The Base Naught File

by avadel

As collected by the colonial scientists of Geminae, Base Naught. Received via simultaneous transmission device (SIMTRAN) to Terra. The relevant scientific statistics and analyses have been archived by the Global Hegemon Aeronautics and Space Administration and can be retrieved by copy upon request. What follows are transcriptions of the personal dictations from the scientists on the mission.

Day 1 on Geminae, Mission Shuttle: Dr. Elise Rhea's Audio Journal

Finally descended into atmosphere today. A strange relief to see land again after ten years of space and void. If there was any delusion about returning home, it is gone now. No more waiting; no more imagining the ship might just turn around. A trip home would be a second decade at best—at worst, we'd never make it back.

This is home now.

The terradome sealed to the Geminae soil perfectly. However, preliminary analysis shows it may be unnecessary. The planet supports its own native flora: a single species of an orange reed-like plant. It grows like fur all over the planet's face. Wasn't on any of the original scans of the planet—a new discovery, just for us.

Though conditions are hot, the temperature is within Terra's normal fluctuations. We'll proceed with all regulations and discretion, but the unmanned missions didn't mislead us. Geminae is gorgeous, and by all accounts, worthy of its name. This really could be the twin planet we've been searching for.

We'll begin sampling tomorrow to verify the atmosphere hasn't interfered with the livability inside the terradome. Right now, I have no reason to believe it will have. After all the years we sunk into the front end of this mission, all the false leads on a new colony planet, all the wasted research—they don't seem so wasted anymore.

But perhaps that's just sentimentality and space brain speaking.

Elise Rhea, signing off with cautious hope among foreign stars.

Day 2 on Geminae, Mission Shuttle: Dr. Elise Rhea's Audio Journal

Long, hot day of work. Almost crashed on my shuttle bunk without dictating my notes.

Linyang, Ylza, West, and I suited up today to test the outer atmosphere. Trekked across reed fields to terradome, tested there too. Dome atmosphere perfectly mirrors Terra, as designed. Will have to adjust opacity of dome to reduce heat. Felt like stepping into a summer greenhouse. Weather outside dome just as sweltering, only less humid. The heavy bio-suits don't help.

Numbers recorded and sim-transed to Terra per standards. Strange we received no reply to our sim-tran yesterday. Devices confirm our message sent. No way to be sure they received it. Linyang suspects some sort of interference. If it's both ways, then we're entirely cut off from Terra.

Ordered Linyang to stay in shuttle tomorrow to work out details. The passenger ship is only two years behind our expedition. They'll rely on us to prep the base, to guide them in. With any skill, the transmission error won't take that long to figure out. On the eventuality it does, though...

Well, they drilled us to be honest in these notes. Only way to stay sane on a mission like this. The thought of a world to ourselves, only our shoes on its ground, only our eyes on its sky, our hands in its data... is a terrifyingly lonely one. None of us want our work to go to waste. No one wants the passenger ship to lose heart and turn back. Worse, no one wants them to get curious about the radio silence and wander into some future danger we tried to warn them of.

Let's try not get anyone killed by tech—or failed tech—in the next couple years. New mission goals.

Elise Rhea, hoping to hear from you soon, Terra—or at least that you're hearing from us.

Day 3 on Geminae, Mission Shuttle: Dr. Elise Rhea's Audio Journal

Transported supplies from shuttle to terradome. Lined everything in plastic, of course; a precautionary measure since we'll detox everything in the terradome before removing our bio-suits.

Found that the gravity-gliders don't work here. Ended up having to carry everything manually. Sorest I've been since before leaving Terra. Should have kept better conditioning on the trip here—GHASA didn't install a heavy-grav gym on the ship for nothing.

The inconvenience will slow us down several days. Still. We have two years, and the rest of our life after that. No sense in getting impatient.

Measured magnetic levels. Strange readings—inverted from what we expected. Might be able to recalibrate the gravity-gliders around it. By the time we manage that, we'll have carried everything over already.

Linyang thinks the strange magnetic levels are what's interfering with sim-trans. I agree, but recalibrating that will be a much trickier piece of business. Our theory is that we're able to send but not receive. I don't think any of us can bear to theorize any worse.

Elise Rhea, preparing for another hard day of lugging supplies.

Day 5 on Geminae, Mission Shuttle: Dr. Elise Rhea's Audio Journal

Half our supplies carried into the dome. Still no word from Terra.

