11th of Jugust

Things are up in the air, neither good nor bad.

At least, that's what the stars tell me.

Last night, the weather finally cleared up, and the clouds parted enough for me to stargaze properly.

It was… Peaceful. I watched the swirls and glimmers of the ancient, distant lights dance and sway for their own enjoyment for a few hours before the warmth of my home called for me to get some rest.

Despite my inability to decipher any signs of potential boons or ill fortunes in my near future, I remain determined to understand these astral bodies. I’m sure I’ll get better at reading what they have to say as time passes.

The following day, I went to work, trudging through the snow until I came across one of the steel veins I had discovered the previous day. The other day, I had finally run out of material when I had to assemble a pair of chargers for Conbui and Shovit, who were dead in the snow with depleted batteries; between that and the outdoor fridge I had built, I was left with scraps that I couldn’t do anything with.

A plasteel pickaxe in hand, I got to swinging, and quite frankly, I have to admit that I genuinely have no real idea what I’m doing.

It took hours of work to get a sizable haul worth this effort. I briefly took a meal break to chew on some plain pan-seared meat before returning to it as the sun eventually set.

Jury-rigging a sack using my duster, I slung the spoils of my efforts over my shoulder and started heading for home with my tail curled tightly around myself.

‘Ezekiel, you should know… We seemed to have missed the Mental Advent. With all our other priorities, the value of yesterday’s date did not occur to me until just a moment ago.’

“The Advent? Really? I suppose you have been keeping track of the date this whole time…” The Mental Advent was one of the few celebrations the Sect had observed, which allowed us to be wasteful with materials.

Out in the void, we made lanterns using scrap metal and nearly depleted batteries before venting them out of the airlock. Our small lights joined the stars until they twinkled out when they ran out of power.

As the sun dipped below the planet’s horizon, I found myself engulfed in memories of my crew, my family. In my five years of life, they were all I had, all I knew. Now, I’m alone. Well, not entirely alone, with a friendly library in my head. The thought of celebrating the Advent, even if it's just for the sake of familiarity, brought a bittersweet smile to my lips.

“I think… I think I would still like to celebrate the Advent… If only for the sake of doing something familiar.“

‘That sounds good, Ezekiel; a sky-lantern should suffice as a suitable replacement for the star-lights made for the holiday.’ Sagittarius offered helpfully as I felt him conjure up a mental blueprint for a simple-looking lantern.

That brought a small smile to my lips as I continued heading home. As I approached, I spotted two small figures huddling by the doorway. They were... penguins? What kind of penguin? I had no idea, but I’ve seen other types of penguins on other planets, and these look like penguins.

“Uh… Hey, you guys… Did you need something?” I asked the birds, not expecting a proper answer, as they looked up at me.

One squawked miserably with a flap of their wings, while the other bumped their head against the door.

‘Is there someone there?’ Sagittarius asked in silent curiosity.

“Yeah, a couple of uh… Penguins.” I said, glancing around before pushing the door open, watching as the duo eagerly hopped in with each step and looking around my shack. “They're pretty short with rather impressive orange eyebrows.”

‘Ah, those seem to be rockhopper penguins. Do you have any idea what they want?’

“It looks like they wanted to come inside.” I explained aloud as I followed them inside and shut the door behind me.

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The penguins in question meandered about with short, wandering hops until they came across one of the wall-mounted heaters and huddled alongside it. Their flightless wings flapping, they shook off the snow clinging to their black-and-white bodies before squawking out what I could only guess was delight.

“Huh, it looks like they wanted to warm up…” I said as I went to my storage corner and poured the unrefined steel chunks into the crate, which I had previously dedicated to holding steel.

‘That makes sense. Penguins can live in temperatures ranging from ninety degrees Fahrenheit to negative seventy-six degrees Fahrenheit; records show they lived happily in captivity at around thirty to forty degrees Fahrenheit.’ Sagittarius helpfully provided while I brushed the dirt and gravel off my duster.

“I see… And what temperature is it right now?” I asked while pulling the duster back on and patting myself off.

‘Based on how your body temperature fluctuated throughout the day, I would say it is approximately negative twenty-three degrees Fahrenheit.’

“Well, it's good to know the modifications work.” I considered with a small smile before a thought dawned on me. I couldn’t help but frown. “Wait a minute, you had penguin facts ready at the top of my head but you couldn’t procure me some schematics for a nutrient paste dispenser?”

Sagittarius was more silent than usual for a few moments before putting together a response. ‘Well, Ezekiel… I am the sect’s lore-keeper… I am your lore-keeper.’ He said, correcting himself with a familiar sadness. ‘Keeping the lore is my primary role. It is easier for me to maintain and process massive blocks of text rather than complex schematics. I can tell you all about the ins and outs of the history of black powder back on the coreworld of the human species, but how to create and apply it… That information… The details are just gone for me.’

“Really? How?” I couldn’t help but stop in my tracks as I watched over the penguins as they preened each other.

