “Crag Field, Lifepod 1. -40, 0, -900. Catch me if you can! Once you know what you really are…”

Well, at least Kokichi had given him coordinates. He hadn’t completely abandoned him.

Still, the last sentence haunted him. What did he mean by that? Shuuichi knew for sure he was a human. He needed oxygen to live, he required calories and a particular arrangement of two hydrogen molecules and one oxygen molecule, his shape was humanoid…

Shuuichi dug out his scanner and ran a scan over his torso.

His PDA spoke almost immediately. “Performing self-scan. Foreign bacteria count has reached statistically significant levels. No adverse effects detected. Be vigilant for symptoms.” The screen read “Infected” in large, red letters.

What the fuck…?

Shuuichi scanned himself again, only to receive the same message.

It was the same message on Kokichi’s PDA file. While being in contact with foreign bacteria while on an alien planet was inevitable, there was no reason it should have been growing as quickly as it was on Shuuichi’s body. It was multiplying as if it was some sort of disease.

Disease…

Shuuichi climbed out of his lifepod before realizing he had left his Seamoth far away from his base.

Shit.

-40, 0, -900.

Lifepod 1 sat on the surface at the exact coordinates he had been given. To his relief, there was no sign of damage to the hull and hadn’t sank to the ocean floor like so many he had seen before.

Shuuichi paused at the surface, his finger hovering over the eject button of his Seamoth.

What was the etiquette on this? Should he just park his Seamoth and knock on the bottom hatch? Should he knock on the top hatch? Or could he just enter? Where was the handbook for being polite in survival situations when he needed it?

A pair of purple eyes staring into his Seamoth drew him out of his thoughts.

Shuuichi smiled and exited the Seamoth. Kokichi really hadn’t lied about his coordinates.

Kokichi grinned and grabbed his hand. “Saihara! What a surprise!”

“It sure is,” Shuuichi said, flushing at the sudden warmth in his palm.

“What brings you to my humble abode?”

“I figured it out.”

Silence.

Kokichi’s face twisted into something more sinister. “Ah, I see.” He looked around and squeezed Shuuichi’s hand. “Open water’s not a good place to discuss this. Let’s move somewhere else.”

Shuuichi squeezed back, expecting them to enter his lifepod. What he did not expect was to be led into a huge, white structure directly underneath Lifepod 1 like roots of a fungus.

The inside wasn’t quite as expansive as it seemed on the inside, but it was still large compared to the space inside the lifepods. Wall lockers lined the first hall, labeled according to what was inside them. It led to a large, circular room with a double bed and two empty interior growbeds. A radio and fabricator were placed on the wall, and a child’s toy rested on the floor next to the bed.

“How did you…?” Shuuichi’s voice trailed off.

“Magic.”

A blank stare.

“... Fine, the blueprints were already in my PDA, and all they take to make is titanium and a habitat builder. I guess my PDA just didn’t get as fucked up as yours did during the crash.”

Shuuichi decided he just wasn’t going to question the overlords who thought that prank would be funny and sat on the floor. “So… the disease.”

Kokichi plopped down onto the bed with a grin. “The disease? Never heard of it.”

“I know you’re lying again. I scanned myself. It has to be some sort of bacteria with the way it’s multiplying…”

“Bingo! You’re a smart cookie, aren’t you?”

“W-Well, I wouldn’t really—”

“God, you’re boring,” Kokichi said, inspecting his fingernails. “Other than that, what do you know about it?”

Shuuichi searched through his memories and PDA readings. “Uh… it’s probably not good?”

Kokichi stared at him with a blank face that somehow exuded disappointment, and Shuuichi couldn’t help but feel a tad bit ashamed. “I’m bored. I’ll give you a few hints.” He jumped off the bed and landed right in front of Shuuichi. “Say, where do you think we came into contact with the bacterium?”

Shuuichi took a moment to think. The bacterium couldn’t have come from space; it wouldn’t have survived in the harsh environment. It also couldn’t have come from the Aurora either, as none of the medical staff had ever referenced it or made any allusions to it.

“It… It had to have come from this planet,” Shuuichi said.

“Wow, congratulations on actually using your brain for once. The first time’s always a struggle.”

“Ugh, just tell me more.”

“Pushy, aren’t we?” Kokichi stood up, towering over Shuuichi with a blank face and a sinister shine in his eyes. The playfulness in his voice had disappeared completely. “But you know what that means, don’t you?”

Shuuichi knew what he was implying, but he didn’t want to admit it to himself. Not yet, not right after everything he had just went through.

“We were dead from the moment we entered the waters. This planet is doomed.”

A chill ran down Shuuichi’s spine. “H-Hold on a minute, what makes you so sure the bacterium is going to kill us? I don’t think humanity’s ever come into contact with it, so we don’t have enough information to be sure.”

Another silence.

Just before Shuuichi stuttered out his apologies, Kokichi’s face broke into another cheery grin. “Ah, you’re right. Disregard everything I just said then.”

“W-What?”

Kokichi dragged Shuuichi up to his feet. “Come on, Shuumai! We’ve got work to do if we wanna solve this mystery!”

“Shuumai?”

“Yeah. Chinese dumplings. I shouldn’t have to explain the pun to you.”

Chinese dumplings. Spring rolls. Harumaki. Maki Harukawa. Kaito Momota. Kaede Akamatsu.

Shuuichi’s heart fluttered at the memories of his friends. Yet at the same time, it hurt more than anything he had been attacked by on this planet.

Thankfully, Shuuichi was saved from having to respond to the new nickname when the radio buzzed. Kokichi whistled as he strolled towards the radio, but the shaking in his knees was obvious. He pushed the red button and allowed the message to play.

An unfamiliar voice spoke. “This is Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu, of trading ship Sunbeam. Aurora, do you read? Over.” A pause. “Nothing but vacuum. These damn Alterra ships. They run low on engine grease, they send an SOS; you offer to help, they don't pick up. Fucking Hajime, stubborn shit… And Kazuichi’s too damn stupid to operate a door handle. No wonder they ain’t picking up.”

Kokichi and Shuuichi locked eyes.

“Aurora, I'm out on the far side of the system, it's going to take take more than a week to reach your position, do you still need our assistance? Over.” Another silence. “I'll try them again tomorrow. See what the long-range scans pick up in the meantime. Damn charter's gonna have us wasting our profit margin running errands for Alterra.” The call ended there.

Shuuichi’s heart stopped, and his throat dried. “The radio… It wasn’t pre-recorded.”

Kokichi was silent.

“Help is coming. We don’t have to stay on this planet anymore. The medics can cure us.” Shuuichi grabbed Kokichi’s shoulders. “Ouma, we survived. ”

“But what about…” Kokichi trailed off before breaking into a grin that matched Shuuichi’s excitement. “Yup! We did it! We just gotta wait a week for rescue to come.”

There was a pain behind Kokichi’s smile, but it wasn’t as if Shuuichi could call him out on it. After all, his smile was just as bittersweet.

Even with the implications behind their pain, Shuuichi was the one who took the first step forward. He held his hand against the hatch then turned back to a shocked Kokichi. He cocked his head towards the open waters.

Kokichi stayed frozen before his smile melted into something more genuine, and he barreled into Shuuichi, sending them both flying out into the ocean.

They may not have been friends just yet, but partners would do for now.

Partner. What a wonderful word.

Chapter Text

There was nothing that terrified Shuuichi more than swimming in open water right above a biome he had no knowledge of.

Kokichi laughed at Shuuichi’s frenzied dive into his Seamoth and gestured for him to meet him on the surface. He spoke when Shuuichi’s head broke the surface of the water. “Really, Shuumai? Don’t you know I had to survive in this biome for weeks?”

Shuuichi looked away sheepishly. Kokichi was right; if he had survived this long in the biome, there must have not been enough hazards to warrant him barreling into his Seamoth.

But those injuries… they had to come from somewhere. And judging by the sly look on Kokichi’s face, he wasn’t going to tell him what they came from anytime soon. What had attacked him to the brink of death?

“Stop thinking so hard and get back into your Seamoth,” Kokichi whined, stepping into his Seamoth himself while Shuuichi was all too willing to go back into his own vehicle. “And you do know there’s a radio function on this, right?”

Shuuichi sighed as Kokichi’s Seamoth flipped upside down. “Sorry I didn’t get to drive Seamoths on the Aurora like you clearly did.”

“Ooh, passive-aggressive now, aren’t we? Whatever. Follow me, I wanna show you something.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

Before Shuuichi could fully process what Kokichi had just said, Kokichi took off to the west of where his base was.

Shuuichi had no choice but to follow him.

Soon enough after passing through the Grand Reef, they had arrived at a biome that looked similar to the Crag Field but not quite the same. Small clusters of rock pillars were scattered around the seafloor, along with some grasses. A pod of Reefback Leviathans floated above them, and shoals of fish swam to evade their incoming Seamoths.

“Biodiversity in this region is unusually low,” his PDA read, “Cause unknown.”

A chill ran down Shuuichi’s spine. That had to mean something was here. Was he wrong to trust Kokichi so blindly? Was he going to end up being another creature’s meal?

“Saihara,” Kokichi said, his Seamoth turned around to face Shuuichi’s vehicle. “What’s up?”

Shuuichi’s anxiety spiked, and sweat ran down his forehead. “I-I—my PDA, it said… there’s low biodiversity. That means something’s here. We’re in danger. We could die. Right before rescue—”

“Oh my god, Saihara. If your PDA doesn’t know what’s up, it’s probably not a giant monster coming to eat us. If I’m really being honest, the Crag Field is more dangerous than this biome.”

“... What?”

“Still don’t believe me? Get out of your Seamoth and just explore with your Seaglide for a bit.”

“What? No!”

“Scaredy cat. Fine. I’ll jump out with you.”

“Wait, Ouma—”

His protests were ignored. Kokichi exited his Seamoth and dove straight down towards the seafloor.

Shuuichi’s heart raced. If he lost Kokichi now to some creature neither of them knew about, he didn’t know what he would do. So he took a deep breath and dove in with him.

