Two [Irrdnis] days after their arrival was when Lumpher Phorro begins to log the mission’s progress:
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63rd Day, Year 135 of Helan Phorro Xamium
It has been a very interesting past few days since we left Irrdnis for the portal, to say the least. Upon our ship passing through the threshold, we were treated to a wonderous sight of a mostly blue alien world. Amongst the blue were large, interconnected masses of greens and tans and smaller collections of whites. Going off the knowledge gained from our views of Irrdnis in space, the blues are like our pinks [water], greens and tans are like our dark and light browns [land], and whites are the same as ours [clouds and ice]. That was the side that was exposed to the sun though. The side that wasn’t, drew our attention to the fact that it appeared to have a yellowish bioluminescence. We first thought it was like our planet’s indigo nighttime bioluminescence, except these formed quite oddly. These formed patches and clusters that grew larger by the edges of water mostly around the upper hemisphere.
As we made our approach towards this newly discovered world, we saw an object incoming from its surface. We didn’t get a clear look at this curious object before it flew pass and exploded behind us moments after, accelerating our descent towards the planet below. This sudden increase in speed and pull of the world’s gravitation, made our attempts to correct our landing more difficult to the point that we had to crashland through its atmosphere. We raised the viewport shields and braced for impact.
After our ship came to a stop, we immediately made emergency checks on crew and craft. Guardian Tempun had a minor concussion, Moloj Phorro received some steam burns, and the rest of us suffered small bruising and abrasions. Ship diagnostics revealed life support was still operating well and the overall structural integrity of the craft was still sound, but internal damage to the navigational instruments and one of the rocket engines would require weeks of repairs. The outside of the ship during that time was too hot for us to open the outer hatch, so we waited until the next day for it to cool down.
The next day, we tested the air quality of the outside and it showed the air was too toxic to breathe, so enviro-suits were mandatory. We lowered the viewport shields, but it was hard to see the surrounding environment due to smoke, likely from the fires set by our landing. One of us needed to go outside and explore the surrounding area around the landing site. Guardian Junget Darruf volunteered to act as scout. He was given until night to return and report back what he found. Night unexpectedly fell on us as midday approached and Junget didn’t return.
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Soon after darkness came, we spotted a light off in the distance. It was joined by another light, then several others until the ship’s crashlanding site was surrounded by these lights. We heard and noticed much movement amongst the shadows, so Champion Zalhang Glodd ordered the guardians to ready the gunports and take shifts standing watch. When the sun rose again, the smoke mostly lifted, and we got a better glimpse at what we were facing. They were small machines scuttling about on the ground in the distance and flying through the sky. Some took up positions around us while pointing, which we assumed to be a type of weapon, in our direction. We didn’t know how they were being operated nor did we know what would take place next, since we were still unaware of who sent the explosive. We stayed inside observing them while Moloj Phorro attempted to repair the ship’s damage.
When the planet’s sun rose again, facing our direction on top of a small hill, we saw a window. Through this window was a series of pictures and symbols, which repeated in perpetuity. I realized that something with intelligence wanted to communicate with us by using this ‘Window of Symbols,’ so I ordered Moloj Phorro and Tonglok Phorro to draw some of the friendliest symbols we could think of, toss it outside the outer hatch and see what came to look at it.
We waited after tossing out the symbols, and a short time passed before something appeared. They were small; estimated to be several units taller than ankle height, bipedal, and upright in posture. There were about twelve in all, wearing what could only be described as some version of our enviro-suit. Almost half of them were covered in dark green and brown patterns and were armed with what looked like weapons. They stayed close to the others, who were greenish-yellow in colour and spent their time examining the symbols we made for them. They remained for a moment before one of the greenish-yellow ones pulled out an item from a bag, placed it on the ground and left the area with the others. Against Zalhang’s cautious recommendations, I had Tonglok Phorro step outside and retrieve the item for study.
The item brought back inside is small and orange. It has a protective layer covering a porous white tissue, and that tissue covered a distinct number of segments inside. Each of those segments are delimited by a membrane and contained vesicles filled with acidic juices and what look like seeds. It was some sort of berry but why do they have it and why did they leave it for us to take in? I wanted to try something on the next sunrise, but I needed to look for an item we could part with.