Garry's Mod

Garry's Mod

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(Work in progress) The Story of Amelia, The Scarlet Queen: Act 2.
Von Father Andrew
The official lore; expressed through an actual novelisation.
This is Act 2.
   
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Important Warning! (Disclosure)
Warning

I must disclose that this story contains themes / content some readers may find disturbing, or be uncomfortable with, including, but not limited to:

Body Horror / Mutation / Mutilation / Deformity.
Brutality.
Birth / pregnancy.
Cannibalism.
Death. (indiscriminate, young and old will die.)
Description of injury / sickness.
Drug usage.
Intense emotional / psychological distress.
Intense scenes.
Loss / mourning.
Production of drugs.
Smoking.
Torture.
Use of firearms.
Violence / Dismemberment / Blood.
Vomit / bodily fluids.


If any of this content is a problem for you, reading is not advised.
You have been warned.

Applicable Genres:
Drama, Survival, Slice of Life; Horror, Thriller; Psychological Horror, Survival Horror.

Writing started: 24/1/25
Writing ended:

Word count:
Terminology And Words Glossary
Glossary:

Ballista:
Ancient missile launcher designed to hurl javelins or heavy balls.
Typically resembles a giant crossbow.

Lowl Kara'sar (Plains Cut Short):
A large cow-like animal with an exoskeleton, feeds primarily on grains and grass.

Moored:
Mooring refers to lassoing, tethering, tying, or otherwise securing your boat to a fixed object.

Chum:
A type of bait used to attract fish; made from small pieces of fish or other meat.

Maroon:
A brownish-red colour.

Timorous / timorously:
Showing or suffering from nervousness or a lack of confidence.

Sandbar:
Submerged or partly exposed ridge of sand or coarse sediment that is built by waves offshore from a beach.

Phurg'lakter (Beach Mauler):
A large species of predatory animal.
Chapter 1: The Meeting. Part 1.
The whole family is gathered in the dining room, with the exception of Vanessa; the tables all sat together, forming one large table.

A few seconds later, Vanessa enters the room; carefully closing the door behind her.
Her face more lively than before yet still noticeably exhausted.

Making her way to the table, she takes the nearest available seat and sits down.

Amelia, left hand still missing; with a sheet of paper in front of her and her notebook; along side a pencil, says:
"Okay, now that everyone is here, there are a few things I need to talk about.
Firstly; our current list of priorities, they are:

1. Establish livestock population for long term food source.
2. Find consistent source of materials outside of scavenge missions; examples:
Metals, chemicals for propellant in ammunition, wood, bricks, etc.
3. Set up better walls and more defences/traps and other stuff.
4. Find source of pain management for patients.
5. Set up communication networking system.
6. Find source of more wound attending bandages, or means to produce said bandages so they don’t run out long term.

Does anyone have any problems or things to add to this list?"

The family thinks for a moment.

Vanessa:
"Yeah, the parasite cure will be sent out soon, Dr Colermann should have given Dr Raay the exact formula by now; so I may have to go in and check in on the process."

Amelia:
"That's not really a problem, more something you may need to do, but I'll add that just in case."

Amelia notes it down.

Amelia:
"Anything else? Anyone?"

Rachel:
"Yeah, we've had those trackers in the larger monsters for a while now; going to gather the data and see what we can make of it; hopefully it leads us to where their coming from.

Those vehicles left behind after the attack are still being repaired, so that's something that were waiting on... and..."

Amelia:
"The combat training lessons?"

Rachel:
"Oh yeah, those."

Amelia:
"Speaking of which, have you considered doing combat training lessons at the new shooting range?"

Rachel:
"Actually yeah I have, but the issue would be having enough ammo long term; hence why its currently booking based at the moment."

Amelia:
"Alright, good point; but is that something you would like to do?"

Rachel:
Certainly.

Amelia:
"Noted."

Amelia writes it all down and asks: "Anyone else?"

Amber:
"Yeah, farming mushrooms over and over by hand with just the 3 of us; and a few volunteers every now and then; is extremely impractical; we need some form of automation."

Jade:
"I agree with Amber, would be really helpful if we had some form of specialist tools to cut and bag all the mushrooms quickly; and spread their spores faster."

Amelia:
"Okay; and how long does a shelf of mushrooms take to prepare? from start to finish?"

Jade:
"Spreading the spores after a harvest; a minute or 2; growing them, 2-4 days."

Amber:
"Harvesting them all and bagging them all by hand; 10-20 minutes per tray; depending on how many there are.

And with how many trays we have to manually empty out; bag up and replant; it means we can't expand the food production as we don't have time.

Which is something we will need to deal with soon."

Fiona:
"Sorry to interrupt but shes right; we can't rely on fishing forever."

Amelia:
"So; farming needs a massive efficiency boost to keep up."

Jade:
"Pretty much."

Amber:
"That's one way to put it, but sure."

Amelia notes it all down.

Amelia:
"Well... I've seen what the farming sheds for mushrooms look like already, so I'll try and design something to help; but does anyone else have complaints or issues?"

Everyone disagrees.

Amelia:
"Okay, now that's all covered and listed; I have a few concerns and ideas myself I want to bring up and ask you about."

Dad:
"Those being?"

Amelia:
"Their exactly what I'm going to tell you now; anyway.
They are:

1. I feel like we need to prepare for the inevitable coming winter; primarily we need to stock up on firewood supplies for the town just in case we get the worst case scenario.

2. I feel like you two; Helga and Michella are not in the best positions job wise and want to make things better for you two if possible."

Helga:
"I appreciate your concern; but why do you feel a need to ask?"

Michella:
"Same feeling; but why point us out?"

Amelia:
"I just want to know; are you two okay? Are you happy with what your doing?"

Helga:
"I truly appreciate the concern; but that is not an ideal topic for discussion right now; i'm sure you have bigger priorities to focus on."

Michella:
"Yeah, its not the best thing to focus on right now; we can talk about that later."

Amelia:
"Got it, moving on.

3. There has been a noticeable drop in monster attacks and sightings since the wall was finished with the exception of the death squad attack; which makes me suspicious that something is wrong; as they don't seem to be the kind of creatures that would be intimidated by a mere wall."

Rachel:
"That is a good point; all the more reason to keep building our defences up."

Amelia:
"Speaking of which.

4. I'm worried about that giant eel; the one that was attacking Hemar recently; estimated to be around 800-1200 feet long or greater at the time.

And more accurately how we could even fight back if something like that found us."

Dad:
"Those are valid concerns; but... I don't really know... Any ideas Rachel?"

Rachel:
"Yeah, we just need better countermeasures; maybe- oh maybe we can build like... some giant ballistas and set them up on towers or something; aim for its eyes."

Amelia:
"That's a great idea; but its HUGE; most you would likely do is blind it and likely piss it off; plus we have no idea what its capable of; so.... I'll just have to figure that one out later.

But anyway.

5. Concerning our roles as leaders I think it would be better for everyone if I acted as the towns figurehead.

I take the public pressure where I can; keeping most of it off all of you; and if we find other groups or towns of survivors I can make deals with them if necessary."

Dad:
"I appreciate you wanting to take the pressure off us; but I don't think putting that much pressure on yourself directly is a good idea."

Vanessa:
"Yeah, remember what we said? How you need to slow down?"

Amelia:
"That's true... But still it would be better for everyone; and as a leader it would let me lead by example even more so; by giving me the opportunities to do more."

Rachel:
"While that's true; sometimes the best thing you can do; is to do nothing and leave things alone; or do very little.

Like; remember during the attack; you told me how you were scared; you hid; but hesitated to when you saw others too scared to run but they eventually did?

And how you shot that one rope and used a trap to kill a good chunk of the death squad?"

Amelia:
"Yes?"

Rachel:
"Yeah, like that, sometimes its best to just get away from a situation or do less... I've had to do that myself when putting trackers on those monsters; most of the bigger ones I had to hide from.

Like; a big sword arm one punched a hole in the truck; and we got chased by another with 3 black points on its head.

Anyway; what I'm saying is, sometimes you need to take a less hands on approach; or do less.

Like, sometimes... less is more."

Amelia:
Oh... OH, I see. yeah... but is my idea still a good one?"

Amber:
"I'd say so but... Just remember to step back sometimes and think about things; and take care of yourself."

Rachel:
"Yeah, it would help us a lot pressure wise; but just go easy on yourself if that is what you want to do."

Vanessa:
"I don't exactly encourage the idea myself; but at least take it easy if you do."

Amelia:
"Alright; noted."

Amelia notes it down.
Chapter 1: The Meeting. Part 2.
Amelia:
"And lastly.

6. I feel like some of us either need to learn how to use a gun, or start practising with them more; it would do us all good to practice."

Jarease:
"That's actually a good point; considering I have no firearms experience."

Jade:
"Same here; I really need to do that."

Dad:
"Yeah... would be a good idea."

Vanessa:
"Would be good to have firearm skills."

Amber:
"Would be good to do that."

Amelia:
"Agreed; need to practice more myself.
But anyway; anyone have any suggestions? complaints?"

Everyone disagrees.
"Nope; I'm good."
"No."
"Not really."
etc.

Amelia:
"Okay, so that means the current list of priorities and stuff happening is as follows:

1. Establish livestock population for long term food source.

2. Find consistent source of materials outside of scavenge missions; examples:
Metals, chemicals for propellant in ammunition, wood, bricks, etc.

3. Set up better walls and more defences/traps and other stuff.

4. Find source of pain management for patients.

5. Set up communication networking system.

6. Find source of more wound attending bandages, or means to produce said bandages so they don’t run out long term.

7. Parasite cure is made; now being sent to Dr Raay by Dr Colermann for making and distribution; Vanessa may need to oversee this.

8. Rachel will use data from monster tracking to attempt finding where they have come from.

9. Vehicles left behind after the attack are still being repaired.

10. Need enough ammo long term for gun training by Rachel; for now its booking based at the range.

11. Farming needs a serious efficiency boost.

12. Stock up on winter firewood for the town in case of worst case scenario.

13. I feel like Helga and Michella may not be in the best positions job wise and I want to make things better for them if possible.

14. Noticeable drop in monster attacks since the wall was done; Rachel says to build more defences anyway.

15. Worried about the giant eel; Rachel says to build countermeasures like ballistas.

16. I could be town figurehead to take pressure off the others; but I need to take it slow and care about myself too; sometimes less is more.

17. Some of us need to practice with guns more.

...So these good?"

Everyone agrees.

Amelia looks at the list of priorities and thinks about them for a moment.

Amelia:
"Okay good, now with our priorities listed and organised; I'm going to start working on designs for tools to assist with the mushroom farming, since that's the most important issue currently...

And... Oh that reminds me Jade; I got you that keeping livestock book, how is it?"

Jade:
"It's good; and has been quite helpful actually.

After some consideration I think were better off keeping smaller livestock like Guillotine Birds in the future; both for their meat and eggs.

Their pretty easy to care for too; especially when compared to the Lowl Kara'sar, they eat basically anything and are fine in most conditions."

Amber:
"But we best do that after we get the farm actually running better."

Amelia:
"Okay, noted; glad the book helped you out."

Jarease:
"Yeah; just don't forget to return it to the library when times up."

Jade:
"Got it; sure thing Jarease."

Amelia:
"Okay, so, as I was saying I'll design the tools; try and get those made as soon as possible; job 11.

I can work with Dad and Rachel on increasing security later; mainly discussing the new walls and trap ideas I designed, job 3; if you two aren't busy?"

Rachel:
"I'm clear for now."

Dad:
"I'm free today."

Amelia:
"Okay good; that takes up the rest of today.
And I can sort out and plan the others another time.

Hows that sound?"

Dad:
"Sounds good to me."

Rachel:
"Good."

Jade:
"Sounds fine to me."

Amber:
"Good sense of direction, I like it."

Amelia:
"Great; and that concludes today's meeting.
Anyone else have anything to say?"

Everyone disagrees.
"Nope; I'm good."
"Nah."
"All fine here."
etc.

Amelia:
"Alright; see you all around."

Most of the family; except Dad and Rachel stand up and exit the room; saying their goodbyes.
"See ya."
"Alright; off to work, see you around."
"Catch you later."
Etc.

Vanessa is the last to leave; gently closing the door behind her.
Leaving just Amelia; Dad and Rachel in the dining room.

Amelia stands up; carefully picks up her stuff with her one remaining hand; makes her way over to Dad and sits down next to him.

Amelia:
"Since we are here; might as well start designing the tools now, right?"

She flicks open the notepad to an empty page and picks up the pencil.

Dad:
"Might as well."

He and Rachel both move closer; getting a better view of the notepad; while Amelia says:
"So... for reference; the sheds are like this."

As she puts pencil to paper and begins drawing...

[end of chapter 1]
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 1.
Walking down the re-cobbled path; wearing her rubber waders, Fiona reaches the beach; the mid afternoon sun illuminating the sands and gentle waves with a soft, warm, yellow glow.

The distinctly fresh, yet salty and slightly fishy smell of the ocean carrying on a gentle breeze.

Stepping out on to the sand; the Dock is just ahead; its design having changed.

It stands a few bricks taller than before; extends further back into the sands; and is a bit longer.
Has more wooden supports around its edges holding it together.
A few short, simple street lights running down the middle.
And noticeable growths of miscellaneous, hard shelled sea life forming just under where the water line sits against the supports.

But on its left; a brief walk further down the beach; sits a newer looking dock of similar design; only slightly longer and lacking most of the biological clutter rooting to it below the waves.

Meanwhile; at the first dock on the right side is the wide, long, pointed hulled ship; painted dark green with spots of rust and barnacles; the clusters more developed and jagged.

The sleek, lime green, mechanical crane arms with large nets and smaller blue arm folded up; the cage boxes fully retracted against the T shaped contraption on the blue arms end.

New, italic stylised text is painted on the side in white, it says: "Wave Walker."

And the anchor chain hangs down into the waters below; while the boarding ramp reaches down from the top of the hull to the dock.

While at the other dock, on the left side of it; another boat is moored to them by a set of thick ropes.
The boat is noticeably larger; its hull a more square shape with rounded corners.

The hull itself painted yellow albeit the paint fades and chips away increasingly towards the bottom where larger patches of rust and barnacles sit.

Atop it near the front is a cube shaped captains control room, painted white with a few simple square windows and it has 2 pairs of hydraulic arms with nets evenly spaced out behind it; both pairs folded up.

The arms themselves having an industrial square shape to them and are painted red; except for a few patches towards the ends; which have chipped off exposing the now rusted metal.

Turning her attention towards the first dock and boat; Fiona walks down on to the dock, approaching the boarding ramp.

Reaching it; she strides up and on to the deck, where she sees 4 other crew members; 2 men and 2 women.

First is in the captains control room visible through the window; a slightly overweight man wearing a leather captains hat and rubber waders, with very short grey hair, a bushy grey beard, and has blue wings.

Second is a muscular man wearing a pair of rubber waders and gloves, with long black hair and a clean shaven face; his wings a bright yellow.

He stands next to the green arms, in front of the central system; using a cordless power drill to mix up a bucket of chum; several other buckets sitting beside him.

Third is a woman wearing the same gloves and waders; she has green wings, black hair tied back in a pony tail; and is just as muscular as the second man.

She stands beside the second man; picks up 2 buckets of chum at a time with both hands and makes her way over to a set of stairs a short distance behind the lime green mechanical arms; before descending down them into the ship.

A minute or so later; she comes back up empty handed, walks back over to him, takes 2 more; descends back down the stairs and later returns to do the same again.

Fourth is another woman; same waders and gloves; she has short black hair down to her shoulders; is slightly thin in shape and has white wings.

Shes standing between the stairs and blue apparatus arm; inspecting a set of various storage crates and cages of different sizes, some of them placed on carts with wheels; exactly how many wheels depending on the crates size.

All of the crates having small grates built into them in descending rows.
While the cages are all made of metal mesh.

The general area of the crates and cages between the stairs and arm being marked on the floor with a square of red and white hazard tape; standing out noticeably against the wooden deck floor.

The whole area taking up a quarter of the ships total deck space.

Albeit; the interior of this square is white painted metal with a diamond shaped rubber grip pattern set into it.

And off to the side of it, behind the second woman; stands a short metal pillar with a set of controls on top, the pillar wrapped with the same red and white striped warning tape.

Fiona; turning her attention towards the captains control room approaches the back of it, reaching a metal door; the arms a short distance behind her.

She knocks on it a few times; says:
"Hey, Captain Douglass; its me, Fiona."

A few seconds later; the door opens inwards, creaking gently.

The captain standing at the doorway, says:
"Ah, there you are Fiona, come inside I need to talk to you real quick."

Fiona:
"Can do."

He steps backwards and off to the right a bit, allowing Fiona to step into the control room.
The control room interior has a decent bit of space; enough to hold around 7 people comfortably.

A single light sits mounted in the middle of the ceiling; wired to a switch beside the door with an emergency light near it.

A stomach height desk is mounted along the interior under the window; the middle of which has the boats controls and steering wheel on top and a metal cabinet below.

A few miscellaneous items like papers, documents, cups, pencils, tools, etc; taking up some space on the desks surface.

The floor inside is wooden like the deck but painted a light, faded green; and has a diamond shaped rubber grip pattern like the crate area outside set into it.

Except for a moderately sized metal hatch in the middle of the floor with a small in-set handle and ventilation slits down the sides in rows; set in a faded yellow wooden frame distinct from the floor boards.

Fiona closes the door behind her and stands off to the left.

She looks at the captain and says:
"Okay, what do you need to talk to me about?"

Captain Douglass:
"Well, we have a new fella joining the crew today and I need someone to show him around the ship and show him how things go around here.

Could you do that for me?"

Fiona:
"Yeah, sure.
But when does he get here?"

Captain Douglass:
"Very soon, probably in the next few minutes, best you go outside and wait for him.
Once he gets here; I'll introduce him to all of you, then you can show him around.

Got all that?"

Fiona:
"Yep, I'll go wait for him."

Captain Douglass:
"Good; see you in a minute or two."

Fiona turns, heads back to the door and leaves the room; closing it behind her.
Outside; she makes her way to the boarding ramp and stops nearby.
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 2.
A few minutes later; a man walks up the ramp and on to the deck.
Hes fairly young looking; has messy brown hair, no facial hair, a slightly toned but otherwise average build; and maroon wings.

Hes wearing patchwork waders; made from mainly rubber and bits of leather, all glued, stapled or stitched together.

The knees and ankles primarily having the most patch work.

The rubber itself looking fairly old, the front of the shins and sides of his abdomen having faded brown and white stains in streaks.

While the leather looks to be of varying ages; some parts fairly new, some as old as the rubber; but most to some degree in between.

He wears leather gloves; clearly hand made.
And is holding 2 item; one in each hand.

In his right, an old metal bucket; rusted in a few places; the middle of its handle having a wooden grip.

In his left; a clearly improvised fishing rod made from a tree branch, a spool of string, an old metal crank of unknown origin, a few bits of wood screwed together, and several loops of copper wire holding the fishing line against the rod; the line tipped with a twin headed fishing hook.

He says, nervously:
"Hey... I'm Jacob... I'm, new here..."

Fiona smiles gently, replies:
"Hello Jacob, I'm Fiona, you must be the new guy the captain told me about."

