MAROONED ON 4546b

I have a scanner!   I cannot explain what it's like holding this tool in my hands, one that I've used every day of my working life, but here and now it's taken on a totally different significance. I made this.  I mean, obviously the fabricator made it, but I had to find the materials it needed and I swam in an alien ocean to do it.  Fakk yeah! There's a bit of time before sunset, so I'm going to go back in the water, scan some of the local fish & plants and see what the PDA thinks is edible.  I've already drank both my emergency water rations, so I'm trying not to think about that right now. The PDA says my chances of survival have gone from 'Unlikely' to 'Plausible', so I'm going to take that as a vote of confidence from my only other companion. Ryley out.

  I wasn't prepared for how beautiful it is down here.  I think the gravity must be different here from on Earth, since I can't hold my breath for very long, but I did managed to take a few pics with the PDA. There's so much more life than I expected!  Tiny fish to big stingray type creatures, and so much plant life.  One of them did try to take a bite out of me though as I was taking a pic, so I'll have to be more careful and maybe arm myself as well. I did also manage to find some copper ore in a limestone outcrop, as well as a local species of fungus which the PDA assures me is acidic, so I should be able to fabricate my battery.  I've also seen lots of wreckage from the Aurora littering the sea floor, so the fabricator should be able to break that down into usable titanium.  Fingers crossed I'll have a scanner made before nightfall!

  Okay, my current priorities are;  Get the radio working. Make sure I have enough food & water. Contact any other survivors. Stay alive long enough to get rescued. First on that list is to fix the radio and for that I'll need a repair tool.  The lifepod's fabricator unit has the blueprint for one, but it needs some materials to use in the manufacture; chiefly silicone rubber, sulphur & titanium.  None of which I have... So, I'll need to leave the lifepod to try and find some, plus I'll need a portable scanner to identify them (or at least find local materials that can be broken down into usable facsimiles).  In which case, going through this logically so that I don't start losing my mind, the first priority is to fabricate a hand-scanner. Fortunately the PDA has a blueprint for this in its survival database, and would require a battery and some raw titanium.  Neither of which I have... I know that I can fabricate a battery.  I've done that bef...

  I'm a bit confused.  According to both my chrono and the PDA, this is day two, but I don't feel like I've been here for more than a few hours.  Maybe my head got hit harder than I thought on the way down. The night didn't seem to last very long and I'm pretty sure that I didn't fall asleep yet, so maybe my chrono is picking up on the planet's ambient light cycles?  It could be syncing itself up with local time, I guess. I mean, it's possible, right?  If the planet is tilted on its axis, then that would mean that nights are shorter then the days at certain times of the year and longer at others.  Plus the day/night cycle seems a lot shorter than on Earth... I'm sure all this was be obvious to a planetary geologist or geographer, but I never studied.  Destined for middle management, that's me. Okay, enough moping.  Time to make a plan. Bad things generally come out at night, so it'd be worth knowing how long the daylight actually lasts.  If I...

  The lifepod's solar cells have been able to suck up enough power to launch the secondary system.  Apparently, this is an unsurveyed planet with the snappy designation of 4546b.  The Aurora crashed due to suffering orbital hull failure - cause unknown - and there are no signs of human life detected... which is total boll since I'm alive!  I guess the lifepod's sensors are just as fried as the radio. However, they have detected increased radiation levels, which is supposedly consistent with damage to the Aurora's drive core.  I'm not an engineer, so I'm not sure entirely what they means, but it doesn't sound good. Since the lifepod has been able to confirm that there's a safe, breathable atmosphere, I've ventured out on to the roof for a look around; There is nothing but water everywhere! It's actually quite beautiful, but it's also a bit of a shock finding out I'm on an ocean planet, especially after 13 months on-board a capital ship.  T...