01.10.04 – 1110 – Log – Jackson
Everyone seems to like it here. We moved down the mountain and plan to stay for a while.
Kate is going to try ringing the cottage here to see if it can be done. She is pretty sure it will work as long as the ringing events are coordinated. We are going to move everything except the well. If buildings can be safely moved with the rings we can settle anywhere and move relatively easily whenever we feel like it.
01.10.04 – 1330 – Log – Ashley
We have ventured down the mountain and had a look around. This place is pretty. We could spread out here and be comfortable.
01.10.05 – 2033 – Log – Camden
We decided to hang out here a bit, to get a feel for the place. Seeing as we can ring buildings and relocate them, its not a huge risk or waste of time. Kate put her cottage at the base of the mountain. For the time Ashley and Ryan will use it.
01.10.06 – 1422 – Log – Becca
Kate has set up some widget next to a big rock.
01.10.07 – 1844 – Log – Jackson
Kate is carving out a giant rock with a modified refining unit.
01.10.08 – 1108 – Log – Maci
She made a cave house. It has a beautiful kitchen. If it wasn’t a cave it would be a lovely home. She has hooked up the systems and is running tests.
01.10.09 – 1205 – Log – Maci
We moved into the cave house today. I would never admit it to Kate, but it’s really comfortable in here. Roomy. The kitchen is wonderful.
01.10.09 – 1351 – Log – Tyler
We ringed the gardens and greenhouses here from the settlement. We also voted to fabricate a tractor. It was a challenge getting people to agree on the style.
We decided to continue the community chores until we get more established. The chicken chores have been split between Neil and Ryan. We will still provide the food, but they will manage the day to day work and let us know what is needed. The kitchen assistants will continue to change because people like variety. Maci and Edie will accrue vacation time because they consistently put in generous amounts of time. We will record hours worked so that we can all aim for similar amounts or provide compensation for amounts over the expected. We have added garden work to the chore list. A general community stores area will be built for community items and raw materials. For the time one of the droid RV sleds will be retrofitted. I think most people will eventually have their own fabricators, but until then solid units used will be recorded. We may make the solid units a type of currency for work provided. It was also tossed out there that the vote could be made dependent on hours of contribution. We have people that don’t participate as much as others, they shouldn’t have as much of a say on tasks and goals if they aren’t going to help. We haven’t set the amount of hours yet. There are several materials gathering trips to the peninsula planned, because we have the scan records. We have commissioned Kate to start scanning this continent for minerals and whatever flora is immediately noticeable from that scanning distance. She will do a detailed study of the immediate area to check for unique plant life that may need protection like we did for the mounds. She has already done a scan for fauna. There are no nahnas here that she found. There are wolves and some small to mid-sized cats, but the numbers are reasonable and most are on the other side of the continent. We aren’t encroaching on anybodies territory in this location.
01.10.09 – 1441 – Log – Jackson
We ringed all of the fabricators and refiners from the settlement and put them in Kate’s observatory for the moment. She plans to move it down the mountain and use it, so we can’t keep it there forever. Our first real structure may be a storage building, and the next a community center. The buildings can be ringed fairly easily as long as we know where the underground bits and pieces are. That area has to be included in the ringing in and the ringing out. Both have to match. Kate ringed her cottage here without incident, the group wants to move the lake house next. It will get some of us out of the RV’s.
01.10.10 – 0814 – Log – Maci
Kate has been watching the weather through her sky scanners. There was a huge storm two continents over. This world is bigger than Thearn. Anyway she asked Dakota if she wanted to do a wildlife check. Dakota was game so I packed them a lunch and they took off in the RV.
01.10.10 – 1002 – Log – Jackson
Kate and Dakota went somewhere using a ring and came back with giant trees that were blown down in a storm. I suspect Kate is the culprit and not Dakota. Kate says they are for building homes, she plans to pick one to cut into dimensional lumber. Zane and Tyler had a fit when she said that. Apparently its nice stuff and they think it should be used for furniture. There are five huge trees, that’s a lot of chairs.
