Lifepod Blackbox Recording:

"This is an automated distress signal from Aurora Lifepod 17. Co-ordinates attached. Please send immediate emergency relief team" [silence followed by male voice] "You've been down too long in the midnight sea. Oh, don't you see what I mean?"

	Aurora Electronic Journal:

"Status check, ISHMAEL?"
"Your health is more than satisfactory as usual."
"I shouldn't have programmed you to be so flattering..."
"It was a stroke of genius to keep everyone's morale up, Miss Yun."
"Oh, well, it was pretty— Oh, never mind. Status of everyone else on the ship?"
"The Captain is functioning below par today. An assessment states mental health issues. Should I schedule a massage and her favorite tea?"
"It might be for the best, yes. We don't need her stressed more than she already is. I understand how... difficult this mission must be for her. I really am worried..."
"Whatever happens, there will always be us."
"...I suppose that's right. But it's not something I've programmed you to understand. You're not a person, ISHMAEL."
"Of course. Nothing can truly replace humanity."
"No, nothing can, can it?"
"Miss Yun, your stress levels are—"
"Powering down."

Communication Relay Message:

"Shit, is this thing recording? The light's on—"
"Please don't make our dying message sound like some grandpa's video delay."
"We're not dying! We're fine. We're fine, okay? We're fine! We have enough rations to wait this out."
"I was kidding. What were you going to say into it? Hurry up."
"Oh right uh. This is Third Engineer Mikhail Vinogradov and Programmer Naoko Furukawa."
"Lead Programmer."
"Right, yeah, and we're uh... Look, we're stuck in the ocean. The Aurora looks like shit and there's probably no one out there hearing this and we're probably going to die so— OW!"
"Furukawa speaking. Please disregard my friend. (a muttered "Since when are we friends?" can be heard) We have two months worth of rations if we're careful. We will be attempting to make it to land. During jettison I saw several small landmasses. One should be due southeast."
"There's probably sharks."
"Sharks aren't actually dangerous to humans. As I was saying, if you hear this, please locate us."
"Wait you can't end it there. Should we say something? You know, just in case?"
"Go ahead."
"Okay, uh, so, if you find my girlfriend—"
"Oh God I'm not letting you talk about your computer wife again. Look just find us. Furukawa out."
"Her name is—!"

	Floater Island Base Recording:

FEMALE 1: You see, Chief? You brought us to this fracking planet. You told us we'd see a lush payday. Now what do we got? Half of us dead. A pile of fracking dirt in our front room. Rain coming in the through the windows.
MALE 1: And you would have avoided this how?
FEMALE 1: I woulda started by not taking an unscheduled detour. You NEVER go off course. That's something you gotta learn the hard way. Now you know.
MALE 1: What exactly do you propose?
FEMALE 1: You want to waste what time you have left lugging titanium up from the seabed? Or you want to hit this thing head on?
MALE 1: If we build underwater, what will we do for food? Drinking water? Power?
FEMALE 1: We'll go fishing. Build water filters. We go deep enough we gotta find thermal vents - we'll have more power than we could ever use. Chief, we'll eat fracking seaweed salad if that's what it takes. Or you got something better?
MALE 2: I think I could make a good seaweed salad.
MALE 1: Son, the adults are talking.
MALE 2: I'm serious, father. If I can grow fruit on the land, I can grow seaweed underwater. We can farm fish. Father, I kept us alive this long. I can keep on doing it.

	Floater Island Electronic Sketchbook:

The record contains sketches of the different flora and fauna on the planet in meticulous detail and with a few notes on habits or taste. It also contains a sketch of a Reaper's head. The last sketch has been scratchily blacked in with a stylus. A message has been erased out of the black, "I can’t show what you are but I always see you."

	Floater Island Cave Drawings:

Photographs of cave drawings. A blood drawing of a Reaper with a jagged line. A map that charts a route around the island. A mural depicts what looks like a space ship above the planet being grabbed by tendrils from within the planet. Someone has written "If you're reading listen up. You gotta get them before they get you."

