Day 216
Still lying on the Apocrathy work slab. I am starting to get some feeling in my left arm. So now instead of it being numb it hurts.
Told the Apocrathy. He said it's meant to hurt.
First heart stopped beating.
Told the Apocrathy. He said its because there is a lump of bolt shrapnel wedged in the middle of it.
For dinner was some ham and egg sandwiches and a flask of tea.
Going to try and get some sleep
Day 217
Got no sleep. Every part of my body hurts from friendly fire. Was it not the Noble Sanguinius who said: friendly fire seldom is.
Got told that I am back on the nutrient goop diet until my bones knit back together. Damn.
They stuck a sort of wire net thing along where one of my ribs is not anymore. I think the idea is that the blood deposits the nutrients on the wire and the new rib grows in the shape of the wire and the wire eventually dissolves.
Keel and Victor came to say sorry today. That is Keel said sorry; it's quite hard to get Victor to visit this universe from where ever his mind is. But I am sure he would have said sorry if he was here. Reality is a nice place, but I understand why he no longer wants to live here.
Day 218
Just learned that we are in fact not going home but are in fact stopping of at Port Brassclaw to dump the chaos ship (that we are towing) on them for spares or re-building or whatever they want to do with it.
Tried to escape from the Apocrathy today. Got two whole paces before collapsing.
Got dragged back onto the slab and told not to be so bloody stupid.
Had my chest cut open to get some of the shrapnel out.
I am going to go out of my mind through boredom.
Day 219
Tried escaping again. I acutely go as far as far as the door today.
I would murder for a nice frosty pint of beer.
I can move the fingers in my left hand a bit now. Hurts like hell.
Started to read some of the Apocrathy books. I barely understand any of it.
Day 220
Just had surgery on my right leg to reattach the muscle and stringy things to the bone.
For dinner was mineral goop. Tastes like peat and rust.
Just started reading some of the inspirational messages on the ceiling: 'Death is the consequence of being alive', 'Don't worry about life; you're not going to survive it, anyway', 'Don't take life too seriously; it's not permanent'...
Which sick bastard wrote these on an apocrathium ceiling?
Day 221
Just heard that Brother Benedict got into a lot of trouble with the captain for advertising Kool-Cola on his power armour. He got his ass kicked and told to scrape it off.
Librarian Gvon came to visit me. He says that we should be dropping out of the warp for a few minuets, cutting the stolen ship loose and setting sail for home.
Got a really big heavy wire cage attached to my legs with spokes going in to hold the bones in place
Got one for my left arm.
Day 222
My first heart has started beating again. Am now feeling much better.
Told the Apocrathy. Apocrathy Dvis said that that was a good sign and that now all I need is my second stomach, left kidney, left lung, right larrymans ear and right betchers gland to start working again and I will be ok. Am now feeling much worse.
For dinner was goop with bits in it.
Asked if I could guilt Brother Keel into fetching a beer from the dining hall. Got told 'No. Not until more than half your innards are working properly.'
Day 223
Tried to escape again this morning I acutely managed to touch the doorframe.
Trying to follow the teachings of Lemon Russ: laugh at your problems. Imagine them happening to someone you hate.
I wonder who the next Chapter Master will be.
Day 224
Just had the pulped remains of my second stomach removed. I am going to have a new one.
Tried to escape again.
Got told that if I do not stay on the slab for the next week then I will have to be sedated for the rest of the trip.
I think he's bluffing.
Day 225
Day 226
Day 227
Day 228
Day 229
Day 230
He wasn't bluffing.
Woke up in the apocrathium of the Fort. Feel like I have a hang over.
Had the flask of goop. Feeling much better. Have got a new second stomach.
Managed to get Cog-Brother Fisk to bring a projector into the apocrathium. Started watching a re-enactment of the Badab War.
I missed the funeral for Sternist. May He Dream His Way To Heaven. Fisk brought me back a slice of cake but it's just not the same.
Day 231
Started watching a comedy about some Mordian Imperial Guards posted on Ornsworld during the Gothic Wars.
Benedict and Drell have come to watch the comedy as well.
Drell brought some popcorn. I asked for some but he tells me that I am too ill for popcorn. What am I? Dead? I just think he is being selfish. No one is too ill for popcorn, its just strangely addictive cardboard tasting air for Gods sake!
Day 232
Just had the cage taken off my left leg. I can not say how good it feels to have freedom of movement in it again.
Started watching a series about some Necromundans living in one of the spires of Hive Secundus. Its called 'Comrades'
Kwith and Fisk and Sarge have turned up to watch as well as Benedict and Drell. Apocrathy Dvis has also taken an interest.