Jacob; partially avoiding eye contact and looking down a bit:
"Yeah, that's me... so... where is he right now?"

Fiona:
"Hes in the captains control room... but... are you okay?"

Jacob:
"Yeah... yeah, just... anxious, first day and all...
Plus... you know; the chaos going on out there..."

Fiona:
"Oh, yeah... I get it...
Anyway, heads up, he wants to introduce you to everyone...
You going to be okay with that?"

Jacob looks at her directly, still visibly timid:
"Yeah... yeah sure..."

Fiona:
"Okay, just take it easy and follow me."

Fiona turns to the control room and approaches it, Jacob following.
Stopping at the window; she gently knocks on it; Captain Douglass turning his attention from some documents to her.

He puts them on the table and swiftly exits the control room, making his way over to Fiona.

Stopping near her; he says:
"Ah, I see the new fella has arrived; welcome aboard Jacob."

Jacob awkwardly smiles, says:
"Please to be aboard... thank you... Captain Douglass..."

Captain Douglass:
"Just call me Captain, or Douglass- actually, whatever you find easiest."

Jacob:
"Sure... Captain..."

Captain Douglass:
"Alright; time to introduce you to the crew."

He walks past them a bit; turns to face the back of the boat, walks briefly ahead and calls out:
"CREW ASSEMBLE! CREW ASSEMBLE!"

Immediately the crew members pause what their doing, turn to him and swiftly walk over; stopping a short distance from him and forming a line.

Fiona also joining the line.

Meanwhile; Douglass approaches and stands next to Jacob; then turns to look at the crew.

Captain Douglass says to them:
"Okay, everyone, today, we have a new member joining us."

Captain Douglass looks to Jacob, says:
"Mind introducing yourself lad?"

Jacob timorously looks at them; his eyes now darting between them and the floor.

Tense, he says:
"I... I'm Jacob... I'm... new around here..."

Captain Douglass looks at the crew, says:
"And now; how about you all, one at a time, introduce yourselves?"

Fiona:
"I'll go first, my names Fiona; Jacob has already met me but... I guess this is the proper introduction; so, yeah.

I operate the arms, nets, cages; stuff like that on the ship."

The Muscular woman gives Jacob a little wave and says:
"I'm Jesse; nice to meet you Jacob.

Me and big Ryan here mainly haul those big crates and cages around when their full, taking them where needed, albeit that's usually below deck for processing."

Jacob loosens up a bit; now managing to make eye contact with them.

The muscular man says:
"Am big Ryan, Ryan move heavy thing with Jesse.
Is good meet you, Jacob."

Jesse:
"Oh yeah, for context, big Ryan here is from the islands of Frol, he does not speak Kartrol too well."

Ryan:
"Ryan know what means though."

Jesse:
"That's another thing; he knows what your saying, he just struggles with the spoken aspect of things."

Jacob unwinds a bit more; says:
"I... I see..."

The last one; the slightly thin woman, says:
"And I'm Ada; glad to have you join us Jacob.

I mainly check systems around the ship and do maintenance on them when necessary; otherwise I just help out around the ship."

Jacob chills out just a little bit more, replies:
"It's... Nice to meet you all-"

A gentle, soft, purring noise catches Jacobs attention on his left.

Snapping to face it; he sees a small creature step out from behind the central mechanical system of the green crane arms; the shade making its details a tad difficult to discern.

It walks past the captains control room and into the open; the light giving Jacob a clear view.

It stands about a foot tall and has 4 legs; its body covered in a thin exoskeleton and having long, thin hairs protruding from gaps in the side along its abdomen.

Its feet are small, almost scaly, and have 3 round toes each; each toe featuring a short claw on the tip.

At the back it has a long, flexible, lightly armoured tail; gently curling and wriggling behind it; the sides of which feature smaller thin hairs protruding from it.

And its head is cone shaped; solid looking with no real gaps in its exoskeleton; except a few tiny ones where hairs protrude near the back.

Its face featuring 2 large yellow front facing, slit pupil eyes near the top of its head along with a pair of pointed; hairy ears just behind.

On the underside of its head is a sideways slit heading towards the base of the cone; showing where the jaw connects to the head, its mouth slightly open revealing just a few of its tiny pointed teeth.

The front of its head forms a solid, sharp point with a barb; almost resembling a harpoon.

And its overall body has a light grey-orange colour with black-grey stripes on top; and a lighter grey-white on its underside.

The grey-orange and grey-white, both fading into one another on the lower half of its abdomen.

The creature cautiously steps towards Jacob, stops near him and looks up at him; tilting its head curiously while continuing to purr.

Jacob; looking the creature in its wide eyes, relaxes and smiles; albeit hes still visibly a bit anxious.
He says to it gently:
"Hey, little fella."

Captain Douglass:
"Ah, I forgot to introduce you to Monty, Jacob."

Jacob looks at Captain Douglass:
"His names, Monty?"

Captain Douglass:
"Yep."

Monty rolls on his back, showing his lighter underside belly and wriggles around on the floor.

Jacob slowly crouches down, puts down his fishing rod and bucket and gently rubs Monty's stomach; Monty purring louder and closing his eyes.

Captain Douglass:
"He's loving that."

Jacob continues, speeding up the rubbing a little bit.

Jacob smiles wider, says to Monty:
"You are so sweet..."

After a moment Monty rolls over, stands back up, shakes his body briefly and sits down.

Jacob says to Captain Douglass:
"So; what does... Monty do?"

Captain Douglass:
"Keeps pests off the ship mainly; but hes also a good friend."

Captain Douglass crouches down and scratches under Monty's jaw briefly before standing up again.

Captain Douglass:
"But yeah; that concludes your introduction to everyone, Jacob.
How you feeling about everyone?"

Jacob picks up his fishing rod and bucket, says:
"Pretty good... good..."
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 3.
Captain Douglass:
"Alright then; now, Fiona can give you a tour of the ship and explain how things go around here.
Meanwhile; everyone else can get back to work."

Fiona, Jesse, Ryan and Ada say:
"Got it, Captain."

Captain Douglass:
"Also; I'll hold on to those for you Jacob and keep em safe in the control room, you won't be needing them yet anyway."

Jacob hesitantly passes the bucket and rod to Captain Douglass: him taking them gently.

Jacob:
"Thanks..."

Jesse, Ryan and Ada turn around; heading back to work, while Fiona approaches Jacob.
Meanwhile Monty turns tail and walks over to the control room; sitting by the door.

And Captain Douglass takes the rod and bucket over to the control room; opens the door and heads in, Monty following him.

Now standing next to Jacob; Fiona says:
"Alright, lets begin, follow me."

Fairly relaxed albeit still a bit tense; Jacob says:
"Can do..."

Fiona turns around and approaches the back of the central system and green arms; Jacob following along.

Coming around behind it; Fiona stops and faces the back of it, Jacob beside her.

In front of them; wired into the back of the system is a pair of control panels, both the same but mirrored; each input on them labelled and named clearly.

Each panel has a power button.
A main control stick named "Arm position."
A slightly smaller, secondary control stick named "Net position."
A two directional lever named "Release ratio."
And a switch named "Synchronise"

Fiona points to the controls, says:
"First thing; these controls Jacob are how I manage the arms and their nets.
In fact, I'll give a quick demonstration."

She turns on both control panels, flicks the synchronise switches; grabs one of the Arm position control sticks and cautiously pushes it forward.

The central mechanism hums and lightly hisses as the lime green arms unfold themselves upwards and slowly extend outwards, passing over Ryan and Jesse with a good bit of clearance; reaching a fair distance beyond the edges of the ship.

All while Jacob watches observantly, fascinated.

Fiona:
"That's positioning and power."

Switching to the net position control stick she moves it up and down swiftly a few times; both nets doing the same.

Fiona:
"That's how the nets work.
And lastly; it does this."

She pushes the release ratio lever downwards; the bottom of both nets gradually opening as a spool at the base of the nets turns.

The opening eventually stops, the bottom of the net now as open as the top.

Fiona:
"This is how we unload fish from the nets and into the storage crates."

Jacob:
"This is... wow..."

She flicks the ratio lever back up; the nets closing.
Pushes the net control stick inwards with a click; causing them to reset.
And pushes the arm position control stick in with a pop; the arms casually elevating and folding back up against the apparatus.

Turning them off; the soft buzzing and hissing of the device quiets.

Fiona:
"Got all that?"

Jacob:
"I... think so..."

Fiona:
"Good.

There is a third arm at the back of the ship; it has a similar set of controls to these...
Speaking of which those are next... After we see what Ada is doing, of course."

Jacob:
"Okay but... what is Jesse and Ryan doing over there?"

Jacob points at them.

Fiona looks at them, back at him and says:
"Their making chum and taking it down for storage."

Jacob:
"But... why? like, whats... down there?"

Fiona:
"Don't worry; you'll see later.
Anyway, follow me."

She turns to face the back of the ship and walks along, Jacob following.
Walking past the stairs; Fiona comes to a stop next to Ada.

Meanwhile Ada is focused; inspecting the edges of a cage.

Fiona:
"Hey Ada; you mind explaining to Jacob the specifics of what your doing?"

Ada: not looking at them, replies:
"I'm inspecting the cages and crates for any damage; its part of my daily inspection and maintenance list."

Fiona:
"Mind explaining in better detail?"

Ada:
"Okay, so; every day before we start a shift, I go around the entire ship from the bottom to the top and inspect most of the major systems; albeit that depends on what the check list calls for that day.

Regardless, the hydraulic arms, cages, the elevator platform your standing on now; these carts, the ships controls; those are good examples.

Meanwhile; I inspect the actual ship hull and structural integrity every week or so.
And if I find any issues; I fix them.

But so far; everything is looking great, thanks for going easy on the crane hydraulics this week, Fiona."

Fiona:
"No problem, also-"

Ada:
"I'm aware about the night fishing spotlights; their already repaired and ready to be mounted again."

Fiona:
"Great, Thanks Ada."

Ada:
"Just doing what I do best, but thanks."

Fiona looks at Jacob, says:
"Alright, got all that Jacob?"

Jacob:
"Yeah..."

Fiona:
"Great, now to show you the next arm; then we go downstairs.
As usual, follow me."

Fiona makes her way past and through the various crates and cages; Jacob trailing behind.

Reaching the blue arm at the back of the ship; its smaller than the green ones but looks larger up close.

It sits folded up near the very back of the ship; the T shaped mechanism on the end just barely having the space to not overhang.

Under it sits several cage boxes connected to it with cables; leading into a winch system and down to a spool behind the arms base.

The cage boxes themselves having a funnel like hole on one side.

And the spool itself is encased in a thick metal cage with a small opening for cable to feed through on top; stuck to the ground with many thick bolts.

Off to the side of it stands a small pillar with a simple set of controls.
A power switch.
A lever named "Reach".
And a smaller lever named "Pulley".

Fiona:
"Alright; this is the rear arm; we use this one mainly to catch hard shell critters."

Jacob:
"Why is the spool in a cage?"

Fiona:
"Well; if the line gets caught on something; pulled and ends up snapping, all the force on it will cause it to snap backwards; possibly killing someone if they get in the way.

That cage prevents the spool itself unwinding and whipping around if that happens."

Jacob:
"So, it stops the cable striking out, and killing someone if it snaps?"

Fiona:
"Exactly.

Now to demonstrate how this arm works."

Fiona approaches the control panel and turns on the power switch, the machine coming to life and humming softly with a slight electronic tone.

Gripping the pulley lever she pulls it downwards, the spool turning as the cages are elevated.
She lets go just as they meet the T mechanism; the lever flicking back to its original, neutral position.

Grabbing the reach lever she pushes it forwards gently; the arm unfolding as it sluggishly extends outwards.

She stops and lets go just as the arm reaches out fully; stretching out a decent distance, albeit less than the green arms by a fair margin.

Fiona:
"We don't usually reach out this far with it, but we can if we need to."

She pulls the reach lever back carefully; the arm slowly retracting.
Arm back into position; she switches levers and lowers the cages back to the floor.

Turning off the machine; it goes silent.

Fiona looks at Jacob, says:
"We only reach out that far when were over really deep water; usually we switch to bigger cages when we do that too.

But yeah; that's it for this one...

What do you think so far?"

Jacob, still slightly timid; smiles and says:
"Honestly... This is all really, really cool.
I can't wait to see the rest."

Fiona:
"Which is exactly what were going to do now; as usual, follow me."
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 4.
She turns to face the front of the ship and walks forwards, Jacob joining her.

Making their way past the crates and cages again; Fiona stops at the stairs.

Fiona:
"Alright, down we go."

Fiona grabs a metal hand rail on the side and makes her way down, Jacob doing the same.
The stairs below them making a distinct metal thud with each step.

Reaching the bottom they emerge into a large metal room, crossing supports lining the walls; standing beams holding up the ceiling evenly spaced out.
And some air vents are visible in the ceiling.

The floor is white painted metal with the same grip rubber pattern.
And the interior illuminated by caged lights evenly spaced on the ceiling.

Ahead of them is a large device taking up about a third of the space.

It's a large hopper and conveyor belt system of some kind with a set of variously sized output chutes on the left side all connecting to it, and some mechanisms on top and under it.

The chutes leading to crates of different sizes; but all proportionally matching their given chutes.

The side facing them having a pair of large prongs and grips; set on a hydraulic apparatus, in front of the hopper.

Behind it all; at the front of the ship are many crates, all open and empty.

Jacob:
"What... is that?"

Fiona:
"I'll explain in a second, but first lets get you a better look at it."
Fiona walks to the left and around the front of the unit, Jacob beside her.

Stopping near the chutes, she turns to face the large machine; showcasing more details for Jacob to observe.

Overall the entire thing has a distinct look; as if it were several separate devices all combined into one; given patches of maintenance over time.

The front of the system is a set of prongs and grips on a hydraulic lift mechanism, with a hopper just behind it.

Left of it stands a set of controls facing them, placed on a wide metal cabinet; the door of which is partially open showing some buckets of chum stored away.

Said hopper leading to a gradually tightening pair of conveyor belts forming a V shape; feeding into the various chutes, each chute evenly spaced out.

Sat above where each chute connects is a unit emitting a red light on to the conveyor below.
A bar reaches down from it, connecting to a directing paddle.

A small arm tipped with a hydraulic spike sits below too; aiming where the red light illuminates.

Under the belts at each chute connection is another contraption, a pair of simple robotic limbs poking through an angled metal gutter.

The one in the front having a blade, the other behind it having a pointed, spoon like scooping tool.

The gutter of each one leading to an empty bucket.

And at the very end where the conveyor is at its smallest, it leads off into a pipe with a pump at the base and a sliding door on the front; between the pipe and conveyor.

The pipe leads upwards; and into the ceiling.

Jacob:
"So, what is this?"

Fiona:
"An automatic fish processing machine; makes our jobs like... 10 times easier I'd say."

Jacob:
"Can I see how it works?"

Fiona:
"Not now; but you will later after we have our first catch ready for processing.
Anyway, now to turn around and show you the last few things."

Fiona faces the back of the ship and walks along; Jacob trailing.
Coming back up to the stairs, she stops off to the right side of them.

Under the stairs is a large; windowless room, the walls metal and covered with crossing supports.
Each corner having a support beam built in.

In the middle of the wall is a wide bulkhead door labelled "systems room"; with a yellow painted, metal, circular handle in the middle; some of its paint chipped away in odd places.

Fiona points at it, says:
"That, Jacob, is the systems room.

For safety reasons, nobody is allowed in there unless absolutely necessary.
Ada being the only exception to that; even then she only goes in when something is clearly going wrong in there.

But as to what the room has; it contains all the essential stuff that makes the ship run."

And looks back at him.

Jacob:
"Such as?"

Fiona:
"The reactor; engine... electrical systems, emergency drainage pumps..."

She thinks for a moment.

Fiona:
"... Oh, the things that drive the boats movement... and... you get the idea; all the essential stuff."

Jacob:
"I see... so, what next?"

Fiona:
"Whats next is the last part of the tour- wait... did I show you the captains control room?"

Jacob:
"No, but its fine, he showed me it when I first met him, when I applied to join."

Fiona:
"Ah okay, that saves me doing that then, anyway; lets go; last stop."

Fiona walks past the room; Jacob continuing to follow.

Passing it they emerge into a large empty space; albeit most is cut off ahead of them by a pair of metal fence walls with a large space between them, taking up a quarter of the ships total interior.

The ceiling above in the fenced off area has 4 large motors; one in each corner.
Each motor having a sturdy, partially hollow gear; set in a track on the wall.

Both fence walls have strips of hazard tape on the top, middle and bottom; and a sliding rail system built into the sides and middle.

The floor, starting from behind the system room is slightly lower.

And at the very back; behind the second fence wall, sits stacks of crates and cages taking up the remaining interior space.

Jacob:
"Whats this?"

Fiona:
"The underside of the elevator platform; those motors move it up and down.
These fence walls stop anyone walking under it for safety reasons...

Oh, and they slide over one another and lay into the floor here; when moving stuff up and down."

Jacob:
"Fascinating...
But, what about all that behind it?
I assume its storage?"

Fiona:
"Correct; just like the ones in the front of the ship, behind the fish processor.
But yeah; that's everything I can show you for now, and you'll get to see these working later.

Which brings us to the end of the tour.
Got any questions before we head back up and see the captain?"

Jacob smiles, says:
"No; not really.
But, thank you Fiona, this was all quite interesting; I appreciate you showing me around."

Fiona smiles a bit:
"No problem Jacob.
So, you ready to head back up?"

Jacob:
"Yeah, lets go..."

Both turn around and make their way back to the stairs; grabbing the hand rails as they climb up.

[scene change]

Fiona and Jacob; standing outside the captains control room, knock on the door.

Captain Douglass opens it, says:
"Ah, Jacob, Fiona; done with the tour?"

Jacob tenses up a little bit, says:
"Yeah... we are."

Captain Douglass:
"How was it?"

Jacob:
"It was, good, quite interesting; seeing everything on board the ship...
Albeit... except the few things that aren't... well, running at the moment.
Like the fish processing machine and such..."

Captain Douglass:
"Well, fear not lad, you'll see them later.
But anyhow, glad you had a good time...

Speaking of time; you both got back just in time too; Ada finished her last checks and were ready to go."

Fiona:
"Good, got it captain."

Jacob:
"Great..."

Captain Douglass:
"Alright; you two go relax for now, we'll be off in a minute or two."

Fiona:
"Sure thing."

Jacob:
"Got it..."

Captain Douglass closes the door; meanwhile, Jacob and Fiona step away.

Jacob:
"So... where do we go, Fiona?"

Fiona:
"Follow me, I know a place."
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 5.
She walks over to the left side of the ship and leans on a thick, metal rail lining the sides; Jacob hesitantly doing the same.

She looks out over the water, the yellow afternoon sun softly lighting up the calm waves; the light warm on her exoskeleton.

The gentle winds delicately blowing against her; carrying the scent of the tide.

While Jacob looks out, watching the waves writhe.

Fiona:
"It'll be a little while before we get out far enough to claim catches."

Jacob takes a breath and relaxes a bit; he replies:
"That usually being, how long?"

Fiona:
"Tides are calm today so... an hour at most.
Rough days; can be around 2 or more."

Both are silent for a moment.

Fiona:
"So, how you feeling right now?"

Jacob:
"Decent; a bit... anxious but... I'll live."

