Red Flashing lights and a warning tone woke Deaxter up. As he opened his eyes, he was greeted by a bunch of warnings on his HUD. Few of them could be read, as the web-like cracks covered the entire visor. With the exception of a single error message.
ERROR 424: ERROR MESSAGE 402 does not work anymore, should ERROR MESSAGE 402 be stopped? Y/N.
(Wow, even the error messages have error messages.)
Only now did he notice the increasing pain that was going through his whole body. Without moving his head he tried to look around. Which was almost impossible because of the visor. Carefully he raised his arms and hoped that they were not broken. To his relief, the pain wasn't as bad as expected and arms didn't seem broken either. He removed the visor, which was less of a problem than first thought. It almost broke off by itself. The only thing the visor still held on to the helmet were the glue layers between the glass plates.
With clearer sight again, Deaxter looks around. He found himself lying on the ground. Lightly leaned against one of the seats. The open door in front of him.
(Congratulations genius. Of course there is a negative pressure when you suck all the air out. And of course the air comes in a little fast if you are stupid enough to open the door...Well at least I know now that the air is not deadly.)
Deaxter looks at the clock on his wrist. It survived the impact undamaged. 14:12. The time had nothing to do with the time on the planet, but so one could at least check how long the own actions last.
(So I was unconscious for almost 2 hours)
Carefully standing up, Deaxter went to a locker where the first aid kit was. He checked for further injuries. He had no serious injuries. a bunch of bruises. But nothing a little wound and healing gel couldn't solve. However, the same could not be said of the space suit. Deaxter's eyes became bigger together with the visible damage. The helmet was bent and broken, the visor was not to be identified even more and the protectors of the back. They looked as if someone had hit them with an axe. A lot...
Deaxter didn't believe that he had come out of this suit, now garbage pile almost unscathed. A scan later, the computer reported that everything was fine except for a couple of minimally broken ribs and slightly damaged cartilage.
(ok, cool. BUT HOW?!)
Deaxter had heard of such accidents before. People crawling out of a completely smashed car unscathed. Parachutists whose parachute did not open and they survived because they landed in a tree. But he would not have dreamed that he would make such an experience himself.
(hopefully it wasn't all my luck that was just being used up)
changed to his original equipment, Deaxter went outside. The capsule seems to have landed in a canyon. The walls were maybe 4-5 floors high. The rock face behind the door had a bunch of big holes. Some of them were barely 1 meter deep. Others seemed to be real caves. All had in common to be not particularly high. 1 meter? Plus minus 30cm?
That would have been nothing special. But you could see nests in the not so deep caves. The nests clearly consisted of plants, at least it reminded Strong of straw. Thick stalks in a brown yellow color.
Now Deaxter also saw the footprints in the ground. They had similarities to dogs paws. At least at first glance. On the second, he felt more reminded of a very Wursty chicken foot with 4 toes.
(4 toes pointing forward. A fifth behind, but degenerated without claw. Two small claws, dogs big, on the outer toes. The claws at the inner toes are twice as big. Apparently a quadruped. The hind paws do not have the big claws. With the size of the paws and the height of the caves. They are something under 1 meter tall. Hopefully)
He got up again and went to the nests. He pulled his pistol. With his free hand he held a flashlight and checked the caves.
In the caves was nothing moving and also all the nests were empty. The less well protected nests were destroyed. As if they were caught by a strong storm.
(The nests do not look old, at least not all of them. The stalks are still too sharp for that. With the older ones everything was pressed flat.)
Deaxter briefly thought about, what could have driven the animals away. It only took a moment then he looked at his capsule and the burn marks she left on her landing.
(Yup, that must have been it)
Deaxter took ground and air samples. However, the results were not spectacular. The first sample showed a surprisingly high acid concentration. But this was only once. All other samples showed that the earth was exactly as expected. Clay earth. It should be possible to bake stones from it. Then one can build from it a shelter or other basic things. The oxygen content in the air was a little lower than what had been used on the spaceship. But not low enough to have any real effects.
Deaxter grabbed two ropes, a pile of climbing hooks and an antenna. Plus 2 of the big Multi-Tools. He put everything in front of one of the walls. He attached a rope to his climbing belt. The other one on the antenna. The hooks were stored in his pockets. He hammered one of the pickaxes into the wall. He tried it 3 more times. At all attempts the pickaxe sank deep into the rock. It was apparently also clayey like the ground. Deaxter had noticed that the pickaxes and especially the climbing pickaxes could simply fall out if the rock is so soft. But he wanted to place the antenna outside the gorge.
Pickaxe swing after pickaxe swing Deaxter worked his way up. As feared, the climbing hooks threatened to fall out if too much weight on them slope. However, this could be easily solved. By always using two instead of one hook. That was a waste but it worked.
The last two turns were made and he pulled his head over the edge.
(Yellow)
That was Deaxter's first thought when he saw the surface. As he pulled himself up completely, he stood in a hip-high grassland. This was not green grass but bright yellow thick stalks. Wind stroked over the yellow surface and made it appear like the waves of a ocean. The yellow extended as far as the eye could see. It was only occasionally broken through by a dark green. Besides the yellow stalks there were also trees to see. Those wearing familiar colors. And were scattered on the plain. From the distance it was difficult to recognize but it was conifers. But they grew in unusual round instead of triangular shape.
Deaxter stood for a few more minutes. Enjoyed the view for a while. Then he turned back to the actual plan. To set up the antenna. The antenna that was attached to the second rope, he could now simply pull up. He secured himself with the remaining climbing hooks by trying to pull it up.
When the broom big antenna was set up, it connected automatically with the computer of the capsule. Then Deaxter put on his HUD glasses. The antenna was far stronger than what was normally attached to the capsule. But it was also more fragile.
(What the?)
Deaxter recognized 2 energy signatures. Both were extremely strong. If it had only been one he would have said it came from the spaceship. However, both were much too deep below the surface. If the data was correct and Deaxter made no mistake. Then the stronger of the two was about 3km under the earth. The weaker one even much deeper. Much much deeper. 7.000km. The core of the world
Deaxter had the system checked for errors.
(Please don't be broken. Please don't be broken. Please don't be broken)
No errors Detected
Then he ran the same scan again. With the same result.
He looked in disbelief at the data that was updated every 2 seconds. When suddenly the weaker signature disappeared.
(Huh?)
After 20 seconds the stronger one disappeared too.
"Huh!"