Abandon Ship!

Joshua POV

"Fire! Fire! Fire!" The alarms go off, I order the fire crew to follow me, under our heavy fire gear our sweating faces trying to stop it from burning through the material stopping the heresy of space from oozing into our ship.

The backup fire system was already either spent or just good ol' broken, why didn't the captain modernize the fire systems? To spend it on a bunch of bunny hybrids? He said he would share but I haven't even seen them since...

At least Ruby is still with me, actually she is right behind me, and if she wasn't covered in 50mm (5 Centimeters) of fabric-plastic mesh and a heavy gas mask, you would see that she was a true beauty.

All you could see is that she was roughly 2 Meters tall, which is quite rare in No Hamshot, our planet of origin but she told me it's due to a genetic of another species, she won't ever tell me, not that I really mind, she has her secrets, I have mine.

As we jog into the room the massive engine in all of its rustic glory is burning, we need to quickly put out the fire before it reaches our backup green fuel reserves, or we are all screwed. (Subnautica lore: One Green block has the explosive power of 5 Kilotons of TNT)

The fire quickly growing, we vainly try to put it out with what our cheapskate of a captain gives us, salt water, which will never put out a fire and he knows that, so after a several seconds of useless squirting, I yell through the comms, "The fire is too strong! ABANDON SHIP!"

As everyone shuffles out, I slowly pull back as well, until an explosion rocks the ship, 'It was too late, we're screwed...' Another explosion rocks the ship and pulls me out of consciousness...

*

Ruby POV

The blast rocks the whole ship, if we were still in the engine room we would've died, fortunately the captain didn't go cheap on the blast doors, cause he was paranoid of mutiny's and strong bulwarks can stop even the most powerful of beasts.

But it won't last long when it reaches the green block storage, so we must hurry.

As we go to the escape pod area I discover that there's only 3 left, 1 for the captain and 2 for the crew, but there were people already wrestling for the latter, fortunately I'm quite close to the captain, he always wanted something from me, stupid idiot. But cause of him I know the code.

I punch it into the old keypad and the door opens and I drag Joshua in before shutting the door, I then take off Josh and my helmets off and take a breath of oxygen for the last time, before I press the 'DEPART' button.

*

Narrator POV

The life pod detaches and you see it's final shape, a bullet's shell, fired from a tube. Made of a titanium alloy so it can take a beating before rupturing, the interior was several cryo beds so the inhabitants can sleep near indefinitely, since Space rescue was not flashing lights and beacons. It's more like the pods run into a abandoned ship that can still be driven, and this can take a while... like the case for this crew of two...

*

Joshua POV

<??? Time Later>

I hear the water slowly ebb away before a mechanical arm props me up at a 135 degree angle. I look around, the surroundings are just like they are supposed to be, mind you the filters probably need to be replaced, the water collider needs tuning, but over all the ship is in good condition.

"You have been in hibernation for 103 Years, 132 Days, 11 Hours, 3 Minutes, and 4 seconds." Says the cold robotic voice.

"Caution, cryo sleep is known to cause most races to feel a little disoriented, if you feel nausea then please press the button on your right." It continues

I look around, I wonder who brought me here? Last I remember a blast rocked the ship, and I highly doubt that I was somehow lucky enough to be flung into a pod and conveniently pressing the eject button before falling into a cryo bed.

I turn to the nearby beds in our circle, and my rescuer was... Ruby?

"Hello Ruby. *cough cough* How was you 100 year nap?"

Ruby had always been stronger than me, at least in the vitality department, and I don't know why she hasn't left me so long ago, she could've left me so long ago for a better life, for a while I've been wagering it is cause she loves me but I'm still not sure...

"It's been well, shame it woke me up in the middle of an amazing dream though..." She mutters, rubbing her head like she was having a headache.

"Please get ready for Spatial Walk, the oxygen supplies shall run out shortly..." The robotic voice says.

