MAROONED ON 4546b

I've been sat here, trying to remember the Rule of 3s from those Craig McGill holos we used to play onboard Aurora.  They used to have this song at the end of every scenario, but we always logged off before the end and now I'm wondering whether I should've paid more attention. [indistinct humming] Three minutes of air is where we begin, something something, three hours without a roof, something about snow. Clean water adds three more days, then something about three weeks if you have food... I forget how it all goes. So then, according to Craig McGill, my survival priorities are Air - Shelter - Water - Food. I have air, so that's a tick in the plus column. I kind of have shelter, since I have the lifepod, but I could do with something more substantial. Clean water isn't a problem now that I can fabricate the bleach to disinfect it, and t here's plenty of food around with all the fish and plants. Okay then, if I'm not getting rescued and I have air, water ...

I'm back inside the lifepod and I can't seem to stop shaking.  I don't remember swimming back from the island, but I must've done.  I'm not sure what day it is.  It's light outside, but I don't know if it's still the same day.  Is it the same day? I think I'm in shock.  I feel cold and my hands are shaking.  Why won't they stop shaking?  I'm going to cook some Peeper, maybe a hot meal will help. The Sunbeam exploded. I watched it happen.  I sat on the beach and watched as the Sunbeam was shot out of the sky.  There was nothing I could do.  The alien structure that I thought was so beautiful, it moved and the part I thought was a tower was pointed at the ship.  There was this indescribable sound and a blinding cone of light and the Sunbeam was exploded.   Its gone.  I heard the captain's voice over my PDA saying that he could see me, and now he's gone too. Is this why the Aurora crashed too?  Why did it shoot...

Oh God, no. I'm going to die here.

I've finally set foot on the island and this alien structure is no less awe inspiring from the outside.  I mean, I've spent days under the sea, struggling to survive, and this was here the whole time.  It's blowing my mind! There are other signs of alien life on this island too, like these marker stones or whatever they are that seem to litter the place.  They're dull grey, like slate, until you get close to them and then they start to glow, just like the walls inside the structure. The rest of the place is luscious and green, with soft sand under foot.  These trees grow here, which the scanner calls Bulbo Trees, and they seem to store water which can literary be squeezed from their flesh when you cut them.  It's sweet, like melon juice, and definitely taste better than the disinfected water I've been drinking. There are also these little, four-legged, crab-like things scampering around.  They have one big eye, which seems to take up most of their bodies, a...

Okay, I don't know what I just found, but it was huge and old and fakking alien . I got inside the structure through an undersea entrance and it was so beautiful. There were vast rooms and corridors on different levels, all connected by ramps.  Some of the walls glowed, like they had a form of lighting built into them.  There weren't any doors, but some of the areas were blocked off by energy forcefields of some kind.  It's the most incredible thing I've ever seen.  I can't even begin to imagine the technology involved. I've scanned everything I can find, since I was sure that Alterra would want all the data I could get, and then headed back to where I came in.  All of this won't be worth anything if I miss the Sunbeam and end up stranded here.  

This morning a message from the Sunbeam woke me, which has become my favourite way to wake up! Apparently they've located an island which is suitable for them to land on and have broadcast the co-ordinates.  It's about 1300m from my current location, so I've fabricated a couple of extra batteries, just in case the seaglide doesn't have enough power to carry me the whole way. I've also upgrade my HUD with a compass to keep me on track.  Last thing I want is to get lost on the way to my salvation! Is it weird that I'm kinda sad to be leaving my little lifepod 5 all alone?  I mean, it's kept me safe all this time.  I guess it's okay to leave here, along with all the other wreckage, as a memorial for those who actually died here, both in the crash and after. I'll make what will be my last entry when I get to the island and narrate the Sunbeam's landing.  I cannot wait to meet Captain Quinn and thank him personally for the rescue. The rescue isn't...

I nearly drowned today.  Proper tunnelling-of-my-vision, chest-tight, brain-screaming-for-air drowning.  I don't think I've ever been so scared in my life. I was swimming out near the Aurora again and found some more fragments which added to my library of fabricator blueprints then, on my way back to the lifepod, I happened upon a really large wreck.  I mean, this thing was massive.  It must've been a piece of the Aurora that must have broken off when it broke the atmosphere, but before it hit the water.  I found a small opening inside through one of the maintenance duct that had sheered off, and my curiosity got the better of my good sense.  I forgot to check my oxygen meter before going inside. I barely got out and reached the surface in time.  I've had a headache for the past couple of hours and the spots have only just stopped flashing in front of my eyes.  I thought I was doing okay here, but this has been a wake up call.  I need to get...

