2019-04-08 00:00:02 +00:00
|
|
|
|
Message Incoming...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Source Melchizedek.0294
|
|
|
|
|
β Hyi, 3rd Planet
|
|
|
|
|
Ascension 00h 25m 45.07037s
|
|
|
|
|
Declination –77° 15′ 15.2860″
|
|
|
|
|
Distance 24.37ly
|
|
|
|
|
Equinox J2000.0 SOL
|
|
|
|
|
Year 3782, QEC adjusted
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
[Autotranslator enabled...]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Stephanie Janssen, Specialist First-class
|
|
|
|
|
:::
|
|
|
|
|
Hey ya'll, Stephanie here. I just have to tell you this place is
|
|
|
|
|
so amazing! There's this slippery fungus mound nearby that smells
|
|
|
|
|
exactly like root beer when you slide across it. Shoot, let me
|
|
|
|
|
back up, though. There's so much to catch you up on.
|
|
|
|
|
|
2020-11-11 00:00:02 +00:00
|
|
|
|
First off, I'm on planet 3, not 4 where most of the Melchy crew is
|
2019-04-08 00:00:02 +00:00
|
|
|
|
stationed. Eva and I and a handful of others are doing survey work
|
|
|
|
|
to prep for phase two of the system seeding. If you haven't been
|
|
|
|
|
following along, that means that we get to live in the lush beauty
|
|
|
|
|
of this wilderness while the rest of the poor saps have to scratch
|
|
|
|
|
out a home on the dust bowl next door. Sucks, huh? They're so busy
|
|
|
|
|
these days they probably haven't even noticed there's nothing
|
|
|
|
|
outside their windows.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
But here, oh my! I'm not sure how best to classify this stuff
|
|
|
|
|
that's all around. I guess if you imagine a sugary-glass that's
|
|
|
|
|
shaped in all sorts of polyhedrons, but squishy and that leans to
|
|
|
|
|
the side like it's feeling a little sick, that's the closest thing
|
|
|
|
|
to trees. They're totally alive too! I mean, technically speaking
|
|
|
|
|
and all. They don't talk or anything, but they react and
|
|
|
|
|
reproduce-ish. I mean, have you ever done that golden ratio
|
|
|
|
|
rectangle thing where you divide the rectangle into a square and
|
|
|
|
|
the little rectangle left over is the same as the bigger
|
|
|
|
|
rectangle, but, like, exactly that special proportion smaller?
|
|
|
|
|
Well, these things work sort of like that, but really big and in
|
|
|
|
|
three dimensions. They're all sort of transluscent so it's been
|
|
|
|
|
briliant watching the divisions develop inside.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Unfortunately for us, there's no familiar proteins at work here
|
|
|
|
|
and our bodies can't interface with the alien poly-plants (oh,
|
|
|
|
|
that's a fun name) in the normal chompy-chomp way. So, we're still
|
|
|
|
|
on ship rations. The good news is, since there's no chemical
|
|
|
|
|
crossover, the life on this planet should be unaffected by our
|
|
|
|
|
seeding. We can move in and share the land and everything will
|
|
|
|
|
work out fine. (Why does that sound ominous now that I've said it
|
|
|
|
|
out loud?)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In addition to the poly-plants there's the root beer squishes, the
|
|
|
|
|
cliffs of neverending screams (more on them in a minute),
|
|
|
|
|
bucket-rain, and oh oh oh... the golden caves. That last one is
|
|
|
|
|
literally what it sounds like. I have no idea how this planet came
|
|
|
|
|
to be or what sort of weird star cooked it up, but our camp is
|
|
|
|
|
just a few clicks away from this massive cave network and the
|
|
|
|
|
entire thing is just covered in gold. Like, AU. Gold gold. I swear
|
|
|
|
|
it's the most beautiful and creepy thing ever. Brewer's the
|
|
|
|
|
closest thing to a geologist that we've got and he's totally and
|
|
|
|
|
completely stumped. Caves form from underground water and there's
|
|
|
|
|
absolutely none of that nearby. Inside the cave looks just like
|
|
|
|
|
the ones back home in Virginia, except if they were sprayed and
|
|
|
|
|
covered in gold. If we weren't a thousand years and many lifetimes
|
|
|
|
|
of travel away, we could pack this place up, head home, and be
|
|
|
|
|
some sort of fantasticly rich big-shots back home. Assuming gold
|
|
|
|
|
is still worth a lot back home. Assuming there's still a back home
|
|
|
|
|
out there. Speaking of which, have any of you out there been in
|
|
|
|
|
