Chapter 2 - A New Home

He then finally saw it, the door was open and jammed with a broken giant crab claw. Erik had the hypothesis that that's what kept the door open, it was covered in some kind of coral by now though, what had happened in the past for it to get like that was a mystery, 'were they attacked?' he thought.

Erik: "Rose, what happened here?"

Rose: [... It was long ago, you don't have to worry about it ]

"Okay..." In his head, he thought 'Well, that's really suspicious...'

Rose: [A crab is waiting inside, around 10 meters away, if you remove the claw, they will quickly know]

Erik: "Hmm, I've got an idea, can you close the door if I remove the claw? and can it even hold on against a crab?"

Rose: [yeah, it should once closed, but the pumps will still take guidance to repair]

Erik nodded: "That works for me"

Erik then used his tool pack, and using a diamond drill bit, he drilled some holes into the claw, and some more in the surrounding coral structure to weaken it. After that, he weaved some cord into a wide net and tied it to the coralline structure jamming the door, and one shorter piece to the claw. With the trap ready, he started trying to loosen the claw loudly to attract the crab. As expected, the vibrations attracted something.

Rose: [it's coming fast!]

Erik stepped to one side of the door and stuck to the door, as the crab jetted out, dragging the net with him. Erik used that opportunity to step inside, and when the cord got pulled by the rampaging and confused wild crab, the claw flew out along with the other debris, allowing the door to finally close.

Rose: [wow! that was awesome! good job! (✿＾ω＾)]

Erik: "Heh, thanks, now let's fix those pumps"

Rose: [third hallway to the left]

Erik: "Understood"

Erik activated his suit's helmet and shoulder lights, and walked quietly with his gun pointed forward, a kinetic speargun intended for colonists to hunt either on land or underwater.

The hallways and the whole space looked to be made of some kind of shiny metal, with ceiling lights still operative, but the floor was covered with a thick mud layer, while the walls were covered with corals, clams, mussels, and small animals like sea cucumbers but way longer than normal. He crossed corner after corner, creating clouds of mud with every step as he could only hear the sound of his own breathing.

Rose: [stop!]

Erik quickly stopped: "what is it? another crab?"

Rose: [yes, and this one appears to be female, she's protecting her eggs in that open room in front]

Erik: "...can you close the door remotely?"

Rose: [no, it's damaged, but the manual activator, a button on the left of the door should still work, if not you can open a hatch below and it has a manual crank]

Erik: "Okay, on it, I will approach slowly..."

His feet landed carefully and slowly on the floor, first the front and then the back slowly, as carefully and gracefully as he could walk on his spacesuit underwater.

Rose: [quickly, she's getting up!]

Erik felt a cold sweat and chills all over his body as he dashed for the door, and just as the crab was about to go out, he hit the wall with his rifle stock like a bat, making a loud sound and scaring the animal back inside, just enough time to click the button and close the door just in time.

Erik stopped to catch his breath: "huff huff, that was close"

Rose: [yes, it was 5 meters away from you]

Erik: "... okay, where are the pumps?"

Rose: [just the next room down this hallway]

Erik went inside that room and quickly saw what the problem was, there was an unknown creature's skull trapped inside the evacuation pump hole on a machine that used up most of the room, and also a huge accumulation of debris inside the room.

Rose: [seems like the crabs used this room to accumulate their garbage, and at some point it clogged up...]

Erik took off the skull and started unclogging the debris as the waters became cloudy and hard to see around him, as the mud layer reached up to his knees here, making it hard to move. Thankfully there were some tools on a nearby cabinet that was much bigger than him, and he used a huge shovel from inside to remove much of the mud, although he could barely see what he was doing. Once he cleared the mud and debris, he then followed Rose's instructions and took apart the first five meters of pipes, emptying them of mud and reaching the main rotor of the pump that was full of small bones.

After the pipes were unclogged and bolted back together, he started the pump manually by cranking the main rotor to push down any obstructions, connecting two cut cables according to Rose's instructions. The pump quickly came to life and loudly vibrated, as it quickly pumped the water away, a loud thundering noise as it unclogged.

Erik was relieved, as the water lever lowered and air was pumped inside, but cleaning this place completely would take weeks he thought with a sigh.

Erik: "Can I breathe now?"

