Part 6 - Sunbeam's First Message

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A few days had passed by, Keen was cutting down some Creepvines in the Kelp Forrest while Yu and Ryley was at the base going through the data they gathered "What's next for us? We're infected and I don't see any of us surviving more than 2 weeks judging by how fast this infection is spreading... but what can we...:" said Yu as she was interrupted by the radio in the base. Ryley pressed the button on the radio to play the message 'This is Avery Quinn of trading ship Sunbeam. Aurora, do you read? Over.
Nothing but vacuum. These Alterra ships. They run low on engine grease, they send an SOS; you offer to help, they don't pick up. Aurora, we're out on the far side of the system, it's going to take more than a week to reach your position, do you still need our assistance? Over. I'll try them again tomorrow. Damn charter's going to have us wasting our profit margin running errands for Alterra. See what the long-range scanner picks up in the meantime.' the message said. Ryley walked over to where Keen was standing "Keen, we have a radio message from Avery Quinn, do you recognize the name?" asked Ryley "Sort of, Quinn has ran multiple errands for Alterra." Keen replied "I see, well the crew of the Sunbeam reached out to our distress call." Ryley said "Wait, did you say Avery Quinn, as in the smoothest ship captain of all trading vessels?" asked Yu "Yes, you know him?" asked Ryley "Hell yes I do! He and I go way back before I joined Alterra." replied Yu.

After a few hours of talking about Quinn responding to the call, the radio had another message. This time from the Warpers that swarmed the oceans, the message said "9 new biological lifeforms detected. Designated mode: Hunting. Analyzing. Sharing location with other agents." over the radio "What the hell?" said Keen "What?" asked Ryley "The radio..." Keen replied "9 new lifeforms? That is us, when we crashed here." Keen replied "I'm seeing scans for a wreckage near the floating islands, it's not a Alterra vessel though." Yu said "It's the Degasi crew, Holister warned me of this vessel before we left to install the Phase Gates.... Captained by Paul Torgal, they must be here still." Ryley said enhancing the scans "No life signs found." he added "Then they're presumed dead then, if our sensors can't detect their life signs, then they are dead." Keen replied "Sunbeam is enroute to us, we got to get prepared for their arrival." Ryley said shutting down the console "Your PDAs will provide you with what you need, take some fabrication tools with you." he added.

They headed for the landing zone, and right before the Sunbeam crew entered the atmosphere the weird building powered up. It made a loud thumping sound, aiming for the sky. An alarm sounded as Sunbeam approached. Ryley, Yu and Keen heard this on the radio "What's going on up there?" Keen asked "We're picking up an energy surge from the surface." Avery said over the radio "It's coming from the building, look." Yu said pointing to the building aiming at the shuttle. Just then a bright green pulsar type laser beam fired at the shuttle, destroying it and killing all on board. The trio watched in shock as the pieces of the Sunbeam crashed into the ocean "What now then?" asked Keen "We need to find a way to disable that weapon, or we'll be fired on if we even attempt to launch a Neptune rocket to get back to the nearest Interstellar Phase Gate." replied Ryley "How though? We have nothing yet, do we?" asked Yu "What about the vision we all had? Maybe that creature has a way, even if it's bigger than us." said Keen "Agreed, we need to get down there and find a way off this planet." Ryley said. Yu and Keen headed back to the Cyclops meanwhile Ryley sat on the beach thinking about what to do next. Keen looked back seeing Ryley on the beach "What's up?" asked Keen "We need a plan, if we want to get back home." replied Ryley "What are you thinking about?" asked Keen "How to get off this fucking planet and back on our damn way back into orbit." Ryley replied "We have to find that creature and fast, but we have other issues like how we can get past those creatures that are down in the lava zone." he added "You're feeling guilty about Quinn, aren't you?" asked Keen "Wouldn't you if they came to save your own crew?" replied Ryley "Yes I would, anyway we better get moving. Nightfall will be here soon." Yu said with hesitation "Something doesn't add up on this planet, I mean did you see what happened to the shuttle? Their entire crew was just obliterated by an alien gun." Keen responded "Before we were stuck on this planet, Alterra had blueprints for a rocket called Neptune, maybe if we can find the right resources for that, maybe we can get back into orbit." Ryley replied "And how do you expect us to get into orbit, if that weapon is active?" Yu replied "The vision we had, maybe that's our clue as to what the fuck happened here." Keen responded "My PDA says it's 1,700 meters underwater, maybe that's where we need to go?" Yu asked "We still have the Cyclops, but we need to find a way to make it there in one piece." said Ryley.

After a few hours of talking, they went back to their base. Ryley and Keen were a little skeptical about what they should do next, Yu on the other hand was curious about this unknown creature that gave all of them a vision. Something to Ryley felt off, he paced around the base thinking "What's up with Ryley?" asked Keen "Ever since that vision, he's been on edge with what to do about us getting home." Yu responded "We have no Captain, and we're relying on Ryley?" she added. Keen wasn't too pleased to be stranded on the planet "We need to get off this planet, and we need to think fast." said Keen "Yes, but what about the vision we all had? Did you think of that beforehand?" Yu replied "Yu, we all had the same vision, so yes I did think of that beforehand." replied Keen. Ryley was sat watching the creatures in the ocean swimming around "Hey, Ryley what's up?" asked Yu "I just want to get back to the phase gate, but I cannot put a time frame on that. We need to find this creature in the vision we all had, we are in major debt with Alterra." Ryley replied turning around to face Yu "We'll find a way, I promise you okay?" Yu replied, placing her left hand on his shoulder "I always trusted you Yu, I just worry about Keen. He just wants to go home." Ryley replied "We all do Ryley, we will find a way." Yu replied "The Lava Lakes deep below where we are now, could lead us to this facility." said Keen looking through the data logs "The Lava Lakes? How can lava flow underwater?" asked Yu "The same way they would on Earth, but differently." replied Keen "Then it's settled, we will set off for the Lava Lakes, when we can find the right time to do so." replied Ryley.


Find out in the next part what they all do, what will they uncover? 

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⏰ Last updated: Oct 25, 2023 ⏰

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