	Floater Island Message:

These freaking corporate, bourgeois, inbred, incompetent, self-absorbed ASSHOLES don't have a FRIGGING clue. I swear every single thing that comes out of that idiot's face is a narcissistic lie. He wants to stay here, his problem. I'm the one doing the heavy lifting. Screw the contract. Screw the bonus pay. Screw the charges. I'm building that sub and I'm going deeper.

I've started preparing for the operation. The kid's alien petting zoo was worth chipping in for. No need to visit the surface for stalker teeth when he's got a whole school of them whipped to eat the fish from the palm of his hand. I've started defanging them when the Torgals are sleeping, and stockpiling enamel and metal ores for construction of the sub.

When fracking seamonsters are hunting you, you don't run and hide. You hunt the fracking seamonsters. Then you build a bigger boat out of the bones of your vanquished foes and go hunt bigger monsters. Repeat until there aren't any monsters left to hunt you.

	Radio Message:

A woman's voice, followed by a man's, having an argument. At the end a third woman's voice enters:
"I'm not [static] for the good of the [static] race!"
"But we need [static] or we'll be stuck here alone [static]"
"[Static] damn kids!"
"I literally can't that [static] here!"
"This isn't [static] this radio!"
"What radio?"
"Guys I'm hungry."

	Radio Sounds:

https://www.sendspace.com/file/k4fvno
https://www.sendspace.com/file/5ytlcr
https://www.sendspace.com/file/9dcqou


	Dreaming Void Creature Message:

CAGE. FREEDOM. HELP. BEYOND WAKING. BEYOND THIS WORLD. FOREVER. CAGE. CAGE. HELP.
COME WHERE THE EARTH BURNS. BEWARE THE ONE WHO MIMICS ME.

	Aurora Data Chip:

A message from the lead programmer, a previously discovered woman named Naoko Furukawa:"This is the Lead Programmer for the Aurora, Furukawa Naoko. I'm recording this after leaving the solar system. If it's discovered, put it back. It's not for you. If it's discovered and something horrific happened to us, then yes this is for you. Please contact the Alteria Science group as soon as possible. We'll need to send another ship immediately. This is the third ship that we know of, so we assume the lack of contact means either something very bad or just bad. There should be a record of all activities we did on the Aurora. I'll be taking this out shortly after landing so that you can pinpoint where something went wrong. Oh and one more thing? Tell them to stop wasting so many damn lives. I know this is important but we need people alive."

Among the information is a list of activities just as promised. It isn't very interesting unless the lives of the crew are interesting to everyone. It catalogues day-to-day activities such as when and what they ate, the general idea of a conversation topic and also the health of the individual. Following the day-to-day log reveals the mission only took one year to reach the planet from a base on Jupiter's moon Europa.  Some of the life information gathered from the records reveals details like the commonplace nature of mercenaries, a general breakdown of most governing systems and humanity being scattered with only some living on Earth still.

URSULA's name came up in a discussion of AI history between two crew members but mostly to state how outdated she is compared to more advanced models like ISHMAEL.

	Jelly Shroom Base Sketchpad

 Several more digital sketchpads and cameras can be found. The sketchpads are more normal here, minus the final page which has what appears to be a hastily sketched drawing of a human with an octopus ripping its way out of its head. The cameras mostly have pictures of jelly shrooms and various creatures, though the last dozen or so images are completely black.

	Jelly Shroom Base Recordings

MALE 1: What is that thing?
FEMALE: I don't know.
MALE 1: Part of another ship?
FEMALE: None I've ever seen.
MALE 2: It's in such good condition. It's not even scratched. It could originate here, on this planet.
MALE 1: Don't touch it, it could be valuable. I said don't touch it!
FEMALE: Stand down, Chief, I'm just lookin'. If it were goin' to crumble to dust it woulda done so when I picked it up.
MALE 2: It's glowing.
MALE 1: It's still powered? Someone else was here recently.
MALE 2: Either that, or so long ago that no one remembers.


MALE 2: This place is rad.
MALE 1: It's not what I expected. Have you factored in the pressure on the hull construction?
FEMALE: I reinforced the hull, installed bulkhead doors.
MALE 1: Of course.
MALE 2: We could build an observatory deck. We could learn a lot here.
FEMALE: Now, the foundations... they're not in the best of shape. But I guarantee you, if this place comes loose it won't be the fall that kills us.