After a pause, Fiona says:
"If you don't mind me asking; apart from it being your first day... And the chaos out there...
is there anything else bothering you?"

Jacob:
"I... literally just met you today, and your already asking me this?"

Fiona:
"Oh, sorry; I overstepped."

Jacob looks directly at her, says:
"Yeah... you did...
But, why ask at all?"

Fiona:
"It just, feels like the right thing to do, you know?"

He looks back at the water; takes a deep breath and relaxes his shoulders.

Jacob:
"I... get it... yeah...
But, don't worry... I'll live."

The ground below them gently vibrates; followed by a gentle humming.

Meanwhile the anchor chain rattles and clinks as its dragged from the water; the anchor itself emerging with a wet thrash and dripping.

And the boarding ramp retracts; clanking and rattling as it draws inwards.

The boat jerks slightly before sluggishly moving backwards, the motion noticeable.
Accompanied by the sound of water moving around them.

Jacob:
"I didn't see a spool for the anchor chain down there; where does it all go?"

Fiona:
"There is like... a space between the deck floor and lower deck; it has all the ventilation ducts, pipes... stuff like that; the chain is stored in a spool system built into there."

Jacob:
"That makes sense... but, how do they fix it if something goes wrong."

Fiona:
"Maintenance hatches; built into the deck floor."

Jacob:
"Interesting..."

The ship speeds up; backing up into the open water.
Followed by a few, repeated metal thudding sounds from below.

Thud, Thud, Thud, Thud, Thud.

Almost like heavy footsteps.

Jacob:
"What was that?"

Fiona:
"Probably just the ship shifting around; maybe a crate or two moving."

Jacob:
"Yeah... probably..."

Watching the water as the boat pulls out further; the ocean around them ripples and churns in its wake.

Jacob:
"Its gonna be a while... I'm gonna get my fishing rod back, see what I can catch on the way out."

Fiona:
"Alright."

Jacob stands up, steps away from the rail and approaches the control room.
Meanwhile the boat slows down, comes to a stop and begins turning.

[scene change]

Jacob is relaxed; standing at the rail holding his fishing rod, reeling it back in as the boat continues; now in open ocean.
Bucket with a few small, generic but armoured fish in it beside him.

Finally reeling it in; nothing on the hook.

Without warning the boat begins to slow as Captain Douglass calls out from the control room:
"Glass reefs spotted; right side, prepare for collection!"

Fiona stands up, steps back from the rail and says:
"Gotta go harvest some glass reef, want to come watch?"

Jacob looks at her, says:
"Sure."

Fiona rushes over to the right side of the ship; meanwhile Jacob grabs his bucket of fish and follows.

Reaching the side they look towards the front of the ship and see a sandbar not far up ahead.

The shallow water around it filed with strange, semi-transparent, multicoloured structures just barely under the waters surface.

Beyond the sandbar is a few, small scattered islands; some having a few trees.

Jacob:
"What... are those under the water?"

Fiona:
"Glass Reefs; I'll give a better explanation later."

She turns towards the green mechanical arms and heads towards them; meanwhile the boat slowly parks up near the sandbar.

At the same time; Jesse and Ryan, together, are pushing a big crate on a wheeled cart into an open area on the elevator platform; just in view of Fiona.

The top of said crate open and on a hinge, hanging off the side.

Reaching the controls; Fiona powers them up and stands nearby.
While Jacob stands near her; watching.
And Jesse and Ryan stand near the crate; now in position.

A moment later; the boat stops and Captain Douglass calls out:
"Stationary; clear for collection."

Taking the controls; Fiona extends one of the arms out into the water; positions the net downwards; and scoops forward towards the sandbar; before lifting the arm and net upwards.

Emerging out of the water with a burbling splash; the net lifts up several large, partially see through, colourful masses.

Water continuing to drip rapidly from them for a moment.

Fiona draws the arm inwards and towards the crate; giving a clear view of the objects.

Each thing of semi-transparent material is vascular; almost vein like in shape, yet oddly reminiscent of a dead tree and has its own distinct colour in 2 layers.

A thick, lighter coloured, see through layer on the outside and an equally thick inner core with a darker, translucent colour; barely able to be seen through.

A noticeable gradient merging them together.

Getting the net over the crate; Fiona lowers it just above the top and opens the base of the net carefully.

A few of them slide out into the crate; landing inside with a crunch or shattering sound.
Gently jiggling the arm a bit the rest follow; falling in.

Closing the nets underside; she turns the arm back to the sandbar and scoops up more; doing the same again.

Meanwhile multi coloured dark fluids leak out of the crate on to the floor below.

Jacob:
"So, these are glass reefs?"

Fiona:
"Yeah."

Jacob:
"Despite going fishing myself... I have never seen these before.
What are they exactly?
What do they do?
And why are we collecting them?"

Fiona:
"OK so; as to what they are and do; Glass Reefs are...

Basically, a colony of bacteria using sand to make a shell out of glass; and they filter feed fish crap out the water; and the waste of said bacteria makes the colour.

Colour being dependant on bacteria species.

Why were collecting them? We sell them or trade them to whoever; usually the town glass worker and sometimes the construction crews; or art stores, but whatever."

Jacob:
"How much do we need?"

Fiona:
"About 2 crates of it; shattered or not, does not really matter.
All gets sorted and melted anyway."

Jacob:
"I see; but... doesn't this like.... damage the ocean ecosystem or something?"

Fiona:
"Not really, they grow back too fast for us to leave any lasting damage."

Jacob:
"Ah, okay."

Fiona turns the arm back to the sandbar and takes another scoop; emptying it into the crate, filling it up.
More fluid leaking out and on to the floor.

Jesse:
"That will do."

Jesse and Ryan grab the lid; open their wings and fly upwards.

Hovering in the air they drop the lid down, shutting the crate.
Some of the glass crunching as the lid falls on.

They lower themselves to the ground; close their wings, and begin pulling the cart away fairly easily.

Little bits of gunk trailing behind them.
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 6.
Jacob:
"Do you need help there?"

Jesse and Ryan stop the cart near the other crates on the elevator platform; Jesse replies:
"No; were good, but thanks man."

They grab another cart and crate and begin hauling it over; quickly getting it into position.

Meanwhile Fiona extends the arm outwards to the sandbar again; bringing back another scoop of colourful glass growths before unloading them into the open crate.

Juices again leak from the bottom of the crate, and on to the floor.

Jacob:
"Whats that... stuff, leaking out the bottom?"

Fiona:
"Its the bacteria that makes glass reefs, some of it leaks out when they break."

Jacob:
"Is it dangerous?"

Fiona:
"Only if it gets into a cut or wound; otherwise no."

Jacob:
"So, do we just leave it there on the deck?"

Fiona:
"No; we clean it up after were done gathering glass reefs."

Fiona reaches the net out; returning with a particularly large scoop of reef.
Dumping it into the crate; it fills up quickly with crunches and snaps; followed by more goop.

Jesse and Ryan grab the lid, float up; shut it, land; and begin hauling it away; briefly trailing some more as they go.

Fiona:
"There we go."

Fiona dips the arms net into the water and shakes it around a bit; before pulling it back inwards and beginning to fold it all up.

Jacob:
"Why shake it in the water?"

Fiona finishes compacting the arm, turns it off and replies:
"Removes any remaining glass coral stuck to the net; that way the fish we catch won't get contaminated.

Anyway; now to clean the gunk off the deck; stay here."
She walks off and around the mechanism.

A few minutes pass.

The sloshing of water becomes gradually louder as Fiona emerges from around the machine; holding a bucket of water in one hand; and a hook on a rope in the other.

Fiona stops near Jacob, says:
"Actually; its a pretty easy job, so here, try it.
Just make sure the water pushes the gunk off the deck."

She passes the bucket to Jacob.
He puts his rod and fish bucket down; takes the water bucket, and replies:
"Can do..."

Walking over to the mess; he pulls the bucket back, angles its top forwards and throws the water at the bacterial sludge; keeping the bucket in his grip.

It hits the goop with a splash; the small tide displacing and shoving it towards the edge of the deck.

Fiona walks over to him; passes him the rope and hook, saying:
"You're gonna need another."

He takes it; knowing what to do.

Hooking the bucket he approaches the edge, lowers it into the water; and pulls it back up full of fresh sea water.

Bucket ready; he unhooks the handle, goes back to Fiona, passes the rope to her, walks towards the remaining sludge and hurls the water at it; the force pushing it to the edge and through small holes near the floor, draining it away.

Fiona walks over to him, says:
"There you go; first job on the ship and you did it easily."

Jacob looks at her:
"Thank you.
So... what next?"

Fiona takes the bucket from him:
"Simple; you get your stuff, I let the captain know we got the reefs, and we wait until we hit the captains fishing spot of choice."

Jacob:
"I see."

Fiona:
"Alright; good, see you in a minute."

Fiona turns and swiftly walks away; approaching the captains control room.
Meanwhile Jacob heads back to his bucket and fishing rod.

Picking them up; Jacob stands there for a moment; waiting.

Without warning the boat begins slowly moving again; reversing from the sandbar while turning away from it.

Followed by a few familiar metallic thudding noise below.
Thud, Thud, Thud, Thud, Thud.

Along with a soft metal creaking and strange groaning sound; then a few dull metal clanks.

Jacob says to himself:
"Probably just the boat..."

[scene change]

Fiona and Jacob are both leaning on the rail again; the sun in the late afternoon position, hues of red, orange, yellow, pink and purple illuminating the sky as sparse clouds stretch across; a few flocks of distant seabirds peppering the skies near the horizon.

Stars beginning to shine through the darker opposite side.

Jacob, calm, fishing rod in hand; casts a line out as the boat continues slowly.

Under the water around them, reaching from the dark depths of the ocean; illuminated by the soft glow of the sun; are large patches of tall kelp like plants in various forms, just about touching the surface.

Some of said plants having oddly placed, spaced out glowing clusters along them; giving off just enough yellow light to see whats around it; partially revealing the true scale and depth of the patches.

All of them forming a vast underwater forest.

Fiona:
"I love when the sky is like this... its so... pretty...
You ever just; sit on the docks and... enjoy it?"

Jacob:
"Yeah, sometimes... its quite nice; best time for fishing too..."

Fiona:
"On that note... how long have you been fishing for?"

Jacob:
"Since I was 10... so quite a while..."

Fiona:
"If you don't mind me asking; how long exactly?"

Jacob:
"Hmm... more than 15 years... I think... maybe 16-17-... 16 years, yeah."

Fiona:
"So, I take it you are quite experienced?"

Jacob:
"I'd... hazard a guess and say so, yeah..."

Fiona:
"I've never gone fishing like that before... all my experience is on here pretty much."

Jacob:
"I see... so... that raises a question... what exactly did you do before all this then?"

Fiona:
"Well, before I got all into this, I used to unblock the sewers back in Kartrol, I tell you I had that whole city mapped out; quite literally, drew it all out myself."

Jacob:
"Interesting... may I see it?"

Fiona:
"I would show you but I don't have the map on me at the moment; maybe another time...
Anyway; I much prefer this over dirty ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sewer work any day...
Speaking of before... where are you from? what did you do?"

Jacob:
"I'm from Kartrol, like you; albeit I lived in a northern, more rural place, it was nice.
Went hunting and fishing with dad; wild game meat was a good export of ours...

Then... all this happened and... I don't want to talk about it beyond that..."

Jacob looks away a bit, his face showing hints of anger and sadness.

Fiona:
"Oh... I- I'm sorry, I shouldn't of asked."

Jacob:
"No its... okay... lets just... talk about something else..."

Fiona:
"Yeah..."

Jacob takes a breath, relaxes, looks back at her and says, calmly:
"...So... what makes you do it? this?"

Jacob reels in the fishing line, the hook devoid of a catch.

Fiona:
"A few things really.
First is; being out here, the waves, the smell, the sound; its just... nice..."

Jacob:
"That I can agree with."

Fiona:
"Second is... well, it gives me something to do that I enjoy and helps others too; by feeding them mainly.
But yeah, Its a win win for everyone; I get to help people in my own way...

I'd rather this than all the political, strategic stuff my sisters deal with; or the crappy sewer work I did, like... I prefer to keep things simple, you know?

Like... the constant stress of doing all that... that just ain't for me..."

Jacob:
"I see; makes sense to me, but why do sewer work in the past at all?"

Fiona:
"I'll be honest; I thought I was doing the right thing, that I was enjoying it.
Unblocking drains to keep others happy as best as I could... but... this is just better; you know?"

Jacob:
"Honestly yeah... I kinda know how that feels; when dad was around me and him had to unblock muddy drains after a storm came through... was not fun..."
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 7.
Fiona:
"Yeah... anyway... Is it okay if I have a go with that fishing rod?
I haven't used one before..."

Jacob:
"Yeah... sure..."

Jacob passes her the fishing rod; Fiona carefully taking it.

Jacob:
"Need me to tell you how it works?"

Fiona:
"...Yeah... I have no idea what I'm doing, sorry."

Jacob:
"That's okay.

Firstly, hold the bottom handle firmly in your grasp; and use your first finger to hold the line against the rod."

Fiona:
"Okay..."

Fiona holds the rod by the handle and puts one finger over the string, holding it to the rod.

Jacob:
"Good; now reel it forwards so there is about half an arms length of string hanging off the end."

Fiona carefully turns the crank forward, letting half an arms length hang from the front.

Fiona:
"Got it, now what?"

Jacob:
"Raise your casting arm until your hand is in front of your face; then swing the rod forward quickly to fling the line out.
Got that?"

Fiona:
"Got it."

Fiona raises her arm and violently swings the rod forwards, the line shooting out a good distance; the hook landing in the water with a small splash.

Jacob:
"There you go, you got it."

Fiona:
"I... did not expect to get that right first try."

Jacob:
"Why's that?"

Fiona:
"I'll be honest... I'm... not the brightest of my sisters...
I make mistakes and... forget things sometimes..."

Jacob:
"And that's okay, we all have moments like that."

Fiona:
"Yeah... I suppose so...
Anyway how do I reel this in?"

Jacob:
"Just turn the crank towards you."

Fiona grabs the crank and turns it inwards; the line reeling in.
Bringing in the hook; its devoid of a catch.

Fiona:
"There we go, thanks for letting me give it a try Jacob."

She passes the rod back to him; Jacob carefully taking it.

Jacob:
"No problem; its always good to try new things after all."

Fiona:
"Agreed.
Speaking of which, I've been reading a book recently, got it from the library in town."

Jacob:
"There's a library there?"

Fiona:
"Yeah, has all sorts; I'm reading a book on fish at the moment."

Jacob:
"Interesting, what kinds of fish?"

Fiona:
"Fish in general, from the surface to the deep; but mainly the ones we catch."

Jacob:
"Huh, why?"

Fiona:
"I wanted to get a better understanding of whats below us pretty much; it interests me."

Jacob:
"Reasonable..."

Without warning; Captain Douglass calls out:
"Were nearing the spot now; prepare and ready yourselves."

Both stand up straight.

Fiona looks at Jacob, says to him:
"I'll be operating the arms again, best you stand close to me in case you are needed for something again."

Jacob:
"Got it."

Fiona walks towards the arm mechanism, Jacob following along.

[scene change]

Fiona stands next to the arm mechanism's controls with Jacob.

The ocean ahead of them suddenly transitions from patches of kelp and sparse lights to an empty darkness; nothing below the waves.

Meanwhile Jesse and Ryan slowly push a large, open topped crate into a clear area on the elevator platform; bringing it towards 2 more crates.

Fiona says to them:
"You two need some help?"

They stop pushing 2 thirds the way; stand up straight and look at her.

Ryan:
"Yes... No... May-be..."

Jesse:
"Yeah, you mind giving us a hand with getting the 4th one into place?"

Fiona:
"Sure, I'll try."

She looks at Jacob, says:
"Jacob; you stay here."

He nods, replies:
"Can do."

Fiona turns to Jesse and Ryan, walking towards them on the elevator platform.

Reaching them; Fiona asks:
"Okay, where is it?"

Ryan:
"There."

He points at a crate of the same size; sat on a cart; its parked half way across the deck.

Fiona:
"Thank you."

Fiona turns towards the crate; makes her way over to it, walks behind it; grabs the cart by a bar handle at the back placed around stomach height and pushes with all her strength.

Meanwhile Jesse and Ryan resume pushing.

The crate moves forward sluggishly, Fiona finding it hard to keep it going, each step strenuous.
As she goes; Jacob watches, grimacing, concerned.

At the same time; Jesse and Ryan get their crate into position next to the other 2.

Painstakingly pushing it half way there; Fiona comes to a stop, her limbs aching.

Fiona:
"Gonna need some help here."

Jesse:
"Coming."

Jesse makes her way over, joining Fiona behind the crate.

Jesse:
"You okay there?"

Fiona:
"No its... heavier than I thought it would be..."

Jesse grabs the handle with her; says:
"Yeah... I forgot its a 2 person job, sorry about that..."

Fiona:
"It's okay... just help me push."

Jesse:
"Can do."

Jesse pushes the crate; Fiona assisting.
Together; they bring the cart forwards and towards the 3 parked ones.

Stopping just short of them; Jesse says:
"Me and Ryan will take it from here; thanks Fiona."

Fiona:
"Alright."

Fiona lets go and makes her way back over to Jacob, visibly tired out.
Meanwhile Ryan approaches Jesse and takes her place; pushing the cart into position.

Reaching him, she stands next to the controls.

Jacob:
"You okay?"

Fiona:
"Tired, arms and legs hurt, but I'm fine...
That crate was... a lot heavier than I thought it would be."

Jacob:
"Sure looked it; you need to sit down?"

Fiona:
"No... I'll be okay, but thanks for checking.
Anyway; now I get to do my actual favourite job around here."

Jacob:
"Your favourite job is... operating the arms?"

Fiona:
"Pretty much; its the one I find the most satisfying and am good at."

The boat slowly begins to come to a stop.

Out of nowhere; noises echo from below.
The sound of metal things shifting around and clanking, followed by a thunk, and a set of thuds.

Thud, Thud, Thud, Thud, Thud.

Ending with a soft metal creaking and a few bizarre, shuddering groans.

Jacob:
"What... the ♥♥♥♥ was that?"

Fiona:
"Probably just the steering systems low on oil...

Anyway, can you go down and get a bucket of chum from that cabinet in front of the fish processing machine?

Saves us going down there."

Jacob:
"Sure..."

Fiona:
"Thanks."

The ship finale comes to a total stop and Captain Douglass calls out:
"In position! ready for catches!"

Jacob puts down his fishing rod and bucket, turns to the stairs, approaches them; grabs the hand rail and begins walking down.

Entering the lower floor; looking ahead, he sees the metal cabinet has its door fully open; most of the buckets empty and laying on the floor except a few.

He approaches, getting a better look.

Bits of leftover chum lay scattered around them; along with large smudge marks on the floor leading off to the left; as if the mess had been messily scooped up and simply vanished.

Jacob thinks:
"What?" How?...
I should tell Fiona."

Turning around; he heads back up stairs; on to the deck and approaches Fiona.

He says to her:
"We have a problem, most of its... gone."

Fiona:
"What?"

Jacob:
"Gone like... most of the buckets must have... fallen out of the cabinet or something."

