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Part Four: Trapped

Day 32

The wind is still crazy. I could hardly sleep last night because of how loud it was rushing by the lander. Smart of the engineers to give it a really low center of gravity, or I'd probably be upside-down by now. Hopefully it hasn't messed up any of my equipment. The computer still says it's getting data from all of them, which is a good sign. It's not good data, but at least I know they're still alive.

It's about four in the afternoon now, ship time. I haven't done much today besides eat. I tinkered with my snow collection system a bit. Should be good to go after a few more tweaks.

Day 33

The storm has picked up. I'm not sure if my ship is completely buried now or not, but at least the windows are covered. If the human race is looking to colonize, they might want to look elsewhere. I'm seriously considering packing up and getting out of here. I need more samples, though. That's the only thing stopping me. Problem is, I don't know how I'm going to get out of here. The airlock door might have too much snow in front of it to be able to open. I might be trapped.

Day 34

No change in the weather today. The sound of the wind is getting quieter, but that's probably just because the snow on top of me is getting deeper. I've only got two days or so of water left in the tanks. Three, if I drink less than the rations call for. I can get off the planet, no problem, if it comes to that. Maybe not if there gets to be too much snow on top of me, but I'm not too worried about that. I don't want to leave yet, though. I'm going to try and wait out the storm.

Day 35

Okay. Being stuck in here is starting to get to me. Being trapped in a tin can in space was fine. I don't mind small spaces. But this feels like I'm in a cave, but all the exits have collapsed.

I've tried to keep myself distracted by going through the water samples I collected under the microscope. But putting drop after drop after drop of water onto glass slides and squinting into a lens all day gets very tedious. So far, I haven't found anything. But I have at least five more bags of the stuff to go through, so there's that. Why didn't I bring any alcohol on this trip?

Day 36

I tried the airlock door earlier. I couldn't get it open. I can't leave without that equipment. The only thing I really want to do at this point is get some samples from the lake. I landed about a hundred-or-so yards away from the shore. If there isn't anything living in the samples I already collected, my best bet is somewhere in that lake. I hopefully there's liquid underneath.

I sort of accidentally finished off my water supply yesterday. I didn't know I could be so thirsty. It's no help that the life support keeps the air in here so dry.

I think the storm has stopped, but I don't know. I think I have an idea, though. It could be risky. The ascent engines would get pretty hot, though right? If I turned them on, just high enough throttle to lift me out of the snow, that ought to melt the snow around the landing site. At least that's my theory. I'm kind of regretting putting my instruments so close to the lander. Hopefully they're sturdy enough...