01.10.10 – 1224 – Log – Zane
Kate wants to ruin good hardwood trees by cutting them into 2×4’s. Tyler and I talked her into another trip to pick out some coniferous trees. A group of us will go tomorrow after the morning chores. We have already set up the landing pad for them.
01.10.10 – 1743 – Log – Dakota
They are going back to get more trees, because these trees are too good to make houses from. I can sort of understand it from Zane because he is big into carpentry, but Tyler was a surprise.
01.10.11 – 1134 – Log – Ashley
We now have another seven giant trees and according to Zane none of them should be made into houses. They are too good for houses. Jack made the mistake of saying that we will likely burn some of it there is so much of it. Zane gave him the hairy eyeball.
01.10.11 – 1200 – Log – Kate
I modified the nano cutter specifications and fabricated one big enough to act as a portable saw mill. I’m going to try it out tonight after everyone has settled in for the night. It’s already programmed. It should only take a couple of hours to delimb and cut the lumber. The cut lumber will be ringed to a spot in the observatory that is set up as a kiln. After it’s dry I’m going to try kitting out Maci’s house.
01.10.11 – 2510 – Log – Dakota
Kate cut up the first tree tonight. I watched her do it. She used a jumbo sized nano cutter for the big work, a smaller one for the limbs, and a bunch of small ring devices to move limbs and the cut lumber. It was quiet, and went a lot faster than I expected.
01.10.12 – 0900 – Log – Zane
There is a tree missing. It was nine and a half feet in diameter at the base, at least four hundred feet long, bark two inches thick, deciduous, variety unknown. Beautifully straight. The smaller limbs are cut into stove lengths and stacked. The large ones are neatly piled logs and there is a pile of branches and leaves that need to be chipped.
01.10.12 – 0922 – Log – Becca
Zane is distressed. He keeps looking at the new trees and muttering softly. There are logs cut and stacked and leaves and twigs piled, sawdust on the ground and a stack of stove wood. Kate cut one of the trees last night.
01.10.12 – 0935 – Log – Jackson
Kate cut one of the trees last night and Zane is having an internal melt down. He has been pacing the remains and got an eye twitch when he saw the offcuts. Kate has left the big branches cut as logs, its possible more lumber can be cut from them. She has stove lengths cut and stacked. She has the smaller branches and leaves piled and ready to go for a chipper. Everything is tidy. She left the offcuts piled neatly in long strips, they look bizarre. The root ball is massive; she left that where it fell. Maybe we can have a bonfire with it. I can’t imagine what the storm was like that took down these trees.
01.10.13 – 1112 – Log – Kirk
Kate is kitting a house in her warehouse/observatory. She has pallets of stuff everywhere. Everything is neatly labeled. She needs a rack system and forklift to get it up off the floor and out of the way. It’s going to be a surprise for Maci and Jackson, she asked me not to blab about it.
01.10.13 – 2102 – Log – Jackson
Charlotte is walking now, I’m pretty sure it isn’t supposed to happen this fast. She is tall too. I might borrow her soon and ask Kate to run some tests on her to make sure all is good.
01.10.14 – 1201 – Log – Jackson
Kate gave me plans, house materials and the tools to put it together, it’s the one that she designed for Maci. She left the materials under a giant tent near Maci’s favorite pretty spot. She gave Maci a soaking tub. We have moved our RV to the site and started working on it. A bunch of the guys are helping. Maci was upset that we were going to get a house before Ashley and Ryan. I told her this one was practice. The next house would be better. They have the cottage until theirs is done anyway.
01.10.14 – 1411 – Log – Tyler
Kate cut up the first tree for Jack and Maci’s house a few days ago. Zane was upset with her until she gifted him a cookie slice off the wide end and enough wood to make table legs and a mess of chairs and benches. Alana already has plans to make an entryway bench and a table. We started the fabrication of proper a mill and kiln yesterday.
