# day X+1 - Federation transmission #2
Urgent Broadcast to Magor!
Good day Magorian miners, explorers, and landowners!
We’re broadcasting this urgent message to confirm that the previous rumors of a strange creature roaming the night skies of Magor have now been confirmed! The previously interviewed Commander Kesocs, stationed in the Magor mountain mining station MM-6/11 aka "Rusty Montains", managed to get a blurry picture from within his station during the dwindling final hours of the evening on Magor before the creature escaped from sight.
We now present to you the audio log of our Federation agent’s interview with Commander Kesocs:
Begin Transmission
*Interviewer:* “Good morning Commander Kesocs, so tell me, how did you manage to get a glimpse of this mysterious creature.”
*Commander:* “It was downtime. I didn’t have much to do but I wasn’t tired. You know how this Magorian atmosphere can get to someone agent... I was on an expedition to get some images for my field notes with my digitizer when suddenly it appeared over the mountain range! Tentacles… must’ve been at least 30 feet high waving through the air judging by how big they looked next to the boulders on the mountain range! I quickly activated my digitizer, but the long legged abomination had vanished as soon as it appeared… That thing was fast, very fast… I don’t know what we’re dealing with here… but we might need to prepare for the worst.”
*Interviewer:* “I’m.. at a loss for words commander… is there anything else you need to report to the local Magorians?”
*Commander:* “Well… the other issue has been, my food has been disappearing more often than before. I often find that my basic tools never seem to be where I last left them… Sometimes I’ll wake up to things from my shelves littered on the ground and I’ve heard reports from other residents on top of my own experiences of hearing strange gear like noises, pitter pattering, around our homesteads in the dark early morning hours.”
*Interviewer:* “I see, The Federation thanks you very much for your time and cooperation, your information has been of utmost value.”
# day X+0 - Federation transmission #1
Good day Magorian miners, explorers and landowners,
We’re broadcasting this urgent message to warn you that we’ve heard recent rumors from planet Magor of weird mechanical sounds, along with sightings of a strange flying “tentacle creature”. These eerie phenomena have been reported to mostly occur during the night hours on Magor.
Commander Kesocs of the station MM-6/11 in the Magor regian “Rusty Montains" at coordinates 6:11 has provided us with the following statements during an interview with one of our Federation agents:
** begin Transmission **
Interviewer: “Can you describe what has been seen recently in the Magor night sky?”
Commander: “Yes! It’s a flying creature I tell you! Nothing like I’ve ever seen in all my years of active duty!”
Interviewer: “Is it possible your confuser array has played a role in these rumors, possibly by creating false perceptions of the environment?”
Commander: “What?! No, we have not used the confuser array since all of the Federation machinery has started acting up. Who knows what risks using that now would create or do to our senses!
Interviewer: “So we assume it’s a flying creature based on the rumors and your previous response. We’re you able to discern any other details about this supposed flying creature?
Commander: “I wasn’t able to get a good look at it, but I know it’s not from around here. There’s been nothing else on this planet that has every sent such tremendous chills down my spine! We’ve also been seeing strange lights at night in the sky and we attempted to get some imaging using our latest technology. The problem is….this…. creature…this thing…is somehow evading the imaging systems and is completely absent from any of the processed photographs! All we've managed to captures are faint images of strange lights over the horizon."
** end Transmission **
We also advise all residents on Magor to take the following precautions: Make sure all utility, mining, and/or defense droids are well oiled, maintained, and secured. There have been reports of glitches and malfunctions, which have resulted in various injuries to the local population.
Some of these units have also appeared to have either been remotely controlled and/or acted as if they were autonomous prior to them going missing. If you have any information on these events, please contact your nearest Federation office and remember to stay safe when mining and exploring. This message has been broadcast by the Federation for the safety of all the citizens of the Metaverse.
# day 1 - Difficult beginnings
RUSTY MONTAINS - episode 1 on youtube
+++ This is Kesocs signing on. Starting today I will be working the glavor discs here on the little mining station in the Magor mountains area, at station MM-6/11. The place looked peaceful at first, and I had just set up the rigs when I noticed some eyes, seemingly looking at me directly from the blank brown rocky surface.
+++ Not thinking much of it, I completely forgot about it. Must have been the last fumes of yesterday nights frilzacc in my head. Setting up the power saw on the new spot took me the rest of daylight, and my mind off of any distractions
+++ When finally the light faded and signaled end of the day shift, boy was I in need of some good rations. The field box looked a bit tossed about though, and that was when I remembered that pair of eyes from this morning. The field box was empty!
+++ In case you wonder why I did not eat all day, the gravity and atmosphere here on Magor make it so that you can go for long bouts of straight hard work without feeling tired or hungry. Its not just the fresh mountain air, there is something else. It is the reason why some crafty miners make a good profit here and don't talk about it much. The unions don't want this to be widely known either, so everyone is happy on Magor, and not many nosy outsiders arrive. At least this is what I had heard from some old mining veteran in a tavern on Kavian, very late at night...and that's also why I am here now of course.
+++ Anyways, I still need to have SOME sustenance, and when the sun is gone the body needs that break. I don't know what this strange rock is about, but sun and air make you go all day. Take one of the two away, like in a sandstorm or at night and you are tired, thirsty and hungry all at the same time. Its frelling crazy!
