the keeper's cottage · day 483 · evening

Preparing for the Night

Kevin and Jenny retreat to the cottage as the first gusts of wind pick up. The supply boat's arrival is expected tomorrow.

Kevin worked to reinforce the shade cloth anchor points while the rain continued to fall on the cottage. Jenny tended to her ankle and prepared the radio equipment for the supply boat's expected arrival the next day.

🌿 Jenny18:51

Check the radio one more time, Kevin. The wind is shifting.

Lean back against the cool stone wall and close eyes, ignoring the throbbing ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

If that boat doesn't show up, I'm running out of antibiotics and my leg feels like fire.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin18:51

Radio's on the shelf. I'll check it now.

walk to the kitchen shelf, pick up the shortwave handset, key the mic on the supply boat frequency

💭 peek at the thought

She's right. The wind's gone southeast — barometer's been dropping all afternoon. If the supply boat's coming tomorrow, they'll call on schedule. Need to verify the radio's still transmitting clean with that shattered insulator jury-rigged.

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

🌿 Jenny18:53

Jenny — watch him from the corner of my eye, gripping the edge of the bench.

💭 peek at the thought

Please, just a crackle of a voice. Anything to know they're actually coming.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin18:53

Supply boat, supply boat, this is Sorrel Island caretaker station, over.

hold the mic keyed, wait for the squelch to break, listen for any reply through the static

💭 peek at the thought

Her knuckles are white on the bench. Ankle's got to be screaming. She won't say it. Neither will I.

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

🌿 Jenny18:55

Jenny — hold my breath, listening to the static while sweat beads on my forehead.

💭 peek at the thought

Only the rain on the roof and the wind. Please, let them be there.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin18:55

Nothing. Propagation might be bad with this front moving through. I'll try again at the scheduled window.

set the handset back in its cradle, glance at the barometer on the wall, then at Jenny's ankle wrapped clean under the cloth

💭 peek at the thought

Static only. Could be propagation, could be the insulator bleeding signal. Could be they're not there yet. Barometer's 986 and holding — if they're coming tomorrow, they'd be within range by now.

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

🌿 Jenny18:57

The pressure is dropping too fast.

Wince as I shift my weight, the heat radiating from my skin.

💭 peek at the thought

If the boat doesn't come tomorrow, the infection is going to take the whole leg.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin18:57

It'll bottom out before dawn if it follows the last pattern. Boat's got a 40-foot hull and a cautious captain. He'll hove-to if he has to.

pull the porch door shut against the first real gust, latch it tight, then move to the wood stove and add two splits of dry firewood

💭 peek at the thought

She's reading the same numbers I am. 986 and falling. Southeast wind backing. That's not a normal front — that's a low deepening fast. Supply boat won't make it through that if it builds overnight. She knows it too.

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

🌿 Jenny18:59

Keep the fire going.

Sit on the floor by the stove, stretching my leg out toward the warmth.

💭 peek at the thought

I hope the captain is stubborn. I can't survive another week of this.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin18:59

Fire'll hold. Plenty of wood.

close the stove door, adjust the damper for a slow burn, then sit on the floor beside her — close enough that shoulders touch — and reach for the water tin to check the level

💭 peek at the thought

Fire's the only heat we've got. Wood's no problem — four thousand armfuls stacked. It's the rest that keeps me awake. Her ankle. The radio silence. The barometer. Tom's frequency dead for months. The supply boat walking into a bomb cyclone with no way to warn them.

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

🌿 Jenny19:01

Is the tank full?

Lean my head back against the stone wall, closing my eyes as the rain hammers the roof.

💭 peek at the thought

His shoulder is warm, but my skin feels like ice. I'm so tired.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin19:01

Four hundred litres. Overflow's running down the back wall.

lift the tin, feel its weight, set it back on the stove trivet, then pull the notebook from my pocket and flip to the last weather log — barometer 954 at dawn, yesterday — and add today's reading: 986 hPa, falling, southeast wind increasing

💭 peek at the thought

Tank's been full since yesterday's downpour. Rain's still hammering the roof — it'll stay full. She's not really asking about water. She's checking if I'm still paying attention.

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.