3rd of Jugust, 5502
Morning
"You know, Kevin, maybe it's your doing that Tommo left."
​
What a stupid thing to say, you old hag.
​
Jessie was trying to get a reaction, and she got one. I lunged at her, my hands shaking with fury. Jessie didn't retaliate. She just stood there, taking the brunt of my outburst. It wasn't until I saw the fear in her eyes that I snapped back to reality..
​
I retreated, trying to piece together my fractured composure. Coleman was kidnapped. Surely Jessie knew this, and simply sought a reaction from me. She got one.
​​​​The whole episode was absurd.
​​​
Evening
Alone now, I am staring at the neurocalculator, still unopened, gathering dust on a shelf.
​
Madeline had sent it as a gift, a nod to my transhumanist aspirations. Yet, it lay there, useless, a mocking reminder of my limitations – a neurosurgeon with no one to operate on him but himself.
6th of Jugust, 5502
Morning
Duncan and Lottie arrived to stay for a while. Nobles from The Broken Empire.
​
Lottie's arrival is fortuitous. I had a conversation with her about installing the long-awaited neurocalculator, a task she confidently agreed to.
​
As I lay in the hospital bed, prepared for the procedure, Lottie rummaged through our medical supplies. That's when she stumbled upon a set of implantable mandibles, tucked away and forgotten on the back of a shelf. It was a piece of equipment I wasn't even aware we had, apparently purchased during a time I was unconscious and never mentioned by Marjot.
​
Seizing the opportunity, I decided to have the mandibles installed alongside the neurocalculator.
​
​
​
Lottie handled the surgery with a calm expertise, her movements precise and sure.
I drifted into unconsciousness, trusting in her skills. When I awoke, the feeling of the new implants was strange but empowering. The neurocalculator's presence was almost imperceptible, save from the incision marks. The mandibles, on the other hand...
11th of Jugust, 5502
Morning
Another shuttle crashed early this morning. Carrying tribals. In the smoldering wreckage, we found three souls - Riku, Dash, and Mayer.
​
Wolfgang and I were the only ones with enough medical know-how to tend to their injuries. We used our last stores of herbal medicine, and the medbay is at capacity, but they are stable now.
​
Riku pledged his allegiance to our colony almost immediately. There was a fire in his eyes that spoke of a determination to survive, to thrive. Mayer remained quiet, contemplative. Eventually he spoke. He too would stay, lending his strength to our cause.
Dash was a different story. As the sun dipped below the horizon, he left, a lone figure against the sprawling canvas of night.
​
The crash and its aftermath have brought new faces to our fold, a mixture of hope and uncertainty. In their eyes, I see reflections of our own struggles, our own dreams. In this isolated corner of existence, we are but motes of dust in a vast, indifferent universe, yet together, we forge a semblance of meaning, a semblance of home.
We are low on herbal medicine, a predicament that leaves us exposed to the unforgiving elements. Our next step is clear - we must replenish our supplies.