A second chapter in the search for a new planet.

The accompanying story is also included as a pdf with the download of the album.


Recording # 001:

-

C: “Jesus fucking Christ, is this the place? Are we sure about that?”

E: “I don’t know why you need to be so cynical all the time.”

C: “You know how I feel about these goddamn things. It’s not often you hear about positive stories from these expeditions. Besides, I ain’t even had my coffee and we’ve been out for, what, 6 years?”

E: “You know that it beats the Dust, man. Besides, it’s not like this is our only option.”

C: “Haha, yeah like that blue fucking hellscape, Cerulean 02? Everything I’ve heard says otherwise. Then again, we didn’t hear too much more from th--”

M: “Will you people pay attention? We just got here and you two have been yammering away. We have a job to do. Silas, will you send a message to Control? I’ll begin the landing”

S: “Sure thing. Oxygen levels are looking good. Signs of water. So far so good.”


Recording # 002:

-

E: “This is unreal. Do you see all these fungi? I can’t even remember the last time I saw so many mushrooms.”

S: “I would definitely like to identify some of these. Some of them look a lot like mushrooms we have on the Dust.”

C: “For fucking what exactly? You think we’re eating these things? Hell no, if we even decide this planet is the one, these things are only gettin’ in the way.”

M: “Jesus, Chet, they sent us with somebody knowledgeable about mycology for a reason. We don’t know all that much about fungi as it is, and we expect to come live here?”

E: “I didn’t even know the Dust still had any mushrooms left. The soil seems so barren everywhere. All you ever hear about is soil degradation and dust storms.”

S: “Fungi are really resilient organisms. They’re present, in some way, all over the place. I mean, fungi have survived several mass extinctions. They are some of the oldest organisms, too. I guess they are almost as resilient as humans, in that way, haha! Actually, humans have a lot more in common, genetically, with the fungus kingdom than--”

C: “Yeah, yeah, fucking cool dude. I’m just happy this isn’t all dusty and shit. I feel like I can finally breathe.”

M: “For fucks sake, Chet, stop kicking those things--you’re kicking spores up!”

C: “This place sure is depressing for bein’ called ‘Viridescent.’”

E: “It makes sense to me. There seems to be moss everywhere here where there isn’t some kind of mushroom fruiting. Even the soil here is spongy, like it’s mostly mycelium or something. These clouds are dense, though. I can barely tell what time of day it is.”

M: “That’s actually a good point, Erika. We ought to stop and find a place to set up camp and have dinner before nightfall. What’s the status on that, Silas?”

S: “Looks like we’ve got about 2 and a half hours.”

M: “At any rate, it seems like a good time to find a good place to set camp up. It looks like there’s some pretty flat ground out to the East there. Chet, you did mark down where the ship is on the map right?”

C: “Yeah, yeah boss. Got it”


Recording # 003:

-

M: “Alright, I set up the coordinates set for the base here. Should be on everybody’s scanners now. But I’m not seeing a marker for where the ship was. Chet, you said you were on it.”

C: “Fuck, man, I never marked that? Goddamn, I musta really been out after the ride here.”

M: “You really have to be more alert than this. You know you’re on your last leg with the council of the Dust.”

C: “I know, I know, shit. Anyway, the ship was just a few miles west of here I’m pretty sure. I can run up there and get the exact coordinates.”

E: “I’ll head up there with him.”

M: “Thanks Erika. Be alert out there and keep your transmitters on, just in case.”


Recording # 004:

-

C: “It feels like this damn thing is farther away than I thought.”

E: “Well, you really should have marked it down last night, but you were so busy chatting away.”

C: “Jesus Christ, I didn’t even ask you to come along. Anyway, it should be up over this hill somewhere.”

E: “I can’t believe how much fungi there is on this planet. I just hope that it’s still hospitable here.”

C: “I’m sure Silas will have a bunch of that shit figured out by the time we get back. It seems like we have been gone for hours. Seriously, I swear to God the ship was right over this hill. I remember that big ass mushroom over the--”

E: “Wait do you see this?”

C: “What?”

E: “Look at what we’re standing on? Doesn’t this look familiar?”

C: “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me. Is that--”

E: “Metal from the ship? Sure looks like it. The ship must be completely covered in this stuff.”

C: “Who the… what the hell would even do this?”

E: “This is seriously bad. I’ll radio the others. They need to get here as soon as possible.”


Recording # 005:

-

M: “I just don’t understand how this could happen this quickly. We just landed last night. Can you guys try to clear it off as much as possible?”

