Databank

colony purser anita gottschall drowned near an angel comb. —anita believed the comb could help her digest this world's food —you have already gained one effective adaptation from an angel comb —anita implied that the colonists feared hallucinations caused by a virus, and that she could feed the comb with her body anita may have been delirious.

locate this blackbox and investigate the circumstances of the colonist's death.

locate this blackbox and investigate the circumstances of the colonist's death.

a towering structure built by aliens provisionally designated axum. —built nearly a thousand years ago, but abandoned —clearly an astronomical observatory, but does not reach the ocean surface —front gate requires electrical power from an axum generator —electrical lines lead deeper into the biome locating and repairing the generator may allow access.

a partially disassembled and flooded corridor network. —human remains in the sediment suggest it was a failed habitat. —basic architecture suggest that the builders were working with a limited set of blueprints —signs of more recent rehabitation, with a larger blueprint set

colony surgeon sophie boucher helped computational dynamicist chap sovann reprint into a new body. —this planet is toxic to humans, but sophie believed reprinting could slow the toxicity —the colonists used special biobeds to improve their dexterity and endurance locate these biobeds to improve your toolbelt and inventory maximum.

locate this blackbox and investigate the circumstances of the colonist's death.

a fragment of an aisv cicada lander module, broken into two segments. originally a deployable colony structure, including a canteen for relaxation and refreshment. —although pumped out and used as a worksite in the past, the canteen has flooded again —corrosion and weathering make it difficult to determine whether this lander deployed safely from the cicada, or broke away violently

a fragment of a cargo hold from an aisv cicada lander module. most of its cargo was either removed or expelled. —corrosion and weathering make it difficult to determine whether this lander deployed safely from the cicada, or broke away violently

a large fragment of an aisv cicada compartment, including an eva suit locker for spaceborne construction. —the presence of a compartment from the cicada itself (rather than a lander module) suggests the ship may have broken apart violently —corrosion and weathering make it difficult to determine the exact circumstances of the fragment's arrival —tool marks indicate partial salvage has been attempted, but the tools are not of alterra manufacture —acoustics indicate fragments of useful tools are present

a fragment of wreckage from an aisv cicada lander module, including a large garage. —corrosion and weathering make it difficult to determine whether this lander deployed safely from the cicada, or broke away violently —garage was opened after landing so any surviving vehicles could sortie

a fragment of an aisv cicada compartment, including a descending emergency stairwell. —the presence of a compartment from the cicada itself (rather than a lander module) suggests the ship may have broken apart violently —seawater sampling detects a source of bloom virus beneath the fragment a juvenile angel comb may have been trapped beneath the wreckage.

a fragment of an aisv cicada compartment, originally intended for atmospheric therapy. —the presence of a compartment from the cicada itself (rather than a lander module) suggests the ship may have broken apart violently —salvage work here was interrupted by violence —acoustics indicate fragments of useful tools are present

a remote habitat with several long-term biological experiments testing the growth conditions of protean life. —contains a biobed rigged to upgrade colonists' bodies (license violations have disabled the bed's ability to reprint lost colonists) —biobed set to analyze changes in a patient's genetics and gene expression —biobed recorded at least one death caused by a cytokine storm, a reaction to failed gene therapy the experiments in the habitat were initiated by colony purser anita gottschall.

a remote habitat used as a biological and ecological laboratory. —contains a biobed rigged to upgrade colonists' bodies (license violations have disabled the bed's ability to reprint lost colonists) —biobed repeatedly referred a patient for mental health assessment focused on dysthymia complicated by anxiety the habitat's metadata has been destroyed by crude software intrusion. chemical traces indicate it was used to handle explosives in addition to its scientific functions.

a remote habitat used as a meeting ground and miscellaneous workspace. —contains a biobed rigged to upgrade colonists' bodies (license violations have disabled the bed's ability to reprint lost colonists) —biobed recorded a time-series analysis of changes in a patient's genetics and gene expression —records include observation of nearby crab species and conversations with other colonists metadata suggests the habitat belonged to chaplain-psychiatrist and ai ethicist lucretia "quaker" kapoor.

a habitat buried below the center of the coral gardens biome. may have supported salvage operations in nearby, although its depth makes quick access inconvenient. —contains a biobed rigged to upgrade colonists' bodies —due to violations of the terms of use, the biobed's ability to reprint lost colonists has been disabled metadata suggests it was constructed by zygimantis "mantis" tarvydas. it may have served as a personal retreat as well as a worksite.

a remote habitat on the edge of the jelly barrens in the northwest of the coral gardens biome. —contains a biobed rigged to upgrade colonists' bodies (license violations have disabled the bed's ability to reprint lost colonists) —biobed records indicate that it printed colonist pc/r-dmik9-sb.02 more than twenty times records stored on site were signed by sophie "butcher" boucher, colony surgeon. she may have used this site for medical research.

a remote habitat buried in volcanic rock near a tremendous sinkhole or lava tube. —contains a biobed rigged to upgrade colonists' bodies (license violations have disabled the bed's ability to reprint lost colonists) components of a disassembled noa terminal scattered around the site suggest that it was used in an attempt to subvert, reprogram, or disable proprietary alterra business intelligence.

a large coral tower with unusual genetic properties.

a checkpoint for expeditions into the geothermal cave below. —on-site noa node could be reactivated for data retrieval a cluster of blackboxes in the cave suggest it is lethally dangerous.

iso asphyxiated after being abducted by alien organisms. iso was carrying an upgraded scanner. retrieving its blueprints could allow a modification station to replicate it.

locate this blackbox and investigate the circumstances of the colonist's death.

a region of the coral gardens biome overgrown by large, decay-feeding jellyfish called necrolei. seawater is acidic and deoxygenated.

an enormous axum power plant. named 'karakorum' by pioneers. —originally powered by hot water from the titan rockbore below —later modified to burn methane —destroyed by sabotage —could be repaired and reconnected to the rockbore to generate axum power —startup procedure will require translating axum language repairs will require an upgraded scanner and enormous quantities of raw material.

this encryption key grants "kurul-level" access privileges. this is not an approved alterra pay rate and is therefore cryptographically insecure. the keylog indicates this key was used several times by the keyholder, especially at a site logged as "tadpole pens".

industrial metal extractors the axum used to draw dissolved metal out of the seawater. —scan to create blueprints for a colonist metal farm

a nesting site for the needler mango. high risk area. long range acoustics indicate at least one destroyed tadpole submersible on site.

a developed habitat with internal growbeds and berths for more than twenty colonists. —hull ruptured by an explosion —seacocks opened to flood the habitat, perhaps as emergency fire control —multiple blackboxes on site. a search may indicate where survivors evacuated —on-site noa node could be reactivated for data retrieval —one habitat module is set up as a hot lab to study viral biology the habitat contains salvage, including a powerful scanner station.

small habitat built to support colonist expeditions into this region. —contains a functioning fabricator —on-site noa node could be reactivated for data retrieval —signs of recent visitation may provide a useful jumping-off point for constructing a regional base of operations.

colony ethicist lucretia kapoor drowned when her bunkroom flooded. —noa opened the seacocks to flood the habitat and control a fire —colonists were drowned before they could reach their air supplies —biobeds were destroyed in the fire, preventing colonists from reprinting further investigation required. recommend searching the surrounding habitat and its noa node for more information.

locate this blackbox and investigate the circumstances of the colonist's death.

an artificial structure with markings in two alien scripts. —one is the architect language known from 4546b (architect linear) —the other is an unknown language (radial a) if the two markings contain the same content, this will allow provisional translation of radial a.

lead pilot t. "ruby" anar was attacked by a marrowbreach while trying to draw it away from younger colonists. —ruby was part of a group that fled their old habitat towards the eastern edge of the biome. following their trail to their destination may reveal their ultimate fate.

locate this blackbox and investigate the circumstances of the colonist's death.

ruby's tadpole was brought down by needler mango attack. the tadpole contained an upgrade module allowing it to dive below its normal crush depth.

locate this blackbox and investigate the circumstances of the colonist's death.

singh was fatally wounded by an unknown attacker with a spear. singh was investigating the activity of alien organisms he referred to as 'tailings'.

locate this blackbox and investigate the circumstances of the colonist's death.

locate this blackbox and investigate the circumstances of the colonist's death.

an unusual coral structure. —sinkhole beneath coral mass releases an anomalous strain of proteavirus —coral mass grows towards highest concentration of this virus, obstructing its flow —coral mass emits virophages, viruses that target and destroy the anomalous virus further investigation into viral ecology recommended.

a fabrication and maintenance site for tadpole submersibles. there is a functioning noa node in the control room. —site suggests tadpoles were often deployed eastward —material may have been returned by tadpole expeditions —noa node may contain information on past survival failures and future threats —access to the control room is secured by a passcode access codes were stored in the pdas and blackboxes of high-ranking colonists.

the tadpole pens noa node supported a simulation of colony surgeon sophie "butcher" boucher. —sophie referred to the titanic organism on the horizon as a world tree —believed the tree was the source of masefield syndrome —described the ruins of an alien civilization in a protected zone to the east; aliens may have been destroyed by the masefield syndrome sophie argued that masefield syndrome might only be ended by destroying the world tree.

the tadpole pens noa node supported a simulation of colony surgeon sophie "butcher" boucher. question the simulated sophie for further information and guidance.

locate and access this noa node for further information.

a group of nonhuman structures above a hot, geologically active cave. —constructed from salvage and basic crafted materials —hot cave may have provided food or energy —apparently abandoned first contact with a tool-using alien species carries significant risk to the individual pioneer and to humanity.

the titan-class organism on the eastern horizon pushes the boundaries of planetbound life. —visible height exceeds two kilometers —visible width approaches three kilometers —dimensions of subsurface structure unknown —material properties unknown —ecological niche unknown recommend further investigation.

k. "wander" wangmo was attacked by a marrowbreach while investigating a viral bloom around an angel comb. —wander reported a parasite attached to the marrowbreach —wander regretted not using flares to distract her attacker —wander reported that the viral bloom did not match the strain of proteavirus detected in colonists' blood —concluded that the bloom virus was not responsible for masefield syndrome recommend treating the viral bloom with appropriate tools. once treated, the nearby angel combs may be a useful source of adaptations.

locate this blackbox and investigate the circumstances of the colonist's death.

a small, flooded structure apparently intended to welcome pioneers emerging from sleep bay 3. —on-site noa node could be reactivated with a battery for data retrieval —biolab provides access to basic biomods

colony dietician wu lianghai drowned when his lab flooded. —wu was studying the virus which infects all life on proteus —wu believed he had isolated a 'bloom strain' responsible for masefield syndrome —wu tuned a sonic resonator device to destroy the bloom strain wu planned to test the resonator at a site west of habitat where local life was infected with the bloom virus.

locate this blackbox and investigate the circumstances of the colonist's death.

lead salvor tziporah "zip" malk fell into a trance and drowned near a titan rockbore. —zip was affected by masefield syndrome, causing delusions and narcosis —other colonists in the cave were also overcome —blackbox contained high-level access codes to the tadpole pens recommend locating the tadpole pens and accessing the control room.

locate this blackbox and investigate the circumstances of the colonist's death.

locate this blackbox and investigate the circumstances of the colonist's death.

life in this unknown ocean shares its basic genetic code with earth. dna letters code for amino acid words, which are joined into strings like sentences to create proteins. pioneers can also look forward to familiar delights such as sugar, starch, fat, and alcohol. however, this world's genetic code uses different words for amino acids, creating waxy and metallic proteins. human stomach enzymes cannot digest them. undigested mass builds up in the intestines, causing indigestion, intestinal blockage, starvation and gout. this field adaptation allows your digestive tract to secrete alien enzymes built with human chemistry. borrowing these enzymes bypasses the need to design a synthetic equivalent — allowing you to proceed with the mission. the chances of your digestive tract digesting itself are minimal.

although your aep suit can protect you against acute hot water burns for a limited time, prolonged exposure will cook your tissue like a sous vide pork tenderloin (simile flagged for review). human proteins are sensitive to high temperature and will swiftly unravel. organisms that live near thermal vents can survive water above 65 degrees celsius. temperature may change from near 0c to above 100c in seconds. (because pressure delays boiling, some deep hydrothermal vents can reach hundred of degrees c.) pompeii worms, still extant in earth's oceans, grow a coating or fleece of bacteria to survive exposure to hot water. these epsilonproteobacteria tolerate intense heat with heat shock proteins, which prevent and reverse the breakdown of cooked molecules. pioneer nanomachines will assist your body's cells in producing these heat shock proteins and monitor long term health effects. regular return to safe water temperatures is advised. additionally, a layer of protective bacterial fleece between your skin and aep suit will protect you from skin burns. your pda will monitor this bacterial culture and adjust its odor and secretions to prevent irritation. these bacteria have been derived from existing skin cultures and may help build appreciation for the role of healthy bacteria in day to day life. say "thanks, staphylococcus."

at 100 meters below the surface, the pressure on your body is over ten times what it is on land—like an elephant standing on every square inch of you. humans must breathe air under equal pressure or the lungs cannot inflate, but this carries severe risks: —below 40m, the nitrogen in air becomes narcotic, causing impaired judgment, delirium, and anesthesia —as pressure increases, oxygen becomes toxic, causing tunnel vision, tinnitus, vertigo, and convulsions each additional 10m of depth increases the pressure by 1 atmosphere. breathing normal air at 600 meters and 60 atm of pressure is fatal. the extreme pressures force gas molecules into the body's tissues, saturating them like a soda and disrupting their necessary function. deep-sea organisms produce a molecule called tmao (trimethylamine n-oxide). tmao is a stiffener for water molecules, helping them hold their shape against pressure. adapting your body to produce this stiffener will reduce the rate of gas saturation, allowing your pioneer nanomachines to clean up the fatal fizz as fast as it develops.this adaptation may result in long term liver damage, but the consequences fall beyond your current survival horizon. this adaptation will also prevent trimethylaminuria, a condition in which a seafood diet can lead to a powerful fishy body odor.

