Heads up, Sabre swears. You'd probably swear too if you saw what he did. Also there's a bit of blood/injury.

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Okay, careful now. If I slip, I risk hitting my head on the rocks.

I finally got everything I needed to make that satellite dish for my comm relay, and I need to put it up high for a good signal. Since the hill that Orange built his house into rises above the water quite a few feet, I'm setting it up at the rocky high point. It's a bit of a steep climb, but I don't want to deal with a cruddy connection when I'm trying to make contact with other humans. If I do this right, the comm should have range up to the starship route near the planet. That's my best bet at contacting passing ships, not to mention finding other survivors around here.

Finally, secured the base to the rocks. I've already brought all the wires up here and secured those, since I didn't want to have to make multiple trips up here. Now I just have to adjust the dish until the connection light blinks on...

Let's try left... nope, more to the right... hm, maybe if I tilt it forward a little bit... oop, there it is! Wait- no, go back... there we-

"Hey Sabre, what're you doing up there?"

"ACK-"

I jump and lose my balance, failing to get a grip on the rocky surface and falling backwards. I hit the water back-first, knocking the wind out of me as a big splash registers in my ears. I just let myself sink for a few minutes, trying to catch my breath. Soon enough, Orange comes swimming up to me.

"Holy crap, are you okay?!" He asks. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you! You're not hurt, right?"

"I'm okay, don't worry. Just... knocked all the air out of my lungs." I reply. "Just give me a minute."

I start swimming, making myself at the same level as Orange. I catch my breath for a bit longer, and give Orange a thumbs-up when I'm good.

"What were you doing up there?" Orange says, looking up at the rocky point. "I wouldn't think you'd just climb up there for fun."

"I wasn't, I was setting up some equipment so I can try to communicate with other humans." I say, grinning a little. "Either ones passing by the planet or other survivors from the Aurora."

"Really? Cool!" Orange smiles. "How's that thing gonna help you talk to other humans?"

"It acts as a connection to a device I have in my base, remember the white box hanging on the wall with an antennae and a red circle on it?"

"Yeah?"

"That's a communications relay. It needs that piece of equipment called a 'satellite' in order to work, and the satellite will also increase the range of things I can look at on my PDA. I'm hoping to find my friends and contact a passing ship so we can go home."

Orange has a weird look on his face for a minute. It looks like he's... conflicted? I don't know, figuring out complicated expressions is sorta weird since we have slightly different facial structures.

"Is something wrong?" I ask. Orange looks up.

"Oh- uh- nah, I'm good. Just a... a lot of words I don't know." He replies.

"I'll teach you what they mean later, then." I say.

Orange looks up at the satellite again.

"Did you get it working?" He asks.

"Yeah, just as you spooked me, I got it set in the right place." I answer, taking out my PDA. "Let me test something real quick..."

I open the area scan tool I used a few days ago to test if the satellite's working. I set it to search for mineral outcrops, and when I hit 'enter', it shows spots way outside the range it previously had.

"Yep, it's working!" I smile.

"What's that?" Orange asks, looking over my shoulder.

"A scan of any mineral outcrops in the surrounding area. All of the dots are outcrops it could detect." I explain, moving the screen around a little bit to show him more. "There might be more hidden underground, where the satellite can't ping, but even with that this should make finding some materials a lot easier."

"Coooooool." Orange gasps, as I let him move the screen around. "Wow, it goes so far! That part's close to the Village, I can tell because of the rock shaped like a Peeper!"

"There's a- Oh, there is. Huh. Didn't see that when we were there."

"That's cause you can only see it from above, silly." Orange giggles.

"Alright, can I have it back now?" I say, holding out my hand.

Orange gives me back my PDA, and I put it back on its holder attached to my wetsuit's belt. Suddenly, something pokes my back, and I yelp and quickly swim forwards.

Turning around, I see a weird-looking creature. It looks... sort of like an alligator gar? But a lot bigger and sorta different? Or a fish version of a gharial. Its color is a weird reddish pink with deeper markings on its back and edges of its fins. It's swimming in place, just staring at me.

Orange swims up to it and starts... petting it. Is he insane??