I've spent today scanning the alien fish species to get more information to take back with me to Alterra space.  Apart from the Peepers and Garry fish I'd already scanned (and eaten), I've also got details on the large Gasopods (who's defence & attack technique is to release naturally grown poison grenades onto the surrounding water), Hoverfish & Hoopfish (both of which are sort of boring, but I expect xenobiologists would be fascinated). I also swam back to the area near the Aurora and found enough material to complete the blueprint for a scanner room and parts for a laser cutter.  Not that I'm going to need either of those soon! The PDA has warned me that the bacteria it originally detected in the water has now infected me.  I hope the Sunbeam has a decent medical bay on-board, or at least has a cryosuite.  I'd rather spend the return journey in cryostatis than die of some alien bacteria infection when I'm so close to getting home.  

Captain Quinn has broadcast another message.  Apparently they're looking for somewhere to park, so they must not be far out now.  I don't know if there's any land nearby, but there's still lots of these Skyray birds around, so they must be roosting somewhere.  Hopefully the Sunbeam will send me some co-ordinates once they find a suitable location and I'll be able to get there with the seaglide.  If not, then I don't know how I'm going to meet up with them.  I guess I'll have to keep scavenging and see if I can salvage enough materials to fabricate something bigger. If the Aurora was carrying Cyclops parts, then maybe they had some other undersea vehicles.  Even one of the Tech crew's P.R.A.W.N. suits would be better than nothing right now, not that I've ever piloted one. I just don't want to get left behind again.

There's so much wreckage over near the Aurora, and it's more complete than I originally thought.  There are whole compartments that must've broken away from the ship and are still mostly intact.  The bulkheads on the wreck I found still seem to be sealed, so maybe I can cut my way inside.  I'll have to remember where this area is and come back another time. There were also some sealed containers on the sea bed, which I guess must've spilled from the cargo bay.  Maybe they've got some of the phasegate tech we were transporting inside.  That's got to have some value to Alterra if I can get recovered and transported back to Earth.  Okay, it contained a battery.  That was a major disappointment, but I did also find some furniture and parts from a Cyclops submarine, which is kinda weird in itself.  We were out here to travel to The Ariadne Arm and  build a phasegate , so why would the Aurora be carrying parts to build a submarine?  Seems like...

I've decided to swim closer to the Aurora wreckage today and explore that area some more.  I figured that I might find some viable salvage that would be recoverable by the Sunbeam when it arrives.

Emotionally and mentally drained today.  Finding Ozzy's lifepod and hearing his last messages has left me so depressed that I don't want to do anything, so I'm not going to.  Tomorrow I'll force myself to do things, but I'm giving myself today. I did fabricate a rebreather, so I can dive deeper and explore more.  I've got limited time before the Sunbeam gets here, so I should probably gather what information I can on this planet before I leave. Tomorrow.  I'll do it tomorrow. 

I've been taking it easy today.  Finding Ozzy's lifepod yesterday really hit me hard, so I've not been pushing myself.  I have enough food and water in storage for a couple of days, so I can afford to give myself a day or two just to process everything.  I feel like I've been operating on super tense mode since I got here, so I really need to take some time to breathe. I swam with Reefback today.  They're these huge, peaceful creatures that just drift through the ocean here like living islands.  They have these deep calls they make to each other that reminds me of whale song.  Actually, the Reefbacks kinda look like a cross between turtles and whales, cos they have this shell on their backs where some of the local plant life grows, adding to their appearance of islands.  Also, I managed to drop my survival knife and lose it.  I was able to fabricate another, but still... not impressed. Ryley out.

I found Lifepod 17 and Ozzy's PDA was inside.  He was like me.  Ozzy wasn't an engineer of any kind and he wasn't command material.  He was just a really good chef who helped to maintain a sense of normality on-board a captial ship travelling through deep space. And now he's gone.   In the distress message, Ozzy said that something snake-like was trying to eat through the hull of the lifepod.  Looking at the state of it, I can only assume that whatever it was, it succeeded.  It was a two-man lifepod, Ozzy shouldn't have been on his own.  He shouldn't have died alone and scared in the dark.  I hope the Sunbeam comes for me soon.

