Chapter 18 – The Log.

Mk23 -IRJ Droplet – Class 7 – Carpe Victoria (Wrecked)

Sector - Unknown

Planet - Unknown

17rth July 2341 (BSST)

I sneak through the shrubbery with a quite icy focus. My prey, alert and moving, unaware of what stalks it from the shadows and depressions of the land in which it lives. As I track the deer like creature across the landscape from dawn till dusk I take breaks when it settles down to graze, I can only take them down when the animal settles down. So, whilst I wait I reminisce on the past couple of months.

“About 2 months ago…”

“Exactly two months ago in fact” a voice interrupts my quite monologue.

“Alright, fine. Exactly two months ago…” I continue ignoring my rude companion.

“Well, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted. Exactly two months ago I had solved my food crisis. The water was fixed, and the food was fixed; from my distillation set up, to the starchy tubers and fresh water fish and prawns that I’ve been eating for the last couple of months things were going quite well.

Well, it was going alright considering the fact I was stranded, alone on an inhospitable planet.

“Hey!” a voice interrupts me.

“What about me? I’m here too you know.” I sigh, Enigma aside, I’m here alone.

“That’s right! And you’d better not forget it.”

“Will you just quieten down for a minute and let me wax poetically for the log.” I tell him, the irritation creeping into my voice. He grumbles a bit before settling down. Thank god.

“So, alone – apart from Enigma – I have survived on this godforsaken place. It was a struggle at first but as I make progress things have settled down and become much more stable and sustainable. Then, two months ago I managed to find a temporary solution to my food issues. That being the tubers and fresh water life. With no immediate issues taking all my time I began this log. The first entry was on the 17th of May 2341 BSST. It catalogued my progress up till then. With this second update log I want to update you on what I’ve been doing these past months.”

“As I said in my first entry, I thought it would be important to catalogue the journey and the sheer efforts it took to keep myself alive in this place. So, for anyone watching, listening or even reading the transcript I hope it’s useful. Perhaps you might even be listening to this in class as I present to you on stage as a guest lecturer. Or perhaps I have long since perished and only this log was recovered. Or maybe, and sadly most likely this report will rest on my decomposing corpse turned skeleton turned dust until the death of the universe, unfound. Lost in the vastness of space.”

“Enigma has been cataloguing the sky at night to try and locate us. So far, no luck, it seems we are a long way from explored space. Enigma estimates it to be approximately ten years of observation until enough datapoints and motion tracking has occurred to suggest with a decent degree of accuracy where we are. Thoughts?” I ask him.

“Oh, you want my interjections now?”

“Oh, stop being irritating you petulant AI” I respond playfully. Enigma has been my companion and friend for the past while. He’s been going through what I would call a teenage sarcastic phase I his emotional growth. Though irritating it is at least good to see him grow.

He huffs before answering, giving what I imagine to be an emotional eye roll. “yes, ten years would not be an overestimate of the time it would take to catalogue the position we are in. None of the stars and masses observed are on the star maps I currently have access to. Well none so far as I have managed to scan through. So, I am translating the current stars and superimposing them on maps I currently have access to to try and fit it to a recognisable pattern. Unfortunately, stars, planets and everything else moves, it dims in brightness or even dies making my task a whole lot harder. With the sentience mist obscuring the features it also hides our position very effectively.” You would have thought it would be easy to locate us since the star is binary, but apparently not.

“In terms of what has happened down here in the past two months. First of all, and perhaps most importantly the tracks the humanoids leave behind have been spotted by myself or Enigma more often than before. Though camp has been safe so far it is only a matter of time until it is found. Usually we encounter them far out in the wilderness as I go to scavenge. But recently they have been getting nearer. I may even need to move.”

“In terms of industrial progress, I have managed to start building a basic draught furnace. It gets to hotter temperatures and its an important step in my progress. I have also upgraded and fixed all the tools that broke down in the first month and also finished the bow. In fact, that’s what I’m doing now, hunting the deer like creatures. Plans for the future are to start working on a camp wall. And most importantly to start charcoal production. It’s a tricky process but with a better source of fuel perhaps I can even begin using metal.”

“As you may have noticed, Enigma has grown slightly. He is entering what I fondly think of as the teenage phase”

“Hey!” he protests. “Unfair!”

“Though he has more progress to make I am feeling happy about the progress that has occurred. I believe that our constant chat has helped his development. When I can make him quiet as I provoke an in-depth systems analysis or theoretical preposition for him to consider he seems to jump in huge leaps of emotional intelligence. His personality on the other hand I am not so happy with. Now don’t get me wrong it’s good he is developing one, and it is nothing bad, I just have the sinking feeling that he may end up trying to aggravate me at all times. I don’t think I can cope. Hopefully it is just a phase.”

What else? I ponder to myself for a moment.

“The planet is getting colder and the life seems to be waking up. It seems like the animals hibernate during the summer months underground or in caves to try and avoid the oppressive heat. Without the body ware and suit I would have surely died in the first few days. I think as the planet cools and life begins to emerge that I might be fighting for survival more often. But, on the flip side, more life means more food.”

“Mentally I am doing okay. It’s lonely but Enigma helps and so does filling my days with activity. Humans are social creatures on a fundamental level and to be so deprived is hard, but I’m coping.”

“This has been Log entry 4 for the 17th of July 2341 BSST. Made by Ronja Larsen – Special operator and fighter pilot for the Human naval command and spacefaring administration based off of the Evokaren frigate ship that was exploring sector 9854.”

Having finished updating the Log, I settled down in the thick grasses to wait. It wasn’t long before the creature decided that the lush grasses were greener on the other side and decided to move on.