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Source Melchizedek.0294

β Hyi, 3rd Planet

Ascension 00h 25m 45.07037s

Declination –77° 15′ 15.2860″

Distance 24.37ly

Equinox J2000.0 SOL

Year 3782, QEC adjusted

[Autotranslator enabled...]

Stephanie Janssen, Specialist First-class

:::

Hey ya'll, Stephanie here. I just have to tell you this place is

so amazing! There's this slippery fungus mound nearby that smells

exactly like root beer when you slide across it. Shoot, let me

back up, though. There's so much to catch you up on.

First off, I'm on planet 3, not 4 where most of the Melchy crew is

stationed. Eva and I and a handful of others are doing survey work

to prep for phase two of the system seeding. If you haven't been

following along, that means that we get to live in the lush beauty

of this wilderness while the rest of the poor saps have to scratch

out a home on the dust bowl next door. Sucks, huh? They're so busy

these days they probably haven't even noticed there's nothing

outside their windows.

But here, oh my! I'm not sure how best to classify this stuff

that's all around. I guess if you imagine a sugary-glass that's

shaped in all sorts of polyhedrons, but squishy and that leans to

the side like it's feeling a little sick, that's the closest thing

to trees. They're totally alive too! I mean, technically speaking

and all. They don't talk or anything, but they react and

reproduce-ish. I mean, have you ever done that golden ratio

rectangle thing where you divide the rectangle into a square and

the little rectangle left over is the same as the bigger

rectangle, but, like, exactly that special proportion smaller?

Well, these things work sort of like that, but really big and in

three dimensions. They're all sort of transluscent so it's been

briliant watching the divisions develop inside.

Unfortunately for us, there's no familiar proteins at work here

and our bodies can't interface with the alien poly-plants (oh,

that's a fun name) in the normal chompy-chomp way. So, we're still

on ship rations. The good news is, since there's no chemical

crossover, the life on this planet should be unaffected by our

seeding. We can move in and share the land and everything will

work out fine. (Why does that sound ominous now that I've said it

out loud?)

In addition to the poly-plants there's the root beer squishes, the

cliffs of neverending screams (more on them in a minute),

bucket-rain, and oh oh oh... the golden caves. That last one is

literally what it sounds like. I have no idea how this planet came

to be or what sort of weird star cooked it up, but our camp is

just a few clicks away from this massive cave network and the

entire thing is just covered in gold. Like, AU. Gold gold. I swear

it's the most beautiful and creepy thing ever. Brewer's the

closest thing to a geologist that we've got and he's totally and

completely stumped. Caves form from underground water and there's

absolutely none of that nearby. Inside the cave looks just like

the ones back home in Virginia, except if they were sprayed and

covered in gold. If we weren't a thousand years and many lifetimes

of travel away, we could pack this place up, head home, and be

some sort of fantasticly rich big-shots back home. Assuming gold

is still worth a lot back home. Assuming there's still a back home

out there. Speaking of which, have any of you out there been in

touch with Earth lately?

Sorry, I'm back. Oh, I guess you didn't know I was gone for

a while since this is a message log and not a recording or

anything. Duh. Anyway, that was Jerome stopping by. He's here on

three with us, by the way. I think it's been good for him. Mission

critical living and the whole loss of Doctor Idjani is still

hitting him hard. He needed the break. And now because of that

break I can inform the universe from my personal experience that

Jerome Somerset Pasani is absolute shit at cards. Haha! Seriously,

he can't bluff at all. It's so cute.

But more on that another time. Where was I? Endless screaming!

So a while back Eva comes stomping into my hab with these giant

boots in her hand and a goofy grin on her face as she declares

we're going for a walk. When she gets excited she talks really

fast and her accent gets thick, so I'm not really sure what she

said after that, but it was something about flower power and

getting all dirty in the dirt. To be frank, I... may have thought

she was finally making a pass.

So we tromp up these hills past the familiar poly-plant forests

until we start getting really high up. For some reason the

poly-plants tend to settle in valleys where they're shaded from

the strong winds, and those winds can be really strong up high.

The planet's rotation is pretty fierce and the isolated water

bodies make the air currents a bit unpredictable. We're always

wearing wind protection when we're away from hub, but for this

trip Eva brought some heavy duty gear. We're all suited up,

sweating our way higher and higher until there's nothing but dirt

and sexy sciency ladies in the vacinity. And here again I may have

thought something was happening that wasn't happening, but no

matter because I was saved from my horrible embarrasement by the

gut-wrenching screams of some soul being torn to shreds in

barbaric torture. Or, that's what it sounded like!

Eva gives one look my way then starts sprinting (well, more like

how a giraffe "sprints", based on how we have to move in the

suits) toward the cliffs ahead. I'm right behind her and we come

skidding to the edge, dropping down on all fours so we don't take

a dive into the nethers. We pop our heads beyond and look down and

hear a truely horrific cocophony of death. Imagine that everyone

you know were crammed around you in a giant circle having their

toenails torn out. I'm still freaking over it.

Of course there were no horrible dismembered bodies below. There

were these glassy growths all along the cliff-face undulating with

the wind. They're vaguely mollusk-like in their behavior and grow

and expand on the surfaces like barnacles. They're also alive and

as best we can guess, they cut into the air to produce sound.

We're not sure if it's communication on purpose, some threat

signal, something for sex, no clue. It is totally freaky and so

amazingly cool. The universe is this massive thing that goes on

basically forever, but in all that space there's only so many

sounds that can be made.

So the cliffs of neverending screams wasn't the best mood-setter

for my outting with Eva, even if that were her intention. But the

trip wasn't a total loss. Just as it dawned on us that we weren't

witnessing an interstellar genicide she turned to me and mouthed

over the screams, "We're fucking flowers." I don't have the first

clue what that means, but I'm pretty sure it's the nicest thing

anyone has ever said to me.

.