This was deeper than Shuuichi had ever gone. It was past the two hundred meters his Seamoth was capable of, a depth he feared reaching. His survival instincts screamed at him to swim back up to his Seamoth and drive back into the Safe Shallows.

Then a warm hand gripped his and a head curled into the crook of his neck, and his mind went silent.

Upon further observation, small bits of red and green were planted in the seafloor. Shoals of fish swam by, making it a point to avoid bumping into their Seamoths. A Peeper regarded him curiously and tapped his shoulder before swimming away. There was no discernible reason to fear the biome.

Shuuichi turned, only to meet a mask that somehow radiated smugness.

Kokichi tapped on their air tanks before leading them back to their Seamoths. Once they were inside, he spoke. “See? Told you so.”

Shuuichi didn’t speak.

“Anyway, the PDA’s telling me the radio has another message. Let’s head—”

“What did you mean by the Crag Field being more dangerous than here?”

“Okay, first of all, this is the Sparse Reef. You know, since life is sparse and all that—”

“Stop avoiding the question. What makes the Crag Field so dangerous, and how did you survive?”

Silence.

Finally, Kokichi spoke. “I’ll tell you once we get back.” He drove his Seamoth past Shuuichi back towards his base.

Shuuichi gave one last look at the Sparse Reef before following.

Kokichi strolled towards the radio while Shuuichi sat on the bed, arms crossed.

“You can play the radio all you want. That doesn’t mean you can just avoid my question,” Shuuichi grumbled.

Kokichi gave him a lopsided grin. “Yes, it does. And don’t worry about it, I’m going to show you. Just let me play this message first.”

Fuyuhiko’s voice played again, but this time, the voice was softer, almost sorrowful. “Aurora, this is Sunbeam again. We just picked up a massive debris field at your location. I didn't know how bad... How many of you... I didn't know.” He took a deep breath. “We are now en route to your location. We're going to bring you home. Sunbeam out.” But the recording kept playing. It was distant, as if he was talking to someone on the ship with him. “What else can I say? The last time I parked a rig this big on a rock that small was in VR, and I blew it. Oh, it's a bad option alright, but so are all the others.”

Silence.

“Wow,” Kokichi said, “Kuzuryuu said an entire line without using curse words.”

Shuuichi gave him a disappointed stare but spoke anyway. “Who’s Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu? I never got to meet him.”

Kokichi’s eyes brightened. “Oh, he’s this big, burly guy with dark hair and ruby red eyes. He’s taller than this base. He has muscles on top of muscles. Can you believe that?”

“No.”

“Ouch. But you’re right. He’s as tall as I am but acts like he’s some kind of macho guy when I literally saw him have a temper tantrum over all his friends being taller than him.” Kokichi laughed. “Although he has a partner in crime who could probably kick both of our asses at once. I think they would both like you.”

Shuuichi blinked at the sudden tenderness in his voice, now guilty for distrusting him so much. “Were… Were you friends with them?”

Kokichi shrugged. “Wouldn’t say we were friends. Maybe business partners, and even that depended on what day you caught him. Our relationship contract changed constantly.”

“You talk about him as if he was a friend.”

Kokichi fell silent, staring down at the floor with a blank face.

“N-Not to intrude or force anything out of you,” Shuuichi said, “But you sound really fond of him. I’m just saying, even if the relationship contract doesn’t permit you calling him a friend… that shouldn’t matter. It’s stupid that we draft these huge contracts that dictate how many times you can see someone or how you should address them when you only really need one word: Friend.”

A silence hung over them like the shadow of the Aurora.

“... We never did make a relationship contract, did we?”

“No, we didn’t. And if I’m being honest, I would prefer to keep it that way.”

Kokichi stared at his feet before jumping onto the bed next to him. “It’s nighttime. I’m going to sleep.” He threw the blankets over him and let out a snore that could rival a Reefback Leviathan in sound.

Shuuichi held back an eye roll and moved to sit on the ground, only to have a leg kick him back onto the bed.

Kokichi, while keeping his eyes closed in a sad attempt to pretend he was still asleep, tossed the blankets over him as well and clung to his arm. He resumed the snoring once more.

Even someone as (admittedly) dense as Shuuichi got the message. He chuckled and readjusted himself, his heart jumping at the human contact he had craved for weeks.

And if his sleep was disrupted by the bright light from Kokichi staring at his PDA at an image of himself and two other people next to him, he wouldn't mention it.

They woke up to a new message.

“This is Sunbeam. Y'know, Aurora, we're from a tiny ass trans-gov on the far side of Andromeda, and we have a saying there: there's no bad without the good, no good without the bad. Some crazy fuckface may have made it his catchphrase when he was still with us, but that doesn’t mean it ain’t true. Sounds like you tasted a bunch of the former, but that only means you're overdue a whole lot of the latter.” Fuyuhiko chuckled, his voice holding a bit more smugness than it previously had. “Might just be we're it. We're scanning for somewhere to park as we speak, we'll be in touch when we find it. Sunbeam out.”

“You know,” Shuuichi said, “I still haven’t forgotten about my question yesterday. I want to know what makes the Crag Field more dangerous.”

Kokichi’s smile wavered. “Persistent, aren’t you? Fine. Follow me. Don’t take your Seamoth.” He exited the base with just a Seaglide.

Dread built up in Shuuichi’s stomach, but he followed anyway.

The Crag Field was boring as always. It was when they went to the east where things became more interesting.

The water color turned into a murky brown, making it difficult to see even two meters ahead of them. There appeared to be few fauna in the area and even less flora, if any. Debris from the Aurora had fallen to the seafloor, though admittedly that floor was in the shallow areas of the ocean.

“What is this?” Shuuichi asked when they reached the surface. He swam closer, but the radiation warning from his PDA sent him swimming back to the Crag Field.

“I call that the Crash Zone,” Kokichi said. He pointed forward. “You see how the Aurora completely fucked up the environment? Everything here’s dead from the radiation except for one thing.”

“Which is…”

“Check underwater.”

Shuuichi gave him a quizzical look but dove underneath the surface anyway. He squinted hard, brushing away the sand that had clung to his mask from the debris.

There was a shadow in the background. A long, spiky shadow. A shadow he had no intention of ever meeting.

Fuck that.

Shuuichi grabbed Kokichi’s hand and rushed back into the jeopardized safety of the Crag Field. Once they made it back to the base, he flopped down on the bed, still trying to process what he had just seen.

“Yeah,” Kokichi said, leaning against the doorway connecting the hall and circular room. “I don’t know what that is either, and I don’t really feel like finding out. You understand, right?”

Shuuichi’s eyebrows furrowed. “So you’re telling me you lived next door to that thing for weeks? And you’re okay with it?”

“I’m the bigger monster of the seas. I’m the biggest monster out there. I don’t need to be scared of it.”

“... I can’t believe you.”

“Then don’t. I’m lying anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll figure it out soon enough,” Kokichi said. He hummed as he looked through his PDA. “Calorie intake recommended. I’m going hunting.” He exited the base.

Shuuichi didn’t follow.

The moment Kokichi stepped back into the base with two Peepers in his inventory, two arms wrapped around him, bringing him into an embrace. After the confusion cleared, Kokichi leaned into the contact.

They couldn’t lose each other now. Not when rescue was so near.

“Aurora, we're approaching the planet now, and we have a landing site for you that's... well, it's a fuck ton better than the alternatives. We've sent you the coordinates. It'll take us a couple of days to align our orbit, we should be able to establish direct contact with you during that time, then we're coming in to get you. Cross your fingers the weather holds, and don't leave us waiting. Sunbeam out.”

Golden and violet eyes locked.

It was time to get off this damned planet.

The landing site was on dry land. Land. Not ocean.

Shuuichi gaped up at the tall mountains dominating the landscape. Green grass patches were scattered around the land, as were short, stumpy trees with dark green leaves. Rocks were clustered together near the mountains. Small creatures with four skinny, insect-like legs and one large eye on top of its body walked on top of the rock clusters. Mountain Island was a fitting name for the landscape.

“Ouma, this is… Ouma?”

On the other hand, Kokichi’s first reaction was to pull out his scanner and scan everything he could, including the plants and creatures. He moved to scan a tree, only to have the creature bite him on the leg.

“Ow, fuck!” Kokichi stabbed at it with a survival knife, sending it scuttering back into a cave. “I would call those things Stubby Assholes, but I guess Cave Crawler makes sense, too. On the bright side…” He stabbed at the tree and held out its sample to Shuuichi. “The PDA says these are edible, and we can plant them. High water content, too.”

Shuuichi raised an eyebrow. “Are you telling me to eat that?”

“Sure, why not?”

“... Fine.” Shuuichi took the sample and popped it into his mouth. And he didn’t die right off the bat, something of an accomplishment on this planet. “Are you sure we should be eating these? They are on an alien planet.”

“Do you want to die of scurvy while we wait for the Sunbeam?”

“Raw fish has vitamin C, you know.”

“Do Peepers really count as fish?”

“Um, yes?”

Their erupting disagreement was interrupted by Kokichi’s widened eyes.

Shuuichi’s heart sank, and he suddenly felt much less sure of himself than he did  before. “Uh… Ouma?”

“What the hell is that thing?”

Shuuichi followed Kokichi’s pointed finger, only to see a giant, green structure stretching as far as the eye could see into the sky. There was no way it could have naturally been formed with the Mountain Island. Could humans have built it? Maybe, but the scans of planet 4546B he had collected showed no human presence anywhere. Something wasn’t right.

Then the top column shifted back, and the building was pointed at the sky like a gun.

Dread filled Shuuichi’s heart.

A white ship came soaring down from the clouds like an angel, and their PDAs spoke in unison.

“Attention,” the PDA said, “Patching in a local broadcast from the Sunbeam.”

Fuyuhiko’s voice took over the broadcast as the ship descended closer to the island. “Survivors, we see you! … Wait, is that purple down there? If it’s that purple brat or his dumbass brother, I swear…”

Kokichi only shrugged at Shuuichi’s questioning gaze.

