I never thought that I would fail one of our key productive task metrics. Last night I failed and it has brought me to a place that I never want to visit again. They told us we would fail, they told us we would let them down, they told us all of this and more, and yet they always ended it with this, “No matter what always strive for optimal productivity”.

     Last night I failed at something so simple that to track it as a metric always seemed like a joke in training, the metrics of sleep efficiency. Productivity managers had discovered that six hours of sleep was the optimal amount of time to perfectly balance sleep vs. work ratios. The managers had discovered this key metric throughout the course of many different sleep studies.

   We knew that this planet was rife with fauna yet even still I wasn’t holly prepared. When I had first arrived the location that I had set up base showed no signs of animal interaction which was one of the reasons I chose the spot. Unfortunately for me as these days have gone by, jeez it hasn’t even been that long, the animals have become more brave. Two days ago I saw my first signs of evidence in the form of scat that the animals are starting to investigate the area. Honestly I felt ok with this development because it would give me a chance to collect samples of the fauna, and give me a chance to test my mettle as it were.

Last night though I experience my first interaction with these …. beasts. With our home base being only marginally built it means that at night I get to listen to all the worlds sounds. Normally I don’t have any issues with this, yet last night was not a normal night. The first sounds I heard as I tried to achieve my designated 6 hours of sleep was the snuffling and grunting. This of course made me suspect some kind of swine like creature to be out and about looking for food. Quickly though that train of thought was changed, as the snuffling turned into growling and and then into snarling I knew no pigs or pig like creatures were out there.

I knew the home base was in fact secure but even still that snarling shook me to my core. I spent most of the night worrying about me first encounter with these beasts and how I would defend my self. I suspected the commission had something up their sleeves for defending ones self, but that meant that I needed to get my hands on what ever they had made to do that.

With the deepest regrets I must also bring to light the one thing that never even came close to crossing my mind as I lay there at night worrying about these beasts on the premises of my base. The one thing or rather person that never crossed my mind was in fact…. my partner. Although last night he didn’t cross my mind, yet as I write this I can’t help but continue to hope that he is safe and sound and on is way to the base.

-Day 5, Signed L