[S] These are the Voyages [Hypatia]

[Tolin Kalin]

Saturday, April 7, 2018

I’ve decided, after having spent some time in a distant part of the galaxy last month, to dedicate as many weekends as I can to going back and exploring. My time there with Itsuki suggests to me that it is fairly safe to go there without support, although exploring alone means I must be extra careful about doing anything dangerous.

I doubt there are any sea monsters or other such hazards in that ocean, but sea life isn’t the only thing to worry about.

In preparation for this, I’ve carefully gotten together a few more supplies. On the island, which for now I’ll very creatively call ‘Landing,’ I left the following:

• 1 Inflatable raft w/ trawling motor
  
  
• 1 Beach umbrella
  
  
• 2 Towels
  
  
• Misc beach supplies (sunscreen, etc)
  
  
• 2 sets of masks, snorkels, and fins
  
  
• A few non-perishable snack foods

Overall, not much. But it’s a start.

Prior to activating my teleport today, I gathered a few more things. I still need to carry it all with me when I do that, so it must go in small amounts at a time. Luckily, Mommy Dearest is rather generous with her monthly housing allowance to me, so it wasn’t too hard to get this stuff.

• 1 Small solar generator (I’m not gonna slum this for long.)
  
  
• 1 backup battery system (the kind that can power your fridge for a bit or whatever)
  
  
• 1 android tablet w/waterproof case (useful for record keeping, though I suppose my senshi phone would serve. Still. It’s here).
  
  
• 1 small tent
  
  
• 1 sleeping bag
  
  
• A few sets of clothes
  
  
• 3 plastic crates (gotta store my crap)
  
  
• 1 cooler (One generator’s not gonna be enough to keep a fridge going, so might as well not bother)
  
  
• Food for four days that won’t take a lot of prep
  
  
• My Switch (okay, this one’s not staying. But maybe I’ll want to play a video game instead of staring at the infinite wonders of the universe, who knows?)
  
  
• This Journal (I could just as easily do this on the tablet, but there’s something nice about writing. I’ve also got actual digital records of my junk, so I probably won’t write this out every time)

It was a *bit* of a pain to pick all that up, but Senshi Muscles to the rescue, I guess.

Either way, I’m here now, and all this stuff is staying here, right in one of these waterproof boxes. I spent my afternoon arranging things, and making sure it’ll take some serious wind to blow over my tent. Then I swam around in the waters around Landing. It’s all amazingly clear, though not perfectly still. The waves seem like they can get pretty big.

I suppose that shouldn’t surprise me, given that huge planet up in the sky. And I think I might have seen along the horizon at least one other moon?

This is a moon, that much I’m sure of. The funny thing is, I’m fairly certain my namesake planet is up in the sky, not right here.



Either way, I’ve got a long day of swimming and motoring tomorrow.


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Sunday, April 8, 2018

I spent my day today on what amounts to a vast sea of nothing.

It’s really quite eerie, to be honest. The waves make wave noises, but nothing moves beneath aside from sand. No person. No fish. It’s quite beautiful, but I can find nothing at all around my little island.

The trawling motor is battery powered, hence I brought that solar generator, and a charged backup battery (which I used last night to make sure my motor works), so it won’t be able to take me all the way to the ruins—I think that’s what it is, anyway—off on the horizon. But I thought maybe I appeared at this spot for a reason?

So I searched every direction, as far as I figured my little boat could safely take me. It’s easy enough to figure out what’s down below. I just lean over and look.

Still. I went free diving on multiple occasions, just to see if I could spot anything else. The water around here is fairly shallow and warm which is good since I didn’t bring a wetsuit…I was able to make it to the bottom and try digging a bit. There is rock beneath, but nothing I could identify as being anything too important.



A shame, really. I was hoping for something cool.



Oh well. I’ll camp here again tonight (there’s something amazing about having a gas giant in the sky), then it’s back to normal life for a while more. Last time was three weeks. I’m guessing next time will be similar.  

[Tolin Kalin]

Saturday, April 28 2018

Still three weeks! This time, I've brought with me less stuff, but it was still a pain to carry in. I brought simple food again, a second portable solar panel, and a second battery. I'd like to have a camera rolling to show me the sky for more than a couple days at a time, so gotta make sure there's enough juice for that. I'm gonna try using the camera on the tablet I've got here for that, though I'm thinking about bringing a dedicated camera for it, assuming I've got the power.