Day 8 on Geminae, Mission Shuttle: Dr. Elise Rhea's Audio Journal

After four full days of carrying, the basics of Base Naught is set up. Four tents, gardening supplies, food storage—the whole complement. One more night of sleeping in the shuttle. Detox tomorrow.

Base comms built, full antenna assembled, strengthened, and routed through the satellite ship for extra power. Still no word from Terra.

No fauna spotted yet either. Odd on a planet with so forgiving an atmosphere and so much plant life. Will investigate further when fully moved into base.

Elise Rhea, signing off.

Day 9 on Geminae, Base Naught: Dr. Elise Rhea's Audio Journal

Terradome detoxification completed. As expected, it killed off all the ginger-beard—the prolific orange fuzzy plant—inside the dome. West jokingly dubbed it that after his own rusty facial hair. Name seems to have stuck.

Terradome soil now a strange red color. Detoxed again after that to verify livability. Soil still red where ginger-beard died. Tested it. Preliminary results show a high iron concentration, but no toxins. Should be safe enough.

First time taking my bio-suit off planetside. Almost forgot what it was like to have sun on skin or wind brushing my face. Standing there in plain clothes, looking out over our camp, it settled in my stomach for the first time: this isn't just our mission. This is our world. Where our children will grow and die. Where we'll adapt and grow and be buried ourselves. We are the pioneers of a new generation. Magellan, Columbus, Louis and Clarke—we follow in their steps, but 25,000 light years away. A chilling thought.

Elise Rhea, signing off for the first time from my tent.

--Some menial entries cut here for brevity. For full access to Dr. Rhea's journal, contact the GHASA Global Library, where the complete and original simultaneous transmission is stored and archived.--

Day 32 on Geminae, Base Naught: Dr. Elise Rhea's Audio Journal

Outside the dome, the ginger-beard has bloomed. Tops of each stalk have sprouted two red blossoms with triangular white protrusions pointing in between the two. Suited up and took pictures close to edge of terradome. Theorizing white protrusions function as protection for something toward center of flower; perhaps reproductive units, as in Terran flowers? Can't wait to examine samples more closely.

No more word from Terra. We try not to talk about it at dinner, but it weighs the room. Linyang has some new theories, but they sound more desperate than substantial. At this point, I think we're willing to try anything. Easier to distract with new discoveries and work. Must be much harder for Linyang, I think. Might ask him to accompany me in the field soon, if only to give him a break.

Elise Rhea, signing off.

Day 33 on Geminae, Base Naught: Dr. Elise Rhea's Audio Journal

Linyang and I plan expedition out tomorrow. After a month of work to make Base Naught livable, we will finally get to investigate the no-fauna phenomenon. Will also take soil and plant samples. Can't be sure ginger-beard isn't toxic in this new state; we plan to contain it before bringing it into the terradome for study.

Should be less than a day's trip; will be back in our tents by nightfall.

Tomorrow's trip will be the first step in verifying the natural atmosphere of Geminae is truly livable. The sensors can only tell us so much, and if there's anything we've learned here, the sensors can fail.

If it is as we expected, though, just imagine... It would much expand the planet's ability to support the massive amounts of colonists Terra is hoping to send. Even just the colony ship two years behind us—they're transporting another terradome, but two hundred people and two terradomes is still an equation for restlessness and chaos.

We're betting a lot on Geminae truly being a twin for Terra.

Elise Rhea, ready to tap the planet's potential.

Day 34 on Geminae, Base Naught: Dr. Elise Rhea's Audio Journal

Stormed today, a massive, howling thing outside our terradome. West noted all the technical aspects of the storm, sent them to Terra by sim-tran just in case they do receive our transmissions. To me, though, a mature, rational scientist of multiple degrees—it reminded me of thunderstorms as a child, thinking the world was going to end, curling up in my mother's lap while a darkness fell over the world that no electric light could dispel.

No possibility for a field mission. Hopefully conditions will improve tomorrow.

Elise Rhea, signing off.

Day 35 on Geminae, Base Naught: Dr. Elise Rhea's Audio Journal

Sky clear and pink, like usual. Strange to be under a pink sky; strange for that to be normal; and stranger after that black, black storm. Even though we've been here for months, still expected the world to come back blue. I'd say I'll never get used to it, but I think that's planetism talking. Humans are adaptable. Eventually I'll think of blue skies with faint nostalgia, and my children and my children's children will think I'm teasing when I tell of another world where the sky wasn't pink.

