Day 3

Komputerheng, Aeryn System

Starting Point – Yeonc Jungle Shelter

Walking back to my ship, I spot this object in the sky. I have no idea what it is, except that it is not natural to this world. Is it related to the sentinels?

A silicate pillar that I mined yesterday.

Another new plant. This one will uncoil and whip out at me if I get too close. Nasty. The only hostile thing I have encountered on this otherwise docile world, besides the sentinels.

Another look at the mysterious object in the sky. A space station?

New plant discovery!

Its ever present in my thoughts as I continue to explore Komputerheng. What waits for me on this new world looming in the skies above?

The flying creatures that still needed cataloging.

A successful scan is elusive. Even with my visor zoomed all the way in, I can't get a scan. The way they wheel and dart is too fast for me to keep them targeted in the sweet spot of my visor scanner. If one would just hold still... I have the notion that I might just be too far below them. There is a convenient rock tower that I think I can jetpack onto the top of, which I do manage, just barely, but not without a health damaging failure on the first attempt. The height assist does not help. I am beginning to realize that a successful scan will not be possible without bringing one down. I have a very hard time getting a good shot in with my boltcaster. I wing a couple of them, but they keep flying. Better luck comes when I try the mining laser. The constant stream of energy lets me get enough of a shot on the fast moving and tiny flyer, though it is by no means easy to track and shoot one. With a puff of smoke and a burst of blood one of the creatures falls out of the sky to the rolling grassland below.

I struggle to locate the remains of the tiny creature in the dense yellow grass. I try for some time with no luck. Much to my dismay, I am going to have to scale the rock tower once more for another attempt. When I finally do manage to shoot another one down, I see it fall quite clearly and tumble into a shallow ravine just in front of my position. When I get there, I am once again unable to locate the remains. I strongly consider giving up, but I very much want to complete my survey of this planet. One last attempt, and if it doesn't work, I am quitting. Eventually, I send another one of the creatures tumbling to the ground. It falls in the grass near the base of the rock tower I am standing on. I hop down off of my perch to go after the carcass and find myself being attacked by a sentinel. It must have been nearby when I shot the creature. The sentinel is not at all happy with me for killing it. Unlike my first duel with a sentinel, I dispatch this one before it can call for backup, thanks to the addition of the boltcaster weapon to my multi-tool, an upgrade I made before setting out today. I get a milestone for destroying my 5^th sentinel, and shortly after that, another for having traveled 15,000u.

With the sentinel dispatched I go back to searching for the remains in the grass. I worry that I have lost track of where the animal fell thanks to fighting with the sentinel. I am near calling it quits when I finally find the creature with my visor and complete the scan. A lot of work for one tiny little bat-bird. Looking at it laying there in the grass, still and lifeless, I feel terrible about what I have done. I doubt my desire to finish the survey – I am not sure it was worth doing this. I am here to explore, not kill innocent animals. I stand there looking at it for a long time in silence. I can't help dwelling on what I took from this gentle creature.

Approaching my ship I see the tiny rodent looking creatures that were there on the first day. They have come back! A moment to catalog one and make sure it isn't hostile, and then I am chasing it down to try and feed it. Like the creature I fed at the Itnevs shelter, it becomes friendly and playful, showing me the location of various materials.

When the creature eventually loses interest and wanders off, Its time to climb into the cockpit. My flight plan will take me first to Itnevs Flats, and finally to the Yeonc Jungle shelter where I will once again make camp for the night.

I am flying!!! It is exhilarating to be in the air after so much hoofing it on the ground. Both flights and landings go without a hitch. It is much easier to traverse distances in my ship, but I can see that I will miss many discoveries if I stick exclusively to the air.

The Yeonc Jungle shelter. It is for all intents and purposes the same as the one at Itnevs Flats, a good place to stop for now.

As a closing side note, I am starting to think that those regular flybys are larger sentinels...