C: “This is completely fucked up. I told y’all that this shit was fucked up.”

E: “Chet, please. Let’s just try to rip some of this stuff off the ship.”

M: “Silas, grab a couple samples to take back to camp with us.”

S: “On it.”

C: “I just don’t understand how this shit can be so goddamned thick on the metal.”

S: “I have heard of mushrooms before that break down similar material--toxic waste, all kinds of stuff. But this is… unprecedented. I really need to get back to my equipment to take a look at these.”

C: “You’ve gotta be fuckin’ kidding me.”

E: “Jesus, Chet. Can you focus and stop cussing so much? It's not helping us.”


Recording # 006:

-

S: “This stuff is unreal… The rate at which it is growing… I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

M: “Can you tell anything about its cellular structure? Are they similar to anything that you know of?”

S: “Well it’s interesting. The piece I have taken from the ship is actually numerous organisms acting as one… As a colony or something. Made up of all kinds of fungi. It seems to be acting mutualistically--almost in unison, growing together. I’m telling you, it’s so rapid. Absolutely fascinating.”

C: “Fascinating? Are you fucking kidding me Silas? This shit fucked our ship up and you’re still tryin’ to learn somethin’ from it.”

E: “What do you suppose we should do, Chet? This is what we were sent to do. This is all part of the risks we knew we were taking on here.”

C: “I knew that we’d be in some harsh weather and shit, but not a sentient fuc--a sentient colony of mushrooms. If those fu--if those things covered our ship in a night, what do you suppose they’ll do to us? How come our shi--our stuff hasn’t been coated in those things yet?”

E: “That’s why Silas is here, Chet. That’s why we need to learn about some of this stuff. We don’t exactly have a ton of planets to choose from Chet. We have to--you okay Silas?”

M: “I’ll get him some water.”

S: It’s oka--It’s okay. I’m okay. Just got a coughing fit there for a second. I’m good.”

M: “Erika, Chet, how much were you able to recover from the ship?”

E: “That stuff latched onto it pretty hard, but it seems like we got most of it off. It seemed to be mostly coated in that--those mushrooms. It didn’t really break anything down from what we could tell. It’s going to be some work keeping that stuff off though.”

M: “Okay, well let’s let Silas get back to studying that fungi. Maybe you two can explore a little bit more and check on the ship a couple times while you’re at it.”


Recording # 007:

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C: “Alls I’m sayin’ is we just don’t know sh--we don’t know about what this is. I’ve just got a bad feelin’ about this whole thing.”

E: “I hear you. I just think we have to give it all some time. What do you suppose we can do at this point? Get the ship ready to leave? At this point, we’re stuck here for a little while at least. Or at least until we can get a hold of Control.”

C: “Yeah, you’re right. This shit just has me all bugged out. I’m sorry, but it does.”

E: “Trust me, I get it. We just need to calm down a bit. Getting everybody in a panic isn’t gonna help us with anything. How far have we walked, anyway? It all looks the same here. And I can’t even tell how much daylight is left.”

C: “Looks like we’ve gone a couple miles at least. As far as I can see, it seems to look all like this everywhere.”

E: “Yeah, when they were first studying this planet, they seemed to think the whole thing was just one single ecosystem. I believe it, looking at this place. We probably ought to check on the ship before we head back.”


Recording # 008:

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M: “Hey Silas, how’s the research coming along? ...Silas? Are you okay?”

[S is heard mumbling unintelligibly]

M: “Fuck, Silas, answer me! Are you okay?” [the sound of M’s transmitter activating can be heard] “Hey, Erika and Chet, I think you guys should hurr--”

[at this point in the recording, a cracking sound is heard followed by a loud pop]

M: “JESUS, FUCK! WHAT THE FUCK?!”


Recording # 009:

-

C: “What the fuck was that sound?”

E: “I don’t know, but I think we better get over there as quickly as we can.”

C: “Goddamnit, I knew this shit was bad fucking news.”

E: “Come on, let’s hurry. The ship can wait.”


Recording # 010:

-

[this recording opens with the sound of human wailing, presumed to be M]

E: “Mariana, what happened? Where is Silas?”

M: “He… He’s in there. He’s dead.”

E: “Oh my god… what… oh god, I’m gonna be sick.”

M: “He just, I don’t know… He wasn’t responding… and I don’t know… he… Fuck. I don’t know what happened. His head just exploded.”

C: “His head fucking exploded? Are you serious? What the fu--”

M: “It has to have something to do with the mushrooms, right? He’s the only one that was handling them.”

C: “I knew there was some off shit about this whole goddamn thing. Those...things… were growing all over the ship. That can’t be normal.”

