Project Entropy (Part 3/5)
Journal Entry Number 27, 5th of 1st Moon:
It’s been a long day. I was woken up early to help my crew prepare for landing. I haven’t even brushed my teeth or done anything with my hair, so it’s squished under a hat. I’m sitting with Wash, Knighton, and Lee on top of a boxed up machine that Faulkner uses to take microscopic pictures of samples. We’re all so tired. As I speak, Lee’s telling Wash about what he used to do before getting his mission orders. He’d spent his first two years out of the house studying infrastructure at the local college, and it had been the most boring thing he’d ever endured. He was failing at everything except the extra classes he signed up for, one of them being a target practice course, and the other was track. He met Knighton on the training field, and they eventually both decided to drop out and join the military. Together they got through the rigorous training regimen and after that, they were accepted. And just two moons after they got in, they were given their orders.
Lee and Knighton are barely adults. I knew they were young, I just didn’t know how young. We’re all pretty young to be honest. Central Command is running out of people to send, so they tend to go for the newer batches.
Actually, come to think of it, we only have three or four senior officers. The rest are Wash’s age or younger, or they hadn’t been front line soldiers at all, like Theal. Why is Central Command so desperate for soldiers they take them out of the oven half baked?
The three dots there are because I had to stop writing for a while. Everyone is ordered to their stations, we’re preparing to land. I hadn’t noticed. I’ll write more when I have the time.
Journal Entry Number 28, 6th of 1st Moon:
I talked to Faulkner about my suspicions, and he told me to write them all down. He was too busy setting up his lab to talk, so he told me I’d be on my own for the time being. He said the best way to figure anything out is to write everything down, that way you don’t have to keep remembering. So here I go.
I should give some backstory to this first. The reason we only have theories about where our species came from is because the furthest in history that we have on record is First Rotation. Before that, we only have bits and pieces. We know that there was something catastrophic that occurred many thousands of Rotations ago, but any trace of what exactly it was is gone now. To our knowledge, anyways.
When I was much younger, I was taught Human History in class. Apparently the “first” humans that recorded their existence believed that there was a higher being called God that had created everything from nothing. God was the one that gave them life, and the vastness that was space. They used the term “Year” to count their Rotation around their sun. Those humans used religion to explain the use of the technology they eventually developed. But that was only one planet.
On another, some First Humans had very primitive machines such as telescopes and figured out how to harness the sun’s rays and use them for energy. They did not believe in “God”. There were a few other planets with humans and they had variations of those two polar opposite cultures. These colonies of people developed separately on what is now the Alpha-1 and Alpha-2 solar systems. When the two main planets had advanced enough to communicate with each other a few thousand Rotations later, they traded supplies and became allies. That is, until they began trading ideas. The people of Alpha-1 valued technology and science to explain the universe, and Alpha- 2 relied on religion to explain everything to them.
War broke out, the Alpha-2 people accusing the Alpha- 1 people of turning away from God, and the Alpha- 1 people arguing that the former would reach a plateau if they continued to use their “fantasy” to attempt to explain real science.
Smaller planets, some who had separately mirrored the mannerisms of the two larger ones, took sides. Interplanetary War I lasted 78 Rotations. Alpha- 2 and its allies won. They agreed to formally refer to full circles around their star “Rotations”, and planet rotations “days”, and so on and so on. The religious people of Alpha- 1 maintained that they had created their own ideas about religion, even though we know now that their ideas came from earlier humans from before the First Rotation.
And thus, the first two solar systems of the Empire were founded. For many thousands of Rotations, the two solar systems worked together to make neighboring systems habitable. We found the Beta systems who had again, developed separately. But this time they were able to work together and eventually form one singular Empire. From there we were unopposed.
So now that I’ve written down a heavily abridged version of our general history, it’s time to plug in the new information:
The metal found under C-1-30 is a telling clue that humans were here before. The only other beings other than humans developed on different galaxies, and so far we only have communication with them. The first Galaxy Jump will be attempted some time next Rotation, but that’s a whole other story for another day. So if this system has never been explored by the Empire before, that would mean that it was from a time before the First Rotation. This rules out eight out of the twenty three theories already. Good. I’m narrowing it down.
