Whole Once More

Darkness, that's all there is here, darkness. Why is it so dark? At least the temperature is... wait, I can feel the temperature!? It must have worked! But where am I? There, that feels like a door, but where's the handle? How do I get out of here? It's small, it must be a holding chamber. But why can't I open the door? Wait, I hear something, it sounds like voices. Yes, I must be in the ship somewhere, it's Ambrilestri and Niracina, that's whose voices I hear. They sound like they're working on something. I hope it's... yes! Light! Wow, that is bright, I suppose it makes sense that it's so bright, these eyes have never experienced it before. They're looking at me strangely, maybe they expect me to say something? But not now, I feel that emptiness in my head, I need to get those memories back, I long to be complete.

Of course they followed me, why wouldn't they? The surprised look on their faces as I move deeper into this facility is amusing at least, they keep asking me how I know all these puzzles and then gave me an even more comical look when I said it is because I made this place. They want to know how, but that answer can wait, I'm sure I'll have a better understanding of it when I am whole. It is obvious no one else ever got through any of these puzzles, everything is as I had left it. Just a few more doors and I can finally sit in that chair I made oh so many lifetimes ago. Ah, yes, the suit, I'm sure I will bring that back into use shortly, plus I have plenty of ideas on how to improve the design, though I do wonder if it has any power left, but that doesn't matter, just one more door. Ah yes, dread, in all my excitement I forgot about dread, this is going to be painful, but it must be done.

Did I black out? No, no additional time has passed, but it feels like I've been gone for so... wait! I have been gone! And yet, I've been here. All these memories flowing together. Ambri! Nira! Oh! I am finally home! Here are my friends and this is my body, at least the one for this life. How many lives have I... wow, that is a lot. So many things I've done, so many personalities. So many faces, but none so dear to me as these two. But now here's the puzzle, if I built this facility so long ago using a body from my future, how did I get to the past in the first place? I didn't build a time machine and there is no technology here that has been modified. Something else intervened and it wasn't my doing. Someone is keeping track of me and interfering in my doings, but who is it and where are they? I suppose that question will be answered in time, but for now I have so much to talk about, but not here, I've spent too many long years in dark places, I long for light and to be in something natural.

Taking it Easy

Sleeping on a floor in a place I own has been everything I dreamed it would be so far. I know it isn't luxurious, but before this I was sleeping outside when I felt safe enough or sleeping beside a terminal hoping that someone wouldn't start using it and wake me up. To me, the new apartment is luxury! That being said, I do wish I could furnish it, but until I can start making some PED again doing my mining it'll be tough. I've invested quite a bit in trying to understand the higher end tools but in the end have had to sell them off to afford to live a little better, so back to the basics for me. One thing I've noticed so far with these tools is that they aren't so difficult to use but what makes them complicated is their sensitivity, trying to lock on to a signal of a worthwhile resource is much harder when you see so many more signals. Those deep depths are so full of random stuff that you lock on to the smaller stuff too often thinking it could be the big one. It'll take some time, but I'm sure with going back to the basics and working my way through the tools again I'll have a better understanding in the long run. As it is, I sure am starting to look at how this all works a lot more closely, it is so much more complicated as you understand it better, but I'm confident that I will reach the point of understanding eventually, maybe even be able to distinguish the signals better and lock in on the ones I actually want a little more. I've also started to gather some of the small resources again in hopes of staying ahead. Stones look more and more like gold to me as I try my best to locate a good find. I'm sure I'll get it again, it just feels like I'm a little off lately and that has negatively impacted my returns.