I don't think I can keep just bringing more solar panels, though. That'll quickly turn into a mess, and I'm just going by YouTube vids on how to wire all this up properly. Hopefully it doesn't all melt while I'm not watching it.


Anyway. From the looks of my gear, it stormed some time recently. So that's good to know. I mean, I figured it would sooner or later, but I didn't know, you know?

Nothing's broken, though. Tent had to be cleaned off a bit, and the solar panels had a lot of sand and salt on them, but that was easily fixed.

Just like last time, I spent most of my time today sorting out the stuff, making sure it worked, and then making plans for tomorrow's actual exploration.

Oh, and I might have lounged on my own private beach. There is, perhaps, tequila and some citrus juices in my cooler now. A mystery how it got there.


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Sunday April 29, 2018

I'm a bit leery about ranging too far away from Landing, since I don't have GPS, and I'm not wholly convinced the compass I have isn't doing something weird. Still, I picked a direction--directly toward the planet in the sky--and went that way, hoping to spot something further out than where I was last time.

This is going to be a long, boring process, I suspect. Lucky I've got music, and some shows on my phone.

About the only thing of interest I found all day today was a particularly large rock formation about 20m under the water. I think it may be a dead reef. But I also feel like that's what the whole of Landing is.

And, of course, I'm the Senshi of the Reefs, right? It'd make sense for there to be a lot of reefs here.

That it's all dead is unsettling, but I guess that's why there's no Senshi on this planet, just the one visiting.

Still. Another weekend with nothing to show for it but a bit of a tan. Oh well. Next time will be a new direction, I think. This little motor can only get me so far.  

[Tolin Kalin]

Saturday, May 19, 2018

After last week, I thought of something useful I probably should have brought: An anchor, and 80m of anchor line. It's a bit of an excessive amount of my little boat, but I figure it makes sense. The anchor's small, of course, and I didn't really bring anything else aside from my standard supplies (clothes, food, towels, toiletries).

I checked on my camera, and it ran out of space on the tablet long before I got back here.

Probably should have thought of that.

Still, it shows a nice progression of the shapes in the sky, and one rain storm.

You may be shocked to know...it looks just like a rainstorm.


Anyway, I didn't really have much else to set up today, so I decided to spend a while making sure my "anchor and dive" setup would work fine. And it does. There's not too much current here, I notice. There's an overall motion due to waves. Tides, I guess? I have no idea how those work on a place like this, as the water doesn't rise and fall much on my island. Way less than the tides on Earth, at least.

Anyway. Slow current means the boat doesn't drag much. Even still, having that means I have a definite central point if I do any dive searching. Maybe I'll bring scuba gear some time. For now, though, it's all free diving.


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Sunday, May 20, 2018

Today's direction was directly to the right, if we interpret the planet as straight ahead. Another straight out search, another lack of anything too groudbreaking. The ruins are actually in this direction, roughly...a bit closer to the planet direction-wise, but there's no way I'd get to that on my boat, so I'm still sticking with searching nearby for anything.

There's a canyon of sorts under the water over here, and it looks really cool, although I definitely cannot get to the bottom at the moment. I did spend quite a while today diving down toward it and looking around, though. I can see some sand drifting along the bottom of it, so I think there might be a more pronounced current far down. Will have to check some time.

Also, there might be something more of interest down there. It didn't occur to me before to bring a dive light. Going to have to next time. It's not as if it's too deep for light to get there, but the top of the canyon's at 20m, and there's a lot of shadow.  

[Tolin Kalin]

Saturday, June 9, 2018

Back again! I've spent the last week daydreaming about finding all kinds of wonders and revelations in that canyon. I got all set for it: Brought a dive light, my scuba gear (going to need to bring that back, as I don't have a second set--yet), some extra rope just in case I go peeking in caves or whatever, two filled tanks.

I need an air compressor for my tanks, but that'll be a bit of a b***h to set up here, so will probably have to stick with lugging those back and forth.

Anyway. Got that all here, checked my on site equipment (it's fine. Solar panels a bit sandy, but that took all of 5 minutes to fix), and decided time for adventure! So off I went back to the canyon.

