Alison. Where do I begin with her? Whenever she says something she makes it so simple. Hah, now it sounds like I’m in love with her or something (which I’m not!) I’m writing this to stop her before she makes a big mistake. You see, she thinks that all these journals littering all the ages are idiotic. “Why do all these people leave all their thoughts and feelings about matters out plainly for everyone else to see?”  In a way I do agree with her. Sorry folks. Nevertheless it makes it possible for me to leave a book here, in Rell-too for everyone to read without risking Alison to understand what it is. To her it will just be some silly explorer littering her workplace. I REALLY hope that’s what she’ll think when she sees this. If not someone will have to tell my family I love them. 

Ok, now I’m babbling. I’ll try to keep this to the point from now on. Alison’s up to something, that’s the subject. If she wasn’t she‘d tell me, right? There must be a reason why she chose this place out of all the options she had. So let’s start from the beginning shall we?

My name’s James and I was assigned to work here with Alison a few days ago. Apparently she has been making two or three small visits inspecting the age and wanted an assistant now that she has decided it was worth working on. I don’t think I lived up to her expectations. It’s not that I’m not doing what is required of me, it’s the fact that personally we’re like day and night. She’s analytical, takes everything way too seriously and rarely laughs at my jokes. I’m nice, handsome and I’ll put my number in the back of the book ok? No I won’t do that. If I could call other explorers there’d be no need for this journal in the first place. Apparently this age is pretty old but supposedly it’s still accessed by the public, which might lead to some interference with our work later. To Alison’s relief most people went with the DRC. I think knowing this age is empty makes it dull, I hope someone would decide to visit us.   

So I came here, both our lives were sorta ruined but the work is interesting enough for us to keep on going. This age consists, as you’ve probably seen, of three large rocky pinnacles with a twist. At first we stayed on the first one analyzing rock samples, trying to measure the distance to the ground(so far there doesn’t seem to be one, or maybe we just need a longer rope), you know that sort of thing. Pretty boring if you ask me and Alison’s dry persona doesn’t help. Upon arriving I wished I had stayed in the city and let some other poor soul get this job, thinking to myself that this place must be what a prison age felt like haha. 

Anyway, amazingly enough there’s a cable-cart up and running. (What the?) Alison was too afraid to get on so I was the first one over. Only when I’d been back and forth a few times did she get the courage to get on it, but not alone. I don’t blame her for being terrified though, the ride is pretty scary. The cart itself is tiny, certainly not fit for more than two. I’m not even sure it could handle the weight of more people in its current state. Then there’s the fact that there’s no apparent ground here and you just decided to dangle over miles and miles of empty air. Heck I almost peed myself the first time I went over. The cart we found on the first rock which I’ve affectionately named “Fred”. You should have seen Alison’s face when I told her I’d named the pinnacles; she stared at me for so long I think several days passed. Rell-too days, not Earth days obviously! There’s a mark on the cart shaped like a footprint which seems strange. Logically it would be two feet if this is human-made. So either the people working here had a special relationship to right feet (because they felt “right”?), this is the place where one-legged people are sent to work or we’re dealing with an alien species that has a limb shaped like the sole of a human foot. This is just a few of my theories, but be assured that they all got a day-long stare from Alison when I told her about them. She did laugh at the thing about “right feet”, so she’s not completely hum0rless (she’s human!) but of course it’s only the dual meaning in the pun that amuse her, not the visual idea of people with feet on pedestals that I personally found more amusing. 

Second rock (Barbara) didn’t prove to be much more fun structurally than the first one. The same rock, the same spirally structure towering into the sky. Interestingly enough they all seem to end at the same height. Did something cut them off at the top years and years ago? The top of Barbara didn’t feature the same annoying “roof” of rock making it look like a mushroom. Still impossible to reach the actual top though, there are no good places to get a grip on so you’re a few feet short of getting up there. Alison says she doubt the view would be different if you managed to get a bit higher, or that the rock is suddenly different, or that we’ll discover a sentient being… but that’s not the point. It’s the accomplishment. Now we’re so close to the top but can’t get there. Of course I could try to get there, that means another side project and even less sleep. What wont we do for our little obsessions? What might be of some help is a leftover structure from whoever was here before on the inside of Fred. There’s a fan of some sorts and a cable that leads straight up into the rock (and straight down to the ground?). If I can figure out how that works it might lead to some new insights. I wish there were more insights to the small alcove we found on Barbara. That pillow looks new-ish which gives me hope that someone has been here at least semi-recently (which explains the cable-cart running like a charm). 

In a way it’s funny. Even though we have this whole age I’m not really that busy. The short days are getting at me though. A quick visit is fine, maybe even spiffy, stay a few hours and that spinning sun is enough to drive you mad. Then you get back to the city and there’s no time at all, no wonder my sleep cycles are screwed up right now! Maybe it will pass in a few weeks. 
And the heat… at first it was almost unbearable. Never come here without a bottle of water and sunscreen, that’s a lesson I’ve learned!!

It just occurred to me, the way I’ve been describing Alison she sounds like a robot. That’s only because she is a robot when she works and whenever we don’t work I try to spend as much time as possible with other people. Believe it or not she’s actually pretty nice once you get to know her. I’ve only been here a short time, but I think we’ll make good friends eventually. She’s softened a little so obviously my charming persona has had an effect on her after all. :)

Tomorrow we’ll see if that gangway to the third rock can bear our weight.  Now I’m off to a place with a nice and cool shower. 