There’s a certain urgency Central Command has about logging on new species before their systems fall apart. And like I’ve expressed before, I don’t buy that the government would make it their priority to explore the unexplored instead of saving our species. It’s like they know they cannot stop the end of the universe from happening. It’s like they KNOW they cannot stop the end of the universe from happening. No. That can’t be it. Then what in the world are they pooling all of our resources for?! Is it to keep up morale…?
Journal Entry Number 29, 13th of 1st Rotation:
So okay, when I saw that the desert species had a striking resemblance to the rainy planet species, I thought it was just a coincidence. But now things are getting strange. There appears to be a species on this planet that can also be grouped into the same kingdom as the other two. Our captain has told us that usually, missions require a whole new set of tools and for the crew to start from scratch, but so far much of the data gathered from the other planet can also be applied to this planet. This has to be proof of intelligent intervention. That’s a phrase I picked up from Faulkner by the way.
What has thrown a wrench in my theory however is that this species has been named 5066. It is much larger than the last two dominant species of the other planets. But it looks like Central is not following the pattern of giving smaller and smaller numbers to each animal. So now we’re not sure what to think.
So, unlike the other two species, 5066 is not an ectotherm. There is not enough heat for it not to produce its own body heat. That’s all we know so far. And by the by, I’ve decided to keep this journal with me at all times just in case I have some new ideas while I’m out and about.
Journal Entry Number 30, 27th of 5th Rotation:
It’s too cold to go outside without layers upon layers of protective material. It is very difficult to run and walk in it, and we have an unspoken understanding about keeping manned scouting missions to a minimum.
Dalton and Holt came up to me recently to tell me that they wanted to try going out to see if they could spot any signs of metal underneath the ice. If we could make this discovery, it would be a huge help to our secret research. But Wash intervened and said it was way too dangerous. It was not wise to venture out just two people without the knowledge of the rest of the crew, and because there were no signs of the captain authorizing a scouting mission any time soon, there was little chance of it ever being safe enough to attempt. What worries me is that both Dalton and Holt are very headstrong. I don’t know what they’ll do. They want to help, and Holt had served in the Theta-21 Skirmish of 100342, so she has very little sense of self-preservation (I can dive into what that is later). Wash has told me to keep an eye on them for now.
Journal Entry Number 31, 7th of 6th Moon:
Species 5066 is an estimated 5 meters tall on all fours and 8 and a half meters in length. It hunts fish as well as a few semi- aquatic species. Its fin- like tail is a powerful tool it uses to swim, and it has 20 centimeter long claws on each appendage. These measuring terms are the ones that the science world uses, so I have to start using them too. They work in pairs or groups when hunting larger prey, and then split it between them. Other than that, they are solitary creatures. But they are not particularly aggressive towards each other. When 5066 has its offspring, it spends all day digging a hole to stay in for the next four Moons. The mothers also stay with their young until they can hunt on their own. We saw one mother stroll on by our camp with five other adolescents. And I swear Knighton’s eyes were as big as planets when she spotted them. She cooed at them through the windows and ignored her work until they disappeared in the icy mist on the far side of camp. I covered for her by following her around writing things down and saying to the rest of the crew that we were recording their movements. She really is a good kid though. Always so happy.
Journal Entry Number 32, 16th of 6th Moon:
Can’t write well. Holt Dalton left. Lee n I went after them. Stranded in blizzard. Can’t find them
Journal Entry Number 33, I don’t remember what day it is
Halsey’s status update: Everything’s cool, I’ll tell you about it when I get home Mr. JournaL
Journal Entry Number 34, 24th of 6th Moon:
Heeyyy… sorry for the bad penmanship, I should probably tell you what’s going on. Well… I’m home. Let’s give you a rundown of the events leading up to today.
