Of Reath Myers and the Raodians

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> The following is a transcript of a voice log, found in an abandoned camp on Ghiq. Notes have been added subsequent to discovery, indicated by superscripts.
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*1st May -* Uh, hello? Hi? Uhm... oh, okay. Ehem... My name is Reath Myers. I've been sent here to do some research, so I figured I'd make a voice log just to keep my ideas or something, I don't know. Don't have much to say right now, I just arrived. I'm tired, probably gonna rest now.

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*2nd May -* Woke up to find everyone gone. I'm alone here, for some reason.1 Stuck on a ball of sand in space, yay.2 Huh. Well I guess I might as well pass the time by doing the research I'm meant to, which is on some lizard guys on this planet. I don't know anything about them, which isn't good, because I don't even know where to find them. Great. I'm gonna look around a bit, see if I can spot any.

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*2nd May -* I walked, like, two hours away from my camp, and found nothing. Just sand. I don't like sand. It's coarse, rough, irritating- I'm sorry. Anyway, as I was saying, I didn't find any lizard people. All I've learnt today is that they're called "Raodians", from the database. Maybe I'll be able to find something about their location in there. Or maybe have a nice long sleep.

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*4th May -* Database was useless. It told me that they live in dry, barren areas - which happens to be this *entire planet*. But I did find something interesting. Apparently loads of people have been sent here before, for the exact same reason, to study Raodians. It said none of them have come back. Spooky. I don't see what some short lizard people could do to a person, though. Maybe this planet has some weird mystery killer! Or maybe, just maybe, I've been watching too many movies. Anyway, my bed is starting to look pretty comfy right now, so I'm gonna stop this recording. This is Reath Myers, signing off! *Why, why did I say that? Oh, it's still recording-*

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*7th May -* It finally happened. I saw a lizard guy, a Raodian. I didn't even have to look around; It came right to my camp! The thing politely woke me up by screeching right in my ear. It didn't speak English -- not that I expected it to, I just thought... whatever. The important thing is it led me to a settlement. Now, I initially thought these Raodians lived like regular lizards, so this was a great discovery! They have buildings constructed from wood, probably those dead trees everywhere, and primitive flint tools. These are so much more intelligent than I thought. And, as far as I know, this is the first human contact with an intelligent alien species.3 Going now. Lizard fellas are trying to get my attention.

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*9th May* - Okay. I have a lot to talk about. More breakthroughs. Exciting stuff. So, these Raodians have a fully developed language, and I think they're even trying to teach it to me. Although they seemingly have completely different vocal chords to Humans, so it's not exactly easy to pronounce. I have started a system to write it in English at least. I'll add a text file to this log to explain some of that.4 Alright, remember the end of the last log? Turns out they were taking me to some religious ceremony. They took me to what their "nitlhjirrakratlhon", which I think means "leader", in an underground chamber. Felt like going inside the Great Pyramids back home... there was a long corridor leading up to a throne, where the nitlhjirrakratlhon sat. There was an altar on the ground in front of the throne, filled with sand. Raodians had me kneel and place my hands in the sand. Then they started chanting, "ritlhinnitlhjir. naqqhakhi ratlh. tlhanj katlhon. tlhanj katlhon. tlhanj katlhon."5 I don't know how long it went for, but it felt like forever. And I can't get it out of my head... naqqhaki ratlh. tlhanj katlhon. I'm getting a headache. Ending this log.

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*10th May -* naqqhaki ratlh. They... the desert, this place isn't right. I shouldn't be here, but the lizards seem to like me. I've tried going back to my camp, but they stop me every time. I'm having to sleep in one of their houses. My head aches. I want to leave. I shouldn't be here. I should never have come here. Is this my fate, to be eternally restrained on a rock, spending sleepless nights endlessly repeating words I don't even understand? naqqhaki ratlh. tlhanj katlhon... what does it all mean? Where are the other guys I came to this planet with? Did they get abducted too? Why did I come here? Too much... desert everywhere, sand, sand, sky, star, ring, ritlhin, nitlhjirrakratlhon, ritlhinnitlhjir, naqqhaki ratlh, tlhanj katlhon, tlhanj katlhon, tlanj katlhon, tlhanj katlhon.

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*22nd May -* Okay. I think I feel better now. I can barely even remember the chanting, and no more headache. The Raodians don't seem to understand how much pain I've been in... or they just do not care. Whatever. I'll keep making logs, and hopefully that doesn't happen ever again.

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*24th May* - IT HAPPENED AGAIN. ALTAR. CHANTING. RITLHINNITLHJIR. NAQQHAKI RATLH. TLHANJ KATLHON. TLHANJ KATLHON.