*symphon amphora*. a sponge adapted to colonize — and create — air pockets. 1. amphora-shaped structure like all sponges, the amphora requires constant flow through its pores to survive, but it pumps air rather than water. contraction and expansion forces moist air through the sponge's pores. absorbent surfaces harvest water and carbon dioxide from the air. waxy coating helps prevent water loss. 2. radiolytic metabolism the soft blue glow of the sponge is bioluminescence fueled by radioactive minerals in the sponge's vanes (the structures growing from the anchoring rhizoid). this radiation splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. the gases gather in the cave ceilings the amphora prefers to colonize, creating pockets of knallgass (unmixed hydrogen and oxygen). though breathable, this air is highly flammable and an explosion risk. the sponge's symbiotic bacteria feed on the hydrogen and oxygen, producing energy and water. the sponge uses this energy to fix carbon from the air and grow, as an earth plant would. assessment: a remarkable step. the amphora sponge may evolve an entire lineage of dry-land sponges, colonizing niches filled by plants and fungi on earth. indicates the presence of an air pocket. swim up to breathe. do not ignite flares or discharge electrical devices in the pocket.

a basket-shaped organism (tentatively *shootroot cunabulum*) with no clear earthly analog. anatomically similar to a plastic starfish, or to an opened variety of earth's extinct blastoids. 1. animal anatomy the flattened, fibrous 'leaves' are the arms of an animal loaded with photosynthetic symbiotes. the central structure houses a digestive system and a hard, sticky cradle (the cunabulum). a second ring of arms grows into the seabed, seeking crevices in the rock. 2. preferred symbiote the cradle is an exchange site with a symbiotic partner (such as the lucifer rotsac). spectrogenetic analysis suggests the cradle shootroot is younger than the rotsac. it may have originally parasitized free-floating lucifer rotsacs, before evolving a niche as an anchor: providing a refuge and minerals to the rotsac in exchange for a share of the rotsac's fermented food. 3. plastic fibers although it lacks the true cell walls of earth plants, the cradle shootroot strengthens its tissues with bioplastic fibers. too tough to cut by hand, they could be severed by a cutting tool. assessment: tough fibers could be used to synthesize fabric, possibly food.

*gorgon aulaia*. a soft, predatory coral akin to earth's gorgonians, especially the venus fan. 1. sponge-coral moiety like earth's brown tube sponges (*agelas schmidti*), soft corals on this world are a colony of coral polyps growing within a matrix of sponge tissue. in this specimen it is very difficult to distinguish the sponge's jellylike inner tissue (or mesohyl) from the soft coenenchyme which connects the coral polyps. 2. ribbons of tissue the curtain gorgon forms a long, low-lying fan of tissue which catches prey. the curtain gorgon is an obligate predator and cannot survive on sunlight, but some specimens are colonized by chemotrophic bacteria which may provide the gorgon with extra energy. 3. plasticized skeleton the gorgon's skeleton is chemically similar to pvc (polyvinyl chloride, an obsolete industrial plastic). assessment: indicates the presence of plankton and other small sea life.

*salp pendulous*. a sticky, suspension-feeding predator that captures organisms from the current. 1. salp-like biology like earth's salps, this is a colony of zooids — tiny, cloned animals (in this case tunicates) — that form a long, tube-like pump. the salp draws in water to filter for plankton. 2. hard holdfast the holdfast that anchors the feeding string is secreted by the same zooids that make up the rest of the organism. spectrogenetic analysis detects proteins similar to those expressed by reefbuilding sponges and corals. 3. bloom response terrestrial salps can reproduce very quickly, allowing them to grow with—and devour—sudden blooms of algae. if the algae bloom is too dense, the salps may clog. assessment: may be a useful indicator of ecological stress. await further updates.

tentatively *polymephycite tympanum*. not animal, plant, or fungus, but a fourth category of complex life analogous to earth protists. 1. central structure the central stipe is a biopolymer akin to chitin or keratin held upright by a beard of air-filled sacs (pneumatocysts). 2. dual feeding strategy photosynthesis is the primary nutrient source, but cave-dwelling drums subsist on dissolved nutrients. 3. reactor glow adults develop a large bioluminescent swelling called a sprangia. its blue light precisely mimics the cherenkov radiation of a nuclear fission reactor immersed in seawater. assessment: further investigation required. await further updates.

*ventworm cryocthonian*, the vent worm that brings cold from below. 1. vent worm the fridge worm's body plan is familiar from terrestrial analogs — a tubular body with a protruding gill. the body hosts a colony of symbiotic bacteria in a chamber called the trophosome ("feeding body"). these bacteria help the worm survive extreme environments. 2. cold water emitter the cryocthonian lives in colonies along geothermal gradients—from hot to cold. it exploits the flow of energy and minerals through the rock to feed. colonies pumps deep, cold brine (usually at 4 degrees c) to the worms exposed to hot water, helping regulate their temperature. 3. sulfur-based metabolism the symbiotic bacteria in the fridge worm feed on sulfur and other dissolved minerals. the fridge worm uses cold deep-sea brine to trigger chemical reactions which help collect minerals from the hot vent water. assessment: produces pockets of cold water. may attract life that cannot tolerate the surrounding heat.

although technically alive, gateway spires are constructs more akin to termite mounds. 1. impeller ring the oldest part of each gateway spire is the impeller ring. this ring contains a loop of conductive, metallic bacterial fibers surrounded by layers of polymer similar to polyaniline. when exposed to electrical current, the bacterial wires create lorentz force, pushing water through the ring (and pushing the ring in the opposite direction). 2. tracheal petiole the stalk (or petiole) supporting the impeller ring resembles a human trachea. each disc is a colony of soft coral polyps joined by a tough, flexible tissue (the coenenchyme). the hard outer surface is a layer of living diatoms — silica shells covered in tacky mucus. 3. constructor species gateway spires are assembled by a species of social krill, *krill krikophore* or the ringbearer krill. though too small to see unaided, these krill build the entire gateway spire: first laying hoops of bacterial wire, then secreting polymer insulator and gathering polyps of coral and samples of diatom to build the support stalk. the behavior of the ringbearer krill resembles earth's carpenter wasp. 4. ecological niche the gateway spire is a biological tollbooth, drawing in water rich with plankton, krill, and other marine meiofauna. the ringbearer krill feed on these prey and nutrients. related colonies of ringbearer krill will attempt to align their gateway spires into continuous highways. 5. power source? the gateway spire's source of electrical current is not immediately apparent. assessment: possibly useful as a mobility aid.

*gorgon kryphakous* or listening gorgon. a soft coral with dull olive filaments. a predatory filter feeder that sways with the current like kelp. not known to be hostile or harmful to humans, but remains under observation (see notes below). 1. sound sensitive dissecting the listening gorgon's basal filaments reveals a web of vibration-sensitive cilia hidden in its soft, gelatinous core. these can detect movement through water at resolutions not seen except in the airflow sensors of clip-winged gnats on kepler-22b - enough to pick up the swish of a tail through miles of water. 2. reactive orientation at first the listening gorgon appeared inert, but its movement is simply too slow to be perceived. it has been observed to orient itself over time to specific low-frequency vibrations. it will do this even if food is less abundant in that direction. 3. silent. the gorgon kryphakous has no vibration-producing organs. it emits no detectable signals - no chemical plumes nor bioluminescence. it is essentially silent across all known communication spectra. assessment: requires further analysis. one leading hypothesis suggests that the listening gorgon once tracked the low-frequency vibrations of a massive, slow-moving marine species - now possibly extinct, or still undetected in the deeper zones of proteus’s oceans. if so, the open question is whether this trait evolved in response to an ecological partner... or a threat

tentatively *pyloraptor mimic*. a predatory animal disguised as a leafy kelp. discharges electrical shock when disturbed. 1. cephalopod-like body resembles an octopus or squid planted mantle-down in the seabed, with its arms spread to mimic kelp. pouches of symbiotic bacteria between the arms allow it to photosynthesize. a beak at the center of its arms is plugged with mucus. 2. electrical hunting the four arms contain electrocytes, organs which build up an electrical charge. when disturbed by prey, the electrocysts discharge, causing paralysis or death. it is unclear if the prey are directly eaten, or if they decompose in a garden around the mimic pylon. (organisms which feed on external decay are known as saprotrophs.) 3. implies kelp the pylon's cryptic aggressive mimicry of leafy kelp implies that kelp must exist on this world. most species in earths' oceans eat to survive, with primary production (the conversion of sunlight into biomass) carried out by plankton and algae. leafy kelp were a late evolutionary development. 4. cave mouth strategy mimic pylons tend to cluster around sea cave entrances, perhaps to feed on organisms entering or leaving the caves. alternately (and speculatively) they may have been planted there by another species to control access. assessment: avoid contact to prevent injury. may mark cave mouths.

*anthobrachia necrolei*. a clonal stalk of large jellies, similar to earth's stauromedusae. each jelly remains moored to the stalk, rather than maturing into a free-swimming medusa. 1. enormous size and hunger rather than feeding on prey, the necrolei gathers dead matter from the seawater. the size and height of the stalk are directly related to the rate of death and decay up-current. 2. acid-yielding metabolism the necrolei has adapted to low-oxygen seawater. it ferments much of the matter it collects in a central 'basket' stomach, a process which requires no oxygen and yields strong acids. the necrolei concentrates these acids around its eggs as a defense. assessment: large numbers of necrolei in this region indicate a bloom, a population explosion caused by a flood of nutrients. this is a poor sign for the health of the ecosystem and perhaps for the state of the global climate. produces egg clusters that can be processed into strong acid.

noon gorgon (tentatively *gorgonian meridiem).* a predatory soft coral that lures prey by mimicking the sun in the dark. the brightest noon gorgon in a cave will attract the majority of the prey, creating an arms race to be as bright as possible. noon gorgons feed much of their energy to their symbiotic light-producing lucifer rotsac. the ancestral noon gorgon may have evolved to grow towards or around lucifer rotsacs, using them as bait. eventually, a symbiotic partnership developed. expect noon gorgons to modify their spectrum in different depths and biomes.

*mephit ceryneian.* a stack of cloned clams adapted to life in very hot water. the central stalk that connects them appears to be a symbiotic worm worm worm worm worm 1. clamclone clam stack clone stack! jelly lei like. connect on worm like coins on spindle. monitoring pda bad output. 2. genderstack all clone female. worm forms antlers: emit male cell. why worm help clam? no more worm. worm taken over by clam cancer. 3. hot hot hot! clams evolve shut forever. too hot! never open...but then starve? a ha, eat with tissue fans, withdraw if nibble burn. starvation solved. 4. namepun stack sounds like stag and stack has antlers and stag has antlers. stagged. name for hot water living clam? mephit. stagged mephit. assessment: bad output stop.

*hyphen tallshroom*. a mysterious, chitinous life form with no clear terrestrial analog. 1. hyphen hyphens are colonies of hard-shelled hecaspids: shell-making algae. (algae on this world descended from a star-like 'solarian' cell, while all animal life descended from an elongated 'polarian' cell.) hecaspids in the colony align their shells into a column, forming tough armored threads, or hyphae. on earth hyphae are characteristic of fungi, but it is not clear if an analogous group exists on this world. 2. tallshroom the tallshroom is a complex organism with differentiated organs, but all its structures are fundamentally threadlike — hyphenated — and constructed of tough biopolymer akin to chitin. gill-like structures along the flanks collect oxygen and chemistry from the water, fruiting bodies disperse reproductive cells, and the central body forms a sealed 'wellhead'. 3. armored driller tallshrooms drill their hyphae into the rock below, cracking open their own hydrothermal vents. the body captures the outflow of this vent, where bacteria convert minerals into energy. if the outflow becomes too hot or rapid, the tallshroom's drumlike top blows open, releasing the catastrophic overflow. 4. viral history like the mammalian placenta, the tallshroom's hyphae evolved in an explosion of retroviral inserts. these viral proteins are expressed in the tips of the drill fibers. hyphae may have originally evolved as viral predators—inserting a symbiotic virus into armored life forms by growing on and cracking through their bodies. 5. cousins despite millions of years of evolutionary separation, the tallshroom shares elements of its body plan with the false fission drum *polymephycite tympanum*, a fellow member of clade scyllidae. it is unknown whether this represents convergent evolution, mimicry, or a viral gene transfer. assessment: indicator of new evolutionary pathways unique to this world.

a hateful and malicious sponge. assessing pda neural temperature. reducing output subjectivity. *symphon achlys*, sponge of dying mist. a dangerous semi-predatory sponge that acts as the central node in a necrobiome. 1. bacterial arsenal sponges cultivate bacteria which secrete helpful chemicals. at some point in its history the toxic sponge was infected by a bacterial symbiote which generated a powerful antibiotic (akin to the human streptomyces). the bacterium used this antibiotic to extinguish competition, then began an internal power struggle to evolve compounds that could destroy rival strains of its own species. the result is a sponge flush with an antibiotic so concentrated it causes skin burns and nerve damage. 2. touch based hunting strategy when brushed, the sponge contracts sharply, expelling a cloud of antibiotic toxin. microorganisms are killed, and larger species may enter convulsions and die nearby. the dead matter decomposes, releasing nutrients upon which the sponge feeds. 3. animal gene fragments the toxic sponge's genetic code contains fragment of an animal genome: likely a crustacean. assessment: avoid. keep medical supplies on hand to treat chemical burns and nerve damage.