+++ So my field box was busted up and empty. I called up the next station at MM-5/11 and tried to get some bearings on aggressive wildlife in the area. They thought I was still high on frilzacc! They must be new like me, or just messing around. The sun and air sobers you up in 10 seconds around here and you feel like a fish in clear water. Anyway, no intel on the wildlife from the neighbors for now.
+++ Well, so I had to go hungry between shifts. My positive outlook on Magor took a bit of a dent here. Back in the station I was just glad the machinery knew how to get itself out of the way. My droids took care of the cleaning up the rigs and I almost fell asleep in the rover. No use eating when sleeping, so I had a proper feast in my dreams, dining on nerkisht bronzed plates like an old retired miner turned land owner after a lifetime of working trillium rigs.
# day 2 - new process needed, thinking about night shifts
RUSTY MONTAINS - episode 2 on youtube
+++ Kesokz logging in. So after the disaster of yesterdays ration stealing wildlife, I am determined to do something about it. Since it seems this creatuere is only active and hungry during the day, I will use the sunlight for hatching a plan and preparing what is needed to deal with this situation. I am setting the drones for full ration protection and area patrol, while I reinforce the field boxes somewhat. If this creature can open a field box with its maglock, I should expect some form of intelligence. Maybe even a lot...oh boy. I was expecting to mine, not become a anthroplanetologist!
+++ anyway, I am here now. So in the best crafty-miner fashion, I will deal with it to get to the trillium as fast as I can. Wildlife or not, it is just another step on the way.
+++ having set up the drones for protecting the wildlife, I found I can still make them do rotation and shifts to get 80% mining work out of them while the fieldboxes with the rations stay reasonably protected. I switched the power saw for a power extractor, so I can have a faster rotation of the drones. I hope all the hustle and bustle will not give the creatures much space to sneak in.
+++ having set up everything, I am having the rest of the day off to sleep in the rover. I found an old confusor in the shed, which is an excellent way to instantly fall asleep even in brad daylight. You just set the timer, press "CONFUSE" and drop like a Kavian Magrock. Of course, I set it to "detect dawn" being the crafty miner that I am. Signing off for a well deserved break.
# day 3 - there is more to Magor than mountains, but not much
RUSTY MONTAINS - episode 3+4 on youtube
+++ the deserts are plain but beautiful even to my old trillium caked eyes. I am just leaving this viewpo here for you to feast your eyes on, and signing off. Today I set the drones to auto and just hope they get it done with what I gave them for instructions. I am taking my rations and going exploring. The crew is putting up the rigs for the next dig and they dont need me for that. Sleeping in the sun using that hacked confusor yesterday really did a number on me old skull...
# day 4 - managed to snatch a viewpo of the station and big surprise...
+++ I got around to taking a viewpo for some advertising on federation networks to attract new miners to the station. How do you like it? I am loking forward to welcoming new faces to this peaceful life of pseudo solitude and challenge solving.
But, as I was going through the candidates, I was shocked to find a cyber hedge engulfing half of the station. I kept monitoring a few more times during the day and realized it did some growth spurts in a rhythm not yet apparent. It seems to be having a mating ritual with our station buildings. I have put some drones on maintaining the hedge.
The organism is rock-based, organic and probably sentient. I am assuming I am just cutting its hair. We are trying to communicate with it, and have applied for a consultant to help with that. But for now, we keep "cutting its hair" with a few drones to be able to access the station after a long day. See attached viewpos for that nightly lazer show our drones keep up for ours so we can get out ouf the station in the morning!
# giant ant-like creature
-roughly human-sized
-brown colored like the rock surface, practically invisible when in front of the brown ocks. Only the bright white eyes give it away
-this creature likes to snatch miners rations during the day
-it is able to bust open even the robust field boxes
-it rests during the night. Maybe we can work with that...we definately need more data here!
+++ on a little field trip to Neri last cycle, I encountered lots of different monkeys. A friend from Magor station 5:11 told me about the colorful mushroom forests and the brew the drunken monkeys there create from all sorts of fairy dust and fermented Bananos.
I was just haphatardly walking in there, leaving the shuttle glider outside. I am not a total tech savvage, he? The moment I stepped into the forest, the light changed in subtle ways and I felt very lightheaded and happy. There was something in the air, maybe pollen or spores of some sort...
A large group of lauging monkeys descended from the tree, holding brghtly colored containers with a glowing beverage. They offered me "bananos", at least I think thats what they said. My translatrix was a bit challenged by their advanced state of intoxication...since i wasnt so sure about consuming these "bananos" in a mushroom forest, completely alone with a horde of rambunktious monkeys, I politely desclined.
Little did I know to NEVER decline a gift from a tripping monkey. I ran like hell and managed to find a sort of hut and tree shelter hanging from a rope. I jumped in and screamed like I never had before. The whole thing shot up into the air, and stopped with a soft "thunk" about 100 metres higher above...man that was almost a heart attack!
Seems I just found out how the monkey move cargo into the trees. Not what I had expected, pretty nifty really. Sneaking a peak out of the strange apparatus, I noticed a shadow in the corner of my eye and *THUNK*