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When Basim opened the hatch of his lifepod, he knew already that he was in trouble and that it wouldn’t be so easy to solve. In fact, he knew it the moment the Aurora approached this damn planet. One of Alterra‘s latest dreams, hopes and technologies- gone. And the crew members… Most likely dead. Or about to die.
But nothing could prepare Basim for what he saw once he managed to climb onto the lifepod. Water. Water everywhere. Slight panic gripped Basim’s heart and made it beat faster but he kept calm. Observed his surroundings but… There was nothing to observe except the endless ocean and the wreckage of the Aurora. That was bad. He didn’t know for how long he stood there but at some point, he decided to climb back into his now home to think.
Basim suddenly remembered his PDA and he hoped it survived the impact. If it didn’t, he was as good as dead. He took the device in his hands and to his surprise, it was booting up. Basim never thought he would be so relieved to hear the small „Alteerraa“ booting chant but here it was.
And when it began to speak, Basim almost felt himself tearing up.
„This PDA has now rebooted in emergency mode with one directive: To keep you alive on an alien world.
Please refer to the databank for detailed survival advice. Good luck."
Great, Basim thought, now he had one loose direction on what to do. Fortunately, this lifepod was relatively intact and so, his fabricator was working.
Before he could collect resources though, he had to make sure to have food and water and as far as he assumed, this water wouldn’t be drinkable.
He sighed. Was he scared? Maybe. He hated to admit that but… This was unfamiliar territory. With probably dangerous water creatures. But if he wanted to survive, he had to take the leap into the water and follow the PDA‘s instructions.
Basim figured that this thing would be his only company for now and so he gave this PDA a new name. Nehal.
And Nehal would talk to him a lot, mostly reminding him multiple times on a day to „Seek fluid intake.“. Which annoyed Basim because he tried his best to get some hydration but it was never enough, as he ate kelp plants to both still his hunger and thirst. He didn’t have a scanner yet and so he couldn’t find any other resources. So, while eating a whole kelp forest, Basim gathered resources to build himself a scanner.
And by god, the kelp tasted disgusting. It was like eating soggy plastic bags. And there was another problem.