Author: kirabug

Day 475:

I had another one of those time blackouts, where I don’t remember what happened. I was mining, and then I was standing in the pit trying to figure out how to get home, and I couldn’t figure it out.

I tried digging west, which I guessed was the right direction, but I was wrong.

So I did what any wise digger does and dug a stairwell up, until I came out into one of my chambers.

But I was so disoriented even then that I had to climb three floors before I finally figured out where I was.

It’s late now. I don’t know how long I was down there, but I’m thinking a nap would be a good idea.

Day 474:

Can now also confirm that the red sparky rock, when fired off, will startle a ducken… because somehow a ducken has followed me all the way down to the bedrock level. I don’t know what she thinks she’s going to eat down here, but here she is, and she is not a fan of the red rock.

Very tired tonight. I’m closer to where I started than where I once was, but I’m tired of hauling things. Feels like all I’ve done since I arrived was haul things. It’s time for that to change.

I’m pretty confident I can turn the red rock into a small explosion that can push a cart forward on some rails, if I make rails. I’m not talking a combustion engine here, more like being shot out of a cannon, but that beats walking.

Day 473:

I can confirm that if one puts a potato down at one end of a line of sparky red rock dust and then hits the other end with a pickaxe, the potato will be scorched.

It’s worth noting I did not run this experiment on purpose, but rather had mined a whole lot of the red rock and didn’t pay attention to my dust volumes.

The fact that the stuff hasn’t made the air explode yet is quite remarkable, on retrospect.

Well, and the fact that my lungs haven’t sparked to death.

Day 472:

I’ve collected a lot of this red ore that sparks when I hit it with a pickaxe. It seems to have some kind of electrical properties.

I’m hoping it’s not nuclear because that would really suck, what with not having any radiation pills on hand.

I’d like to think I would have seen some signs of radiation sickness by now if that were the case, too.

Anyway, I’m wondering if there’s some way to get it to power a motor, since the only thing that it seems to need to create a spark is a smack with a hammer.

Maybe I should get back to work trying to forge wheels.

Day 471:

No rock rats today, small lime gelatin slime cubes instead.

The thing is, at least the slime cubes are cute, in a non-mammal kind of way. The rock rats look more like rock lobsters and are definitely not cute.

Of course there’s no guarantee they’re even quasi-mammalian either.

For that matter, so far, only cows give milk. I might see different evidence of that phenomenon when I actually have two sheep. But the pigs don’t seem to give milk and they don’t nurse their young. (I’ve never seen a cow nurse here either but I’m trying not to dwell on what the milk is if it isn’t milk. It tastes like milk.)