Day 280: fishing

Day 280:

I spent the day fishing because I’m low on food.

I’ve noticed some changes lately. The salmon that are running in the waters nearby (at least they look like salmon to me) have changed shape slightly and have a much sharper, more aggressive-looking head. And the cod have changed color slightly, as if the seasons have changed.

And the water itself is, well,  north of here it’s greener than usual, is if there’s been a giant algae bloom somewhere in the water. It makes me worry whether the fish is safe to eat, especially if it seems to be changing as well.

On the other hand, it’s quite possible that the seasons are finally changing here, two hundred and eighty days in. I don’t remember (if I was ever told in the first place) what this rock’s solar year was. So maybe this is fall? Or summer? The temperature hasn’t changed as far as I can tell. (Sometimes it’s hard to tell how warm it is when you’re sitting in the sun all day, just as it’s hard to tell how cool it is if you’re sitting in a cave.

Anyway, the fish are literally swarming, to the point that I can see them, so that’s new. I’m assuming it’s some kind of migration.

Migrations mean food, as everyone who’s ever watched the nature channels on the neural net know, so I’m going to be fishing for the next few days.

Day 279: WHAT THE FLOCK

Day 279:

I went out late last night to gather eggs from the duckens and there were these… birds? raptors? pterodons?

Something big, and blue, and it flies in flocks.

Also it likes to attack my head.

Whatever they are, they scream like hawks and they tear at your head like owls and personally, I was quite happy with my bird-free existence up to this point. I mean sure, some songbirds would be nice, but if this is my option? I’d opt out.

And of course they didn’t do anything at all to the native fauna – didn’t attack my animals, didn’t fly off with any of the duckens… they were just here for me.

Anyway, they’re dead now. I killed a number of them and the rest caught fire and plummeted to their death when the sun came out. (That’s still baffling, but I’ll go with it.)

My head was bleeding despite my helmet, so it’s time to work on fixing that up a bit.

And I’m thinking I’d rather deal with the zombies and the skeletons and the horror squids, so I’m going back underground as soon as I can.

Day 278: sunny and wet

Day 278:

Did I mention digging into a lake yesterday? Because I totally dug into the bottom of the lake, or bay, or whatever this thing to my north is.

It’s really wet in a cave when you let a lake in.

Fortunately, I was able to wedge some glass blocks into the space. I used glass because it’s not likely to break (not the way I make it anyway) and it lets me see that there’s water above me, which is handy when one is about to die of incoming water.

I’m still digging toward the sheep and dreaming of using lanolin to make some waterproof clothes.

Day 277: good caverns

Day 277:

Wow, I feel like I’ve slept for weeks.

I’m still digging toward the sheep, but I keep finding nice caches of iron or ore, so of course it’s taking longer than it should.

On the other hand, it’s rainy and miserable outside (which might be why I slept so well; it’s difficult to hear zombies moan over a good chucking rainstorm) so it’s not like I’m going to be boiling sugar or making paper or anything like that  in this mess. And all things considered, the caves, although dank, are still drier than the storm.

At least, when I don’t dig into a lake.

Good news!

After much hemming and hawing, I have purchased a new laptop. So our adventures for One Among the Dead will be resuming shortly! Sometime after I actually, like, remember what the heck I was doing.

It’s almost tempting to start a new world… might give her a complex though.

Meanwhile a reminder that if you haven’t looked at the Kickstarter for The Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide Volume Five, it’s open for only eight more days. They’re about $500 short of funding so  your $5 pledge gets you a DRM-free e-book and gets a bunch of kids closer to awesome reading material. (And it gets you one of my stories!)

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