Location: G07 - Hennigan II

Tags: Exploration, Vehicle

Explorer's Log - 28 Maian 3815

I arrived on my first alien planet today. Although Hennigan II initially sounded far less exciting than "the lava planet" the rest of my team went to, any disappointment was quickly forgotten as I piloted my Single Occupant Survey Vehicle through an alien ecosystem bursting with life.

My task is to investigate a magnetic anomaly that one of our probes detected from orbit. It's almost certainly an iron deposit, or something similar, but there's always a tiny chance that it's Mithril.

When I arrive at the coordinates, it takes my brain a few seconds to process what my eyes are seeing. Is that a ...?

It is. It's a living tree, floating in the air, roots and all.

I've heard rumors about alien artifacts being found in the vicinity of the anomalies - current scientific consensus seems to be that the anomalies themselves were engineered by some ancient, unknown race of aliens.

Whatever this is, it doesn't seem to be bothering the local wildlife, although there is some slight gravitational lensing around the base. My suit doesn't pick up any radiation or energy emissions, but I'm not going to get any closer until Dr. Long or someone else from the science team gets here. This could be anything.

It doesn't look like a weapon, but that doesn't mean it isn't. Of course, it could also be some kind of alien art installation, or shrine, or simply some malfunctioning tech. Almost unbidden, the rhyme from training pops into my head.

In a strange situation, you can make Pres. Business happy.

Instead of snappy judgements, just activate your CLAPPIE.

Dammit. I reluctantly pull out my Explorer's Guide.

"Hi, I'm CLAPPIE, your Corporate Law And Planetary Politics Incident Evaluator! In a few words, tell me how I can help!"

"Unknown Artifact."

CLAPPIE: "I think you said 'Undead Artichoke.' Are you having trouble with your Octan Hydroponic Vegetable Growth System?"

Lu: "What?! No."

CLAPPIE: "Oops, sorry! In a few words, tell me how I can help!

Lu: "Alien Artifact."

CLAPPIE: "I think you said 'Alien Artifact.' Is that right?"

Lu: "Yes."

CLAPPIE: "... Initiating Alien Artifact Protocols. I need a little more information. How many fatalities has the artifact caused. Please round to the nearest thousand."

Lu: "Uh, zero."

CLAPPIE: "Thank you. Please wait while CLAPPIE determines your location. ... ... CLAPPIE detects that you are not located within two-hundred miles of an Octan Regional Headquarters Building. Is that right?"

Lu: "Yeah...."

CLAPPIE: "Thank you! CLAPPIE recommends that you take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. Shall CLAPPIE attempt to gain access to the nearest launch facility?"

Lu: "No! Cancel program!"

CLAPPIE: "Are you sure you want to exit? CLAPPIE remains very enthusiastic about this mission."

Lu: "Exit!"

CLAPPIE: "Goodbye."

On second thought, I'll just type up a manual report and mark the location for the science team. Lu, out.

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Overall scene:

Edited May 29, 20159 yr by LucasLaughing

Clearly voice recognition is just as useful in Andromeda as it is here!

The scooter is solid and there's definitely some very nice alien plant techniques here, I really like those red upside down flowers.

I really love the use of the old baseplate. Well done!

Luv the feeling of this build, well done!

Amazing colourful build and great photos! But my favourite part is the hilarious story - 'undead artichoke' made me genuinely laugh out loud

Beautiful build, hilarious write-up! CLAPPIE is a great idea, I can see him making some more appearances as the exploraiton progresses...

Beautiful colors!!

I think we have a codename for artifacts now.

Cool airbike and great greenlife!

Really nice build, that little motorcycle thingy is super cute and the bright foliage combined with the blue of the water really make this vig pop!

Great overall scene, the hovering bike looks great, nice colour scheme. Great build

You truly are an artist. The composition, not just of the photographs, but of the build is phenomenal. You include so many colors, but instead of making it too busy, you create perfect balance and harmony. It's beautiful.

The floating tree and the Single Occupant Survey Vehicle are both great little builds. And your story is well written and wonderfully whimsical (I love CLAPPIE!).

Really, really well done.

I really like how you customized that bike and that suit your character is wearing (the helmet piece I mean) looks awesome with the parts you used to customize it. I also have not seen that baseplate used in so long and it's really nice to see it being used!

Wonderful Build! Nice use of that baseplate, CLAPPIE's character is great! The foliage you created is also neat!

Simply amazing! This is a beautiful build, very creative in the native plants! So much to look at, I love the mushrooms used as flowers, the maraca as a flower, the Single Occupant Survey Vehicle design,...........

And who could't relate to CLAPPIE.....

Edited May 29, 20159 yr by Lady K

Wow! Very fascinating build, That is a good number of plants. I like the floating plant. Certainly some alien technology there.

Awesome! I love the use of a maraca as a flower.

So wonderfully colorful! Great work.

This is a gorgeous build! I love all the foliage! The mushrooms as flowers is great! Also, that speeder Lu has is wonderful! Dr. Long will indeed be interested to see what you've discovered!

~Insectoid Aristocrat

Thank you so much for the encouraging comments, everyone! It was a lot of fun coming up with ideas for alien plants, and I'm glad you guys liked CLAPPIE

The judges awarded you 5 points.