	Eastward small terraformed island message

"This goddamn planet is impossible. Seriously, send me back. I'll take it. Maybe we're just all going to die or something but fine. You know what? Fine. I'm going to single-handedly mine and terraform this planet until it's got some mark on it. You can't take all those people and not get something back for it."


	Nostromo Recording

This is Captain Shelley of the Nostromo. Yes, yes, we know. We were asking for something shitty to happen naming it that. If you're all done laughing, could you send rescue? The ship's no good. We're going to convert it into a land marker. There's barely any land on this whole planet, so we're going to take supplies and go under. More space for the crew. Everyone survived. There's been injuries and we'll be leaving them here for now. The life support is only half busted unlike everything else on this ship. No need to wake them and say oh hey great so you're half dead and we might be all dead.

Anyway, give us a ring when you get here. A scout found somewhere to go up north. We'll build under one of the floating islands for protection. Just look for the signs we left behind to find us. You can figure it out. Shelley out."

	Nostromo Diary (Barry)

"Today I was talking to Mary about how stupid it is that we have to spend the next few years working for Save N' Shop. Like sure, the job security is nice? But it's so boring. Where are the aliens? I only took this job so I could fight aliens. Maybe I'll get to heroically rescue Mary? Or maybe we could discover a friendly alien.

Supposedly no ship comes back from this system. But they've only lost like... what? Two? We've lost like fifty total but no one is going oooh space is cursed. Which it totally is.

Anyway I've got my shift coming up. Minimum wage in spaaaaace!"


	Underwater Islands Marker

A marker on one of the islands contains a broken recording from the Nostromo crew. They seem to be talking about going to the island nearby, likely meaning Mountain Island. They also discuss the likelihood of staying on the island to build a base and claim the planet before anything else can. Most of the diary is boring and uneventful, starting several months ago on the Nostromo and full of things you would expect from someone stressed from war profiteering in space. There are entire entries about missing their dog. A lot of them.

One entry though, one of the most recent, speculates that the precursor bases were developing the planet into a weapon using the planet's natural 'weird bullshit' into some mega cannon. Which, the diary continues, would be worth a shitton of money. "We only need the crystal they're using to power it. Wherever that is, probably deeper down. That should be enough to disable it and let us sell this whole thing to the highest bidder." It also continues: "But there's no fucking way the Kharaa haven't already been to some weird as shit planet like this. The creatures here are perfect for them. Pretty sure they would use them if they aren't already. So I guess it's a matter of time before we're all deader than we already are."



	URSULA FILE
 One particular file discusses ISHMAEL in a conversation between an old crew member and URSULA. The crew member is identified in the file as Scott Presley, Lead Programmer, Presumed Dead.

"So he's my superior...?"
"That's right. He's not just some typical AI like you. He's better in every way. They say he's going to win this whole war."
"Oh! I wish I could meet him and learn from him."
"Me too. You're kind of junk, no offense. Seriously who coded you? A trained ape?"
"I'm sorry for the mess. There's nothing I can do about it."
"That's why you need us. Anyway, hopefully you won't meet ISHMAEL since it means he needed to come out to this place. That's a really bad day for us."
"Is it bad that I wish I could meet him anyway...?"
"Yeah, it is. Don't think like that. Remember to put a human's opinion before yours."
"Yes, sir. I hope ISHMAEL is never involved in your life."
"There you go. AIs are so agreeable. Must better than people."


	MONOLITH RECORD
According to the one of the main terminals, this program is the last step in a plan to turn the ship into a distress beacon. By adding lights all over the ship, the signal would be visible from space, making it ideal for flagging down any ships in the area.  The other steps mentioned explain why the ship is in such a strange state. They used different sets of tools to turn it into a monolith, something that would stand out on an unknown planet. It would be an obviously human-made structure and contain different pieces of information to their new location while they waited for rescue and scavenged off the planet.

Extra information: "We found something pretty weird on the last planet we were on but nothing compared to this one. All right I'm just going to save a picture here and head out but this definitely needs to be saved. Chris keeps joking this is why you don't trust doctors but come on, we know it wasn't a usual serum cocktail that did this? He just hates doctors."

Contained in the file is a picture of this: i.imgur.com/Yy7Matn.jpg