Fiona:
"How- show me."
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 8.
Jacob heads towards the stairs and back down; Fiona following behind.

Entering the bottom of the ship, she steps to the side as he briefly points towards the cabinet, saying:
"As I said; most of its gone."

They both approach, Fiona getting a better look at the mess.

Jacob:
"What do you think happened?"

Fiona:
"A spill probably... that happens sometime- wait... no...
Somethings off here..."

Jacob:
"What is it?"

Fiona points at the smudges, says:
"See the smudges? If this was just a spill there would be a lot more chum on the floor.
But no; its... like someone scooped it up."

Jacob:
"Well... maybe Jesse, or Ryan cleaned up-
No wait, why leave buckets all over the floor then?"

Fiona:
"Not sure, but somethings definitely off here.
If it was just a spill and it got cleaned up, we would have been notified, there would be a wet floor sign; and the smudges would be mopped up too; but no..."

Jacob:
"So; what do we do?"

Fiona:
"I'll ask the others if they know what happened; follow me."

Fiona turns and heads back up the stairs with Jacob.

Emerging on to the deck Fiona looks around, quickly spotting Jesse and Ryan standing by the parked crate carts; she calls out to them:
"Jesse, Ryan, any of you happen to clean up some spilled chum?"

Ryan:
"No, ask why?"

Jesse:
"Nope, whats up?"

Fiona:
"Some chum spilled but somethings off; looks like it got scooped up but the buckets got left behind.
Anyone else been down there?"

Jesse:
"Not that I know of, ask Ada."

Fiona:
"Alright, thanks; where is she?"

Ryan:
"Captain room."

Fiona:
"Alright, thanks Ryan."

Ryan:
"Is good."

Fiona turns to the captains control room and approaches it; Jacob following.

Reaching it, she knocks on the door; Captain Douglass quickly opening the door.
He says:
"Oh hello Fiona."

Fiona:
"Captain; we have a slight issue, but first do you know where Ada is?"

Captain Douglass:
"Yes I do, shes in here with me and Monty, why?"

Fiona:
"Can we come in for a moment, I need to ask something."

Captain Douglass:
"Sure thing."

He steps back and out the way, letting Fiona and Jacob enter the room.

Coming into the room; they see Ada sitting on the floor by the controls, Monty curled up in her lap as she pets him gently.

Monty purring softly with his eyes closed.

Fiona and Jacob step to the side giving some space.

Fiona:
"Did one of you two clean up a chum spill down stairs recently?

Captain Douglass:
"No, I have not."

Ada looks up at Fiona, says:
"Today? No.
A while ago, yeah.
Is there a problem?"

Fiona:
"Did you clean up any today?"

Ada:
"No, but why do you ask?"

Fiona:
"I ask, because down stairs; some chum spilled and it looks like it got scooped up.
Leaving smudges and empty buckets on the floor.

But no wet floor signs, no signs of mopping.
What I'm basically asking is; did anyone clean it up and do half a job?"

Ada:
"No, because I'm just finding out about this now."

Captain Douglass:
"Same here; wait- did you ask Jesse and Ryan?"

Fiona:
"I did, yes.
None of them did either."

Captain Douglass:
"Hmm... well that's odd...

But anyway; I tell you what, I'll look into it after our shift; check if anyone is slacking and too scared to admit it.

Meanwhile you go about what needs to be done.
Got that?"

Fiona:
"Got it."

He looks at Ada and says:
"And Ada; would you kindly tend to the mess downstairs?"

Ada:
"Sure..."

Ada carefully lifts Monty off her lap, places him gently on the floor beside her; and stands up slowly and cautiously as to not disturb him.

Meanwhile; Fiona turns around and exits the control room, heading back to the arm controls with Jacob behind her.

Getting there, she says to him:
"There were a few buckets left; can you grab us one?"

Jacob:
"Can do."

Jacob heads back to the stairs and down them.

[scene change]

Standing at the side edge of the ship; holding a bucket of chum, Fiona slings it forwards launching the stuff a good distance away; the slop landing in the water with a splash.

A red cloud of meaty grit quickly spreading into the ocean water like a plume of smoke.

Swiftly making her way back to the controls where Jacob is standing; she puts the bucket down, activates the arms and extends one of them out over the chummed water.

Within moments the water churns and splashes as countless fish quickly gather up; fighting over the gritty crimson sludge.

Swiftly; Fiona swings the arm, net first, down into the water and lifts it to the surface under the chaos; the waters surface schisming increasingly violently.

Then, slowly; she raises the arm and net upwards from the water, lifting a vast quantity of writhing fish from the ocean; fresh seawater pouring from the mass.

Letting the cascade of moisture simmer down for a moment; she carefully brings the net load inwards and towards the elevator platform.

Positioning it over the open topped crates; she carefully adjusts the bottom opening, letting fish slide into the first container at a steady pace.

The fish landing in the vessel with a cacophony of wet, meaty noises.

Some remaining water escaping on to the floor through the slits in the sides, trailing towards the drainage holes on its own accord.

Filling the crate to near its brim, she closes the net and moves on to the next, repeating the process.

Finishing at the 4th; the net is now empty.
Pulling the arm away; Fiona positions it facing the water, leaving it partially extended outwards, just about reaching over the edge of the ship.

At the same time Jesse stands by one of the 4 crates; while Ryan heads over to the elevator platforms control panel; out of sight blocked by crates.

A moment later, a loud whirring, almost buzzing noise calls out from under the elevator platform; as a short metal fence pops up around it.

Seconds later; the platform slowly descends, accompanied by the distinct mechanical grinding and growling of turning gears.

Jacob, mildly agitated, says to Fiona telepathically:
"That's a bit louder than I expected, kind of annoying too."

Fiona mentally replies:
"I feel you, thought the same thing on my first day."

Jacob:
"I see why...
But, that has me thinking; how did everyone else react?"

Fiona:
"Pretty much the same... no wait, except Ada.
She got spooked pretty badly when she heard them for the first time; getting caught off guard didn't help with that..."

Jacob:
"That's fair...
Speaking of machines; they taking the fish to processing?"

Fiona:
"Yeah, so now is the best time to see that fish processor at work."

Jacob:
"Well, in that case I'm going to take a look."

Fiona;
"Alright; just bring some chum back up with you."

Jacob:
"Can do."
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 9.
Jacob puts his stuff down; turns to the stairs, walks over to them, grabs the hand rail and heads down; at the same time Ada walks up and past him on the other side, holding a mop and bucket.

Entering the down stairs, the machine lays ahead of him.
Shortly after setting foot inside; Jesse and Ryan come past the stairs on the left, pushing a large crate full of fish.

Bringing it towards the front of the machine, they push it into the front grippers and step back, giving it clearance.

Jesse walks over to the controls, passing a wet floor sign where the mess of chum once was; the ground below not soaked but visibly damp.

The past dirty buckets wet, clearly washed out, stacked in one another off to the left of the cabinet.

Meanwhile Ryan steps off to the right side, observing the mechanism behind.

Ryan:
"Is machine good?"

Jesse:
"All clear, ready to run."

Making his way to the left side; standing a bit to the left of Jesse, Jacob watches as the machine begins to hum; the belts starting to rotate as they gradually build to a moderate speed.

Just after; the grips of the system lock around the crate as the hydraulics lift it upwards; the 2 prongs supporting it from below.

The powerful, sliding tubes gently hissing as it moves.

Getting the crate upwards, half way past the top of the hopper; the machine tips the crate backwards; fish flooding out into the hopper and flowing directly into the V shaped conveyors.

The motion automatically making the fish face upright as they are fed forwards; approaching the red lights of the mechanisms ahead.

As the first fish meets the lights gaze; it blinks at the fish once, the directing paddle stays to the side; and the belts push the fish onwards to the next machine swiftly; in less than a quarter of a second.

The following fish, larger then the first, enters the mechanisms sight.

It flashes and in an instant the hydraulic arm stabs the fish in the cranium with a nasty wet shunk; its eyes going clear as all rigidity leaves its body.

Simultaneously both arms below rise up; the first slicing its underside open, the second scooping out its entrails.

With a moist thump, they fall into the gutter below and begin sliding downwards towards the bucket; at the same time the arms pull themselves out but wait below, ready to strike again.

Followed by the directing paddle moving into position and the deceased fish swiftly getting sent down a chute, landing in the first crate on his left.

Just as its sent down; the paddle retracts.

The whole processing occurring in less than a second.
Followed immediately by another fish having its fate decided straight away.

In just a short few moments; fish begin leaving every chute, dropping into the crates with fleshy thuds.

Jacob looks to Jesse, asks with his voice:
"So, from what I can see, fish go in; get sorted by size; killed, gutted, and put in crates based on size, and their guts go into buckets to be probably used as chum?"

Jesse:
"Yeah, pretty much, very straight forward.
Beats doing it yourself manually; one fish at a time.

And I say that from experience."

Jacob:
"Experience?"

Jesse:
"Yeah, for some background to that.
I used to work in a crappy fish mongers in the East of Rakk'ta before ♥♥♥♥ hit the fan and everything happened.

Specifically; just north of that eastern island."

Jacob:
"Hmm, interesting... I'd talk more but... I really need to grab some chum for Fiona, you mind if I get there?"

Jesse:
"Oh sure, here you go."

She opens the cabinet door for him and steps back out of the way.

Jacob:
"Thanks Jesse."

Jacob walks past her, grabs the first bucket of chum and steps back; Jesse closing the door and resuming position at the controls.

Jacob:
"But before I do... I'll quickly see what were catching."

Just after; the hydraulics lower, placing the crate back on the ground.

Jesse and Ryan make their way over to the crate; wheel it back out and take it to the right of the stairs; towards the elevator platform.

Meanwhile; Jacob approaches the first crate of fish.
Stopping beside it; he looks down inside.

The fish inside are all the same species and nearly similar size; albeit very odd in appearance.

Leaning in and grabbing one, Jacob pulls it out, stands up; and begins examining the creatures details.

Its body structure is overall fish shaped.

The head has a solid exoskeleton with gill slits near the back; 4 outward yellow eyes arranged around the head forming a square; and the mouth is situated at the very front.

The mouth itself being a simple hole surrounded by 4 mandibles; the actual mandibles themselves having a thick base leading up to a thin, hooked point.

Putting down the chum and opening the mouth parts by hand; Jacob notices the inside of each jaw has a set of sharp, tooth like ridges.

Letting go; the maw snaps shut.

Turning his attention to its main body; its wrapped in thin bands of exoskeleton and has 4 large, hard bone fins, one on the top, bottom and each side.

Its tail possesses 4 fins in a crossing shape much like the body; albeit longer and partially flexible.

Texture wise; its exoskeleton is rough, gritty, almost stone like.

The overall colour pallet is dark blue on the top half of the entire body; while nearly white, pale blue on the underside.

Looking under its body there is a large slit starting at the base of the head; progressing 2/3 the way down its body.

Curious, Jacob opens the fish and looks inside; thin ribs line both sides of its gutless carcass; the flesh inside a distinct green-blue tone, almost like copper.

Its devoid of any organs or major veins; all that remains is the back of the mouth hole.
The interior of the maw having small inward facing spikes.

Looking back to the exterior of the fish, he looks over it again, processing it.

Jacob, befuddled; says out loud:
"What... are these things?"

Out of nowhere; a voice behind him says:
"Rudder Fish."

Startled; he drops the fish in the container and pivots around; only to see Fiona.

Jacob:
"Fiona?!?"

Fiona:
"Oh, sorry for scaring you there; came down to check on you."

Jacob:
"Yeah, sorry for taking so long."

He picks up the bucket of chum, looking slightly sad.

Fiona:
"Don't worry, its okay.
You looking at the fish?"

Jacob:
"Yeah... never seen fish like these before."

Fiona:
"Huh, I take it you've never been deep open ocean fishing before?"

Jacob:
"Nope; only shallow to deep-ish water at most."

Fiona:
"Well in that case; you are going to be seeing a lot of new fish around here."

Jacob:
"Huh, sounds great-"

Jesse and Ryan enter the room from the left of the stairs; pushing a crate full of fish.
Turning around to look at them; Fiona backs up and lets them pass.

Once past Fiona, they turn towards the front of the machine and push the crate in to its grips.

A few seconds later; the hydraulics kick in, lifting the crate.
Meanwhile; they back up and give it space.

Turning his attention to the hallway they came from, Jacob looks down it and sees the elevator platform is now flush with the ground; the fence walls also compacted and laying into the floor.

And the door under the stairs is slightly open; the little glimpse of the interior it provides being a total void.

Jacob points at the door, says:
"Is... Ada doing maintenance right now?"

Fiona looks at the door; replies:
"Probably- no, the lights are off... unless shes fixing them."

She calls out:
"Ada? you in there?"

No response, the only noise is that of machinery.

She calls out again:
"Hello? Ada?"

Nothing.

Fiona:
"Huh..."
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 10.
She looks at Jesse and Ryan; says:
"Hey, Jesse, Ryan; you two see Ada go in the systems room at all?
The doors open, no lights on inside, and I don't think shes in there."

Ryan and Jesse look back at her.

Ryan:
"Ryan no see Ada go in, sorry."

Jesse:
"Ain't seen her; maybe she left it open by accident?"

Fiona:
"Maybe... one second."

Fiona walks over to the stairs and calls out loudly
"HEY. ADA. YOU THERE?"

A moment later; Ada arrives at the top of the stairs; she says:
"Yeah, whats up?"

Fiona:
"Did you leave the systems room door open?"

Ada replies:
"Pardon?"

Fiona:
"Yeah, its open, no lights on inside; did you leave it open?"

Ada:
"I... haven't been in there today... so... no..."

Fiona's face warps into one of confusion and worry.

Fiona:
"So... who's been in there?"

Ada:
"Already said it, I haven't."

Jesse:
"Ain't me."

Ryan:
"Ryan no go in room."

Jacob:
"I haven't."

Fiona:
"And I haven't... But what about the captain?"

Ada:
"Hes been at the controls all day."

Fiona:
"So... not him either...
Something is wrong..."

Ada:
"Calm down, I'm coming to take a look."

Fiona nods at her and backs up towards Jacob; stopping near him.
Meanwhile; Ada makes her way down the stairs and enters the room.

At the same time, Monty makes his way down the stairs; begins walking over to Fiona but stops suddenly, turning to face the door under the stairs.

His ears perk up, eyes widen, and back arches as he hisses and backs away; before bolting for the stairs in a dash.

Followed by a low, wet, powerful groan from the doorway and a few loud heavy thuds.

Fiona psychically says to the rest:
"What... the ♥♥♥♥... was that?"

Ryan mentally replies:
"What was noise?"

Ada mentally broadcasts:
"That... was not an engine sound.
I think somethings in there."

Jacob; freaked out, quietly puts the bucket of chum on the floor and steps behind Fiona.
He and Jesse are silent.

After a pause, Fiona says:
"Should... we close the door?...
Or... check whats in there?"

Ada:
"No, not without weapons on us at least."

Ryan:
"Ada right."

Jesse:
"That... would be wise..."

Fiona:
"Yeah... lets get out of here and get some; quietly..."

On edge; all 5 of them slowly and carefully maneuver over to the stairs; trying their hardest to make the least sound they can with each delicate step.

Jacob staying close to Fiona the whole way.

Reaching the bottom step, they open their wings and fly up.
Emerging on to the deck, they briefly land, swiftly pivot around and fly towards the captains control room.

Landing just outside; Monty is waiting outside the door beside them.

Fiona pushes the door open and enters the room, the others following behind.

Monty makes his way across the room and hides under the desk; beside the cabinet under the captains controls.

Meanwhile; standing at the controls, Captain Douglass turns around to face them; he says:
"What are you all doing here? Is there a problem?"

Ada telepathically replies:
"Captain, we have reason to suspect that something is in the systems room; and it sounds big.
We need guns if were going to deal with it."

Captain Douglass:
"Excuse me, what?"

Jesse:
"Ada is saying; we think something is hiding in the systems room, and we need a way to defend ourselves if were going to check it out."

Ryan:
"Big thing in room groan and thud loud, scare Monty bad.
Monty hiss at room and run away."

Captain Douglass:
"You all sure? Do you really think something is hiding in there?"

Fiona:
"Probably; would explain the missing chum earlier, the systems room being open, and the strange noises below deck today."

A loud creek echoes from below; followed by a set of powerful thuds, and a low, wet, guttural growl.

Fiona:
"Scratch that, something is definitely down there."

The sound of metal things sliding and banging bellows from below.

Captain Douglass:
"I have just the thing for this; step off the vent."

The group steps back, giving space as Captain Douglass approaches the vent cover in the floor.

Grabbing the small in-set handle; he lifts up the metal hatch revealing a decently sized vent duct in the floor.

Sat at the bottom of said duct is a set of 3 spear guns; taped in place; covered in a thin layer of dust.

Appearance wise; they have an average sized barrel similar in size to a pump action shotgun; both sides of it featuring a large spring coiled up and compacted, placed on the side of a metal bar at the very end; both springs pointed back and connected to one another by a rope fed through a slit along both sides of the barrel.

On top of the barrel and receiver is a long, telescopic piston; the moving part pointing forwards; end of said piston having a latch-hook set into the barrel via a thin slit down the middle

The ammo magazine sits under the barrel and is nearly just as long; plugged into the front of the receiver and the underside of the barrel.

The receivers trigger system itself is very simple and basic.

A wooden stock with a hollow space in the middle at the back; the front and back of the stock connected by 2 spring loaded pistons

There is a wooden handle protruding on both sides with a solid metal core poking out the ends; placed between the spring and magazine mid-barrel; with a short, metal, circular safety guard near the spring.

And the front of the barrel has a laser sight under it, just ahead of the magazine.

Fiona:
"Whoa, that's some heavy gear... but what are they exactly?"

Captain Douglass:
"Semi-auto spear guns; these should give you plenty of protection."

He reaches down; grabs one, pulls the tape off and lifts it out.
Shaking off the dust; a small cloud of it accumulates mid-air around the weapon, before quickly dissipating.

Captain Douglass:
"Issue is; I only have 3 of them, so only 3 of us can go down there armed."

Fiona:
"Meaning, we have to decide who's going down there."

Captain Douglass:
"Pretty much.
In regards to that; firstly, anyone here good with firearms?"

Jesse:
"I've got some experience with handling shotguns; I can use them decently; but that's about it."

Ryan:
"Ryan know how use gun, Ryan hunt Jaw head back home before monsters."

Jacob:
"I'm decent but... not with big ones like those..."

Ada:
"Not really."

Fiona:
"I'm fairly good with a machine gun; albeit I'm not too sure how well that translates to using a spear gun."

Captain Douglass:
"I've used these before; but I need to stay here and oversee the ships controls so we stay in place; and keep an eye on those who can't go down there.

But with that; I think its safe to say Fiona, Jesse and Ryan; you three are the best options here.
Albeit; that's if your willing to go down there; of course."

Ryan:
"Of course! Ryan happy to help."

Jesse:
"It ain't fair to send the other 2 down, and someone needs to do it... so fine."

Fiona:
"We don't have any other choice; so sure..."

Captain Douglass:
"Alright; that settles it.
Here you go."

He gives the first gun to Ryan; shakes off the dust and gives the second to Jesse, and repeats with Fiona.

Captain Douglass:
"But before you head down there; I'll check through the vents, see if I can get an idea of what we're dealing with.

