Category: One Among the Dead

Day 195:

Okay, I’ve gotten obsessed with ore.

I need to admit that, because if I don’t admit that I don’t need all this. Yes, it would make me a kajillionaire if I wasn’t on this rock. But I am on this rock, and I think maybe it’s time to start heading toward the big mountain again. Otherwise I’ll never get out of here.

Day 194:

I caught two saddles, three pair of boots, an ancient fishing rod (with no tackle attached, which is a shame because that would’ve been interesting), oh, and some fish.

I’m pretty convinced at this point that there was once a civilization here. Not particularly sophisticated. No sign of machines or anything even remotely like that. But between the things I pull up from the river, the things I pull out of the sea, and the zombies and skeletons, I’m pretty sure someone lived here once.

I hope we didn’t do this.

I mean humans.

I come from a long line of colonizers: English, French, Spanish, American, Io colonists, Pluto colonists… we’ve always set out with the intent of making ourselves better, but I don’t believe for a second that my ancestors intended to make anyone else better off.

It wouldn’t surprise me at all to find out that Earthers had been here before, on one of the colony ships, put down our own creatures and destroyed the rest.

I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t count on it.

Day 193:

I’ve been negligent about gathering food.

I mean, I’ve got more carrots than I know what to do with, but carrots aren’t exactly enough to carry someone.

And I’ve got more potatoes than one can imagine, but roasted carrots and potatoes will only go so far.

One needs meat.

Usually I kill an animal, dry its meat, and live off that for a while, so that I don’t have to do it very often.

But I got caught up in working on my map and lost track of time.. and I haven’t killed anything in a while – not the duckens, not the cows. And now I’m out of meat.  (I mean, yes, I still have duckens and cows but I woke up hungry. Not peckish. Hungry. That kind hungry that stops a person from thinking straight.)

Luckily, I can still fish. The fish here bite like nothing I ever saw on any other planet I’ve visited. “Have the fire hot before you throw the line in the water” fast.  So I fished, roasted a fish, ate that, and then fished some more. Spent the whole day out on the water, in the sun, listening to the duckens cluck and the underground zombies groan. It was peaceful.

I think I’ll do it again tomorrow.

Day 192: I saw a pig! He grunted at me!

I haven’t figured out how to lure him back to my house.

I’m not even sure what to feed a pig.

And I have no idea why so many animals on this planet have Earth analogs!

But pigs! That was exciting!

Day 191:

I’ve noticed that the small zombie children aren’t affected by the sun (which is to say that unlike the adults, they don’t burst into flames as soon as they’re in the light).

(There’s a sentence I never thought I’d write in a mining log.)

I’m not sure why they’re unaffected by the sun. I’ve noticed though that they’re also really thick-skinned (and I don’t mean insults). They’re almost as tough to kill as an adult and my sword slices the adults open just fine.

I supposed when you’re a creature from a planet where everything grows in like four days you store a lot of fat under your skin for your growth spurts.

Not sure that explains the fire thing.