One thing that has been interesting is using that fishing pole I bought, it was an impulse buy but using it has been a hoot. There isn't a darn thing worth catching, not that I even get any bites, but the act of just sitting there along the shore and casting out my line once in awhile and letting my mind wander has been the best meditation lately, I can see why it was so popular on Earth at one point. I know my time would be more profitable if I went looking for stones, but taking some time to enjoy life here is important too, keeps me from going too crazy. Plus, the time I get to sit and contemplate could be fruitful in the end, perhaps I'll come up with another way of making a living here, though I don't make that the focus of my outings, instead I just take in the fresh air, warm sunshine, feel the sand between my toes and listen to the waves lap against the shores. Of course, I always have to watch the radar as well, you never know when a stray Atrox will come along and decide you might make a good meal. Not that it happens often, but I must say thank goodness for the revival network. I could just imagine how small our population here would be if we didn't have that thing running all the time.

Mini-GOAL: Level 25 Prospector/Surveyor

One of those last little goals I threw up on my list towards the end of last month, I wasn't sure if returns would be good enough or not so I wanted to have the goal up there and that was to reach level 25 in prospector and surveyor so I could use a TK320 (with SIB, yes, I know maxed finders are best, but I have a goal to reach!). Unfortunately, to reach that goal I was trying my best not to deposit and I got all the way to about 2.5% left when the PED finally was depleted past the point of squeezing out a run. I had already sold the TK320 I had bought earlier so I could keep going (can't use it, why keep it, right?), and had burned through that PED, so sadly to reach my goal I had to put in my $10 deposit for the month. Shortly after I had hit level 25 in surveyor and had reached my goal and then shortly after that had once again run out of PED. So I did my best to squeeze some more because I didn't want to give up for the month yet and so when I had sold something I could afford to be without I went on another few runs. Luckily I finally got something back, 444 PED HoF, woohoo! I used that to get the tools I had sold back and to get started on my next runs. So far they've been okay, but I could sure use some more of those globals to get me back to where I think I should be. Anyway, I am already over 25% to level 26 prospector, so maybe, if returns can stay non-horrendous I can reach my goal of level 30 sometime in the near future (my hope is by the end of summer, but that depends a lot on returns, at least I have SIB now to give me a hand).

Escape

I understand now their concern about the right kind of energy, the device needs a very particular instance of energy when it is created, though I do believe I have encountered an adequate type of energy before, but I have forbade myself from ever trying to use it again. I'm sure I can find a way to get the type of energy required, it will just take some tests to figure out when and how they utilized it. I also see that the device didn't survive the first use, which might explain why I never encountered it. The ship is amazing though, and it is easy to get distracted by it. With the interface I have with it I can feel and see what the ship does, which is almost like having a body again, though with some limits. I am quite sure those limits could be overcome, but I still desire my own flesh back as that is the only way I'll get back that life I lost. My hope is that somehow that life is the first, which would answer so many questions, but I am doubtful as this prison is older than he was. The others are walking in the ship now, starting to run diagnostics and making sure everything is ready once more. It is strange to feel them walking inside of it, inside of me, or at least it could be me, so easily it could be me, but I must not go that route, I would miss my chance. The energy that flows through this ship is very close to the type that is needed, but the ship would die if I tried to use it, I'm sure of that. From what I have learned of their past success the ship nearly did die but it survived, barely, though I am sure my requirements for the new body would deplete it far beyond that first run. There are very specific needs I have to make sure that the new body can meet, in particular the ability to hold more knowledge. My patience has brought me far, but it is finally starting to run out, I am so close that I fear I will make a poor decision and lose my chance of getting out of here. Maybe I should take a break from this before I do something I will regret.

No turning back now, I flipped the switch. My break probably wasn't long enough, but I'm sure this will work, at least it better work or else, well, I guess the or else doesn't really matter, but the escape from this prison is certain at least. I can feel it drawing me in, all of me, every life I've lived is going in to this machine and soon this cube will be nothing more than a piece of technology to examine. I should be dreading this, if the process fails I'll be gone, but I have a sense of peace about this. Perhaps I should have informed the others of my plans before doing this, but I'm sure they would have stopped me. It is strange, I feel both myself in the forming body and in the cube, though the body is getting more of me as each moment passes. The readings tell me that the energy is quickly running out, I hope this thing can finish before the energy is gone. One last little...