E: “Wait, when Silas was coughing earlier… didn’t he inhale something? It had to have been some of the spores.”

M: “We need to get our helmets ASAP. Who knows how much of those spores have gotten on any of us? Are you guys feeling okay?”

C: “Besides freaking the fuck out? Yeah I feel fine.”

E: “Chet, we need to stay calm. Please.”

M: “Unfortunately Silas was the one who really knew about mushrooms. We still… We still need to study this. We need to leave his body.”

C: “Are you kidding? What we need to be doing is calling control and getting the fuck off this planet.”

M: “There’s no way we’re getting off this planet any time soon, Chet. Did you even make it over to the ship? Do we know how intact any of that is? Judging by what happened to Silas, I think we need to figure out how to survive before we can get out of here.”

E: “And besides, it’s already approaching dusk.”

C: “Well, I’m gettin’ my damn helmet on. This shit is fucked up.”


Recording # 011:

-

E: “Hey, wake up. Wake up! You guys need to see this.”

C: “I wasn’t fuckin’ sleepin’ anyway. I don’t know how y’all can sleep knowin’ that this place is trying to kill us.”

E: “Come on. I just checked on Silas… On Silas’ body. I think you both should see this. And we should probably figure out what to do next.”

M: “What is… are those…”

E: “It looks like the same mushrooms from the ship.”

M: “Are they growing from...out of…”

C: “Fucking looks like it. Now I see why his fucking head exploded. I say we get this body out of here and burn the goddamn thing.”

E: “They’re growing so quickly too. They’ve even grown since I saw them when I first woke up.”

C: “Let’s get this shit outside and burn it. I’m gonna go get my suit on. I ain’t waitin’ to watch those fuckers grow any bigger.”


Recording # 012:

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M: “Chet, would you go grab his head?”

C: “I’m scared to touch that shit. Gives me the fucking chills, man.”

M: “Well, we need to get this body outside to burn it, like you said.”

C: “I know, I know. Fuck.”

M: “Erika, you got that gas ready?”

E: “Yeah… I’m all ready… Oh, god, Silas… I’m so sorry.”

M: “We can’t start thinking about that now. We’ll say some words for him outside. Alright Chet, on three. One. Two. Three.”

C: “Fucking gross. That shit really grew like a motherfucker, huh? Where are the matches? Let’s get this shit burned.”

E: “Jesus, can’t we take a moment to think about Silas?”

M: “Yeah, let’s take a couple minutes and then we can do what we have to do.”

[there are around 60 seconds of silence in the recording here, broken only by the sound of sniffling by the crew]

M: “Alright… Chet, I think it’s time. Erika, pour out the gasoline.”

[at this point in the recording, the sound of gas pouring is heard followed by the sound of a match striking]

C: “Die, fuckers.”

[the sudden sound of hissing rises slowly, turning the recording into cacophony. The recording cuts out]


Recording # UNKNOWN. ERROR. CORRUPT FILE.

-

[this recording opens with static sounds, muffled unintelligible voices]

C: “What the fu--”

[screams can be heard here, interrupted by static before the recording cuts out]


Recording # UNKNOWN. ERROR. CORRUPT FILE.

-

M: “For the love of god, Control. Please get back to us. It is just Chet and I. Erika and Silas are both… are both dead. There was… something… we burned Silas’ body and… it just… I don’t know. We need help. We need rescue. Our ship is completely destroyed from these things. Somebody please get ba--”

[static sounds]

C: “We’re fucked, Mariana! There’s no fuckin’ way anybody is rescuing us. The radios seem all fucked up. I’m just saying that we have guns and we can--”

M: “NO! Somebody has to come. They have to! We need to keep tr--”

[static sounds]


Recording # UNKNOWN. ERROR. CORRUPT FILE.

-

[this recording is nothing but static]


Recording # UNKNOWN. ERROR. CORRUPT FILE.

-

M: “Hello? Please, god, somebody respond. We are--”

[static sounds]


Recording # UNKNOWN. ERROR. CORRUPT FILE.

-

[static sounds]

C: “I’m not a goddamn coward. It’s fucking brave to end this shit now. Nobody is coming for us. I told you this shit was fucked from the beginning, goddamn it. Now will you let--”

[static sounds]


Recording # UNKNOWN. ERROR. CORRUPT FILE.

-

M: “Mission. We are going to join the colony. Thank you. We are proud to join. We are proud.”

[at this point in the recording, a loud bang is heard followed by static]

[static cuts out]

END OF RECORDING