The Atlanteans of Proxima b: Chapter 2
24th June - 5th August in the Year of Our Lord 2732
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Captain's Log, 24th June in the Year of Our Lord 2732
The council will still not officially sanction my mission to the Opli, nor will they allow anyone else to accompany me. If I were a suspicious man I would think the council wanted rid of me but I know the decisions are made for the good of the colony as I would make the same decision. Neither the priests nor the anthropologist can go but I can.
Captain's Log, 25th June in the Year of Our Lord 2732
Preparations are being made. Maps copied and routes planned. Food is being dried and preserved while a solar powered cart is being altered for the arduous journey across the continent. There are a number of mountain ranges along all of the proposed routes but the biggest concern is exposure. Proxima b is tidally locked and the continent bathed in sunlight continuously. The colonists survive by maintaining a strict 24 hour day with covered walkways and shutters on all the windows to create night indoors, some have gone as far to make a rudimentary planetarium so they can “see the stars”.
In comparison I will have a thick tent that blocks almost all of the light, a wide brimmed hat, like the ones our farmers use, to shield my eyes and face, and a wind cloak that should keep me cool in the heat and warm in the cold with a collar to protect my neck. Altitude is the biggest concern, the mountains rise at minimum over 5000 metres and at their absolute peak almost 21'000 metres. The current favoured route takes me through a glacial valley which sits at 5142 metres high but there is concern over how the cart will manage the terrain.
My worry is the flora and fauna. A slight cut from a poisonous thorn could kill me or some ferocious dogbear could eat me. I don't know if dogbears exist, they probably don't and I should return to reality, we haven't seen much in way of predators.
But that doesn't mean predators aren't here.
Captain's Log, 26th June in the Year of Our Lord 2732
Father Cooperson visited me with a gift of books, mostly Bibles and books by missionaries. I have always been a poor Christian, attending church less than monthly and reading the Bible only during Lent and Advent but the Father was delighted someone was going to preach to the Opli I didn't have the heart to confess my sins. Perhaps it is the thirty years in space that caused my faith to fall to shadow. It isn't weak, my belief in God and His Saviour is firm, but performing the rites and rituals has become foreign to me. Father Cooperson will know that I haven't attended Mass in several weeks. I will go tomorrow, and everyday until my departure.
Captain's Log, 30th June in the Year of Our Lord 2732
The day has been chosen. The deadline for supplies and tools set. I leave on the 1st of August.
Captain's Log, 3rd July in the Year of Our Lord 2732
The cart is finished, though “cart” doesn't do it justice. It is a four wheel drive fully automated all terrain vehicle with a covered storage bed and a front cabin complete with bed, kettle, and microwave. The solar panels should keep the battery charged for the duration of the journey, and beyond, while most faults can be fixed with the included kit or my the machine itself. I don't know how they fitted everything in.
Captain's Log, 4th July in the Year of Our Lord 2732
1100 Hours
The cart has been loaded with various equipment and necessities, including the tent which is now obsolete given the alterations to the vehicle's cabin but the engineers had accounted for the space and weight so I am taking it as a precaution.
1500 Hours
I have added my own personal items, including Father Cooperson's books, and a handful of other gifts, mostly decorative. The flatbed of the cart is bare without food which will take up the bulk of the space. There are also two forty litre barrels of drinking water to be added, that will last roughly forty days if I am strict but the hope is I will come across fresh water sources on the route, either river, spring, or glacial. Sterilisation and desalination equipment has been included should I need it. The food will not be ready until the day before to ensure every gram is in edible condition for my predicted journey time – somewhere in the region of 100 days non-stop, the exact route, and thus time, have yet to be chosen. I am to attend a meeting tomorrow, after hours, regarding the options.
Captain's Log, 5th July in the Year of Our Lord 2732
The three proposed routes are all chock full of hazards, and these were the best of a practically infinite selection. The A.I. models give a less than 50% chance of survival due to the altitude and exposure but also because of the staggering lack of data given we are on Proxima b and not Earth.
