File: Journal
Entry: Almost to our new home. Time to wake up little emo bug and let her find us a place to stay. In the meantime, I've got to find myself a nice, dark corner to watch from.
File: ReplacementJournal
Memory download: Landing
I'm extremely glad I spent the extra money for cloaking shields. It wouldn't do to get detected by some Earth military group. I maneuver carefully through the mass of debris orbiting the planet; it looks like the humans never bother to clear out their orbit space. They must not do much space travel at all or they'd see this stuff for the hazard it is.
Once I'm past the debris layer, I have to work hard to keep the ship under control and at a slow enough descent rate that it won't heat up and make a fiery streak across the sky. I manage, though, and I find myself over a huge landmass covered with vegetation with only occasional bare patches. I check the maps of the planet. They show the land tapering off to the south and a huge area of water to the north, with another landmass beyond that. According to the data I have, that's where Zim is. I think it over for a few minutes and decide to land somewhere on that continent. If anything really crazy happens, it'd be good to have access to Irken technology. I don't know how close to him I want to be, though. I can't trust him, and I don't think I can intimidate him.
It takes a little while to get to the continent I've picked, and it's kind of a frightening place. The humans have roads and buildings everywhere. How am I supposed to hide in this? I don't have Invader equipment; sure, I can build a holo-disguise, but I don't have a shelter or anything like that. Maybe I can find a place somewhere remote. There seem to be fewer buildings in some areas than in others.
After a few hours of flying around, I spot a building the looks good. It's ringed by trees and a fenced-in paved lot, which has plenty of plants growing through its numerous cracks. The building itself is fairly large, with a gigantic hole in the roof, and it has two massive hollow towers that loom over it. I bring the ship in through one of the holes and look around. Most of the space is one big room, and there are a lot of plants and some patches of green slime growing where the sunlight comes in through the hole. Off to one side are a few doors that look like they lead to smaller rooms. On another side, large doorways open out into the paved yard. But it's the third side, at the bases of the towers, that fascinates me. Two large openings sit a few feet off the floor, each with a heavy metal door that looks like it could serve as a blast shield. The doors are both open, and as I peer inside, I see nothing. Utter blackness, which seems to pour down from the openings in a powdery stain on the wall. The openings are just big enough to admit the ship, if I make sure it's in full speed form. I turn off the front cloaking shield and flick on the exterior lights, maneuvering to cast as much light as possible into the opening.
It's perfect. The place is a room -- an extremely dirty room, but I can change that. It's a place I can hide and that's all that matters. I set the ship down and climb out. In that moment, the smell of the place hits me. Burning. I know what my hiding place is now -- an abandoned furnace. But a furnace for what?
I need to explore. I grab an image generator from the storage area in my ship; later, I'll program a disguise into it so I can go to the town not far from here, but for now, I set it to cloaking mode. I climb down from the opening and try the weight of the door. With my spider legs to lift me to the right height, I can move it well enough. I'll try and fit the latching mechanism to operate from the inside later.
Now, I cross the room to the other doors, hoping to find some clues as to what this place is and if it's really safe.
Most of the rooms are pretty empty. I find some paper in one that has "Washington Valley Power" printed at the top, with "Coal Plant 6" in smaller lettering under it. That makes sense. A power plant for a society that still uses fossil fuels.
Entry: I've got the place fairly clean by now, at least clean enough to be livable. I've found enough scrap metal to cover the vents most of the way so there won't be too much air flowing through here. I'll fix the door tomorrow; right now, I have the latch jammed open with one of the metal rods I found. And I feel tired. There's something wrong with me. I'll figure out what it is after I get this place secured. For now, I need to rest.
File: Journal
Entry: She did a good job. I've even got my own room now! I cleaned out the other furnace (much faster than she handled hers), got its vents blocked up, and modified the door. I even put a lock that requires a password so she can't get in. I made sure to hide it, though. It wouldn't do having her know I'm here too soon.
Now, as soon as I get that disguise programmed, I'm going to town. I want to see this Earth place for myself.