Part 6 [spoiler]1 Year Later, 365 Days until end of Contract Davidson traveled along on his rig, headed back to the shaft that would take him back up to base. He and Brendus were the last ones to finish up for the day, and both met at the same time, and dismounted their vehicles. Brendus made his way over to the lift, as did Davidson. "Aye, a good day's work for the start of your last year no?" "Yeah." There was an awkward pause between the two as they both stepped into the lift. Brendus was having a hard time, doing his best to cheer up Davidson. Ever since the incident, Davidson hadn't been the same. "Aye friend, want to go up topside and see the storm comin' in? She's goin' to be a big one!" "No thanks." Brendus lowered his head in silence. The water pressure began to lower as the chamber began to empty itself slowly, depressurizing the room. It was uncomfortable before Davidson suddenly broke the silence. "I don't want to go home Brendus. But this place, it's not beautiful anymore." Brendus tensed up. "Aye. But you'll have some money to come back to, at least." "I don't care about that." Brendus stayed quiet. "I don't care about anything. I don't want to go back home. I don't want to stay here. I just want to go somewhere, and die." Brendus reeled back from Davidson's words. But, he didn't really have anything to say. But he was going to try. "Aye. Davidson. Ye remember what I told you about me mum?" "Yes." "Imagine how that felt. But not just me mum. All me friends, all me family, all gone. And there wasn't a right bloody thing I could do about it. But I blamed meself. And I blamed meself a lot. And I was right here, where ye are standing now, in the same way." Davidson looked over. "Then how'd you beat it? You know what it feels like then? The world is empty. And all I have are the memories of the kids I never saw grow up. The kids I'll never see grow up. And my wife, oh god my wife. I pushed her away until she couldn't take it anymore." Brendus nodded silently. "Aye, was just like that. All me friends and family gone, like the snap of a finger. Me home world, even. I'll never see those low plains again, or the glint of the low valley I grew up in, as the sun shined over its ancient rocks that shined so bright from the metals in 'em. But I hung on to somethin'. Aye, don't know what, but I found somethin' to care for, some reason to live." "What would that be?" "Aye. When me home system went, all of a sudden, all the natives to me world, Human and alien, were refugees, because we had no government. We were all suddenly the last of our kind, and we had no place to call home. But we organized, and tried to rebuild. We tried to find a new world to call home. And we found one. But the cost for it, was too great for those that were left. Even with help from outsiders." "That's why you're here?" "Aye. When I heard about what happened, I left me job, and went over to the rally fleet. It was chaos. But I found this wee little girl. Her parents were on her home when our sun went. She was on a trip out of the system, and came back homeless and alone. So, Aye, I knew what I had to do. I had to fight for all of them, in any way I could. And we all started something, together. Now, we're paying off our debt, and rebuilding our home. Every five years I come and visit that not so wee little girl now. I pay part of her funds as well as putting the rest to the species we owe our new home from." Davidson simply watched. "That's respectable Brendus. But, no offense, that's not my case." "Aye, I know lad. But it is. Just on a smaller scale. Ye need to find something to keep ye going. Some little light in the dark to shine yer way out. Count yer blessings. Remember those years back, when ye were trapped under all that blasted ice? Ye saved me, and fell down, for miles. But ye came back alive. How lucky is that? And ye would throw that gift away now?" Davidson nodded quietly. "Okay Brendus." Brendus chuckled, only lightly. "Aye, that's me city boy! Yer tougher than ye look ye know!" 360 Days until end of Contract Davidson stirred in his sleep, as he was having a vivid dream. Brendus's words were ringing past him in clumps, but amidst flashes of other things as well, his kids, his wife, and strange patterns that he vaguely remembered. He was surrounded by darkness, a familiar feeling, as he reached out for anything at hand, but found nothing. And then, like a small dot of light, something shined out. He ran towards it instinctively, and then, it suddenly exploded into a dazzling show of lights, as two large black eyes stared at him from an extremely vague humanoid face, that was transparent, showing all of its inner workings underneath. Davidson woke up with sweat sliding down is face, as he looked up and around his room in the darkness. This was the second time he had remembered his dreams so vividly, and rubbed his forehead before going