Linyang worried storm system might not have been completely through. We waited today as a precaution; nothing happened. I theorize he secretly wants to remain to fiddle with the sim-tran. Anxious to get out there, but one more day couldn't hurt too much. Rather go out with him in a good mood. No sulking in science.

Elise Rhea, looking forward to tomorrow's venture.

Day 36 on Geminae, Unknown Cave: Dr. Elise Rhea's Audio Journal

Hopelessly lost and freezing cold. Storm came out of nowhere, separated Linyang and I. Blinding conditions. Tumbled down scree slope looking for refuge. Bio suit cut in the fall. With it compromised, I can only hope Geminae's twin status will prove true. Trial by fire was not the intended test. Too late now.

Rain tainted pink, like sky. Clever, cursed droplets got into my suit, soaked me through. If I make it back to camp, I'll look like a REDACTED white sock washed with reds.

Stumbled from scree, through ginger-beard field, into cave. Thankful for refuge as storm increases in strength, howling past the mouth and scaring the REDACTED out of me.

Tomorrow, my training will kick in. Tonight, I am a scared, exhausted child who has lost her way home. Glad my recorder is waterproof so I can voice these notes, not feel so alone.

Elise Rhea, looking forward to sleep.

Day 37 on Geminae, Unknown Cave: Dr. Elise Rhea's Audio Journal

Stormed most of day, but not as badly. Used that time to survey damage to my bio suit, study cave. Looks like stream used to run through here. Gone now, but good sign. Suggests there are underground deposits of water.

Another exhilarating find—fossil! Definitely not plant-based; clear skeleton structure, albeit an unfamiliar one. Planet has water, thriving plant species, and evidence of dead animals. With all three combined, they give compelling evidence for living animals as well.

So why haven't we seen them?

Perhaps they were scared off by the shuttle's landing. Unlikely since none have returned. Perhaps the environment has changed drastically in recent centuries, and the larger species have been knocked off in place of much smaller ones. Perhaps they have all adapted fantastic camouflage, and we haven't been looking closely enough. Spent most of the last few months in the terradome, anyway. Possibilities are thrilling, even alone in this cave.

Examined suit. Tears in multiple places. ginger-beard blossoms came off stalks, attached to my suit. Some flaked off while I was sleeping. Those are blackening and curling. However, one penetrated my suit—white, thorn-like protrusions attach to my skin.

Attempted to pry it off, but the blossom is embedded in skin of my leg. Worried about the medical repercussions of ripping it out; doubt it would work anyway. Need to return to Base Naught immediately.

Looking at the handful of loose blossoms just now, I'm unsettled by their uncanny resemblance to a mouth. The two red blossoms form a pair of 'lips', the white thorns 'teeth'. Will have to be more careful in the future. Spot on my leg throbs faintly; skin surrounding whiter than usual.

Now storm has slacked off, but daylight gone. Faint stars to guide, but nothing as bright as our Terran moon. Flashlight smashed in fall down scree. Will have to wait to move till morning.

Elise Rhea, stuck for the night.

Day 38 on Geminae, Unknown Location: Dr. Elise Rhea's Audio Journal

Sore worse today. Left cave, walked for miles, but my receptor is not picking up the Base Naught beacon signal. REDACTED these magnetic interferences. No storm today. No base either.

Elise Rhea, over.

Day 39 on Geminae, Unknown Location: Dr. Elise Rhea's Audio Journal

Starving. Didn't bring any food because we didn't expect to be gone more than a few hours. Don't know where I wandered in storm. Doesn't matter much. Fields of ginger-beard all look the same. Careful to pick off any of the mouth-shaped blossoms that catch on my clothes.

Hungry enough I'm thinking about eating them. At least I found a bit of fresh water from the storm, caught on some stones. Not enough there, but enough not to die.

Elise Rhea, over.

Day 40 on Geminae, Unknown Location: Dr. Elise Rhea's Audio Journal

Woke up to find blossom has inserted itself into my leg. Skin swollen, pale white, red tendrils spreading out. Almost certain the ginger-beard blossoms contain toxin. Need Base Naught for immediate medical attention. Throbs as hot as rocket fire.

Never believed in miracles, but hoping for one now.

Elise Rhea, over.

Day 41 on Geminae, Unknown Location: Dr. Elise Rhea's Audio Journal

Veining has spread fast. Expected I would die shortly after it reached my heart, but other than the sore, the hunger, the thirst, I can feel no adverse effects.