Also; to arm those, just press the trigger once, the thing will auto load for you from then on."

Fiona:
"Sounds like a good idea; also thanks."
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 11.
Captain Douglass folds up his wings, crouches down; carefully climbs down into the duct and makes his way inside; the duct having just enough space to crawl through fairly-comfortably.

Captain Douglass:
"I'm in."

Taking a breath he coughs lightly; as his facial layer instinctively drops and covers his face; muffling the noise.

Captain Douglass says telepathically:
"The dust in here's enough to trigger my filtering reflexes; Ada, remind me to get these cleaned out after all this."

Ada mentally replies:
"Yes, captain."

Captain Douglass:
"Alright, now to take a look."

Crawling slowly forwards, Captain Douglass making small bumping sounds as he goes; makes it a few feet before his puff glands instinctively reflex; his body slightly compacting, allowing him just a bit more movement.

Captain Douglass thinks to himself:
"Ah, there we go."

Picking up the pace a little; he crawls onwards.

Approaching an air vent in the duct floor; he hears a deep, gruff growling below.
Cautiously; making minimal noise, he closes in on the vent cover and looks down into the room under him; the noise of chewing and wet crunching becoming audible as he does.

He sees the front of the fish processing machine, the cabinet under the controls open; a few empty buckets laying on the floor; smudges of chum covering the ground in wet patches.

The crate in the front of the machine empty; awaiting removal.
A wet floor sign displaced and thrown to the side.

And the thick, exoskeleton banded, armoured tail of something large; writhing lightly against the floor on the left; facing away from where the first crate of sorted fish would be, set at an angle towards the stairs.

The rest of its body out of view.

The tip of its tail cutting off suddenly; then continuing with 2 long spikes.

Captain Douglass thinks to himself:
"♥♥♥♥, that things absolutely massive.
Sounds like its eating the catch too.

But... what is it?"

Carefully manoeuvring himself around the best he can, he gets a slightly better view of it; able to just about see a pair of thick, stout, armoured, thorny, insect like back legs; with sharp, curved spikes for feet.

Captain Douglass:
"Looks like it could be a... Garat- no.... maybe a Phurg'lakter? Very likely, but... how? and why here?

Whatever, I'll figure that out later.
Need to tell the others."

Cautiously positioning himself again; he crawls backwards, making the least noise he can.
Getting back to the vent opening; he stands up and climbs out.

Captain Douglass:
"Yeah, looks like it could very likely be a Phurg'lakter, that's my best guess based on the tail.
And it sounds like its eating the catch."

Fiona: annoyed, says:
"A ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ what?"

Jesse:
"A Phurg'lakter? a Beach Mauler? out here with us?"

Ryan:
"What? how?"

Ada:
"A beach mauler? how... how would that even be on the ship?"

Jacob:
"What... whats a beach mauler?"

Captain Douglass:
"Oh, for those who don't know, a beach mauler is a large, meat eating animal; typically found on the island of Rakk'ta.

Albeit; their migrating from southern Rakk'ta to southern Neris around this time; which is why were fishing all the way out here nearer to Ronth, as to avoid them."

Fiona:
"But if that's the case; how could that bastard get on the ship?"

Captain Douglass:
"Not sure; maybe it got lost during migration and just got on the ship somehow."

Ada:
"That's possible; and maybe after we finished yesterday; it crawled on board and hid below?"

Captain Douglass:
"Could have, but regardless; we need to deal with that thing.
Fiona, Jesse, Ryan; you three ready to go down there?"

Ryan:
"Ryan ready."

Jesse:
"I'd say so."

Fiona:
"Yeah... but, before we do; where do I shoot the thing?"

Captain Douglass:
"Shoot it in the face; kill it quickly; aim between its 4 eyes."

Fiona:
"Got it, ready."

Captain Douglass crouches down, closes the vent cover; stands up and says:
"Alright; I wish you three the best of luck down there."

Fiona:
"Thank you, captain."

Jesse:
"Thanks captain."

Ryan:
"Ryan thank captain."

Ryan, Jesse and Fiona turn around and exit the room; closing the door behind them.
Now outside; Fiona releases a stressed sigh.

Jesse:
"You okay?"

Fiona:
"Yeah just, a bit nervous; and angry."

Jesse:
"Fair; but keep in mind we're armed and we know what to do; it'll probably be fine and over before you know it."

Ryan:
"Ryan Agree, Ryan think Fiona be okay; Fiona have Ryan and Jesse."

Fiona:
"Good point... yeah..."

Taking a deep breath; she slowly lets it out.

Fiona:
"Alright; lets get this done."

Raising their weapons up a bit they lightly pull the triggers; the piston on top shooting forward, hooking the rope between the springs and pulling it back; the springs lightly groaning as they are pulled into position.

Once in place; a latch clicks in and the piston shoots back to the front; the springs held in place.

Together; they open their wings, fly towards the stairs, land gently ahead of them and swiftly pivot around to face them.

The sounds of guttural groaning and ravenous feasting faint but clear; echoing out from below.

Raising their weapons; stocks pressed against their shoulders and gripping the side handle, they begin slowly, carefully walking down, making the least noise they can; the sound of munching and snarling growing with each step as they close in.

Fiona; hesitantly following behind Jesse; with Ryan in the lead.

Cautiously making their way into the room, turning half way to their left; they see a large; hulking creature, reared up on the first crate of sorted fish; head down in the crate, feeding.

The sound of fish flesh and bones being rendered in its maw echoing out; each bite filled with crunches, snaps; pops, rips and squelches.

It has a thick armour banded tail; ending with 2 long spikes; squirming gently on the floor.

The back legs are thick; having 3 parts, forming a backwards N shape; the overall build stout, armoured and thorny; the feet being sharp, curved spikes.

Ahead of them is another pair of legs with the same appearance, connected to the middle sides of the abdomen; albeit slightly bigger and facing forwards.

The abdomen itself is rotund and heavily armoured in bands; the sides having thorns; and the top adorned with a wide, triangular boney ridge, with a set of thick; cleaver like protrusions growing on top, all evenly spaced out in a row down its back.

The shield on its back cleanly segmenting towards the bottom; merging smoothly with the base of the tail.

Albeit the creatures stomach and underside remains obscured by its positioning and size.

At the front; it has 2 much larger limbs ending with crab like claws; the backs of which are lined with spines like the teeth of a saw.

Said claws holding its body in place as they grip the edge of the crate; the container itself having slightly been crushed on one side from the weight of its body pressing down on it.

It's shell having a gritty, sand like appearance.

And its body overall has generally sandy tones of colour; the underside being darker, the sides and such being moderate; and the top back armour being lighter.

Guns ready; Fiona, Jesse and Ryan aim at the thing.

Out of the 3, Fiona is tense; thinking to herself:
"That thing is huge, this- this can't be real right?"

Jesse is uneasy; trying her best to maintain her composure and aim.

And Ryan; big stupid smile on his face; stands with total confidence; almost relaxed and composed while locked on to it.

Ryan calls out clearly and firmly:
"YOU; FACE RYAN NOW!"
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 12.
It pauses eating, slowly raises its head; lifts itself up a bit and turns to look at them, silently.

Unlike what the captain said; it has 6 yellow eyes; 3 on each side, all front facing and possessing a distinct Y shaped pupil.

Its head and neck are sturdy and robust.
The neck has thick armour bands and small thorns.

And the head itself being heavily armoured, almost conical in shape albeit rounded and wide; and possessing a short, dense frill around the back, protecting its neck.

The front of its head has a short beak like curve, and the underside is a large mass of mouth parts and mandibles; all soaked with fresh blood and bits of fish flesh.

Without hesitation Ryan pulls the trigger; the spear gun releasing a loud clunk as it fires, the recoil pressing lightly into his shoulder; It's springs echoing with a "thung" sound as they violently contract.

The metal bolt hitting the thing right in the middle of its head.

The spear merely bounces off; only taking out a small chip of its armour while lightly disorientating the creature.

The spear falling to the ground and bouncing a little bit; clunk, dink, dunk; before stopping and rolling away a short distance.

While the creature shakes its head a bit and blinks twice with sideways eyelids; before turning its attention to Ryan.
The beasts eyes expressing confusion; then rage.

Ryan's smile instantly vanishes; realising the spear did nothing.

Ryan:
"Oh, no."

Immediately; the creature lets go of the crate; drops down, and briskly pivots around to face them head first; followed directly by it charging towards them.

The full weight of the enraged behemoth creating thundering thuds as it sprints at them.

Instinctively; Fiona, terrified; fires a shot at it, opens her wings and flies backwards up the stairs; Jesse doing the same.

The spears hitting its side and just bouncing off.

Meanwhile Ryan; just as his gun reloads, fires another shot at it; the spear simply flying over its head and bouncing off its thick; armoured back; and getting stuck in the ceiling.

Just after; the thing rams head first into him; sending him flying back into the lower part of the stairs; knocking the wind out of him.

Dazed, winded, on his back, Ryan inhales and flips over; while the creature closes in, raising its front claws.

Scrambling forwards and climbing up the stairs; stumbling as he goes, Ryan narrowly avoids the beasts front claws, slamming into the stairs where he once was a mere moment ago; landing with a booming crash.

The force of the impact shaking the whole stairs.

Opening his wings; he bolts up the rest of the stairs and lands on his front at the top; where Fiona and Jesse are standing.

Following her gut; Fiona swings down nimbly, grabs him; pulls him up to a standing position and turns him around to face the front of the ship like her.

Meanwhile; the creature, boiling with fury looks up at them and lets out a powerful, deep, harsh roar; as it begins to climb the stairs; its hulking body just barely fitting through the stairway.

Each step a blaring clang, slam, or clunk.

Ryan:
"OH, THIS IS BAD."

Jesse, wide eyed with fear:
"♥♥♥♥."

Frantically looking around for an escape, Fiona notices and points out the top of the arms mechanism.

She shouts and points at it:
"TO HIGH GROUND."

Looking where shes pointing, without a word all 3 ready their wings, fly upwards towards it, and land atop the mechanism with a thud; Ryan nearly losing his footing but managing to stabilise himself.

Turning to look at the stairs, the creature comes thundering out; slamming head first into a set of various crates a short distance ahead of the stairs.

One at the front getting completely caved in as its sheer bulk powers into it.
And the force knocks several other crates back a bit; a few even tipping over.

Pulling its head out of the crates and stepping back; the creature, disorientated, stumbles a bit and shakes it head, regaining its focus.

Turning and looking around on shaky foothold; it quickly spots them atop the mechanism and stares straight at them; primarily focused on Ryan, while growling loudly.

It's eyes furious but possessing a hint of tiredness.

Storming over to the right side of the machinery, its legs a bit wobbly as it goes; it rears up trying to climb the metal system.

Claws almost reaching Fiona and the others but falling just short as they smack against the equipment.

Thud, Thung, Clang, Slam.

It's middle limbs unable to find solid grip; simply sliding against the metal.
While its back legs struggle to bear its own weight.

Having no hold the beast slides back down, forcing it to step back; its stability noticeably more uneasy as its limbs tremble.
Meanwhile; it continues to gaze at them, furious; but clearly more exhausted than before.

Huffing at them; the animal looks around for a moment before turning it's attention to the front of the ship and slowly walking off past the control room.

It's steps becoming increasingly sluggish and unstable as it plods along; the creature sometimes stumbling.

It walks half way across the front of the ship as its legs continue to falter, before coming to a stop in the middle and lowering itself carefully; laying on its side.

It's underside and stomach now visible; but too far away to make out any fine details.
As the animal lays there; it lets out a deep set of exhausted huffs.

Fiona says telepathically to Jesse and Ryan:
"It's... resting?
After all that?"

Jesse:
"Looks it to me."

Ryan:
"While creature rest, we go captain room, plan from there.
Creature too big; no fit in captain room too."

Fiona:
"Good idea."

Jesse:
"Yeah just... lets make the least noise possible doing it; lest we spark the things ire again."

Ryan:
"Ryan Agree; is good plan."

Silently, they open their wings; float down between the mechanism and the captains control room, and land gently on the floor.

Immediately after; they crouch down and cautiously approach the door.

Pushing it open and entering the control room, they find everyone else hiding under the desk around the room.

Captain Douglass is sat under the desk; beside the controls, fairly composed but on edge.

Ada is curled up on the opposite side of the controls, scared; holding Monty in her arms; Monty's ears perked up and listening out.

And Jacob is near Ada; huddled up and terrified.

Quietly closing the door behind them; Captain Douglass, Ada and Jacob turn to look at them.

Fiona says telepathically:
"Shooting it didn't work; all that did was piss it off."

Ryan:
"Creature have 6 eyes, not 4 like captain say."

Jesse:
"And it tried to attack us; now its... just resting out there on the front."

Captain Douglass:
"♥♥♥♥; that's my fault; sorry, I really messed up here...
At least I was right about it being a Beach Mauler thought... just... the wrong kind..."

Fiona:
"Wait, the wrong kind?"

Captain Douglass:
"Yeah, it has 6 eyes, so that is a female; the males have 4 eyes, thinner and weaker armour, and are slightly smaller.

And out of the two; I expected a male to be the one who would board us for food.
Especially given the migration season; and how males find food for females around this time...

Plus; all I saw was the tail and heard it eating, so I naturally assumed it was a male one; given how they act.

Which is why I said to aim between the 4 eyes."

Jesse:
"I see, that's fair; easy mistake to make."

Ryan:
"Is ok; Ryan make that mistake too if Ryan captain."

Fiona:
"So wait, the males and females basically look the same?"

Captain Douglass:
"Essentially yes.

But as to why a female is here; on its own, hunting food for itself instead of having a male do it like they would usually do this time of year; I do not know..."

Jesse:
"Well, given how shaky its legs were and how tired it looked, I suspect something is really wrong."
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 13.
Captain Douglass:
"Huh... Never noticed that when it walked past... and, good point.
Also, its resting now, right?"

Fiona:
"Correct."

Captain Douglass
"Hmm... I got an idea."

Quietly crawling out under the table; he partially opens the cabinet under the controls, reaches in and takes out an old telescopic pair of binoculars; before silently closing the door.

They are made of a brass-like metal with patches of copper-ish green; the lenses a strange shade of pale green; almost cyan but not quite.

Captain Douglass:
"Where is it on the front?"

Fiona:
"Right in the middle."

Captain Douglass nods.

Positioning himself in front of the cabinet; adjusting the metal, telescopic binoculars; he puts them up to his eyes, faces towards the front of the ship and slowly rises up; just barely peeking over the bottom edge of the window.

Looking out at the creature it remains on its side; its chest rising and falling slowly, each breath deep and sluggish.

It's underside in clear view; the stomach protruding, bloated looking and lightly writhing, as if something were moving within.

The bands of exoskeleton on its stomach are stretched, so much the skin between them is visibly taught, and is just translucent enough to see something yellow inside; taking up most of the lower abdomen.

Captain Douglass lowers himself; moves the binoculars down, looks at the others and telepathically says:
"Yep, something is certainly wrong with her.

Stomach is extremely bloated and filled with something yellow; looks like something could be moving around in there too."

Jesse:
"What do you think is specifically wrong with it?"

Captain Douglass:
"Not sure... I'll need to take a better look; but that means getting closer."

Fiona:
"I don't think going up to it is a good idea; isn't there another way?"

Jesse:
"I agree with Fiona, I really don't think its a good idea to just... walk up to it; especially with how it attacked us.

There is probably another way of doing that."

Ryan:
"Ryan think Captain plan not good; must be other way.
Easy way for captain to get eaten."

Captain Douglass:
"Very good points; but unfortunately we lack any other way of examining her.
But given the way its just laying there; I don't think it even has the energy to fight back; like, take a look for yourselves."

Taking a moment to think about it; Jesse, Ryan and Fiona slowly rise up and look over the bottom edge of the window.

Outside, they see the creature still laying down; the rise and fall of its chest being the only movement.

Jesse:
"Yeah... its not getting up in a hurry."

Fiona:
"I see..."

Crouching back down; they look again to Captain Douglass.

Just after; Jacob uncurls and slowly, hesitantly crawls out; before standing up and taking a look at the creature through the window.

Relaxing a bit; he lowers back down and sits again under the table; calmer but still very tense.

Meanwhile, Fiona says to the captain:
"Yeah... very little chance its going to do anything like that."

Jesse:
"I see your point, captain."

Fiona:
"But still; we need to be careful around that thing."

Just as she finishes her sentence; she hears Jacob moving under the desk.
Turning her attention to Jacob, she sees him positioning himself against the wall under the desk; knees against his chest.

Fiona, concerned, asks:
"You okay, Jacob?"

Jacob:
"No, I'm not."

Fiona makes her way over to him and sits down beside him.

At the same time; Ada carefully puts Monty down, crawls out and stands up sluggishly; taking a look outside at the creature.

After a brief observation; she crouches down again and returns to sitting in the same spot; albeit slightly calmer.

Meanwhile Fiona; beside Jacob, puts the spear gun down and a hand on his back; she says:
"Jacob, I'm sorry your first day ended up like this."

Jacob looks at her, noticeably more annoyed:
"Its going to be my first and only day on here if this is what I have to deal with."

Fiona:
"You won't have to, this shouldn't have happened and has never happened before... we just... got really unlucky today...

And I'm sorry you have to deal with all this happening around you..."

His annoyance reduces; looking more agitated and upset than angry.

Fiona:
"But... its going to be okay, you just stay here and let us deal with it...

And... If things get really bad, there is an air vent in the floor; just open the cover, crawl in and hide in there.

Got that?"

He takes a breath and calms down; his expression now one of fear and sadness; but some relief.

Jacob:
"Got it... Thank you, Fiona."

She briefly hugs him, lets go; grabs the spear gun and says:
"No problem, just, stay calm, okay?"

Jacob, a tad more relaxed:
"Okay..."

Making her way out from under the table, she looks at Captain Douglass and says:
"Anyway, if your going to go out there and look at that thing close up, your going to need some kind of back up...

Hmm...

Idea, maybe... we could stand nearby, guns ready; that way if it tries anything we can draw its attention, or at least confuse it."

Jesse:
"Sounds like a good idea; albeit, perhaps the captain can approach from one side and we can from another; that way we can actually draw it away from him if needed."

Ryan:
"Sound good to Ryan."

Fiona:
"Yeah, great plan Jesse."

Captain Douglass:
"Agreed; sounds like a great way of going about this.
So, shall we get on with it?"

Fiona:
"Yeah, lets get this done."

Jesse:
"Sure, lets do this quick."

Ryan:
"Ryan think so."

Captain Douglass:
"Alright, I'll go on the right, you three on the left."

Still crouched down; making his way over to the door, he stops just at it, quietly pulls it open and steps outside; Fiona, Jesse and Ryan following.

With all of them out; he silently pulls the door mostly shut, leaving it slightly open and unlocked.

Turning to the right side of the boat, Captain Douglass raises himself up a bit into a crouched walk; and begins to walk around the control room carefully.

Fiona, Jesse and Ryan doing the same as they head left; keeping their guns ready.

Coming around the front; the creature enters their sight.

Captain Douglass sees its head and upper body first as it lays there; breathing.
Fiona, Jesse and Ryan witnessing its thick, armoured tail and back legs first as they approach.

