The Sprague Diaries

[jammi]

03/06/819 - PERSONAL ENTRY

Well, the Doc was right. We hit water - shame it was only the size of a large pond. Not enough to stick a colony on top of at any rate. The search continues. We've started dropping down further south into the cooler regions. Where we were first scanning, the midday heat could peak at 65°C, surface-side. Hot enough to make me grateful that we're up in the air in a self contained unit; you could kill an unprotected man in short order in that sort of temperature.

I don't see why we were poking around the equator in the first place. Sure, it's the most efficient place to launch or drop a ship when you account for the planet's spin and inertia, but you can hardly live there. They'd either have to build the entire colony underground, or have everyone wandering around in heat suits. Not my idea of fun. Where we're heading, there's actually a bit of scrubland. Some sort of grass - where there's plants, there's water. Has to be. They can't be surviving on thin air and good intentions. It's cooler, too. Hopefully that'll translate to it being less stuffy in here.

Not much else going on. Bit of talk about the drift south, and John setting up a poker club. Lauren's already in a mood, says he's cheating. He probably is. I couldn't care less. The game passes the time, and we're not playing for serious money. Capt' White and the Doc are staying out of it. Probably trying to get all lordy about the division between 'men and their officers'. The sooner they realise they're corporate and not admiralty, the better. Will make life a little more bearable for the rest of us at the very least.

---

04/06/819 - PERSONAL ENTRY

Shifted down a few more circles of latitude. We've not been scanning at max intensity, just surface mapping. We've not seen much of interest - just the odd stone pillar and desert messa. Minor dry canyon systems, stuff like that. Must have been a lot of water around here at one point. Had to have been water erosion that made these features. That's what Doc reckons, anyway. God forbid I second guess the opinion of our hydro-"The Pond"-geologist.

I think we covered about 160 miles before we anchored up for the night. I flagged a few ore lodes for BMM on the way down. We saw the first few clumps of scrubland as well. Not particularly impressive. Anaemic looking yellow strands, not at all like the fields of Cambridge. Strange how a planet so close to home can be so alien. Thinking of which, I heard there are alien ruins all over this planet. Not seen any yet, but here's hoping. That'd be a story to take back with me.

John and Lauren have already made up. He figured it wasn't worth his while to piss off one of the expedition's only women over a game of cards. I hear he gave her one of his rations of beer he smuggled in through ExSec control. Hah. Maybe I should try and wind him up. I wouldn't mind a drink. Would probably only get a black eye for my troubles, mind. That'll do for now.

---

News article library, feedback and content requests.