Found a pool of still water at dark today. No way to boil or test it. Just drank.

Elise Rhea, over.

Day 42 on Geminae, Unknown Location: Dr. Elise Rhea's Audio Journal

Woke up screaming. Carcass in front of my face. Recently deceased animals. All fanged; eerie similarity to ginger beard blossoms. The plant grows thick here; glad I made camp on the rubble near the bank.

The beard appears to grow... out of their carcasses. Good fertilizer? Something... else?

Against every scientific instinct, I didn't stay to find out.

Found a small bluff. Can't be sure, but there is a blip in the east horizon. Could be base. But there's a lot of ginger-beard between me and it. At least there's none on the bluff.

Elise Rhea, over.

Day 43 on Geminae, Unknown Location: Dr. Elise Rhea's Audio Journal

Vision gone red. Sinking feeling it will be permanent. Then again, permanent might not be long for me. Headed east.

Elise.

Day 44 on Geminae, Unknown Location: Dr. Elise Rhea's Audio Journal

Still headed east. Horizon blip growing clearer. Tried yelling. Too far. No response.

Elise.

Day 45 on Geminae, Unknown Location: Dr. Elise Rhea's Audio Journal

Wandered miles. Changed direction. Can't stop crying. Don't know why I deviated. Can no longer see base. Wanted to go east, but—couldn't. Feel like a rabid animal approached with water.

Not going to make it back, but can't seem to stop walking. The wrong direction. Walking and walking and walking, all the wrong direction.

I dictate as I walk. Can't seem to stop for the night. Imagine I only will if I pass out.

I've cannibalized what's left of my field tech to boost a distress signal. Won't help them find me from base, but might help them find my body. These dictations are the last piece of me. I don't want to die for nothing.

Losing energy fast, but my brain—the scientific part, not the helpless animal part—can't seem to stop spinning theories. There are mushrooms on Earth that hijack ants' brains, drive them to walk far to spread the fungi's progeny. There are predatory plants, like flytraps, that use animals to make up for some deficit in their soil. This planet should be teeming with life, but it stinks of death. Did the ginger-beard become... too successful? From the river water encounter, some animals still exist—but few. Or hidden. Dying off little by little.

But how did the beard populate so fast? We found this planet in its apocalypse, and there is still something we're missing. I won't find it out, but perhaps you, finding these notes, will. That's my final request—answers.

That, and I'd kill for something to drink.

Elise, signing off one more time.

Day ??? on Geminae, Unknown Location: Dr. Elise Rhea's Audio Journal

Overwhelming thirst. Hard to write. Hard to think.

Funny feeling to my mouth. Tested with fingers. Foreign object attaching. Growing? Tumor? Plant like tissue. Sharp.

So thirsty.

_______________

Day 50 on Geminae, 26 miles SW of Base Naught: Dr. Shi Linyang's Computer Log

The planet does not want us here. It is empty yet it has no room.

My hands shake from hunger and terror and regret. It's been two weeks since Dr. Rhea and I set out; one week since I locked onto the signal for Base Naught; and one hour since I saw what was once my colleague.

She came over the hill and stumbled across the ginger-beard plain. I ran toward her, elation powering my legs and blurring my eyes. I was too close when I noticed her biosuit was compromised. I was too close when the glaze of her eyes was clear. I was too close when she threw herself into attack.

I hit her—so many times, too many times—but she could not be stopped. She bit me, tearing straight through the suit. She latched on like a snake pumping venom. When I tore her off, the wound gushed. It still hasn't stopped bleeding.

I knocked her out by slamming my helmet into her head. Before that, no words could convince her to stop. She was as persistent as a starving animal.

We have no way to treat this, even at Base Naught, but I refuse to leave her. I covered half the distance to base with her in my arms. She hasn't stirred. I'm not sure what I will do if she does.

Those eyes were not Rhea's, and this planet does not want us here. No matter what happens to her, or me, our journals must make it back to base. I heard her story; I know why everything is wrong here.

Geminae is killing itself, and it is taking us with it.

- Dr. Linyang

_______________

FINAL SIMTRAN from BASE NAUGHT

Terra, we pray we're not transmitting to a deaf universe. DO NOT come to Geminae. DO NOT send the colonists; turn their ship around, we beg.

It's blood—the magnetism, the pink sky, the ginger-beard's diet. It's blood.

Geminae is not our twin. It's our reaper.