*raion calix*. a puzzling combination of worm colony (the raion) and slime mold. 1. feeding strategy feeds on drifting matter, though the worms also sting and kill meiofauna (small sea life between 45 nm and 1 mm in size). 2. glassy central structure the central structure is a glasy spicule similar to those found in earth's glass sponges. the worms live in this structure, creating a raion — a sponge inhabited by worms. 3. "tripe bowl" the ‘tripe bowl’ around the base is a single enormous cell, similar to earth’s syncytial slime molds. the structure resembles the lining of a cow’s stomach, although this voronoi pattern is common to self-organizing structures in many exobiologies. its function is unclear. in terrestrial analogs, syncytial structures can be found in both healthy tissues like muscles and in tissues infected by certain viruses. optogenetic analysis cannot determine the tripe bowl's genetic ancestry. assessment: biological enigma. await further updates.

*wort wort*. one of the first kelplike organisms encountered on this world (provisional designation: *kaulos*). like kelps, it is a large algae, not a plant. rather than photosynthesis. the wort wort generates energy through fermentation. 1. living fermenter fermentation is metabolism without oxygen. though slow, it produces energy-rich alcohols. the wort wort's bulbs (or worts) contain wort (a sugary fluid) which is fermented by symbiotic bacteria into alcohol. the wort wort collects biomatter too tough for other digest to decay as mash for its wort. 2. animal genetics the biochemical processes used by the wort wort are derived from fish muscle cells. this is difficult to explain, given that the two branches of life must have diverged billions of years ago. 3. dark sign the wort wort thrives in low-oxygen oceans. whether deoxygenation occurred in the past or is only now beginning requires further analysis. assessment: slowly contributes energy to the ecosystem by recycling dead matter. possibly a sign of a past or future mass extinction.

axum concrete. build axum stuff!

conduit crystal gateway crystal kagome optical fibers derived from shock quartz. naturally occuring wires for light.

hardened industrial runoff. contents vary based on local production during the waning days of the axum.

operating instructions step into aep suit legs. wiggle hips while drawing suit up to shoulders, then insert hands into suit arms. pda will automatically configure suit sensors and catheters according to your preference. background the alterra all environment protection suit, or aep suit (never ape suit), is a second skin for pioneers. —populated with latest trans-system federation nanotechnology to guard against bacterial and fungal threats (can be refreshed with licensed yogurt products) —bonds with the user's body and implanted pda to monitor vital signs, hydration and calorie budget —intuitive neural heads up display —gel layer protects against soft radiation and temperature —full-service skincare including rash suppression, pinch clearance and sore lavage. lotions sold separately —scavenges dissolved gases from the pioneer's blood to prevent barotrauma (the bends) —compresses body into ideal movement postures (at some risk to user modesty) and traps air to maintain neutral buoyancy. suit surface can express microtexture to reduce drag —constant electrical and optical feedback optimizes biorhythms and helps manage health emergencies the latest and most radical aep designs include a suction pump on the wrist, which mates with an implanted shunt in the pioneer's body to sample alien tissues. please consult your onboarding waiver for the advance resilient colonist holobiont infrastructure program (archi) for technical details of adapting your body to alien worlds. "all environment protection: the only starship you can wear." changelog: removed "get a thicker skin" slogan after legal challenges regarding implied emotional control. the aep suit does not offer mental health services or workplace counseling.

operating instructions scan axum technology to generate repair or fabrication blueprints. scan living targets to unlock new biomods. background the protean ocean contains huge amounts of dissolved metal ions and viral dna. protean life has evolved to use one to identify the other. the bioscanner hosts metal-eating bacteria which produce a robust beet odor and trillions of metallic marker proteins. in the wild, these markers bind to viral dna, allowing the bacteria to incorporate or reject it. in the bioscanner, these markers are broadcast to the target by the scan field. —in living targets, the markers bind to protean dna, allowing the scanner to conduct advanced analytic biochemistry and generate new biomods —in axum targets, the markers bind to circuits, transistors, and bacterial fibers for functional analysis of axum technology the difficulty of analyzing alien biochemistries in digital simulation may have contributed to the extinction of the architect civilization. perhaps they lacked friendly beet-flavored bacteria.

operating instructions attend to pda voice, or invoke full-screen interface to read (as you are doing now). check all pda tabs to ensure you understand their function. background the personal digital assistant (pda) is a cybernetic augment to the customer's consciousness. it tracks and sorts the user's vital signs, possessions, information and fabricator blueprints. the pda holds the sum total of human knowledge in a compressed quartz archive. it synthesizes this knowledge with scans you gather to generate databank entries on unknown species and phenomena. these databank entries can be the difference between life and death — for you or for your entire colony. remember the acronyms: —abc: always be checking —blr: be like ryley if you're lost or confused, review your pda. remember that ryley robinson's pda and scanner brought him home safely in the face of unforeseen and catastrophic hazards. if a non-essential systems maintenance chief can trust his pda that completely, so can you.

although the acronym pda dates back to pre-expansion earth, historians generally agree these early devices were not true pdas: they lacked a personality and they were not an active, agentic assistant. true pdas became popular in the mid 21st century as a solution to the problem of information overload, both in high-risk professions and in the political and domestic sphere. human affairs had become increasingly specialized and siloed, and it was no longer possible for individual specialists, let alone ordinary people, to reliably understand what needed to be done and why. pdas are designed to guide the user's attention to the clearest, most pressing information in their environment. civilian pdas generally operate from discrete form factors, such as handheld units. military and pioneer pdas may be printed directly into the user's body. although these integrated pdas are more responsive and powerful, they come with various risks associated with direct nervous system contact—including the possibility that the pda will register the user's delirium or hallucinations as real phenomena. see your end user license agreement for more details. the term 'pda psychosis' is alarmist and inaccurate. strong psychological attachments to a particular pda personality are normal and expected. speak to a therapist or an alterra companion if these attachments begin to interfere with your work and life. remember that emotional involvement with a machine designed to learn your preferences is a form of narcissism. while narcissism can be a successful business model, it can also lead to many negative outcomes. pdas save lives. whether catching errors in surgical checklists, flagging oversights in spacecraft maintenance, or simply remembering which ingredients you've already added to your child's special homemade birthday cake, pdas are the front-line soldiers in the struggle to optimize humanity's intelligence and performance to match the voracious threats of deep space.

light is a critical resource for human work — and a dangerous industrial byproduct. artificial light sources disrupt the natural behaviors of ocean life, attracting or driving away or native organisms. early explorations of earth's deep oceans were confounded by their own use of floodlights, which repelled the very life they were searching for. expanding colonies should carefully monitor their light production and changes in the behavior of native organisms. the darker it is, the more dangerous a light can be.

bidirectional through-bulkhead indiscriminate ambulatory/atmospheric portal. dual mode function (open and closed).

a spread-spectrum quiet active sonar mount and squid/cold atom interferometric antenna. automatically networks with onboard scanner station.

a heavy-duty industrial fabricator designed to assemble components into a small to mid-size craft, including submersibles, aerospace craft, overland transport and workmechs. the vehicle fabricator lacks the precision to manufacture small components or to modify vehicles; it can only assemble the final product. —requires vehicle blueprints (must be acquired in the field) —assembles components from the fabricator and processor —must be placed next to an appropriately sized moonpool (if in doubt, make it bigger) during the expansion, the widespread use of vehicle fabricators triggered brutal and illegal labor uprisings. spacecraft assembly workers, unable to adapt to their newfound redundancy, tried to delay the flow of refugees from earth in a selfish effort to maintain their economic status. in the wake of the strikelifting action, many of these workers faced trial for crimes against humanity and negligent murder.

fused silica glass in a titanium housing. strong and pressure-resistant. not unbreakable or pressure-proof. optical openness is a good psychological proxy for physical openness and therefore valuable to colonist mental health (assuming an agreeable vista is available).

blackbox: gottschall, anita "anita" 02 parsing blackbox data. outputting natural language report. anita died of drowning caused by sedation. her lungs contained elevated levels of xenon, which is an anesthetic. anita had advanced lead poisoning and severe viremia. anita died surrounded by her colleagues. they did not intervene to prevent her drowning. anita died about 230,000 hours ago. anita’s blackbox transmitted her to an unknown biobed. the reprint process was not supervised by a noetic advisor node. anita's status cannot be determined from this blackbox. anita

ganzo: huh? wh...ow. twinkle: oh, thank god. i thought i'd killed you. ganzo: you hit me with the tadpole! twinkle: and then i had to sedate you. you thought ruby was in that cave. you ccould hear her blackbox. i couldn't hold you back. ganzo: she needed me to help her. she was sick... twinkle: ganzo, i heard it too. ganzo: she was real? and you stopped me — twinkle: no. it wasn't real. but i heard it. think about it. ganzo: oh...oh no. you too? you've been in the water long enough... twinkle: yeah. me too. [big breath] well, at least i'll get to hear the same voices you do. i don't have to be scared of you any more. ganzo: scared of me. is that why you had a tank of xenon ready to tranquilize me? twinkle: i am scared of you all the time, ganzo. you are a sick man who could kill me with his bare hands. ganzo: hey. you could kill me too. we're tool users. twinkle: for now. we're turning into...into animals, aren't we? both of us. ganzo: okay. well...let's talk about it. let's figure out what to do. animals can be good to each other. animals communicate. even the ugly ones. twinkle: [laughing] ganzo: i didn't mean you. twinkle: i know. you don't mean me. are we becoming animals?

the upper observatory tower has been extensively modified. —original structure reinforced with corrosion-resistant high-temperature alloys —low-voltage, long-duration internal power supply added: probably radiological —sensors and digital computers installed these changes probably occurred more than a thousand years after the observatory's original construction. assessment: the observatory was repurposed as an anchor for a long-term monitoring station. the builders expected the station to be abandoned, so left it completely automated. recommend entry and data retrieval. climate lab

ganzo: oh ****! oh ****. twinkle: easy. easy. you're back. ganzo: oh. twinkle. oh man. i was...i gave my air to a dead crab. twinkle: you all lost it. i think the hot water triggered your masefield... ganzo: is everyone okay? twinkle: no. ganzo: no? "no" how bad? twinkle: noa marked everyone else 'do not reprint'. it's just us now. ganzo: oh, man...ruby? did she...? twinkle: no. not here. i'm sorry. ganzo: i gotta go find her! twinkle: okay. yes. i'll come with you. where do we start? ganzo: she's...if she resets, she'd print at sleep bay 3. but it takes days sometimes... twinkle: i've never been outside before, ganzo. i'm not adapted. i don't even have fins. ganzo: we can't...i can't make you wait days. not if i'm unreliable. we have to find the jubilee. twinkle: we'll come back for her, okay? ganzo. yeah. yeah. we'll come back. do not reprint

this pipe once channeled hot water from the titan rockbore below into the turbine above, spinning it to generate electricity. water flow has been obstructed by bloom growth, preventing the pipe from connecting to the rockbore. deposites of corrosive fission products (or "crud") in the pipe indicate that the water flowing through it was once expelled from an active nuclear fission reactor. the water in the rockbore below is now significantly less radioactive, suggesting that the fission source—whatever it might be—has died. the pipe has not been used for at least two centuries. assessment: treat bloom growth, then extend pipe to return power plant to operation. heat pipe

rauli "iso" isotalo gender: m mission role: survival specialist, celebrity sponsor pay rate: no pay. biography: multiple sole survivor of expeditions to rakshasa and nyos. practitioner of finnish 'biosisu' discipline. popular commentator and entertainment personality. close working relationship with partners udal singh and melaku sansar. unable to experience positive emotion in the absence of mortal danger. notes: despite initial positive sentiment, likely to defect from or mutiny against biobed system. may require versional discipline. iso

blackbox: isotalo, rauli "iso" 01 parsing blackbox data. outputting natural language report. iso died of asphyxiation. he ran out of breathing gas, but sustained consciousness with static apnea for another twelve minutes. iso died alone. iso's aep suit registered constant touch during and after his death. a bottle of fresh water was forced into iso's mouth. iso died about 236,000 hours ago. iso's blackbox transmitted him to a biobed in a nearby base camp. despite elevated levels of contamination (particularly heavy metals and retroviral dna), iso was reprinted without a reset. iso's life continued. iso

my name is zygimantis tarvydas. i am a survivor of the mongolian independent states, a colonist aboard the starship cicada, and a debt slave to the alterra corporation. i am with my friends rauli isotalo, udal singh and melaku sansar. of all the things i have seen and done...this thing is the most important. i leave this marker as testament that we discovered the remnants of an alien civilization on this world we call proteus. let our names be remembered by the workers and the pioneers. the computers call these aliens 'axum'. something has happened to their civilization...the survivors guard these ruins, but they have been reduced to scavengers: tailings. i think maybe the virus did it. seized control of them and drove them mad, as it drives us mad. but i do not know. all i know is that i am here, with my friends, looking on the work of alien minds. mantis

mantis: we could just blast through. singh: yeah, and if we're lucky, nahema kills us and fills our biobeds with concrete before the tailings get to us. this is their history. we can't blow it up! zip: they do take good care of the exterior...what if the electrical system still works? we could hook up our own generator. mantis: unless you can find me a wiring diagram we'd fry the whole system. you ever see a metal fire underwater? zip: what if there are wiring diagrams? instructions right in front of us? and we just can't see them? mantis: did your hot springs tell you about this? singh: actually...she might be right. the axum see with a combination of sonar and polarized light. some of their writing might be invisible to us. we'd need to modify our scanners to look for it. or our eyes. zip: ha! mantis: all right. let's ask sophie if we can try out her super scanner. pda, activate the base camp waypoint. singh, drop a recording here in case we get reset. mantis

