บท 11: Chapter 10 - New Equipment

Erik was looking intently at the girl to see if she understood his meaning, then he saw her smile... her smile was terrifying though, full of sharp shark-like teeth, but he kept calm and smiled, then offered his hand and she did the same, he held her hand softly and then sook it in a handshake and let go calmly, she looked confused but it was progress, then he went to his room and grabbed his laptop to watch a movie with her to see her reaction, it was a documentary about planet earth, and she watched it amazed, the forests, the jungles, the mountains, the oceans... it all looked too big, compared her dangerous life, she had never gone far since she was born.

then he told Rose to print her a wheelchair, he came in using the wheelchair and stood up, signaling for her to sit on the chair and she did get out of the bathtub, Erik then helped her put on a bathrobe slowly, and sat her at the wheelchair, then pushed the wheelchair himself to the gym and took off his dive suit, and started exercising while keeping an eye on her, she started imitating him though and grabbed 12Kg dumbbells like they were nothing in each arm and started doing arm weight lifting exercises too, it only reminded Erik again about the difference in strength, she seemed to enjoy exercising so that was good he thought, since it was a way to tire her and make her lower her guard, then Erik took a shower and then Inky did too, and Erik took her to another room and put her on a bed, leaving her door open and the wheelchair in reach, then went to his own room to sleep, Inky had different sleep patterns and sleep needs apparently, as as soon as Erik left she got in the wheelchair and pushed herself around.

Everything was new and interesting, there's no way she could fall asleep in that place, also the lack of water made her feel a bit nervous, she pushed her wheelchair out the door and decided to go to Erik's room, but she couldn't open the door the way she saw him do, she was frustrated so she went to the bathroom and filled the bathtub the way Erik had taught her, took off the bathrobe and fell asleep inside the warm water.

Erik woke up feeling still tired but worried so he woke up in the morning anyways.

"Did Inky manage to fall asleep?"

[yes, she's sleeping, but in the bathtub though]

"well, she's an aquatic animal, after all, should have seen it coming, anyway, today I wanna try to go foraging for algae with her and maybe kill that crab if we see it"

[why are you doing all this? isn't it too much effort?]

"no, it's hard to survive alone you know?, first I get her trust and then maybe her tribe's trust, that way I could do more things and with proper support"

[weren't you supposed to be starting a colony all by yourself?]

"yes... I was, and it would have been a lonely 10 years, but I was willing since after 10 years more humans would come, but here it might be hundreds of years alone, and if I recover the rejuvenation machines from my spaceship that is, they are super heavy though and welded to the spaceship, no idea how to get them out"

[...well, you can either do 3 things, we could build some transportation machines, you could eat more and become stronger or maybe make Inkys people help you]

"I could also do all 3 of them"

[yes, you could ¯\_( •̀.̫•́ )_/¯, I made something for you while you slept by the way ]

"what is it?"

[ you will see (･ิω･ิ) ]

"where?"

[the armoury, there's a bigger synthesizer there]

that got him curious and he went in a hurry, there on an illuminated platform stood a new-looking diving suit, but this one bulkier, with propulsors and some armor and exoskeleton on.

"Wow, how long did it take you?"

[well, I started designing it when you put your first diving suit, with that I recorded the flexibility of your limbs and designed the suit accordingly, it has water thrusters to help with movement in emergencies and also so that I can help you as I can control them remotely, it also has an exoskeleton so you will feel stronger, and armor padding to resist hits better if something attacks you]

"wow... thanks a lot Rose, I will try it right away" it fits him like a glove, it also didn't impede his movements at all either, it was connected to his nerves so it was easier to walk in, he took the helmet off and hung it on his shoulder pad that now had an attachment to put the helmet there, everything was designed in detail.

"I should probably go see how Inky is doing"

[dressed like that?]

"Yeah, I'm safer this way anyways"

[true, she's trying to play the flute on the bathtub]

"hah, that sounds fun to see", he also took the necklace out of the suit and displayed it on the outside stuck to the suit for her to see, he had polished the edges a bit, but the truth is that even then the shells cut into his skin when the suit tightened around him, couldn't be helped, his skin was just that of a normal human, for now at least...

Inky was feeling great when she woke up, the place was warm and she felt safe so she could sleep without worries, something she hadn't experienced before as there could be strong predators attacking at any moment, that had been the reason of her mother's death after all, protecting her from predators, she still had nightmares sometimes, but her... she felt safe, her ear fins couldn't help flapping and she also tried smiling, then she remembered the flute and took it out of her backpack, she put her fingers on the holes of the flute the way the being taught her, she got the hang of it quickly and had fun, after a bit of trial and error she got the hang of it a bit and played the notes she liked most, then chained them creating a melody while flapping her fins in happiness and closing her eyes, at some point the door opened but she didn't notice while she was playing, but when she finished and opened her eyes she was startled to see the creature now taller there just watching her, it was showing it's teeth so that was good she guessed and showed her own as well.