back to sleep. He thought about all those years ago, down at the bottom of the ocean. And a revelation visited him. It had saved him. It had opened his suit, out of curiosity, and triggered the failsafe. And then, carried him in the ice chunk without his suit to the safe waters of the mining outpost. It wasn't hostile. It was curious, like a child. Davidson went back to sleep not long after, but a fire was ignited in his head, one that wouldn't be put out. 305 Days until end of Contract Davidson rode down the elevator shaft with Brendus, waiting for the right time that they were deep enough. The AI up above monitored everything, but couldn't pick up transmissions down this far. He didn't want to risk Devski hearing what he was going to say. He made sure his comms were closed off to the others in the elevator, and spoke to Brendus.[/spoiler]

Part 7 [spoiler]"Brendus, can you give me a comms check?" "Aye, sure thing laddy." As Brendus did so, Davidson cut him off. "Your comms are separated now right?" "Aye. I can hear you fine laddy." "Don't reconnect!" "What?" "Don't reconnect to them!" "Aye, sure thing laddy. What's the problem?" "I don't want anyone to hear what I'm going to say." "Oh? And what would that be?" "You said they found me drifting, partially covered up in my suit, but still in cryo right?" "Aye, that's what they said, I think." "And everybody thought that I opened my suit to give myself some time to hopefully live a bit longer, and so happened to end up back here right?" "Aye, sure is laddy." "I didn't." "What?" "I didn't do any of that. My suit was opened." "Aye, say what now?" "My suit. It was opened by something else." "Yer pullin' me chains." "I'm not joking, Brendus. I found something down there." "Oy, ye mean like an animal? There's loads of those down here." "No. Not an animal. Something else. It was intelligent. Sapient life." "Aye, that seems like a far stretch if it opened yer suit up." "It's not like that. It's, hard to explain. It's intelligent. Curious. I looked into its eyes. And it wanted to see me for what I was under the suit. When it triggered the failsafe, it must have brought me back over here. I need to go back Brendus. I've never seen anything like it before." Brendus was silent for some time. "Aye, why didn't you tell anyone?" "Because, I thought it should remain that way. It seemed, so fragile. And it was so far down there. Anything down there isn't meant to be found." "Then why go back?" "Because. It saved me. I need to see it, before I leave this place. I need to know." Brendus was quiet again. "You'd better not be pullin' me leg. I need time to think about this." "I've already got a plan. I'm going to go to back there with a suit. But I need to make modifications to it. I need help. But you can't tell anyone!" "Aye, yer right bloody serious then ain't ye? Okay then. Give me some time to think about it." 265 Days until end of Contract Davidson cut through ice with his lance, working away as Brendus did as well. So far, the plan had been going well. They had traded places on the work rounds, because it was necessary for what Brendus was going to do. Even though they were monitored slightly more than down below, they had their best chances up here. The plan was, over time Brendus was going to illegally modify Davidson's suit to fit the changes he needed to do this, and, every day, one of them would skip all breaks, and make a quick trip over to the old ice harvesting field that shattered, use their lance, and carve a path, straight down, until they hit the ocean. Davidson figured, that if they didn't recover all of his suit, then part of it must have still been down there. If they got close enough to it, it may still have had power to send its signals, which they would pick up. If Davison could pick them up, then he could find his suit. And if he could find his suit, there was a slim, but low chance he would enter area of the strange being he had encountered so long ago. It was a sound plan, and so far, things were going well. The only problem would be what would happen when Davidson went under for a day or two, if he was down there for that long. Brendus would have a lot of potential problems to work out. Hopefully, Davidson wouldn't need to be down for a day or more. And, in the meantime, hopefully their plan would stay on course as they slowly dug deeper piece by piece, and upgraded Davidson's suit for what he had in mind.[/spoiler]