“Man, I don’t know how you guys held out down there. We’ve broken atmosphere, and we’re descending towards the landing site. Stand clear.” A pause, then Fuyuhiko’s voice became more distant, yet the panic was still obvious. “Is that a fucking building down there? What the hell do you mean you can’t identify it? Ugh, hold on, no turning back now.” Static. “Positions, assholes, touching down in ten, nine, eight—”

Shuuichi’s heart stopped. A green light was gathering inside the building.

“It’s coming from the building?” His voice turned more frantic. “Change course! Set thrusters to full—”

But it was too late. A green beam shot out of the building and fired at the Sunbeam, the white vessel turning into a fiery, red and gray spectacle. Debris fell down into the ocean and beyond. Fireballs rocketed down from the sky. There was nothing remaining of the Sunbeam or its crew.

Shuuichi stayed frozen. Everything was numb.

Was this real? Did he really just witness his last hopes of rescue literally being shot down?

A sniffle next to him snapped him out of his thoughts.

Kokichi’s lips were pursed, as if he was trying and failing to hold his tears back. His eyes were puffy and red. Tears streamed down his cheeks in droplets. His knees gave out, and he crumpled onto the sand.

“Wh—Ouma!” Shuuichi cried, catching him before he could fall. He sat down on the sand next to him and held Kokichi close, his arm wrapped around his middle and Kokichi’s head on his shoulder. He could feel the body tremble, as if it would erupt with emotions at any second.

The volcano of repressed feelings erupted. Kokichi sobbed and wailed, burying his face into Shuuichi’s shoulder and clinging onto him as if he was his lifeline.

Shuuichi said nothing and held him even tighter. There was nothing that could be said.

And as the sun set on the horizon, Shuuichi reached up and realized he had been crying as well.

Chapter Text

By the time night fell, their tears had run out, and the two were left on the beach of the Mountain Island in silence, fending off the occasional Cave Crawler that tried taking a bite out of them. The crashing of the waves and the way his heart had sunken deep beyond what their Seamoths could reach almost reminded Shuuichi of the first day he spent on planet 4546B— standing on top of his lifepod and trying not to cry as he witnessed the Aurora and everyone onboard go up in flames.

But this time was different.

Shuuichi glanced at the still figure next to him. Kokichi had done so much for him already. It was time to return the favor.

After a moment of further thought, Shuuichi nestled closer to him and shut his eyes.

Let us mourn for just a bit longer.

When day broke, Shuuichi was surprised to see his limbs still intact and Kokichi towering over him with a smug smirk on his face.

“Get up, sleepyhead,” Kokichi sang. He grabbed Shuuichi’s hands and pulled, sending him stumbling into the sand. “We’ve got lots of work to do today.”

Shuuichi, through the clouds of sleep, squinted his eyes at him. “Wait… what?”

“You remember that giant gun that shot down the Sunbeam? We’re gonna explore that.”

“What? Are you…”

“Crazy? Yeah, of course! We all need a bit of cra—”

“No…” Shuuichi’s throat tightened, and he extended a hand out to him. “Are you okay? I just wanted to check up on you since yesterday… yesterday must have been tougher on you than me.”

Kokichi scoffed. “Does it really matter? My friend got brutally vaporized by a foreign laser gun, so what? My other friends probably got brutally vaporized by the planet’s atmosphere. That’s just life.”

“... No?”

“Whatever. If you’re done being a pansy about it, I’ll meet you by the giant green building.” And with that, Kokichi skipped away.

Shuuichi stared after him, knowing no emotion other than confusion.

There was no possible way Kokichi had gotten over the Sunbeam explosion so quickly. Hell, even he was still reeling from it, and he didn’t know anyone on the vessel. Unless he was lying about his connections to Fuyuhiko and the others onboard… but that didn’t seem likely, given the sheer amount of emotion each radio message had brought. What was up with him?

Ah, he was falling behind.

Shuuichi ran to catch up with him, only to see him standing in front of a gateway with green lasers shooting through it, blocking anyone from entering. “What… What is this?”

“Teleporter, obviously.”

“Right… Anyway, how do you figure we’ll get in?”

Kokichi walked towards a black podium and hovered his hand over it, revealing a rectangular imprint with purple lines drawn on it. “Take a wild guess, Saihara.”

Ah. Even after all that, they were still on a last name basis. He supposed he shouldn’t have expected any different, but it was a tad bit disappointing.

Shuuichi looked around them, as did Kokichi.

Let’s see… rectangular with purple lines, larger than Ouma’s hands… Oh, there it is.

Shuuichi bent over and picked up a tablet off the floor. He brushed the dirt away, revealing a tablet with purple lines imprinted into it. “I think I found it. There’s a broken tablet right next to it, too.”

“You’re seriously touching something before you scan it?” Kokichi snorted, already scanning the broken tablet. “Amateur hours. Luckily for you, it’s not poisonous. Weren’t you just dying of worry?”

“Yeah, sure.” Shuuichi placed the purple tablet onto the podium.

Once the tablet was placed, the podium locked it in place. The green lasers blocking off the entrance disappeared.

Well, that was easier than Shuuichi thought it would be.

They walked into a room of green, futuristic blocks deemed unscannable. The ceilings were high, and stairs led up and down. The sizes were larger than what would be considered normal on Earth. Whoever built this structure was either the largest human ever known or wasn’t human at all.

Shuuichi locked eyes with Kokichi, and it became clear they had arrived at the same conclusion.

“Are we still going in?” Shuuichi asked.

Kokichi’s answer was to keep walking.

“Scans suggest this structure is composed of a metal alloy with unprecedented integrity,” their PDAs chorused at the same time. “No matches found in database. Performing structural analysis.”

What the fuck? Not even their PDAs could determine the metal alloy? Either Alterran PDAs in survival mode were complete trash or this structure truly was alien. This was too suspicious, and it felt as if they were walking through a creaky house in a horror movie.

But he had to do it. The visions of being shot down by the laser beam himself if he dared take another step inside were pushed away with memories of Kaito training him after hours, of Kaede teaching him how to recognize certain sounds, of everyone else being alive. It would be a dishonor to give up now.

So he continued walking with shaky legs.

Kokichi raised an eyebrow at him. “What? Are you a scaredy cat or something?”

“... Maybe.”

“Are you telling me you survived the Aurora crash, watched it explode, survived this long, and now you’re scared of a stupid building?”

“No, of course not!”

Kokichi gave him one last look before taking his hand and dragging him further into the building. Somehow, the rough contact was comforting. Almost a reminder that he wasn’t alone like he had been for the previous weeks on this planet.

Shuuichi’s lips curled into a smile, and he tightened his grip on the hand.

Soon, they came across a green hologram being projected from another podium.

Without so much as a glance, Kokichi poked it.

“Unknown language,” their PDAs said, “Attempting translation…”

Shuuichi pulled out his PDA and read the following text.

Alien Data Terminal:
Discovered inside an alien facility, it was not possible to translate any useful information, however scans have returned some information on the device itself.
It is likely a solid-state computer, although there is no clear way to interface with it. On approach it began producing a low-frequency radio wave containing complex but recognizable data patterns.
It is likely the alien species which designed this technology evolved, or genetically selected, sensory apparatus to 'hear' and understand the information being broadcast by the device, and to communicate back. The mental processing power required to perform this kind of telepathy would imply the designers were considerably more psychologically developed than the common human.
Assessment: Further research required

“Well, there we have it,” Kokichi said, “the answer was aliens all along.”

“I mean… you’re right, but could you not say that in such a casual tone?”

“How do you want me to say it?”

“Like… nevermind.”

They continued further into the building.

“Uh… what the heck is that?” Shuuichi asked, pointing at a green cube on top of a black pedestal that raised whenever they approached it.

Kokichi rolled his eyes and took out his scanner.

Ah, right. I don’t know why I even bother asking.

Shuuichi looked over his PDA after scanning the green object. “‘This green mineral substance has no entry on the periodic table, and an unprecedented ability to store huge amounts of ionic energy within it. Assessment: Valuable energy source.’” He glanced up. “Should we take it?”

Kokichi was already reaching for the ion cube before Shuuichi could even finish his sentence. “I love crime and thievery,” he said with a smile.

Shuuichi sighed and shook his head.

After collecting another ion cube, their PDAs spoke up again.

“Analysis of the patterns on the walls cannot ascertain whether their purpose is aesthetic or functional. Further data required.”

“The walls look like a little kid scribbled on them,” Shuuichi mumbled, earning a laugh from Kokichi. His head snapped up, and his eyebrows furrowed. “... I’m sorry, what was that?”

“What was what?”

“Your laugh. Would you mind doing that again?”

“Yes, I do mind.”

“O-Oh. Sorry then—”

“Nishishi!” Kokichi said, “Man, you’re so easy to trick.”

Shuuichi smiled and shook his head. “Would it be appropriate to say you sound like one of those horses the Mongolians bring over sometimes?”

“Yup! That’s actually where I got it from.”

“Really?”

“No. My laugh is just weird.” Kokichi puffed his cheeks out and narrowed his eyes. “What, are you saying my laugh is ugly? How could you?”

Dread filled Shuuichi’s lungs as tears built up in Kokichi’s eyes. “W-Wait, no, that’s not what I’m saying at all! Quite the opposite, in fact.”

The tears dried up instantly, revealing their lack of authenticity. “So you’re saying my laugh is pretty? It makes your heart skip a beat? You lose yourself in it? Or some other things from trash romance novels?”

Shuuichi flicked him on the head and moved forward.

As Shuuichi picked up another ion cube, Kokichi skipped over to the next data terminal.

“What does it say?” Shuuichi asked.

“It says you’re a lazy ass who can’t read.” A pause. “Nah, I’m just kidding. It’s basically just giving us the layout of the building. Apparently a building that’s supposed to power it is found deeper, where it takes advantage of geothermal energy.”

Shuuichi pulled out his PDA.

“Hey!” Kokichi huffed. “That hurt!”

“Wow, you were actually telling the truth.”

“You’re so rude, Saihara. That’s it. You’re on silent treatment for the next two years.”

The silent treatment lasted two minutes before Kokichi cracked another joke about the facility.

A giant hole with air and green particles flowing upwards revealed itself to them right in the middle of Kokichi’s rant about how much he hated the color green (though Shuuichi wasn’t exactly sure how much of it was true).

