The shuttle is complete. We're just waiting on the other things print before we take it out anywhere: additional sensor suite modules, a pair of flyers, some ground vehicles, additional storage bays, and a few other things. Although we have tested all the current systems, and taken it for a short test flight. Frydai was thrilled and I even let him fly it for a bit, he has clearly been practicing with the simulator. Merd was amazed, and perhaps a little frightened by it.
The flight also let us do some simple recon of the stream and we found a larger bridge near where it joins with the river. Same construction, same sized steps. I can think of a few ways to pull it off. This one shows enough that it is clear that the remaining arch was only the base of it, and that the original bridge had a flat pathway that connected to what we think might have been carved, maybe even a paved road. This is an even stronger indication of higher technological advancement of the builder than just about anything.
I showed Merd how to use the lab to help date that hammer we found, as well as some of the other things. Mapping the dates generated against the system simulation, and the layers that the hammer was found in. We've confirmed that it is more than twenty tides old, could be as much as twenty five. The scale isn't a perfect one. The accuracy will get better as we learn more, test more, and explore more. She was in awe of those dates, as that puts it long before her ancestors crashed on this world.
The meeting with the Elders went well, very well in fact. They are thrilled for me, and for Merd. We're getting ready to spin up the next ancient, now that the data corruption repair has been completed. Sadly, the first one was a total loss. Just no way to fix it. Should be next week when Frydai and I go into the VR environment and spin up this next ancient. I hope they don't mind, and that the data repair works. Time will tell.
In other news, I got a signal from Edix! After all this time, he is still out there and alive. It was just a check-in. Just a signal that let me know that he is still alive out there somewhere, that he hasn't forgotten about me, and that he may head back at some point soon. I was so happy, even Frydai was a bit concerned until I explained. I messaged him back, let him know that I'm doing okay, that I've figured out how to clear the engines, and that I have new friends here I would really like him to meet. He did not respond and clearly turned off his transponder.
I guess that's okay. I hope he got the message. He was never meant to be my property, just like the rest of them, but as family, as friends. I do still miss Jen. I miss the others. I worry a lot about what we might find once the satellites are in place and scanning the world they should have landed on. I hope they landed and didn't crash. I went from elated, to sad, as it also reminded me about the others and the rest of the ship. Merd and I went for a walk and I explained why. There is so much to my life up to this point. I tried to explain to Merd that I am not trying to hide anything from her, just that, there is so much, I forget about things sometimes until there is a reason to need to remember. She seemed to understand. I tried to lay it all out, at least the high points from my life on my home world to now, but there are so many details left that will come up as time goes on.
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