Part 8 [spoiler]67 Days until end of Contract Davidson cut through the ice with his lance, on high power, melting through it with ease, as he carved the pathway in the ice which had now settled thoroughly. Their scans showed that they were finally starting to get there, and their pit descended into almost pure darkness now. This was his passion, his driving force, which kept him going. He didn't know why, but he needed to see the creature again. He wasn't crazy. Brendus had explained that everybody had their own ways of doing things. And maybe, it was Davidson's way of coping. Brendus said that if it was, he had no right to try and stop him and instead help him. The man was a true friend. The lance cut through more ice deeper and deeper, and with a sudden hiss of steam, Davidson found that there was no longer ice. Dark water surged upwards towards him, and, planning for this, Davidson activated a force field in the tunnel, keeping the water trapped in place so it didn't make it all the way up to the icy surface. He cheered, looking with a smile for once, at the blackened pit before him. They had done it. Now, all they had to do was finish his suit. Davidson checked his clock, and found that time was up. He started climbing upwards to the surface far beyond. He had good news, for once. 1 Day until end of Contract Davidson sat at the edge of the entrance to their great tunnel to the ocean far below, along with Brendus. The man whistled. "Aye." "We did it, didn't we?" "Aye, that we did lad. And now the last part is up to you. Ye made this, and yer time is ticking. If ye believe what ye saw is down there, crazy or not, it's yer choice." "What if I'm gone longer than a day?" "Aye laddy, I'll take care of things. Ye do what ye have to do." Davidson placed a hand on Brendus's shoulder. "Thank you. Really, for all that you've done." "S' no problem lad. Now go, time's a wastin." Davidson took a look at the great blue-green sky before him, as the pale blue star rose for the day, illuminating the gas giant and its immense rings, and for the first time in a long while, this place was beautiful again. Davidson looked down into the pit. "Well, wish me luck." "Aye lad. Good luck." Davidson teetered over the abyss, looking down to the darkness below. He wasn't taking the long way this time around. Davidson put one foot over the edge, and fell over, into the darkness below. Davidson crashed into the sand with a heavy impact, jarring his armour but not damaging it, as he stood up in the blackness. His radar was on, and he knew, he must be somewhere close, because the grappler that had long since been buried under the ice here was close. He turned on his lights, and looked out to the darkness outside his visor. There were things he never noticed before, now that he was calm. Even down here, there was amazing levels of plant life, which glowed very dimly in the dark, nothing compared to what was up higher, but even here, it was its own little world. Davidson set off in a direction, taking what he hoped would be the best path. He wasn't sure of himself, and as time wore on, his plan seemed more and more insane. But he felt like he had to do this, or he would never get the chance again. He walked in silence, listening to his radar as it searched for the transmitter in his suit. He walked for hours, or what seemed like it, as he slowly progressed through the sand of the darkened ocean floor. And, finally, as his guesses were right, there was a ping on the radar. Almost excitedly, Davidson headed off in the direction of the ping, growing closer with each step. He wasn't afraid anymore, as he traveled in the blackness that was so thick it looked like it would envelope him completely. And, with growing excitement, he did it. His radar was at the maximum, and he looked down, to find part of his discarded suit, laying there in the sand. An eerie calm came over him, as he looked at it. He was trapped in that once. Stuck down here with no light, no chance of rescue. And here he stood now, having come here willingly. He searched the area, and, seeing nothing left to do, he sat down. There was nothing left to do, but wait. And, one last thing. He used the interface in his suit, and spoke the one simple word he had before. Hello. He set it on a slow broadcasting loop to play in the waters outside, and simply lay there, dimming his lights. It almost felt just like before, when he was stuck down here. This place seemed like it was part of a tomb, and part beauty. It was serene, and calm, but so alone. And so, sitting at the bottom of the ocean, on an alien world, Davidson did the only thing he could do. He waited.[/spoiler]

