//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Distractions // Story: Spikenautica // by PhysicistBrony //------------------------------// Spike slowly climbed back into his life pod after his return trip. "That-" Spike said, "-is not something I want to run into again." He laid on the floor for a few minutes until he got the energy to get up address his injuries. He then stood up and walked over to the medical fabricator and pulled out the kit. He started to apply the medical kit to his injuries. "That shark got me pretty good," Spike was thinking while applying a bandage to his bleeding arm. The scales on Spike might be strong, but the shark had powerful jaws and sharp teeth. It managed to land a bite on Spike's arm when it surprised him. After the shark attack, Spike quickly started swimming up to the surface. The shark lost interest soon after Spike proved to be more agile than it. Spike soon broke the surface of the water and checked himself of any other injuries. After finding nothing of concern, he started for the life pod. "Increasing radiation levels detected. This increase is consistent with damage to the Aurora's drive core sustained after crashing," the PDA stated. "WHAT!?" Spike yelled, "I not only do I have to deal with killer fish, I also have to deal with radiation!!" Spike felt like this entire world was against him. Not only were there multiple predators, only water as far as he could see, and there was nopony else alive, but he also had to deal with radiation from the ship. Spike was thinking about those events as he finished bandaging his wound. Spike still couldn't believe all that was happening to him. He quickly decided to distract himself by trying to build more tools. "I think the next tool I should focus on is the habitat builder," Spike said while going through the fabricator recipes. "Ok, I'm going to need a wiring kit, a computer chip, and a battery," Spike said while grabbing out the battery needed. He soon realized that to gather table coral for the computer chip, he would need a knife. "Let's see, the knife needs one silicon rubber and one titanium," Spike said. "Heh, it's a good thing I already have seed clusters to make into silicon rubber," Spike thought as he put the seeds in the fabricator. He quickly built the knife and departed from the life pod. He looked around for a minute before finding some table coral. As he started slashing it and gathering chunks, he looked up and saw a big fish with a polka dot ball for a tail. "Now what in Celestia are you?" Spike wondered. The fish seemed to be minding its own business and seemed rather peaceful, so Spike decided to swim closer. As Spike drew near, the fish started to shake its tail and swam away after releasing ten greenish-yellow orbs into the water. Spike grabbed one and began to examine it, when all of a sudden, they all started to explode and the gas leaked into Spike's oxygen tank. Spike started to cough viciously, quickly surfacing and taking off his diving mask so he could breathe oxygen. "*Cough Cough*- Uh, what- *Cough Cough Cough"- was that?" Spike said while trying to clear his lungs of the gas. "Well whatever that was, it didn't want me to get close, so maybe I'll just avoid them from now on," Spike thought with this new found knowledge. After a few more minutes of clearing his lungs, he started to swim towards a cave to look for silver and gold. As he descended, he remembered that exploding fish he encountered on day one, so he was rather cautious of the cave. "I really hope that I don't have to deal with that explosive fish or any new carnivorous fish I haven't encountered so far," Spike said as he slowly descended into the cave. After looking around he saw quartz, limestone deposits, and a lot of plants, but no sandstone deposits. He soon started going deeper to try to find at least a few deposits. After a few minutes he had to leave to get oxygen, but only found quartz, titanium, and copper to take back. "Where are all the stupid sandstone deposits," Spike grumbled angrily. Spike then remembered the only place he had seen large amounts of sandstone deposits in one place. "Oooohh no no no no, I'm not going back there yet, not after that run in with the shark," Spike stated to himself very adamantly. After thinking about it, Spike thought that he saw some in the kelp forest before that weird fish attacked him. He remembered that when it attacked, it preferred the metal salvage over him, so when he left, he grabbed a piece to offer it. After a short swim thanks to his seaglide, he arrived and started to look for sandstone. After a quick surface search, he didn't see any obvious clumps, so he started to descend into a nearby cave. "Caution, a common complication for cave fibers is a loss of direction, followed by drowning," the PDA stated. "Wow, real helpful aren't you, you hunk of junk," Spoke thought bitterly. He started going in to find a clump of sandstone sitting next to the entrance. "Well isn't this nice," Spike said as he started to break it open, "I found just what I was looking for with almost no trouble." After breaking it open with his knife, he grabbed the chunk of silver that fell out. Spike realized he spent so much time underwater that he was about to drown, so he quickly surfaced to get oxygen. As he surfaced, he came to the realization that he needed a bigger oxygen tank so he could dive longer. He opened his PDA to look at what was needed for the high capacity oxygen tank. "Okay," Spike said, "I need two glass, one titanium, my oxygen tank, and one silver, but hey I already have half of the materials needed." He started his search for quartz so that he could make glass for his upgrade. Spike soon found the four pieces of quartz that he needed and started back towards the life pod. After arriving he quickly put the quartz into the fabricator to make glass, then all of the materials into it to make the High Capacity O2 Tank. "Thank goodness I have this. Without it, I wouldn't be able to make it any further than the entrance of that cave. He soon returned to the cave and started his search for sandstone. After a few minutes and the sound of a knife breaking rocks, Spike started the trip back to the life pod three pieces of gold, two pieces of silver, and two pieces of lead richer than when he had got there. On his way back, Spike contemplated whether or not escape was even possible from this planet. "Well for one thing, there has to be a way off this planet. I mean how is it possible that nopony could escape from here. Then there is the fact that the Aurora was shot down by something, so obviously somepony lives on this planet." These were all the discussions going through Spike's head as he nearer the life pod Spike climbed into the life pod, grabbed out a Peeper he caught, cooked, and ate the fish, then drank a bottle of water. He then put the silver into the fabricator to make a wiring kit. He proceeded to put the wiring kit, the computer chip, and the battery into the fabricator to make the habitat builder. "The builder tool is designed to build habitats in extreme environmental conditions," the PDA stated.