Day 17

A sudden cold chill blew over the terrain today. Other than that the weather had been pleasant, which was good as there is much work to be done.

A strange phenomenon has been happening; at certain points in the repair, there seems to be what I can only describe as a flash of light, but a flash of light that changes the contours of the environment significantly, but only for that split-second. Like a flashback. Or maybe even a flashforward. Time will tell.

Day 13

We've started collecting some ground samples in the midst of the repair work. The compound is astounding. Organic. Hard but not brittle. "Transparent" but also light emitting. It seemingly has a life of it's own. In the midst of the repair work it seems to have self-healing adaptive properties. It warrants further research, but the mission comes first.

I'm also noticing some irrigation canals that have dried up. I'll see if I can get some water to flow again.

Day 10

And so I dreamt of home.

It's been more than a week out here. The surroundings are alien, the work is unrelenting, but at least the work is fulfilling and it's clear the results are helping the community.

The increasing levels of light are enabling me to make some sense of the figures. They are humanoid, but they don't seem human. They seem to have the ability to phase in and out of visibility, but that could just be due to the low levels of light here so far.

The repair work on the ground is making good progress, but there's a higher calling to this. Some things have to be resolved from the source.

I am also starting to track the weather patterns, they may not be as random as they first appeared. I will update soon.

Day 7

The last few days have been eventful, too much to talk about. How do people find time to journal when there is so much work to be done? At least there have been more warm breezes than we expected, it makes doing the work easier.

The weather forecast has come in, storms seem to be coming. I hope we're prepared for it. Whatever it is, there's no turning back now.

Day 4

"Little Ming...thank you."

"What for?"

"Just...being here. With us. And also for giving us some light. For helping us...see some things a little clearer."

I guess I'm starting to become comfortable among the voices. Sometimes all they need is a little mediation from a third party. We did some minor repairs on the ground, plenty of work left to do though.

Day 3

Flashes of light. Blinding. A mountain. An old man. A young boy. A rough knife. Then, a silhouette of a woman.

"Your prayer has been heard. Do not fear."

"What prayer? Who are you?"

And then I woke up.

Despite the assurances the facts don't change. The chances of success remain slim. On what can I base any certainty that this quest will end in success? I've not even factored in whether or not I'll return, whether or not this quest would have made any difference to the situation I left behind. The fear is real.

Anyway, I've started to put some names to the voices. They don't actually have names, apparently names are not really a thing in these parts, but I guess they've taken to it pretty well.

Logan is the brains of this operation. He's been in charge of these parts for many years. The territories have been relatively stable under his leadership, until recently, when the "earthquakes" started happening. He still commands a high degree of respect though, and he runs a pretty tight ship.

Peter is the wise sage, the great storyteller. He always has a whole library of myths and legends from other lands, like Abraham and Thor and Peggy Carter. One of the more memorable things he's said is, "sometimes you have to be prepared to kill your babies, or destroy the only way to your one true love to save a planet. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye, and say 'No, YOU move'." (It's actually more of a paraphrase, I couldn't remember his stories word for word.) He has been pretty encouraging so far.

These two have been the more talkative of the voices. I may be able to identify the rest soon. In any case, the cyan trail I have been leaving behind is allowing me a little bit of light to see roughly the figures from which the voices come from. I'll report more when I can see clearer.

Day 2

Darkness. Pure, blinding darkness.

The boat entered what seemed to be a dark storm cloud, and never came out. It just seemed to drift smoothly towards a horizon of infinite blackness and silence, with the exception of that one little bout of turbulence. By this point I knew where I was going, so I knew what to expect. I just had to wait until I arrived.

"We have been expecting you."

A familiar voice spoke in the darkness. I did not even know that my boat had stopped.

"It's dark in here," I stated the obvious.

"I guess that's why you're here."

"Why am I here?"

The voice hesitated for a while. "I guess you can...um...shed some light on what's been happening around here."

"But...how?"

A little rumble could be heard in the distance. The ground underneath me shook slightly.

"Does this happen often?"

"Much less than before, but it's good that someone's here to have a look."

My conversation was interrupted.

"Step - out - of - the - boat."

I gingerly felt my way out of my little vessel. The floor started to glow ever so slightly with a cyan hue when my foot touched it. The floor was cold, glass-like. Before I could take another step the ground shook violently with a loud clapping sound, like thunder, or like a car crash. I fell to the cold hard floor.

"Are you hurt?" It seemed to come from another voice.

"A little, but I'll recover. We should get moving quickly before the next wave comes."

"That will not be possible. Don't hurry, Little Ming. Haste makes waste. The road to where we must go is long, you must be patient as we make our way up."

Those words stung harder than they probably should have. The words I spoke but a day earlier continued to haunt me.

"What if I never come back? What if I get lost out there?"

I guess I'll be out here a little longer than I expected. We set off, the voices leading the way. A warm balmy breeze brought much needed comfort, but the stillness of the air that followed only became more pronounced. This place is stark.

"We're moving towards a place with very high signal density, you should prepare for some interference on your receiver. You may pick up some stray signals, or worse, you may expose yourself to malignant communications. In other words, from this point forward, don't assume everything that passes through your receiver is from Hugh."

The voice paused again.

"You know where you're going, don't you?"

"Where am I going?"

"To save the universe. To make it right again."

Another voice spoke out. "You know you won't make it back, right?"

Yet another raised his voice. "You don't know that!"

The cacophony of voices was starting to confuse me. I guess I'll figure out who is who and who I can trust in due time.


Keep on keeping on, Little Ming.

Day 1

"Get - on - the - boat."

"What if I never come back? What if I get lost out there?"

"Don't - you - trust - me? Get - on - the - boat."

And so I got on the boat. Who knows where this boat will take me. But Hugh has never let me down before. At most I have misunderstood him, but he has always turned out to be right. So here I am. I'm on this boat, writing this journal, leaving the security of the known world behind me, not knowing where I'm going, or why. The future is like the sea ahead of me. Vast. Scary. But also full of potential. Meanwhile I've got you, dear journal. And Hugh, of course. Fingers crossed I'll make it where I'm supposed to go.


Stay focused on the mission, Little Ming.