MSSSC: Diary of the Sixam's days

Hi everyone! Here is my entry for the MSSSC for June/July 2022. You can find the challenge details in the related blog entry and forum thread. This time the topic is free, and the challenge focuses on writing in a diary format and in the first person.

Very conveniently, my whole legacy is written as a diary, and thus I decided to write another side story to my main writing project. So that the topic was totally free, I actually decided to write a continuation of my previous entry, with the difference that the narrator won't be Silas anymore, but the blue alien he met at the end of the last entry. If any of the readers of this short story is also following my Miller Legacy, be aware that there may be serious spoilers if you haven't reached chapter 3.10 yet. 

Diary of the Sixam's days

Year 5, day 453

My dear diary, it is still so weird to actually write this down! It was my brother the one who was always writing his diary, not me, but I need to vent out a bit. 

I mean, I do like my job, and I think it is important to save all that incredible old Sixam technology. Yet, this place is driving me crazy.

Imagine living in a four-room underground bunker with other six to ten people, unable to go out for whole weeks because of the recurring snow blizzards, for years over years. 

Unsurprisingly, we tend to focus on work for insane amounts of time. Now I'm working on a machine called "matter recomposer" which, as the name suggests, is able to recombine atoms in the matter to create new objects.

I'm finally starting to grasp the basics, after weeks of trials and errors. The instructions for all these machines are written in a very obscure old Sixam language, and so we are obliged to proceed with this frustrating slow pace. But that's unavoidable, the decoding of that language is just out of our league.

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Year 5, day 472

The morale at the base is quite low these days, but the prize for the grumpiest person in here goes to the new guy, Silas. 

Unlike anyone else, he did study a lot before coming here. And he's not afraid of challenges either, as he immediately decided to resume the Sixam language decoding project. 

I'm not doing great either, the matter recomposer has started to rebel against me.

Well, I know when it's time for a break, and Silas seemed to need one too.

Considering that we were stuck in the bunker because of the snowstorm season, we ended up playing videogames. 

-We are just wasting time, you know?-, he kept telling me. Clearly, being stuck on his work is his insanity trigger in this crazy place. 

And he is also surprisingly good at videogames. Admittedly, I could have had to cheat a bit to win.

-You're such an idiot, Orion-, he kept telling me, smiling. Yet, today we decided to join forces and work together. 

This information must remain hidden in this diary, but I really think he is a nice guy, I sort of like him.

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Year 6, day 10

By working together we were progressing much faster than before on both our projects. 

Today, finally, I managed to obtain a real object from that stupid matter recomposer and, without thinking, I just gave it to Silas.

He seemed very impressed, before teasing me by asking: -Is it a toroid with a very small radius, or did you just give me a ring?- 

I didn't really expect that question, it was probably the first time he saw me speechless. Yet, a very eloquent pinkish glow made him quickly understand what was going through my mind

At that point, we didn't feel the need to say anything else and just kissed for the first time.

We’ve been teasing each other for a while, yet I really wasn't expecting this outcome this morning. Not that I'm complaining, all the opposite.

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14/06/2127 (terrestrial calendar)

Today we are moving to our new house, and I found this old diary at the bottom of a box. A lot has happened since my last notes, but I’ve better things to do than writing it all.

Just be aware that we are having a tremendous time and we can forget about that horrible miniature bunker on Sixam. That said, auf wiedersehen my dear diary, see you never again!

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Words: 599 (If it had been up to me, it would be 3-4 times longer, I really struggled to keep it within 600 this time!)

Pictures: 20

If you are curious to read more about these two guys, I suggest you to give also a look at this chapter from my Legacy.