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*27th June* - Seventeen. Every seventeen days. I've counted it. Every seventeen days they take me to that damned place. And they chant, and they chant, and they chant, and I can't forget it, and it is forever, and the sun shines down harshly day upon day and the desert sands burn my skin and the words infect my mind and nothing makes sense and I go round in circles, round round round round until I collapse and wake up to a new day of shining and burning and chanting and hurting and shining and burning and chanting and hurting and I can't do anything I can't leave I can't eat yet I keep living I can't die for the lizards stop me I can't get these words out of my head all I want is to leave, leave, leave, TLHANJ KATLHON?

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*28th Nov. -* My mind is clear for the first time in many, many months. It is bliss. Also very weird things just happened. Instead of the usual underground chamber, those reptiles just led me across the desert. It must've been about two days of walking. Not fun, especially with the voices and the heat and the sand and... yeah. We arrived at another identical altar, but this time it was above ground and the only thing around for miles. Just this one thing, in the middle of who knows where, I have no idea how the lizards located it. I refused to touch it this time. They didn't care. The chanting begun once more, this time slightly different. This time they added the word "nitlhjirrakkatlhon". Like nitlhjirrakratlhon, but with "foreigner" instead of "Raodian". Were they calling me their leader? I don't know, and I'm not sure I want to. So the chanting happened. Something took control of my body, I tried to resist it, but still I moved my hands into the sand-altar. And the second I touched it, I was... somewhere else. A dark, rocky sort of place. No sand in sight. I don't know what happened, but I think I got moved to a different planet. And I could not be more thankful. Finally, I had left the lizards, Raodians, the desert, and the suffering behind. This place has some trees too -- living ones -- so I've gathered branches and set up a small camp. I'll probably never leave this place, but it is infinitely better than what I had before. I might even check out some of the wildlife here. But first I need to sleep.

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*29th Nov.* - I'm not on a planet. It's a moon. I can see the planet this moon is orbiting in the sky.6 It's not hard to see, pretty massive. Like I said, I was gonna look for some wildlife here, and I found some. There are these weird giant rock-crab things everywhere. They're about three metres tall, and luckily aren't hostile unless provoked. I managed to get close to one while it was feeding (on rocks, it seems). It must've smelt me, because I was silent, but it still knew I was there. Its eyes were... I guess something happened, because next thing I knew I was flat on the ground. The planet was a lot lower in the sky than before, so I think I passed out. I've a vague memory of it talking... ha. Funny. Sort of. Also creepy, and unexplainable. Hopefully I don't start hearing voices again. I don't like these crabs. They better not speak anymore.

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*12th Dec. -* They are here. I saw one. In the distance. Lizard. Saw me. Came to me. Spoke to me. "rir katlh i kakh. katlh i nitlhjirrakkatlhon." I blinked. Disappeared. Am I going insane?

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*4th Jan.* - Another one came to me. I killed it. I will do whatever I can to complete my research. Morals don't matter anymore. There is no one here, and there never will be anyone here, and my life will end here, and so nothing matters. Are the lizards human? No. So there is no need to be humane.

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*17th Sep. -* How long has it been? Centuries, it feels. Centuries of waiting here trapped from humanity save my own mind. Centuries, millennia, yet I think of the days and feel it has been weeks, weeks since I left home, days since I arrived, hours since I came here. I remember my family. They had names, long gone by now. Perhaps I will speak to them again when this is all over. I wish it to be over. I have tried for it to be over, tried, yet I cannot, for I will die not by my own hand, but the coming of the sands from whence I came will be my end. I have dreams of it. The skies collapsing in on themselves, folding under the weight of the desert on this place and the lizards with it, they call me the nitlhjirrakkatlhon, for that is my purpose, my reason for being, I was created by them to come here and be their pawn. I want them gone, I do not beg for this, but in the seas of the mind and the arid body I know that it must happen. nitlhjirrakkatlhon I am told it means Leader Protector Ruler Harbinger Mortality Extinction Demise.

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*21st Dec. -* They giveth life and they taketh away.

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> The log ends with this final entry, giving no explanation as to the fate of Myers.
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## Notes

1 . This statement is clearly a result of human error. We urge you to ignore it, along with any others of the same nature.

2 . Due to the presence of Raodians, which are not known to inhabit any other star systems, the planet described is almost certainly Retlhen.

3 . First Contact was achieved shortly after the invention of the Alcubierre drive. Myers must have departed in a pre-Alcubierre spacecraft, using cryogenics to sleep through the journey. The period of time between the use of solar-sails and Alcubierre drives means that Myers departed some time from 2056 - 2340. RE8294 is 32 lightyears from the Sun, and calculating with the speed of a solar-sail propelled craft, it would have taken 328 years to arrive. Therefore Myers likely arrived in RE8294 from 2384 - 2668, sent by NASA.

4 . File corrupted. Message left: "NONE SHALL SEE".

5 . "naqqhakhi ratlh" translates to "speak to me", and "katlhon" to "foreigner". "tlhanj" is an outlier and appears in no other documentation.

6 . From the description, this is likely Ghiq, and the planet is Qaayk, in the same system as Retlhen, RE8294.