I'm sorry to say, my daydreams did not prove to be prophetic. But still. It was interesting. Down in the canyon, there is definitely a stronger current. I could feel it pushing me, and could see sand swirling slowly. All that meant there was pretty much no chance of finding something that wasn't worn away...though I'm pretty sure that this round rock I found in the wall was not natural. It was something built. That alone is exciting, although I couldn't find any sign of what I was looking at, or if there was anything I could do with it.

I mean, it's not as if I didn't expect to find anything like that. I can see a freaking city sticking out of the water off in the distance, after all. But still. There's stuff here! Right here! Maybe there's more buried in the sand.

No way in hell I'm gonna go digging everywhere to find out, though.

Anyway, I used up all my tank air today, so tomorrow's strictly surface and free diving. I drew up a chart to mark directions to landmarks, just in case. I'm using the city and the planet as guides. Far as I can tell, the moon I'm on is tidally locked to the planet, because it never moves. The star does, though. Day and night is very strange here, since there's basically two: Sun behind the planet night, and sun behind the moon night. I dunno what to call them, really. But I'm glad my clocks don't stop working, because I have no way to compare these days with Earth.






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Sunday, June 10, 2018

Today was a bit of a disappointment, all told. Next direction out, directly away from the planet, didn't seem to have anything. At least, nothing above the sand. I've been idly wondering how hard it would be to get some sonar here. A fish finder type would be easy to bring, but probably worthless. And something more powerful would be way outside my budget. So...that'll be a bust.

Anyway, because of that, I spent a while fooling around on Landing, arranging things just so. I hadn't done that at all yet, and it seemed improper. I think next time I'll bring a tent canopy to set up here. Something a bit bigger than the umbrellas. Maybe a stereo, too. The solar and batteries provide enough power, I think, as long as it's not going all the time.

I'm starting to think I should focus on setting up for an expedition to the city, instead of poking around in this area. It's all so very dead and empty. What keeps it all interesting is simply where I am, and the fact that looking up makes it very obvious this isn't Earth. The stuff I've been looking at itself is like staring at an empty desert. Just very, very wet.

May be time to bring a whole sailboat here. I think with my Senshi strength I could pick up a Sunfish or a Laser. Maybe even something a bit bigger, but I don't exactly have those laying about. Maybe Milo's old sunfish, if I can find it in my parents' garage pile.

I've always thought it was ridiculous they kept things like that, but right now, I'm definitely glad they did, because buying a boat, even a little one, is a bit big of an expense, even on mom's generous house budget!  

[Tolin Kalin]

Saturday, June 30, 2018

So, good news and bad news about my plan from before:

Good news: The sunfish is still there.

Bad news: the sail is ripped and the booms are bent.

Gonna have to replace most of its rigging, so it’s gonna take me a while to have the funds and the time to do that. Ultimately, it’s still not terribly expensive (especially if I were to just ask dad to replace it, but I do not want to answer the question “why?” about that), but still needs planning.

I don’t think I’ll be able to have it ready for a few months. Shame, really.

I’ll hold off on telling Milo about all this until then. I don’t really have anything for him to do otherwise, and it’d just be a lot of pestering.



Anyway. Even with all that, I’m still going to keep up searching the area for anything interesting. Just going around the compass in straight lines. Once I’ve finished the full circle, I’ll focus on the canyon or whatever else interesting I might come across.



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Sunday, July 1, 2018

Not a whole lot to find in this weekend’s direction. Some rock formations that look like they may have been more reefs, long ago, but as with everything else it is quite dead. It’s…more than a little depressing.

I’ve been reading about Earth’s reefs in my spare time, and the whole ecosystem involved with them is pretty amazing. And it all might end up just like these. Dead and gone. I wonder if these died the same way: Rampant industrial changes to the environment.

It’s certainly possible. I mean, what else would do it?

I thought of the answer even as I wrote that… a wizard did it. Of course. Well, not a wizard, exactly, but something to do with the magic war between Senshis and the Negaverse. How or what, I still have no idea. But I feel almost like that MUST be it.

Time will tell, I guess. Hopefully.  

[Tolin Kalin]

Saturday, July 21, 2018

Brought another solar panel today. I don’t have a specific use for the power right now, but I figured it’d be useful. And it gives me more juice for music and movies, if I feel like putting those on.