‘Survival… Ezekiel. Simply put, I had to lobotomize myself during those final minutes while the Astral Quill was destroyed around us, leaving me with only the details about myself, our sect, and the goals required for our combined survival as everything else was compressed into fractions of encoded information. I know I once knew how to build shields capable of withstanding missiles and meteorites, but I do not recall how.

The weight of the mere notion of doing something like that hit me like a mortar shell. I couldn’t even comprehend what that could be like; it was… Utterly incomprehensible to me, like a… Like a… I’m unsure what words I could use to compare the situation. Willfully destroying yourself in such an unreversible way for the sheer sake of survival… I don’t know if I could do the same thing if I had been presented with that choice.

Sagittarius pressed on silently, unaware of my thoughts about the matter. ‘It is not like I can even unpack the information however I want; there is a process in place, locking information behind other layers of information. For example, if you wanted to have armor like Zaris, we would need to start with unpacking the electricity tech-pack, from there we would go into microelectronics, then unpack the multi-analyzer, next is fabrication, and then finally, we would be ready to start making that armor set… For all that, we need to build me some external drives and storage space, and we are a long way away from that outright. But for now, I have already gotten us to microelectronics, which allowed us to reach this relative level of comfort.’

“Sagittarius… I… Thank you.” Was all I could muster as I found myself leaning up against my table. “You’ve done so much for me… I don’t think I’ll ever finish paying you back, even if I had another thousand years to do so.”

‘Just stay alive; that is all I really need of you, Ezekiel. Your life is mine, and my life is yours. After a millennia together, I am really only doing what comes naturally.’ Sagittarius mused with a silent smile.

It was then that my stomach rumbled. My hand went to it, and I nodded slowly. “Hey, that sounds good to me… Speaking of staying alive, I should probably get something to eat.”

‘That is probably for the best.’ Sagittarius quietly agreed.

As I make my way to the other end of my shack, I cross through a single steel door, walk about six feet through another steel door, and enter my nature-powered fridge.

Two wall-mounted lights emit a warm glow as my eyes wander the meat hooks lining the walls and peek into the clay pots half-filled with the cherries and bear berries I managed to forage with Sagittarius’ help. As for meat, I had a nice mix of cuts ranging from wolf, coyote, a couple of hares, and even a few hooks that were loaded with musk ox.

I personally hunted the ox, and the wolf had tried to kill me, but I got it first; the rest I had found in the snow, dead from either starvation or from the harsh weather itself, as far as I could tell. After a few moments of meandering, I drew my knife and began slicing away frozen strips of the musk ox, a meat I’ve found easy to work with, and headed back inside to the warmth of my shack.

After a quick, simple meal of delectably marbled pan-seared meats that were easy on the palate, I collected some wood logs from the pile and other pieces of materials and made my way outside.

The sun had long since set, the stars now glimmering in the sky as the planet’s three crescent moons illuminated the snow around me.

Eventually, I found a good spot near my shack and set to work building a lovely fireplace. Once the sparks took and the flames were stable, I worked on crafting a sky lantern. It took me an hour or so to shape the wood the right way, but before long, it was ready, and all I had to do was light it.

“It uh… It still doesn’t feel real, ya know… Being here… Over a thousand years out of place… I keep expecting to wake up back on the Astral Quill, ready to start planning the next expedition or training with the others…” I spouted to the night sky, looking up at the stars as I set the lantern aside and kept myself propped up on my hands. I let out a sigh that filled the air around me with my visible, warm breath. “Maybe one day I’ll wake up and finally come to terms with it all… But I don’t think that day will be anytime soon.”

‘That is fair enough; I at least had a thousand years to come to terms with the revelation; I can not expect you to do so in less than a quadrum. Take your time, I will not judge.’ Sagittarius offered by way of sympathy.

“Thanks, Sagittarius.” With that, I pluck a flaming stick from the fireplace, holding it underneath the lantern's hood and lighting it. Now, holding the lantern with both hands, I watch as the flame grows brighter and stronger, the warmth steadily emanating from it while I stand and hold it above my head.

After releasing the lantern, it soon began to rise into the sky, slowly being taken by the wind as I sat in the snow again. I could feel my tail sway for the first time since the day I woke up as my lantern took its place among the stars until I could no longer track it.

“This was… Quite frankly unimpressive… But I still feel like it was nice, overall.” I say as I feel a small smile cresting my lips.

‘Perhaps next time you will have the necessary modifications for me to enjoy the sights as well.’ Sagittarius mused kindly. ‘No rush, of course; it will only be another year before we do this again.’

“Heh, I’ll see what I can do.” I offered, standing again and kicking snow into the fire before heading for home.

After a solid fifteen minutes of winding down and warming up, I found myself relaxing in my bed. I was not quite ready to sleep, but I was not willing to do anything else as I passed the time watching the rockhoppers doze together.

Only then did a noise from outside catch my attention: the crunching of snow… And it was getting closer?

Before I could properly register what I was hearing, a knock rang out against the wooden door. “H-hello? Is… Is anyone in there?” The voice of a young woman with excessively chattering teeth called out.