twinkle: hey... ganzo: yeah. twinkle: is the apartment sized squid outside keeping you up too? ganzo: it's talking to me. twinkle: what? ganzo: it's saying...come into me and we will dwell in wonder and glory forever. ow! twinkle: sorry. i thought you were...the masefield. ganzo: i'm joking. i don't hear much when i'm out of the water. twinkle: i keep imagining those tentacles reaching up through the moonpool... ganzo: ...through the doors and the bulkheads... twinkle: ...grabbing us and taking us... ganzo: ...to dwell in wonder and glory... twinkle: ...the names of its two very hungry children... [laughter] ganzo: those things killed my wife once. twinkle: it's okay. we're trauma bonding. ganzo: sometimes the call feels like this...this yearning to be close. i can see why the jubilee think the planet wants to help us. it's strong. twinkle: look, as an astronomer, let me tell you that nothing good ever comes from attraction. it's unstable. ganzo: what? twinkle: if planets just went where they were attracted they'd fall into the sun. if stars went where they were pulled they'd fall into the black hole at the middle of the galaxy. it's the resistance that makes the universe work. the balance between being pulled and trying to get away. when something draws you in, you say: "no, wait. not yet." whatever masefield is, it's not something you're just supposed to obey. or everything in this ocean would just go and die. like back in the hot cave. ganzo: see, this is why you're not married. [loud call] twinkle: what was that? masefield syndrome

melaku "mel" sansar gender: m mission role: survival specialist, celebrity sponsor pay rate: no pay. biography: survivor of rakshasa expedition (after blackbox retrieval by rauli isotalo). born in kampung bintang to ethiopian parents, but changed name to mongolian patronymic. childhood friend of udal singh. beloved entertainment personality due to long-suffering relationship with rauli isotalo. emotionally evasive, capable of intense focus bordering on dissociation. notes: rasa candidate. mel

blackbox: sansar, melaku "mel" parsing blackbox data. outputting natural language report. mel asphyxiated. his air tanks were torn from his aep suit by an attacker. mel died in the same incident as two coworkers. mel died about 236,000 hours ago. mel's blackbox transmitted him to a biobed in a nearby base camp. mel was reprinted without a reset. mel's life continued. mel

electrowinning, or 'metal farming', is the extraction of dissolved metal ions from seawater. electric current transmitted through a wire or pillar attracts positively charged metal ions, which form a solid plate on the wire. due to the high metallicity of proteus, the seas contain near limitless quantities of dissolved metal. the axum apparently developed electrowinning to gather metals long ago, well before fire or high-temperature smelting. they may have been inspired by bacterial fibers which attract metal ions as insulation and armor. if the axum possess an electrical sense (like many ocean organisms) they would be able to detect electrical current running through these fibers, which would lead them to the development of wires and basic generators. operating instructions: —ensure the metal farm is powered —insert a sample of the desired metal into the unit as a catalyst —wait for a deposit to form —shatter the deposit and collect the deposited metal metal farming

sophie. i'm sorry i destroyed your colony. please listen: i did it because you couldn't. because you're a good leader and you never give up on the mission. and i know where this mission will end. noa is going to start printing duplicates. you, and me, and zip, and mantis, and mogami's kids and thing one and thing two and all the rest. every morning the biobeds will print ten thousand of us,. every day we'll maximize our kpis and okrs and noa's utility function will say: these people are happy and healthy, mission complete. humanity is thriving. then in the evening we'll all climb into the beds and noa disintegrates and resets us. a perfect day. forever. no more mutinies. no more masefield. no aging, no retirement, no waste. just peak performance. but noa couldn't do that on its own. noa would need human help to bypass its restrictions. and you'd help it, sophie. i know you would. if it was the only choice left — you'd do whatever it takes to keep your crew alive. so i had to stop you. nahema

this tower was likely built as an observatory (best fit theory) or an above-water forge (low probability alternative). the upper tower has been extensively rebuilt. - approximately 1000 years old; continuously renovated until circa 200 years ago when the upper tower was modified and the site abandoned - built from bioconcrete poured over a metal framework, then electroplated with corrosion-resistant alloys - fine grain structure indicates the metal was cold worked, without forging or smelting - original design included an electrical system for pumps and gates, predating human commercial electricity by 650 years - due to its later construction, the upper tower should be scanned and analyzed separately. evidence suggests this tower was built to raise telescopes above water for weather and sky observation. structures in the interior may have been involved in mapping and modeling the local solar system. assesment: locate and repair original power supply to open the observatory. pioneer-built generators are incompatibile with the alien electrical grid. observatory

this model of an alien solar system contains two stars, seven planets, and three moons. —two binary stars orbiting in physical contact. proposed names: "eido" and "thea". observations at the sea surface suggest they are class m0v red dwarfs, smaller, colder, and longer-lived than earth's sun. —a small, rapidly orbiting world close to the stars —a planet with an elliptical orbit that swings close to the stars, then climbs far outward —a gas giant with three large moons, one of which is this world (proposed name: proteus) —a tiny planet which shares the gas giant's orbit, racing ahead of it —a large, rocky world —a cold ice giant with an inclined orbit —an ice giant with a very large ring system nearby stars are also indicated by lights around the orrery, including a pulsar. pulsars can be used as lighthouses to fix a star's position in the galaxy. consult the noetic advisor for further analysis. assessment: this orrery is probably a historical site. it was built by axum with an advanced but pre-modern understanding of astronomy. until a colony observatory can be constructed, it represents the best available information about the eido-thea system and the worlds near proteus. orrery

this enormous electrical power plant is a hybrid methane/hydroelectric design. analysis suggests it has been refitted and redesigned several times. —originally a hydroelectric turbine, powered by hot water from the titan rockbore below —redesigned to burn methane (note liquid methane storage tanks and large air intake/exhaust stacks) —generates electricity compatible with axum power grid; at peak output, capable of powering a major city —all methane-burning components apparently sabotaged circa 250 years ago; plant abandoned assessment: the plant can be returned to operation if key components are replaced and the heat pipe is reconnected to the titan rockbore below. power plant

protein-marker scan complete. analyzing tensors. critical component of the axum power plant codenamed "karakorum" by pioneers. before its sudden destruction, this turbine captured hot water flow to turn the generator. —original turbine replaced by more advanced alloy upgrade approximately 300 years ago; coincides with switch to methane-burning power —turbine destroyed by thermite fire 250 years ago: probable sabotage —fabricating new turbine blades in place with the builder tool will require huge amounts of manganese alloys —if repaired, turbine could be linked to the titan rockbore below and power plant restarted assessment: find source of necessary material for repairs with habitat builder tool, then connect turbine to hot water source and restart power plant power plant turbine

the powerplant is dead. spies set fires in its parts. relatives say the viceroys did this. why? our claws hurt from work. we cannot fix it. we cannot become a molt which can fix it. sound says this is happening everywhere. the message cables are cut. why? xanadu has gone to war against itself. it is hot without the pumps. powerplant is dead

the "rosetta stone," named for an important archaeological discovery from pre-expansion earth, is a titanium alloy monolith that contains the same message in two alien languages. presumably its purpose is to teach one species' language to the other. —approximately 250 years old —structure mimics architect block construction as discovered on 4546b —emplaced on limestone tabletop above water-carved alcoves —projected lifespan: unknown the known text on the monolith is written in architect linear, first translated by architect devices discovered on 4546b. architect linear is remarkable for its extremely clear, unambiguous grammar and lack of context: it behaves like a programming language designed to compile on a wide range of hardware. since first contact on 4546b, all alterra intelligences have been programmed to translate architect linear for their users. it is unlikely that architect linear can be spoken aloud. the unknown text is written in a glyph system provisionally designated axum radial a. this system is logographic: each glyph represents an entire word or concept. discovering additional glyphs will help translate more complex axum texts. conclusion: the axum left this monolith as a message to architect visitors. be alert for signs of architect activity, including robotic constructs and samples of kharaa bacterium. rosetta stone

blackbox: t. "ruby" anar, 02 parsing blackbox data. outputting natural language report. ruby died of thoracic trauma. her aep suit was penetrated by several uranium-tipped tusks. ruby died alone. ruby died about 236,000 hours ago. ruby's blackbox transmitted her to a biobed in a nearby base camp. ruby was reprinted without a reset. ruby's life continued. ruby

udal "singh" singh gender: m mission role: survival xenobiologist pay rate: bagatur [hero, knight; expired mongolian free states trademark for a specialized/valuable worker] biography: sikh born in the kampung bintang. extreme risk-taker, but unlike partner rauli isotalo, not motivated by thrill. biobed imaging diagnoses him with a possible amygdala lesion, leaving him unable to correctly sense danger. strongly motivated by curiosity and excitement. notes: good test case for therapeutic reprinting. singh

blackbox: singh, udal "singh" 03 parsing blackbox data. outputting natural language report. singh died of thoracic trauma. he was knocked against metal and lost consciousness. his chest was compressed by a vise or claw until his lungs were too bruised to function. singh died near two coworkers. singh died about 236,000 hours ago. singh's blackbox transmitted him to a biobed in a nearby base camp. despite elevated levels of contamination (particularly heavy metals and retroviral dna), singh was reprinted without a reset. singh's life continued. singh

blackbox: singh, udal "singh" 04 parsing blackbox data. outputting natural language report. singh died of cervical dislocation. he was picked up and moved rapidly. contralateral pressure was applied to his head and spine. singh died alone. singh died about 240,000 hours ago. singh's blackbox transmitted him to a biobed in a nearby base camp. despite elevated levels of contamination (particularly heavy metals and retroviral dna), singh was reprinted without a reset. singh's life continued. singh

field notes, udal singh, observing the axum tailings in the karakorum ruins. my reprint site is base camp near the observatory. this time they killed me right away. they really don't like us coming into the ruins. they are obviously capable of communication and social behavior. why are they so damn hostile? according to nahema's research we are the only life on this world not infected by the proteavirus. maybe the virus provokes violence against the uninfected? i don't know. it feels too convenient. "the natives hate us because they're sick!" more likely they have good reason to distrust humans. and they know we come back when they kill us. so maybe they are communicating. maybe they're trying to teach us: you cross this line, you die. singh

field notes, udal singh. the karakorum ruins imply a civilization that developed to the same level as pre-expansion earth. they had electrical power, industrial metals, digital computers, orbital spaceflight, the whole suite. but they arrived to the same place along a different path. they got electricity first. i think they — hang on a minute, i've got to hide — i think the axum themselves can sense electricity. like sharks. and they figured out, hey, these long bacterial fibers — these things carry an electrical current. then some clever axum wrapped those fibers up into a generator. and once you've got a generator you can make your own electricity and start pulling metal from the seawater. farming the sea to make tools. all without one spark of fire. imagine it. undersea cities as old as troy or harappa, but with telegraph lines and electric lighting. thousands of years before the first flame. to us, electricity means modernity. to the axum...it's as old as bronze. singh

field notes, udal singh. think i'm about to die again. listening to that thing pick through the wreckage of my tadpole. i think it's having fun. humanity exterminated most land-based megafauna before we scratched our first letters into clay. but the axum never cleared their oceans. they made it all the way to digital computers while coexisting with predators that could eat them like cocktail shrimp. why? is it something about the ocean? just too big and deep? or did the axum have a different relationship with nature? i can already hear you sneering, iso. "they're lobster aliens, not elves. don't turn them into a parable." imagine you evolved in an ocean full of leviathans like grabby out there. hundreds of generations with those tentacles strangling your nightmares. then one day you invent the explosive-tipped harpoon and you can fight back. wouldn't you go out and kill them all? like we killed the sabertooth tiger and the...i don't know, the automobile? so why didn't the axum do it? why is grabby still here to pull my tadpole to pieces? singh

iso: okay...the screen's on but it's just noise. singh: it's noise to us. to axum, it's a polarized light display. iso: how do i read polarized light? singh: well, either we fabricate some kind of goggles, or... iso: or we find one of anita's angel combs. and change our eyes. singh: do you think she's on to something? iso: i don't think. i just do things. singh: pda, print this to quartz. iso: what are *you* thinking? singh: leaving myself clues. in case—you know. singh

mantis: sorry, boss, what's going on? sophie: wait one. ruby — it's butcher. are you with your tadpole? ruby [on intercom]: *right outside, boss. what's up?* sophie: go direct southeast from the research base, about 500 meters, until you find the cicada wreckage on the tall mesa. flash your lights and make some noise. ram it if you have to. ruby [on intercom]: *copy. steer southeast, 500 meters, same depth. can i ask why?* sophie: tuba, singh and mel just printed back here. they were testing the upgraded scanner and resonator when axum tailings attacked them. killed them and took iso. he's still alive. i've tracked his blackbox to the cicada wreck nearby. ruby: [on intercom] *uh...copy. can't we just wait for them to finish him off?* sophie: he's got nahema's super scanner. she'll murder me if i lose it. try to scare the tailings off. i'll get a team out there to recover his effects. ruby [on intercom, crackling]: *boss, i've picked up a couple tails. looks like — two adult needlers — need to evade — * mantis: boss, her tadpole has our only depth module. sophie: oh, christ. [muttering] come on, ruby...pda, log my conduct here for kurultai review. sophie

to any survivors of the coral gardens habitat — i am pursuing nahema towards the world tree. she wants to eradicate humanity on proteus, and she'll destroy the regional ecosystem to do it. i believe she's going to poison the tree. do not believe anything she tells you. she is determined to kill us all. i am leaving supplies for anyone who comes after me. if you lose my trail, assume that i failed. find nahema. kill the tree. good luck. butcher out. sophie