Anna Pearson and her student Gabriel Mackerson both argue we should ignore the models due to their many and varied inaccuracies given the novelty of the situation. I am inclined to agree, even though it scares the hell out of me. Geographer, Matt Wendel, disagrees and wants more time to analyse the orbital imaging we have from before The Ark was brought down, he is certain there is a route that is relatively flat. Geologist, Cassandra Roi, thinks Wendel is right but that such a route would double the travel time and be unfeasible.
I would be glad to make it to the Opli without risking a tumble off the side of a cliff. Orbital imaging is all well and good but it will not warn us off routes mere metres wide or other dangers that are invisible from orbit.
Captain's Log, 7th July in the Year of Our Lord 2732
A decision has been made as to which route I am to undertake. Wendel and Roi are busy analysing the orbital images for potential obstacles and extreme dangers in order to make minor adjustments. What dangers they class as “extreme” they have not divulged.
Captain's Log, 12th July in the Year of Our Lord 2732
Rex Haverham, anthropologist, visited me for a brief spell this morning. He spoke little, though his expression was a mix of anger and jealousy. He left a book on the basics of social anthropology, presumably he wants me to do some research for him. I think simply being there will be sufficient but I will read the book on the journey, not as if I will be busy in the evenings.
Captain's Log, 16th July in the Year of Our Lord 2732
The day is fast approaching, have I made a mistake?
Captain's Log 20th July in the Year of Our Lord 2732
1700 Hours
The final touches have been made to the route, most of the preserved food has been delivered, and all that remains is the engineering teams final checks of the cart.
2300 Hours
I cannot sleep.
Captain's Log, 31st July in the Year of Our Lord 2732
Tomorrow I leave for the Opli. I am more stressed than when I left Earth. Then it was me and 9999 others but tomorrow it is only me. There will be no familiar faces at the end of this journey, no big welcome, no thanks for a journey well travelled. I may be killed on sight. All I can do is make the journey and see what happens.
There is no chance I will sleep tonight.
Captain's Log, 1st August in the Year of Our Lord 2732
0430 Hours
Today is the day. I have not slept. Already well wishers gather at my door and around the cart. I may never leave if everyone comes to see me off.
0700 Hours
It seems the whole town has came to see me off, even the Council members who wanted nothing to do with it.
There was a birth in the night, a baby girl.
I wonder if they will still count me as a citizen here or not.
0900 Hours
Time to leave. I will say good bye to everything and everyone just in case I never see them again.
1800 Hours
I am finally on the road. Well, there is no road and the cart is manual without satellite guidance. An oversight by the design teams back on Earth. Someone will send a message back and maybe the fifth generation Ark will have GPS satellites on board. The extra weight would mean extra fuel and extra travel time, potentially.
Why am I thinking about this, that problem is for people 4 light years away. My problem is the risk of exposure and predators, and the Opli.
2100 Hours
My first stop. I am out in the open so the cart can recharge in the sun, the downside is the heat, the upside is the heat. The cart has no heating system as it was never intended for this sort of task. Never mind, I will learn to sleep in the heat.
Captain's Log, 2nd August in the Year of Our Lord 2732
2200 Hours
An uneventful day but I covered more than two hundred miles of flat ground. A low range of mountains rise in the distance, they are not the mammoth ones Mackerson and co were concerned about.
Captain's Log 4th August in the Year of Our Lord 2732
I forgot to make an entry yesterday. Though nothing happened. While it is boring I am glad nothing is happening.
Captain's Log, 5th August in the Year of Our Lord 2732
There are people approaching from the eastern horizon, people I do not recognise.
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Escape From Tenebrae
Mould flourished in the corner, a great deal of mould. Green and yellow and dark brown. A healthy colony, well suited to a gaol deep in the earth. A faint sheen of moisture sat upon the heavy stone blocks that made up the walls and floor and ceiling, an unending sameness broken by rotten mortar, the aforementioned mould, and roots of some unseen forest menace. A neglected place, ancient and forgotten.