CHAPTER 46 - RESCUE INCOMING

"What were these people thinking, living so deep beneath the ocean?!"

"If you're not living on land, you go live under the sea? And not just anywhere, 800 meters deep! Is that even a place where humans can survive?!"

"Ask that damn dev about it!"

"Yeah! The lack of resources on land is clearly a trap! That scheming dev team must've planned this on purpose to force us players into diving to the ocean floor! Curse their heart!"

"It's too hard..." Natalie murmured. She had been playing this game for a long time, but in truth, she had never even ventured a hundred meters deep underwater.

And now suddenly... 800 meters?! That was insane, even for someone like Brook Linx.

"I really don't want to go..."

She shook her head and sighed. "Forget it. I'll explore this island first. Since I found land, I might as well enjoy it for a bit!"

Natalie continued wandering the small island. Before long, she discovered something high-tech sitting on the roof of a ruined structure.

Ding!

[Solar panels. They absorb sunlight and store energy. Can be used to power facilities or charge batteries. Blueprint acquired.]

"Nice! With this, I don't need to keep hunting for acid mushrooms to craft batteries anymore!" she said happily.

Just as she was about to examine the panel more closely, Cortana's voice rang out in her headset,"Incoming transmission. Would you like to play it?"

"Play it!" Natalie responded without hesitation.

"Playing..."

A heavy male voice began to speak:

"This is Andrew Garp, A Seated Officer of the Aurora. I regret to inform all survivors... I was attacked by a Leviathan on the way to the rendezvous point. I likely won't make it."

"Don't mourn me. There's something more important. If you manage to regroup and survive, return to the Aurora. Even though it exploded, part of it remains intact."

"There's an ultra long range communicator still operational inside. Use it to contact our home planet. If you succeed, they'll send a rescue team."

"This is it for me... Good luck to all of you. ROAR!!!"

A monstrous sound echoed in the background before the transmission cut off abruptly.

That roar... Natalie recognized it immediately. She had heard it before, on NeasJ's livestream. It was the unmistakable cry of the Leviathan.

If Andrew had encountered that thing... he was probably gone now. NPCs weren't like players. They couldn't reload saves. If they died, they were truly gone.

"All survivors, huh? We started with 203 people when we came ashore. Now it's just me left...?"Natalie let out a long sigh. "Now I'm supposed to return to the Aurora all by myself and contact help? That's insane!"

"Haha, this reminds me of what happened to NeasJ earlier today!"

"Yeah! NeasJ went to the Aurora during his stream and got chased by a Leviathan! His blood pressure spiked from the scare!"

"I watched that too, it was brutal!"

"That old dev is really forcing players to go toe to toe with a Leviathan, huh?"

While there were no obvious mission prompts in the game, the story clearly nudged players in certain directions. From what she'd gathered, Natalie could either head to the Aurora, or go to the Shelter to continue tracking the survivors.

Of course, she could also ignore all that and just explore. The game didn't force you to complete objectives.

"Forget it for now. I'll keep searching this place a bit longer," she decided. There was no time limit anyway.

She spent the next 20+ minutes thoroughly exploring the island. In doing so, she discovered a surprising number of blueprints, flower pots, industrial lights, battery chargers, energy modules, and more. Over a dozen blueprints in total.

Unfortunately, they were all for infrastructure, no vehicles or weapons, which was what she had really hoped for.

"Well, I've pretty much explored the whole island. The scenery isn't bad either. I'll build my base here for now."

After spending so much time at sea, it was nice to finally set foot on land. Even if it was just a small island, it was peaceful.

Just as Emma had said, the island lacked metal ores, but the structures left behind by the Intrepid crew could be repurposed.

She activated the 3D construction platform and began dismantling the existing buildings, breaking them down to their raw components. Then she started building anew.

With a soft hum, hundreds of nanobots emerged, controlled by Natalie's commands and supervised by Cortana. Before the eyes of hundreds of thousands of livestream viewers, a brand new two-story, metal home rose from the ground in under five minutes.

"Wow, this 3D printer builds so fast!"

"Yeah, and watching the construction process is oddly satisfying."

"If we had this tech in real life, housing prices wouldn't be so ridiculous!"

Once construction was done, Natalie stepped inside her new home. She installed large windows and furnished the first floor with a sofa, dining table, and bookshelves even though she didn't have any books yet.

The second floor was her private bedroom, complete with a wardrobe and a bed.

"Wow... this is actually comfortable!"

She flopped onto the bed, arms and legs spread out in a starfish pose, and let out a long breath. After hours of grinding, she could finally relax.

The bed even felt more comfortable than the one she had in real life!

"Should I be impressed by how realistic this game is... or by how advanced future mattresses are?"

"You can build a home, the scenery is great... aside from not being able to eat, it feels just like reality!"

"I swear, if they made this into a social game, it would destroy every other MMO on the market!"

"Yeah, imagine exploring the ocean with your friends, building together..."