Had the right side of my face ripped open so as to have the remains of my Betchers Gland and Larrymans Ear scooped out and replacements put in.
I am now deaf in one ear and I have to eat my dinner through a straw.
Day 233
Still watching 'Comrades'. Apparently Sternist once bought the entire series in one box set (70 percent off limited special offer) when we went to Necromunda on a recruitment trip. He watched them all once and then left them in a cupboard to gather dust for the last 90 years.
Says 600 episodes on the box.
I miss Sternist.
Day 234
I think half the company must be watching the projector. It's getting a bit crowded in here.
Just had a jagged chunk of metal the size of my thumb taken out of my kidney.
Drank some goop.
When I get out of here the first thing I am going to do is raid the pantry for some real food.
One of the last stage neophytes (one of the ones we recruited from Elyria a good few years ago) has just come in for his last implant. Poor lad. I remember when I had my Black Carapace installed. It was the single worst experience of my life (so far). Being riddled with bolt holes does not come close. First they remove pretty much all your skin then they get the Carapace and cut out pieces of Carapace from a big vat-grown sheet. Then they place the pieces on your flayed body. Then they put the skin back on. Then the Carapace starts to fuse its self to every nerve ending it can find.
And you can't use any anaesthetic better than getting drunk for fear of poisoning the Carapace.
Everyone is looking at the Neophyte with expressions of pity.
Day 235
Looking at the neophyte has made me slightly happier about the whole friendly fire thing. Its put it into perspective. No matter how bad it is it can not be as bad as that.
Just finished watching 'Comrades'.
Everyone has now gone back to what ever tasks they have been neglecting for the past few days.
Had lots more shrapnel removed.
Drank some goop. It had crunchy things floating in it.
Had the cage removed from my arm. It feels good as new.
Day 236
Just been told, by Apocrathy Dvis, that the new Chapter Master has been appointed. Its Argjak Ezekiel Frost AKA Frosty Jack / Jack Frost / Old Frostbite
To understand the respect (and bladder trembling terror) that Chapter Master Frost has from the rest of us you must understand how he came to us. The third child of a Wulfite and a Cadian Kasrkin he became the oldest Neophyte on record (97) already having great-grandchildren of his own. We have the best Apocrathys in the entire Adeptus Astarte and have never lost a neophyte during the transformation. We thought he might be the first. The gene-seed caused him to shed his age and he reclaimed his youth, all except his hair which is still white as snow. He is now about 790ish. Until yesterday he was captain of the 5th company. The scars an ork Power Klaw gave his face make his beard grow like icicles. He has never been beaten in close combat, ever, and we all try like hell to be the first. And he has cold greyish blue eyes. And a voice that he has never had to raise because it is so cold and terrifying to listen to. He is almost a personification of the old Winter Spirit Jack Frost in all his sinister magnificence. Needless to say the psykers said he was free of chaos taint before they even scanned him (which they were massively reluctant to do). They said that not even chaos could survive in that glacier of a mind.
That is what we now have as Chapter Master.
Day 237
Contemplating a future with that terror as Chapter Master. It's as bleak as the slopes of hell.
Drank some goop.
Had the cages taken of my legs.
Was told everything has started working again.
Went to the larder and stole a big slab of beef jerky. Damn that's good.
Day 238
Slept properly for the first time in forever.
Started munching on some of the sugary items I have stashed in the hollow wall.
Was going to go to the marksman's range but it's raining.
Went to see the Dreads. They were surprised to see me. They all thought I would be joining them in a more permanent way.
Played cards. Lost.
Dread Strappel had all the new paint stripped off his right arm during the battle on the ship. Can see his original etchings from when he was first made a Dread.
Asked him which company of the Raven Guard had the emblem of a wolf with a crescent moon in its mouth. He told me never to mention it again. Ever. It's probably not important.
Day 239
Just received a message by astropath. An official representative of the Ecclesiarchy is on his way here.
Apparently they are going to be doing a survey or the Chapters beliefs. Great, a prod-nose god-botherer. Just hope they do not start asking questions as to what the hell happened to the Inquisitor.
For dinner was seaweed soup.
Rain is easing off a bit. Going down to the marksmans range.
My left arm is now slightly more crooked than it used to be. It is taking some getting used to with the aiming.
Day 240
Looked at the photo album today. Just occurred to me that all my friends are dead. There is no one left from the time I joined. Not even nearly. Everyone who really knew me has gone away and I can not follow them.
I am an old man. How did that happen?
Need to transfer all the photos to a new book I have added so man extra pages to this one its about a foot thick.
For dinner was some sort of poisonous tuba. Looked like a mutant potato.
Day 241
Went to visit the Dreads. They are telling jokes again:
How Many Sisters of Battle does it take to change a light bulb?