"Oh hey, there you are! Finally decided to start showing yourself again, huh?" Orange says to it. "I kept telling you there's nothing to worry about, just a new friend."

"What the heck are you doing?" I ask. "That thing is terrifying!"

Orange turns around, standing at the creature's side. The creature is still just sitting there.

"Oh right, you've never met him before." Orange says. "This is Gerald! My pet Stalker, y'know, one of the things I told you hangs around nearby?"

"...Didn't you say those things are dangerous?" I say.

"Oh, not Gerald. He's not hostile at all, mostly because he wasn't raised around other Stalkers, which is where they learn their more violent behaviors. And he's... kind of old, so he wouldn't even want to attack anything." Orange explains. "Besides, Gerald doesn't even have any teeth. Look."

Orange turns to the creature, apparently Gerald.

"Gerald, show him."

'Gerald' opens his mouth, and what's probably supposed to be rows of teeth are just gums. Orange then sticks his arm between the creature's jaws, and Gerald bites down a few times in quick succession. Orange raises his arm, showing nothing happened, while Gerald just swims up to Orange and rests on his shoulders like a weird scarf.

"He's also not supposed to be pink, he has a genetic mutation that makes him that way." Orange smiles, petting Gerald's head. "I think it makes him look adorable!"

"...You're nuts." I reply. Orange shrugs.

"Eh, the entire village said the same thing until they got to know him. He'll warm up to you eventually."

"...Sure."

Orange motions to a small, shallow cave with a few items in it near the base of the hill, and Gerald swims to it and nestles inside. It... kind of looks like a doghouse, now that I have a better look at it. Huh.

Orange then turns back to me.

"Hey, can we test out that thing on your little computer thingy for a bit?" He asks. "It looks really cool, and I wanna see if there's actually stuff where it says there is!"

I think about it for a minute.

"Hmmm... sure, I guess." I respond. "I can always set up the comm relay later today, and gathering extra materials is always a good-"

"Awesome, let's go!"

Orange interrupts me before I finish and starts swimming, leaving a trail of small bubbles. I quickly take out my Seaglide and starts following him.

"H-Hey, Orange! Wait up!" I call out. "Don't just take off without me like that, man, you don't know where you're going!"

"I know this place better than you, I'm fine!" Orange calls back as I start catching up. "And I know where a bunch of mineral thingies are, so we can check if that 'satellite' is accurate there!"

I finally catch up to him, and we're now swimming side by side.

"Okay, well, what if you went too fast for me to see where you went? I would've lost ya." I ask.

"Couldn't you keep up?" Orange replies with a confused expression.

"At that speed, not even with my Seaglide." I chuckle. "You guys swim fast."

"Wait, you can't swim as fast as we can? I thought you only used that thing cause it was convenient?"

"Nope, not possible for humans to go as fast as you. We're not even meant to be in water most of the time, swimming is usually more of an activity we do occasionally for fun or exercise."

"Really?? So you're only staying in the water here because...?"

"Because I can't stay on one of the tiny island around here, they might be habitable for small creatures, but definitely not humans. It'd take a lot of assistance in order to do that. So, living in the water is basically my only option."

"Isn't that difficult for you? You're basically defying nature."

"Yeah, but the base and my technologies make it easier. And in some cases, possible for me to survive."

"How?"

"As example, I make water out of things I find because I can't drink the water that makes up the ocean. It has a lot of bacteria that's pretty much guaranteed to be harmful and a bunch of substances I don't know are safe or not. So, I make things into water that's safe for me to drink."

"Cool."

We continue in silence for a little bit, the tranquil ocean surrounding us as Orange leads the way.

...

...I know I have to tell him.

The Aurora being the cause of the radiation is a huge problem, because I know that a lot of the components in the ship run on radioactive materials. I can determine what's broken inside the ship, and how many things are broken so I can fix them. The problem is, I don't know how to navigate over to the crash site. I don't know what's lurking over there. I'd need at least Orange's help in order to even get to the ship.

