Log 1
Yo, my name is Rias. That's not my real name but it is now. Sort of. Gotta psyche myself real hard if I'm ever gonna survive this ordeal.
So!
I woke up inside a Martian rover or something; not sure how to feel about that. In the few hours I've been here, I tinkered around, pushed a few buttons here and there, and turned on an AI. She tells me she isn’t exactly sapient, so there’s that. Named her Alice since she sounds like a little girl. There’s probably a reason the designers decided a little girl’s voice should be used for this model, but honestly, I just think it’s creepy.
I’ve been asking the little GPT what the hell I’m supposed to do, and she tells me that the equipment I found at the back is for mining.
So, I’ve got a vector for activity at least. Still wondering how in the hells I’m supposed to live here, with the outside being a harsh, radioactive desert and very few supplies.
Guess a little accounting is to be done.
Log 2
Alice says the fusion reactor in the vehicle is still at full capacity, which is a small relief. This means, theoretically, I have power—probably more than I need if I’m just running the essentials and not doing any large-scale drilling yet. Water and air, though? That’s a different story. My clothes aren’t exactly a spacesuit, so it’s not like I can go outside and start sifting through the green sands without… well, dying.
The futuristic boxes I saw were actually stasis-type storage implements or something. They contain food and water (mostly water as ice), and based on the markings on the side, it’s good for a century. Alongside it was a sealed container filled with around 100 different plants with a 500 seeds for the ones with high calories and 250 seeds for the less essential ones.
Reading further on Alice's little manuals, I have the blueprints for a gestation pod of some kind to make more seeds, but that'll probably be further into the future.
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Alice asked if I’d like to give her my physical info so she can plug in a third-party program to monitor my caloric intake and such. I approved. Having an AI health and fitness instructor hits different. So food and water for the next six months are accounted for if I eat twice a day, one year if I limit myself to once a day. Cool.
Alice mentioned that oxidized copper isn’t just for pretty, shiny sand dunes. If I can figure out a way to refine it, maybe I can work some magic and turn it into something useful. Just not sure where to begin. I know a little chemistry, but turning copper and sand into breathable oxygen? Err, not really.
Anyway, the AI has a couple of suggestions that sound promising. Alice says I could use the mining equipment to dig deep, especially with what she calls the "Personal Driller," where there might be remnants of water or other useful compounds trapped in the rock layers. Apparently, the equipment has a refinery attachment too. It sounds like it can analyze samples and even isolate compounds. With some modifications, it might be able to assist with basic resource extraction for air and water—if I don’t break it first.
For now, I’ll focus on two main things: keeping the fusion reactor running and figuring out a way to safely extract oxygen. If I can do that, I might just stand a chance of surviving, having been chucked into the middle of nowhere.
Log 3
I suggested trying to connect her to the rover’s external sensors so she could scan for any potential mineral deposits without me leaving the vehicle. She tells me she’s unable to do that due to her limitations as a quite simple (if you could call an interactive AI that…) program that just helps with finding stuff in her database. Guess it’s on me to find a spacesuit.
Log 4
I found a spacesuit (though it’s called an exosuit for some reason), and after asking Alice how to wear it, I got to work.
However, digging down is going to be tough. The fusion reactor’s power might be stable, but using the mining equipment for a prolonged time will eat up a lot of energy fast, plus I’ll need a way to vent excess heat. The place I’m in is pretty cold at around -2 Celsius, based on the rover’s readings, but all that will be useless if the insides of my equipment turn to molten slag, short circuits, or something equally horrible and stupid. If I mess this up, I’ll end up with broken equipment and nothing to show for it. I’ll need to strike the right balance.
So, here’s the plan: a short excavation cycle, enough to breach the surface, then a sample extraction to test if the readings are legit. If we can access water, I’ll have one less thing to worry about. And if I can find any kind of mineral with an oxygen component, I’ll be one step closer to breathing without rationing.
I’m keeping this log in case someone finds it—or if I make it out of this mess myself. Feels like talking to myself, but better than silence. Besides, maybe one day, if I’m still alive, I’ll look back at this and wonder how I pulled it off.
Log 5
Crazy stuff happened today while mining. I’ve read the manuals for the mining implements, and honestly, it’s a cheat. It just blasts the ground, and through some gizmo and technobabble I don’t understand, vacuums the debris and dumps it into the numerous Ikea-style storage boxes. To be fair, it has its limits, especially with the time I can use it—around an hour each session with a 30-minute cooldown.
Now for the crazy part. After I mined a bit, I searched around the refinery’s database and found that it has limited capability as a 3D printer. Compared to stuff I’ve seen on YouTube, seeing this was like an ant watching humans build houses. Like, I understand the principles, but to actually do it? Hell no. So, I naturally tried to set it up to make parts for another 3D printer. Emphasis on tried. While it is capable of doing what I want step by step (praise be its engineers), I don’t have the materials necessary right now—like cobalt, lithium, aluminum, and a host of other metals from the periodic table. Yay.