Sol 55
70103 Ti
Finally, enough stopped going wrong that I could set out today. Today's expedition is out towards the dune sea, where I was able to make a good amount of headway. But as expected, obstacles. This time due to the aforementioned "dune" part of the dune sea, where not only am I struggling to walk across the sand as it slides away underfoot, but there's a near-constant wind blowing sand in my face. It's not like I'm getting anything in my eyes here, really, but it's still terrible for visibility and my exosuit doesn't have its own proximity radar.
I got a good ways in before I just gave up and scrounged out resources for a new base. I forgot how many I have already, and I think I'm at Epsilon Base or something. Lemme think...Beta Base is the main one, then Gamma Base is in the aluminum hills, which would make the one in among the spires Delta Base, and then the one in the canyon Epsilon Base. So this one is Zeta Base then. I'm running out of letters in the Greek alphabet. I think once I go through those I'll do the Hebrew alphabet or something.
I can see the shipwreck looming in the distance, like some giant hulk of a whale they dropped onto the sand. Maybe I'll find the wreckage of a bowl of petunias too, who knows.
Sol 56
74925 Ti
Okay, so...lemme start with the more grounded things first. I picked Zeta Base up after sleeping last night and carried it off with me towards the shipwreck. It's a lot bigger than the ones I've seen so far, a full-scale battleship that's managed to crash into the desert. I didn't get a chance to actually explore inside, but I was able to see that it was named the ISS Harinth.
That's not much on its own until I thought about it a bit longer, and I remember a story from when I was a lot younger than I am now. I was around 8, I think, when there was a whole big to-do about the Harinth just vanishing on its way to do battle with some rebel cell out in the Salusa Tertius Sector. And yes, you guessed it, it vanished on its way through the Izitial Prime Sector.
So...that's a warp gate that managed to vanish, and this giant battleship, and a scattering of other ships that I've found so far. Who knows, maybe there's even more. This planet is seriously starting to weird me out at this point, especially with how urgently they wanted me to get down here.
And I haven't even gotten to the big thing yet. When I was setting Zeta Base down for the night, I found some a bit of metal jutting up from the ground, half-buried in the ground. And I mean jutting straight up, like when you shove a stick in the ground to mark your path. And true to form, I could see another bit of metal like it further off. I went out to it, and saw a third one. They're leading me off south from the wreck, but my carbon filters were getting saturated and I had to turn in for the night.
So...right now I need to consider the idea that I may not be alone. I probably am, of course, this wreck has been here for 21 years and I seriously doubt that anyone who had actually survived would have done so for long enough to still be around here. Either they died or they got rescued. And there was exactly one guy who claimed to be from the Harinth, but he turned out to be a liar. Either way...this is completely dominating my thoughts now. The wreck can wait. I've gotta follow up on this.
Sol 57
79002 Ti
I'm not the first person to survive landing here.
I set off following that trail of markers and found a base, buried in the sand. It's one living compartment, a bed, a desk, and a computer terminal. I downloaded the message on it, lemme just upload it now...
Oᴜʀ sʜɪᴘ ʜᴀs ᴄʀᴀsʜᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ᴀɴ ᴜɴᴋɴᴏᴡɴ ʀᴇᴀsᴏɴ ᴏɴ ᴛʜɪs ᴘʟᴀɴᴇᴛ.
Mᴀɴʏ ᴏғ ᴜs ᴅɪᴇᴅ ᴏɴ ɪᴍᴘᴀᴄᴛ. Sᴏᴍᴇ ᴏғ ᴜs ᴅɪᴇᴅ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ sᴜʀғᴀᴄᴇ.
I'ᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏɴʟʏ ᴏɴᴇ ʟᴇғᴛ.
I ᴛʀɪᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ sᴜʀᴠɪᴠᴇ, ʙᴜᴛ ᴛʜɪs ʟᴀɴᴅ ɪs ᴛᴏᴏ ʜᴏsᴛɪʟᴇ. Mʏ ʜᴇᴀʟᴛʜ ɪs ɢᴇᴛᴛɪɴɢ ʟᴏᴡ...
I'ᴍ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴏᴜᴛsɪᴅᴇ ᴏɴᴇ ʟᴀsᴛ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʀʏ ᴛᴏ ғɪɴᴅ sᴏᴍᴇ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ...
Iᴋʜʟᴀs
So...I don't know what to make of that.
The base was shut down and depressurized, but after fiddling around on the terminal for a bit I managed to get it online. It was able to dial in to the frequency that the rest of my equipment is on, calibrated to the right wavelength, and was able to start drawing power from the grid to reactivate its life support. So now I guess I have Eta Base, or maybe I can call it Ikhlas' Base since I didn't make it. Probably that. I'll call it Ikhlas' Base, then.
So...I'm just sitting on the man's bed, and I have no idea if he managed to survive. He probably didn't. The guy who claimed to be from the Harinth was named Kylan, I've never heard anything from anyone named Ikhlas.
I don't know what I should think about this. I'm suddenly paranoid that I'll end up coming across someone's dead body while I'm out here, and if that happens I don't know what I might think. It's not like a body would decay out here, there's nothing to make it decay. If it was still in the suit, perhaps, but...
Oh god, this is not what I need to be thinking about. Enough of this. I'm going to bed. Thank you for setting up a place for me to sleep tonight, Ikhlas. I'll dream of lush, habitable worlds in your honor.
