Disclaimer: THIS IS A FANFICTION. THE WRITING IS MINE, BUT THE CONCEPT BELONGS TO UNKNOWN WORLDS. This is the prologue and chapter 1 of my book, subnautica: Stranded(scroll down!) Prologue Screaming. That noise buzzing in his head was screaming. Ryley forced himself out of the uncomfortable bed he was assigned to. Turning his head towards the door, he almost immediately looked away as bright light hurt his eyes. He staggered toward the door, reaching out for the handprint scanner. He recoiled, the surface hot. The burn woke him up better than any coffee the ship offered. He glanced at the door to see it bright red and white flames sneaking through small gaps made by falling debris. He scanned the room for any escape routes, but there were none. One of the bookshelves had collapsed, leaving a patch of bare, unfinished wall. Just like Alterra, he thought, to leave a ship unfinished in an attempt to get it into space faster. He wasn’t particularly upset, though, as alterra’s haste was his only hope. He grabbed the swivel chair from his desk and smashed at the wall repeatedly until he could see the other side. No fire, he thought. He continued smashing until the hole was big enough to squeeze through. He squirmed his way to the other side, tumbling onto the polished floor. It was a cabin identical to his. The door, however, was open and not on fire. As he ran out of the room, he could see down the entire hallway, a hallway that was a kilometer long. Fire was everywhere, debris blocked many doors, and all the while the ship made a horrible groaning sound as it plummeted through the atmosphere. “Ryley!” He heard someone call. He turned to see officer keen on the other side of the hallway. “Get out of here!” “What’s going on?” Ryley yelled through the roar of the flames. “This ship is going down, kid. Now get the hell out of here!” “What about you?” A sad smile spread across Keen’s face.. “This is my job. We’re gonna try to make a controlled descent.” He seemed to forget about Ryley for a second before he returned to reality and yelled, “now go!” Ryley turned to run, but stole one last glance at keen before he dashed off towards the lifepod deck. He passed a short young woman to his left, dragging a big suitcase filled with what he could only assume were valuables. He considered stopping to help, but every second he delayed was another chance for all the lifepods to be launched without him. As he entered his pod, he looked out at the burning passages of the Aurora that had been his home for the past 2 and a half years. With a sigh, he closed the hatch and pressed eject. The entire pod shook as it was launched. As his pod fell through the atmosphere, he glanced out the window to see a blinding explosion as the Aurora hit the ground.(Ground contact in 30 seconds.) His PDA warned.(20 seconds.) He closed his eyes. (10 seconds. 5 seconds. Brace for impact.) Chapter 1 Ryley slowly opened his eyes. Light. Lots of light. Fire. He jolted awake at the thought, smashing the keypad on his seat until it opened. A fire extinguisher lay on the floor between him and the fire. He lunged, grabbing it before the flames could destroy his one chance of survival. He sprayed the fire until not even a spark remained. He dropped the extinguisher and took stock of his surroundings. A big screen displaying the pods functions was online. The pod’s floatation devices were working. He glanced up to check. Sky. He looked back at the screen. It had low power and no secondary systems. He turned to the right and heaved a sigh of relief as he noticed the working medical fabricator. He grabbed the first aid kit and bandaged his wounds. The radio needed repairing. That meant he needed to go outside. Great, he thought. He turned to the ladder in the middle of the pod, grabbing a rung and pulling himself to the top. He pushed on the hatch. It didn’t budge. Crap. Everything’s just dandy today, he inwardly groaned. He balanced on the ladder, careful not to fall off. The last thing he needed was more injuries. He pushed on the hatch with both hands, the broken latch cracking off. The hatch opened with a hiss as the smoky air in the pod escaped into the air outside. He pulled himself out onto the pod’s roof, closing the hatch behind him. He looked up and gasped.
In front of him lay the kilometer-long Aurora, huge chunks of it missing. Flames were everywhere, and one of the ship’s four massive engines was completely blown off. After a few moments of staring, he looked out at the terrain. Ocean. For miles in every direction, all he could see was water. To the north, he could see a small, mountainous island. To the south, another island lay peacefully on the flat water, this one with only two jagged peaks dominating the island. To the east lay the Aurora, its huge frame groaning under the pressure of its millions of tons of metal. And to the west, just open ocean. He stared out at the area for a few moments, taking it all in. As he stood there contemplating what to do next, his PDA came to life with a loud musical note. The alterra logo was spinning in the bottom right corner.(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.) The PDA went silent. He looked at the murky waters that lay below, wondering what might be down there. “Here goes nothing,” he said, getting to his feet. He took a deep breath, filled up his oxygen tank, and jumped into the water solemnly waiting below.