touch with Earth lately?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sorry, I'm back. Oh, I guess you didn't know I was gone for
|
|
|
|
|
a while since this is a message log and not a recording or
|
|
|
|
|
anything. Duh. Anyway, that was Jerome stopping by. He's here on
|
|
|
|
|
three with us, by the way. I think it's been good for him. Mission
|
|
|
|
|
critical living and the whole loss of Doctor Idjani is still
|
|
|
|
|
hitting him hard. He needed the break. And now because of that
|
|
|
|
|
break I can inform the universe from my personal experience that
|
|
|
|
|
Jerome Somerset Pasani is absolute shit at cards. Haha! Seriously,
|
|
|
|
|
he can't bluff at all. It's so cute.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
But more on that another time. Where was I? Endless screaming!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
So a while back Eva comes stomping into my hab with these giant
|
|
|
|
|
boots in her hand and a goofy grin on her face as she declares
|
|
|
|
|
we're going for a walk. When she gets excited she talks really
|
|
|
|
|
fast and her accent gets thick, so I'm not really sure what she
|
|
|
|
|
said after that, but it was something about flower power and
|
|
|
|
|
getting all dirty in the dirt. To be frank, I... may have thought
|
|
|
|
|
she was finally making a pass.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
So we tromp up these hills past the familiar poly-plant forests
|
|
|
|
|
until we start getting really high up. For some reason the
|
|
|
|
|
poly-plants tend to settle in valleys where they're shaded from
|
|
|
|
|
the strong winds, and those winds can be really strong up high.
|
|
|
|
|
The planet's rotation is pretty fierce and the isolated water
|
|
|
|
|
bodies make the air currents a bit unpredictable. We're always
|
|
|
|
|
wearing wind protection when we're away from hub, but for this
|
|
|
|
|
trip Eva brought some heavy duty gear. We're all suited up,
|
|
|
|
|
sweating our way higher and higher until there's nothing but dirt
|
|
|
|
|
and sexy sciency ladies in the vacinity. And here again I may have
|
|
|
|
|
thought something was happening that wasn't happening, but no
|
|
|
|
|
matter because I was saved from my horrible embarrasement by the
|
|
|
|
|
gut-wrenching screams of some soul being torn to shreds in
|
|
|
|
|
barbaric torture. Or, that's what it sounded like!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Eva gives one look my way then starts sprinting (well, more like
|
|
|
|
|
how a giraffe "sprints", based on how we have to move in the
|
|
|
|
|
suits) toward the cliffs ahead. I'm right behind her and we come
|
|
|
|
|
skidding to the edge, dropping down on all fours so we don't take
|
|
|
|
|
a dive into the nethers. We pop our heads beyond and look down and
|
|
|
|
|
hear a truely horrific cocophony of death. Imagine that everyone
|
|
|
|
|
you know were crammed around you in a giant circle having their
|
|
|
|
|
toenails torn out. I'm still freaking over it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Of course there were no horrible dismembered bodies below. There
|
|
|
|
|
were these glassy growths all along the cliff-face undulating with
|
|
|
|
|
the wind. They're vaguely mollusk-like in their behavior and grow
|
|
|
|
|
and expand on the surfaces like barnacles. They're also alive and
|
|
|
|
|
as best we can guess, they cut into the air to produce sound.
|
|
|
|
|
We're not sure if it's communication on purpose, some threat
|
|
|
|
|
signal, something for sex, no clue. It is totally freaky and so
|
|
|
|
|
amazingly cool. The universe is this massive thing that goes on
|
|
|
|
|
basically forever, but in all that space there's only so many
|
|
|
|
|
sounds that can be made.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
So the cliffs of neverending screams wasn't the best mood-setter
|
|
|
|
|
for my outting with Eva, even if that were her intention. But the
|
|
|
|
|
trip wasn't a total loss. Just as it dawned on us that we weren't
|
|
|
|
|
witnessing an interstellar genicide she turned to me and mouthed
|
|
|
|
|
over the screams, "We're fucking flowers." I don't have the first
|
|
|
|
|
clue what that means, but I'm pretty sure it's the nicest thing
|
|
|
|
|
anyone has ever said to me.
|
|
|
|
|
.
|