Three. On to change the light bulb and the other two to spend hours saying how much better at it they are than men.
How many Raven Guards does it take to change a light bulb?
Raven Guards aren't scared of the dark.
How many heathen Eldar does it take to change a light bulb?
Just one. But in the good old days of the Great Empire a billion light bulbs would be changed at their slightest whim.
How many Tech-priests does it take to change a light bulb?
Just one. But you had better be prepared to hear them go on and on and on about how light bulbs are not as bright as they were in the Dark Age Of Technology.
How many Inquisitors does it take to change a light bulb?
There is no light bulb. You saw no light bulb. There was never a light bulb there. You ask to many questions.
How many Dark Angels does it take to change a light bulb?
Ssshh. It's a secret.
There are only so many bad jokes I can take. Left the room
Went to practice unarmed combat.
Got the crap kicked out of me.
Day 242
Went down to the marksmans range. Nearly back to my exacting standards of accuracy.
Spent a good few hours doing maintenance and repair rituals on the sniper rifle.
Painted the rifle green and brown.
Dinner was some sort of broth.
Decided that I need to tidy my room.
Day 243
Finished tidying room. Should be good for another hundred years now.
Going down to the lake to see if my third lung has fully recovered from surgery.
Seems to have. Wondering if I should have brought a bar of soap with me.
Going to spend some time just sitting at the bottom of the lake. Its quiet down here.
Day 244
Went back to the Fort just after dinner. Had some more of the sweet stash.
Been told that the Ecclesiarchy agent will arrive some time tomorrow. Now there is something to look forward to.
Replaced one of the swords in the training room with one of those inflatable rubber ones you get from fair grounds.
Sarge picked it up. Everyone laughed. He then belted me round the head with it till I said sorry.
Day 245
Ecclesiarchy agent arrived at about three in the morning. There is nothing like someone holding a clipboard to put people on edge.
I saw her and my hearts nearly stopped. She is the spitting image of my betrothed before I became what I am...
1200 years in the service of humanity but sometimes I can not help but wonder what it would have been like to have lived and died a human.
Retreated to the Dreads. They have decided to forgo their cards for the day and are playing a game of word association. Someone says a word then someone else has to say a word that is of relevance to it. If you repeat a word you are out. Last one standing wins.
It started off with Priest – Robe – Scribe – Quill – Feather – Kroot – Xeno – Heathen – Enemy – Deamon – Warp – Chaos – Inquisitor –Hypocrisy – Ecclesiarchy – Cathedral – Brick – Plank – Ogyrn – Abbhuman – Ratling – Small then I got sick of the game and asked to leave.
Day 246
Apparently the Ecclesiarchy agent asked to see the chaplain. Came as a shock to her to find out we do not have one. Why should we give those hypocritical god-botherers authority over us.
She acutely asked CM Frost who tends to the spiritual well being of the chapter. He told her that only the sick need doctors. But the thing is she acutely asked Old Frostbite. That takes nerves of steel. Got to give her credit for that.
Because we are entertaining a human visitor the food is more normal. Today's dinner was Hotpot and bread.
The Ecclesiarchy agent, who is called Lizly, is now asking each of us how we, personally, view the Emperors divinity. If she is trying to acutely document what we believe then she is going to be disappointed. We are recruited from a hundred worlds and our beliefs are diverse. We tend to hold on to them.
Went down to the marksmans range. Aim is improving.
Day 247
Despite my best efforts I got asked if I saw the Big-E as a god and how did I worship. I may have made a mistake of answering truthfully. I said I did not see the Big-E as a god but as great man whose example we should try to live by. And that I have given six score centuries of being beaten, stabbed, stomped, burnt, shot, poisoned, electrocuted and generally maimed and mutilated in any number of exotic way by things that her worst nightmares are scared of for his people. The answer seemed to satisfy her.
Just coughed up a chunk of bolt shrapnel.
For diner was bacon chops and brussel sprouts. We always seem to eat better when we have a guest.
She is asking to see the private library. Unfortunately no one can think of a reason to stop her without it looking suspicious.
Day 248
Coughed up another shard of metal. Going to see an apocrathy.
He found a fair few lumps left in. Had quick surgery and they all eventually came out.
Astropath just got a cry for help from a nearby forge world. They have an ork problem.
CM frost says 'It is our duties as warriors of honour to come to the aid of the distressed.' Translated that means 'If we help them they will owe us one and they might give us a special offer next time we have to buy anything from them'.
Ecclesiarchy agent has said that she wishes to come along to observe. CM Frost said that is ok but we will not go needlessly out of our way to protect her.
1st, 2nd, 5th and 8th are going to this party. Painting all the armour nondescript shades of grey.