And... it also makes me feel guilty. My people's broken technology is contaminating their world, possibly having already killed people. Yeah, it's not like we crashed on purpose, but... I still feel bad. And even if they are somehow resistant to it, the crash still demolished part of their home. I haven't seen it for myself, but I know that when something big crashes in an ocean, it destroys a lot of things.

Coral reefs are demolished in seconds, sand is sent flying everywhere and clouds the water and completely disfigures the landscape, living things could have been trapped where the ship landed and crushed under it... possibly some of the Steves. The shockwave from its landing causes more destruction, toppling more environments and killing creatures that couldn't handle its effects and sheer force. It spreads debris into the surrounding area.

I just hope I can reverse the damage so that it doesn't destroy the reef further, or any of the other biomes around.

Orange takes a sharp turn left, and I follow. He points at a small divot in a shallow cliffside, swimming up to it.

"Here! There's three of them here!" He smiles. "Take out the thing, let's see if it's accurate!"

I smile too, and grab my PDA. Opening it up again shows the radar screen, and sure enough, three dots on the map share the same spot as the outcrops. Orange looks excited.

"Awesome! It works!" He grins.

"Kinda like a scavenger hunt." I say, closing my PDA as Orange swims to the outcrops, following him.

"A what?"

"Oh, my people have a little game called a 'scavenger hunt'. Basically, things are hidden around somewhere and there's little clues to find them. The dots are like the clues."

"So your people can just... hunt for fun? Not survival?"

"In most places, hunting is just a sport now. Sure there's still places that need to, but in most of the world it's just to see what you can get. The extra food or currency we get by selling what we catch is just a bonus."

"That's amazing."

Orange then stops in front of an outcrop, and I stop at one next to it.

"Do you know how to break these open?" Orange asks. "I don't think I ever explained it to you while we were gathering materials for other stuff, I always just brought you the ores while you collected scrap and other stuff."

"Uhh... I think I can do it." I reply.

I feel around the small bunch of weak stone, looking for a flimsier part. I find one, and hit it a few times with my palm. I make a few good cracks in it before Orange starts laughing.

"What?" I turn to him, a bit embarrassed.

"Not like that, silly! You can break it in one go if you do it like this." He replies, showing me his hand as he explains. "Make a fist, and be sure to use the side of it to hit the rock. Don't use your knuckles, you might break your hand that way. Only ever strike using the side where your pinky curls up. Then, aim for the top of the rock."

Orange hovers his fist over the outcrop, and slams it down. The rocks break no problem, and out comes a chunk of copper ore. He grabs it and holds it up triumphantly.

"There we go! Now you try." He smiles.

I turn back to the outcrop I was trying to break. I ball my hand into a fist, hover it over the rock to aim, and slam it down. It takes two tries to break it, but I soon get a piece of copper too.

"Hey, nice! You did it!" Orange says excitedly. "You didn't hurt your hand, did you? It doesn't usually take two tries."

"Nah, I'm alright. Human aren't as strong as your people, remember?" I say. "We rely more on our technology than physical strength. Meanwhile, you could probably throw me. We don't usually break rocks with our hands, either, we have tools for that."

"You do?"

"Yep, they're called pickaxes. I could probably make one if all of my equipment wasn't in emergency mode."

As I explain more about my world and different things we have, we keep collecting more ores and minerals from nearby outcrops. Orange really likes using my PDA to find them, it's like a game according to him. I admit, I'm having fun too.

But then, we both realize it's getting dark. The sun is setting. And we know what that means.

"Ohhhhh crud..." Orange says, his voice wavering a little bit. "I'm so sorry I didn't mean to keep you outside so late-"

"It's okay Orange, I got distracted too." I say, pulling up the map on my PDA. "We can probably get back home before anything finds us..."

"But it's so dark out! And there's things outside at night!"

"W-Well, I have a flashlight built into my Seaglide." I reply, taking it out. The battery's still alright, but I'll probably have to swap it out when I get home. "And you still have that knife you found, r-right?"

Orange holds up the survival knife he found a while ago.

"Good. I still have mine too, so we can both see our way and... d-defend ourselves if something comes after us. W-We'll be okay."

"How do you know that?! It's terrifying out here!"

