Journal Entry 1.1 - EZQ-245 Mission Log - Al Herman, January 19,3045: This is my first entry into what I'm sure will be a miraculous adventure filled with discovery, invention, and cultivating milestones. I am currently sitting aboard the Elizabeth-245 and myself and 11 others just yesterday departed our beloved home planet known as Gorp to explore a new world currently being called EZQ-245. Given that this is my first entry, I'll give you a brief background of my history and how I got where I am today. Growing up on Gorp, an extremely densely populated planet, I grew up from a very young age knowing what I wanted to do. As the human population is at an all time high throughout the universe, we must continually find new planets to inhabit and harvest resources from to stay alive. While a single planet can maintain life for multiple millennium's, we continue to exponentially grow in number, and thus are continually seeking new habitats and terrain. Since I was young, I have had an infatuation with the elite task-force known as TFS, or 'The First Settlers'. After gaining popularity for winning some national prizes, as well as some help from my parents who both worked in positions of power, I was able to secure myself a place on the mission I write to you about now. From the time I was 16 years old, I have been brought in and conditioned for this mission. They've specifically taught me sets of skills that will help me survive, and hopefully make this journey as successful as possible. Aside from this mission, my hobbies include cooking, 4D printing, and hover boarding. [[Journal Entry 1.2]]Journal Entry 1.2 - EZQ-245 Mission Log - Al Herman, February 13,3045: So now that you know a bit about me, let me tell you some more about this mission. Elizabeth-245 is equipped with 3 jet propulsion self-sustaining rockets that thrust us forward at about half the speed of light. Given our planet of destination is about a quarter of a light year away, we expect to be arriving in approximately 6 months. Until then, we still have lots of preparation and studying to do as we get closer to our subject. So this is a short list of what we know about the planet so far: - It shows signs of life, though only at the molecular level - There are large bodies of water (presumably fresh) that cover about 40% of the planet - Gravity has been hard to measure. It would seem that something is altering the gravitational pull as it has been recorded at a variety of different levels - There are 2 moons which shift the tides in a skewed pattern (We plan on tracking this) - There is some vegetation, but from what we can tell it only grows at a certain distance from the equator (It should also be noted that much of the vegetation is unknown to us and therefore it will again be a focus of ours) - The terrain is similar to Gorp near the equator, but the farther north or south you go, it begins to turn to dessert and then eventually arctic lands As you can tell, there's a lot we still don't know but we continue to track what we can as we get closer. I hope to update you with any of our findings. [[Journal Entry 1.3]] Journal Entry 1.3 - EZQ-245 Mission Log - Al Herman, June 12,3045: We're rapidly approaching our new home and I am continually fascinated by what we discover. Our newest discovery helps to understand how the tides and gravity work on the surface. By our calculations, the planet and actually the entire solar system seem to orbit just slightly elliptical. This tells us that, depending on the time of year, gravity can actually fluctuate and change a noticeable amount. Luckily for us in particular, our home planet Gorp actually has one of the highest gravitational pulls out of all the current livable planets. While this still won't prepare us for the fluctuating amount, we at least have a valid idea of what to expect. [[Journal Entry 1.4]]Journal Entry 1.4 - EZQ-245 Mission Log - Al Herman, August 23,3045: Today is the day we're set to land on our new home and I couldn't be more excited. The scheduled plan has us dropping into a large body of fresh water at approximately 0400 Gorp-central time. From here, our ship is designed to float and we will use smaller outboard engines to push all of our equipment ashore. Dependent of course on how successful our entry is, we will decide the next logical step from there. Hope to update as soon as possible! [[Journal Entry 1.5]] We have landed and we couldn't be happier with the results! While some of our mechanical equipment seems to have been damaged in the fall, everything else went as planned! We're currently sitting ashore what we're naming 'The New Blue Lake' and beginning to unpack our equipment. While the weather seemed good upon arrival, distant storm clouds could prove a problem to us here soon. Aside from that, our most pressing issue will be creating a sustainable source of food and water. While we have enough for a good couple weeks, we need to be sure we'll be able to sustain after that. Though I'd love to share more we have so much