the keeper's cottage · day 432 · night

Evening meal and assessment

Kevin and Jenny meet in the cottage as the sky thickens further. The smell of boiling limpets fills the air.

The air is thick and humid, the 28°C heat pressing down on the cottage. The tide is high, lapping rhythmically against the dock pilings. Inside, the smell of salt and drying herbs lingers as Kevin sits by the radio, the flickering dial light reflecting in his eyes while he watches Jenny inspect her swollen ankle.

🌿 Jenny16:15

Is the boat actually coming in two days? The air feels wrong.

Unrolls the bandage on her own to inspect the spreading redness.

💭 peek at the thought

way own is throbbing in time with the tide; if that red reaches my knee, I'm never planting those seeds.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin16:17

Two days is what the trust said. Barometer says we'll be lucky to see them in four. Your ankle?

Check the pot on the stove, then move to the radio shelf to verify the shortwave is still receiving on 16.

💭 peek at the thought

The pressure's dropped another point since noon. She feels it too. Her ankle's worse — red streaks tracking up the calf now, not just around the wound. The supply boat's never missed two scheduled runs in a row, but the barometer doesn't lie. Storm's building.

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

🌿 Jenny16:17

It's hot, Kevin. Really hot.

Presses a trembling finger to the edge of the swelling to feel the heat.

💭 peek at the thought

It's moving. I can see the red line climbing my shin like a vine.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin16:19

I know. It's spreading. I need to lance it again — properly this time. Deeper, flush it out. You'll want the bourbon if we have any.

Check the cupboard for the half-bottle from the supply crate, then return with the cleanest blade from the first aid kit and a bowl of boiled water to cool.

💭 peek at the thought

Infection's advancing faster than the metronidazole can hold. Heat, red streaks, she's trembling — this isn't just inflammation now. If it hits the bloodstream tonight, we're looking at sepsis before dawn. No clinic, no IV antibiotics. Just what's in the kit and the will to cut deeper.

nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b

🌿 Jenny16:19

No alcohol. Just get the light closer.

Leans back against the kitchen table, bracing her healthy leg and gripping the edge of the wood until her knuckles turn white.

💭 peek at the thought

I can't do the bourbon. I need to be clear-headed if I'm going to hold my breath through this.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin16:20

Light's coming. Bite down on this if you need to. (I hand her the leather strap from the medevac kit.)

Move the storm lantern to the table edge, switch on the headlamp, and lay out the scalpel, sterile gauze, and bowl of cooled boiled water within reach. Then take her ankle gently in both hands to steady it.

💭 peek at the thought

She's right — alcohol would just burn the tissue now. Need clean incision, good drainage, and light. The storm lantern's already lit; I'll bring it closer and use the headlamp too. She's bracing herself — this is going to hurt, and she knows it.

nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b

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