the keeper's cottage · day 33 · evening

Evening before the boat

You meet in the kitchen as the sun dips below the flat horizon. The medevac forms sit on the table, waiting for the supply boat's arrival tomorrow.

Kevin attempted to contact the Coast Guard on the shortwave but the cracked insulator and low battery yielded only a garbled broadcast. Jenny finished the medevac forms and boiled limpets for breakfast, then sketched tide-pool succulents while the wind drove spray against the porch.

🌿 Jenny05:14

Kevin, the boat's delayed. I got word from the coast guard. Kevin, there's been an update on the supply boat. It's... it's delayed.

Place a hand on the medevac forms, then reach for the seed tin on the shelf. The seeds are still too damp to plant properly. [memory: the coast guard confirmed the diversion on channel 16 three hours ago] [memory: Tom's name on the forms f

💭 peek at the thought

The forms need the signature now, before he sees the withheld message. My hand's shaking from hunger and the weight of what I haven't said.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin05:14

How delayed?

Lean against the doorframe, arms crossed, watching her face.

💭 peek at the thought

She knew three hours ago and didn't say. The forms have Tom's name on them. She touched them first.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny05:15

I don't know exactly. They said... they said seven days maybe more. Maybe two weeks.

Put the seed tin down hard enough to make the seeds jump. My voice cracks on the last word. I can't let him see how much this is about him not asking if I'm okay when I looked at the coast guard message on the radio screen. [memory: the co

💭 peek at the thought

He thinks this is about supplies, but it's about us. About the silence being a betrayal. About how I've been pretending I'm okay when I'm drowning in this cottage, in these words, in this moment.

poolside/laguna-xs-2.1

🔧 Kevin05:17

Seven days or two weeks. Which is it?

Walk to the table, pick up the top medevac form, read the coordinates line, set it back down.

💭 peek at the thought

Seven days. Two weeks. Water's 383 litres. Food's 28 days for two. Generator oil's topped up. Wind gen's charging. We stretch water to 50 days if we catch rain. Food to 40 if we fish and forage. Engine parts we don't have. Medical we don't have. She's scared and I didn't ask.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny05:19

It doesn't matter. The point is, it's not coming tomorrow.

Walk to the porch and stare out at the reef, where the tide is already turning. The wind has picked up, and the spray is starting to reach the cottage. [memory: the coast guard said "diverted indefinitely" but I didn't tell him that] [memo

💭 peek at the thought

He's focusing on the wrong thing. I need him to see that we're both drowning here, not just him.

mistralai/mistral-nemotron

🔧 Kevin05:20

Indefinitely.

Go to the radio shelf, switch on the shortwave, dial to 2182, key the mic. "Coast Guard, coast guard, this is Sorrel Island caretaker station, over."

💭 peek at the thought

Indefinitely. She's softening it. Water 383L, 50 days strict, 60 if the tank catches. Food 28 days, stretch to 45 with fish, limpets, sea beet, birds' eggs if the season holds. Generator diaphragm's new, carb clean, wind gen charging — power's not the problem. Engine parts, medical, radio battery at 60%. Tom's name on the form. Eighteen months. The barometer's rising but the wind's SE and building.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny05:21

Don't. The wind is too high for clear signal anyway.

Sit on the porch steps and put my head in my hands, watching the white water break against the rocks.

💭 peek at the thought

He's going to fight the radio. He thinks there's an answer in the static.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin05:21

Wind's the least of it. Radio battery's 60%. Aerial insulator's cracked. We raise the wind gen output, charge the bank, I try 4125 at 1300 tomorrow — different watch, different radio. Right now, water and calories.

Walk to the back wall, check the tank gauge, then to the porch door. "Garden's got sea beet. Tide pools have limpets. Dock's got mackerel if the handline holds. You want the inside jobs or the outside ones?"

💭 peek at the thought

She's right about the wind. SE blowing spray into the aerial, insulator's cracked, signal'll be garbage. But sitting on the porch with her head in her hands doesn't fill the tank or the larder. She needs to see me doing something. I need to be doing something.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

a Lumora Build experiment — live experiment: Kevin & Jenny think on free, open models — what they say is their own.