#INTERNAL CONDITION: OUTPOST DISCONNECTED FROM NETHERMOST STATION. BACKUP GENERATOR AT 87%.

[last-sprout]

You've mentioned your boss and higher ups a couple times, where do ya work for? And how is it there?

Oh, I actually got a similar message to this that I already answered, but my research is funded by the CRADLE initiative. As for how it is, I can’t complain. The outpost is quite small and out of the way, so with that in mind and alongside the general lack of personnel, it’s just me stationed here. I like the silence, and solidarity, I listen to a lot of music, and get things done in my own time.

I write daily reports, and hop into calls if needed to update back at headquarters. My supervisor is a nice guy, I’ve known him for a long while at this point. Every month or so he’ll come up here and check in for a few days, as well as restocking rations and the like. It’s nice to chat to another person face to face :]

I mentioned in that other message, but CRADLE has been part of life for a long time, I went through the entire education system, so working under them has always felt like my assumed path. I was digging through some old stuff and actually found my graduation pictures. God - this feels like a lifetime ago now.

[last-sprout]

I know you said you couldn’t pick a favourite plant, but do you have a least favourite plant? one that just really grosses/freaks you out?

Truly, honestly, I think all plants are wonderful! Seeing any splash of green in a world of greys makes my day, I still feel so lucky that here in my workspace I can be surrounded by that greenery all day.

But, that’s not to say that there aren’t weird and gross plants! Titan Arum was also called the Corpse Flower (ooooo how spooky). It would emit an odour like decaying flesh, I can imagine that creeping anybody out. I don’t think I could manage with a smell like that in such a confined space like this!

Or for an extant species, Hydnellum peckii is a kind of fungus that looks like it’s a bleeding, oozing, tooth. Gross right! I managed to see an amazing sample before, during my studies. The biology central back at CRADLE is the closest I imagine I will personally get to touring something like the Natural History Museum. Such an incredible, living archive.