First of all, Dalton and Holt are idiots for running off in search of metal. As soon as Wash found them, man did he scold them. He lectured for the longest time about how nothing is as valuable as human lives, and he wasn’t going to let this go so easy. The funniest part is that while he gave them a piece of his mind, he paced back and forth in the ice and was shivering so hard. We all were, but he was so determined to let them know how he felt.
So I hear you ask why Wash was out in the ice too? Well Mr. Journal, it’s because some way or another, everyone followed each other.
As soon as Lee found out that the two had been missing since lunch, he put on the necessary gear and would’ve left, except I caught him. Or more, we caught each other. Because I had on all of my gear and was about to leave as well. So we left together.
Faulkner at the time was with Knighton gaining access to every camera possible to try and spot the first two runaways when Wash walked in and asked if they’d seen me or Lee anywhere. Faulkner rewound the cameras and we were on tape leaving the camp. That’s when Wash went against orders to remain in camp until the blizzard passed (which is a very big deal, believe me) and left as well. And that’s when our adventure started.
Lee and I holed up in a cave a little ways away from camp. My nose was about to fall off and all the cold air was freezing my lungs too. Meanwhile, Holt and Dalton are livin’ it up twenty feet below the ground where they found a whole structure. Turns out that the metal plates we found on the last planet? Yeah, those’re just the tip of the iceberg (haha). There’s so much more we don’t know.
Well, as fate would have it, Lee and I happened to be just above this underground network. Dalton said she heard light coughing and saw through some of the ice some darker figures above her head. Holt came over and punched at the roof until it caved (haha) in and they found us near death. It was getting late, so they heated up a small room using the one-burner portable food cooker they had brought with them and managed to get the whole room above freezing. It was enough to get our suits to be useful and heat us up.
(Little side note. When Lee woke up, he stared at Dalton like he was looking at the most beautiful flower in the world.)
When my legs quit being so stiff, I wandered around. There was a huge open space that reached below and above me for hundreds of meters. Above there was only metal, and this whole other world under the surface existed right under everyone’s feet. In some spots near the bottom there were large circles where the ice had melted away and it gave way to ocean. It was beautiful. An unknown species of aquatic organism, several times larger than 5066, used it as a quick breathing stop. I’ve never seen anything like it. It had an enormous opening at the top of its back that connected with its lungs. It spouted water and sucked in air. I was able to watch it perched from one of the metal beams. It was an easy climb.
This structure is in no way new. Some of the beams holding the metal plates up were cracked from pressure or broken from the ice. It was all so beautiful and peaceful, nothing like the raging storm outside. When I got back to the others, Lee was up and wandering around, same as me. We all agreed that one of us had to go back and tell the others we were okay, and as much as I hated it, it ended up being me. So when the storm passed, I climbed through the hole in the cave where Lee and I had camped out and trekked back home.
Only I didn’t get very far, because in a neighboring cave, who else do I find but Wash. Huddled, clutching an artificial heat generator. Unlike Lee and I, he had come prepared. And oh boy did he have a lot to say to me. He only stopped when I brought him to our cave under the metal plates, at which time he started over as soon as he saw the others. His speech was directed mainly at Holt and Dalton. They sat silently through the whole thing, eyes wide, while Lee just smiled.
Afterwards Wash gave us all earpieces and we could hear Faulkner and Knighton on the other side yelling at us. They wanted us to come home immediately, but we had hit the ultimate jackpot with the human made underground metal caverns, so all but Wash refused.
We made the decision to stay for a while, letting Faulkner tell our captain that we were safe and would come back as soon as we were able. It was a half lie, but hey, you do what you gotta do. So our next move was to explore for as long as we could.
Dalton and Lee found many exposed wires along the metal beams, and Holt and came across a very, very old and eroded control room. It was big enough to accommodate ten or so people, and we didn’t recognize most of the tech used on the control panels. It was odd. On the side of one of the rusted panels we made out a single word: WIERI. We have no idea what it means. The letters from a language only literary professors and language enthusiasts know about. It’s the earliest language that the Alpha-1 solar system used.