“Your best probability of interfacing with this facility is achieved by accessing the control room in the lower section,” their PDAs said.

“Saihara, be a good underling and jump in,” Kokichi said, waving his hand forward with an impartial face.

Shuuichi gaped at him. “What? No!”

“Weren’t you just a maintenance employee on the Aurora? I was the captain, so go on.”

“That’s not even true. Makoto Naegi was the captain.”

“Do you dare question the authority of the captain?”

“Ugh, fine.” Shuuichi stood on the edge of the platform and raised a foot.

Wait… Let me do something first.

He grabbed Kokichi’s hand and pulled him in as he jumped off.

They were then suspended in the air, giving Kokichi half a second to give Shuuichi the most unamused blank face he had ever had the misfortune of seeing before they were gently taken down to the lower level.

“Well, that turned interesting,” Kokichi said, staring at his fingernails after brushing himself off. “I didn’t know you had it in ya.”

Shuuichi flinched at the harsh tone. “S-Sorry, maybe that was a bit too—”

“Are you expecting me to be mad for making something interesting? That’s boring. Let’s just keep going.”

Shuuichi stared at the disinterested purple eyes in front of him before breaking into a relieved smile. “Yeah. Let’s keep going.”

“Is that… Is that a giant moonpool?” Shuuichi asked.

Indeed it was. While the green, futuristic motif of the building hadn’t changed, the room now held around seventy percent more water than it should. Light filtered in through the opening to the ocean, which Shuuichi guessed connected back to the island. Another doorway was at the head of the moonpool.

They walked through the doorway, only to come across a giant room with two sets of ramps leading upstairs. And something else underneath the upper floor…

“Wait for me,” Shuuichi said before taking out his scanner and hovering it next to the long stick encased in a tall, green case.

Alien Rifle:
Strong resemblance to human weaponry in form, this device must have been designed with a humanoid user in mind. Whether the aliens that built this structure were themselves humanoid, or otherwise employed the use of humanoids is unclear. What is clear is that they considered defending this facility a necessary precaution. There is no obvious way to remove the rifle from the case.

Shuuichi slid his scanner back into his inventory and took a step back from the rifle. There were too many questions to even begin answering, like what were they defending? And who were they defending it from?

It was best not to think about it.

Shuuichi shared the data with Kokichi’s PDA after being given a head tilt, only to see Kokichi’s face pale as well.

A couple more hallways later, a giant, green arch in the shape of a diamond was inside a separate room with a set of podiums forming a walkway towards it. At this point, Shuuichi was getting sick of the color green.

Kokichi walked back and forth through the diamond, his eyebrows furrowing when he realized it did nothing. “Look, Saihara, it’s more useless than you.”

Shuuichi had to admit he had a point. He only gave him a side glare before exiting the room.

After picking up another purple tablet, they had come across a red and blue spherical object, and of course, Kokichi immediately scanned it once again.

Kokichi read the entry on the PDA before simply walking away from it.

Alarms rang in Shuuichi’s head. “Uh… Ouma? What was it?”

No answer.

Shuuichi scanned the item.

Doomsday Device:
Scans indicate this device contains enough potential energy to destroy the entire planet, along with most of the solar system. It was presumably to be used in the event of quarantine failure. Fortunately, it has malfunctioned.

Well, that was pleasant.

Shuuichi followed Kokichi up the stairs in a more hurried pace than usual.

“Scans indicate the facility’s control room lies beyond this doorway,” their PDAs said.

Another forcefield identical to the one they had breached at the entrance of the building was placed in front of them. An empty podium was placed beside it with the same purple outline.

“You have the purple tablet, right?” Kokichi asked.

Shuuichi nodded and put the tablet in place. He watched the green lasers dissipate before stepping inside with Kokichi by his side.

Beyond the forcefield was a walkway leading to a large pole with a shining green substance in the middle. When they walked towards it, the system in front of the pole disassembled, revealing a glowing outline of a circle and a square.

Both Shuuichi and Kokichi held out their scanners.

Energy Core:
This device houses energy equivalent to a 100MT nuclear detonation, which can be channeled through the facility and directed at vessels overhead, or bent around the planet’s gravitational pull to strike targets in orbit. Power is routed via the attached terminal, allowing the device to be deactivated if necessary. It is currently operating without parameters, suggesting it will target any ship within range.

So this was what had brought both the Aurora and the Sunbeam down.

Shuuichi kept thinking through his anger, knowing it was the only thing that would keep him grounded. If there was a device this powerful operating without parameters, that meant there was something either immensely valuable or immensely dangerous on this planet. Combined with the alien rifle and the doomsday device, the evidence suggested the latter.

But what was so dangerous that it needed to be kept from the universe? The doomsday device certainly didn’t seem to be it, as there would have been no point to creating it in the first place. Neither was the alien rifle. And the bacteria couldn’t have possibly been so dangerous that it would warrant such high levels of protection. At least, Shuuichi hoped so.

Shuuichi looked up from his PDA, only to see Kokichi gripping his PDA so hard his knuckles turned white and his hands started shaking. He set a hand on his shoulder.

Kokichi looked up from the PDA, his hands automatically relaxing. He offered Shuuichi a smile. “What’s up?”

“You just seemed a bit tense.” Shuuichi turned back towards the device. “Do you think we can deactivate this?”

“Why are you asking me?”

Shuuichi edged his hand towards the outlined square and pushed the button. Two arches sprung up from the box, seizing his hand in an invisible forcefield.

Fuck.

“Saihara!” Kokichi grabbed his wrist and pulled, but to no avail.

Shuuichi’s heart raced as he tried pulling his wrist out as well. His breathing grew quicker, so much so that his head became as light as feathers.

Oh my god. This is where I die.

The outlined circle popped out and studied the body captured, its long neck resembling the body of a snake. It faced Shuuichi and paused before a needle extended from it and stabbed Shuuichi’s wrist.

Shuuichi grimaced at the pain and held his arm while Kokichi’s face had gone ghost white.

After a few seconds, his wrist was released, and the arches slid back into their places. The square outline had gone red. The device returned to its state before they had approached it.

“The control panel is broadcasting a message,” the PDAs said. “Translation reads… ‘WARNING: Infected individuals may not disable the weapon. This planet is under quarantine.’”

Ah. So it was the bacteria.

Kokichi held Shuuichi’s wrists, his eyebrows furrowed. “It doesn’t look like the needle punctured your suit. And it doesn’t look like you’re bleeding anywhere. Are you alright?”

“Never been better,” Shuuichi spat. His wrist still hurt like hell, and it didn’t help that technically Kokichi pushed him to go first. “Stop looking like you care about me.”

Kokichi’s face went blank, almost offended. He locked eyes with him for a moment before throwing Shuuichi’s wrist back down and storming away from both him and the device.

Ah, shit. He messed up, didn’t he?

Shuuichi sprinted to catch up with Kokichi and walked alongside him in silence. The atmosphere was so thick it couldn’t be sliced with even the fabricator.

“Translating background broadcast,” their PDAs said, “Downloading summary to databank.”

Immediately, the two checked their PDAs.

Alien Facility Locations:
Intercepted background data regarding further alien facilities elsewhere on the planet.

Disease Research Facility
- Depth: 800m
- Location: Cave system with extensive fossil record, south-west of enforcement platform
- Function: Live specimen study
- Objective: Synthesis of antidote for highly infectious bacterium designated 'Kharaa'

Thermal Power Facility
- Depth: 1200m
- Location: Inside an extensive natural rock formation, in an area of intense volcanic activity
- Function: Generate energy for all local facilities

Sanctuary A - DATA CORRUPTED
Sanctuary B - DATA CORRUPTED
Offsite Laboratory - DATA CORRUPTED
Primary Containment Facility - DATA CORRUPTED

In the event of an outbreak, quarantine procedures will be automatically enforced with immediate effect. The quarantine enforcement platform will target all incoming and outgoing craft, to prevent the spread of infection offworld.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us,” Shuuichi said, his heart sinking upon seeing so many facilities they still haven’t visited. If they wanted to get a better understanding of the disease and how to disable the building, they needed to go as far as 1200 meters below sea level, or maybe more.

Kokichi stayed silent.

“You’re really giving me the silent treatment again?”

Silence.

And there was the problem with being the only two confirmed people alive on one planet; no matter how much the other person irritated you, at the end of the day, they were still your only form of human contact.

Kokichi knew this. Shuuichi was certain of it.

Right as they turned a corner, the area in front of him blurred. Four blue eyes and a shadow in the shape of an enlarged version of a butterfly, only attached to a stocky body.

Shuuichi froze. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing would come out. His attempts to turn his head to look at Kokichi were in vain.

Then a soft, light voice spoke. “What… are… you?”

After a few seconds, the shadow faded, and the area in front of him returned to its prior state. He could turn his head and speak. It was as if nothing had changed.

The two stood in stunned silence before Shuuichi stuttered out, “You saw that too, right?”

Kokichi quickly nodded before grabbing his hand and making another turn. “And we’re getting out of here right now.”

Shuuichi had no qualms with that. “... Who’s the scaredy cat now?”

“Still you.”

Chapter Text

What are you? That was what the shadow had said to them, and it couldn’t have been a hallucination if both he and Kokichi had heard its voice. But then again, mass hallucinations have happened in history, and anything could happen on a foreign planet.

“Ouma,” Shuuichi called. “You’ve been silent since we came back from the Mountain Island. Are you alright?”

Silence.

“... Well, I’m going to sleep. It’s been a long day, and I think we both need to rest. Do you mind if we share the same bed again?”

More silence. A pleasant surprise.

Shuuichi pursed his lips before lying down in bed and pulling the covers over him. It was only a few minutes until he felt a weight settle next to him, followed by two strong arms wrapping around his middle like it was the end of the world.

Shuuichi furrowed his eyebrows and struggled to turn around to the person next to him. “Ouma, what—”

“Be quiet,” Kokichi mumbled. His grip loosened, but he nuzzled closer in its place.

“... Are you trying to apologize for being so quie—”

“No! Shut up!” The voice came out muffled and childish. Kokichi dropped his head under the blankets.

