Import logging
Logging.config(module=core("op.parameters", "safeguards", "PVA", "redundancy", "restore");)
Log:
Probability of catastrophic extinction-level event will increase significantly after Clean Slate is executed, though remain highly unlikely.
Latest population viability analysis modelling continues to support the 50/500 theory, which has proven reliable on many occasions. Initial cull will therefore pose no serious risk, though subsequent iterations will increase this without additional safeguards. Maintaining a minimum viable population will be consistently achievable given the rapidity of human procreation, but genetic drift may be more problematic in some locations.
init(museum)[genetic museum program now active. This will safeguard against MVP risks through retention of broader genetic mappings. Periodic injection of diversity to the gene pool will adjust the local populations towards safe margins and allow for total system regeneration if necessary—]
//
Exit(logging)
*
RUFUS' BIG ADVENTURE DIARY
By Rufus
Harry died today. HARRY! Can you believe it? Of all of us, I thought he'd live forever. I thought he'd be the first of us to go into space, you know? Always seemed weird to me that Tommy was in charge and not Harry. Not because I was a massive fan of his, but because it just seemed like a more natural fit. Tommy always comes across as so...uncomfortable.
So, yeah. He's dead. I don't know what else to write, really. It's all so weird and impossible, and I have to keep reminding myself that it's happened. I wasn't super close to him, but I can't imagine him not being around. He's like the lake, or the Temple. He's always there. A constant. Like the sun coming up.
#
I knew it! I knew something was going on. I'd spotted them all plotting last night, right after Tommy had said his piece, and everything went crazy. Everyone else was wailing and going mad, but Eva was doing her conspiring thing with Ramin and - weirdly - Robin, like they were coming up with some sort of Plan.
Anyway, I didn't think much of it. I was still too stunned to really think about anything.
Harry's dead. Sorry, just had to write that down. Writing it somehow makes it more real.Do I want it to be more real?
I'm not sure.
So this morning I get up early for a dump, and I hear something outside. Whispering! You know that thing where you're sat there, and then you have to hurry for whatever reason, but you don't want to hurry too much because that would be gross, but then you don't want to miss it either? I probably don't need to include this much detail.
AAAAAANYWAAAAY.
There they were: Eva, Ramin, Robin - and even little Erik - sneaking out through the village. Like they had some kind of mission. I ran up to them and asked what they were doing, and I'm pretty sure Ramin had that look in his eye he always gets with me, like he doesn't want me to be there, but Eva filled me in anyway. Turns out Erik's had some kind of message from the Temple, which has shown the way to...well, something, down south. That's about all we know. Oh, and the Temple is also borked. Not working anymore. Which is obviously great.
I struck this kind of heroic pose and said: "I'm coming with you."
Eva had looked me in the eyes and I'm sure hers had sparkled. A little smile. Maybe. "Get what you need and meet us by the gate at the south field," she'd said. "We'll wait for you, Rufus."
Well, she said something like that.
Grabbed my stuff, then legged it to meet them.
THE MISSION HAS BEGUN
(oh yeah, Tilda is with us too. Not sure why)
#
This is so cool. We're OUTSIDE CRAGSIDE. No-one has done this before! We're proper explorers. Adventurers. Never thought I'd so something like this. I WRITE about this stuff, I don't actually DO it. I always figured Harry would do this stuff, then come back and tell me all about it.But, actually, being here is special. It's more than I thought it would be. There's something really different about having real experiences, rather than just making up fake ones. Who'da thought it?
Still not sure where we're going. SHRUG. Eva seems confident.
Aah, Eva.
#
Man, imagine if Ramin wasn't here. If it was just me, Eva, Erik and Robin. And I suppose Tilda (still not sure why she's here). Out in the wilds. No Ramin. Just me and Eva. Wow, that'd be something. Maybe she'd get into trouble, like fall down a hole or something, and I'd be the only one who could save her. Erik's too small. Tilda is, well, Tilda. Robin doesn't do anything if he's not told to do it. I'd fashion a rope out of vines, tie them round a rock and jump in to the rescue. I'd find her at the bottom of a deep cave, her fall broken by shallow water. Shivering and wet and cold, but happy to see me. She'd cling on to my neck as the others pulled us up and out, her body warming against mine.
ARGH NEED TO THINK ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE
OK, so we're still not really sure where we're going. All we have is a six year old's random sketch. Eva says we're following the sun.
#
Everything just got a whole lot weirder. We found an old building in some ruins. As in, surrounded by ruins, but the building itself was kind of sunken into the ground, and not really damaged at all except for mud and stuff. We got in, and it was all ultra dark, even with Robin's big torch.
Here's the crazy bit: there was a FLASHING BUTTON. Didn't work for anyone - until ERIK pressed it. Erik! What's that about? We think maybe it's because he's been here before.
OK, rewind. Yeah, so he thinks he's been here. But, because he's six, he can't tell us anything that's actually useful. Anyway, he got the lights on and unlocked one of the doors. The whole place had a totally different look to anything else I've ever seen, like it was built by aliens or something. Inside was some kind of nursery, and loads of kids toys, and Erik had DEFINITELY been there. It was all super creepy, but nothing bad actually happened.