01.10.18 – 2103 – Log – Zane
Kate gave Jack a kitted house. They used ring devices to excavate the basement. He’s already put the foundation in. He used the fabricator and the stuff Kate gave him. It looks like concrete, it is concrete, but slightly different. It was fully cured within an hour. A bunch of us are helping him put the house together. Kurt is our find it person. He has been sorting the kit for us. We tell him what we plan to build next and he sets all the parts out for us. It’s going together fast. I’m working on Jack to finish it with a clear coat of some sort. Such beautiful wood.
01.10.27 – 1200 – Log – Ashley
Kate has designed a beautiful home for us. Ryan changed his mind about the footing and requested a walk out basement, so she has some updating to do.
The majority of the work at Jack and Maci’s house is almost done, there is only trim work left and cabinets. Alana has offered to make the cabinets for both houses, she is working in the observatory with some machines that Kate made. Zane and Tyler have offered to start construction on our house; they are looking to build on site instead of letting Kate kit it out. Kate doesn’t care either way. I think she was amused by how enthusiastic they are. They have asked to borrow space at the observatory to store wood. All three of them are having a blast.
01.10.27 – 1303 – Log – Zane
Becca and Darcy are tired of living in the RV and have started making another rock home like the one Kate made. Why would you do that when we have these beautiful trees? I was mad at Kate for cutting the first one, but it did make a lovely home. There was tons of wood left over too. She gave me and Alana a bunch of it. Part of it was a round taken from near the base of the tree. Still has the bark on it. We have decided to make a table out of it. Jack has refused to leave his house all natural. He said the exterior will be painted, Maci has already picked colors. Alana has asked Kate for plans for a home for us. Kate asked her all sorts of questions. I told her to ask for a turret. I don’t really want one, but I want to see what she comes up with.
01.10.29 – 1644 – Log – Tyler
Zane’s house is going to have a turret. No kidding. I think it was a joke when he asked for it, but it’s really cool. They are going have a huge workshop.
We have moved from Jack and Maci’s house to Ashley and Ryan’s house. It’s being cut on site. Zane tweaks every time there is a mis-cut. Kurt took pity on him and built a rack to store the usable pieces. He is keeping the site tidy too. The oops rack is being used when we need shorter pieces. Zane is much happier now. This house is taking a lot longer to put up.
01.10.29 – 1721 – Log – Dakota
Kate offered rock house to me and Cam. She claimed a chunk of land that will be on the outskirts of our little village. She moved her observatory to it today. I guess now it is just a warehouse or workshop. She has a little apartment for herself set up in it. She built a pretty arched structure to use as a greenhouse. For the time she is using it to shelter some of the equipment from the old settlement. It’s handy to have close by. Cam and Jack have raided the stash a couple of times for odds and ends.
01.10.29 – 2144 – Log – Jackson
We had a community meeting to discuss the use of the rings. It was lengthy, we have a lot to think about. Grace suggested that we could use them for emergencies, and gave a brief description of how she thought it could work. I’m not sure Grace knows enough about the rings to flesh out a full plan so I asked Kate for her thoughts on it.
There is a concern about changing the time line. We did agree that the time line shouldn’t be changed.
01.10.29 – 2155 – Log – Kate
I have homework from the community meeting.
Grace suggested that we could set up a system to provide a response for emergencies using the rings. It’s a really good idea. An easy, quick use would be to rig up a door alarm on the medical sled. The alarm would set off an automated ring message back in time long enough that me, Cam or Dakota could be there waiting when they entered. We could also set up a system for other emergencies. This would be slightly more complex to pull off because each incident will be different. We would likely need more time. In those cases we could send an emergency message well into the future, the future us would analyze and formulate a solution and then send the solution back in time to people who can then apply the solution. This would have to be used with great caution. I think we could make it work safely though. We could also install rings on the transport vehicles and set up a dedicated landing spot for them. This could be done with or without a community notice and/or a suspension event. I suppose they could also be worn for more dangerous activities as well. I think in those instances, if there is time there should be notice given to the community so that people can either object to what your doing or be on the look out for you.