Rose: [give me a moment... hmm the air system is also clogged, I can't analyze the air, but it should have been filled using emergency reserve air, but.... configured for another species, let's see in your mind... you need Oxygen and Nitrogen mostly... okay yeah, you can't breathe this air at all, it's now Co2, Helium, and other gasses that would not only destroy your lungs, but would also cause you brain damage. On the bright side, it should also kill the prisoner crab...., okay let's fix the synthesizer, that way I can use water to generate oxygen and an air tank for you momentarily]

Erik: "Well, my suit has an air recycler, so as long as I add oxygen to it I don't mind keeping it on for a bit longer, I will need to poop and eat at some point though..."

Rose: [well, that crab should be edible, also the thousands of small clams and mussels lying around, now I should be able to open the second area that should still be clean, there's a set of pools for raising animals there, if you keep the mussels and clams there they should remain alive for some weeks, should be edible too]

Following Rose's instructions, he then replaced some pieces of the synthesizer with pieces that were in a nearby waterproof closet, and then she printed an oxygen bottle and filled it with recently made oxygen, it all seemed so magical to him, like a 3D printer that used particles of different materials beamed together. He put the oxygen on his spacesuit and opened the clean area, making sure to clean his shoes before entering, although some was inevitable, as his entire body was dripping on it. It had rooms, storage rooms, labs, an armory, exercise rooms, a VR room, a relaxation room, a swimming pool, geothermally heated baths, and even a workshop, he was really impressed.

Erik: "...why so much luxury?"

Rose: [ well, this race had other standards than you humans, they lived for thousands of years, so 1 or 2 years to add some decorations was easy for them, they will then live here hundreds of years researching so it's normal to consider the luxury and living conditions required]

Erik: " Wow, that's amazing actually"

Rose: [yeah, they were similar to what in your memories is called a treant, by the way, let's see... you are a human, 60 years old and with a lifespan of... JUST 300 YEARS! THAT'S NOTHING!]

Erik: "...Well, compared to those treants, yes, but without the equipment, in my spaceship, I will probably just reach 200... sigh... the problem is the accumulation of memories that clog the brain, and then there are lots of hormonal problems, some people change to a chimera with lots of animal parts to solve those problems though..., by the way, is there any humanoid living here?"

Rose: [hmm humanoid, with a form similar to a human..., no, there's no bipeds remaining that i know]

Erik: "Search my memories for mermaids, is there anything like that?"

Rose: [exactly that no, but there should be creatures with articulated arms, they are similar to a... octopus, their genetics evolved advanced traits from another race mating with them, it was a previous keeper, his race was similar to them and the fecundation was successful, and then instead of running he stayed and they ate him alive so some also absorbed some of his DNA, and well, now a race that has his DNA exists, so even if they ate him after the acts, after lots of generations, they are a more refined tribal civilization, the only thing in common with a human is having hands and a head though, but well my knowledge is severely outdated by now]

Erik: "I see... any others?"

Rose: [hmm there could be other races that have also advanced to this stage, humanoids nearby... i detect brainwaves from crab like humanoids that live underground in caves, and one of something a bit similar to… armoured creatures farther away on the surface, there could be more, but my scans reach is limited and damaged sorry, as for my data as I commented, most seems to be severely outdated by now , so I'm not sure if things will remain as I remember them]

Erik: "What's with all the emojis?"

Rose: [I saw them in your memories, I like them (°3°) ]

Erik sighed: "well, whatever, do you have spare energy? can you build what's in my mind? this plan should work"

Rose: [ yeah, it should be doable ¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

She then built a diving suit, compressor, and a second bigger air tank, and an even bigger air tank with wheels to use while Rose repaired the air generators.

Erik: "Okay then" he then took all the equipment to his new sleeping quarters "Okay, purge the air now"

Rose: [understood, be ready (◉ω◉)]

*SWOOOSH!*

Rose started purging the air inside the base, leading to a semi vacuum all around, Erik saw his spacesuit expand, and opened the big air tank inside his room, equalizing the pressure inside his now sealed room to normal pressure levels as the rest of the base was getting purged into a vacuum.

Erik: [is this room airtight?]

Rose: [yes, just open the panel to the left of the door and pull down the lever to the right]

Erik nodded and did as told, the door made a cranking noise, and stood still.

With nothing left to do until she finished, Erik took off his spacesuit and laid down on the dusty but clean huge bed, big enough to park a van on it, the tiredness of the day catching up to him as his eyelids felt heavy as he drifted to sleep.

Erik: "Good night Rose"

Rose: [Good night Erik (✿◠‿◠)]

He finally fell asleep while Rose kept renovating the life support systems, the process of the creation of the vacuum making the lobster liquids boil inside it, swiftly killing it.

Hours passed, and after a good night's rest, Erik woke up to an excited Rose.