General Logs of ExploPod 3526

Day ... 34 of the general exploratory mission. I think it is day 34 at least - Carrie said I blacked out for a while there and nobody is really sure how long it has been since Command checked with us. There has been 34 sunsets, but we all read the mission logs from previous missions and know that the days are longer here than at home. The safety pod has kept us from exposure and there have been no further deaths. Wildlife has started to appear around us now that the safety pod stopped smoking. Our mission biologist, Lukas, says they do not look like anything from home. The oxygen levels of this planet are a little higher than home's oxygen levels. Command said it was likely that we would feel the difference in an excess of energy, not a lack of it. I do not know if they read many previous reports like we all did - previous reports claim the opposite, that the oxygen overwhelmed what was actually needed.

Since this is a general exploratory mission, I am not concerning the crew with this, the safety pod balances the chemicals we all need for survival and keeps wildlife from gnawing on anyone. Once we all feel secure in our bodies again after a long journey, then I will move to find a way to communicate to Command. It is unusual that things have been so silent from them. On previous missions, I have scarcely gone a single day without hearing from them.

Well, I am being requested to stop typing and help make food. Our quarters are so tight here that we cannot multi-task as efficiently as we could normally. At home, I would offer a hand as I continued typing, but we do not have the space for that here. Command squeezed the safety pods to an efficiency level that no one else could achieve. I will check back sooner than 34 days.

In health and heart,

Julius

Transcript from ExploPod 3526 - Mission Terra - Day 78/Terra Day 39

"Officer, the animals -"

"Yes, I am aware that they are getting closer."

"Do we have a plan to handle them?"

"Handle them!? Carrie, we have to study them, not hurt them!"

"Lukas, respectfully, they are going to hurt us if we do not handle them."

"We cannot - Command will have our necks if we affect this planet anymore than we already have."

"Command probably was aware that this was possible, Lukas."

There is a banging sound and then the recording is cut off.

Today is day 45 of general exploratory mission. Lukas is becoming paranoid that either me or Carrie are going to cause harm to the living beings of this planet and has started patrolling the pod. He could be gathering valuable data for our home... but it has never been in my character to push my crew beyond where they want to settle naturally. Carrie, on the other hand, has become paranoid of Command. This confuses me, but I cannot fault her for it either.

The oxygen levels have become difficult to compensate for, even within the safety pod. Carbon dioxide levels of this planet have risen since the last exploratory mission here, but it is still much lower than home. I can feel the subtle shifts inside my body as more oxygen enters it. Blood is starting to heat, carry warmth where there was none. It could be my imagination, but I think one of my hearts is beating faster too. That could be fear as well. I am not sure. Electric pulses are hard to measure without specific equipment and the safety pod has none of it.

Lukas is yelling about wanting to leave to explore the place where we landed. I am certain that this is a death sentence. None of us have command over one another - officer is merely a title, no power held within it. If he does leave, then I will have to report to Command. Although, I would have to leave to do that as well. Is one wrong to right another wrong acceptable? I am beginning to question my own morality against that of Command's. They never should have sent anyone here in the first place. A planet so different from ours... it has always been a death sentence, has it not?

Carrie and Lukas are screaming at one another, so I must pause my entry here. By the time I type here again, I hope I have contacted Command and gotten an answer. Let us hope that nobody dies in the mean time.

In health and heart,

Julius

Transcript from ExploPod 3526 - Day 100/Terra Day 50

"Julius, there is nothing you could have-"

"Carrie, do you hear yourself?! That was our friend. Lukas... he was the only one who could..."

"He is not though. He was far from the only pick for this mission. He was just... available."

"Available? Seriously?"

"Yes, I am serious. Do you want to try to contact Command or-"

"Contacting Command will only put one of us in danger of- of what happened to Lukas."

"...Yes."

"What do you expect to do if we only have one of us to pilot the pod back home? This was not a craft designed for solo piloting."

"I do not know."

The recording ends after thirty seconds of silence to preserve battery of the recording device.

Mission day 60: I have fully lost control of my remaining partner in this mission. Lukas tried to go study the animals studying our craft. He was massacred by animals with too many teeth. He was torn limb from limb and we could not even hear him scream. The roots left by him in our craft withered a day later, clearly aware that their connection to life had died.

Carrie, meanwhile, has decided that this means Command sent us here to die. The safety pod is only piloted by two or more beings. If one of us lives, then we could not fly home in distress. That remaining being would stay here to die as our fellows did. I do not think Carrie means to kill me, but I am also unsure if she means to work together to get us home. So far, it seems far more likely that we both die here.

The animals that killed Lukas have not left the safety pod alone. They have space-black noses and eyes which reflect back at us like crude mirrors. We are unsure how they perceive us. Lukas was the biologist. Carrie is here for the pod and I am... well, I'm not sure why Command hired me. My job at home is a journalist. At best, I am here to document what happens now. If anything, Command sent me here to die for the others to study. They did not count on Lukas being the more curious one.

May the next time I type here be safely nestled at home.

In health and heart,

Julius

Transcript of ExploPod 3526 - Day 145/Terra Day 72

"Command, do you read me? This is Carrie Helio requesting assistance on planet 20518181, Command, do you read me?"

Static fills the audio, soft cursing in the background only covered by the extremely loud static.

"Command, this is Carrie Helio, safety pod mechanic of ExploPod 3526, requesting assistance on planet 20518181, do you read me?"

Again, static fills the audio. Breathing cuts through the static.

"If this is going anywhere, I might as well say my piece.... Julius Arum was killed three days ago by animals native to this planet. Lukas Scantia was killed twenty-five days ago by the same animals. Command was aware that these animals existed and that they caused harm to our people. Our bodies are not adaptable to this planet's atmosphere, it is -"

Soft breathing and hiccuping is heard before she continues.

"It is too oxygenated for our carbon dioxide based bodies. There are similar lifeforms to us here, but they have clearly adapted to the oxygen levels native to this planet. We would require many thousands of years living and dying here before a mission here is anything but suicide. Beyond the simple fact that we are not designed for this planet, it also appears that the lifeforms comparable to us are commonly massacred in mass here. We are not safe. We will never be safe here. I have tapped into this planet's communication systems and searched for comparable images and it appears again and again that the lifeforms known as 'plants' do not receive the same respect as we deserve, as we get back home."

There is silence for twenty seconds before she continues, keeping the recording device operable.

"Carrie Helios requests immediate assistance on planet 20518181, Command, do you copy? Carrie Helio, pod mechanic of ExploPod 3526, requests immediate assistance."

Soft crying is heard until the recording device cuts off, the last evidence of ExploPod 3526.