Here I am, alone. Floating in an ocean that spans the entirety of the planet. The ocean is as deep as the world, going all the way down to the core, where a layer of vapour separates the liquid water from the molten metal. At night, the red light of the core is strong enough to pierce the darkness of the ocean and illuminates the pits of the abyss, giving a sense of the grand scale of this place to an otherwise incomprehensible blackness.
The research base is the only solid structure on the planet. I am the only living thing, besides some rudimentary single-celled organisms invisible to the naked eye. At night, I see the stars in the sky and the bright disk of distant Andromeda. By day, the binary suns rotate overhead. There is no task but the one I set myself. There is no one to talk to besides my own consciousness. I am alone here.
Paddy Dobson
18th August 2023