Which, really, most of the time I don’t. It’s strange. The quiet here is…soothing, almost. I hear wind, waves, and nothing else. It’s pretty amazing.

Well, okay. There’s a soft hum of electronics if I don’t switch it all off. But it’s not a lot.

Anyway, more exploration this weekend, same plan as before. Maybe one of these times I’ll find something cool.



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Sunday, July 22, 2018

So, I found something.

There was another thing that looked like an old, dead reef (limestone outcroppings, etc), so I dove down to look at it. There wasn’t too much around, but I found an odd indentation in one area, and poked at it with a stick (I have a large stick explicitly for poking things, you see). Some bits fell away, and suddenly, I found myself peering into what looked to me like a room! Like, honest to god, manmade structure.

Inside the reef.

Now, it was completely full of water, and nothing inside seemed quite whole, or really all that defined, honestly, but I had this very strong impression that this was part of someone’s house. I don’t know why, really. I mean, it’s as reasonable a guess as any, but on reflection, I feel like I’d have guessed it as an observation post or something to study the reefs.

But no. I took one look at it, and my brain screamed, “HOUSE!” So that’s that. Must be a house. Maybe it’s some sort of…starseed memory? Hard to say.

Anyway, I spent a while poking around it, and the surrounding area. I am certain there was much more to it than this one little space, but the rest has caved in or fallen away, probably.

Still. There might be something more here. I’ll come back next time. This spot feels a lot less dangerous to investigate than a cave in the side of a canyon.  

[Tolin Kalin]

Saturday, August 11, 2018

Brought my dive gear back today with the tanks, since the plan was to anchor on top of that “reef house” and look carefully.

And look I have.

Unfortunately, there’s not really a whole lot down there. It looked to me like the room I was in was actually a foyer of sorts. Whether or not it was always full of water, I couldn’t say. The door was definitely gone, though. Probably rusted through or something. I *think* there is a path down into the rock on one side—there’s a space with lots of fairly soft surface—but I’d need more than my hands and a shovel to make good time with that, so I’m going to have to leave it be.

There was also, I’m pretty sure, some structure built above the rock of the reef. At least, it looks like there are spots that were once, long ago, anchor points for it. All of it is long since gone, however, and I couldn’t find anything of much use (or sign of construction) around.

Well, that’s not entirely true.

Since I was searching around for that sort of thing, I found evidence of three more spots like this in the reef. I’m thinking this was a whole neighborhood, now, so I’ll bet there’s more than those. None of the others I found had an interior I could still get into, though. Got lucky with the first one.

Still. There are a few things under the water here still preserved. It looks like even the microbes of the world are dead. (I briefly worried upon realizing that that my being here would ruin the environment even more, but then I ******** it. What’s the worse that could happen? Everything *dies*?) So, the only decomposition that happens is non-biological things. Rust, erosion, that sort of thing.

I found stuff in the sand that I think is the remains of furniture.

But the shape of it is odd. Hard to describe, properly. I’m afraid to move it, and stupid me doesn’t have a good underwater camera.

I’ve been coming here HOW LONG and didn’t think of that?

My senshi phone works in the water, I’m pretty sure, but that’s not something I really feel like testing right now.

Besides, who would I show it to? None of the senshis are likely to be archeologists or anything.

Anyway. I think it’s all furniture, but the shape of it all makes me wonder how it’s used.



I’ll think about it while drinking a pina colada on the beach tonight, listening to some tropical-sounding music.



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Sunday, August 12, 2018

You know, it took me a surprisingly long time to think of it.

Itsuki even told me it was a good possibility.

Really. Quite obvious in retrospect.

Mermaids.

Real, honest to god, fish-tailed people.

I mean, okay, I don’t actually know for sure that’s what explains what I was looking at. There weren’t any pictures I could find, and I don’t know if they look anything like what we usually imagine for mermaids. But IT FITS.

Does that mean I was a mermaid in a past life? What an odd thought. I certainly might have been. But if that’s the case, what’s with that city in the distance? Wouldn’t mermaids want all their stuff to be under the water? That is an awful lot that sticks out above.



I want to go look at that city more than ever, now. But still waiting on all my boat parts to come together.