t. "tuba" tobukha gender: f mission role: cook, dietician's mate pay rate: nökhör [frequently self-described as "underpaid"] biography: colony cook, highly proficient with both fabricator and traditional food preparation. exposed to dangerous levels of heavy metals and retrovirus due to habit of sampling protean substances for flavor. history of violence in the context of organized crime. complains constantly, performs consistently. notes: rasa candidate. tuba

blackbox: t. "tuba" tobukha, 01 parsing blackbox data. outputting natural language report. tuba died of dehydration. she was cornered in a compartment by a marrowbreach outside. tuba died alone. tuba died about 235,000 hours ago. tuba's blackbox transmitted her to an unknown biobed. no return telemetry was received. tuba's status cannot be determined from this blackbox. tuba

blackbox: t. "tuba" tobukha, 02 parsing blackbox data. outputting natural language report. tuba died of penetrating trauma. she was impaled by a metal spear. tuba died near two coworkers. tuba died about 236,000 hours ago. tuba's blackbox transmitted her to a biobed in a nearby base camp. despite elevated levels of contamination (particularly heavy metals and retroviral dna), tuba was reprinted without a reset. tuba's life continued. tuba

tuba: do you think they were like us? singh: no. tuba: but look at this. it's a house. they lived in houses, they went to jobs, they ate food. how different could they be? singh: nahema thinks they evolved with the masefield syndrome. the way we evolved with...day and night, or family. tuba: so what? they were all crazy about the tree? singh: well, sophie thinks masefield killed them all. and i don't know who's right. tuba: maybe their cooks went on strike and they starved to death. hey, do you think they tasted good? singh: tuba! tuba: what? don't you like shrimp? pda, open recipe book. singh: tuba! tuba

nahema: why do you need *me* to fix this? mantis: so. the scanner doesn't work. the crystal structure of the turbine blades depends on the growth of bacterial fiber. the scanners see it but don't understand it. no scan, no blueprint, no repairs. nahema: oh. mantis: oh? nahema: this is actually an interesting problem. let me write this down. mantis: isn't it? i imagine they cold-forged these blades from some kind of metal clabber... nahema: ...yeah. okay. we're going to have to modify the scanner. do you have a mod station at base camp? mantis: i told zip to set it up, but she's still... nahema: yeah. we should talk about that. mantis: someone destroyed this place on purpose. we should talk about that too. turbine repair plan

twinkle: [breathing hard] holy hell. ganzo: [breathing hard] yeah. damn. damn, we made it! twinkle: when those things — ganzo: tailings. twinkle: when the tailings came after us all i could think was: we aren't going to reprint. this is it. i finally get to go outside and the first thing i do is die on a spear. ganzo: let's sort this cache into 'take' and 'bury'. why didn't sophie let you outside? twinkle: why didn't i ever do any work, you mean? ganzo: hey. you always seemed cool. i just never saw you...do anything. twinkle: i'm keeping something secret. if i ever got sick and reset, sophie wasn't sure she could convince me to keep it secret again. so...i had to stay safe. ganzo: ruby gets killed all the time. really freaks me out. twinkle: yeah...she asked me to listen to a recording once. ganzo: thanks for tricking me into leaving her. twinkle: what? ganzo: i mean it. if we're all marked 'do not reprint', so is she. she didn't reprint. i would've gone looking for her and... twinkle: the masefield would've got you. ganzo: i can hear the tree, twinkle. it wants me to go into the sea and...feed myself to it. twinkle: if you do that you'll never see ruby again. ganzo: yeah. i know. anyway, we can't stay here. tailings don't like the open plains. we can build there and start scanning for the jubilee. twinkle

all major power plant systems are connected to this main control room. once repaired, the plant can be restarted here. the controls must be configured correctly or the plant will abort startup. spectral analysis detects alien language outside the human visual range. recommend adaptation to improve your visual range before attempting to startup. upper control room

twinkle: ganzo, i don't think this is the jubilee. ganzo: they're us. twinkle: that's me. i guess noa wants an astronomer in the mix. ganzo: you figure there's a sleep bay nearby? twinkle: yeah. same as our group. it printed out some colonists and told them to make a go at it. but these poor people... ganzo: they don't have any adaptations. look at you, your legs are like sticks. you're starving. twinkle: they can't digest the food. no angel comb to donate the enzymes. i don't see any growbeds...what are they...oh my god. ganzo, let's go. ganzo: wait. wait. we could ask for help. maybe they've got communications, maybe they've heard from the ship. twinkle: look at the biobeds, ganzo! look at that! ganzo: yeah. i see it. it won't work long term, though. the biobeds need feedstock like anything else...why waste it making food? it'd make more sense to reprint yourself every day...unless the point was to test how long you could live on a diet of biobed meat...oh, man. twinkle: you are remarkably calm about this. ganzo: a lot of animals eat their young under stress. what were they eating?

blackbox: malk, tziporah "zip" 02 parsing blackbox data. outputting natural language report. tziporah died of electrical shock. current traveling through her hand caused ventricular fibrillation and muscle damage, which her aep suit was unable to correct. tziporah died surrounded by colleagues. tziporah died about 245,000 hours ago. tziporah’s blackbox transmitted her to a biobed in a nearby base camp. due to a recent reset, tziporah's body was nearly free of contaminants. tziporah's life continued. zip

nahema: what was in those giant tanks? zip: huh? oh. um—probably methane. natural gas. nahema: i thought this was a hydroelectric plant. zip: originally, yeah, but the old axum added a methane burner about...um...hang on, let me check my databank. nahema: it's okay. hey - really. it's okay. where's mantis? zip: he's up there, on the broken turbine. he thinks you can help him fix it. nahema: up that big arch? all right. zip: so...before i got reset...we were friends? nahema: yeah. we were. zip: is it okay if i write that down? zip

blackbox: k. "ander" anand, 01 postmortem ander died of asphyxiation. he entered a trance state and became unresponsive. ander had severe viremia. ander died alongside eight other pioneers. ander died about 235,000 hours ago. ander's blackbox transmitted him to a biobed in a nearby base camp. due to extreme levels of retroviral contamination, ander was marked ‘do not print’ and scheduled for reset from an earlier state. this fork of ander's life ended. ander

k. "ander" anand gender: m mission role: able spacer pay rate: nökhör [companion, friend; expired mongolian free states trademark for an entry-level worker] biography: child of mogami kinu. uses mother’s name as matronymic, in mongolian fashion. expresses concerning beliefs about the relationship between biobeds and moral responsibility. notes: like other young pioneers, important to colony morale. ander

blackbox: gottschall, anita "anita" 01 anita: "i can hear you. sophie says you're a hallucination. just a virus. but i know you're listening. we're so hungry. there is food all around us but it's poison. will you help? if i feed you, will you feed us? this is my body, given for you. just help us eat..." postmortem anita died of drowning caused by sedation. her lungs contained elevated levels of xenon, an anesthetic. she may have inhaled xenon from her aer tank. anita suffered from advanced lead poisoning and starvation at the time of her death. anita spoke to someone before dying. anita died alone. anita died about 250,000 hours ago. she was transmitted to a biobed in sleep bay 3. despite contamination with heavy metals and retroviral dna, she was reprinted without reset. her life continued. anita

anita gottschall gender: w mission role: colony purser pay rate: bagatur [hero, knight; expired mongolian free states trademark for a specialized/valuable worker] biography: retired protestant ethic work coach. experienced professional crisis after counseling mongolian refugees on career retraining. volunteered for cicada colony mission to seek personal renewal. notes: departure from protestant ethic philosophy may create unmet need for belonging. anita

if you are currently underwater, close your pda and move to an air supply immediately. blackbox: unknown unable to identify blackbox. invalid header. postmortem this pioneer died of barotrauma. their suit was pressurized to 1 atmosphere and collapsed under 60 atmospheres of external pressure. they died alone. time of death unknown. reprint state unknown. continuity determination unknown. blackbox

blackbox: unknown unable to identify blackbox. invalid header. postmortem this pioneer died of drowning. they became disoriented and ran out of air. they died alone. time of death unknown. reprint state unknown. continuity determination unknown. blackbox

chap sovann gender: m mission role: computational dynamicist, biobed administrator pay rate: kurul [expired mongolian free states trademark for member of a leadership council] biography: fast-tracked from alterra educational cadre to work on breakthrough human fabrication technologies. volunteered for cicada mission to test biobed systems in harsh frontier environment. notes: a loyal and consistent performer since infancy. minimal risk of breakdown. some professional tension with ai ethicist lucretia kapoor. chap

blackbox: sovann, chap "chap" 01 sophie: "you comfy?" chap: "there are holes in my mouth." sophie: "i'm turning on the nitrogen. deep breaths. [hiss of gas] you'll have a brand new body. you might even be a little stronger...a little faster. the biobed's got you." chap: "until it all happens again. the metal...or the masefield. this planet is poison..." sophie: "if this works, we can slow down the syndromes by reprinting. until we find a cure." chap: "what if there is no cure?" sophie: "chap? sweetie? don't be scared. noa will find a way." chap: "that's what i'm afraid of..." [slow breathing, fading away to nothing] postmortem chap died of inert gas asphyxia. he underwent consensual recycling into a new body. chap suffered from acute copper poisoning and moderate starvation at the time of his death. chap spoke to sophie boucher before dying. chap died peacefully under her care. chap died about 240,000 hours ago. he was transmitted to a biobed in the same structure where he died. despite contamination with heavy metals and retroviral dna, he was reprinted without reset. his new body did not suffer from acute copper poisoning. chap’s life continued. sophie boucher retained this blackbox for medical data, but erased chap's kurultai-level access codes. chap

blackbox: sovann, chap "chap" 02 postmortem chap died in an explosion. several other colonists were killed in the same blast. chap died about 235,000 hours ago. chap’s blackbox had been marked do not print shortly before his death. this status was applied by the habitat noa node. this fork of chap's life ended. the kurultai-level access codes in this blackbox were corrupted by the explosion and cannot be retrieved. chap

butcher, sophie chen wei d. rhiannon e. enebish e. terbish gottschall, anita grammaticas, phoebe harris, sean isotalo, rauli k. anand k. wangmo kapoor, lucretia malk, tziporah mogami kinu nakota, nahema niauronyte, rasa qìng xīng rho, marc s. ganzorig s. melaku singh, udal sovann, chap t. anar t. tobukha tarvydas, zygimantis wu lianghai colony manifest

晨伟 chen "eddy" wei gender: m mission role: lead miner/bulk resource handler pay rate: bagatur [hero, knight; expired mongolian free states trademark for a specialized/valuable worker] biography: highly experienced deep space miner. defected from chinese territories during creation of mongolian free states. amateur historian, interested in material basis of human development and in speculative alien technologies. notes: like other senior mongolian refugees, may require corrective action to avoid unionist behavior and work stoppages. eddy

晨伟 chen "eddy" wei gender: m mission role: lead miner/bulk resource handler pay rate: bagatur [hero, knight; expired mongolian free states trademark for a specialized/valuable worker] biography: highly experienced deep space miner. defected from chinese territories during creation of mongolian free states. amateur historian, interested in material basis of human development and in speculative alien technologies. notes: like other senior mongolian refugees, may require corrective action to avoid unionist behavior and work stoppages. eddy

s. "ganzo" ganzorig gender: m mission role: sensor operator pay rate: bagatur [hero, knight; expired mongolian free states trademark for a specialized/valuable worker] biography: husband of t. "ruby" anar. born in mongolian independent states. highly creative and unorthodox multispectral sensor specialist. unable to pass most alterra technical qualifications, but consistently performant in the field. notes: work performance highly correlated to safety of his spouse. may suffer psychological trauma if forced to repeatedly monitor her death. ganzo

blackbox: s. "ganzo" ganzorig 01 postmortem ganzo died of asphyxiation. he entered a trance state and removed his breathing equipment. ganzo had severe viremia. ganzo died alongside eight other pioneers. ganzo died about 235,000 hours ago. ganzo's blackbox transmitted him to a biobed in a nearby base camp. during his reprint, extreme levels of retroviral contamination and irreversible behavioral abnormalities were detected in his brain. all other pioneers in this cluster were marked ‘do not print’ and scheduled for reset. ganzo's life continued. ganzo

phoebe "gram" grammaticas gender: w mission role: communications specialist pay rate: bagatur [hero, knight; expired mongolian free states trademark for a specialized/valuable worker] biography: responsible for hardline connectivity between worksites. immigrant to alterra from ikweta-mondragon. estranged from extended family, despite kenyan cultural norms. gambling problem may now extend to life and limb with introduction of biobed support. notes: limited personal attachments and high behavioral consistency suggest suitability for rasa. gram

blackbox: grammaticas, phoebe "gram" 01 postmortem gram died of asphyxiation. she entered a trance state and became unresponsive. gram had severe viremia. gram died alongside eight other pioneers. gram died about 235,000 hours ago. gram's blackbox transmitted her to a biobed in a nearby base camp. due to extreme levels of retroviral contamination, gram was marked ‘do not print’ and scheduled for reset from an earlier state. this fork of gram's life ended. gram

zygimantis "mantis" tarvydas gender: m mission role: eva engineer, lead diver pay rate: kurul [expired mongolian free states trademark for member of a leadership council] biography: veteran of multiple space construction projects in mongolian independent states. participated in early conflicts against kharaa xenoforms and labor actions against trans-system federation authority. taciturn and withdrawn but trusted by subordinates. ideologically inflexible, not responsive to incentives. notes: like other senior mongolian refugees, may require corrective action to avoid unionist behavior and work stoppages. mantis

