Chapter 3 - Settling Down

[oh, Erik, you finally woke up, seen all your memories, a bit short but it was interesting]

"...well..., glad you liked it, let's start cleaning now" but the moment he stepped out, he smelled the horrible stench of thousands of dying, and already rotting marine life, he barely managed to keep himself from vomiting, but in the end, he managed to put his spacesuit back on, even if it impeded his movement.

"well, that was disgusting..., where can I throw all this? we are underwater so I can't just open the door right?"

[well, you could... but the shield generator is broken, and I don't have enough materials to create the parts here, there's also a submarine hatch you can use, it should open to an underwater cave that should still be sealed]

Erik sighed "great, throwing the trash inside the garage, got it, but first... I should check on that crab, maybe I can cook it, I'm already hungry" his stomach also growling as if to make his statement clearer.

[great, but first go to the armory, you are too vulnerable as you are right now with just that spacesuit, you also need a good weapon]

Erik frowned "isn't it dead already?"

[yes, but I want you to become used to carrying a weapon, what I say may not always be 100% accurate too, be careful with your life (｡ •᷅ ω •᷅ ｡ )]

Erik got serious "...fine, lead me there"

Inside the armoury there were rows upon rows of shiny-looking weapons, some were long and impossible to lift though, suits and all kinds of unknown equipment filled the room.

[go to the left, 6th row, grab a shoulder-mounted plasma gun, a tactical backpack, and a visor, they are modular so they can be adjusted to any diving suits I create, now grab a vibroknife and a plasma arc harpoon of a size you can carry, that should be enough for now, once you are done go to the synthesizer, your diving suit should be ready]

Erik nodded: "got it"

Once he was inside the synthesizer room he saw it, a plated armoured diving suit, it looked awesome but...

"how am I gonna put it on? I see no zipper"

[.... hmmm I didn't think about that..., this granny is growing old and confused (´-﹏-`;) 😢]

Erik sighed: "sigh 🤦🏻‍♂️(facepalm)"

[im kidding with you, of course, it's an electro reactive intelligent material duh, really you are so primitive (snickers)😏(ு ωு ) 」]

His face turned dark but still asked.

Erik: "Okay, how do I put it on?" while taking off his spacesuit.

[okay, stand still with your arms and legs spread]

Erik did as commanded and the suit just ripped itself and moved, sticking to himself and mending like a living being.

"W-woah, that felt... weird, still this is super comfortable, like a second skin"

[well, in some aspects it is a second skin since it's connected to your neural system, now put the modules next to your left shoulder, chest, and back]

Erik followed the instructions, and the suit extended and connected to the modules by itself.

[now put your space suit back in your room, as for the diving helmet you can put it on your belt or backpack, it will connect automatically to your neck's second skin suit once you put it on]

"neat" he put the helmet to his shoulder and it just stuck with a thought.

[well, that works too, now remember, never shoot inside the base, that's why I mostly made you choose melee weapons, the plasma harpoon, and shoulder cannon can shoot though so use those functions with caution]

Erik nodded, then going to the room with the hopefully dead crab inside, Rose opened the door, and the crab was indeed just lying there, but Erik still stabbed it with the plasma harpoon just in case, he then cleaned and carried all eggs to the fridge too, he also chopped the crab mother into different pieces, the kitchen was a bit oversized, but he managed to find a cooking pot and boiled some steak sized pieces of crab meat, it was bland but tasty, and he even felt stronger after eating it.

Erik frowned as a heat seemed to come from his stomach: "Why do I feel stronger?"

[well, this place was designed for preservation and evolution, so if you defeat and eat a creature way stronger than yourself, you will absorb some of its mutagens, thus becoming stronger]

His face paled as he asked: "I won't become a crab, right?"

[no, just you're eating muscle tissue and your muscle tissue is becoming stronger, if you eat the shell then your bones will become stronger, I can tweak a bit and decide, this is my body after all ;) ]

Erik sighed relieved: "Okay, muscles are fine, I would indeed need stronger bones to hold stronger muscles, but how...."

[why not grinding the shell to dust, you can also eat the eggs for a balanced but weak upgrade, I do inform you a lot of the mutating value is lost once cooked]

Erik shrugged: "...sashimi it is then..."

He then ate thin slices of raw crab meat.

Erik: "I wish I had some sauces at least...sigh..."

[you can make them with algae's maybe? some other keepers used to grow algae as food]

Erik was interested at the thought: "are the algae farms still operative?"

[...no, raided by...oh... that is dangerous, according to the logs, it was raided by octopeople generations ago and they built a settlement inside, it's like their sacred place now]

Erik sighed once again: "great, crazy octopus people, just great.."

[indeed, you won't be able to get there alone]

Erik: "oh, you learned sarcasm, that's great..."

[yep, I'm awesome after all (●´ω｀●)]

Erik: "...not a bit humble though... fine, let's continue, what can I use for turning this to dust?"

[use the vibroknife at your waist, it can cut through lots of things]

"handy" the knife looked like a tanto knife, but once unsheathed had an almost indistinct but super high-speed vibration, and indeed it cut the shell-like butter, he cut them as finely as he could and them tried putting one in his mouth, but the moment he did, it cut his tongue.

"This is like trying to eat steel..." he cut them some more "Rose, can you make a tumbler? the ieces can rotate inside along with bigger pieces and slowly get rounder and smoother, easy to swallow, also... can you make me a bucket and a big shovel for cleaning?"

[sure thing (◉ω◉)]

Once the tools were made, Erik then started removing the mud, it was black in color and contained spines and other debris, probably the prey of the crabs, and other creatures for centuries, some of those spines were tougher than wood though, so he kept them as materials in case he needed them.

Erik: "by the way Rose..., can't you make like a humanoid clone to come here and help me clean?"

[i could and can't at the same time]

Erik frowned: "what does that mean?"

[it means I do have the capability to make a body, but that synthesizer doesn't have the materials needed or capability, don't be lazy ¯\_(´_ゝ`)_/¯]