Cautiously stepping out further; all 4 view the full creature as it lays still.

Jesse, Ryan and Fiona; keep their guns aimed at it; while Captain Douglass closes in.
Meanwhile; as Captain Douglass approaches, he looks at its head and face.

Its eyes are open and looking straight at him, all very tried, pained and sick.
And the various mandibles and mouth parts have small bits of yellow paint stuck to them; as they dangle open on one side.
All while its head just hangs towards the floor.

It twitches a bit and groans deeply; slowly blinking as it stares at him.

Turning to look at its lower abdomen, its engorged and bloated; the yellow between its armour bands very noticeable this close up; as its guts writhe and pulsate lightly.

Stepping to the left and approaching its stomach for a better look, Captain Douglass stops just short of it; to the middle-left of its underside where the hump is at its largest.

Meanwhile; Jesse, Fiona and Ryan keep careful watch, aim steady.

Gazing at the yellow gaps between its bands, he sees movement inside; the edges and points of something uncertain.

Leaning in a bit more and focusing in; he can just about make out a hooked shape and something with ridges; moving among similar patterns.

Without warning; an eye opens up among the yellow; staring right at him.
The eye itself pressed against the inner wall of the abdomen.

Startled; he leans back a bit, processes the sight and leans back in, taking a better look.
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 14.
A distinct Y shaped pupil stares at him.

He thinks:
"My god... by Na'Trimi..."

He looks at Fiona, Jesse and Ryan; says to them telepathically:
"Its... Pregnant."

Fiona, befuddled:
"What?"

Ryan, confused:
"Creature is mommy?"

Jesse, surprised:
"Oh ♥♥♥♥, really?"

Captain Douglass:
"Yeah, a baby just... opened its eye inside her and looked at me through it's stomach...
That means shes almost ready to pop..."

Fiona, concerned and bewildered:
"HUH?"

Ryan, worried and thrown off:
"CREATURE GIVE BIRTH SOON?"

Jesse, baffled:
"IT'S WHAT?"

Captain Douglass:
"She's near enough ready to let em out... we need to do something...
Back to the cabin, we can plan from there."

He slowly steps backwards a bit, turns around and makes his way around the cabin; heading towards the door.
Ryan, Jesse and Fiona lowering their guns and doing the same.

Reaching the door and going back into the cabin; Captain Douglass enters last, closing the door gently behind him.

Fiona, Jesse, Ryan and Captain Douglass space themselves out; standing around the room; while Ada and Jacob continuing to sit below the desk.

Jesse, still talking telepathically:
"So... what are we gonna do about it?"

Captain Douglass:
"Hmm...
Well, she can't stay here, and we can't take her back to Kartrol with us.
Last thing Kartrol needs is a population of Beach Maulers...
But; we need to get her off the ship, ideally somewhere safe."

Fiona:
"In that case; how about we take her back to southern Rakk'ta or southern Neris; which ever one is closest?"

Captain Douglass:
"Maybe; that could work if we have enough time before she pops."

Jacob mentally replies:
"Whats going on with it?"

Fiona turns around and looks at him; his body language is a bit tense, with some fear and sadness mixed among it.

She psychically projects:
"Oh, sorry Jacob; I'll explain real quick.
The creature on the boat, laying down outside on the front; is pregnant.
And we're trying to figure out what to do about it."

Ada listening in; her eyes widen with surprise; fear dying back greatly; leaving her mainly cautious.

Jacob's sadness, fear and tension dial back more as he perks up with confusion.

Jacob, now only a tad bit tense; but mostly confused:
"What? it's pregnant?"

Fiona:
"Yeah, I'm just as surprised as you here, this... totally caught me off guard.
But, I need to talk to the captain now, okay?"

He nods.

Fiona:
"Good."

She looks back at Captain Douglass, says:
"Anyway; we need to decide on what to do.
Anyone else got ideas?"

Ryan:
"Ryan have idea; we drop beach crawler at nearest island."

Captain Douglass:
"Can't, no islands this far out.
Closest land masses are gonna be Ronth, Rakk'ta and Kartrol."

Ryan:
"Hmm... Ryan have no ideas... except throw in ocean; but that not good idea."

Jesse:
"And I don't have any either... that leaves us with... no real options except Fiona's idea.
You know, taking her back to southern Rakk'ta or Neris, whatever the closest one is."

Captain Douglass:
"The closest would likely be Rakk'ta; albeit yes, that's probably the best and only thing we can do for her."

Jesse:
"Sounds like it."

Ryan:
"Ryan agree; is best idea."

Fiona:
"Yeah... sounds like its all we can really do."

Captain Douglass:
"Well; that settles it, to southern Rakk'ta we go."

Making his way over to the ships controls and steering wheel; he turns them on and examines them.

The steering wheel sits directly in the middle.

On the left of it; a lever for speed, a switch for direction; a key in the ignition, a control lever for the anchor release, one for ramp control, and some dial gauges for speed, buoyancy, oil, carried weight, and other system measurements.

On the right; a deactivated screen, a compass in a small dome wired into the controls; a keypad, a few switches, and a set of analogue sliders.

Captain Douglass looks at the screen, but its still shut off; and the compass is not moving.
Confused; he turns the screen off and on again; its still deactivated.
Fiddling with the switches and sliders; he yet again finds it disabled; and the compass is again not moving at all.

Captain Douglass:
"Crap; navigation is down."

Ada, still under the desk, deeply concerned:
"What?"

Captain Douglass:
"I said its down, doesn't even turn on.
Means we can't navigate the ship."

Jesse:
"Aw, ♥♥♥♥."

Ryan:
"Is not good."

Jacob:
"♥♥♥♥..."

Fiona thinks for a moment...

Fiona:
"Hmm... so, the compass you got there, that doesn't work either?"

Captain Douglass turns to look at her, replies:
"No; its an electronic one.
And usually when I turn this on; it does a spin and calibrates itself, but its not doing that at all.
Meaning; the navigation system has no power."

Fiona:
"Hmm... means we need an alternative..."

Fiona thinks for a bit...

Fiona:
"Maybe... something can guide us back..."

She looks out the window and at the sky above; the sun is just about, almost fully set on the left side; stars clear and bright on the right.

The stars in the middle, between; quite visible.

Turning to the stars she sees several constellations that stand out; one in particular almost resembling a female Tr'allanga laying on her side; said collection of stars on the far right and just above the horizon.

And to the left just above it; another cluster resembles a jaw head.

Fiona:
"Wait a minute; I have an idea.
We can use the stars to navigate."

Captain Douglass:
"Wait; what? really?"

Fiona points at the first star cluster, resembling a female Tr'allanga.

Fiona:
"Yeah, Look here."

Captain Douglass looks where shes pointing, the others doing the same.
Jacob and Ada emerge from under the desk carefully and look upwards.

With a bit of hesitation, Jacob stands up fully; Ada then does the same.
Both getting a better view.

They see the stars; and the animal still motionless as it lays there; except for the rise and fall of its chest.

As they look out; Jacob and Ada calm down a bit more.
Jacob drops his shoulders, only feeling a bit worried at worst.
Ada takes a deep breath, feeling just about fairly cautious.

Fiona:
"See that one? That's the resting messenger."

She shifts her pointing to the second one; the jaw head.

Fiona:
"And that's the great jaw head; known as the herd guide.

At this time of year they only appear in the East; and with the sun resting in the west, we can navigate with those."

Captain Douglass looks back at her:
"That's a bloody genius idea Fiona, great plan too.
But what about North?"

She points directly in the middle, between the East and West; at a cluster resembling a spiral sea shell.

Fiona:
"That's the North vortex; it always faces north regardless of what time of year it is.
We can navigate to southern Rakk'ta now from here if we go north-west."

Fiona points between the setting sun and spiral stars.

Captain Douglass turns, looks at the spiral, followed by where shes pointing, back at her; and says:
"Great, in that case; we better get a move on then."

He turns back to the controls; activates the engines, presses the drive lever forwards, grabs the steering wheel and begins turning the ship to face north-west.

Meanwhile; Fiona steps forward and stands beside him, continuously pointing north-west, guiding him as he turns.

Bringing the ship into position; he drives it straight ahead.

Captain Douglass:
"There we go; course set for southern Rakk'ta."

Fiona lowers her hand.

Captain Douglass:
"Thank you, Fiona."

Fiona:
"No problem, captain."
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 15.
Jacob looks at Fiona, asks:
"That's cool... how did you learn to do that Fiona?"

Fiona looks back at him, replies:
"Navigate by the stars?"

Jacob:
"Yeah; that."

Fiona:
"Its a bit of a story but; remember the map of the sewer system I told you I made?"

Everyone else looks at her, listening in.

Jacob:
"Yeah, why?"

Fiona:
"Well, during my time in Kartrol; working the sewers, sometimes I would get lost.

And end up somewhere I shouldn't be; like stepping out of a sewer outlet by a river or something.
Usually in the middle of the night too for some reason.

Why? my equipment would fail on me; which only got worse the longer I worked.
Navigation equipment would give up or get confused; getting me all turned around.

But one day; stepping out into a muddy, ♥♥♥♥♥♥ river bank in the middle of nowhere; stars above, red glow of the moon illuminating everything.

Having absolutely enough of it; I think.
"There must be a better way to do this."

So; I decided to look into navigation; and found a book at a local library, which is how I learned about the stars, constellations, the sun and such.

And, about map making.
Which gave me an idea; that being to make the map I told you about.

That way I never had to deal with faulty, useless equipment ever again.

From then on; I'd work on the map as I worked, and if I got lost I'd re-orientate, navigate and get back on track.

Eventually, covering the whole city.

Every junction, filter, toilet.
All of it.

Took a long, very long time to do; but I'd say it was worth it."

Jacob:
"That's... really, really impressive.
And some... serious dedication..."

Jesse:
"That's some workman's grit right there; and I like it."

Ryan:
"Ryan impressed, Ryan learn to do that some time."

Captain Douglass:
"I'd say so too.
Speaking of which; you wouldn't happen to have that navigation book laying around, would you?"

Fiona looks at Captain Douglass, says:
"Unfortunately, no; but maybe the library back in anvil runners has one."

Captain Douglass:
"Maybe; I'll have to check that out when we get back."

Fiona:
"I see- wait...
You had no idea what was north... and asking about the book...
You don't know how to navigate by stars, do you?"

Captain Douglass lets out a sigh of disappointment.

Captain Douglass:
"I'll be honest... no."

Everyone looks at him; meanwhile, he looks ahead.

Fiona:
"What? why?"

Jesse:
"Are you serious?"

Ryan:
"Captain no understand stars?"

Ada:
"Excuse me, what?"

Jacob:
"Pardon me, wait, so; the literal captain has no idea how to navigate if his systems go down?"

Captain Douglass:
"Yes, its true... I don't know how to navigate by the stars.

As to why; its pretty simple; the navigation on this ship has never let me down, because we always kept it maintained.

Never in all my years of work, until today; has it failed on me.
Its been that way; ever since I inherited this ship from my father 120 years ago.

So I just... never did, I guess...
Never needed to..."

Fiona:
"Alright; given the 120 years... I'd say that's fair...
But still; its a very useful skill to have."

Jesse:
"Agreed; albeit, if anything its necessary."

Ryan:
"Ryan agree; Ryan disappointed in captains lack of foresight, but Ryan understand and forgive captain."

Jacob:
"Okay, 120 years of consistent maintenance and operation... I would say that's a fair reason why; but still, feels really silly to not have such a skill."

Ada:
"I agree with Jacob; when we get back you really need to learn that."

Captain Douglass:
"Alright; noted.
When we get back I'll check out the library."

Fiona:
"And if they don't have it, I'll be more than happy to try and teach you about it.

Captain Douglass:
"Thanks; I appreciate that Fiona."

Fiona:
"No problem, Captain.
But it makes me wonder... why is the navigation system not working now?"

Captain Douglass:
"Not sure; we'll have to look into it later.
Top priority is getting big momma here home, and off the ship.
We can head back home and check out whats gone wrong later."

Jesse:
"That's fair."

Fiona:
"We have a way to navigate for now, so I guess it can wait."

Ryan:
"Ryan agree; must get mommy creature off boat first."

Ada:
"We probably lack the stuff for repairs at the moment; so taking the ship back after we drop her off is probably the best strategy."

Jacob:
"Sounds like a reasonable plan to me."

Captain Douglass:
"Alright then; for now just sit down.
If I need help navigating; I'll ask Fiona.
When we get close; I'll let you all know.
Got it?"

They all agree; space out evenly around the room and sit down.
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 16.
[scene change]

Slowly, the sun finally vanishes beyond the horizon; the last rays of light departing with it.
As the light retracts; the true contents of the night sky reveal themselves.

Behind the stars illuminating the night; the void is filled with soft glowing galaxies, sprawling nebulas, and far away sprinkles of star clusters.

And some traces of distant, ribbon like auroras; snaking around through the skies towards the southern horizon.

All of various colours, shapes, gradients and hues.

Together; they all form a choir of colours and lights, dancing among the speckled void.

[scene change]

As the crew all sit in the captains cabin; they stare up in admiration at the horde of hues decorating the sky.

Monty joining them too, as he sits on Ada's lap.
Only exception, the captain; maintaining the ships direction.

Fiona, sitting nearest to Jacob; says to him:
"Its nice; isn't it Jacob?"

Jacob:
"Yeah... its, great..."

Fiona looks at him, asks:
"You doing okay?"

He looks back; replies:
"A lot better than earlier... yeah, but... I still feel... a bit worried...
And, kind of bad..."

Fiona:
"Why's that?"

Jacob:
"I'm still... a bit concerned that creature might do something...
But at the same time, I feel bad for her..."

Fiona:
"Now that you mention it... yeah... I, feel bad for her too...
Being lost out here, alone, carrying something so precious and having it put so much pressure on her..."

Jacob:
"And being so hungry too..."

Fiona:
"That too..."

Fiona pauses for a moment, thinking.

Fiona:
"Yeah... now I feel pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bad for her..."

Jacob:
"Honestly, same here..."

Both pause; thinking.

Fiona:
"Maybe, there is something we can do for her..."

Jacob:
"Probably but... is it a good idea to approach her?"

Fiona:
"I'd say probably so, captain went all the way up to her and she didn't do anything..."

Jacob takes a small breath and calms down; only feeling very slightly worried at worst.

Jacob:
"Good point... Hmm..."

He places his hand beside his head and lightly scratches his scalp.

Jacob:
"Wait; I left that bucket of fish out there; and my fishing rod...
Maybe, we could feed her those fish?"

Fiona:
"Possibly; I think she would appreciate it too."

Jacob:
"Probably...
My stuff is beside the mechanical arms out there; near the controls.
You think its safe to go grab them?"

Fiona:
"I'd say so, yeah."

Jacob contemplates it for a moment.

Jacob:
"Okay, I'll go grab my stuff, once I get back we can try feeding her."

Jacob stands up; makes his way over to the door and carefully opens it.

Stepping outside; he turns to the right and a bit cautiously, albeit quietly, makes his way around the arms mechanism, keeping a decent pace.

Turning left and reaching the controls; Jacob sees the rod and bucket on the floor exactly where he left them.

Making his way to them; he crouches down, grabs them, stands up, and turns around.
Looking around briefly; he begins heading back to the control room.

Turning right and walking around the mechanism as he goes.

Entering the room, he quietly closes the door behind him, approaches Fiona; and puts his fishing rod on the desk along the wall nearby.

Jacob:
"Got the fish; you coming with me?"

Fiona:
"Sure, better if we go together; I'll bring the spear gun too so if the worst happens I can at least distract her, giving you time to escape."

Jacob:
"Alright; thank you, Fiona."

Fiona readies the spear gun; stands up and replies:
"No problem, Jacob."

Jacob turns around, approaches the door, quietly opens it and steps out; Fiona following behind.

Bucket in hand, making his way left around the captains room; they both quietly head towards the creature; starlight illuminating everything.

Closing in on it, they can see a soft yellow glow between the bands of armour on its abdomen; lightly moving as the younglings inside squirm around.

As they get closer; Jacob feels increasingly hesitant.

He telepathically says to Fiona:
"Are we sure this is a good idea?"

Fiona:
"It'll probably be fine, you've got me too, I'll be here if the worst happens."

Jacob:
"Thanks..."

Stopping just short of the animals head as it lays there, Fiona beside him; Jacob cautiously reaches into the bucket and takes out a fish.

As he does; the resting beast tenderly raises its head and turns it to look at him; all 6 of its yellow eyes glowing gently as they gaze at him.

Nervously; Jacob presents the fish to the animal, gingerly bringing his hand closer to it.

Stopping just near its mouth; the creature slowly unfurls its many mandibles and mouth parts and extends a long, yellow tongue out; unhurriedly wrapping it around the fish and taking it; before swallowing it whole with a single gulp.

Relaxing a bit; Jacob reaches into the bucket again, presents it a fish and it simply devours it just the same.

Fiona:
"Can I try?"

Jacob, calming down a bit more; reaches into the bucket and passes her a fish, replies:
"Sure..."

Taking the fish; Fiona carefully presents it to the resting animal, it extends out its tongue, takes the fish and eats it.

Jacob feeds it the next fish; followed by Fiona, both taking turns after one another.

After a few more fish; Fiona feeds it the last one.

Fiona:
"That was the last fish."

Jacob, calm but still cautious of the creature, looks in the bucket and replies:
"Yep, that was...so, what now?"

Fiona thinks for a moment.

Fiona:
"I could try and pet it, maybe that will help it feel just, a bit better."

Jacob looks at her, replies:
"I wouldn't do that."

Fiona:
"Why not? it doesn't seem to have a problem with us?"

Jacob:
"Yeah, but, its a wild animal; you have no idea how it's going to respond."

Fiona:
"True, but she seems pretty chill with us, so I'd say its worth a try."

Jacob backs up from the creature a bit; replies:
"I wouldn't say so."

Fiona:
"It'll be fine, just, watch."

Fiona gently closes in and raises her hand; lowering the spear gun in the other.

As she reaches out; the creature extends out its tongue, tastes her fingers and swiftly lets go; returning its tongue into its maw.

Delicately touching the side of its head, Fiona softly slides her hand along it towards the front; the animal closing its eyes and emitting a low pitch purring sound.

Meanwhile; it raises its head towards her; giving her a better reach of it.

Pulling its tail upwards; it lazily runs the 2 spikes along its back repeatedly, creating a distinct clicking sound.

Continuing to rub its head; it pulls its head closer to her and purrs louder, rubbing its tail against its back more excitedly.

Fiona:
"See? If she had a problem she would have snapped at me or something by now."

Jacob:
"Huh... I see...
Maybe... I'll... give it a try..."

Uneasy, Jacob approaches it, creeps his hand towards it; and places his hand on its head.
Timidly, he pets the creature; it purring and scraping its back harder.

Fiona:
"There you go."

Jacob continues petting the animal; his anxiety quickly reducing, albeit he remains still slightly on edge.

After a bit of petting; Fiona slows down and begins withdrawing her hand, Jacob doing the same.
As they do; the creature lowers its head, keeping its eyes shut.

It's purring and clicking gradually quiets down until it eventually stops; almost like its fallen asleep.

Fiona telepathically says:
"Its probably asleep; lets go, quietly."

Jacob nods.

Slinking away; Fiona and Jacob back up, giving it space; turn around and head back; keeping noise to a minimum.

