Journal Entry 1: The New Human

Today Deucexis and I spotted another human walking across the meadow in front of my cave. At first, we both thought it might be Grant Hudson but as we surreptitiously made our way to a better point of view, we discovered the human was a strange man. Deucexis and I observed him for some time and we both deduced that he had just arrived. Since Deucexis has no knowledge of this guy he must be from our future. His clean clothing and confused expression would also support the conclusion that he was new to the fine world of Dram. Deucexis believes I should begin keeping a journal of my experiences and observations in the crystal tablet we just built. She feels it will mold me into a more organized person and help our newcomer to better acclimate to his new environment. I don’t like to be molded but will yield to her wisdom in this matter. As for the new guy, it looks like he could use all the help he can get. She said we could leave the journal for him to find tomorrow, his relative time or fifteen years from now, relative to mine.

Journal Entry 2: Introductions

My name is Alexavier Pittman and if everything went according to plan, I did a little time traveling and met you before you found the journal. Don’t worry, eventually traveling in time will make better sense. Anyway, I was fifty-five years old and was standing in a woods in rural Sullivan County, Indiana on May 6, 2020 when I was transported from Earth to Drox. Drox is the name of the moon we now live on. It is the first moon of Sholt. Sholt is the seventh planet in this solar system and a gas giant roughly twice the size of Jupiter. This moon, Drox, is way too close to the planet for it to keep from crashing into the surface. Sholt’s gravity is just too strong for it to stay in orbit. To understand how this works you have to think about magnets and how like poles repel each other. That’s how Drox keeps from crashing into Sholt. The magnetic fields of the planet and the moon repel each other with enough flux force to avoid disaster. Drox slides around Sholt about once every seven Earth years and each cycle from dawn to dawn takes fourteen Earth days so get used to sleeping in the sunlight. At night when Sholt is overhead, it reflects enough light to keep everything brighter than twilight on Earth. It’s never pitch dark on this world. With the help of Deucexis I have mapped out the Earth/Drox calendar conversion and placed it in the journal so you can keep track of Earth dates, but you will soon lose interest in all of that. I did.

Deucexis is the being who accidentally brought us here and has become a remarkably close friend. She is an unmated native Droxlen. More on the unmated part later. She is a brilliant scientist and has been studying this world her entire life. She is one of the smartest of her kind to have lived. She is also proof that even smart people make dumb decisions on occasion.

Journal Entry 3: Timelines

At the direction of Deucexis, fifteen years ago, I began writing this journal to help you acclimate to your new home. I traveled forward in time to the day you arrived on this world which was about twenty Earth years after I arrived. It is also the day I returned to Earth. That date local time, by the way, is the 156th day of the year 475 in the Fourth Epoch. My calendar calculations are in this journal if you’re interested. According to the time algorithm Deucexis wrote, you should have arrived here on May 6, 1972 Earth time. I had only been here five years when Deucexis and I spotted you and decided to write this journal for you. I only wish Grant would have extended me the same courtesy. I’ve written fifteen year’s worth of entries into this thing by the time you picked it up for the first time.  The map and schedule I left on top were made to help you avoid some dangerous animals and guide you here safely. I also made the commotion that lured the crylox away, so you could cross the grassy meadow and find the cave. I had to time travel to the past three separate times to work out the best route and timing to help you. You’re welcome.

Journal Entry 4: Survival

The variety of food in this world is limited for humans. We can eat a few kinds of berries and some larger fruits and vegetables but that is it. None of the creatures in this world are digestible by humans so don’t go hunting, not even for sport. The natives are touchy about murder, even killing small animals. You’re a gatherer now, not a hunter. Deucexis did a complete DNA analysis on Grant and determined what could sustain humans and what was poisonous for us. Basically, if a fruit or vegetable is light blue it is edible. The closer food is to the color purple the sicker it will make us but never kill us. Sometimes distinguishing the color is hard in all of the blue light we now live in, especially at night, so gather your food in bright daylight conditions. Brightly colored fruit and vegetables, while edible by the indigenous beings of this world will kill us quickly. It would probably be best if you stayed with the berries in the containers at the end of the cave until you can expand your palatable choices.

Deucexis determined that the local creatures that are big and mean enough to eat us won’t because we aren’t appealing to their pallet. Besides not having the correct color and tasting bad, we don’t have the correct brainwaves. Most of the predators in this world have the ability to paralyze their prey with psychic projections. I’m sure, by now, you have experienced a dream or two where a drylox has tried to paralyze you with fear. That’s how they hunt. These creatures can somehow enter our dreams if they are nearby, and by nearby, I mean pretty much anywhere in the meadow outside of the cave. If you find one while you’re awake it will appear aggressive and try to project terror into your mind. Don’t worry, it can’t. That trick only works while you are sleeping and they can hurt you if they catch you in your dreams, so don’t let them because it will give you a tremendous headache that can last for hours. There are berries here that will temporarily dull your headaches and strained muscles. Find them in another journal entry. While living here I have learned to control my dreams when being hunted by drylox and have made it a form of entertainment for myself. These creatures are confused by dreams because nothing in this world sleeps except for us humans, and the drylox can sense us as prey only while we are sleeping. While you are awake most of these creatures roaming about will be curious about you and may even try to take a bite out of you. They can hurt or even kill you if you are passive toward them and let them have their way, so don’t be. The prey these creatures hunt never shows any form of aggression, so they get confused when a human charges them and makes loud aggressive noises. All predators in this world will be confused by aggression and eventually retreat. With this knowledge, you should be relatively safe to leave our home and explore the world. There are a lot of fascinating things to see here. It’s very important though that you don’t get lost. Learn to orient yourself so you always know where home is. If you need to sleep, you must return to the cave until you learn the secret of the crystal gems.

Journal Entry 5: The Droxlens

The Droxlen species are actually two separate halves of the same being. The males are physically similar to humans in the way their elbows and knees bend. The females have joints that bend the opposite direction. When the male and female stand with their backs to each other they can spoon and bond into one whole being called a Summa. Once every cycle (seven Earth years) they are driven with a biological urge to mate which involves the spooning I mentioned. However, once coupled they do not uncouple. A physical bond grows between them and they never separate again. The two physically become a single creature with a single mind and two heads. This gives the mated pair the ability to see three hundred sixty degrees. Nothing can sneak up on a mated pair easily. Their arms and legs connect and never separate again giving them the stability of four feet at the end of their two bonded legs and the dexterity of four hands at the end of their two bonded arms. According to Deucexis, the female half merges with the male half of the Summa and the male personality dominates. She has never observed a female head ever speak again after the bonding. She believes their consciousness is absorbed by the male half. After mating the new Droxlen Summa quickly grows a pair of large butterfly-like wings and lays a large foamy egg cluster. They fly high into the jungle canopy to lay their eggs and seven Drox days later the eggs hatch and the tiny winged Droxlens scatter into the jungle fully capable of taking care of themselves. The mated individual does not raise its young. Bonding season always takes place when Sholt is directly overhead. This causes the gravity on Drox to be the weakest which allows the Droxlen Summa to be able to fly easier. When Sholt is halfway back to the horizon all Droxlens, young and old, shed their wings and walk on the ground again. Once a Droxlen is mated with its other half it is then neither male nor female but an androgynous Summa that always answers to the name of its former male half and is addressed as he or him from that point forward in its life.