work to do and I must get back to it. I will update you with our latest! [[Food]] [[Water]] [[Shelter]] [[Mechanical Issues]]So even though we have enough food for now, we're no fools to think it'll last. Luckily, on top of being able to hopefully harvest plants from this new planet, we've brought along a series of genetically altered seeds that produce extremely rapid growth and can fully start producing in 3-4 weeks. That's where we're obviously choosing to start. Given that we landed ashore here and there's a large body of water nearby, we planted the first section among the fields that surround the shore. While we're eager to discover more, it looks like the storm is nearly over us now and we must take cover in the ship. The winds are picking up significantly and I'm worried being on shore might not be the best place for us. Regardless, I'll update you when I can. [[Wait out the Storm With Food]]Though the ship still has a fair amount of fresh water in the lower tank, an endless supply is obviously going to be crucial if we hope to make any progress here. Luckily for us, The New Blue Lake is fresh water, and at least from our analysis, should be perfectly safe to drink! Just to be certain though, we definitely wanted to test it and be sure before jumping the gun. While we thought this would be an easy task, our microscope apparently got shattered on impact so we've had to default to more primitive ways of testing. This involves a few tests like pH and ammonia testing and only took us a couple hours. While the tests yielded a positive result meaning it's definitely safe to drink, the weather has taken the best of us in the meantime and is starting to get out of hand. We're currently taking shelter in the ship and I'm worried being on shore might not be the best place for us. Regardless, I'll update you when I can. [[Wait out the Storm with Water]] While resources and the lack of mechanics were a big worry, the look of that storm was even worse. After reckoning and making some quick decisions, we decided to pack essentials and head for the large forest on the outskirts of the surrounding field. Once we got a couple miles in, we managed to run into a massive tree the likes of which we'd never seen before with an astounding gouge in the bottom. Without hesitation, we all immediately knew this was our best bet to ride out the storm. We managed to secure a large tarp above the hollowed out section, and just like that, we had a near impenetrable shield from mother nature. Within minutes of us securing the tarp, the storm started sweeping over us and the sound of wind greatly increased. Sitting here now I can only hope it'll pass soon... [[Wait out the Storm with Shelter]]There's a storm on the way and we have limited resources but one of our biggest resources is of course our ship and equipment. Among other things, it lets us communicate with our home planet and relay information between us. This will prove invaluable if we need assistance on something outside of our range of expertise. Aside from this, right now our planet probably is unaware of whether we survived. Since we lost communications, there's no accurate way of them being able to tell. Because of this, we decided our main focus should be to get our ships mechanics back in place and see what damage has been done. Our head engineer, Adam Stevens has been hard at work all afternoon and seems convinced he's nearly there. Unfortunately for us, the storms already upon us and we need to take cover.The winds are picking up significantly and I'm worried being on shore might not be the best place for us. Regardless, I'll update you when I can. [[Wait out the Storm with Mechanical Issues]]The storm finally died down and from what we can tell, is over for the time being. It looks like a lot of the ships exterior panels were ripped off and might make for some good shelter. Aside from that, we're undecided on where we should start. [[Mechanics w/Food]] [[Debris w/Food]] [[Water w/Food]] [[Shelter w/Food]]The storm finally died down and from what we can tell, is over for the time being. It looks like a lot of the ships exterior panels were ripped off and might make for some good shelter. Aside from that, we're undecided on where we should start. [[Mechanics w/Water]] [[Debris w/Water]] [[Food w/Water]] [[Shelter w/Water]]The storm finally died down and from what we can tell, is over for the time being. We returned to the ship to find a lot of the panels had been ripped off during the carnage and we've decided we will use those to further fortify our already created shelter. Aside from that, we're undecided on where we should start. [[Mechanics w/Shelter]] [[Debris w/Shelter]] [[Water w/Shelter]] [[Food w/Shelter]]The storm finally died down and from what we can tell, is over for the time being. It looks like a lot of the ships exterior panels were ripped off and might make for some good shelter. Aside from that, we're undecided on where we should start. 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