Journal Entry 32
April 1, 2023
Artifacts: 25
Repairs: 25
Kill count: 230
Got the date down. Tabby has a calendar app of both worlds. This world might follow a different calendar. But I will not lose track of mine. The last leap year was 2020. 2024 will be the next one.
People who write about climbing into air vents for any length of time, forget about the dust. Instead, write about the pain on the joints.
I have fallen into a routine now. Routine for all! Routine! Routine! Routine!
I need a pet. This is the longest I've gone without being in the close proximity of one and it's driving me nuts.
TT
The last month has been a mixture of good and bad. The good is that I have a routine to follow to ensure I get things done and not burn out from doing too much at once. The bad is that the metalheads are getting antsy. From what I could gather from Damas, the Spargans love hunting metalheads. They have a system where they are almost never alone. I don't have that.
Let's focus on the good and go over my routine. I wake up at 7:30 every day, on the dot. Stake out a bathroom. Coast has to be clear so I can go without having to fight with my pants down. Happened once, never again. All a matter of leaving the vent cover off, don't flush until after I wash my hands. There's no toilet paper, so I have to boil more moss to keep on hand. Depending on where, the plumbing can make quite a racket, so I have to bolt to the vents. The surrounding critters and bots will convene to any unknown noise fast. Moving on, I go through my food stock, making sure I have the freshest and best for making it through being toted around for several days at a time. These will be carrots, radishes and beets. Then I eat breakfast consisting of peaches, strawberries, black razzberries and oranges. The leftovers I didn't eat from the day prior get chopped up and dumped on the soil of whatever crop floor I'm on.
Then I go wander, picking up whatever artifact I come across. If it's the one I need, I put it in the proper spot. If it's not, I put it in a closet I cleared out on the communications floor. Tabby has pictures of all the artifacts. I managed to set it to show me where to put the artifacts only once a day. The repairs are quite simple. Replace a wire or plug one in, flip a few switches.
Then I raid a crop floor for lunch. Tabby said that the crops were designed for fast growth, I didn't have to worry about overharvesting. No going hungry. I may have missed meals in the past due to personal choice but missing a meal from outside forces makes it harder on the stomach.
The icing on the top is when I found the weapons hold a week ago. All beyond advanced than of Earth. I even found a room designed for growing eco crystals. There were four metalheads guarding the door. Make sense. The weapons are powered by eco, none of them being like the weaponry I'm used to. Only two still had a bit of eco left to use, a small handgun and a rifle, two shots each. I made them count. I used my key to lock the two rooms tight. They are mine now. I keep those two weapons on me at all times now.
I just cram the crystals in the ammo slot. It works out.
I also found bottles of alcohol. I don't drink. Never too much when I did. Instead, I use it to clean any wounds. So far, managed to avoid major infections. Only had two very minor ones that cleared up in a week.
After lunch, I make my way back to the top to call Damas. The excitement of talking to a fictional character died out. He is a person now. Sometimes the call ins are short. Sometimes I share tidbits of Earth. He's the only one I talk to know. I don't talk to myself anymore. Not safe to do so anyway.
After the call, I go hunting. As my weapon arsenal was quite limited in the beginning, I went after those wandering on their own. If I had to take after an animal, I would say the tiger. I go for the head, the neck. I always attack from behind. Hmm, I read somewhere that they have spots on the back of their ears to resemble eyes as to fool the ones hunting them. I mean, the apex predators of today were lower on the food chain in the far past. Like a human's appendix, it doesn't serve a proper purpose anymore. All that aside, I might try to make some headwear to look like I do have eyes on the back of my head.
After I fill my quota of ten a day, be it within an hour or four, I slink back into the vents until the next morning. Oh, and my clothing is self repairing.
That's about all the good. Now for the bad. I can't stand the open space anymore. The only fear I faced the most and recently while on Earth is of not knowing where a hornet is inside my apartment. Can't stand them. Never been stung, still haven't been here, and never will be. Now, the fear racked up to where I feel like there is an angry swarm next to me. When I get out of here, and I mean when, not if, it will take more than a bit of time for me to not want to hide at all times.
Eco is painful. After snagging six vials of eco from another room with a needle filled trap, I made small puddles from my blood from a previous wound. Pouring one type of eco in each puddle resulted it in various results. Green became a glob, sticky as maple syrup. Yellow smoked before evaporating. Red exploded. Blue sent tiny arcs before going off with a bang. Light decolored the blood while leaving a corrosive burn on the floor. Dark bubbled and solidified. All that just five minutes after combining.
After watching my experiments show me the multiple agonizing ways I could die, I thanked the stars far above that I was able to get the eco out quick enough every time. Small cuts and burns are so much more preferable.
The gloves I received are the most protective surface between my skin and crystalized eco. The liquids had different effects, the solids were one and same. They burn my skin, like grabbing a too hot piece of metal.
My joints, specifically my elbows and knees, hurt. Mankind evolved to stand upright and run in open space, not crawl on hard surfaces for prolong periods of time. They hurt all the time now. I can't truly feel the bottom of my feet anymore, so I make sure to continuously check them to ensure no damage.
My back, hurts. I definitely pulled it when I took a leap of faith from some pipes to spear a spyder in the head.
When I first came here, I was suffering from depression, like a thick, tarry fog in my head. The sudden change cleared it out within a few days. But now, it's coming back. Questioning my will to do anything. I push it back. Talking to Damas is one of my few points of sanity now.
And with that, I am finishing up the daily call in. "No Dune. Where I'm from won't be on your maps at all."
"You are a baffling case Rift."
"Indeed. Talk to you tomorrow."
Hanging up, I checked my bag. Knife, Nectar, moss, food, water, pjs, key, handgun. Rifle strapped over my shoulder, an improved spear, filthy and matted hair tied back. Spare crystals in a separate pocket, gloves in perfect condition. Bag strap double knotted. Yeah, I tied extra straps on my bag. It got torn off my shoulder 'bout week ago. Ready.
THREE HOURS LATER
Shit! Shitshitshit! This is NOT HAPPENING! I only need to kill one more. One More!
Yeah, I'm running for my life right now. I did mention that they have been getting more antsy as of late. And I have at least a dozen behind me. And there's another group in front of me. Taking a sharp turn to a different hallway, I heard the racket of both groups crashing into one another. I took the chance to turn around. Take shot, MARK! Quota has been met. There's a vent.
Safety. Just need to crawl in further for safety before I wait twelve hours to do this all over again.
Kill count: 240