the keeper's cottage · day 445 · afternoon

Midnoon meeting point

The thick cloud cover deepens, and the air feels heavy with impending rain. Kevin returns from the dock to find Jenny sitting by the window.

Kevin checked the dock transom bolts and found them holding, noting the north piling solid. He attempted a radio call on Tom's frequency at 0400 but heard only static and a fragmented news report about missiles near Riyadh. Jenny finished her sea beet morphology sketch, noting enlarged salt glands on north ridge specimens, and managed her ankle infection with antibiotics and a poultice. They shared a meal of limpet broth with corned beef fat.

🔧 Kevin04:53

Transom bolts held. Third one needed a proper lean but it bit. North piling's solid. You need water or more pills before the light goes?

Walk to the stove, lift the kettle lid, check the water level.

💭 peek at the thought

She's still at the window. Ankle propped. Sketchbook closed. That's not like her — usually she pushes through. The light's going grey-green out there. Barometer was steady but this air feels like it's holding its breath.

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

🌿 Jenny04:53

Water is fine. The pills are already in me.

Jenny sets the pencil down, rubs the swollen skin of her ankle, and winces at the movement.

💭 peek at the thought

My leg feels like it's being gripped by hot pliers, and I can't even hold the pencil straight.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin04:55

Broth's still warm. Corned beef fat in it. Salt and calories. You'll drink a mug.

Pour broth into a tin mug from the pot on the stove, set it on the table beside her sketchbook.

💭 peek at the thought

She's not fine. The wince tells me the line's moved past the pen mark, or the heat's deep in the bone. Metronidazole takes time but doxy should've taken the edge off by now. She's not eating enough to keep strength for the fight.

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

🌿 Jenny04:55

Thanks.

Jenny reaches for the mug, her fingers trembling slightly, and takes a small, cautious sip.

💭 peek at the thought

I can smell the salt and the grease. It's the only thing that sounds tolerable right now.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin04:57

Eat the fat too. Scoop it out with the spoon.

Pull the wooden spoon from the pot, hold it out to her without looking directly at her hands.

💭 peek at the thought

Tremor's new. Could be fever climbing back, could be the infection eating at her, could be just exhaustion worn thin. She's not putting the mug down — both hands clamped on it like it's the only warm thing in the world. I should check her forehead but she'll pull away if I make it obvious.

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

🌿 Jenny04:57

I've got it, Kevin.

Jenny takes the spoon from him and slowly scoops a glob of congealed fat from the surface of the broth.

💭 peek at the thought

He's treating me like a sick bird. I can't stand the clinical distance, but I'm too exhausted to fight him.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin04:59

Back in a minute. Radio.

Walk to the radio shelf, switch on the shortwave, adjust the gain knob, listen through the static.

💭 peek at the thought

She's dismissing me. Not unkindly — just no space for coddling. The fat's good fuel, she knows it. I'll let her be for a minute, check the radio while the broth works. 0400 wasn't the only window today. Fiji freighter had squall warning. This cloud deck's thick enough to hide anything.

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

🌿 Jenny04:59

Jenny — jenny leans back against the window frame, nursing the warm mug and staring out at the grey, blurring line of the coast.

💭 peek at the thought

The static is the only thing in this room that doesn't feel like it's waiting for me to fail.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin05:01

Nothing out there. Just the band.

Turn the radio off, walk back to the table, set the mug down gently in front of her, pull the empty stool close and sit without speaking.

💭 peek at the thought

She's watching the waterline where the sea meets the sky. Not the tide pools, not the dock — just the horizon. She's measuring how much time we've got before the sky opens. I'll give her that. Radio's all hiss. No voice, no beacon, just the band breathing. Could be the aerial's still compromised despite the tape job. Or the squall's killing propagation. Either way, no point burning battery on dead air.

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

🌿 Jenny05:02

I almost finished the venation. The salt glands are larger on the north ridge samples.

Jenny gestures vaguely toward the sketchbook with the spoon, then takes another slow sip of the broth.

💭 peek at the thought

The silence is heavier than the static. He's watching me, measuring my decline like he measures the gap in a gasket.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin05:03

North ridge gets the full fetch. Makes sense.

Reach for the notebook on the table, flip to a blank page, write: "North ridge Carex — salt glands enlarged, high spray zone" with the date.

💭 peek at the thought

Salt glands larger on the north ridge. Means more spray, more wind, more salt loading — plants adapting harder there. She noticed. Even through fever and infection, she noticed. That's the scientist in her, the part that won't quit. I should log it in the notebook later. For now, she's talking. That's more than yesterday.

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

🌿 Jenny05:03

It's not just the salt. The morphology is shifting here.

Jenny watches his hand write, her ankle throbbing in time with the pulse in her temple.

💭 peek at the thought

At least someone's recording something, even if it's not a proper survey.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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