We quickly get into our Fire fighting gear and walk swiftly into the air lock. When we finally get out of the ship we see a frigate, but not any 'ordinary' frigate, an Imperium Vorgasso frigate. You can tell from it's building style and it's name, "Karl Frederich" one of their former Imperators in their golden era.

This simply means that it is extremely high tech and is probably at the top of it's class, as long as it was made in the last like... 200 years?

One small problem, how am I supposed to get in? I mean... I highly doubt that the doors will open for us...

I find the door and call Ruby over, and once she arrives the door opens, for some reason... If she saw my face she would see a raised eyebrow.

When we enter we enter a peculiar looking airlock, "Where are the buttons? How are we supposed to use this?" I ask. Violet shrugs under her suit.

The space around us quickly compresses and a arm wielding an intimidation blade cuts off our suits in one clean cut, then the worst comes, we had no oxygen.

This is perfectly fine, for we humans, haven't evolved to notice the lack of breathable air in the atmosphere, meaning we will still breath, but will eventually suffocate to death.

She shakes her had, shuddering, but before she could say anything the ground opens beneath us.

* [And thats the end of the chapter folks! Don't worry, I'm not gonna start a book like that =D ]

Narrator POV

"Patients suffering Asphyxiation, both require oxygen to survive, administering 'Bends Mix' " A cold female voice rings out, 'Probably the ships AI,' Ruby & Joshua think. [The bends is also known as Divers Disease, or Decompression Illness]

"Beginning gene extraction operation..." The voice rings again.

*

Joshua POV

When the floor slides up, I ponder why I had to be given a free fall just to get a blood sample, and prick the back of my neck, however I wonder how Ruby is doing...

After a few minutes a Titan slides up from the floor.

Titans are known to be enemy's of us, so I search for something to defend myself with, fortunately, the floor wasn't exactly clean, so after a little frantic rummaging I find myself a piece of twisted steel-like material, I wonder why the Titan hasn't attacked me yet though...

Well, if it's not going to attack me I must attack it, after all, everyone knows that Titans always have something up their sleeves.

"Stop, Joshua!" The Titan yells, and I instantly stop in my tracks, 'Darn, that prick in the neck must've been an obedience chip... And how does it know my name's Joshua?'

"How do you know my name, and what have you done to my lover?!" The Titan takes a step back.

"H-how do you not recognize me? Josh? I'm Ruby?"

What? She's related to Titans? No wonder she doesn't want anyone know. I take another look at the Titan claiming to be Ruby.

It was roughly 8 feet tall, with some scales on her thighs and on her arms, I think those let you breathe in space, but I'm not sure...

And... oh my, her breasts have grown to a DD cup at least! 'Boobaa.....' I salivate. 'No! This is wrong! She is your childhood friend!'

Aside from that she certainly has an hourglass physique now, but one last thing that surprised me is that her once brown hair is now red and it goes down to her waist.

"Ruby? Is that you?" I ask, dropping my piece of steel cause thats the best I can do since I'm still stuck in place.

"Ocean, give this person the captain privilige and permission to access your archives."

"Very well, Mistress, Human claiming to be Joshua! Do you accept your position as Captain of this vessel as well as access to the archives?"

"No, I wish to be co-captain, and access to the archives, Ruby has earned the position, I have done nothing." I respond.

"Very well, First Mate." The AI says with a hint of approval, am I imagining things? I don't think that AI are autonomous, and they definitely don't have emotions!!!"

"OK, Ocean, when was this ship created and WHY DO I NOT HAVE A COOL ASS BODY LIKE RUBY?!??" I finish yelling.

"For your first Inquiry, This ship was made in the solar cycle, 4021 under the designation of, Karl Frederich. That is roughly 93 years before you boarded this ship. (So yeah, the year is 4114, if my math is right)" The AI says.

"For your second inquiry. You are so human that if there was a eugenic program with a goal to make pure blooded humans, you would surely be a stud" The AI quips. Darn... this system is gonna be bullying me hard, but I gotta give it a round of applause.

To make it worse, Ruby started laughing as well, at least she still has the same voice.

This is still going to be a loong trip...