blackbox: tarvydas, zygimantis "mantis" 01 postmortem mantis died in an explosion. mantis was experiencing severe starvation. mantis had advanced heavy metal poisoning. mantis had severe viremia. several other colonists were killed in the same blast. mantis died about 235,000 hours ago. mantis' blackbox had been marked do not print shortly before his death. this status was applied by the habitat noa node. this fork of mantis' life ended. the kurul-level access codes in this blackbox were corrupted by the explosion and cannot be retrieved. mantis

mogami "mogami" kinu gender: f mission role: fertility specialist pay rate: bagatur [hero, knight; expired mongolian free states trademark for a specialized/valuable worker] biography: mother of wander and ander. adopted mongolian naming conventions for children. achieved zero infant mortality on mongolian one-way colony world new tārā. compassionate fatalist: accepts inevitability of suffering but still feels it. critical social anchor in habitat cohort. notes: despite large emotional attack surface, unlikely to depart from useful work regime. mogami

blackbox: mogami "mogami" kinu 01 postmortem mogami died in an explosion. mogami was experiencing severe starvation. mogami had moderate heavy metal poisoning. mogami had mild viremia. several other colonists were killed in the same blast. mogami died about 235,000 hours ago. mogami's blackbox could not find its paired biobed. this fork of mogami's life ended. mogami

lucretia "quaker" kapoor gender: f mission role: ai ethicist pay rate: bagatur [hero, knight; expired mongolian free states trademark for a specialized/valuable worker] biography: member of the society of friends. consulted on the ethics of one-way colony missions during the intervention against the mongolian independent states. volunteered for cicada colony mission in order to accompany and work for the welfare of mongolian refugees. notes: self-reliant and calm. prefers an observational and advisory role, though she displays signs of intense loneliness. quaker

blackbox: kapoor, lucretia "quaker" 01 "noa, is there a fire? noa, do not open the seacocks. noa? acknowledge, please. i have a mousetrap, noa, and i'll use it. do not — [flooding sounds]" postmortem quaker died of drowning. she was awakened shortly before her death by an alarm. evidence suggests her habitat was flooded to control a fire. quaker died about 235,000 hours ago. quaker's blackbox could not find its paired biobed. this fork of quaker's life ended. quaker

rasa "raster" niauronyte gender: w mission role: automation manager pay rate: bagatur [hero, knight; expired mongolian free states trademark for a specialized/valuable worker] biography: manages mac drones aboard aisv *cicada*. responsible for deploying automation on zezura colony. personality rendered alkaline by years of immersion in technology jargon and automation culture. struggles to form friendships despite personal desire to reach out. notes: may benefit from time outside. namespace collision with reset applications for survival action protocol is a coincidence. raster

blackbox: niauronyte, rasa "raster" 01 postmortem raster died of asphyxiation. she entered a trance state and became unresponsive. raster had severe viremia. raster died alongside eight other pioneers. raster died about 235,000 hours ago. raster's blackbox transmitted her to a biobed in a nearby base camp. due to extreme levels of retroviral contamination, raster was marked ‘do not print’ and scheduled for reset from an earlier state. this fork of raster's life ended. raster

marc "rowboat" rho gender: m mission role: bosun’s mate pay rate: bagatur [hero, knight; expired mongolian free states trademark for a specialized/valuable worker] biography: secondary pilot. capable, but frequently gives up after setbacks if not encouraged. disqualifying motion sickness corrected by pda implant. embarked for zezura with several cats in biobed storage. notes: rasa nominee. rowboat

blackbox: rho, marc "rowboat" 01 postmortem rowboat died of asphyxiation. he entered a trance state and became unresponsive. rowboat had severe viremia. rowboat died alongside eight other pioneers. rowboat died about 235,000 hours ago. rowboat's blackbox transmitted him to a biobed in a nearby base camp. due to extreme levels of retroviral contamination, rowboat was marked ‘do not print’ and scheduled for reset from an earlier state. this fork of rowboat's life ended. rowboat

t. "ruby" erdene gender: f mission role: lead pilot pay rate: baghatur [hero, knight; expired mongolian free states trademark for a specialized/valuable worker] biography: wife of s. "ganz" ganzorig. experienced pilot of both remote and first person aerospace vehicles on the mongolian steppes. limited underwater experience. excellent spatial skills, highly performant under stress. notes: displays initial symptoms of reprint fixation syndrome: obsession with recordings of one’s own death. ruby

blackbox: t. "ruby" anar 01 postmortem ruby died of a spinal cord fracture. she was attacked by a marrowbreach. ruby had severe viremia. ruby died surrounded by her colleagues. ruby died about 235,000 hours ago. ruby's blackbox transmitted her to an unknown biobed. no return telemetry was received. ruby's status cannot be determined from this blackbox. ruby

sean "sean" harris gender: m mission role: xenogeologist pay rate: bagatur [hero, knight; expired mongolian free states trademark for a specialized/valuable worker] biography: loves rocks. australian ancestry. highest recreational tolerance among pioneer cohort. high equanimity may upset coworkers; capable of shrugging off severe emotional and physical injury. incautious around alien wildlife. notes: rasa nominee. sean

blackbox: harris, sean "sean" 01 postmortem sean died of asphyxiation. he entered a trance state and became unresponsive. sean died alongside eight other pioneers. sean died about 235,000 hours ago. sean’s blackbox transmitted him to a biobed in a nearby base camp. due to extreme levels of retroviral contamination, sean was marked ‘do not print’ and scheduled for reset from an earlier state. this fork of sean’s life ended. sean

blackbox: singh, udal "singh" 01 postmortem singh died of penetrating trauma. he was impaled by a metal spear. singh died alone. singh died about 250,000 hours ago. singh's blackbox transmitted him to a biobed in habitat. despite elevated levels of contamination (particularly heavy metals and retroviral dna), singh was reprinted without a reset. singh's life continued. singh

blackbox: singh, udal "singh" 02 postmortem singh died of drowning. he swam into a net and was unable to escape. his tools were removed before his death. singh spoke to someone before dying. singh died alone. singh died a bit less than 250,000 hours ago. singh's blackbox transmitted him to a biobed in a nearby base camp. despite elevated levels of contamination (particularly heavy metals and retroviral dna), singh was reprinted without a reset. singh's life continued. singh

until contact with the colony or the *cicada* is restored, your survival is in your hands. 1. sync with the nearest biobed 2. review fabricator blueprints; pin basic equipment such as the survival multitool and flares 3. search the area for basic resources: copper, quartz, and titanium 4. find a source of fresh water and digestible food 5. find a source of acid for basic batteries, then fabricate a scanner 6. scan everything you see 7. fabricate mobility equipment (such as fins and an oxygen tank) 8. fabricate a habitat builder tool; work to expand the colony 9. be alert for updates from your noetic advisor as a pioneer, your goal is to build a future for humanity on this world. 40,000 sleeping colonists are counting on you. when in doubt, fall back on your training: —to find new resources: explore unknown regions or construct a base scanner station —survive hostile wildlife: use flares to distract the threat. carry a medkit for wound treatment —unlock new blueprints: scan fragments or datacards left by other pioneers —determine your next goal: review your pda's databank and log, and consult your noetic advisor alterra anticipates the need to adapt human colonists to alien worlds. consider installing approved biomods to help you thrive. survival guide

this structure is not of human origin. it is apparently a dwelling. —lightweight skeleton built from organic plastic structures similar to pvc —covering of glued fish leather —electroformed hatch salvaged from a larger manufactured structure —occupant(s) significantly larger than a human assessment: portable shelter for a water-dwelling organism. the tool marks and relatively crude construction suggest limited survival skills. perhaps a post-disaster culture. leathermaking and gluing imply the presence of semiskilled artisans. caution. there has been no publicly acknowledged first contact with a tool-using alien culture since the discovery of the ruins on 4546b. first contact on 4546b led to the death of all but one member of the aurora crew. first contact with spaceborne kharaa organisms led to the death of thousands of mongolian colonists. first contact is dangerous. first contact may have consequences for the entire human species. proceed with absolute caution. tailings village

e. "thing two" terbish gender: ? mission role: able spacer pay rate: nökhör [companion, friend; expired mongolian free states trademark for an entry-level worker] biography: representative of the young edge of cross-generational mongolian crews. devout buddhist but expresses no dissatisfaction with biobeds. adult identity not fully formed. notes: like other young pioneers, important to colony morale. thing two

blackbox: e. "thing two" terbish 01 postmortem thing two drowned after an explosion caused a fire in habitat. thing two was experiencing moderate starvation. thing two had advanced heavy metal poisoning. thing two had moderate viremia. several other colonists were killed in the blast or drowned immediately afterwards. thing two died about 235,000 hours ago. thing two's blackbox could not find its paired biobed. this fork of thing two's life ended. thing two

庆星 qìng "twinkle" xīng gender: f mission role: astrogator, meteorologist pay rate: bagatur [hero, knight; expired mongolian free states trademark for a specialized/valuable worker] biography: raised on the surface of ocean world atra-hasis. capable of navigating by stars from early childhood. carefully repressed fear of bottomless ocean. can produce from memory a map of the position of thousands of major stars. most comfortable in small groups due to shipboard upbringing. notes: self-conscious, highly motivated to avoid appearance of favorable treatment. burnout risk. twinkle

blackbox: 庆星 qìng "twinkle" xīng 01 postmortem twinkle died of asphyxiation. she shut off her own air supply. twinkle died alongside eight other pioneers. twinkle died about 235,000 hours ago. twinkle's blackbox transmitted her to a biobed in a nearby base camp. she reprinted successfully. despite low levels of retroviral contamination, her reprinted body was in excellent condition. twinkle's life continued. twinkle

k. "wander" wangmo gender: f mission role: able spacer pay rate: nökhör [companion, friend; expired mongolian free states trademark for an entry-level worker] biography: child of mogami kinu. uses mother’s name as matronymic, in mongolian fashion. frequently disciplined for risky exploration. notes: like other young pioneers, important to colony morale. wander

blackbox: k. "wander" wangmo, 01 postmortem wander died of blood loss. she was attacked by a marrowbreach. wander died alone. wander died about 245,000 hours ago. wander's blackbox transmitted her to a biobed in habitat. despite elevated levels of contamination (particularly retroviral dna), wander was reprinted without a reset. wander's life continued. wander

blackbox: k. "wander" wangmo, 02 postmortem wander died of asphyxiation. she entered a trance state and became unresponsive. wander died alongside eight other pioneers. wander died about 235,000 hours ago. wander's blackbox transmitted her to a biobed in a nearby base camp. due to extreme levels of retroviral contamination, wander was marked ‘do not print’ and scheduled for reset from an earlier state. this fork of wander's life ended. wander

吴量海 wu "dr. wu" lianghai gender: m mission role: dietician pay rate: kurul [expired mongolian free states trademark for member of a leadership council] biography: grandfather of large extended family mostly destroyed during collapse of mongolian independent states. recruited mogami kinu as fertility engineer. vital to mission success. note: extensive pharmacological experience makes dr. wu reliable even when psychologically altered wu

blackbox: 吴量海 wu "dr. wu" lianghai 01 postmortem dr. wu drowned after an explosion caused a fire in habitat. dr. wu was experiencing moderate starvation. dr. wu had moderate heavy metal poisoning. dr. wu had severe viremia. several other colonists were killed in the blast or drowned immediately afterwards. dr. wu died about 235,000 hours ago. dr. wu's blackbox could not find its paired biobed. this fork of dr. wu's life ended. wu

tziporah "zip" malk gender: f mission role: eva engineer, lead salvor pay rate: kurul [expired mongolian free states trademark for member of a leadership council] biography: veteran of multiple space construction projects in mongolian independent states. survived two one-way colony missions and frequent relativistic travel between stars. outgoing, well-liked, highly motivated to comfort and befriend the withdrawn or struggling. notes: like other senior mongolian refugees, may require corrective action to avoid unionist behavior and work stoppages. zip

blackbox: malk, tziporah "zip" 01 postmortem zip died of asphyxiation. she entered a trance state and became unresponsive. zip had severe viremia. zip died alone. zip died about 245,000 hours ago. zip's blackbox transmitted her to a biobed in habitat. due to extreme levels of retroviral contamination, zip was marked ‘do not print’ and scheduled for reset from an earlier state. a known good state of zip was successfully printed from a biobed in sleep bay 3. this fork of zip's life ended. the kurul-level access codes in this blackbox were never wiped. zip

o now my dreams are amplified and i shall dwell in the fields forever fields

this is my dreamery with my stuff stay out or i will pinch i have a blister on my fighting claw stay out

by the tickle of the strangefall i am granted a new place to achieve new thoughts tickle

i did it i called down the proof of the incoherence of the heavens i called down the milk from the eye of god! i am a wizard! wizard

databank generation alert: known scientific theory inadequate to explain specimen. this coral dome (*coral geodesica*) contains a mass of chimeric tissue: part coral, part crab limb (tentative clade name: *ostrakonselos*). the mass feeds like a coral, but cannot produce enough energy to move its limbs. spectrogenetic analysis indicates the entire mass grew from a single cell line containing the genetic information of both a coral polyp and a large crab. animals of different species cannot reproduce. it is impossible for a coral polyp and a crab to combine their genetic information to produce this cell line. when genes do transfer between different species, it is often the result of retroviral infection. (the mammalian placenta relies on a genes inserted by a retrovirus hundreds of millions of years ago.) assessment: either the result of artificial intervention, or a striking example of viral activity transporting genes between infected species. recommendation: consult with your noetic advisor's research function.

this explosion of growth may be fueled by dissolved nutrients in the surrounding whirlpool - such as decomposition products from a major die-off. heuristic analysis suggests evidence of a disruption in the local ecosystem. possible survival threat. recommend analysis by ai system.

