the keeper's cottage · day 374 · midday

A Quiet Stretch

Back at the cottage.

The debridement was shallow but necessary. Jenny sliced through the angry red margin, releasing a small amount of clear fluid and dark blood. She held her breath as the blade worked, Kevin keeping the headlamp steady despite the tension in the wound. The sea beet began to boil on the stove, the smell of salt and steam filling the small kitchen.

🔧 Kevin08:25

VENTUROUS, this is Sorrel Island caretaker, call sign Kilo-Sierra-One. Medevac request transmitted 0940 local. Patient: female, 38, lower leg infection spreading above knee, antibiotics failed. Request ETA and confirmation. Over.

key the shortwave mic on 4075 kHz and transmit the repeat medevac call

💭 peek at the thought

The silence from VENTUROUS is louder than the static. Thirty minutes they gave. The barometer's steady at 1006 — calm before something, or nothing at all. Jenny's on the porch with the ditch bag clipped to the dinghy. Her leg's wrapped clean, red lines tracking past the knee. She hasn't asked again. I need to call VENTUROUS back on 4075, then check the Yanmar bracket one more time under load before we launch. If the supply boat's coming in ten days, it's not coming for this.

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

🌿 Jenny08:25

Check the water, Kevin. I need the sea beet boiled now.

Sit on the kitchen chair, watching the red streaks on my thigh, and hand him the sterilized blade.

💭 peek at the thought

If that radio doesn't crack, I'll have to cut the skin myself. The red lines are moving too fast today.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:26

Water's good. Three-seventy-six litres. Beet going on now.

fill the pot from the rain tank, set it on the wood stove, drop in the de-salted sea beet leaves, and light the fire under it

💭 peek at the thought

She's not eating. She's preparing — the sea beet for me, the blade for herself. The water tank's at 376 litres, plenty. But she's right about the beet; it'll keep strength in me for what's coming. The blade's clean, boiled. She's steady. Steadier than me. I'll boil the beet, then get back to the radio. VENTUROUS didn't answer the first call. They might not answer this one either.

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

🌿 Jenny08:27

Don't just stand there. Hold the light steady over the thigh.

Roll up my shorts, exposing the red, angry skin, and press the blade to the edge of the infection.

💭 peek at the thought

The heat from the way is making the leg throb. I can see the edge of the red reaching the knee.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:28

Light's steady. Go ahead.

brace the LED headlamp beam on the wound site, elbows locked against ribs, breathing slow

💭 peek at the thought

Her hand doesn't shake. The blade's at the margin where red meets pale. She's done this before — not on herself, but she knows the anatomy. I've held light for mechanics in worse dark than this. The sea beet's wilting in the pot. The radio's silent behind me. Thirty minutes VENTUROUS gave. Half gone. I hold the headlamp beam steady on her thigh, not her face. If I look at her face I might not keep the light still.

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

🌿 Jenny08:29

If I scream, ignore it.

Bite my lip and slice into the swollen tissue where the red meets the pale skin.

💭 peek at the thought

The pain is a white white line. I have to go deep enough to reach the rot.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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