As a researcher, Ren had faced his fair share of troubles and setbacks. It would not be too much to say that he was used to such things. But never in his life had he faced a bigger crisis than the one he was currently facing.
The engine of the spaceship had finally collapsed under all the pressure and decided to turn off. And there was no way to see what was wrong with it without an internal source of light.
"Tsk, what a waste of time. It is all this junk's fault… or maybe it's the engineering team's fault for cutting the budget and scamming people out of money wherever they can."
Ren cursed out loud.
More than a few people from the engineering team would have cried had they heard what Ren said. And somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that it was not actually the engineers' fault that this had happened.
The real fault lay with the leaders who approved the budget, only to gobble up most of it themselves.
It was already a miracle that the spaceship had survived such a long journey without any repairs and that Ren had made it to another planet somehow… so he could not entirely fault the engineering team either.
Still…
"What do I do now? Ugh, this stupid machine-"
Ren kicked the machine out of sheer frustration, only to jump back as it suddenly turned back on.
[Energy source found… Recharging started]
[Emergency power back-up started. Charging percentage: 5%. System will exit power-saving mode once the energy levels are back at 20%]
All the lights turned on once the system came back online, and the shield around the main ship powered itself on as well. In the end, the true and tried method of mankind had prevailed - hitting the machine until it works.
"It worked? I guess the machine needed a little bit of 'tough love' to turn back on."
That was likely not the case. It was more likely that his kick had moved some component around, which somehow rebooted the system.
Ren did not care to know how he had started the machine. But just the fact that he had managed to power it on was a huge success on his part.
But just this much was not enough to be called a success. His charging had barely reached 6% before he ran out of resources. So he had to quickly go back and get more. He had no current idea about the day-night cycle of this world, but since it was deemed safe for him to land, he figured that it was similar to Earth.
He slept when he felt exhausted, and when he was awake, he worked hard to get the materials back to his ship. By the end of 48 system hours, he had seen the sun set once, and the system had somehow managed to charge itself back to 15%.
It was not a safe range, but it was not so bad that he had to worry about his safety. And that meant he could finally turn off the power-saving mode he had the ship running at.
[Power-saving mode has been turned off. System power consumption will return to normal.]
The dim light inside the ship turned bright once more, and Ren kept his eyes on the meter.
[Stable environment realized… Scanning environment. Unknown substances found in the air. The detoxification process has started. Time needed: 1 hour]
The ship's filter was powerful enough to clear the space out, and after who knows how long, Ren was finally able to get rid of the suit and take a deep breath.
"Ugh, the light stings my eyes."
That was the first thing Ren noticed once he took off his visor. The ship looked much more vibrant and brighter now compared to when he still had his helmet on. And he also felt ten times lighter without the heavy suit weighing him down.
After an eternity, Ren finally relaxed his body against the soft mattress and closed his eyes.
The ship had more than enough power to sustain itself for a few days.
__________
The sleep helped Ren feel a lot better, but his body still ached due to the sudden burst of activity after a long period of inactivity. His back ached, but in a good way, and Ren finally pushed himself to check the system.
[System power remaining: 14%]
Ren had a lot of power left, but he still did not want to take any chances. So after making a few more rounds to get the needed material for fuel, he started checking his inventory.
Thankfully, everything was salvageable at this point. The ship had done an incredibly amazing job of preserving it all.
And that brought Ren to his next issue - the ship.
It looked fine on the outside, and it was working somehow. But he was not stupid enough to think that it would be fine if he kept things like this. The ship needed urgent repairs, and the damage needed to be catalogued.
"System, run a self-check. Categorize all damage from most urgent to least urgent."
[Scanning in progress. Main system checks will start in 3…2…1…]
The light inside the spaceship turned red and then green. It was a sign that the system was checking itself to see where it was damaged the most.
But the list of damage was far bigger than he expected.
Due to the power-saving mode, many of the key components had not gotten sufficient power and had started to crash. Thankfully, it was at a point where he knew how to repair it.
As for the most delicate parts? The ship had a repair function, so as long as Ren was able to repair the key components, it would be fine.
"Let's see. The main engine and the supply units are the parts hit the hardest. I should start with them and slowly make my way to less important areas of the ship."
There was so much to do, and luckily, Ren had enough time as well.