"The Longest Mission" - An Ordis story

Time lapse of the Liset covered in dust, seasons, day & night flickering, with Ordis. Boring UI overlays... day seven hundred... overlapped with day four thousand... day-the flickering halts. A tree has fallen on the ship, scrapping the hull.

Ordis now needs to maintain extraction vehicle with the over-cautious use of his Host Migrator: a drone he can move short distances from the ship.

This is terrifying for him, as he cannot venture from the ship at all for fear of missing the return of the Operator, even though he’s been waiting for eleven million, three hundred and fifty thousand seconds.

As he becomes bolder he discovers a rodent creature and its small collection of shiny objects from the lost Orokin era. One is a component Ordis can use to extend his drone’s range even. Ordis takes it but feels obligated to leave something in return. He leaves a small tree-nut… And lo and below, finds the next day an increasing number of these small animals, leaving objects, expecting a free meal.

The rodents sniff and ‘skunk’ Ordis (which comically, Ordis interprets as a very kind gesture?)

One day he collects a large number of nuts to feed his growing flock and returns to the den to find the animals… are gone. He is confused until he finds a strange marking.

A boot print...