It was a blatant lie, and both of them knew it. But if one of them lied, the other could tell the truth.

“... I’m sorry, too,” Shuuichi whispered, “for everything you and I had to go through.”

“Go to sleep. It’s not your fault.”

Shuuichi smiled. So he doesn’t hate me after all.

Shuuichi squinted at the bright lights of the base before sitting up in bed and stretching his limbs with a yawn. It took a moment for him to register the blank face standing at the foot of the bed before him. “... Ouma? Good morning.”

Kokichi opened his mouth to say something before seemingly realizing he shouldn’t, then shut it. His eyebrows furrowed, and his next words came out dry. “We have to go back to the Aurora.”

The words took a moment to process. “... I’m sorry, what?”

“The Aurora. We have to go back.”

“But there’s radiation.”

“We both got the blueprint for the radiation suit when the Aurora exploded.”

Well, there went Shuuichi’s only excuse. He struggled to form a thought before blurting out what was in his head. “But… why?”

“Because I want you dead.”

“No, really. Why?”

Kokichi’s mouth pursed into a thin line. He hesitated. “The PDA said the Disease Research Facility is 800 meters down and the Thermal Power Facility is 1200 meters down. If we want to escape the planet, we’ll need to visit both of those areas. Even if we had all the depth modules for the Seamoth, they can only go down 900 meters.”

Shuuichi’s heart stopped. He had forgotten crush depth was even a thing.

“My friend worked in the Prawn Bay, so I know we can get the blueprint for the Prawn Suits. If the suits survived the wreck, that is…”

“I mean, it couldn’t have gone that far,” Shuuichi blurted. But logically, he knew better. An entire spaceship, one of the larger ones in Alterra’s possession, had crashed face first onto a planet. There was no way some debris hadn’t landed hundreds of kilometers away.

Kokichi only shrugged. “I’m going to go fight some monsters. You can come with me or not.”

“Fine, fine,” Shuuichi said. He stood up from bed. “You get the lead, I’ll get the creepvine sample. I need four if I’m going to make two fiber meshes, and you need two lead pieces. But that only makes one suit, so you’ll need to double that.”

“I’m impressed you memorized the blueprint. Well done, Saihara.”

Shuuichi didn’t know whether that was meant to mocking or encouraging, and he honestly didn’t care which one. “We might also need the laser cutter. I know there were a few locked doors in the ship, and I needed to ask some random supervisor to open it.”

Kokichi laughed but pulled out his PDA. “I have the blueprint. I’ll go get the supplies for that, too.”

Shuuichi’s eyes widened at the supplies needed for it. “It needs two diamonds, a battery, titanium, and cave sulfur. You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, but I am.”

“Where are you even going to get diamonds?”

“I’ll find a way.”

Cryptic as always. Shuuichi frowned. “Well… there’s cave sulfur in my old lifepod, if you need it.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

It was always one step forward and two steps backwards with him. Shuuichi walked towards the exit hatch but turned around just before he opened it. “Hey… I’ll see you later, okay? You have my coordinates.”

Kokichi hesitated. “Carry an extra power cell with you. I’ll check your coordinates in three hours.”

“Right. Same goes for you.” Shuuichi dove out of the hatch and climbed into his Seamoth. He drove away with a heavy heart, his heart only getting heavier upon seeing another Seamoth drive away in the opposite direction.

Ouma… please stay safe.

Shuuichi’s side of gathering materials was relatively easy. He had to roll out of his Seamoth, slash at some creepvines a few times, then roll back inside and take off. The only predators in the Kelp Forest were Mesmers and Stalkers, and he had learned how to avoid both of those.

But Kokichi’s absence was making him nervous…

Knock it off with the worrying, Shuuichi. Ouma’s survived far more than just trying to find four pieces of lead.

Still, Shuuichi couldn’t help but worry as he fabricated the creepvine samples into fiber meshes.

It was two hours after he returned when the hatch to the base finally unlocked, and Kokichi dove inside holding the materials in his hands with a smug smile.

“Guess who’s back!” Kokichi sang. The smile slipped off his face upon seeing Shuuichi’s trembling lips. “... Saihara? Are you okay?”

Shuuichi said nothing. He walked towards Kokichi and cupped his face in his hands, taking note of his shiny purple eyes and the red cuts on his cheeks sticking out against his porcelain skin. He burned the image into his memory. It might be the only thing he had with him.

Kokichi stared up at him in wonder, placing his hands on Shuuichi’s arms. His eyes shined even more brilliantly, rivaling the stars in beauty. “Saihara…? You’re making a face like you want to kiss me.”

It took a moment for Shuuichi to process his words. He jumped away, his face red. “Wh-What? No! I-I didn’t mean that at all!”

“Nishishi! You’re so cute when you’re flustered,” Kokichi snickered. Judging by the mischief swimming in his eyes, it was clear he knew exactly what he was doing.

“Ugh, be quiet,” Shuuichi groaned. “Are we making the radiation suits or not?”

“Sure. Yoink!” Kokichi snatched the fibers out of Shuuichi’s hands and began fabricating the suits.

Shuuichi watched the blue rays of the fabricator shine across the gray platform, the lead and fiber meshes combining into a stretchy fabric. Then his gaze drifted to the man standing at the fabricator, humming as he made space on the platform for another suit.

Kokichi really was too pretty for his own good.

“I feel dizzy,” Shuuichi mumbled, holding his head as he stood on top of his abandoned lifepod.

Kokichi moved to smack him on the head, only for Shuuichi to dodge.

The entire front half of the Aurora had been blown apart, leaving only the steel skeleton, and some of that had been obliterated. The tip poking out on top had split in half like a tree after a storm. Random patches of the Aurora’s outer plate had blown off and exposed the steel skeleton inside. Despite the amount of time that had passed between the explosion and now, fires still dominated the ship.

“I think we can go in from… there,” Shuuichi said, pointing at the front half of the Aurora, where the steel had bent just enough for them to be allowed entry.

Kokichi jumped back into the water and boarded his Seamoth without a word.

“Wh—Ouma! Ugh, you’re so impatient.” Shuuichi dove in after him, surprised to see Kokichi’s Seamoth waiting for his. He drove forward with Kokichi’s Seamoth by his side.

It took a few minutes for them to reach what they had agreed to deem the Crash Zone. The previously blue, clear water had turned brown and murky. The colorful plants and fauna had all disappeared. What used to be comfortable open waters was now eerie.

“Lifeform readings in this area are sparse,” the PDA said, “The Aurora's radioactive fallout will have devastating effects on the alien ecosystem if not contained within the next 24 hours.”

Ah, so they had a time limit. That was pleasant.

Kokichi hadn’t seemed to have gotten the memo. His Seamoth paused for a brief moment before floating up towards the surface.

Shuuichi furrowed his eyebrows but followed him. He exited the Seamoth with Kokichi and broke the surface of the water. “Ouma, what are you—”

“There’s a lifepod,” Kokichi breathed, pointing behind Shuuichi.

Shuuichi turned around, only to see a destroyed lifepod turned upside down. “Are we… Are we going in?”

“Is that even a question?”

The two took a moment to collect their thoughts before moving forward through the torn hole in the lifepod.

Every device inside the lifepod was fried from the water inside it. The room was illuminated with the bright light of a PDA. Next to the abandoned PDA was a medical kit and data box.

Kokichi took the medical kit and opened the data box while Shuuichi downloaded the PDA’s data. A recording from the download played.

A man’s voice spoke. “To any Alterra crew. Landed in area of significant alien activity. Encountered predators in the leviathan class, highly aggressive. Spectroscope scanner assigned species designator 'Reaper'. One specimen attempted to swallow the lifepod, doing extensive damage in the process. Only viable option is to make for the safety of the Aurora crash site.” A shuddery sigh. “I have retrieved a databox with the creature decoy, and enough resources to fabricate a couple of them. The swim's longer than the decoy lifetime, but it should just be enough to keep them busy. If you don't find me onboard the ship, presume I miscalculated.”

Kokichi froze. He exited the lifepod and made for the open air.

Shuuichi followed him. “Ouma? Do you know who this was?”

“Korekiyo Shinguuji, chief xenobiologist on the Aurora. I’ve worked with him a few times. Kind of got too into studying his subjects, but…” Kokichi trailed off. He brought up what he had retrieved from the data box. “But we got a creature decoy blueprint. That’s worth it, right?”

It was overwhelmingly clear that what had happened to Korekiyo had shaken Kokichi, and it had shaken Shuuichi as well. Korekiyo was clever enough to think of a plan to distract the predators in the area, but those predators had ultimately won. What were these predators?

“He wasn’t… easily scared. Always kept his composure. Not sure why his voice is so panicked in this,” Kokichi said.

Shuuichi took a moment to think. “Hey, Ouma… remember back at the Crag Field when you showed me why it wasn’t safe? There was a shadow of some long, spiky thing in the waters.”

“Yes, why?”

“That shadow… I think that’s what Shinguuji was calling the Reaper Leviathan.”

“And… And those are the predators he’s talking about?”

“Yes.”

“Nishi… Nishishi.” Kokichi’s laugh was devoid of any humor, and his eyes were glazed over. “We’re absolutely fucked.”

“But we’re also on a time limit,” Shuuichi said, “We have twenty-four hours before the Aurora’s radiation destroys the ecosystem.”

“So? Fuck this planet. Let it burn.”

“You and I both know neither of us want that to happen. You’re not being truthful to yourself.”

Kokichi stayed silent before diving back underwater and hopping back into his Seamoth.

Shuuichi sighed and followed. They were the foreigners on this planet; it was their duty to not wreck the entire ecosystem. He knew Kokichi understood that as well as he did.

They dove deeper into the murky waters, squinting to see ahead of them. They had made it to the side of the ship before Kokichi had stepped out of his Seamoth with a scanner in hand.

Shuuichi furrowed his eyebrows and turned his Seamoth lights on for Kokichi. “Oh my god, what are you doing?”

Kokichi couldn’t answer, as there was no way they could communicate. He held up a fragment in the Seamoth’s view before scanning it and presenting his PDA to Shuuichi.