"But no, the devs insist on making us play alone, pushing us to experience solitude. Honestly, that part is worse than most companies!"

"Come on, if this were made by NetPack, they'd sell everything, $20 to unlock the Seamoth, $80 for the island, $15 for oxygen tanks... paywall everything!"

"Haha, true. Even if the devs likes to mess with us, we still love them. They are way better than all those other greedy studios!"

As the viewers filled the chat with laughter and complaints, night began to fall outside.

"Ah... it's getting dark again."

Natalie looked out the window. The island was quickly swallowed by darkness.

Fizz!

Insects buzzed around in the dark, like a warm summer night in the countryside, except for one glaring difference.

The moon. It was massive.

A celestial giant dominated nearly a third of the sky, glowing coldly above the island.

"This... is real moon gazing," Natalie murmured in awe. But after a moment, her tone shifted. "Still, I don't think I want to gaze at this moon for long. The longer I look, the more anxious I feel..."

The island had its charm during the day. But once night fell? It was unnerving. She'd rather be back underwater, at least she expected the terror down there.

"Whatever, time for a break."

Natalie dragged herself to bed and closed her eyes for a short rest.

"Incoming transmission from an external source. Would you like to play it?"

Cortana's calm voice rang out, pulling Natalie from her daze.

"Huh? What's going on?" she blinked, lifting her head groggily. "Wait... did I actually fall asleep?"

"No way, Natalie, you're finally up!"

"You've been out for 20 minutes!"

"Yeah! There were hundreds of thousands of people just watching you SLEEP!"

"Are you a okay or what, Natalie? Who falls asleep in a game?!"

Embarrassed, Natalie rubbed the back of her head. "You can't blame me... this bed's too comfy! It feels real! I couldn't help it!"

She quickly shook it off and asked, "Wait, Cortana, did you say there was another transmission?"

She hadn't expected another broadcast. Could it be... another Aurora survivor?

"No. It's an extraterrestrial broadcast," Cortana replied.

"Extraterrestrial...?" Natalie blinked. Then her eyes widened. "Wait, from outside the planet?! Play it! Quick, play it!!"

This wasn't a survivor, it was something else entirely.

Soon, a calm male voice echoed in her ears.

"This is Eli Bronze, captain of the Sunbeam, a civilian trade vessel. We've received your distress signal. Please respond with your current status."

"The Sunbeam?! Another ship?!"

"Wait, so the Aurora's SOS was picked up after all?!"

"No way! This is happening way faster than I expected!"

"There's actually another human spaceship out there?!"

Chat lit up with speculation as Natalie, heart pounding, quickly responded via her wrist comms.

"This is a survivor from the Aurora. We crash landed on an unknown planet after a catastrophic accident. Requesting assistance!"

Then, silence.

She stared at the bracelet anxiously.

Five minutes later, the reply came:

"This is Sunbeam. It sounds like you're in rough shape, but hang tight. We'll help however we can. That said, we're a small ship, not equipped to rescue many. How many survivors are currently accounted for?"

Natalie hesitated, then answered truthfully:

"As far as I know... I'm the only one left."

Ten more minutes passed.

"Understood. We're en route to your planet. Please transmit surface coordinates so we can locate you."

Cortana chimed in again, right on cue."Natalie, do you want to send the coordinates to the Sunbeam?"

"Do you even have to ask?! SEND THEM!" Natalie shouted excitedly.

"Coordinates sent successfully."

A few minutes later, a final message came in:

"Good news, survivor. We've entered planetary orbit and are approaching at full speed. Sending estimated arrival time now. Looking forward to meeting you."

A countdown appeared on her bracelet screen:

1:29:56... 1:29:55... 1:29:54...

"Two hours?! They'll be here in two hours?!" Natalie practically screamed with joy. "Am I dreaming?! Am I actually going to clear this game?!"

"Natalie, you're killing it! First to finish, maybe!"

"Wait... so the ending is just getting rescued by the Sunbeam?"

"I dunno... something feels off."

"Yeah, when has the devs ever made it that easy?"

The viewers were skeptical. And Natalie, having been burned before, felt her excitement waver. Tony had never handed out happy endings for free.

But someone countered.

"Remember 'Silent Hill PT'? Everyone thought it was unbeatable until that one player discovered the perfect ending. Finished it in minutes! That was genius design!"

"True! The devs are unpredictable. Could be a trick, could be real. You never know!"

"This could be a real, clean ending to Subnautica..."

Even Natalie felt dizzy trying to guess. As Tony's sister, she knew him better than most, but she still couldn't read him.

"Whatever," she muttered. "They'll arrive in an hour or so. I'll find out soon enough."

She turned back to the camera with a grin. "Alright everyone, I'm ending today's stream here. Same time tomorrow, let's see if I actually beat Subnautica! Suspense makes it more fun, right?"

"NOOOO!"

"Natalie, you're EVIL!"

"How could you leave us hanging with a one hour countdown?!"

Amid the chat's outraged howls, Natalie closed the stream with a smug smile.

1844 Words.