I received another pre-recorded distress call.  It was from Ozzy, who was one of the non-essential staff on the Aurora that I supervised.  He ran the SnapBlu café on-board the ship where I ate breakfast most mornings.  Ozzy had this ridiculous moustache and an infectious laugh, plus he made the best hash browns from nutrient blocks and Chinese potatoes. On the distress call he sounded confused and desperate and afraid.  I've got the co-ordinates for lifepod 17 and I think I've got enough daylight to get there.  I need to see if he's alive or look for some sign of what's happened to him. 

There's been another message from the Sunbeam!  Apparently their scanners have detected the debris field that was left from whatever it was that caused the Aurora to crash.  Now their captain believes that the distress signal is real and they're coming to get me. Apparently they're quite a way out, so it'll take about a week to reach here.  We were 10 months out from the nearest phasegate when the Aurora crashed, so it's not a big surprise that it'll take them so long.  I know I can survive on this planet, so it's just a matter of doing just that until the Sunbeam arrives. I'm in danger of actually having a little hope.

I'm still buzzing from last night.  I can't quite believe it.  I don't want to leave the lifepod in case I miss another message from the Sunbeam, but I need to keep myself busy. I've collected enough materials to fabricate a Seaglide, so I'm flying around underwater now and should be able to explore further afield.  With the radiation suit I might even try getting closer to the Aurora.  There might be something useful in the wreckage, although there's still plenty of wrecks around here I need to look over. So, I guess that's the plan for today.  Go look for wrecks, as well as build up more stocks of food & water.  Okay, I have a plan.  Let's do this.

There's another ship out there!  They must've picked up the Aurora's distress signal and sent a message to check up on us.   I remember hearing about some Alterra captains having a reputation for misusing their distress calls for non-emergency situations, so I can't blame them for being cautious.   It's so good to hear another human voice that isn't pre-recorded though.  Whoever this Captain Avery Quinn is, he's alive, out there somewhere and looking for me. I try not to hope too much, because I think the disappointment might kill me faster than starvation, but the longer I can survive the better my chances of rescue are.  I don't know that I could get back to sleep now, so I guess I'll go up on the roof and look at the stars for a while...  maybe try to spot which one might be the Sunbeam.

Well, that did not go well.  I found lifepod 3, right where the co-ordinates said, but it had been partially destroyed and there were no signs of life.   I'm hoping they got out and the damage occurred after they had already left, but I found an abandoned PDA in the wreckage and no one from the Aurora  would leave that behind,  let alone one of the phase gate engineers. Anyway, I brought it back with me and managed to sync it with my own PDA.  There was an audio recording on it, probably the last thing they set down.  There were two of them in that lifepod and they were trying to supercharge their seaglide to enable it to carry the two of them.   Looking at the pics I took of lifepod 3, it almost looks like the damage was caused from the inside.  The metal skin is bent outward, as if a force from inside pushed it out.  Could it be that their jury-rigged seaglide actually exploded and did this?  The one thing that they hoped wou...

It's been an eventful day, to say the least.  I was woken by an alarm from the short range radio, because it had received a pre-recorded distress signal from another lifepod.  To say I was excited would be an understatement! Hearing another human voice was beyond emotional.  I think I recognised her as being on one of the engineering crews back on the Aurora.  One of those people who actually does something important, not just oversees the cleaning of vending machines.  I can't remember their name though, which I feel bad about now.  The message said they were trying to repair their Seaglide and that they might be late for the rendezvous.  I have no idea what rendezvous she was referring to, but maybe I missed a briefing or something.  Anyway, I've got the co-ordinates for their lifepod and I don't think it's far, so I'll head over there shortly. Ryley out.   

Today I've just tried to keep busy and not think about what happened with the Aurora or what might happen next.  I've collected more materials and fabricated a larger air tank, a radiation suit and a flashlight.  I guess I'll have to start exploring some of the caves I've been avoiding now. Speaking of which, I managed to disturb what must've been a nest of those exploding puffer fish.  I had like three or four of them chasing after me and I had to treat myself for burns when I got back to the lifepod.  I can't change what happened and I couldn't have done anything about it.  Whatever comes next, comes...  I'll just have to stay alive as long as I can until I know what that is.

The Aurora exploded!  I was sat on the roof of the lifepod and it just blew up! There was a spike in radiation when it happened and the PDA has unlocked an emergency blueprint for a protective suit, but I don't know what I'm supposed to do now.  What if there were other survivors on board?  Should I go and see, or is that too dangerous?   I don't know what I'm supposed to do now...