Getting back to the captains control room; they enter and silently close the door behind them.
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 17.
Now inside; Jacob puts the empty bucket on the side next to his fishing rod, while Fiona sits down.

Stuff put aside, Jacob sits near her.

Jacob:
"I... did not expect it to go that well."

Fiona:
"What did you think was going to happen?"

Jacob:
"Honestly; I thought it would at least try to bite my hand off; but, it didn't..."

Fiona:
"See? As I said earlier, It'll probably be fine; and it was, right?"

Jacob:
"Yeah... it was... thanks Fiona."

Fiona:
"No problem Jacob."

She gently puts her hand on his shoulder and pats it, Jacob smiling a bit.

Turning her attention to Captain Douglass; she asks:
"Hey captain, how long until we reach southern Rakk'ta?"

Captain Douglass:
"Not exactly sure; but probably just after sunrise.
So; best get some rest; I'll wake you all if big momma out there becomes a problem or something.
And Fiona; I'll wake you up if I need you."

Fiona:
"Alright, got it."

Jacob:
"Sure..."

Ryan:
"Good, Ryan sleep now."

Ada:
"Okay... I guess..."

Jesse:
"Alright; goodnight."

They all lay back under the desk in whatever position feels best; wings folded; and close their eyes.
Fiona nodding off the fastest.

[scene change]
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 18.
Awakening to the soft glow of sunlight on her face; the light creating a comfortable, warm sensation; Fiona sluggishly opens her eyes and looks around.

Almost everyone else is still asleep.

Jacob is in a deep slumber beside her; head on her shoulder.
Monty is curled up on Ada's lap.
Jesse and Ryan are beside one another; leaning against each other.

Meanwhile; the captain is still at the steering wheel; awake.

Gently; she lifts Jacob's head and leans him back; placing him carefully against the wall behind him; doing her best to not awake him.

Turning her attention to the captain; she telepathically says to him:
"Hey, captain; we nearly there yet?"

Captain Douglass mentally replies:
"Almost; its not far ahead now; I can see it quite well in fact."

Fiona:
"Have you been awake all night?"

Captain Douglass:
"Yep; I'm used to it.
You forget I've been doing this for a very, very long time?"

Fiona:
"Yeah... I did..."

She slowly stands up and silently makes her way over; stopping beside him.

Staring out the window ahead; 2/3 the way towards the horizon, she sees the white beaches; smooth, green, gradually raising hills; and jagged, rough, rocky mountains of southern Rakk'ta.

Along with the gentle sunrise; casting rays of red, orange, yellow, pink and purple over the landscape and ocean tides.

The sky clear and colourful; except for distant flocks of seabirds and a few, far off, sparse clouds.

The sun light revealing expansive underwater forests of kelp-like plants below the bright blue, calm water around the ship.

Meanwhile, the sleeping creature on the deck remains just there; same position as last night.
Breathing slowly as it rests.

Fiona:
"So... how do we drop her off when we get there?"

Captain Douglass:
"I'll probably get close; lower the boarding ramps, and let her get off at her own pace.
Once shes out; we pull them back in and head back to Anvil runners."

Fiona:
"Huh... you think shes going to be okay there?"

Captain Douglass:
"She'll be fine; its where they come from; plus, its early in the migration season so chances are there will be others there to help her out if she needs it."

Fiona:
"Noted... I take it you have plenty of experience with them?"

Captain Douglass:
"No, I just know my stuff... for the most part...
I have 120 years and a bit more worth of knowledge up here, ya know?"

He gestures; lightly tapping the side of his head.

Fiona:
"I get it, yeah... but is there anything else I should know about them?"

Captain Douglass thinks for a moment:
"Hmm..."

Captain Douglass:
"Well; since were going to be up close to them.

Firstly; they mate for life, and if they get separated for too long; it can affect the female really badly.
Primarily regarding their mood; stability and health, so; big momma out there having no mate beside her, plus her being heavily pregnant, is probably why she was walking funny and having leg shakes yesterday.

Secondly; their smarter than they seem, I've seen the males team up to tackle larger prey and drag things out of the water as a group.

And thirdly; each nest when they settle down is a whole family; and the males can be extremely territorial; especially if they have younglings around."

Fiona:
"So... they mate for life and separation will upset the female.
They are smart and can work as a team.
And the males are very territorial; especially if they have younglings around?"

Captain Douglass:
"Correct."

Fiona:
"Noted; best tell the others all this before we arrive too."

Captain Douglass:
"I certainly will.
Anyway, for now, sit down and rest; we can wake the others up when we get closer."

Fiona:
"Sure captain."

Fiona cautiously walks back, sits down beside Jacob, and leans backwards against the wall under the desk.

Positioning herself in a way where the sun is not directly in her face.
Taking a breath, she relaxes and closes her eyes; waiting.

[some time passes]

After a while, her attention is grabbed by Captain Douglass saying:
"Were nearly there everybody; time to wake up."

Opening her eyes; she sees Captain Douglass approaching Ada.
He gently puts his hand on her shoulder and moves her a bit; Ada quickly waking up and looking around.
However; Monty stays asleep on her lap.

Ada:
"Huh- what?"

He moves on to Jesse and Ryan, doing the same.

Jesse snaps awake and stares at him; while Ryan sluggishly sits forward and shakes himself awake.

Jesse:
"I'm up, whats going on?"

Ryan:
"Ryan awake..."

At the same time, Fiona turns to Jacob, gently holds him by the shoulder and carefully jostles him a little bit; saying:
"Hey, wake up Jacob."

After a brief, soft shaking; he opens his eyes, sits forward, jitters himself awake, gazes at her with a moderately sleepy stare and asks:
"I'm awake... whats up?"

Captain Douglass looks at him, at everyone else; steps back into the middle of the room, and says:
"Alright; everyone is awake, good.

Were near southern Rakk'ta now, its best you all be awake in case something happens.
And, I have a few things I need to tell you all.

You all ready and awake first?"

Ada:
"I think so."

Jesse:
"I'm good."

Ryan:
"Ryan sleepy; give Ryan 5 minutes."

Fiona
"I'm awake, yeah."

Jacob:
"Probably- maybe... but, give me a minute..."

Captain Douglass:
"Alright, I'll give you a moment."

Captain Douglass returns to the wheel and waits.

[A few minutes later.]

Jacob; sat forward; rubs his eyes, gently rolls his shoulders back; letting out a small set of pops; and says:
"Okay, now I'm ready."

Ryan; sitting up; yawns, takes a breath, and says:
"Ryan awake now."

Captain Douglass turns around, says:
"Great.

Firstly; were nearly about to drop her off at southern Rakk'ta; when we do, I need all of you to stay inside the cabin; unless I say so.

As to how she will get off; I'll be lowering the boarding ramp when we get close so she can climb down.

Secondly; as to why I need you to stay in here; I'll explain why.

The males and females mate for life; and being separated can affect the females badly.
So; to avoid potentially stressing her out too much, we'll let her get off on her own.

Their a lot smarter than they seem; I've seen the males drag big prey out of the water as a group.
So, if we piss the males off too much, they may swarm us.

And each nest of them on a beach is a family; the males are especially protective if younglings are around.

So; I'm telling you all to stay in here, for your own safety.

And thirdly; once shes off the boat, its straight back to Anvil Runners for maintenance and repairs."

Ada:
"And cleaning out that air vent."

Captain Douglass:
"Yes, that too; thank you for reminding me.

But otherwise; that's it, do you understand?"

Fiona:
"Yes captain."

Jacob:
"Sure..."

Ada:
"Understood, captain."

Jesse:
"Sure do captain."

Ryan:
"Ryan get what captain say."

Captain Douglass:
"Good; we will arrive near the coast very shortly.
If you wish to see it; I advise you stand up."

He turns back to the steering wheel.

Fiona says:
"May as well take a look."

Jesse:
"Alright then."

Ada:
"Sounds good to me."

Fiona slowly stands up; everyone else doing the same.
As they do, Ada cautiously lifts Monty up and places him down beside her, before standing up.
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 19.
All standing on their feet they look out the front window.

Southern Rakk'ta is not far ahead; giving them a clear view of everything; accompanied by the sound of distant seabirds.

Generally around the water line of the beach; clusters of short, mangrove like plants with masses of spiralling roots grow among the sand and water.

The occasional cluster of rocks pokes out of the sand along the water line; or from the water itself.

Large patches of sea grasses grow in the sand below the waves; mostly around the deeper rocks and spiral-rooted mangroves.

A decent number of nests made from sticks, branches, bones, shells, and small rocks; are scattered along the back half of the beach with a fair bit of space between them.

However the nests quickly become more sparse across the front half; almost none existing near the water line.

Most of the nests towards the back are inhabited, while the ones at the front are 1 third inhabited at best.

Between the hills and beach where the two merge into one another; tropical trees are growing in large albeit spread out clusters, quickly thinning out as the hills rise up.

Along with small; twig like bushes and shrubs.

The hills behind the beach are grassy; covered with vast, yet intermixed expanses of standard trees, ferns, bushes and taller grasses.

Said hills lead backwards and up into the jagged, rocky, dark grey, towering mountain ranges.

The entire groups stands and gazes at the landscape in amazement.

Captain Douglass:
"Pretty, isn't it?"

Fiona:
"Certainly is."

Ryan:
"Ryan agree, is nice."

Jacob:
"Wow..."

Ada:
"Certainly, a lot more tropical than I expected..."

Jesse:
"It sure be captain."

As they boat continues to approach the coast, the howling calls of nesting males and females in the distance quickly becomes noticeable; then increasingly louder.

The sleeping creature on the deck opens its eyes, slowly raises its head in response; sluggishly rolls on to its front; barely supporting its own weight with its shaking legs; and gradually, at a crawling pace, turns to face the front of the ship, before pulling itself along forwards.

The crew watches as it reaches the front; raises itself up; and lets out a powerful, bellowing groan in return; while using all its strength to stay stood up.

Just after; getting close to the shore; Captain Douglass turns the ship to the right and begins following the coast line while also slowing the ship down greatly.

Being near the beach; they get a close up view of the sandy landscape.

While at the same time; the female on deck rotates herself to the left; maintaining her direction towards the beach, while continuing to holler.

Shortly after; a smaller male, pacing along the middle of the beach; turns to face her and yells out.
She pivots to him and roars back; raising her tail and rubbing it against her armoured spine.

The male repeating the gesture; which she too copies.

Captain Douglass:
"That one shes signalling to; that must be her man right there."

Captain Douglass brings the ship a tad closer and stops a fair distance from the land; there being roughly around 25-ish meters between the boat and waters edge; give or take.

Fiddling with the controls; he lowers the ramp.
Just as it lands in the water; the male rushes over and stops near the waters edge.

The female on the front of the boat painstakingly turns around, walks towards the ramp, carefully climbs down and slides herself into the water; before using her tail to swim towards the beach.

Reaching the waters edge; she climbs out sluggishly, walks over to the male and rests legs folded beside him; just about keeping her bloated abdomen off the sand.

The male purring and rubbing his head against her, while dragging his tail spikes over his back.

With barely any energy left; she does the same, steadily forces herself to stand up on uneasy footing; and both begin walking towards the nearest empty nest.

As she goes; the male puts his tail under her and lifts her a bit; helping support her body weight.

While they do, Captain Douglass looks around and sees the general area is fairly clear.

Captain Douglass:
"Okay... its quite clear; were not too near any inhabited nests...so, I'd say its safe to go outside and take a better look if you want; just don't go off the ship."

He uses the controls to retract the ramp and slowly lower the anchor.
Everyone agrees and heads outside to get a better look; the captain too following them.

The whole crew assembles on the left side of the ship; overlooking the beach, watching as the pair make their way to the nest.

Fiona and the others leaving the spear guns behind as they exit.

Said nest is on the front half of the beach; 1/4 away from the water.
Taking a broader look, its the closest to the ocean.

The pair reaches the nest; the male guiding the female into it.

Stepping in; facing to the left, she walks into the middle and lowers her back most legs and hip against the floor, while the male lets go, turns around to face her and steps back.

She begins grunting loudly and repeatedly; as her stomach starts to rhythmically contract and pulse.

Her sounds and movements swiftly speeding up, reaching their peak at a near constant beat.

Followed immediately by a puddle of yellow fluid rapidly forming under her back most legs; along with younglings; smaller versions of the parents; sliding out from between her back legs, one after another; covered in the same yellow liquid.

As the pool of juices expands and the newborns easily leave her body, her abdomen shrinks; the bands of taught armour relaxing, freed of the constant tension.

Just as quickly as it started; she pushes out the last of several younglings, takes a few slow deep breaths, raises herself up on unstable legs, sluggishly steps back and lays down on the edge of the nest; giving the newborns space as they begin to stand up.

On uneasy footing; they rise, cough up some of the yellow gunk, shake the rest off; and turn their attention to her.

Meanwhile; the male steps a bit closer, getting a better look at the babies.

They briskly approach her, nuzzle up against her face and lick her.
She, in return, slowly opens her mouth and licks them back; wiping the remaining fluids off their faces; while she purrs softly.

Watching the scene the crew marvels at the motherly display.

Fiona:
"Aww... they are so small..."

Jacob:
"Their cute."

Jesse:
"Well, ain't they just adorable?"

Ryan:
"Ryan think this nice."

Ada:
"Oddly cute, nice."

Captain Douglass says nothing; he just smiles and watches.
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 20.
But; just after, the male walks to the centre of the nest and looks down; another infant lays there, smaller than the others, motionless.

Using his front left claw, he prods it; no reaction.
He tries again, jostling it a bit more; nothing.

He groans in distress, continuing to move it as to spark some form of reaction... only for it to remain motionless.

Calling out in growing heartache; he draws the female and the crews attention.

The crew turns and sees the inactive youngling; as the male attempts to tend to it.
Its motionless, not even breathing; its eyes still closed.

While at the same time; the female rises and walks over; taking a look.

She leans in and licks its face clean; yet it remains stationary.
Dismayed; she calls out and nudges it with her face to no avail.

Meanwhile; the other newborns stay behind her.

As crew observes; all becoming increasingly upset, Fiona says:
"Th-The little ones not breathing..."

Captain Douglass; the smile entirely absent from his face:
"Crap..."

Jacob:
"Wh- what do we do?"

Jesse:
"I-I don't know."

Ryan:
"Ryan not know, so Ryan not get involved."

Ada stares; visibly disturbed, not saying a word.

Fiona's agitation and worry worsens as she continues to watch; while the parents growing desperation only becomes more vocal.

Her guts knot up, face flexing into a grimace; as the feeling of dreadful wrongness gets rapidly stronger.

Thoughts and feelings begin to race through her mind, as she contemplates what to do.

She mutters:
"So-something needs to be done-
We didn't bring them out this far just to let this happen..."

As the chaos of her mind and heart continues to swiftly swell; overwhelming her thinking.

Captain Douglass:
"But what?"

Fiona:
"I-I... I know what I need to do."

By impulse; not even thinking, she takes off her waders, opens her wings and bolts over the edge of the ship, plunging into the water below.

Caught off guard; the entire crew looks down at her while she floats up and begins sluggishly swimming towards the beach.

Captain Douglass calls out:
"WHAT- WHAT THE ♥♥♥♥ ARE YOU DOING? COME BACK!"

Not listening at all; she powers onwards through the water; albeit at a terrible pace.

After a few moments; swimming between some clusters of mangroves; she reaches the sand and steps out on to dry land.

Immediately she crouches down, making herself as nonthreatening as possible; and begins moving towards the nest.

As she goes; the crew views in shock, confusion and worry.

Captain Douglass:
"...Shes probably going to get herself killed like that..."

Jesse:
"What the ♥♥♥♥ is her plan?"

Ada:
"I don't know but I don't see this ending well."

Jacob mumbles to himself:
"Please be okay Fiona..."

Closing in on the nest; the male, spotting her; turns to her and begins hissing; raising its tail and readying its claws.

The female turns, sees her approaching; looks at him and barks loudly twice.

He, in turn, looks at her, groans back; and lowers his tail before stepping backwards out of the nest and placing his claws on the floor.

The female looks back at Fiona; its eyes wide with desperation.

Reaching the nest; she climbs over the edge and in, putting her before the female and the motionless infant.

Meanwhile; the other little ones stay behind their mother.

The female reaches out with a claw and nudges the baby while looking at her; as if asking for help.
Carefully, Fiona approaches the baby and crouches down beside it; beginning to examine it closely.

While at the same time, the male watches attentively from outside the nest.

Looking over the youngling Fiona notices a few things; size wise its 2/3 the size of her, not counting the tail; its 6 eyes are shut and yellow fluid is leaking from its mouth.

Leaning in, Fiona gently opens one of its eyes by hand; the eye sluggishly rolls to look at her in return; the iris slowly contracting as it takes in the light.

The life behind said eyes is weak, slowly fading.

Moving down and listening to its chest; its heart beats wildly, while its lungs stay still.

Quickly catching on to whats wrong; she says:
"It's alive, chest is probably full of liquid, need to clear it out."

Cautiously, she sits up, puts her hands on the newborns chest and pushes hard.
The newborn coughing up some fluid and squirming a bit, in response.

Repeating the motion a few more times; the infant coughs up more, briefly writhing each attempt; but it continues to lay there.

Fiona:
"♥♥♥♥, not strong enough; going to need back up."

Swiftly; she turns to face the boat, stands up and telepathically screams out:
"I CAN'T RESUSCITATE THE BABY ON MY OWN, I NEED SOME HELP HERE!"

The crew watching from the vessel; hearing her clear as day, look at one another.

Captain Douglass:
"I'm not going out there; I don't interfere with this sort of thing."

Jesse:
"Seriously? it looks safe enough to help her out and I would... but, I don't know how to resuscitate..."

Ryan:
"Ryan don't know either; but Ryan would help."

Ada:
"I know how to, but... I'm not risking it out there..."

Jacob, growing increasingly agitated:
"♥♥♥♥..."

Ada:
"So, what do we do?"

Captain Douglass:
"I... honestly have no idea."

Jesse:
"You have no idea?
How about someone goes down and helps her?"

Jacob:
"So you are all just-"

Ryan cuts him off:
"Or; we go together."

Which greatly annoys him.

Ada:
"Maybe, but; its risky with the nests."

Captain Douglass:
"And the other males too."

As the group continues to argue; Jacob feels his agitation and annoyance reach a peak; he thinks:
"♥♥♥♥ sake; the baby will be dead by the time their done- I need to do something."

Jesse:
"And? they are nowhere near the nest."

Ada:
"Still; last thing we need is to risk sparking the ire of the rest-"

Out of nowhere a splash catches the crews attention.
Ceasing their bickering, looking around, they see Jacob's now empty waders on the deck.

Captain Douglass:
"Oh-"

Looking to the waters below; they see Jacob quickly swimming towards the beach.
Getting to the land; he sprints over to the nest.

Swiftly reaching the nest; he climbs in and approaches Fiona.

Fiona:
"Jacob, thank you, no time to talk, just follow my lead; crouch beside me."

Turning around; she crouches down beside the baby, Jacob following and doing the same.
Putting her hands on its chest; he copies.

Meanwhile; the female watches over them.

Fiona:
"Alright; on 3, push as hard as you can."

Jacob:
"Got it."