Part 9 [spoiler] Time went by slowly, and Davidson closed his eyes to pass the time, resting against the padding in his suit. He turned out even the HUD on his faceplate, sitting there in patient silence. It was agonizing, waiting down here. But, suddenly, off in the distance, there was a light. Davidson cut the sounds his suit was playing back, and stood up from his sandy resting spot, and took slow, careful steps towards the light in the distance. Just like before, it grew stronger, as he came closer, and at the height of its peak, it extinguished. Davidson stood still in the darkness, looking out of his faceplate to the world on the other side, when suddenly, in the darkness, he could make out two eyes, staring directly at him. He didn't see anything else, but knew it was watching. He stared back into the abyss, and spoke into his comms. "Hello?" The reaction was immediate, as bright lines of light traveled up the creature's veins in response, fluttering lightly before disappearing. He shook, falling to his knees. This was it. This was why he came down here. This was his last, and only guiding purpose. That brief glimpse of those dim little lights all across the creature was what he had come down here for. But, in sudden realization, he felt the same. They did not cure him of his sadness, his hopelessness. They were, truly beautiful, but he still felt empty and lifeless inside. He watched in a hushed breath as the creature's midnight black eyes appeared in front of his faceplate again, watching him with unknown intent. Again, as it watched him, it placed a slender hand on his faceplate, but only remained watching this time. But Davidson, deep down, had wanted this to happen again. And that's what he had prepared for. He spoke to his suit, giving the command. He wasn't afraid of what this thing was. And he wanted to peer at it as close as he could. "Suit, disengage safety protocols. Unlock joints and helmet." With a few conformation lights, and the hiss of seals, his suit did just that. Davidson took a deep breath. Here was hoping Brendus knew his tech. He closed his eyes, and brought his arms up to his helmet. And in one fluid movement, done quick so he would not hesitate, he lifted his helmet up with a hiss of air, and gasped as water flooded into the space that it occupied, before filling out. Davidson opened his eyes, as if believing himself to be dead, crushed from the pressure of the ocean. But as he opened his eyes to the darkness, the true darkness that was now enveloping him, he smiled. Brendus had done it. As long as he kept the upper torso section of his suit on, the protective energy field would remain around his own bio-electric field. And it held the immense pressure at bay without a hitch. Davidson looked around him excitedly, when the lights from the creature before him fluttered once more in mesmerizing patterns. It swam around him excitedly in the darkness, before floating back down to greet him. And then, the one lone light he had seen came on before, illuminating the darkness around him, revealing the true nature of the being before him. The lone light was a lure, like some of the ancient sea creatures from Humanity's home world. It was long and flexible, transparent like the rest of it, and attached to a large, semi oval like head, which was shaped almost like a mushroom. Small, flexible appendages hung from the creature's dome like head, and it seemed, were able to produce light like its lure on top of its head. In the dim light generated by the creature, what he saw was, in short, stunning, and alien, and, beautiful. Instead of a central brain in its transparent head, were links, like neurons. And in the darkness, Davidson watched them, as they blinked rapidly, as the creature watched him, with curious eyes. He smiled, looking at its face. It drifted close to him, but he could see that its eyes were at work, looking at him like just like he was looking at it. Its face was humanoid in shape, but much smoother and lacked much in the way of features. No nose, or ears, or mouth as far as he could tell. Just curious eyes. He let out a hushed breathe, watching. He watched the neuron like links in its head, firing off in small, dim bursts. It was like, it was nervous too. This was first contact between two sapient life forms, as close as it could get. Davidson didn't know if it would work, but it was worth a try. He spoke slowly, watching its eyes and what went on in its head. He smiled as he said it. "Hello you. Longtime no see." The neurons in its head fired off rapidly, and in a sudden burst of light from everywhere in its body, the entire creature was illuminated, as multitudes of colour exploded from the veins in its body, its lure and smaller head appendages changing colour as well. And then, as if it couldn't get any better, Davidson could hear it. He could hear it in the water, as it sang. For every light that flashed in its body, the creature sung, low, long traveling sounds that resonated in his bones and made his hair stand up. And, as the creature sang, and lights of every colour traveled through its body, it was illuminated, like some great angel. Davidson was already on his knees, but he felt the weight of everything on his shoulders now, as all he could do was watch. His arms fell to his sides slowly, as the creature extended its pale finned arms, in open hands, in a universal gesture of peace, as light radiated from it, like it was a god, standing before him. The rest of its body was sleek and transparent, with no distinguishable features, or even much in the way of