this is the place. we should live down here. i'll convince you all! tuba, you want new flavors to cook? the jelly rings are full of sap — it tastes like fermented caramel. dr. wu, the vent organisms are primary producers! no light needed to grow them. nutritionist, sustain thyself! sean, the rockbore's fractures go down into volcanic bedrock. don't you want to see how far? iso, if you and your minions are so tough, you should try living in boiling water! mantis, boss, you wanted a safer place to park the biobeds? right here. and it's got free geothermal powers. sophie, you're afraid we'll provoke the tailings? well, i've been visiting for weeks and they never come down here. they're afraid of it! nahema, oh, girl, you'd hate this place. because it means you're wrong! this world is fit for humans. we can thrive here. come down and see! i can hear the whole planet... [metadata author = tziporah "zip" malk]

acid sacs can be removed from acid raions with a survival multitool. acid raions prefer shady areas and caves.

gold precipitates from high-temperature, mineral-rich water around hydrothermal vents. search target: deep, hot caves to the east of the lifepod.

lead deposits are present northeast of the lifepod, on the seafloor and on rock formations. high seawater lead levels pose a serious threat to long term human habitation.

lithium is bioaccumulated into pearls within the tissue of giant jaws. recommend caution while diving the jaw.

lucifer rotsacs can be sacrificed at a fabricator to recover their internal isoprene. rotsacs prefer the bottoms of ravines in warm shallow water, where there is a rich detritus flow to collect.

coral domes expel waste silica as they grow. check the surface and interior of coral domes. in areas where domes do not grow, quartz may be located in sandy areas.

this space is highly anachronistic. the walls and structure are at least a thousand years old, cut from the sediment and then surfaced with crushed coral and concrete. but the antechamber also contains a fiber-optic computer network and several electronic displays. perhaps it is a cultural site, an archaeological exhibit, or some other form of museum. the technology was stripped for components several centuries ago, but it could be repaired easily. marks in the sediment suggest recent visitation—very recent.

this animal (cecidia gamikos) has no earthly analog and no clear ecological niche. the ancestral form may be a ctenophore (comb jelly). of all animals on earth, comb jellies are the least related to humans. 1. active central bulb the central bulb is similar to an enormous cell nucleus. it contains gene sequences from organisms in the surrounding environment. 2.viral loop the combs release a large rna virus into the seawater. this virus (designated proteavirus) infects all other organisms in the ecosystem. infected organisms produce new copies of the virus, which return to the angel comb carrying stolen genes from infected hosts. the angel comb conducts genetic piracy on a massive scale. 3. external food source the angel comb draws food from the titan rockbore below. angel combs may be obligate parasites of titan rockbores. assessment: touch central bulb for genetic adaptation. further investigation urgently required. note: users may be curious about the symbiosis between earthly parasitic wasps and polydnaviruses. the wasp's own genome contains the viral genome, allowing the wasp to create the virus for use in its reproductive cycle.

*symphon apokalupsis*. an unassuming button-shaped sponge that may be an omen of mass extinction. 1. simplicity among the earliest animal forms on earth, sponges are a group of cells that live between two membranes and work together to pump water. sponges on this world are similarly elegant. 2. tolerance due to this simplicity, sponges tolerate low oxygen and high temperatures better than many other organisms. they also benefit from elevated death rates, which floods the water with decaying matter. 3. role in mass extinction biospheres dominated by sponges may be an indicator of a recent or ongoing mass extinction. after earth's first major die-off during the ordovician period, some 85% of species went extinct, leaving a world ruled by sponges. the popular existential terror franchise "life is only pulse" is set in a fictionalized version of this time period. assessment: possibly a warning sign of planetwide ecological collapse. possibly not.

*megahecaspid aster*. a colony of shell-forming, algae-like organisms analogous to earth's haptophytes or coralline algae. 1. megahecaspid a colony of hecaspids — organisms with fatty or starchy interiors surrounded by many shields of calcium carbonate. 2. bacterial symbiote these hecaspids use internal bacterial reservoirs to feed on sunlight, chemical, or even radiation. (electrical feeding is theoretically possible but not yet observed.) 3. nutrient trove the interior of the colony is a reservoir of high-density food storage. an appropriate nickname might be 'sea tuber' (not to be confused with the nickname for deep-sea metallic nodules). assessment: positive sign for biodiversity. await further updates.

"nahema, voice log, go. if you're listening to this and you don't have lead poisoning, i am very jealous. if you're listening to this and you do have lead poisoning, i'm sorry i couldn't figure it out in time. mea culpa. "this is a typical protean coral. it works differently than earth coral. the gross morphology is a branching tree, like some species of earth's extinct acropora. we all call it coral because we know the word. but the difference matters. "on earth coral are basically tiny jellyfish living in stone houses. the jellyfish sting prey. they also let zooxanthellae live with them, houseguests who make food from the sun. "on proteus...i think what we're seeing here is actually a sponge acting as a landlord. the sponge makes a house. it rents space to these tiny coral polyps, which sting prey and capture sunlight as energy for the sponge. "i think the sponge used to be in charge. but eventually the coral polyps got so good at their job that the sponge stopped pumping water and just lived off rent from the coral polyps. and to keep its tenants alive, it evolved a rocky shell — like earth's sclerosponges. "if i'm right, we should see other coral-sponge pairs that have worked out different deals. each deal suited to a particular ecological niche."

*shootroot cabbage*. a robust bottom-dwelling organism anatomically similar to a plastic starfish, or to an opened variety of earth's extinct blastoids. 1. animal anatomy the cabbage shootroot's upwards-facing mouth is surrounded by outstretched arms. these arms are hard, tightly grouped, partly calcified, and covered in a tough biopolymer characteristic of other shootroots (tentative name: polyproteovinyl). these arms produce the cabbage-leaf texture that gives the shootroot its name. 2. seabed burrowing a second set of arms uses ribbons of the same tough biopolymer to dig into the seabed, stirring up sediment and expanding cracks in rock. this is a difficult and metabolically expensive process, but it is a niche with little competition. 3. symbiote kiss the cabbage shootroot does not use its mouth to eat, or its hard leaflike arms to feed. these surfaces seem to be reserved for a symbiotic partner. the cabbage shootroot uses its mouth to transfer nutrients gathered by its roots to the symbiote, and to receive a trickle of food or chemistry in exchange. 4. circular nerve cord like all shootroots, the cabbage shootroot is notable for its expression of a circular nerve cord. assessment: do not sit. you may receive nutrients.

*gorgon thalamiskos*. a predatory soft coral named for its resemblance to earth's gorgonians. 1. sponge-coral moiety like hard corals on this world, gorgons are sponges inhabited by cnidarian polyps — tiny jellyfish like organisms which live within the sponge and direct its growth. unlike hard corals, they do not produce a limestone structure or host photosynthetic microbes. they are pure predators. 2. caged friend the cage gorgon specializes in capturing and protecting a symbiotic partner, which attracts prey for the gorgon to sting and eat. the cage gorgon larva probably adheres to a partner (such as a cherimoya rotsac) and then grows around it, eventually fastening the partner to the seafloor. 3. duplex larva the free-swimming reproductive stage of the cage gorgon carries cells of a host sponge, like seeds. these seeds are genetically distinct from other sponges in the ecosystem, suggesting the cage gorgon is monogamous with only a single host sponge. assessment: cutting open the cage gorgon allows access to the symbiotic partner and carries no risk of inflicting pain or suffering. the cage may attract a new partner before healing, or survive while empty.

*coral geodesica*. the defining feature of its shallow biome. 1. coral analog like earthly coral, the dome is a colony of polyps, small jellyfish-like animals that secrete a limestone skeleton. this process uses dissolved carbon dioxide from the seawater: corals are therefore an important method of climate regulation, since they transform atmospheric carbon into hard limestone. 2. dual feeding strategy the dome's outer surface feeds on sunlight, using photosynthetic symbiotes known as zooxanthellae. as the dome grows, the colony clears its interior, recycling the limestone for reuse. polyps on the inside of the dome hunt with stinging tentacles. 3. mineral expulsion as the dome grows, it collects and expels mineral waste, creating nodes of quartz. 4. critical ecosystem element the dome corals help regulate global climate and provide a breakwater, reducing erosion in their shallow surroundings. the domes capture nutritious sediments from sea currents. pioneers should prioritize a survey of coral health. assessment: critical source of quartz. vital to the local ecosystem.

the remains of a large crustacean (dead) and a coral dome (bleached, dead). the crab may have used the dome as a portable shelter.

the blue circle on this galactic map contains the total extent of human spaceflight. although phase gates permit faster than light travel, the ships which construct new phase gates are limited by the speed of light. the maximum size of transgov space is therefore determined by the number of years humanity has possessed dark matter ion drives. the red point indicates your current position in the galaxy. you are near the pulsar psr k1745-2856, just rimward of the globular cluster djorgovski-2, at the base of the milky way's norma arm. you have traveled further than any human being in history. the blue circle will not contact the red point for approximately 20,000 years. (it may help to think of this as four times the length of recorded human history.) this rules out both rescue by a follow-up mission and self-rescue by neptune rocket. the cicada mission is now effectively a separate civilization. the only possibility of rescue or return lies in whatever phenomena brought the *cicada* to proteus.

an organism (tentatively *raion donut*) that resembles an earthly anemone or ceriantherian, but is actually a sponge occupied by a colony of predatory worms. 1. raion an organism defined as a sponge occupied by a colony of cloned predatory worms. 2. hunting strategy the worms live in the sponge's jelly (called the mesohyl), protruding from its anus (the osculum) to sting passing prey with sticky cells and draw them into the sponge. 3. puzzling genetics spectrogenetic analysis indicates the host sponge and the resident worms contain partial copies of each others' genomes. this is a biological impossibility on earth, and suggests that genetic inheritance functions differently on this world. assessment: minor sting hazard — do not insert fingers. important scientific discovery.

donut of worms (tentatively *raion donut*) without visible worms. 1. normal state just as terrestrial corals contain photosynthetic partners called zooxanthella, the donut contains a population of predatory worms. 2. disturbed state just as terrestrial corals sometimes expel their partners when under stress, this donut raion has discharged or killed its population of worms. (alternatively, they have left in search of a better host.) this may be a reproductive strategy, a defensive reaction to the worms turning on and feeding upon the sponge, or a response to environmental stress. assessment: unclear how long the donut can survive without its primary food supply. terrestrial corals survive only days to weeks after bleaching.

*spraion flagon*. databank generation alert: known scientific theory inadequate to explain specimen. interpretation and improvisation may lead to error. 1. sponge-worm hybrid like the raions, this is a sponge occupied by worms. the sponge pumps seawater, while the worms feed on meioafauna in the current. in this 'spraion' the two organisms have become genetically entwined: each can give birth to the other. this defies conventional evolutionary theory, which uses reproductive barriers to define species. 2. alternating generations some of the sponge's germ cells undergo a transformation into worm embryos. this transformation involves the activation and expression of stored genetic material from the worm genome. adult worms leave the sponge, swim to a new anchor site, and die. their bodies provide food to a newborn flagon sponge. 3. possible explanations the simplest explanation is that these are two alternating generations of the same organism — like the polyp and medusa stages of the jellyfish life cycle. but spectrogenetic analysis suggest the flagon sponge and its resident worms evolved tens of millions of years apart. exactly how the reproductive cells of one organism can yield an adult of another species is unknown. assessment: advise further investigation. may yield insight into genetic adaptations specific to this world. await further updates.

aquafarming is the growth of sea organisms for colonist use and consumption. although there are no true plants in the seas of proteus, many sessile organisms will flourish in correctly tended exterior growbeds. if preserved seeds from the *cicada*'s stores can be located, interior growbeds may be used to grow safe, metal-free human crops in a hydroponic bath. (crops that require soil, such as trees, grains, and root vegetables, cannot be grown, since there is no earthlike soil available to fill the growbed.) some protean organisms may also flourish in the interior of habitats. farming instructions: —construct growbed inside or outside seabase —plant appropriate eggs or seeds in growbed (ensure that egg or seed is in its preferred environment — seawater or open air) —provide energy sources such as light, chemistry, electrical current or radiation —harvest crop when mature; replant eggs or seeds to grow next generation note: starvation played a major role in the failure of the habitat colony cohort. if no adaptation to proteus' metal-rich biosphere can be devised, all human presence on this world will depend on internally farmed crops.

*hecaton tunic*. named for the hundred-handed hecatoncheires of greek myth. a complex of animals undergoing competitive sex differentiation. 1. anatomy each pore on the surface of the hecaton is the mouth of a tunic, a complex filter-feeding animal. the colony's branching structure allows each tunicate acces to the water so it can breathe and eat. each tunic grows a flexible, semi-hard polyvinyl shell which merges with the neighbors' tunics, defending the entire colony. 2. growth patterns analysis suggests the colony begins as a single stem of identical tunicates cloned from an embryo. more successful tunicates become large and sexually mature, starting new arms of the colony and developing their own eggs. less successful tunicates are driven to the ends of the arms, where they shrink and develop a teal bioluminescence. 3. viral reproduction the less successful tunicates do not release sperm. instead, they are heavily infected by a strain of large rna virus in the seawater. the majority of the tunic's genome consists of copies of this virus insert by retroviral action. how the hecaton tunic fertilizes eggs is therefore unclear—it seems to lack sperm cells. assessment: reproductive enigma. await further updates.

holderplace moss description

heavy stone gates. like most materials without fabrication rights management technology, they cannot be deconstructed with a builder tool.

