It´s a shame – I don´t find any time to post here. Can´t tell how long it will last. But this blog isn´t dead, just hibernating.
Holidays
Posted by Rabenschwinge -
December 20th, 2011
Again I have to apologize for not having posted over the last weeks – my surface and cavern projects have kept me very busy over the last days – and it won´t get better over the holidays, I fear. I´ll try to post now and then, but can´t promise anything. I think, in January I´ll have more time to keep you updated.
Until then, or until I find time to post before January, I wish you all nice holidays, and a Happy New Year!
Or, to say it in D’ni:
Hahr rahm gah shoraht b’shemtee biv!
Apologies
Posted by Rabenschwinge -
December 8th, 2011
Sorry for not posting for so long – a lot going on in the last month, work on the surface, work in the caverns …
The rodents in Afelahn have spawned quickly – at first, there were one or two – now, I estimate their number about a dozen – and they are EVERYWHERE. Had to bring my empty books to Asheten mansion – they nibbled on them and destroyed three. I´ve instructed the expedition personnel to be careful when visiting Afelahn, so the “plague” doesn´t spread to other ages. We´ve set up mouse traps, but to no avail as of yet … it seems, they are too cautious (or too smart?) to get caught.
We´ve started work on various new ages – most of them are in a very early state of being surveyed, but maybe I can provide some information over the next days and weeks.
Dasharen has proven to be one of the most unstable ages we have access to. Earth quakes have happened a lot over the last weeks, and one time our team was barely able to leave the age without being hurt.
The council will decide tomorrow, if Dasharen will be deemed “unsafe” or not. B.P. is for it, while others are strongly against it… they say, there is so much to learn in this age, that the risks are worth it… I´m not so sure. Is anything worth risking anyones life?
Twenty days
Posted by Rabenschwinge -
November 24th, 2011
Twenty days since my last post.
I´ve been busy with a lot of things, and finally found time again to keep you updated.
One of the worst things that happened was the theft of one of our Dasharen linking books. It happened two weeks ago, when B.P. brought some linking books to a conference. When he packed together after it had ended, he found the book missing.
So, someone who has access to our conferences must have taken it – unfortunately, nearly all of the expedition members took part in this particular presentation.
Further investigations pending.
About Dasharen: Tom Woods and Shane Kennett have devised a theory about the “big blast” that happened some months ago, when our powermarble experiment exploded rather spectacularly. They suspect the strange electromagnetic fields to be responsible for the energy fluctuation that caused the explosion. So, we have to be careful with bringing energy devices to this age in the future…
Ah, by the way: I´ve brought some unexpected guests to Afelahn without even noticing.
We were watching animal life in Risoahl, our giant bamboo age, and somehow they must have gotten into one of the bags I had my equipment in.
When I had returned to Afelahn, I heard some chirping sounds – at first, I thought the source of the noise to be outside of the base. But when I moved, I could make out it actually was inside… an unsettling feeling, you know, especially because the creatures in Afelahn I´ve met yet are not very pretty or pleasant. (e.g. the lobsterpede).
Only after I found bite marks on a sandwich I had left on my desk in my office, I knew it had to be some kind of rodent.
Now, I´ve searched through the whole base, but didn´t find anything, albeit hearing these noises from time to time. A least it seems to be smaller than a rat, according to the bite marks… maybe some kind of mouse? Where could it be hiding?
More “features” of Dasharen
Posted by Rabenschwinge -
November 4th, 2011
Well, after some days of intensive research on Dasharen, the seemingly supernatural happenings there appear to be quite natural.
The strange lack of data the seismographs did record – or, in fact, DIDN’T record – puzzled us all. But when Tom Woods, Shane Kennett and Carla Mastrelli used some of their equipment – don´t ask me, they explained it to me, but I didn´t understand more than “electromagnetic” and “field” and stuff – they found out, that there indeed are unusual electromagnetic energy flux thingymabobs (I`m sorry for the gibberish), which means, that Dasharens magnetic field is unstable and fluctuating in a strange manner.
That´s what caused the errors in our seismographs – overloaded their circuits, and so they stopped working.
I´ve heard that it was comparable to an electromagnetic pulse…
That makes Dasharen an age with:
- earthquakes
- electromagnetic – things
- dust storms
- arid desertlike environment
No wonder, the community of D’ni in this age didn´t stay there.
The status of Nifehrehn is devastating. The frost has destroyed much of the equipment, and most of the data about the age is lost. Fortunately, we had copied most of it and stored it in our computers.
Whoever did this vile act of sabotage, he or she managed to undo work of months.
It is really upsetting and unsettling to know there is someone out there wanting to harm us, or at least our work…
On the green smoke in Afelahn: When I searched the complex, I found a small D’ni device behind some crates in storage I. I think it was this thing, that emitted the smoke somehow – I´ve given it to Shanes team. Hopefully they can determine what purpose it has.
Yesterday I finally had time to finish the measurements for the new rooms. I´ve plans for Afelahn – GREAT plans. It will be expanded greatly. One of the new parts will be the residental area I´ve talked about – some private rooms for myself, and when it is determined how many people will join me in Afelahn, I’ll add more facilities for them.
Then there will be an atrium, with stairs and light and a fountain – or an artpiece, I´ve not yet decided that.
And some more labs will be necessary.
Well, a lot of work for the next weeks.
Strange happenings
Posted by Rabenschwinge -
October 31st, 2011
Today, some strange things happened in several of our ages.
First, we visited Nifehrehn after a break of over one week. When we linked in, we almost immediately recognized it was terribly cold. We linked out again and returned with our maintainer suits on.
Somebody had opened the airlock – letting the cold air from the outside into the complex! Work of months has been destroyed, many instruments and scales again are deeply frozen. Who did that? Who has access to Nifehrehn besides us? The books have been kept safe, nobody inside the expedition could have gone there without anyone noticing. So who was it?