insides. He could tell, there was gills on the creature's neck, which was what it was using to make its song, while further down, there was a small rounded cluster of what looked like organs, a bundle of everything it needed to operate, and nothing more. Farther down, surprisingly, it had legs, with great fins that flared and drifted in the water, just like the ones on its arms. Its legs were sleek and slim, like its overall form, but rather than end in toes, there was a transparent webbing, the same in its hands. The lights came to a slow halt as they stopped travelling down its nerves and fins, until at last the lure was the only source of light left, and the creature let its arms down beside it, now watching him. Davidson had no idea what just happened, but the haunting melody that had just been sung stayed in his ears. He was simply awestruck, from everything. He couldn't think straight. He didn't even know what would come from this point on. What could he possibly do? The answer came to him, as the creature drifted slowly over to him, and razed a hand, slowly, to touch. It wanted to know. Davidson unlatched one of his gauntlets quickly, letting it drop to the floor, and raised his own hand, watching as the creature waited. He held his hand out, slowly, watching as it now held one, single finger out, and Davidson did the same. He didn't know how his barrier would react. But he was hoping that the creature would pass through unscathed. He looked at the visible barbs in its fingers, hoping that nothing happened on his end as well. He edged closer, slowly, and watched, as he brought his one, single finger up to the creatures. He made contact, squishing the creature's skin ever so slightly, and he watched, as ripples of bioluminescent light traveled across its nerves, all the way up to its "brain." In response, the creature fluttered more lights, and before his eyes, it parted, doing a summersault in the water before him, coming to rest back on the bottom of the floor. Davidson had felt it too. When he made contact, he could feel the electricity, just the slightest bit of it, and felt it ripple up into his own body where it ignited in his own head. He shook his head, looking at the creature before him. It was mesmerizing. He didn't want to look away. And he wanted to feel that strange feeling again. He held his hand out in full this time, and, mirroring his actions, it slowly guided its hand over, and pressed its fingers against his. Davidson felt the tingle in his nerves, and watched as the same ripples traveled up the creature. The neurons in its head fired off like fireworks, and the sensation grew stronger, until it was almost too much to handle. Davidson went to pull his hand away, but gasped in shock as its other appendage wrapped around his, doubling the dosage. The sensation was painful, as his own head was overloaded with the feeling. It felt like there was a million ideas all going off in his head at once, and as he tried to pull away, the creature's hands split into many fine smaller graspers, tentacles, that clung to his skin and kept the connection going. But when he looked over, gritting his teeth as his nerves sparked on and off, he saw the same thing happening to the alien. It was a two way exchange. But, why? The pain reached a new height, and in his head, like a fog, he saw things. Things he didn't understand. He didn't know what was happening. He tugged away, to no success. But, at the same time, the alien flashed faster and faster, its own nerves lit up like a Christmas tree, and he could see it was struggling to hold the connection. [/spoiler]

Part 10 [spoiler] More fog filled his mind, and suddenly, it started to make sense. He was seeing things, flashing buy, like lightening. It was the life of this alien. What it saw. What it knew. What it wanted. And what it was losing. And, he understood. From the very first time she found him, she wanted to go with him. She wanted to see what he was. To know that she wasn't alone. But, why was she alone? The painful exchange continued, and Davidson saw it. A plague. The scenes of her kind, floating lifeless in the sea in great droves. But, why? Where did it come from? More clouded images, and then he saw them. Roots. Roots? And as Davidson puzzled about it, the creature drew what it was learning from him, and held the thought in her mind. It was the plants...... The particles they made. Were, alien. They were a foreign parasite! This world had nothing on the surface originally. Her people once lived higher up in the seas. But it came from somewhere, and was strong enough to survive the extreme cold, boasting hyper adaptation. In the end, they had to go deeper and deeper to avoid spores. The creature watched through the fog of his own mind, what he had heard about the plants. They killed his kind too. Davidson started convulsing now, as the current became too