We spent seven days down there gathering evidence. It was possibly the only time we could ever go down here, so we had to make it count. Wash begrudgingly followed me around while I explored one end of the caverns while Holt, Lee, and Dalton went in the other direction. Thankfully, Wash had brought just enough provisions for us to hold out that long.
We eventually came back to camp, made up a story on how we were chased around by a 5066, and got away with our expedition basically scot free. I mean, we had to clean and organize our sleeping pods and catch up on work, but that was it. I’m sat on my clean cot as I write.
Journal Entry Number 35, 1st of 8th Moon:
We set up a monitor near the closest shore to us, and we made another discovery: 5066 has a symbiotic relationship with the animal with the breathing hole on its back. It is what Faulkner described as a commensalism, where after the whale has hunted, 5066 will swim under it and collect any leftover scraps and/or pieces of bone and stacks it all in a pile. The monitor witnessed a ritual among 5066 where some will have their own stacks of bones and scraps, and the others will judge based on the size of the stack. They’ll choose the mates with larger stacks rather than the smaller ones. Faulkner used the term “fascinating”, and I’d have to agree, it was sorta cool.
Journal Entry Number 36, 1st of 9th Moon:
I still don’t know exactly what to make of the underground metal caverns. They meant something to someone, we just don’t know who. Maybe this WIERI, whoever they are. We had a close brush with death just a few days ago where all the power went out during the night and we woke up to another eleven people frozen to death. The rest of them huddled together using the portable heat generators in our emergency packs. It was enough heat for Wash, the captain and I to restart the main generators. That was really scary. Four days later and I can’t even look outside at the ice without shivering. I wanna go home.
Journal Entry Number 37, 24th of 10th Moon:
Almost ready to leave again. I’m so happy to be out of the ice at last. And Faulkner and I have been thinking more about what exactly the numbers mean. It was Faulkner who came up with the idea that gave me more chills than the thought of being outside: What if the numbers are being compared to something? Like, what if there’s a base set of criteria, and each organism is compared to that criteria, and then given a number that ranks them all in order from farthest to closest in comparison? But then, what is the base criteria? And how does this relate to the reason that Central Command would want to spend all of their resources in order to find the perfect match? I don’t know right now, and to be honest, this is all giving me a splitting headache. I need to go lay down for a while before we set out for C-1-32. This planet will be purely rainforest. Which by the way, is another extremely odd thing for a planet to be. Purely one biome. In literally every other planet with a sustainable atmosphere, there are vast differences in climate from one hemisphere to the other. Our captain says he is suspicious, but me and my team know what’s up by this point; These planets are synthetic. Well- not their cores, but their crusts are entirely synthetically made. Their climate is controlled by mechanisms in the metal crusts… for some reason. The reason still eludes everyone.
Journal Entry Number 38, 25th of 10th Moon:
Okay, major find!! So we were dead in the middle of space when our ship came across a droid. We brought it in because it was sending a distress beacon, and when we brought it in it was speaking gibberish. We didn’t understand and tried asking it questions, but it would not answer. It had mechanical pincer limbs and struck Lee in the head. We eventually had to shut it down for good. While Knighton took care of her friend, Faulkner took a closer look at the droid. He did something sciencey to siphon as much information from it as he could.
When he was done he uploaded the information on one of our data collectors. Most of the information would not come up, the screen only reading “Error” when we tried accessing it. Everyone on the ship had huddled around Faulkner as he tried getting to the droid’s data, but as he faled again and again, everyone eventually lost interest. Except me and my team. And when we’d thought all hope was lost, some of the pictures came through. One was a rudimentary depiction of a solar system with nine planets. Another was a separate solar system, this one with only five planets. This was our solar system. A closer examination revealed that the solar system with nine planets shared some planets with the one with five. The symbols for the nine planets were unreadable, although we were glad to discover that they were the same symbols that were found on C-1-31, the frozen planet, in the control room: WIERI. This is some good stuff. I feel good about all this. I feel like we’re close. This is good.
