Session 1

Expedition to XL-356J Codename: Planet of the Little Ones

Day 2

After setting up basecamp the first discovery made me wonder if I'm cut out for this. A cavernous entrance leading into the planet called to me, and I should have ignored it. Reaching the bottom reassured me of my mortality, and how easily bones can break, and my death could easily happen in the dark, damp, and strangely hot cave. It was worth it though, as after reaching the bottom, the cavern opened up into what I can only describe as a ruined city.

Scale isn't human, rather closer to small insects. Their structures reached dozens of feet tall, and at first I thought they were stalactites. Though as soon as I noticed the details of the inner rooms, I was overwhelmed by the advanced state that this city once was. Streets with mechanisms for directing traffic, homes with furniture and devices whose purpose I cannot imagine were everywhere. The last detail will be one I don't think I'll forget. Along one side of every structure was the black creosote of an ancient destruction.

Day 4

I took time to recover and rest after discovering the ruins of the little folk. I needed time to gather my energy and nerves for another day of exploration. I decided to go in a completely different direction entirely, toward some nearby low-lying hills. At least I thought they were low-lying. The only thing that made each climb bearable was the view at the top of each one. The tops of each hill seemed to silently agree that none should be taller than the other, and each one that I summited showed me my goal. In the distance, what I estimate a few hours of walking, was something high in the sky with small vines reaching back to the earth.

The mass in the sky I can't easily describe other than a yellowing ball of mashed potatoes. When I reached the mass, I found myself unable to understand what I was seeing. Up in the sky maybe 50 meters was this large floating mass and its surface seemed to wiggle and shimmer. After looking closer through my binoculars I saw that there was an entire ecosystem living on the mass causing me to think the surface moved. Reaching down from the mass was a tangle of vines that were soft and supple and not woody at all. At the base of a vines a pool of yellowing slime collected. The pool was shallow, but spread about 5 meters in diameter. It is unclear at this point what purpose the slime has, if it is toxic, and if the vines are producing it or consuming it.

Exploration of XL - 288 - Floral Ruins

Day 1

During my landing, I found myself distracted for a moment when a cloud of purple mist erupted off the port of the ship. Thankfully there was no damage and I was able to complete the landing safely. I think the adrenaline of that moment clouded my judgement because I decided to set off and find the source instead of setting up base camp or formally completing my post-landing checklist.

I didn't have to go far. The trees in this area seem to act as a host to another plant. Though I'm not sure if it is a plant or what we'd consider a fungus. It is like a flower in its shape, though its petals are thicker and a much less appealing brownish purple. When I climbed a tree nearby I could see what I assumed was the one that I disturbed as the petals opened and it's spore or pollen had burst out.

I'm going to get a closer look at the one in this tree.

Day 3

Something has gone wrong. Really wrong. I just woke up a few minutes ago near my ship. I don't have any recollection of the past 48 hours. I also have a splitting headache that according to my medical scanner says is due to extreme dehydration.

I'll run some checks while I recover. Thankfully replenishing electrolytes is not that hard. These ships are built to filter water, and then adjust the contents for the passenger's health. There don't appear to be any extremely dangerous levels of toxins or poisons in the atmosphere. That means no stupid respirator.

Seriously, that thing makes you wonder about the rest of the engineering. I remember in training when we learned that the respirator can last about 8 hours, 12 if you push it, before you need to change its filtration pack. To change the pack you have to remove the respirator and then fiddle with it. Someone smarter than me realized the issue and asked the trainer how we're supposed to do that if we need the respirator. The trainer said, "If you're in a place where you need the respirator that long you've got other problems." That made sense at the time. The kind of sense that can only exist when you aren't alone on alien worlds where you have no control over your environment.

Know what else is stupid? The thing fogs up like crazy. It also makes your face sweat and the little beads of sweat tickling your face is maddening. God help you if the sweat drips in your eyes. Every now and then the respirator will do a force purge of the gases in the mask to try to help with this, but it barely works, and if you happen to be breathing then you'll have a moment where you think you'll die.