much, and the creature unwound its grip from him. Davidson convulsed, falling back into the sand, watching as the creature drifted aimlessly nearby. He closed his eyes, the last residual images of what he'd seen fading into nothing, as his mind went blank. Davidson recovered, opening his eyes to the blackness of the ocean. Nearby, the alien drifted rather weakly, but was watching him. It drifted over slowly, as he reached out in silence. His head still hurt. But, he knew what he saw. And, he was crushed. Visions of this alien's kin, dead by the thousands, their bodies drifting in the water, silent, had temporarily merged with the footage of his children on their last day. It was too much. He couldn't take it. He stood up, and unlatched his other gauntlet, tossing it onto the ocean floor. The creature drifted by, its beady eyes watching as he approached. He hung his shoulders, but held out his hands. The creature drifted closer, and when it was close enough, he pulled her in, feeling that electric tingle across his hands once more, but not as, invading as it was prior. He pulled it in close, and before he even knew what he was doing, he had wrapped his arms around it and fallen into the sand, cradling it. Partly because of the crushing sadness that completely overwhelmed him, and partly for this alien. He saw everything, and although it was quick and faded like a matchstick, he knew. And as he held the strange being close, feeling her oddly squishy skin, watching as its veins pulsed with blue light, she let out a long, mournful sound that rang out into the ocean depths, answered by none. He held her there in his arms, grieving for his own losses, comforting a being that since she was born, only knew that she was alone in the world. He held her there tight, watching as her beady eyes stared into his, an odd sense of sadness conveyed. And she brought one of her hands up to his cheek, placing it firmly against it, and he shuddered from the touch, in part from the current, but from something else. That was the way his son did it. She knew. He smiled suddenly, watching her as she continued to press her hand against his cheek gently, sending shivers down his spine. An alien, who had lost everything, and his children, left alone in the world. And an alien, who was born into nothing, alone from day one, and now, had contracted the plague, was doomed to death alone, afraid. But she wouldn't have to be. He was here. He was here, to say hello, and goodbye. He understood now. He wasn't going anywhere. Even if he was late. He wouldn't leave her side. 1 Day Later, 24 Hours after Contract completion Davidson and the creature had remained close together for the better part of a day. And he knew that her time was running out. But she remained the curious, playful being that she was. But even now, he could see that there was something wrong. The various neuron like lights that traveled all across the inside of her body were going dim, and slowing down. Davidson could do nothing. And it was bothering him. He wanted to do something more than just sit and watch. As she drifted closer, watching him, Davidson reached out with his hand, drawing her attention. She looked at it, before realizing what he wanted to do. He couldn't speak with her directly. But he knew through the link things were shared. She placed her hand up to his, and this time, Davidson held hers in place, as the current passed through him once more, and Davidson tried to think about what he wanted to do. Symbolize what he meant. He wanted to help. More than what he was doing now. But, he didn't know what he could do, and the sadness started to creep up again, a reflection of his kids and how he wasn't there. He was trying to help. But he was never there for them. And now, he was here for somebody, and it wasn't enough. It wasn't right. He watched neurons fire off in her large domed head, and as the current grew stronger, Davidson let go, as her own images and responses flashed by. She was content. And she knew there was nothing she could do. When Davidson had asked about her kind, images flashed by in his head. She thought she was the last one. All it did was reaffirm that he had to do something. If she was the last of her kind, then not only did he have the weight of his family on his shoulders, but of an entire species. He had already let one let become snuffed out in darkness. He wasn't going to let another. As the creature stayed close by to him, he took her hand once more. The current traveled up his nerves as he projected the idea to her. After all, he had seen everything before. He knew what they could do. They were adaptable. If they could come this far down in the ocean in such a short time to flee the spores from above, they had a chance. She reeled back at his suggestion, and she showed him what it would mean. Her time would be shortened. But, if it worked.......[/spoiler]