01.11.02 – 2005 – Log – Camden
Grace had a good idea at the last meeting for using rings in emergencies. She didn’t have details on how to get it done, but Jack asked Kate to look into it and and she came back with several plans. We have voted on and approved the concepts. Kate and I will develop the systems and submit them for review. Jack has also proposed that Kate set up and keep an emergency box to receive messages that are deemed important by the sender, but not life threatening. It was emphasized to the group that the messages sent to her are to be important but not time line changing. It was voted on and for the time she will be the only person allowed or required to keep the box.
01.11.05 – 1005 – Log – Kate
Per the last community meeting I have made and installed an emergency box and provided the group with the landing pad data and inner dimensions so they don’t send anything too big. The plan is to use it to receive emergency/important messages. After one day I got the message to build houses, lots of houses. Hide them everywhere. The message is in Dakotas hand writing. I will have no problem doing this. The thought that we will need them some day fills me with hope. It suggests that we found Thearn and that most of us decided to stay and that others decided to join us. It means I got my family back. The second day I received a message in a script I don’t recognize. Alpacas with a longitude and latitude location, day number and sunrise. Other than having nice warm mittens (and we can get these from the fabricator) this doesn’t seem like an emergency or important. I hope this wasn’t a bad idea. I scheduled time tomorrow to ring a drone and take a look, at the moment I plan to hold this information until alpacas are requested.
I’m pretty sure I can build the homes in the warehouse, ring them to the site, join them to the foundation and then integrate the systems. It will be an interesting experiment. When we moved the cottage and lake house we moved the systems and dirt under them too. We cleaned off the vegetation in the destination spot first and made sure there weren’t animals in ring area and then made the swap. We put sensors on the house and cottage and there hasn’t been noticeable settling.
01.11.06 – 0805 – Log – Dakota
Snarf has gotten it figured out that when he does a little pounce with butt wiggle the baby laughs.
01.11.09 – 1400 – Log – Kate
I’ve decided on the layout for the house, outbuildings and gardens. The rabbit enclosure will be built first. But, before that I have a collection run to the peninsula planned for iron, copper and a few other odds and ends. Tyler, Kurt and Zane are coming with me, they have stuff on their want list too. It’s safer to travel in a group.
I was planning on putting shelving in the warehouse even before Kurt suggested it, but I want something more versatile than just a forklift. I want my own tractor. Something a little smaller than the one that we have now.
01.11.11 – 1604 – Log – Ryan
Jack borrowed Charlotte ‘for practice’ and tried to get Kate to give her a well baby check up. He wanted her checked for a growth disorder or something. Kate told him she wouldn’t do it without parental consent, so he took her to Cam. Cam said the same thing and contacted us. Kate had given him and Dakota a heads up about Jacks visit. I had to laugh. Ashley and I gave consent and went to the check up. Everything is fine, though developmentally she is about half a thearn year ahead of schedule. We knew she was a little ahead of the standard, but not by that much. They (Cam, Dakota and Kate) all want to watch her. Apparently they have already discussed this, and it was decided that whenever she was brought in for a check up that the subject would be brought up and the testing recommended. They had a concern about the accelerated development, but the testing didn’t turn anything up.
01.11.14 – 1500 – Log – Jackson
Kate built an enclosure for rabbits. It’s huge. She excavated an area, and put in a bottom like a basement and walls that are about seven feet above grade. Then she filled it back in. She put warrens in for the ones that don’t want to dig. They are accessible from the outside. Right now it is one big open space, but she made it so that it can be divided if some of the critters don’t get along. It’s protected above with netting.
01.11.22 – 1800 – Log – Tyler
A bunch of us made a trip to Stony river to pick out river stones for chimneys. We made a day of it. Jack had the idea to bring a personal transport sized sled near to where we were pulling the rocks from. Cam set the sled up with a modified ring system on the platform so when it was full we just sent the batch to the landing spot at the settlement.
