Postcard From the Rim: Igaldrarlits

Dear Gita:

I only hope I’m close enough to a data relay in whatever system I’m in that this will get to you in a somewhat timely fashion. I’ve been gone 3 months, all told, according to my chronometer, which I hope was not broken in the crash.

I crash landed on this scenic planet, which ATLAS tells me is Igaldrarlits. It’s a bit of a mouthful and I definitely keep reading the word as “Igaldrartits” on my datascreen. My ship was not irreparably damaged but it’s been a bit hard-going finding materials given that the planet scans in at a balmy -45C during the day. Thankfully, it’s isotope and silicate rich, which has made repairing Rasamama S36 (“Big Mama”, remember? You patted the hull of it before I took off) easier.

I’m writing this transmission from inside my snug little metal bungalow (if you run this through your holo-screen, it will give you a render of it) that even has a stoop, though admittedly, it’s hard to enjoy a supercooled beer when you have to outfitted to the gills to survive. The beer wouldn’t survive being outside, but one of my bottles of rotgut that I was going to use to transport infusion materials has remained safe, so they are sitting out on that little chair you see.

I’m writing this to feel less alone, and I admit that I’m not even sure you’ll get this but it makes me feel better to think that maybe you’re out there reading it finally, laughing at my predicament. You thought this job was risky, as fun as it was, and I know that this is why. Hyperjumps can be notoriously unstable, even with the jump gates we have. Who needs rare ingredients from some far-off planet? Who hires a food explorer on retainer? Bougie fucks, that’s who. But hey, it pays the bills.

The trip at least has yielded some interesting data however — there’s animals that actually survive at these low temperatures. Quite a variety of flora too; I found a flower that is luminescent yellow and has some sort of UV capture mechanism in its biology. It’s like eating sunshine and I have a bunch of them in a cup in my shipping crate to act as handwarmers.

Sentinels are all over here, so I have been trying to mine here and there for repairs when I don’t see them flying overhead, but you know how they are. I also found a few precious beads in some of the salvage canisters around my settlement. I’ll save them for you to sew onto something beautiful when we both see eachother next.

I’ll be writing soon again, I bet.

Over and out,

your friend Nico.