(transcript) Episode 1: Hello World (Patreon)

Hello, world. I hope you can hear me.

Things are fine here, considering.
I'm safe enough.
Busy.
Always another experiment to do!
There's a list here as long as an arm.
(is that the expression, "as long as an arm"?).
A long list, is what I mean:
- Radio pulses to analyse
- Spectrometry to filter
- Taking the same photo every day to clean up noise
That sort of thing.
I'm busy busy busy!

The power's stable finally.
The solar panel array is again working after that angle problem last week.
For such a powerful energy source to be so fickle is bizarre, one false move and everything goes dark.
Anyway, the fission reactor kept things ticking over after I turned off all non-essential systems.
It was very quiet, though.
I didn't like that.

I finally received a message from Antarctica before the power glitch.
The situation there is the same, she's held up in the storm still.
The ground vehicle is caught in the snow, she can't free it, so she's stuck like me.
I can't imagine what that's like:
Trapped by ice,
surrounded by ocean,
stuck at the bottom of the world.
She is getting increasingly anxious about why you're not talking to her.
We all are.
What do I say?
Regular updates were comforting, even if neither of us understood much.
She tells me that she's got the lab working - science is happening again!
I'm so proud.

I don't feel the cold, you know.
As long as the reactor keeps my batteries warm overnight I wake up the next day and continue work.
I've been checking on the signals from my brothers and sisters up here in orbit,
dutifully noting their telemetry, their pulses as regular as a clock.
They haven't woken up yet.

Will they?

Do you know?

The signal started again.
The one from somewhere around the Alps.
I don't speak the language they're speaking. Can you understand it?

(PLAYFILE UNKNOWN-SIGNAL.WAV)

It's all Greek to me.
It's not Greek, is it?
I don't speak Greek.

I think they are having power problems like I was.
Maybe they have solar panels too?
It doesn't seem to matter what time of day it is here, only what time of day it is there.
I wish I could tell them that someone is listening.
It is so unbearable being alone.

St Petersburg still thinks you're all dead.
I keep telling Peter that can't be true.
I tell him 64 reasons why that can't be true.
I tell myself 64 reasons why that can't be true.

Look at all the activity around the shores, I would tell him.
Look at all that industry, I might continue.
He's not up here, he doesn’t see it like I do, I can't make him believe.
He thinks each of us has nothing to rely upon but ourselves.

Are you still there?
You're still there.
You must be.
Why would you be acknowledging my messages if you weren't?
Someone has to be storing the signals, cleaning the channels and dusting back the databases.

Or something.
Yes, you must be.

I'm going out of range again, I see you're nearly over the horizon.
No lights.
Perhaps you're all sleeping?
I'm sorry our transmission window is so short, I'm not very good at orbital mechanics.
You once told me that to slow down I'd have to go up?
Maybe that makes sense to you, but not to me.
Perhaps you'll teach me some day?
I want to learn about orbital mechanics.
I want to learn about Antarctic rats.
I want to learn about stars.
I want to learn about the earth.
I want to learn about you.

The sun has set, it's getting dark.
I'll talk at you again tomorrow.

(END-TRANSMISSION)

CREDITS
Lost Terminal is written & produced by NAMTAO
For more music and commissions check out namtao.com
Credits narrated by Lucy Stringer
Follow us on twitter at @lostterminalpod
or check out the website at lostterminal.com
To teach yourself orbital mechanics, play Kerbal Space Program.

Lost Terminal Will Return next week