Propulsion Cannon fragment.

He continued to do so while Shuuichi watched, unable to scold him or to tell him to get back into his Seamoth and focus on the task at hand.

Cyclops engine fragment… Cyclops bridge fragment… Another Cyclops engine fragment. Ouma, please stop and—

Shuuichi’s thoughts were erased by the sound of a loud, muffled roar from somewhere around them. Underwater, it was hard to discern which direction it was coming from.

Kokichi put his scanner away and equipped his knife, slowly turning.

Sweat ran down Shuuichi’s forehead as he turned his Seamoth as well, sometimes losing sight of Kokichi. Should he keep the lights on Kokichi? There was no telling where he would swim off to next, but at the same time, they needed to be vigilant for any predators.

The roar grew louder, but the only direction Shuuichi could discern was closer.

Shuuichi took the lights off Kokichi.

The next thing he knew, the lights shined in the face of a giant creature beyond his comprehension. Golden eyes met four ugly, black eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth. Four red mandibles had taken control of the Seamoth, and the creature roared again, his mouth bigger than the height of the vehicle.

The Reaper Leviathan. Blue, white skin with red streaks. Too many fins for him to count in his daze.

Shuuichi scrambled for his controls, but he had no control over where the creature decided to drag him. In the distance, he could see the Aurora getting farther and farther away.

The Seamoth’s alarms blared as the creature shook the vehicle and roared.

Shuuichi’s vision blurred. What was he supposed to do? What could he do against a giant sea monster?

This is the end, Shuuichi thought, gulping. Tears ran down his cheeks as he watched the hull integrity on his Seamoth slowly drop. It was only a matter of time before the Reaper would break through the Seamoth.

Then it dropped his vehicle. It turned away.

What?

Shuuichi leaned in towards the glass window, his eyes widening and heart dropping upon seeing a familiar figure latched onto one of its fins and stabbing at it with a knife.

“Ouma!” Shuuichi called, but he knew Kokichi couldn’t hear.

The Reaper rolled, trying to get the attacker off its back but failing. After a round of roars and flails, it had finally managed to knock Kokichi away and swam in another direction.

Kokichi took a moment to determine where exactly he was before barreling back into his Seamoth and making a break for the Aurora’s hull.

Shuuichi turned off his light and drove forward.

Eventually, they reached a platform on the Aurora above water. They beached their Seamoths and stumbled out, immediately taking their masks off and moving towards each other.

Kokichi was still out of breath from his battle with the Reaper Leviathan. He offered Shuuichi a smile. “Well… we made it.”

They, indeed, did make it to a presumably safe place on the Aurora, but Shuuichi wanted nothing more than to smack the smug smile off his face. Anger boiled in his gut, and he clenched his fists. “Kokichi Ouma, you are terrible.”

“... What?”

“Do you know how dangerous that was? Why did you think you could go toe-to-toe with the ocean’s apex predator?” Shuuichi screamed, pulling at his hair. “You could have died! No, you would have died if it felt like turning around and killing you. Why did you think that was okay?”

Kokichi took a step back, his eyebrows furrowing and lips pulling back into a snarl. “What was I supposed to while the Reaper took your Seamoth for a joy ride, just stand there? I can’t do that!”

“You should have!”

“And why do you care? You’re the one who would’ve gotten out of it alive.”

Shuuichi’s anger escalated. He grabbed Kokichi by the shoulders, guilt creeping into his mind when he saw Kokichi flinch the tiniest bit. “You’re horrible. You’re the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. How dare you just waltz into my life, do nothing but be yourself, and make me care about you too much?”

“... Wait, what?”

The words Shuuichi had just said processed in his head. He released his grip on Kokichi and stumbled back, holding his face in his hands. “Oh my god. I’m sorry, that was completely rude of me to say.”

“I mean, not that last part.”

That was true. But how had that come out of his mouth during a storm of anger? The first few sentences made sense, but then he tacked on that part, and it wasn’t even a lie. Why had he…

Shuuichi’s face burned red.

This was not the right time to realize he was infatuated with his survival partner.

Kokichi frowned and stepped forward. “Saihara, are you okay? You’re red—”

“No, no, I’m fine,” Shuuichi said, leaning back to avoid Kokichi’s hand. “It’s nothing. Let’s just go explore the Aurora.”

“... Right.” Kokichi walked ahead of him, the tension between them suffocating. He took a few more steps before stopping. “If it makes you feel better, I care about you too much, too, Shuuichi.”

Shuuichi. That was his first name.

Shuuichi’s heart leaped. His lips curled into a smile. “Thank you, Kokichi. I’m happy to be your friend.”

Kokichi whipped around to him, his face lightly tinged pink. “We’re not friends.”

“Sure. People that aren’t friends totally risk their lives for each other.”

“Stop sounding smug.”

Whatever Shuuichi was about to say next was interrupted by the ground underneath them shaking, knocking both of them off their feet and sending them plummeting to the ground.

“Warning: ship's structural integrity is low,” their PDAs said, “Fire suppression equipment and laser cutters may be required. Exploration is conducted at your own risk.”

Oh, wow, thanks for telling us that, Shuuichi thought, rolling his eyes as he stood back up.

“Ow!” Kokichi yelped, knifing back a Cave Crawler. “Let’s get out of here. There’s a ton of supply crates around the area.”

Shuuichi looked up the ramp of a floor, noticing two supply boxes already. He walked forward and opened one. “Disinfected water. Check what the other one has.”

Kokichi rolled his eyes but opened the box anyway. “More disinfected water. How are we gonna get in?”

That was a good question. There was a visible door near them, but it was blocked by too many boxes for them to be able to push through. Where else could they go?

“Ah, there,” Shuuichi said, pointing at a part of the ship’s skeleton that hadn’t been blown off. “We can walk on that. It looks like it connects to the inner part of the Aurora.”

Kokichi wrinkled his nose. “You’re really gonna walk on that? ”

Fuck it, it was Shuuichi’s turn to take a chance. He nodded and walked on top of the skeleton, kicking off a stray Cave Crawler and opening a supply crate in his way. More disinfected water. He made his way to another platform of the Aurora in relative safety.

Kokichi followed, careful not to slip off the skeleton.

“Caution: scans show the digestive tracts of nearby lifeforms contain human tissues,” their PDAs read.

Shuuichi shuddered. Cave Crawlers were scavengers, he knew that already. But the thought of fellow humans being on the ship and their corpses being picked at…

Before he could get too carried away by his thoughts, Kokichi spoke. “Hey, Shuuichi. Have you noticed that the Cave Crawlers look a little… different than usual?”

“How so?"

“You figure it out.”

And even after all they had been through, Kokichi was still a cryptic little shit.

It didn’t take long for Shuuichi to spot another Cave Crawler. He narrowed his eyes at the green spots bulging from its body. “What… What is that?”

“The flu.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Didn’t you know? The flu kills billions of humans every day. I can’t believe you would be that insensitive.”

Shuuichi shook his head and moved on, picking up a battery from a supply crate.

Taking a few more steps further on the platform revealed a doorway with flames engulfing the side. There was no way they would be able to squeeze through without getting burned.

“How are we going to put out the fire?” Shuuichi asked, scanning the floor.

Kokichi took a moment to think before walking forward and picking up a fire extinguisher as well as a first aid kit from a supply crate. “Jeez, these supply crates are everywhere. We’re never dying to the elements, I guess.”

“Yeah, yeah, just put out the fires already.”

“Impatient, aren’t you?” Nevertheless, Kokichi extinguished the flames near the door and put the extinguisher in his inventory for future use.

The two walked through the door, officially entering the Aurora. They were met with two divergent paths that led to Cargo Bay 3 and Administration.

“Aurora systems are working on local reserve power,” their PDAs said, “Unable to remotely download blackbox data.”

That was ignorable for now.

“Did you work at any of these?” Shuuichi asked, his gaze flickering between the two.

“Cargo Bay for sure. I mean, have you seen these muscles?” Kokichi attempted to flex his arm, but to no avail. He pouted. “I guess doing tons of cardio for weeks on end will do that do you. I guess we should pick up this PDA first.”

Shuuichi hadn’t even noticed the PDA. He scanned the fragment next to the PDA (frowning upon noticing it was a Propulsion Cannon fragment) as the data played.

“Exiting sleep mode,” the PDA said, “Loading voice recognition. Engineer Kaito Momota and Chief Technology Officer Souda identified.”

Shuuichi’s heart stopped.

“Drone, get me a propulsion cannon,” came Kaito’s voice. After a few seconds of silence, he said, “Thanks.”

Kazuichi’s voice played next. “Hey, Momota! Install that circuit box with that repulsion cannon and you'll punch a hole in the cargo bay. You’ve got the wrong equipment.”

“Damnit, drone, I said pro -pulsion, not re -pulsion. Recalibrate sensors!”

“Sensors recalibrated,” came a robotic voice.

Kazuichi scoffed. “Sensors aren’t the problem. I tweaked the program. It's like you now, it doesn't like being told what to do.”

A moment of silence played before Kaito sighed, his tone shifting to a more tired one. “Okay, drone—”

“His name’s Haji. You know, after the asshole second officer.”

“... Haji. I know it's not your fault, but it would really help me do my job if you'd bring me what I asked for. Thanks for your time.” A moment of silence followed Kaito’s words, in which he was presumably handed the proper equipment. “Thank you. Now go away.”

“Entering hibernation mode,” came the same robotic voice.

Kaito sighed once more. “Boss, this hobby of yours isn't making my job any easier. Or safer.”

Kazuichi snorted. “Maybe so, but it's all that's stopping me from being so bored I take a spacewalk in my underwear.”

And that was the end of the data.

“Hey, Kokichi,” Shuuichi said, “Can you transfer that one to my PDA, too?”

“Our PDAs already share the same data. I hooked it up while you were asleep.”

Shuuichi checked his PDA, only to find that Kokichi was telling the truth. He looked up with furrowed eyebrows. “How did you do that in survival mode? What sector did you work in while in the Aurora for you to know how to do that?”