Fiona:
"One, two, three!"

Both push down hard; the youngling vomiting a burst of yellow fluid as it briefly wriggles.

Just after; the male steps closer, watching carefully.

Fiona:
"Again, one, two three!"

Again, they press into its chest together; another bulk of fluid exiting the creatures lungs as it moves around more energetically.

Fiona:
"Again Jacob, one, two three!"

Shoving into its chest again; the newborn spews a large burst of yellow liquid, followed by a deep inhale.

Squirming violently; causing Fiona and Jacob to lean back out of the way; it opens its eyes, rolls away from them on to its feet, stands up, and with a barking cough releases the remaining fluid from its chest; followed by deep breaths.
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 21.
While at the same time; the female steps back a decent bit; giving the newborn space to breath.

Catching its breath the newborn looks around; its eyes squinting for a moment as they quickly adjust to the bright sunlight; before taking in the world surrounding it for the first time.

It gazes around, curious.

Just after, the female purrs getting the younglings attention.
It pivots to see her; as she approaches it.

She stops half way, lowers her head and purrs again, the baby responding by walking over to her, placing its head against hers and nuzzling against her face softly.

The female raises its tail; rubbing the spines against its back; the newborn copying her.
Followed by the male repeating the gesture.

After a moment; the female grunts softly, raises its head and looks at Fiona and Jacob; meanwhile the newborn runs off behind her, joining its siblings.

She looks at them with an expression of relief in her eyes.
Raising her tail; she runs the spines against her back again and coos loudly.

Fiona, processing the creatures reaction, says to Jacob:
"Well... shes clearly thankful..."

Jacob:
"Yeah... and, I think we've done our part here."

Fiona:
"Oh, yeah; we should get going, best not linger too long."

Slowly; they both stand up.
Just as they get up fully; the female walks towards them and stops just short.

She purrs and leans forward; rubbing her head against Fiona's chest and neck.
Fiona, smiling a bit; raises her hands and gently scratches the sides of its head, moving towards the neck.

The female softly coos in response for a moment; before gently pulling away and turning to Jacob.

It leans in, rubbing its head against him much the same.

Jacob; a tad hesitant, cautiously raises his hand and rubs the top of its head; the female purring softly in response for a bit.

It carefully pulls away, steps backwards; rubs its tail spikes against its back; and huffs softly; while blinking slowly at them.

Jacob instinctively runs his tongue against the innermost upper teeth in the roof of his mouth, and flicks his mandibles together; imitating the clicking noise of its spikes against its back.

The female sits down and clicks its tail against its back harder in response; meanwhile its newborns stay close behind her.

And the male too steps up beside her, copying the gesture.

Jacob:
"I think that's... both, a thank you, and our sign to leave...."

Fiona:
"Yeah, we should go."

Delicately, Fiona and Jacob step backwards out of the nest; heading backwards to the boat.
Shortly after; Fiona and Jacob turn around and walk towards the water.

Getting around half way there, they stop as a gagging sound catches their attention from behind.

Turning; they see the male standing up, mouth open, making an almost choking like noise; followed quickly by him vomiting up a large pile of undigested, still living, fresh fish; all perfectly intact; into the nest.

Just after; he shakes his head, coughs a bit; and sits down.
Meanwhile; the younglings swarm the pile of living fish, and begin ravenously feeding on them.

Fiona, disgusted; turns away and continues heading back to the ship.
Jacob doing the exact same.

Reaching the ocean, the ships ramp lowers.
They walk in the water and swim towards it.
Fiona, swimming sluggishly, gets there last.

Grabbing the ramp, Fiona struggles to climb out.
Jacob; taking her hand, pulls and assists her; Fiona eventually getting her footing and standing up.

Fiona:
"Thank you."

Jacob:
"No problem."

Both head up on to the deck, the ramp retracting just after.

Now on the deck; Fiona and Jacob walk over to the crew who are still assembled near the rail on the side, the one exception being Captain Douglass, who is absent.

All of them staring at Fiona and Jacob; astonished.
Fiona and Jacob stop a bit away from them.

Just after; Captain Douglass emerges from the captains control room; visibly both angry and bewildered.

Captain Douglass:
"Wh- what the ♥♥♥♥ were you both thinking?"

Fiona:
"Honestly; Just... did what I had to do, we came all this way, so; I saw no real reason to just, leave them like that."

Jacob:
"And I went out there; because you were all too busy bickering while Fiona needed help."

Captain Douglass:
"You- th- that...
You know what... yeah... that's fair...

But still; that was extremely dangerous; I told you, don't go off the ship, for a reason.
Those things could have swarmed us- they- th-

Then again- it was fairly clear-
they needed help...

♥♥♥♥ sake..."

He looks out at the nest on the beach, the family feeding on fish, meanwhile the male sits beside the female, both nuzzling against one another.

Captain Douglass looks back at them, sighs, and says:
"But... At least, we did what we had to do, and something nice came out of all this...
So, I'll let this one go...

But next tine; you follow orders, got it?"

Fiona:
"Got it."

Jacob:
"Yes, sir."

Captain Douglass:
"Okay, you two go inside, get yourself dried and your gear back on; were heading home."

He looks at everyone, says:
"Once we get back; you all, except Ada; go home; we'll get the ship fixed and get back to work as soon as possible; I'll drop you all a call when that happens.
Got it?"

Everyone agrees.

Captain Douglass:
"Good."

He heads back into the control room; raises the anchor, starts up the engine, and begins turning away from the beach.

As they leave, Fiona and Jacob look out at the nest, smile and wave goodbye.
The parents in turn raise their tails and wave back at them; as the ship departs.

Fiona and Jacob lower their arms, turning their attention to the rest of the crew, who stare back bewildered.

Jesse:
"How... did you... not die?"

Fiona:
"Good old fashioned kindness, and a gentle touch, I suppose..."

Ada:
"Well... considering their responses... fair to say they can comprehend your intentions."

Jacob:
"That would make a lot of sense."

Ryan:
"Explains why they no roar and swarm boat too.
mommy creature know Fiona, and Jacob; friend."

Fiona:
"She certainly did.
But anyway, we best go get dried off, and our stuff back on."

Jacob:
"Agreed, let's go get cleaned up."

Both walk past the group and head towards the captains control room.
The crew looking through the window as they go in.

Meanwhile; Captain Douglass opens the cabinet under the controls, reaches in and takes out a pair of clean, yellow towels.

Turning around he passes them to Jacob and Fiona; both thanking him as they take one each.

He swiftly turns back to the controls, gripping the steering wheel; and partially looking to where the sun is in the sky as direction guidance while adjusting the ships course.

Unfolding the towels, Jacob and Fiona begin drying themselves.

Jacob starts from his head, drying his hair and working his way down to his feet.
While Fiona starts feet first, hair second, then body third; followed by wiping her feet again.

Quickly finishing up; Jacob asks:
"While I'm here, when we were leaving the nest; why did the male vomit up a bunch of fish?"

Fiona, standing on the towel:
"Great question."

Captain Douglass:
"It's for a pretty interesting reason.

As the females pregnancy enters the later stages; shes unable to hunt fish on her own, so the male will take over and gather food for her, and the younglings when their born.

Him storing said food inside himself; and bringing it up when needed.

Females deciding what male they want; based on which gives her the most food she likes; and how often they do it.

And the more food; the better."
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 22.
Fiona:
"So... the female picks the male who gives her enough of her favourite food; and he gets food for her, when she is too pregnant to do it?"

Captain Douglass:
"Pretty much."

Jacob:
"Okay, also, why were only some of the nests empty? don't migrating animals all usually leave around the same time?"

Captain Douglass:
"Fascinating thing, that is.
When it comes to Phurg'lakter, they migrate in separate groups throughout the season.

As to why; it seems to be a method to avoid drawing the attention of large, deep water ocean predators."

Jacob:
"Fascinating; is this learned or instinctual?"

Captain Douglass:
"Honestly, ♥♥♥♥ if I know, probably learned considering how smart they are.

Like; they know how to drag a carcass out of the water as a group; fair to say they know how to at least organise themselves when moving."

Jacob:
"Huh, that's pretty interesting."

Jacob folds up his towel and holds it with both hands.
Fiona steps off hers; picks it up and folds it; keeping it under her arm.

Considerately, taking the folded towel from Jacob, she puts them together on the desk beside them; stacked on one another.

Fiona:
"Agreed, quite fascinating.
Albeit, we best get our gear back on."

Jacob:
"Good point; thanks for the towels captain."

Captain Douglass:
"No problem."

Fiona and Jacob turn around, exiting the captains control room.

[scene change]
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 23.
Jacob: wearing his waders, stands at the right side of the ships front, leaning on the rails as he overlooks the ocean.

Flocks of distant seabirds passing; along with the occasional cloud.

Fiona, wearing hers, walks over and stands beside him, holding on to the rail.

Fiona:
"Alright... waders back on... how are you doing Jacob?"

Jacob:
"Honestly, decent, in spite of everything that's happened today."

Fiona:
"Again, sorry your first day was so... eventful...
Its, never like this-"

Jacob:
"I understand, thank you; Fiona.
it was difficult; but... I'll manage."

He reaches into the pocket of his waders, taking out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

Fiona, caught off guard, says:
"W-wait, you smoke?"

Jacob takes one out, lights it; and holds it with his mandibles.
Taking a draw, he slowly exhales.

The smoke is mildly agitating to Fiona, albeit it carries a unique smell; somewhere between that of a campfire and a charcoal grill; with hints of something similar to spices, albeit what exactly is unclear.

Jacob:
"Honestly, sometimes."

Fiona:
"J-Jacob! Not to sound like a mom; but your only 26! why throw your health, life, and time away by doing that?"

Jacob:
"I... appreciate the concern, but I'm a grown man Fiona; I can make my own choices...
And to be honest, I only smoke when its been... an eventful day, lets put it like that..."

Fiona:
"Fair... but still, its not good for you; and the last thing you need is to throw your life away."

Jacob:
"Funny you say that... because, what kind of life is it when... you don't have anyone..."

Fiona:
"Sorry but... You... don't have anyone?"

Jacob:
"Oh, sorry- I don't want to take this conversation into, too depressing of a direction; but...
Yeah... Outside of an older woman who I'm... temporarily staying with; that's it... I have, nobody..."

Fiona, concerned; puts her hand on his shoulder.
Meanwhile he takes another drag of his cigarette; before casting the plume of smoke into the wind.

Fiona:
"Really? Nobody?"

Jacob:
"Outside of the crew here, who I just met today... yes... I'm..."

He pauses for a moment.

"Alone..."

Fiona moves a bit closer to him.

Jacob:
"I have... nobody."

He looks down at the water; his own warped reflection among the ripples staring back.

Fiona:
"I... I don't want to pry too much, but... are, you okay with telling me more?"

Jacob thinks for a moment, taking another drag of his cigarette before casting the smoke to the winds.

Jacob:
"You, seem to have the best interest of others at heart... even risking your own life for others, so...
Sure...

I'll be direct, I... lost everyone I cared about when the bloodshed started... the gun men, in full body armour... they arrived in our town and..."

Tears well up in his eyes.

"They took everything from me... my parents; my family... they..."

Tears flow down his face; while it twists into a grimace, filled with agony and misery.

Through tears and sobs; he continues:
"I was the only survivor... I just kept, walking, pushing, going...
But...
At least; I... met Betty on the way... shes who i'm staying with, for now...

Eventually; we found anvil runners and... needing a job... I, found you.
This crew.
This, ship.

You, this crew, and her... are all I have left..."

Fiona, feeling deep sympathy for him; turns to him, wraps her arms around him and holds him as he continues to cry.

Not saying a word; she rubs his back.

For a bit; he continues, eventually calming down.

Jacob, through tears:
"Thank you... Fiona."

Fiona:
"Its all right, its no problem Jacob."

She carefully lets go; him turning to look her in the eyes.
Jacob cautiously hugs her in return.

Jacob:
"Thank you..."

After a moment, he lets go.
Wiping the tears from his face and taking another puff, he turns away and exhales, letting the wind take the cloud; before turning back to Fiona.

Jacob:
"Thinking about it... glad to finale get all that out...
Been, holding it in since... it all happened..."

Fiona:
"I assume nobody else knows?"

Jacob:
"No... not even Betty..."

Fiona, under her breath:
"Yeah... why was that not obvious to me..."

Out loud, she says:
"Anyway, you... feeling better?"

Jacob:
"Honestly... a bit...
But, I... feel like, I can trust you...
You... go out of your way for people, even if it puts you at risk-

Sorry, if, this upset you at all..."

Fiona:
"Well, it had me concerned, obviously; but upset? like... angry? annoyed? no, not at all.
If anything; I'm just worried about if your are going to be okay or not."

Jacob:
"That's... entirely fair yeah, but... sorry to put all this on you."

Fiona:
"Jacob; listen, is fine.
If anything; I'm glad you told me all this.
Makes it easier to help you cope in future.

But listen here, despite all this; and everything that's happened...
We are here for you; we're all part of the crew, right?"

Jacob:
"The others didn't help us out there, they were too scared to help, or had no idea what to do-"

Fiona:
"Which, I see why; what we did was dangerous; but outside of that, their a great bunch.

Like; just last week I fell off the ship; and I am just... terrified of swimming in deep water, because of all the crazy ♥♥♥♥ that is down there.

Seriously; there are some nasty predators lurking in there; specially around the sea forests.

Albeit, If its shallow; I don't really mind.
But still, Jesse had to throw me a rope and haul my ass out of there...
Frankly; I should practice swimming more...

Anyway; they are great people, they will be there for you; and so will I.
Got that?"

Jacob:
"That, means a lot... thanks Fiona."

She carefully hugs him.

Fiona:
"No problem, Jacob."

she lets go, giving him some space.

Fiona:
"so... you, felling okay now?"

Jacob:
"Yep... better."

Fiona:
"Hmm... anything you want to talk about next?"

Jacob takes another puff; letting it loose into the tides of the sky.

Jacob:
"Not entirely sure..."

He thinks for a moment.

Jacob:
"Oh, how about, what we're going to do when we get back?"

Fiona:
"Good question, honestly, probably going to get something to eat; I'm getting hungry."

Jacob:
"Honestly, one and the same here."

Fiona:
"Say; want to go get something to eat, then, maybe relax and watch the sun on the docks for a bit after we get back?"

Jacob:
"Yeah, sure, sounds good."

Fiona:
"Alright, can do."

She turns to face the ocean, Jacob doing the same; both leaning on the rail while Jacob takes and releases another drag of the cigarette.
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 24.
After a bit, Jacob asks:
"Oh, another thing to talk about, that creature we took back home... whatever its called again."

Fiona:
"The Phurg'lakter?"

Jacob:
"Yeah, that's it.
How do you feel about your experience with it?"

Fiona:
"Honestly... I don't like assuming the worst of anyone that I haven't met properly; unless well, their obviously bad news, blatantly malicious and such.

Albeit; when I first saw her; I was... scared... then, terrified when she went after us.
Standing on top of the arm mechanism, while she clawed at it trying to reach us; was horrible.

But, when I learned she needed our help; and was just, tired, scared, hungry... carrying something so precious...

I felt awful for her.

And honestly, I would have reacted the same way in her position... surrounded by people, things you haven't seen before; forced to by god knows what happened...

All while; they want you gone...

*she pauses for a moment*

But... its over, we did the right thing, and shes safe now."

Jacob:
"Exactly; and that's what matters most."

Fiona:
"Yeah... anyway... anything else-"

Without warning; a sea bird, about the size of a persons torso, lands on the rail a few steps away.

Both turning to look at it; the bird is sat there, clutching the rail with its 4 toed, hook clawed, armoured feet; the front and back of each foot having 2 toes; 4 in total.

It's feet possessing a distinctly pale, almost perfect white colour; except for red, faded blood stains on its hooked black toe claws and soles; the gradient of red to white ceasing around its ankles.

It's body is an overall round shape; covered in pale-blue, blade like feathers, the ones along its folded wings pointing down into knife-like points.

The wings are fairly large; the shoulders and chest having extremely developed muscles, which stand out as lumps in its overall shape.

It's tail plumage forming a fan shape; with various blade like feathers pointing out and back, all evenly spaced.

Under its tail is a white, wide, short, almost tube like, sideways oval shaped protrusion; similar to an exhaust; which has a few slits on the sides; a small amount of smoke trailing out the back of it.

All of its feathers chitinous looking in texture; having a rough, but slightly shiny appearance.

The neck is fairly sturdy and feathered; tapering up to the back of the head.

The head itself is pale white with a black beak; and 4 bright blue eyes arranged around it evenly.
2 spaced out on the top; 2 spaced out below.

The beak is composed of 4 long mandibles; all slotted together with interlocking teeth.
its texture, almost chitinous in appearance, similar to the feathers, albeit far more smooth.

The bird looks back at them, tilting its head around curiously; using all 4 eyes to observe them.

Just after; a second, slightly smaller bird lands next to it.
The first bird swiftly pivots around as both birds look at one another.

Immediately opening their beaks, which open in an X shape; they hiss at one another before flapping their wings violently at each other; some feathers being shed and lost to the wind as they fight.

This lasts for a mere moment, before the smaller bird briskly backs up a fair bit, turns away, opens its wings and; from the protrusion under its tail, releases a loud pop; accompanied by a brief, small burst of smoke and flame; the force pushing it upwards as it takes off and escapes.

The smoke carrying a foul, sulphur like stink, with a chemical hint accompanying it; albeit it dissipates rapidly.

The first bird walks along the rail, away from Fiona and Jacob; while hissing at the second bird as it continues to leave.

A few seconds later; it stops and sits there.
Turning around, it looks back at Fiona and Jacob; using its 4 eyes to observe them, swivelling its head around.

Then, it looks away towards the water, opens its wings; and makes the same popping sound as it releases a burst of flame and smoke from its underside; propelling it onwards.

It flies outwards across the water, heading towards a distant flock of birds; swooping at the water and catching the occasional fish with its claws as it goes; before quickly devouring them mid flight.

Eventually getting too far away to see, it vanishes into the distance.

Jacob:
"Anyway... as you were saying?"

Fiona looks back at him, says:
"Oh yeah, I got distracted by the sea birds and forgot; I was going to ask, is there anything else you want to talk about?"

Jacob thinks for a moment.
"Eh... not really.
Lets just, relax, and enjoy the view until we get back, I guess."

Fiona:
"Yeah, good idea."

Both look out at the water again, watching the flocks of birds move through the sky.
Meanwhile; Jacob continues to smoke whats left of his cigarette

[scene change]
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 25.
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 26.
Chapter 2: On The Water. Part 27.
6 Kommentare
AnarchyBurger 20. Apr. um 12:29 
books in gmod before gta 6
eurasian blackbird 15. Apr. um 9:32 
ah i see
Father Andrew  [Autor] 15. Apr. um 9:20 
Fair; i have a copy of Act 1 posted on Wattpad; i only tend to write here cus the section size limit forces me to remember pacing
eurasian blackbird 15. Apr. um 8:55 
sure but like, not sure Gmod steam guides are exactly the place to make this type of story, you could just instead make a manga outta this, cause posting something like that here, will result in alot of people insulting you over text
Father Andrew  [Autor] 15. Apr. um 6:37 
Still working on this
eurasian blackbird 15. Apr. um 6:30 
what