Lunch was delicious. Levi set out traps for fish, so we had fresh fish, a leftover vegetable side from yesterdays evening meal, a fresh flat bread and fruit that is like a mini pineapple.
01.11.22 – 1833 – Log – Edie
We have been working on a community center. The rough work on it is done. It needs finishing touches, appliances and furniture. It will have a generous meeting hall/dining room, a wonderful kitchen and pantry, restrooms, and three rooms that we will find uses for later. We will continue to have community meals until everyone is established with their own homes.
Kate has fabricated a massive structure behind her workshop/warehouse. She said it is just a temporary structure for storage. She moved all the stuff we have stored in her greenhouse and warehouse from the old settlement there. She also put all of her raw materials, the samples collected from the trip and her equipment there. She cleaned out her workshop. I think she is planning to put shelving in, she wants to tidy the place up a bit.
01.11.28 – 0900 – Log – Kate
The shelves are in, all of the raw materials have been refined and my new tractor is being fabricated. The shelves open the place up. I’m using rings to move stuff on and off of the upper shelves. I expanded in the back for the jumbo sized fabricator and on one side for the kiln. I also put a better looking facade on the front and sides. I’m installing a new set of computerized building machines in the large open space and some cranes. I should be able to build an entire three story house inside and ring it to the foundation.
01.12.12 – 1931 – Log – Dakota
Kate built her house entirely in the workshop. Roof, siding, wiring, plumbing, everything, and then ringed it to the foundation. Sometimes I think she does things just to see if she can. It will take her a day to get it connected to the foundation and hook up all the systems. I think Jack and Cam are planning on helping her. I’m shocked at the size of the thing. It’s two stories with three big bedrooms, a studio, a comfortable kitchen, three bathrooms and a massive work room/everything room downstairs. She doesn’t need that much room. Maybe, she knows something that the rest of us don’t.
She plans to move her workstation that she monitors the sky scanners with into the everything room. She has a dozen of them off world looking for home, and the same number scanning this world. The group has discussed how to manage the data that is coming in. We need to help her monitor and even make suggestions for new locations to send new scanners to.
01.12.16 – 2000 – Log – Kate
I found a new variety of wild bird. I’ve had cameras on them for almost a month. I’m not concerned about harming the population by harvesting eggs. They are bigger than chickens, flightless and slower. They have predators in the area, but reproduce quickly. They seem to be a wee bit overpopulated. Jack captured nine of them and put them across from the chickens. We ate two of them last week, they were tasty. They eat the same things that the chickens do and have been easy to manage. Five of them have started laying eggs.
I’ve left ring devices in several of the wild nests to steal more eggs. They share nests, and hatching duty, so there should be good genetic diversity. I have enough to incubate now. Neil is anxious to get them hatched, he wants a large flock. We need to name them.
01.12.31 – 2000 – Log – Jackson
Kate has a neat little tractor. She made all kinds of attachments for it.
01.13.08 -1600 – Log – Kate
I’m going to be an aunt, well a first cousin once removed. Maci has been a wee bit moody and has had food and smell aversions lately. She’s preggers, about fourth thearn months along, though she has only missed one period. She attributed missing it to stress. Things seem to progress faster here. I passed Jack on my way home and congratulated him. He just about fell off his transport.
01.13.17 – 0914 – Log – Camden
Jack and Maci are expecting. Neither of them noticed, Kate went over and asked Maci to take the test. That’s a bit scary. We did the equivalent of an ultrasound and she is quite far along. Not really showing yet, well maybe a little puffy. She isn’t fat, but she has curves, I don’t know how Kate knew.
A bunch of us are reviewing birthing instruction. Only Tyler has delivered, and his was accidental. He was a forest ranger. Campers had gone hiking, gotten lost, and when he found them she was dilated 10cm, wanting to push and the baby was crowning.
The Great Experiment 