Kokichi shrugged and carried on, walking down the Administration hallway. The ground shook again and debris fell over them, but he didn’t seem perturbed in the slightest. He extinguished the flames blocking another doorway before Shuuichi managed to gather his senses and follow him.

The two walked into the Administration Office. Two chairs were stationed at a desk with shelves behind it on the left side of the room, and a table with a PDA abandoned on it to the right side of the room with a decorative poster on the wall. A data terminal sat in the middle.

Kokichi started scanning the furniture in the room, humming a tune to himself, as Shuuichi downloaded the data terminal.

Alterra Launches the Aurora:
PHASEGATE ANNOUNCED FOR THE ARIADNE ARM: ALTERRA LAUNCHES THE AURORA
The furthest reaches of inhabited space are due to expand, as Alterra Corp launches a newly-constructed capital ship, carrying a phasegate bound for the Ariadne Arm.

The Aurora will travel from spacedock on the edge of Alterra space, making hundreds of consecutive phasegate jumps through nine different trans-gov authorities, and arrive on the far side of the Ariadne Arm in three months' time. From there the command crew will pilot the ship beyond the final phasegate, arriving in the next solar system approximately 18 months later.
There the elite team of engineers will begin a 6 month construction project on the new phasegate, a multi-trillion credit investment. In the absence of existing infrastructure in the region, the vessel is equipped with advanced thermal and nuclear power facilities.
Alterra Corp. currently operates 9% of all phasegates in the galaxy. If the Aurora's mission is successful Alterra will have outmanoeuvred a cabal of Mongolian corporations, operating a range of outposts and mines in the region.

… The Aurora was built to build a phasegate? Shuuichi supposed he couldn’t be too surprised by that, but he had never truly been told what exactly he was on the Aurora to do. All he knew was that if he took care of the ship and its crew for a number of years, he would live another few years without having to take another job.

Shuuichi downloaded the abandoned PDA.

Notes to Self:
So here we are, finally, in open space. We crossed the galaxy to install a phasegate, to send ships to mine resources, to build more expensive ships, to install fancier phasegates... Are we trying to exhaust the galaxy or just ourselves?

12/3 - Yumeno's birthday
40 - Weeks before we get home
400 - Weeks it feels like before we get home
Not enough - Credits Alterra's paying me
1454 - Cargo bay code

Shuuichi already had a decent idea of just whose this PDA was, judging by the first note. He kept the Cargo Bay code in the back of his head. “Did you finish scanning everything?”

Kokichi’s scanner hovered over the trash can in the corner of the room for a moment before he turned back to Shuuichi with a smile and a nod.

“... Why would you need to scan the trash can?”

“Because I felt like it. Stop judging me, Shuuichi.”

A smile made its way to Shuuichi’s lips. “Alright, alright. Let’s just go back to Cargo Bay 3.”

The two walked back down the hallway, only to find a bunch of crates blocking the door.

“Wait,” Kokichi said, a smirk on his face. “I have an idea.”

“It’s a stupid idea, isn’t it?”

“Maybe, maybe not.” Kokichi hopped on top of a smaller box before leaping onto the bigger crate blocking the doorway. Most of his figure was obscured by the boxes, but he raised a peace sign.

Shuuichi rolled his eyes but followed, squeezing through the boxes as well.

The two walked down the hallway before coming across a door with a four-digit code needed.

“Uh… this is the door to Cargo Bay, right?” Shuuichi asked. Without waiting for an answer, he input the code he had seen on the PDA.

The door opened, revealing two supply crates and a room with fire dripping into the exposed waters below.

“This room is a mess,” Shuuichi breathed, taking a nutrient block from one of the supply crates.

Kokichi took a bottle of disinfected water from the other crate with a shrug. “It’s just how Cargo Bay is. Have you seen the people who work here?” He jumped down the stairs before Shuuichi could respond, rushing towards an abandoned PDA on the ground.

“What is it?” Shuuichi called, his voice echoing on the walls as he joined him on the lower floor.

Kokichi wrinkled his nose. “It’s just Alterra’s profile. We’re employees, we already know about it.” Instead of explaining, he took out his scanner and scanned another Cyclops engine fragment inside one of the crates.

Shuuichi raised an eyebrow but accepted the explanation. “There’s a ramp leading down to a lower level, but it’s covered in water. Do you want to go?”

Kokichi answered by diving into the water.

“Or you could do that. Thanks,” Shuuichi sighed. He dove in after him.

Further down the ramp, there was another set of divergent pathways leading to the Seamoth Bay and the Drive Room. The floor was half submerged in water, enough for them to swim in it but not enough to cover them entirely when they stood up.

Kokichi’s eyes sparkled. He swam straight to the Seamoth Bay before stopping at the door and holding his hand out expectantly. “Repair tool. I need it.”

Shuuichi handed him the repair tool. “Why the urgency?”

“You’ll see.” Kokichi hovered the repair tool over the exposed wires next to the locked door. He opened the door after fixing the wires, revealing a large room with a series of lockers, an abandoned PDA, and Seamoth parts. “You get the PDA. I’ll be having fun with the Seamoth.”

Shuuichi shrugged and picked the PDA up from the floor. He scanned over its contents. “It’s just some VR suite log. Nothing we haven’t seen before.”

No response.

“... Kokichi?” Shuuichi looked up, only to see Kokichi busy at work scanning every part of the Seamoth and a set of modules. It was like watching a child in a candy store. It brought a smile to Shuuichi’s face. “Kokichi, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” Kokichi said, not looking up from his scans.

“You worked in Seamoth Bay, didn’t you?”

Kokichi’s smile thinned into a straight line before he sighed. “You’re too smart for your own good, Shuuichi. Yeah, I worked in Seamoth Bay. I didn’t invent the Seamoth, but I did invent this.” He turned around and dropped a set of modules in his hands.

Shuuichi looked closer. His heart jumped. “You mean…”

“Yup! We have radio modules now. We can communicate inside our Seamoths and if I adjust it a little, I can get it to work with our suits. I got two depth modules, too, but who cares about that?”

Shuuichi’s gaze flickered between Kokichi and the modules before finally settling on Kokichi. “You’re brilliant.”

Kokichi blinked, clearly taken aback by the statement before trying to cover up his surprise with a laugh. “Of course, I am! Would you have even survived this far without me? I think not. Now can we get out of this room?”

“And go where?”

“Follow me,” Kokichi said. He took off down the hallway with his Seaglide, only to slam his head against the locked door of the locker room. He stood up, placing his hand on his head while Shuuichi laughed. “Oh, shut up. I’m cutting the door. Stand back, I’m using the laser cutter.”

Shuuichi waited for Kokichi to finish cutting a hole into the door before the cut portion was kicked ahead, revealing the locker room.

The room was grand and had entirely too many lockers. Lockers lined the walls and formed hallways of their own. Benches were scattered across the room.

One PDA immediately caught Shuuichi’s attention. He reached for it and downloaded it onto his own PDA.

Aurora Auxiliary Mission Orders:
- Mission: Search & Rescue
- Target: Crew of the Mongolian vessel 'Degasi'
- Last known position: Vicinity of planet 4546B, Ariadne Arm
- Contact: Mongolian Emissary Angie Yonaga, Aurora Passenger Quarters

Mission brief:
A Mongolian vessel, the 'Degasi', disappeared almost a decade ago, carrying with it a high ranking Mongolian chief. Corporate insurance has purchased passage aboard the Aurora for Emissary Yonaga, and your orders are to make every reasonable effort to locate and retrieve the Degasi crewmembers, without compromising the primary mission. Confirming the fate of the crew will aid Alterra's diplomatic efforts with the Mongolian councils.

Mission Details:
- Aurora is due to perform a slingshot maneuver around 4546B (category 3 ocean planet) approximately 13 months post-launch
- This will bring the ship within range of the Degasi's last known position
- Additional aquatic and all-terrain vehicles have been included in the Aurora's cargo package for this mission
- Degasi crew manifesto has been distributed to senior employees in a separate message

“What…?” Shuuichi whispered, reading over the contents again. Still, the words remained the same no matter how he looked at them.

So that previous document about the Aurora’s phasegate mission was a lie? Or were they both purposes of the Aurora? And who the hell were the Degasi?

“You look like you just discovered the meaning of life,” Kokichi snorted. He pulled up his PDA to read the same document. His smug smile slipped off his face. “Oh. That’s why.”

The two locked eyes.

The Aurora’s secondary mission (or primary, neither of them had the seniority to be informed about either) was to find the missing members of the Degasi to give Alterra leverage over the Mongolians. Were the Degasi still out there? They hadn’t seen remnants of another ship, but maybe they just hadn’t explored enough…

A hand on his shoulder brought Shuuichi out of his thoughts.

“Don’t think about it too hard,” Kokichi said, “We have to explore the rest of the ship before you begin tearing yourself apart over it.”

Shuuichi took one last look at the document before sighing and putting his PDA away. “Fine. Go get that PDA on the other side of the room.”

“Can do, captain,” Kokichi snickered before swimming to the other side of the room and downloading an abandoned PDA inside a locker.

Shuuichi pulled up his own PDA to read what he had found.

Sweet Offer:
From: Owari
To: Enoshima

You're telling me you've been on this rig more than a year and you never took a ride on the outside? Well now, you've only gone and gotten yourself a friend with the keys to a GIANT FRICKING ROBOT SUIT. We've plain got nothing to do 'til we get starside to work on the gate. You want to taste the stars you've only got to say - my spare Prawn Suit's got your name on it. You don't know what power feels like 'til you've crushed an asteroid with your bare, heavily mechanically-augmented hands. Wanna play catch with a passing meteor? Come by Cabin no.1. Code's 1869.

Shuuichi took note of the code and looked up from the PDA. “Are we done here?”

Kokichi looted a battery from a supply crate before giving him a thumbs up. “Yup! We can head to Prawn Bay next.”

“What about the Drive Room?”

“Let’s go to Prawn Bay next.” Without so much as a glance, Kokichi swam away again with a Seaglide in hand.

Shuuichi sighed and followed along.

After another round of repairing doors, the door was opened to what was probably the most dumpster fire of a room he had seen yet. Half the room was submerged in water, and a good portion of everything was set on fire. Three Prawn Suits stood somewhere behind the infernos while one was suspended above the water.