The second strange thing that happened: When I linked to Afelahn today to take measure for the new living quarters I plan to add, the whole place was covered in greenish fog! Panicking, I linked out, fearing the worst. But as my skin didn´t dissolve and I didn´t feel any pain, I returned with a suit. The fog was gone again, and no residue was found.
Whatever it was, it seems to have been harmless – who might play such a sick prank on me? I´ve been scared to death!
The third thing that happened – and this one is REALLY weird – was told by B.P. He and a team had done research in Dasharen, when a huge quake hit. Well, that´s the normal part, at least in this age. But then they looked on the print-outs of the seismographs – and the instruments recorded NOTHING! As if nothing bad had happened.
Could all this phenomena have been caused by Bahro? Who else could have done that?
We are puzzled, and concerned. Trying to keep you updated.
New gadget
Posted by Rabenschwinge -
October 30th, 2011
Yesterday, Tom Woods sent KI-mails to everyone to inform us they had got new underwater cameras, and everyone who needed one should come to Asheten mansion.
Of course, I took one, and already tried it out in my small basin in Lab I.
I put my Tufolehn sea urchins and a conch in, and took some shots.
The quality is comparable to KI-shots – those cameras should do a good job when mounted on our underwater critters.
Our critter in Unknown age 03 has brought a lot of new data. Mostly, it confirmed what we knew already: the green gas is highly corrosive and poisionous, and there are lots of remains of animals in the area we´ve explored yet.
Fortunately, the bones we thought to be of humanoid origins seem to be animal bones as well.
We don´t know anything about the origin yet – is it natural or artificial? Even a weapon? We have no clue. Further research will be necessary.
First data received!
Posted by Rabenschwinge -
October 27th, 2011
All went well! No one was hurt, and critter 2 was successfully delivered.
Now, we are exploring the first part of the age. It seems to be a medium sized area, shaped like the generic “hole in the ground” garden age.
The first image data sent by critter 2 didn´t show much, besides green mist and the greenish, sandy ground. A dark rock came into our field of vision when Jack slowly drove the critter forward.
Nothing interesting up to that point – but when the vehicle drove around the rock, the first amazing find. An elongate, whitish object protruded out of the sand. After a small moment we realized it was a bone…
What we then found was more than we had anticipated. The whole area is cluttered with bones of different creatures. Some look vaguely like bones of bovine creatures, others like predatory animals. And a few – as gruesome as it is – seem to be of humanoid origin. We don´t know, if they belong to D’ni or other humanoids.
We will continue to explore the area… whoever lies there, we hopefully will find out more about them.
The expedition council approved my proposal regarding Ahnoto, and they promised me supplies, interns and tools for my work on the age.
Meanwhile, I´ve started to write my third age. I plan it to be a garden age, this time hopefully not too dry and not too moist …
My gahrohevtee become better and better. After my previous mistakes, I´m confident to at least bring the age to a successful end, so at least the book should work. What awaits me after linking in, I can only guess – the branches of the great tree are limitless, after all. 
More about Critters
Posted by Rabenschwinge -
October 26th, 2011
This is the first time I´m posting twice a day. The reason for this is, that quite a lot happened today:
The upgrade of Critter 2 is done – the guys worked restlessly for hours, and managed to get it ready only a few hours ago.
So, now we are preparing everything for our little guys mission.
The maintainer outpost is running and ready, critter 2 is polished and eagerly awaits his… well, you get the idea.
I managed to draw a sketch – as always, please remember, this is not meant to be 100% accurate. I´m a beginner in sketching.
As mentioned, the new encasement is made of deretheni, a light but resistant artificial D’ni stone.
B.P. will link in with his mighty maintainer suit, with critter 2 in his hands. Then he will put it down, and link out again immediately.
The risk is high, and we discussed it a lot – is it worth it? What, if anybody is hurt? The gas is extremely dangerous – will the data be worth it?
Shane Kennett has designed a small receiver, that translates KI signals from other ages into ordinary radio signals, to steer the small vehicle through the age.
Because the KI signal reaches so deep into another age, we can steer it much farther than we could on earth – the small range of the radio receiver can be neglected, it is only centimetres (or inches) away from the KI-receiver.
The only concern are possible interferences from electromagnetic fields in the age itself.
Jack Rowe will steer critter 2 from a control room in Asheten mansion, while a team will take care of B.P. and his suit in the maintainer facility.
Everything is prepared… only 2 hours until we start. I will keep you updated. We should know more tomorrow.
Critter upgrade
Posted by Rabenschwinge -
October 26th, 2011
As I posted in my last post, we are planning an unmanned vehicle, one of our “critters”, to visit Unknown age 03, which is clouded in toxic, corrosive clouds of a green gas.
Because Critter 2 had been damaged in a little accident in a rocky crack, Shane Kennett, Jack Rowe and Tom Woods agreed to use it for this purpose.
It will be upgraded with a deretheni shell, new engines for more power, and its crawler tracks will be changed to small, balllike wheels.
We hope to gather more data about the age, to answer some of the questions that arose.
On another, long postponed project: Ahnoto.
If you remember – it is the second age I´ve written by myself. The book links into the middle of a vast freshwater lake, the shorelines can´t be seen from the link in point.
We´ve anchored a buy and a raft at the position, but weren´t sure what to do with the age.
Now I´ve devised a plan: I´m thinking of a big, floating structure, like a huge raft, made of wood, we could walk around on and use as a platform for scientific research and observations. The plan is in a pretty early stage, but I´m confident it will work out nicely.
Maybe I will begin to write another age – it´s been some time that I used my writing skills, might improve them a little more.