The Ark Diary of Dylan De Rovia Book One of De Rovia Diaries

Dirty Laundry and More Places to See

Monday December 29th, 2149

Today being my day off, I took all our laundry down to washroom. Every apartment has one or two depending on the size of the building and volume. Ours has one with twenty machines in the basement. I take our wash powder and the basket with all our dirty clothes down to the basement.

There are about two hundred people in my building most of them are work or out with friends. When I get down to basement there's just me and the TV its playing nature docs on it. I left it on and started working. Most of what's dirty are uniforms with Mom plainclothes. Since as doctor she get to wear mostly normal clothes.

Dad and I have uniforms and wear t-shirts under them. With no one else there I throw all our clothes in seperate machines along with cup of washing powder in each. Because water is limited our machines are fitted with sensors that use the right amount of water to wash based on cloth materials and load wight.

Kye said he'd come over tonight to watch the images with us. Lori is coming to of course. We're getting closer we should pass the farest planet by february. I've seen rouge planets in my life. Thrown into space from chaotic systems no life just rock and ice. Five years to get to our new home right now it might as well be another hundred years.I don't know how the first generation ever put up with this.

I guess knowing that Earth was gone that even if that wanted to going back wasn't a option. Looking back I'm sure that's why the first generation was so mission focused. They like me don't have an Earth to be jealous of they had hope of the future. That's the difference they only had hope, I have proof and get more of it everyday.

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We settled ourselves in living room Mom and Dad on the couch next to each other, with Lori beside Mom. I was on the floor on the with a wall of pillows behind me and Kye beside me. He stayed for dinner and brought a real treat for afters orange cream soda. Enough for all of us. We're all enjoying it when the screen goes black.

"Its starting," Lori says her voice thick with excitement.

This drone has landed on a hill surrounded by mist. It switches to flight mode rising from the hills into the air. Scotland, is the first word that comes to mind. These are are highlands like scotland on earth. Its miles of hills and green grass with tall stoic tree's nothing like the lose vine tree's of the river valley. This place is rough looking because of the fog but beautiful at the same time. If the sun where to break through it would light the place in brilliant color.

The drone hovers over a tree as birds with pale blue and silvery feathers try to decide what kind of bird the drone is. These are predatory animals with sharp talons and intelligent eyes. While birds on Earth had curved becks these don't they have pointed noses like a jet plane. The bravest of the birds swaps at the drone, it misses of course but does chop a low hanging brough. The drone watches as it falls down. Young chicks flutter down from the higher branches as the tree leaks sap. The younglings gladly open there red mouths to let the sap drip in.

Whole herds of animals are grazing on the grass, unlike their cousin in the south these animals have shaggy gray fur. From the the air they blend in to the ground on the ground they must know the drone is here. The adults are circling white calfs into the middle of the group. The drone drops to the ground the shaggy grays blending with misty hills. They're huge beast five feet tall at least with thick heads for raming some of them have tucks above curved ears. Standing on six legs they must be fast, like the birds above they seem to be studying the drone. elongated snouts, are inhaling the foreign smell of the metal drone. If I had to guess smell and hearing are what give them an edge. A bull charges the drone head down horns pointed.

Flying north the drone follows rivers into flatter lands. Soon the rivers thin till when the drone lands again its on flat barren piece of land. Its gray surface reminds me of metor's no life just hard gray rock. A desert it must be the only sighs of life are moss colonies that clings to rocks and crawling insects that have bright colors until they see or hear the drone then they change pairing the dull green moss. The dessert goes on the farther north the rock changes to frost till the finally the drone is face to face with a glacier. It switches back to flight and flies along the miles of frozen water till it meets a an ocean with icebergs floating in the cold water.

At this point a alarm flashes across the screen magnetic interferences. This is as far north as it can go. Like Earth Gillespie's core is producing a magnetic field only this field is stronger than the one on Earth. Turning around the drone hugs the coastline as aquatic animals jump out the water. Some seems to be doing for fun while other are actively ties and succeeding to catch white birds. It's hard to place all see them being water creatures they don't stay above the water.

One of the aquatic animals we get a great view of, its fin is slowly following a bird as it glides over the water. The black fin gets larger then as the breeze picks up the fin elongates like a boat sail. It lifts the animal the size of a truck into the air the powerful jaws snap trapping the bird behind sharp teeth.

The dron makes it back to the highlands to group of gray boulders covered in moss. It's good camouflage and the drone powers down waiting for the sun to shine on it. That might be awhile, if I'm remembering my geology right.

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The new images where just as dazzling as the first but having something to compare it to. The Highlands are beautiful full of life and I'm sure some people will want to settle there. But, the river valley is still my favorite. The desert that is beyond the mountains is fascinating but fighting at the same time. There are little pockets of water that bubble up from the ground but mostly it's just gray rock and sand.

Then the northern ocean, it was summer when the images were taken so the sea wasn't frozen over completely. The drone couldn't go to the north pole to much magnetic interference. Kye made a fair point that at that means there will auroras lighting up the Northern skies. There is so much life there even the sky is alive.