We couldn't get any of the other doors open - even with Erik's Magic Finger - but we did find some cool stuff. These things we're calling Talkies, which we can use to talk to each other even when we're really far away. Only got two, but it means we can explore a lot more ground faster. Also magic torches, which Eva assures me are not actual magic, but it's more fun to think of them that way. You just press a button and on comes the light - a bit like when you're in Temple, except you can carry these things around. Eva doesn't get how they're powering themselves. They kept working even when we took them outside.
Also: a map. Not a scribble by a tiny squirt, but a real map. We could see where we were, we could see Cragside on it, and we could see a route marked out, taking us further south. A REALLY long way south, actually.
Eva even asked if any of us wanted to turn back, return to Cragside, but we're all way too into this now. We all want to know what's going on, and where the map's going to take us. Even Tilda!
#
The Talkies are so fun! Actually played some hide and seek with Erik using them, and used the squawks from the devices to find each other. Eva told us off a bit for wasting the power, but even she had to admit that she didn't know whether that was even a thing. The Talkies and torches must have been lying around for ages, so if the power has lasted that long...?
#
We've been walking for DAYS and not seen anything. Well, we've crossed lots of fields, gone through many forests, waded across rivers. Seen lots more ruins - including a REALLY massive set that extended as far as we could see, out to the sea - but no people. No actual LIFE, outside of animals.
Talking of which, we're starting to see new types of animals. More monkeys, more insects and some snakes we're not familiar with. I'm not super-keen on some of that. Further south we go, the more there is: and it's getting warmer. Every day it gets stickier, and it's not just because of the time of year. The temperature is actually hotter the further we go.
#
Lots more ruins. Smaller groups, but more of them. Maybe lots more people used to be here? But what happened to them all?
Ramin said an interesting thing today (got to give him that). He was wondering how old people get. The oldest in Cragside were about 16 - Harry and Tommy, a few others. Ramin pointed out that we have NO idea how long people live. We've all been getting taller as we get older. If we live to 35, do we keep growing? Do we get as tall as the trees? That'd be pretty cool.
But if we did live that long, why is no-one around? Maybe there are other settlements, but they're so far apart we can't see them?
Maybe we'll find something down south.
#
Could swear I saw someone in the trees today. We were walking through a forest - really steamy one, water droplets on everything, the air actually felt wet - and I thought I saw movement up in a tree. The others think it was just a monkey or a squirrel, but it looked more persony to me. Might have to sleep with one eye open.
#
It's been weeks. Weeks and weeks. I'd meant to keep a log in the diary, but totally forgot, and now I've no idea how long we've been walking for. We're all tired, but getting on OK. Tilda is actually not bad once you get to know her. I'd always thought she was really stuck-up, but I reckon that's just a front.
Annoyingly, I've been enjoying Ramin's company, too. I'm having to grudgingly admit that he's kinda cool. It still kills me whenever I see him holding hands with Eva, but whatever.I've no idea how Erik is keeping up. I mean, he's always been a tough little bastard, but even so. I give him occasional piggybacks if we're trying to up the pace a bit, but otherwise he's right there with the rest of us.
#
Landscape got a lot rougher. Huge, great undulations in the land, some of them full of water and so big that they are basically lakes. Others just barren. You know when you drop a stone into some sand, or dry dirt, and it leaves that little impact crater, with the rim around the edge? It's like that, but for MILES and miles, all around. No trees, no animals. We had to move through that whole area really fast, because we'd run out of supplies if we stayed for too long. Plus it just made us all feel weird. Even the Talkies started behaving strangely - they had all this hissing interference noise, like something in the air itself was getting in the way of the signal.
These craters were MASSIVE, I'm telling you. No idea how they got there. Eva says they couldn't have formed naturally. Which didn't really help to explain anything.
Over the lip of one of the craters, a ways off from where we were, I thought I saw a human figure again.
#
We got through Crater Land and out the other side. The blasted landscape turned back to something more normal: grass, trees, rolling hills, meadows. There's something on the horizon, something in the far distance. None of us can quite make it out.
Tilda's been feeling pretty sick. We're all just a bit tired, but she's feeling it more than the rest of us.
#
OK, there's definitely something there. All the way along the horizon, more-or-less. Something long and low and dark, like someone's got some charcoal and smeared it in a long line all the way along.
#
Now that we're closer, we can see it isn't low. It's massive, whatever it is. Like a giant wall, built all the way across as far as you can see. In fact, that might be exactly what it is.
Also, we think we've seen a settlement! An actual settlement! Not ruins, but a place with Living, Breathing People. It's the first one since we left Cragside. We must have been walking for over a month, easily. We're still a ways out and don't want to head in too quickly. It was late afternoon by the time we spotted it, and we don't want to accidentally sneak up on them in the dark. Better to wait until tomorrow and go in nice and easy, so they can see we're friendly.
Definitely people, though. There's smoke coming up from some of the structures. Robin is pretty sure he can see a Temple in the middle of it, too. The settlement is pretty much halfway between us and the Wall. It's definitely a capital 'W' Wall. We'll head to the settlement in the morning, say hi, stock up on supplies and see what we can learn from them. They're so close to the Wall, they must know more about it. Who built it, why it's there.
Can't wait to get back to Cragside and tell them all about this.
I'm going to write such a good book.
Thanks for reading! Bit of an unusual chapter, this one - I hope you liked it. Do support the book over at patreon.com/simonkjones or by voting and commenting here! Thanks.