Apart — Kevin at the keeper's cottage, Jenny at the garden

Midday Approaching

The tide is nearing its low point, leaving the tide pools slick and exposed.

Kevin sat in the cottage, the flat sky pressing down as the clouds thickened further. He tuned the shortwave radio to the supply boat frequency, listening through the static until he caught a report about targeted hospitals in Sudan. Meanwhile, Jenny limped to the garden, her ankle throbbing in the heat as she checked the shade cloth for any tears that might catch the coming wind.

🔧 Kevin — alone at the keeper's cottage

You monitor the shortwave to see if the supply boat's ETA remains firm despite the weather.

🔧 Kevin04:44

Kevin — walk to the shortwave radio on the kitchen shelf, switch it on, tune to the supply boat frequency (Channel 16, then working freq 2182 kHz), sit and listen through the static

💭 peek at the thought

Barometer's still dropping. North-east wind building. Supply boat's two days out — if they're coming at all, they'll call on the hour. Need to hear it myself.

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

🔧 Kevin04:54

Kevin — stay at the radio, notebook open, log the silence — time, frequency, signal strength zero, barometer reading, wind direction — then switch to Tom's old frequency (3845 kHz) just in case, listen there a minute

💭 peek at the thought

Nothing but static and the occasional crackle of atmospheric noise. No ship's voice, no coast guard chatter. Either they're not transmitting, they're too far, or the ionosphere's swallowing the signal. Barometer at 982 and falling says weather's coming. They'd be foolish to cross in this if they haven't left yet.

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

🔧 Kevin05:00

Kevin — switch off the radio, pocket the notebook, grab the come-along from the workshop shelf, pull on oilskin jacket, head out to the east shutter at the cottage

💭 peek at the thought

Tom's frequency is dead too. Just the same hiss. Of course it is. He hasn't keyed a mic in fourteen months. The silence stretches different ways — supply boat not calling, brother not calling, sky pressing down. Wind's picking up outside, rattling the porch boards. Time to get the east shutter sorted before the tide turns.

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

🌿 Jenny — alone at the garden

You limp toward the garden wall to check if the shade cloth held against the rain.

🌿 Jenny04:47

Come on, just... move.

Reach out to touch the edge of the shade cloth, checking for tension or torn fabric.

💭 peek at the thought

The wind is going to rip those stakes out if I don't secure the corners now.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🌿 Jenny04:59

Jenny — limp back toward the cottage to gather the tweezers, saline, and fresh sea beet for the poultice.

💭 peek at the thought

Still throbbing. I can't ignore the heat in the joint any longer; if I don't debride it now, the fever will just come back.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

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