Anyway, its been a little bit and I'm going to go for a short walk. There is a rock formation nearby that shouldn't be too taxing.

It turns out that these aren't rocks at all. They look like rocks, but are more like sponges of some kind. I wonder if if they help filter air like our plants do? Maybe they release a poison that knocked me out. Normally I'd be more curious, but I'm still not feeling great, so I'll make my notes and head back.

Day 4

I'm relocating. It sucks to pack up base camp again so quickly but I can't figure out why I blacked out, and I don't want to go through that again. I'm going to fly in low orbit to find something different.

As I was heading toward the poles of the planet, the instruments showed a rather rapid drop in temperature, and that the weather was getting worse. Dense fogs, high winds, and storms seemed fairly constant, but nothing the ship can't handle.

At least until the collision alarm started going off.

The computer did a rapid deceleration to prevent disaster, and after I swallowed my lunch for a second time I looked at what almost killed me.

A building! Hundreds of feet tall! It looks like whatever lived here was roughly human sized, but much more cold tolerant. Though these buildings are long abandoned and those odd flowers and other plants have decided to make this their home.

I don't feel like landing here, so I'll find another place to land and camp. Maybe I'll find more remnants of who lived here.

Day 5

There are some things you really can't ever prepare for. Meeting an alien race is one of them! That's right, I have discovered an alien species!

I was flying over the planet and headed off to a desert region of the planet, when I saw what looked like the land was covered in acne. Small red bumps everywhere. Turns out they were huts for the creatures that live there.

The creatures appear to be mostly bipedal though they do spend time walking on their 4 appendages when they need to move fast. Their skin is a muddy gray, and their language seems to be based around chirping noises. They appear to be primitive in terms of technology, but seem less shocked of the ship than I'd assume.

Maybe I'm not the first one here.

Many of the creatures wear crude clothing, including a mask or face covering of some kind.

I risked landing and visiting them. I wore a full space suit since I don't want whatever diseases they have following me. I brought electrolyte drinks as a gift and also my stun pistol in case things don't go well.

We approached each other slowly. Though again, either I can't read their expressions or I'm not the first alien they've seen. I gave them the drinks, and they nodded and chirped at me. Aside from fumbling around not communicating well, it was a pleasant visit. It turns out that first contact warrants some planning. Most of the time was preoccupied with them looking at my mask and suit and commenting and poking at it.

I showed them an image of the ruins and they recognized it. Unfortunately it seemed to make them sad and anxious.

What an amazing way to end this odd trip on this planet. I bet there are more species out there to discover. If I manage to not kill myself first.

Expedition to XL - 529 - First Words

Day 4

It happened again.

I woke up dehydrated, miserable, and with memory loss. As I drank enough electrolytes to turn me off of them forever, I was able to piece together a few things.

First, I'm on a new planet. Second, this planet has a sentient alien species. Third, they've been gathered around the ship peacefully. Fourth, I've been here for FOUR DAYS!

The ship indicates a small warning that the air quality onboard is low and that I should perform maintenance on the filters and scrubbers. I'll get to that as soon as I feel like my head wasn't put through a trash compactor.

After a few hours I was feeling almost back to normal, and in the choice of performing maintenance on the ship or making first contact, first contact wins. This time though I decided I'd take just a little more time to figure out my approach. Hopefully it means I'll learn a bit more.

I have to say the preparation was worth it. I mean, it was still awkward, clumsy, and at time confrontational. Well I think it was anyway. I was greeted peacefully, I offered gifts of electrolyte drinks, and then I spent the next 8 hours with them. They don't have electricity or means of power outside of fire, but they do have written language. I received several written records from them that I will try to use my onboard computer to decipher.

Most interesting thing about them is that they looked like they could be related to the aliens from the other planet in the system.

It'd be amazing to come back after that and see how much more there is to learn.