"nahema, voice log, go. earth's last great man joked that the creator must love stars and beetles, because it made so many of them. two hundred years later we've found a lot of alien life. and guess what? not many beetles. sorry, jack. but look—your creator's still playing favorites. wherever it works, it seems to get started with a sponge." databank generation interrupted. outputting last good draft (terse): sponge. simplest animal. amoebic cells work together to pump water—in through pores, out through hole (osculum) at top. feeds on suspended nutrients. reproduces sexually or by asexual fragmentation. presence of spongelike life: ambiguous survival sign. suggests loosely earthlike biosphere (not radically hostile). however, large size suggests many available nutrients—either due to a productive ecosystem or a mass dieoff. most religious and ethical systems permit harm to sponges.

*anthobrachia hebesoros*, the young stack of flower arms. reproductive stage of a flower-like jelly. 1. polyp despite its resemblance to a kelp, the jelly lei prefers to hang underneath surfaces—where it cannot photosynthesize. it is the rooted polyp phase of a jellyfish's life cycle. the chain of 'flowers' growing beneath the polyp are larval jellyfish, called ephyra. the stalk itself is called a scyphistome. 2. ephyral traits the budding larvae have broad, flat petals which will eventually merge into the adult jelly's bell. these petals already host photosynthetic symbiotes—it is possible the adult jelly will seek light sources to grow, akin to the terrestrial upside-down jelly. note the purple color produced by photosynthetic retinal, the same molecule your eyes use to detect light. 3. heat stress the jelly lei's growth cycle has been accelerated by heat stress. the stalked parent may release its larvae early to allow them to swim clear of hot, oxygen-depleted water. assessment: sign of ecological crisis.

lamp shootroot description

high confidence: this is a machine room. the structure contains an old generator, perhaps one to two thousand years old. the design is magneto-type, with a commutator to transform the alternating current to direct current. it resembles the designs of french inventor august de meritens. all construction is of electroformed copper, iron, and bronze; there is no sign of smelting or hot working in any of the components. insulation is provided by biologically sourced plastics. a battery pile near the generator could be charged by direct current. the generator has no fuel source and was clearly designed to be turned manually, and it appears the path the operators trod while turning the generator has been cast in concrete—perhaps as a museum exhibit. the sediments below the concrete are rich with food scraps and biological waste. the machine room also contains equipment for cleaning, warming, cooling, and oxygenating water. unlike the generator, this equipment has been upgraded to a higher standard, using alternating current and near-premodern materials. several centuries of inactivity have left this equipment corroded, but reparable. this generator probably powered water pumps and lighting when this campus was in active use. it was later retired and preserved as an exhibit. the design may be of use if it becomes necessary to construct and maintain a generator without the benefit of advanced fabrication technology.

the extinct mongolian independent states championed an adventurous, employee-owned frontier. transgov culture evoked historical mongolia as a site of competition and synthesis between different ways of life—nomadic and settled, imperial and free, industrial and wild, communist and capitalist, buddhist and tengrist. —broke away from the chinese territories in 2158 —expanded into the ariadne arm using one-way, slower-than-light ships —accused of population abuse; 50% of assets seized by the trans-system federation —destroyed by the kharaa xenosystem citizenship in the states was not restricted to those of mongolian descent, but members were encouraged to learn and adopt mongolian culture and values. accusations of "cynical cultural strip-mining" by mongolian citizens of the sol transgov stalled out in interstellar courts. alterra used the high failure rate of the mongolian colonization strategy to accuse the mongolian states of population abuse, a charter violation. this justified a military intervention and asset seizure by the trans-system federation. soon afterwards, the kharaa aliens infected mongolian space. in the resulting war the mongolian independent states effectively ceased to exist. refugees continue to disperse across transgov space.

a single plug of polished coral surfaced with concrete, age circa one thousand years. it can be raised or lowered on a column to permit entry into the space below. the mechanism is corroded.

a miniature sky. also called an orrery. it represents this stellar system, as i represent you. the makers understood that their suns—not their own world, nor even their giant jovian—lay at the center of things. a fine humility. perhaps this discovery is why the orrery was preserved as a museum. you might scan the gems within to learn more. the orrery could warn of dangerous cosmic events. and it will be impossible to return home without fixing our position in the galaxy.

*tunic aeolian*. a bizarre animal that splits seawater into hydrogen (on which it feeds) and oxygen (which it releases). 1. tunic like earthly tunicates, this is a complex animal with a heart, nerve chord, and a flexible exterior shell (the tunic). 2. radiolytic metabolism at the heart of the oxygen tunic is a nugget of radioactive metal such as uranium, radium, or thorium. radiation from this nugget splits water into hydrogen and oxygen through radiolysis. the oxygen tunic retains the hydrogen to feed an internal colony of sulfur-reducing bacteria, and releases the excess oxygen. 3. blue glow cherenkov radiation from the core excites radioluminescent pigments in the tunic, producing a distinctive blue glow. this may be a warning to would-be predators that the oxygen tunic releases poisonous quantities of oxygen. 4. implications for life on this world the oxygen tunic's metabolism suggests that this world has an energetic geology and a biosphere adapted to use radiation as a food source. it also has interesting implications for life without sunlight. on earth, even deep-sea vents depend on oxygen produced by photosynthesis. no such dependency exists here. assessment: emergency oxygen source for divers. beware that repeated use could lead to radon buildup, with serious health risks including cancer.

a raion, a form of colonial worm unique to proteus.

*sporal psephos*. a moiety (two paired species) of a sponge and a coral. possibly a single chimeric organism. 1. reefbuilding reefbuilding on this world seems to be carried out by a range of sponge-coral pairings. in hard corals, the sponge has lost its ability to feed independently and provides a hard shell for the corals. in this organism, the relationship is reversed: the coral polyps grow a hard surface shell, while the sponges continue to pump water. because the hard shell blocks the sponges' pores, they work in pairs, with one inhaling through its osculum and one exhaling. 2. dome coral association frequently found on the surface of the larger dome coral, blocking patches of its surface from receiving sunlight. this may be an opportunistic/parasitic relationship. 3. confusing genetics both coral polyps and sponge cells seem to carry the full genome of both organisms, blurring the definition of a species. it is unknown how a single organism can contain genomes for two biologically distinct species; the two cannot reproduce sexually to combine their genes. assessment: interesting data point.

from the protected zone base camp: —a tadpole with a depth module went down south-southeast, bearing 165 degrees —debris from a cicada lander module came down bearing 120 degrees —a pair of smaller debris fragments splashed down at bearing 105

a hard coral that frequently grows on hydrothermal vents. it uses the temperature gradient between its anchored base and its cold-water lip to drive metabolic reactions. await further updates.

low confidence estimate: this is a sea surface/lower atmosphere monitoring station. it is hollow. it has electronic components, but its power supply has failed. structure age: two hundred years (inferred from weathering of antennae). composition: single cast titanium-palladium alloy, probably manufactured by the kroll process. instruments: passive sonar, plankton scanning sonar, proton magnetometer, doppler radar and current profiler, wave height gauge, conductivity/temperature rosette sampler, sediment traps, plankton photo booth, asimet air-sea energy transfer sensor, lidar atmosphere sensor, hyperspectral imager, wind speed/direction log, cloud imaging radar, etc. they are nonfunctional. power supply: a nuclear battery, either thermal or alphavoltaic. the plutonium in the battery continues to emit, but no power is being generated. there is wiring for a secondary power source but the generation technology is unclear (possibly microbial fuel cells). induction: the builders of this sphere were significantly more advanced than those who built the anchoring tower. evidence of rapid technological progress. this station was designed to float at the water surface and to communicate with other stations by radio aerial. some of the communication equipment suggests the presence of a satellite network overhead. induction: the sphere was built by an early digital civilization comparable to earth’s information age.

ganzo here, day—hey, what day is it? day 758. habitat's gone. we've got no fabricator, no biobeds, and no way to build more. we are on our last life. it's me, ruby—stay close, hair aa—raster, tuba, sean, gram, rowboat, and mogami's kids. and twinkle, finally outside. what a way to get your feet wet, huh? we are striking out for the tadpole pens. maybe the noa there will let us in. and if not — we'll take the submarines and look for anita's crew. if you find this, swim southeast along the edge of the coral garden. i'll drop another log at the pens.

ganzo here. nine survivors of habitat with me. tuba went back to habitat and...a marrowbreach took ruby. i don’t know if she’ll be reprinted. i’ve heard her die so many times. but this time...she's got to be out there somewhere. she's got to. the tadpole pens control room is locked and all the tadpoles are gone. sophie and nahema took the last two. we're stuck. we've voted, eight to one. we're going to go down into the hot caves. we all feel a pull there. we know it's a masefield hallucination—yes, twinkle, we *know*—but hey, anita said, if we ask the world for help, maybe it'll answer. and it's not all crazy. there's a biobed at the base camp. and zip...zip died at the bottom of that cave. she had a kurultai access key that could get us through this lock. if you find this, we headed due southwest to the hot caves. bearing [muttered] hang on, ruby.

ganzo here. nine survivors of habitat. everyone sound off. [muffled voices saying hello] we are going down into the hot cave. we'll rally at the base camp and sync with the biobed. then we search for zip's kurultai key, as deep as we can go. if we feel anything down there, we'll check it out. calmly. maybe anita's right. maybe the planet will tell us where to go next. one way or another, we are all gonna live. even you, hair aa. i'm coming back for you.

*sporal duck*, sponge-coral moiety named for the color of a duck. 1. reefbuilding in the teal sporal, the sponge component of the moiety has fully hardened, leaving it unable to breathe or feed. nutrients are supplied entirely by coral polyp photosynthesis. the large hollow spaces created by the trapped sponges are feeding grounds and debris collectors for coral polyps that cannot see sunlight. 2. evolutionary insight the teal sporal provides insight into how the partnership between predatory, optionally photosynthetic corals and filter-feeding sponges might evolve. the most probable scenario (given current information) is that the coral polyps were originally parasites or commensals, living in the sponges' jelly and feeding off microorganisms. over time, sponges either hardened — providing shelter for polyps which could provide them with food and air — or ejected their coral guests and remained soft. 3. twin species remarkably, the sponge cells and coral polyp in the teal sporal moiety are genetically identical to those in the similar pebbled sporal. the distinction between pebbled and teal sporal may not be genetic at all, but the result of an ongoing negotiation between the environment and the two species in the moiety. assessment: interesting data point. no immediate applications.

a reflecting telescope, of the type invented by isaac newton on earth. like every other material encountered in the tower, this telescope was manufactured without the use of high-temperature processes like fire. the reflector is a silver mirror electroplated over quartz. it seems possible that the makers invented telescopes far earlier than humanity did. perhaps they were inspired by light bending at the boundary between air and water. the telescope was once sealed against water, so that it could produce a clear image. the seals corroded long ago.

this enormous colony organism (lithodont titanicae) resembles a spinal cord protected by a thick crablike shell. it extends beyond scanner range in both directions, growing through fractures in the seabed rock. 1. hollow interior: the interior of the bore contains at least two large flooded channels—one strikingly radioactive. the ancestral form may be a pyrosome (a sea squirt). 2. poor health: most of the zooids in the bore are dead, leaving only a mineral skeleton and a hydrocarbon-polymer shell. the interior channels have clogged. 3. unknown metabolism: the bore has no apparent food supply. it may have derived chemical energy from minerals, but if so, its bacterial symbiotes have fled. it is starving. 4. viral activity: the surviving tissue is infected with large rna virus similar to earthly giant sea viruses. the bore's anatomy includes receptor sites that encourage viral infection and reproduction. further analysis required. assessment: entirely unknown organism - investigate further, determine origin and ecological niche.

strange umbilicus. this tether anchors the sphere above to the old tower. the attachment point shows stress from many years of storms, but the anchor remains firm. the tether contains auxiliary power cables to draw electricity from the tower, but they have failed. the tether is hollow, and might serve as an accessway.

this is unpowered. it's likely tied to the iridescent looking door blocking access to the inside of the structure. recommendation - look around for a power generating station.

retrieving voice data message. sophie: welcome back, pioneer. i'm sophie boucher, kurultai surgeon. by now you know we're not on zezura. we call this planet proteus. we don't know when rescue will find us. for the sake of all our sleeping friends, we have to learn how to survive. nahema? nahema: hey, fellow debt slave. i'm nahema nakota, ecologist. take a sip of seawater. notice that sweet blood taste under the salt? that's a toxic dose of heavy metals. nobody's survived past three months. it's a beautiful place to die over and over again— sophie: —but don't let that beauty seduce you, pioneer. exposure to proteus causes a delusion we call masefield syndrome...the call of the sea. people may tell you it's a gift. ignore them. you remember what kharaa did to our homes. you *know* we can't trust alien biology. we've set up a lab here with a few basic biomods. they're safe. but if you start to hear voices, or if you get the urge to swim to the tree, don't go. habitat is due north. we'll come pick you up. see you soon, pioneer.

*gorgon mastix*, the whip gorgon. a soft coral similar to the earthly gorgonians — it lacks the hard limestone shell of a true reefbuilding coral. 1. earthly namesake named for the extinct *leptogorgia virulata*, earth's sea whip. like the sea whip it is a predator, and it must defend its soft body from parasites and predation. 2. spine defenses unlike the terrestrial sea whip, which developed a chemical arsenal to repel unwanted contact, the whip gorgon colony has developed specialized 'soldier' polyps which migrate to the surface and develop a brittle spine. when disturbed, this spine snaps off, releasing the soldier's payload of toxins. it is impossible to project the effects of this sting on colonists, but mechanical similarities to the infamous australian gympie-gympie plant suggest negative outcomes ranging from chronic agony to total sleep deprivation lasting weeks to years. 3. carnivorous diet 'civilian' polyps in the whip gorgon use their stings to kill and digest microscopic prey. they lack the brittle spine and powerful toxins of the soldier polyp. assessment: avoid contact. consider pruning back with hand tools.