Their PDAs read, “Picking up a faint blackbox signature, originating on the other side of the hull breach in this room.”

“We can deal with that later,” Kokichi said, his eyes glinting in the fire as he rubbed his hands together. “Let’s scan these Prawn Suits first. I wanna see what that dumb bitch came up with.”

“Who?” Shuuichi asked.

Kokichi didn’t answer and instead tasked himself with scanning the Prawn Suits.

Shuuichi sighed and decided to scan the fragments as well. He picked up a storage module from a container in front of the suits during the process.

After they synthesized the Prawn Suit blueprint, Kokichi immediately ran for the stairs leading up to the Living Quarters.

“Hey, Shuuichi, you think we’ll find some of your dirty mags in the Living Quarters?” Kokichi snickered as he jumped over the boxes blocking the stairs.

Shuuichi jumped on top of the boxes with a sigh, following his lead. “No, because I didn’t have any. And my side of the Living Quarters was destroyed.”

The two made their way into the Living Quarters in silence. The first room on the left was the Canteen.

Shuuichi’s throat closed up. His heart pounded, and his legs felt like they had transformed into jelly. Memories flooded his head, as did the voices of the people in the crowd he couldn’t save.

Kokichi turned back to him and blinked. His voice was soft, gentle. “You go loot stuff from the supply room. I’ll go check out everything from the canteen.”

Shuuichi gulped and took a step towards the supply room, finding that he’s unable to breathe for a different reason. He looked away, allowing his lungs to fill with air again. “Thank you.”

The two separated.

As expected, the supply room was filled with nutrient blocks and bottles of filtered water. Nothing much of use was inside.

Kokichi had gone in and out of the canteen in record time, new blueprints and a download of the day’s menu from an abandoned PDA. He smiled up at Shuuichi with a warm grin. “Let’s get going now, you’re taking forever.”

Shuuichi rolled his eyes; he had spent less time in the supply room than Kokichi did in the canteen. Still, he walked alongside Kokichi as they explored other rooms.

The most notable was the door to Cabin 1, which was blocked by another four-digit passcode.

Kokichi looked at Shuuichi expectantly.

Shuuichi stared back at him with a puzzled expression. “What? You have the access to the code, too.”

“Yeah, but you’re the one who usually finds the little things. It’s like you were meant to be a detective or something.”

“You’re being weird,” Shuuichi snorted as he inputted the passcode. He opened the door and scanned the surroundings. “You scan, I’ll read the PDA.”

Kokichi gave him a sarcastic salute (if that was even a thing) before hovering his scanner over everything he could find.

Responsible Autonomous Relationships:
Foreword, by Jenny Eklund
All the good things in life are commodities. We trade love just as we buy and sell stock. We engage in human relationships when there is a fair exchange of value. Support, motivation, affection - nothing good is ever free.
If every physical good in the federation came from a single supplier it would constitute a dangerous monopoly. Personal relationships are the same: it is important for people to get what they need from multiple sources. If a person finds a better source of the goods they require, they are not wronging their original supplier by changing their purchasing arrangements.
If one member of a relationship should feel threatened or jealous, they must look at their own business model and ask whether it is performing competitively. There is always room for improvement.

The corporate wording made Shuuichi’s skin crawl. People as commodities? He was never fond of Alterra to begin with, and this just reinforced his position.

He couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if he had met Kokichi and entered a relationship with him prior to being stranded on Planet 4546B. Or if they had decided to draft a relationship contract when they first met. Would their bond feel just as strong? Would they have made it through one day without bringing up the contract? Or maybe Shuuichi would have just shredded it himself long ago, stigma be damned. Corporations had no place in love.

“Shuuichi, look!” Kokichi called, a blue cap on his head and a stuffed doll in his hand. “This is so cool! Who knew we were allowed to bring stuff like this on the ship?”

A smile forced its way to Shuuichi’s lips. “I imagine they only allowed those privileges for people ranked higher than us.”

“That’s a load of bullshit. You know I’m the second officer, Shuuichi.”

“Sure. Did you get everything you needed?”

“You don’t believe me? You meanie!” Tears welled in Kokichi’s eyes, but he was already in a rush to investigate the other rooms.

Further down the hall was the Captain’s Quarters. To both his and Kokichi’s frustrations (but mostly Kokichi’s), they didn’t have the passcode just yet. They moved on to the other cabins in the hall, eventually stopping by Cabin 4.

Shuuichi downloaded an abandoned PDA, playing the recording while Kokichi scanned the room.

“Listen,” came a woman’s voice, “I know I don't have the right to make demands of you, but I need you to understand that I want to change our arrangement.”

Kokichi looked up from scanning with a wrinkled nose. “Ew, that’s Junko Enoshima. Nothing good’s ever come out of her mouth.”

“Then this should be interesting,” Shuuichi said. He continued playing the recording.

“I hear what you're saying and I will try to respect it,” came a different, defeated voice. “How would you like to change it?”

Kokichi blinked. “Tsumugi Shirogane? She’s never sounded that sad before.”

Junko spoke again. “I would like to reduce our contact hours."

“How much further can we do that?” Tsumugi snorted.

“To zero.”

Tsumugi gasped. “You’re dumping me?”

Junko’s voice was cold and calculating. It was as if she knew exactly how her words were affecting her former partner and she just didn’t care. “I’m changing the terms of our relationship.”

“How is it still a relationship if we don't see each other?”

“It's a relationship of a kind. You have so many expectations.”

Tsumugi’s voice was bitter. “I feel you just want to spend more time with those dumb guys and their dumb robot suits.”

“That's not a feeling, it's a judgment. And I feel hostility in what you're saying. Perhaps your jealousy is a sign that you need to take another look at your business model. Why can't you just be happy for me?”

“I am happy for you. And I'm happy for all the guys in the Prawn bay! I'm just not happy for me.”

Junko sighed. “ This is why I want to change our arrangement.”

The recording ended, leaving two confused people in its wake.

“That was why she was so bitter?” Kokichi asked. “Wow. I guess it was justified then.”

Shuuichi gave him a quizzical look. “How do you know all these people?”

“Shirogane worked with me in Seamoth Bay. Enoshima was our supervisor.” Kokichi took a moment to scoff and roll his eyes. “It was awful. You’re so much better than them, Shuuichi.”

“...Really?”

“Yeah. But we should probably move onto the next room.” Kokichi finished scanning an item before walking out of the cabin. He extinguished the flames to Cabin 7 and strolled inside.

Their pattern of scanning a room and searching for abandoned PDAs had become routine by the time they exited the Living Quarters.

“Well, that was fun,” Kokichi said, brushing his hands as he climbed down the steps to Prawn Bay. “But you know what we really came for.”

Shuuichi’s heart sank. “Right. The Drive Room. Where all the radiation is.”

“Bingo! I have your repair tool. Can you fight off anything that tries to bite me in the waters while I repair all the holes?”

“I mean, yes, but—”

“Great! Let’s go.”

Shuuichi looked closer into the waters of Prawn Bay, only to realize small, pink creatures inhabited them. He had been swimming all this time and hadn’t known they existed.

This was going to be a pain.

“The drive core shielding sustained internal damage during collision. Do not attempt repair without appropriate qualifications,” their PDAs said.

Shuuichi raised an eyebrow at Kokichi. “Do we have appropriate qualifications?”

Kokichi shrugged. “We do now, I guess.” He slipped his radiation helmet on before walking into the Drive Room and immediately setting to work.

Shuuichi equipped his radiation helmet as well before stepping further into the room.

“Warning: local radiation at maximum tolerable level,” their PDAs echoed.

Four giant pillars, each pair connected with a bridge, had eleven holes total, if their PDAs were to be trusted. Other than some platforms, the entire room was covered in water.

He took a Cyclops module from a slot between two of the pillars while Kokichi repaired the holes he could above water.

“Containment breach repaired,” Kokichi’s PDA said, “Further breaches detected: ten.”

Kokichi looked around but couldn’t spot any more breaches on the surface. He shrugged and jumped in the water.

Shuuichi slashed at a tiny, blue creature with four tentacles and four fangs. Upon scanning its corpse, the name Bleeder was revealed. He looked at Kokichi to uncover what he had just learned but frowned. He had forgotten he couldn’t speak in the helmet.

The cycle of Kokichi fixing breaches while Shuuichi slashed at the Bleeders in the water (and occasionally knifing off the ones that had managed to latch onto his arm) continued until every breach had been fixed and they had made it back to their beginning platform.

Their PDAs spoke again. “Drive core breach sealed. Radiation levels decreasing.”

Mission accomplished. The radiation wouldn’t destroy the planet’s ecosystem.

Shuuichi’s mouth split into a huge grin. Exhilaration filled him from head to toe. That was the most exciting and impactful thing he had done in all his years employed at Alterra. He faced Kokichi, who seemed in shock that the event had happened at all. He held his palm up.

Kokichi stayed frozen before tilting his head and high-fiving him. His body shuddered as if he was giggling.

They stayed silent all the way to the outside of the Aurora, where they took their helmets off and faced each other with bright, shining eyes and matching grins.

“We did it,” Shuuichi breathed.

“Yeah,” Kokichi said, “We did.”

Night had fallen, and what Kokichi liked to call the blood moon had risen, accompanied by countless stars in the dark sky. The fire, as dangerous as it was, illuminated everything just enough to make the Aurora glow. This planet had a talent for making everything seem beautiful.

Their Seamoths were still beached, but the exhilaration from exploring the Aurora had been replaced by dread upon seeing two more Seamoths next to them.

“Kokichi,” Shuuichi called, “Am I hallucinating or are there two more Seamoths next to ours?”

Kokichi furrowed his eyebrows. He took a step forward with narrowed eyes. “No, you’re not hallucinating.”

Their reality was further confirmed when two figures stepped out in front of them, their front obscured by the flames behind them.

Then they walked into view, revealing a blonde woman with violet eyes and a green-haired man with too many piercings to count.

Shuuichi’s eyes widened, and his heart stopped upon seeing an all too familiar tired smile.

“Kaede?”