MAROONED ON 4546b

I'm losing my mind. Thinking about it, it was probably going to happen sooner or later. I'm under a lot of stress, and then there's the all fish diet... That can't help, right? I heard a voice. No, I don't mean on the radio or through the PDA, dammit! There were lights... like little globes of light in front of my eyes... and then a voice asked me, "What are you?" . Do mad people know when they're going insane? I wonder whether I will know when I've gone mad? As if hearing voices wasn't proof enough! Okay. Okay, this is no good. Keep yourself busy, Ryley. You've plenty to do here. We got this. ...we got this.

There's message from Alterra HQ! I can't believe it... after all this time. [muted sounds of garbled radio transmission] Okay, so it sounds like this might be the only communication I'm getting from them. Maybe the Platform is interferring with signals now that its active? Fakk...  They aren't sending a rescue ship. [more muted sounds of garbled radio transmission] Halfway? Wha- what do they mean halfway? [even more muted sounds of garbled radio transmission] [garbled radio transmission is played again] I don't understand. What're they expecting me to do? Build a craft that's capable of reaching escape velocity and then navigate to a interstellar location.. from what? Sea shells and fakking coral! I don't even fix vending machines or entertainment units, I oversee other people who do that stuff! I wouldn't even know where to begin... I knew it. I'm gonna die on this fakking rock. [sounds of a storage compartment being aggressively opened and slam...

After deciding not to risk using the alien archway a second time, I'm going to swim back to my escape pod. I figured that if I was careful, then I should have enough battery power to use the Seaglide and get back before before dark. I turned to look back at this island before starting the swim, and noticed something glowing underneath. This island isn't an island at all! It wasn't even connected to any other landmass or to the ocean floor. It was just like a huge plateau of rock which was being kept afloat by these giant bouyant things attached to the surface underneath the water. I got close enough to scan one of them and the readings suggested that they were the same as the small Floaters that I've seen before, but massive and ancient as fakk!   This planet really is amazing.  All this scan data would be worth an absolute mint, if anyone else ever got to see it.  Ryley out.

I can't believe it.  I thought I was alone here.  Except for the sealife, obviously. And maybe the aliens. Unless they count as sealife too?   Anyway, I thought I was the only living human being on this rock, but I found habitation pods!  I mean, they're abandoned and haven't been maintained in a while, but it's evidence that other people have been here and maybe they still are... I need to sit down. I think I'm having a panic attack.  [sounds of rapid breathing and indistinct mumbling for several minutes] Okay... okay. I'm good. Everything's good. Just got a bit overwhelmed, that's all.  It's a lot.  On top of everything else, I mean.  I-I should probably start at the beginning. So, I left the cave before dawn and, keeping one hand on the cliff face, I started to follow a rough trail down. Which was when I saw the cargo pod. My first thought was that maybe it was from The Aurora, or had somehow survived what happened to the Sunbeam, but the...