Handwriting analysis has determined that the following journal entry was written by passenger A. Oberge, and penned shortly after arrival on planet Cassia. The sharp penmanship indicates a high level of stress or agitation during the document’s creation. Psychologists believe this stress stemmed from the rude manner of her ejection from space and subsequent findings upon emerging from her hypo-pod.
Rocks everywhere. That’s what I woke up to. Rocks, and throwing up.
Only a handful of us crash landed in the valley, with random ship parts and provisions strewn all about. I dove into the snowmelt to retrieve emergency survival rations before they washed downstream and away forever. I was promised rolling hills, not swampy canyons. It was evident from my first breath that we weren’t in the right place. I didn’t even know if we were on the right planet.
The sun was halfway behind the cliffs by the time we had our wits about us. A tall, scrawny guy named Crenshaw seemed to be more present and awake than the rest of us and took charge. “Shelter,” he said, counting off on his fingers, “sustenance, and survival. Let’s get these supplies inside and make sure we can weather the night.” We weren’t of a mood to disagree.
While the rest of us were heaving up whatever protein-shake they fed us in hypersleep, Crenshaw had found a large alcove in the nearby rocks and started stocking what equipment we could salvage inside. I was able to pry some of the shielding off of the pods and close in the cave; the wind howled through the canyon but luckily stayed outside. It would be an uncomfortable first night, but we’d make it through.
I’m not one for sob stories, so I didn’t pay much attention to the round of introductions we did around the campfire Crenshaw built out of twigs and a faulty battery, but I also didn’t share the hope some of them had that we’d be rescued so easily. As I was putting the last pieces of our shelter in place I glanced up at the stars and saw a lot of activity up there; mainly pieces of our colony ship streaking across the sky like a meteor shower. I figured from that moment we’d be on our own.
It did sound like we had a fair spread of skills between us. Crenshaw was full of architectural ideas, Meyers was good at building, and Laughton knew more about plants and animals than I ever wanted to. If I had to dig in for the long haul, I could have done worse for colonists to get lost with.
Tomorrow we’re going to take stock of our supplies and figure out what we can salvage from our pods. I know I just woke up from a long hibernation but I can’t wait to get back to sleep.
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