Exploration #1 – Page 7

While reading the journal for more bookmarks, I noticed that the stopwatch timer for the hut link seems to have turned a little longer. Was I wrong in thinking it’s about distances, then? Maybe it’s about the number of times you can use a bookmark before the power goes out. I don’t want to lose a bookmark just to find out if I’m right.

~o~

I followed the bookmark in the page following the previous one, and found another cave filled of petroglyphs. I think I’m underground, as the only light source comes from far above my head, but I might as well be in a dark corner of a deep canyon; nowhere on Earth, though: if the date on the double watch is right, this is Norgaka 213 in the year of the Rhea… whatever that is.

20070512

Another cave. More glyphs. It’s tremendously hot in here.

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Exploration #1 – Page 6

20070509

Since there’s not much to explore here on the islet, I decided to find another bookmark to try. There is one that, from my limited understanding oh havenese language, seems to be about a cave and hand symbols; I wonder if it’s about D’ni?

~o~

Definitely not D’ni. It’s a great cave alright, but on the surface; the walls are covered in hunting scenes and spray-paintings of hands, in red and white and gold. I think I remember what this place is.
I’m staying just for the time to take some pictures and take a look at the place without raising any attention. The watch sets the date as 154BC; not a good time to be a caucasian stranger fellow into a sacred place.

20070510

Back in the hut, after a small trip home to use my computer. As I thought, a quick internet research confirmed my suspicion: I was in the Cueva de las Manos, in Argentina. Why is it that, even when Yeesha is not involved, I find myself dealing with hand symbols and petroglyphs? I need to study the journal more carefully.

~o~

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Exploration #1 – Page 5

20070508

The outside is nice. The sea is quite calm, its deep sea-green in start contrast with the warm gold of the sands.
There are however no other islands on the horizon, nor any sign of a boat; least of shifting or linking, I’m stuck here. Luckily enough there is an outhouse nearby, on the backside of the island.
Actually, more than an island it’s an islet, or a cay; it’s barely bigger than the cave and a couple hundred meters of beach all around with the high tide.
A small rocky path leads up to a plateau on top of the cave, where a few bushes and some shy twisted trees grow. Whoever lived here either survived of fish and seafood, or was able to get other commodities elsewhere. I doubt there was enough wood here to build everything that’s in the house, even in better times.

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Exploration #1 – Page 4

have no idea how to do that, I simply relied on my good old wrist watch and my cell phone’s timer.
The shift felt instantaneous to me; I didn’t feel any passage of time, peculiar sensation or feeling of being elsewhere, or in transit. It is then quite interesting to note that both the watch and the phone measured a five second delay between my vanishing from Relto and my reappearing here (±1 second to start/stop the timer on the phone). What happened in those five seconds? How did I travel? The ‘alarm zone’ bookmarks seem to indicate that the process might be dangerous if prolonged.
~o~
Much of the house is in disarray; sand filtered in from the cracks in the wood and covered everything with a thin golden layer. No one has been here in a while.
On a table, facing the rock wall opposite the cave, is an opaque globe of glass, fractured, contained into a metal frame, once ornate and now beginning to rust; there are also sheets of old blank paper under the sand, and a drawer; I tried to get it open but it’s jammed. I’ll need proper tools.
There is a niche in the rock where my sleeping bag can fit quite properly. I think I’ll make my camp here for this expedition.

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Exploration #1 – Page 3

corridor leading out (I presume) with the symbol of Habnn carved over the entrance. The watch shows a new date – February 15th, 2005; Earth, calendar, maybe? – I won’t know until I get out.
The journal came with me; not so astounding after Relto, but still interesting.
Time to see what’s out there…
~~o\|/o~~
The corridor ended at a door – at least, what remained of it. It’s now little more than remnants of darkened wood on hinges. Behind the door is an abandoned house, carved into the rock itself but facing the outside; the rock provides two of the walls as well as the ceiling, while a semi-circular wooden wall covers the outer side. The main door still stands, as do the windows; I opened one of them and found myself staring at the sea.
~o~
More on the shifting time.
I’m quite sure there’s a way to control the double watch more properly during the shift, to prevent it switching to the local time of the new place as soon as the shift starts. However, since I

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How Minkata really *really* works…

I knew the Time Lords were involved…

Exploration #1 – Page 2

Here comes the interesting part: by itself, however odd, it is just another watch. But near the journal…
Near the journal, the watch seems to take a life of its own. The time and date displayed change every times it comes near a bookmark, and the stopwatch moves its hand to a fixed position (incidentally, this made me later understand that different glyphs and phrases on a same page where actually part of the same bookmark). My guess is that the stopwatch measures a temporal distance of the link, since the shifts -a more proper translation of the term used by Touya- are not instantaneous. If the hand reaches the lower end, the stopwatch raises an alarm; I only assume that one should not try to accomplish such travels, at least from the current starting point. Maybe you can achieve a shortest distance by travelling through different ‘bus stops’?
~o~

Anyway, in the end I chose the bookmark that, according to the watch, seemed to be at the shortest distance from here; I brought my hand over one of the glyphs, watched it shimmer with a green, metallic hue, and then I touched it.
Once again, the double watch reacted: numbers moved over the digital display, and the stopwatch started a quick countdown to zero. As it ended, I felt something similar to the sensation of linking.
~o~
Eventually, I arrived on the other side. A cave, where I’m sitting now writing, illuminated by two holes in the ceiling. There is a

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Exploration #1 – Page 1

It’s about time I wrote down what happened in my two-week trip. Rather than writing down a summary, I’ll just post here a revised version of the diary I kept during the journey, page by page.
It all started on the first of May…

The bad news

I just came back from my trip; I thought about posting my travel journal but, in the light of the recent tragedy in the Cavern, I’ll wait a few days before that. My thoughts go to Wheely’s and Rose’s families.

Trip

I think I found out how to use the bookmarks in the Habnn journal. More info when I come back. I might be a while.