"I'm scared too, okay?! And you panicking isn't exactly helping!"

We suddenly hear something behind us, and we both yelp as we jump back. I grab onto Orange, and Orange grabs onto me while his finned tail wraps around us. I shine my flashlight in the direction the noise came from, and...

...it's just a Peeper.

Orange and I awkwardly stare at it for a moment before it swims off.

"...And you call me jumpy." I whisper.

"Oh shut up, you screamed too." Orange quietly retorts. "Also... we should probably keep whispering."

"Yeah. Good idea. Don't want to attract anything to us." I say as we let go of each other.

Following the map on the PDA, we start swimming towards home. The flashlight on my Seaglide lights the way as Orange and I hang onto it, hoping it gets us there faster.

Before we know it, the ocean's gone pitch dark. Despite being in the Shallows, there's no light coming from the surface. It must be a new moon. The only other lights we can see are from the bioluminescent fish swimming around, which don't really give off enough of a glow to make things visible.

"Sabre..." Orange says in a worried tone, whispering. "I can barely see..."

"It's okay, the map on my PDA will lead us back. Just focus on what's being lit up ahead of us." I whisper back. "Don't worry about our surroundings."

We continue on for a bit. The open water is silent, but not in a tranquil way like earlier. It's eerie. This planet is an entirely different place at night...

"Sabre- Sabre, I heard something!" Orange whispers harshly, sounding scared.

"It was probably just a reefback, d-don't pay too much attention to it."

I kick up the speed of the Seaglide, just to be safe.

"That definitely wasn't a reefback-"

"Orange, just don't pay attention to it and keep calm. One, it probably didn't see us since it's so dark. Two, I didn't hear anything. It must be way in the distance."

We keep going.

Soon, we can see the lights from my base in the distance. Relieved, we both swim faster to get inside as soon as we can. I know for a fact I'm never gonna go out at night ever again.

"Finally, finally we're back!" Orange says excitedly, no longer whispering since we're safe. "Oh thank goodness..."

"Yeah, that was probably the second most stressful situation I've been in." I reply, swimming by his side.

"Second? What was the first?"

"..."

"...oH. Right- right, the uh- sorry."

I laugh.

"Don't worry about it, man. Let's just-"

"Caution: Unidentifiable hostile approaching."

Everything freezes.

Orange has already turned around, horrified, shaking.

He's staring at something.

I slowly turn, careful not to make any sudden movements.

Oh shit.

There's a mutilated form of what looks like a Steve floating there, moving awkwardly as a black substance covers it. Any kind of color it once had is gone, so I can't tell which one it used to be. Its skin and scales are now various shades of black and grey, starting as an ashy color that fades into an ink-like hue as it gets closer to a slash wound on its chest. Its face is distorted and bony, unnaturally sharp teeth showing from inside its mouth, which is just hanging open. There's dark green, cracked welts all over its body. Blank, black eyes stare into mine.

I quickly take out my survival knife as it charges at me, and I shove Orange back.

"Orange, get inside! Now!" I shout, kicking away the infected being. It takes a minute to recover from that.

"B-But... you... S-Sabre..." Orange stutters. He's scared.

"Just go! I'll be fine!" I shout, the creature charging at me again. It goes to bite me, but I block it with my blade, the infected biting down on the knife instead.

I hear Orange swim away after a minute of silence, followed by the sound of the hatch opening and closing.

I take the opportunity to attack the creature, slicing its face with my knife as it continues to bite it. It stumbles back, and now it looks like it has an unsettlingly wide smile as a very dark red liquid clouds the water around its wound. Creepy.

I dodge to the side as it barrels towards me, clawed hands outstretched. I get away, but as I turn to face it again, it scratches my upper right arm, tearing right through the fabric of the wetsuit. Now my own blood fogs the sea. The saltwater stings.

I clasp my free hand over the scratch, the other one still holding the knife. The infected Steve tries again to slash at me, but I go for its eye. It shrinks back as I yank the blade out, howling in pain. It holds one claw over the injured eye and reaches with the other.

It starts to swing wildly, getting my lower arm. Same as the first... it's smart enough to try to disarm me. It's trying to get me to let go of the knife to make myself vulnerable.