Anyway. The furniture in the sand looked like things meant for leaning up against: Something one might perch themselves on if they’re not too worried about gravity yanking them to the floor or needing a place to put their feet. Maybe there used to be cusions, or more parts, or something, but it’s just a piece of…Well, I’m pretty sure it used to be polished stone, now it’s just stone.

Why am I sure of that? I honestly don’t know.  

[Tolin Kalin]

Saturday, September 1, 2018

Brought the Sunfish hull with me this week. That was super awkward, let me tell you.

It’s entirely possible, of course, to pick up a boat that size by yourself, even without super strength. It’s not easy, or especially pleasant, but doable.

No, the real problem is that it’s unwieldy as ********. Being powered up made it a bit better, but I was still effectively balancing a damned boat in one hand as I fiddled with pushing a button on a phone app.

I am so glad no one was home.

Anyway, Stuffing my weekend supplies (the usual: food, clothes, etc) made me realize something:

It is going to be basically impossible to relocate my “expedition base” anywhere else with this. I have too much stuff, and things like the solar panels will be a pain. It’ll take MANY trips, and I can tell it’s gonna be a long way to somewhere more pertinent.

That’s gonna be a pain.

Anyway, I still don’t have the rigging for the boat, so I just brought it here to get that out of the way.

I am starting to think I need to get a second one, though, so that I can bring Milo here and we can both ferry stuff.

Still don’t know how I’m gonna justify that cost.



Anyway. Aside from that realization, my activities for the day were pretty plain. I figured out a nice arrangement to lash the boat down in case of storms (some tent anchors and a bit of extra rope). Hull up of course, so I don’t collect water and slime.

Though, come to think of it, I don’t expect much to grow. Anyway, better safe than sorry.



I then set out back to the reef neighborhood. Didn’t bring my dive gear this time because of the boat, so that was more of a ground survey than anything. Doesn’t look like there were streets or any sort of grid to placement of the “houses” I could find, so finding more will be tough.

Going to leave that alone for now, and continue the search pattern for other places of interest.



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Sunday, September 2, 2018

Fat load of nothing. Of course.

I mean, I admit, it’d be crazy if I found something in every direction.

…Or maybe not? Must have appeared at THIS spot for a reason, right?

It couldn’t JUST be for dramatic effect of seeing a ruined city peeking over the horizon.

Right…?  

[Tolin Kalin]

Saturday, September 22, 2018

Finally got the new rigging for my Interstellar Sunfish in and brought it with me today. Awkward, but not nearly as bad as the hull. Spent most of today with that. I rigged it all up properly, then sailed it around the island. There’s a nice, fairly constant, breeze, although it’s never been particularly strong. Still, it’s enough.

I admit, sailing all the time has never been my thing. Of course, I know how to do it: summer camp taught me well. But I haven’t done it much since then. Still. I’m glad I know how it works, and I still remembered how to do it all. It was pretty fun.

Not terrifically useful, exploration-wise, today. Just sort of sailed around. Figured out how to best attach my anchor to the boat (on the bow eye, of course, but storing it for regular sailing is weirder). And stuffed the cockpit full of things. Bringing scuba gear on the boat will be tough.

I think I’ll need to bring a few more things to rig up a shelf of sorts around the mast.



Anyway, tomorrow will be my last straight out search with the dinghy.



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Sunday, September 23, 2018

Today’s direction yielded another dead reef. I looked around for signs of houses, but didn’t find anything. Doesn’t mean there’s nothing there, just that I couldn’t find it.

I suppose, when dealing with exploring an entire moon by yourself, there isn’t much difference.

Going to tell Milo about all this before next time. I know I’ve been warned about telling people…but I NEED other people for this, and I don’t think other senshis or whatever are really the best bet. I mean, most of them are busy with their “patrols” or making angry faces, or being Gev. Somebody whose only dealing with the weird supernatural is visiting my planet would be hugely helpful.

Am I talking myself into it? Probably.

Even if he is a little d**k, I do still trust him. This isn’t really something I could just hire a random person for, so I don’t have too many options. My friends are all…well, let’s be honest. I choose my friends for image and popularity a bit too often. The gossip is fun, but this isn’t something to gossip about.

So family it will be.