Chapter 56 - Highway to the Abyss

While Erik had been busy with his language projects, Rose had finished the suit and the bell pot would need Erik himself to weld the printed pieces together, not too hard using the plasma welding gloves, he could fit inside even with his power suit on, took him just a day to properly weld the joints and assemble it, then installed the rocks and hidden cameras on the outside using an algae-based glue, then the screen inside and some nanobot pacts that connected everything by themselves, also then some wardrobe containers to store his findings there, also some food and water.

( https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2019/mh/c8mh01421c#!divAbstract )

Erik: [well, this is finished, now... how do we take it there?]

[... using brute force? you have a race serving you now after all ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ]

Erik: [yeah, I can recruit some, now I just need a tethering system, the top part has 4 connectors and the cable is already printed but I need also bolts to the rock deep, these carbon steel bars, even if protected from corrosion would bend or just fall to the Abyss with me...]

[ already considered it ¯\(°-°)/¯ that's why you will search for Diorite or granite to install the elevator there]

Erik: [ okay, that sounds like a good plan, by the way, the suit was finished?]

[yes, my masterpiece hehe (◉ω◉) it has welding gloves and proto batteries installed, the gills system at the back and even a water release system so you can pee, it will give you O2 and eliminate Co2 while retaining the internal pressure low so you shouldn't worry about narcosis, it can be pressurized with Neon(Ne) in case of emergency falling too deep though, they only problem is its way too heavy to swim, but I added an artificial muscle exoskeleton inside so as long as it has charge left you will be fine]

Erik: [sounds really detailed, the last part worries me a bit though, what kind of autonomy does it have?]

[hehe~ I will tell you there ( •̀.̫•́ )☆]

Arriving at the armory he couldn't even pretend to be unimpressed, the suit was way more impressive than he thought.

Erik: [...can you show me a 3D model?]

[hehe~ you are almost salivating ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ]

Erik: [im an engineer seeing an alien-made topnotch exoskeleton, the dive suits and the mobility suit were impressive too, but this... is amazing, an armoured exterior with flexible joints... an artificial muscle interior and even life support systems...]

[ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ that's right, it can restart your heart or keep blood pumping to your brain using the gills pump and constrict your injured area and release wound sealant, keeping you alive until you are back at the base and get healed in the recovery tanks]

Erik was entranced and was examining the armor closely, a question remained in his head though...

"Rose... how the heck do I put this on? I wanna try it"

[thats easy, the joints are held together by living machine ferro tissue like your diving suit, just touch it and think of it opening, it will only open in safe places though, for obvious reasons]

"Yeah, that's reasonable, I'm not prone to die either" he did as instructed and saw the back of the suit open like the mouth of a beast as the legs and arms also split open. He stepped inside and felt it tighten snuggly around him like a good tailor-made suit.

[now, you can also activate the sensory option]

Erik: "sensory option? what is - owwww what the hell?!" the moment he said it, it was brief but he felt like needles stabbed all around his body, the pain disappeared instantly thankfully "w-what was... oh, I... I feel the suit... like it's my body even more precisely than the diving suit... amazing, but was all the piercing really needed?"

[yes, now its directly connected to your nerves, so everything will be faster and better]

" Hmm, that's indeed an interesting concept but aint it better to use implants? that's how we did it back on earth by using neuronal chips for example"

[ (・∀・) that's 'cause you are primitive ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ]

"I wanna be offended but this suit is amazing, anyways, how do the gills work? won't the extra needed blood make me faint?"

[ no, it activates gradually, just filling small portions and your body regenerates blood continuously as your kidneys generate erythropoietin (EPO) hormones asking the body to generate blood, so if you eat enough iron you can fill the gills with just 1 day wearing the suit]

"then I can take it off? do I have to wear it for a day first all the times I wanna use it?"

[well, those are the limitations of your own body ¯\_(´_ゝ`)_/¯ ]

"sigh, fine I will take it off for now and think of something later"

He then went to Crabinas cell/room and found her happily laughing as she watched a kids movie and thought 'these are the oh so feared crab demons?'.

Erik: "let's go Crabina, I need your help with locating something, I need you to tell me from what side of the cliff you climbed and take me there"

Crabina: "okay! let's go!"

Erik, Inky, Crabina, and the Leader went this time on the transport while accompanied by dozens of octopeople carrying the bell-shaped pod, they came to the cliff's edge and after finding a good place they bolted the pulleys and equipment to the rock in a space between 2 big rocks in an area where the cliff was almost straight down, Erik looked down at the dark Abyss and gulped, his human body still wasn't totally ready, so first he would send the drones to investigate.

Back at the base, Erik was piloting a drone down into the deep with Inky, Crabina, the Elders, Leader, and lots of octopeople observing the screen from the side while Crabina guided him, what took her so long the drone made it in just 4 hours of sinking, all while avoiding big life forms on the radar, from big filtering fish and tubular life forms to glowing swimming starfishes full of sharp tentacles. They finally arrived at the secret cave entrance, and he immediately noticed a big problem, the entrance was way too narrow, even Crabina must have gone out while crawling, he sighed as he would have to carry a big pack of batteries and slowly get rid of a lot of stone to make the passage viable for his armoured body to enter. He then left some cameras in the area and made the probe go back to base slowly.