Nice try, nimrod. I'm not giving up that easy.

While it flails, I get a better look at the wound on its chest. It seems to be the source of the Kharaa on it, given how its infection looks to be stemming from it, and a dark green pulse emanates from it. I wonder if maybe... worth a shot.

I quickly dart towards it, taking aim. Before it knows what I'm doing, I've sunk my knife deep into the wound.

The creature freezes in place, making strange, strangled noises. Its hands twitch.

Then, all of the green glow on it stops, and the body starts to sink. Bits of black material flake or melt off it, soon dissipating into nothing.

I watch as it goes down to the seafloor, catching my breath, while more and more of the black material comes off it as it falls. Spots on its body crack and split apart.

It's... decaying. Much faster than the natural rate. It's more like watching charred wood crumble.

When it hits the sand, what's left of the infected creature loses all form and splits apart into small, black, chalk-like chunks. Those too, fall apart and fade away in the water.

Soon, the creature is gone.

I put away my knife and swim towards my base, reminded of my wounds as the saltwater irritates them. I use my uninjured arm to open the hatch.

As soon as I step inside, Orange practically barrels into me, and he starts panickedly yelling as he grabs my shoulders.

"ARE YOU OKAY DID IT HURT YOU IS IT GONE DID YOU-"

"Woah, hey, Orange! Calm down!" I say, motioning for him to let go, which he does. "I'm fine. You don't need to worry, it's dead."

"Did you make sure it was dead?! The infected can be fatally wounded and pretend to be dead, then get back up!"

"It dissipated after it hit the floor, I'm pretty sure it's- Wait, did you just say they can pretend to be dead?"

"Okay, it's dead." Orange says, taking a breath. "Did you get hurt?"

"It scratched me twice, but they're just minor wou-" I start to reply, but get interrupted.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"Orange, what are you screaming at?!" I say, covering my ears.

Orange stops screaming for a moment.

"If they attack you and manage to hurt you that's how you get infected and since there's no cure if you're infected the  you're basically gone-"

"Orange, calm down. It was just two little scratches, I'm fine." I hold out my arm. "See?"

Orange suddenly grabs my arm, yanking me forward.

"It's ON you! There's Darkness on you!" He yells, but he suddenly starts to quiet down. "It's-! It's... wait, what..."

I look at the scratches, and there's black goop in small splotches on them. It's moving.

It looks like it tries to move towards the wounds, but it's quickly revolted by something and moves back, staying in place. Looking more closely at it, when it comes into contact with my blood, my blood starts to slightly bubble. As the strange goop touches it, it starts to be dissolved, until there's nothing left.

This happens with every single bit of the black goo, until there's none of it left. Now, it's just two bleeding scratch marks.

Orange and I just stay quiet for a little bit, until Orange slowly lets go of my arm. He steps back a little, looking dumbfounded. I keep looking at the scratches for a little bit longer.

"...Is, uh..." I say, looking up. "Is that... supposed to happen?"

Orange just stands there.

"...Orange?" I ask. "Are... are you good?'

"...What just... that isn't... it- it's never..." Orange says, sounding shocked.

"Buddy, you're freaking me out here. Are you okay?"

Orange seems to snap out of it.

"HAHWBAJANASHAHAHSHS- YOU'RE FREAKING ME OUT, DUDE!" Orange shouts. "No, that's not supposed to happen! That's never happened before! Did- Did you just fight it off ?!"

"I don't know, man!" I reply. "This isn't a thing where I'm from!"

Orange just starts walking around the room, mumbling to himself.

"Ohhh my gosh, holy- Ohhhhh man. Oh crap."

He continues that for a little while until he suddenly stops, turns to face me, and grabs my shoulders again.

"Sabre. Do you realize what this means??" He asks.

"I'm... not sure?" I answer.

He abruptly starts shaking me.

"You're IMMUNE! FRICKING IMMUNE!"

"Orange-! Stop-! Shaking-! Me-!"

He suddenly stops, making me stumble a bit.

"Thanks for the whiplash." I mumble.

"Sorry."