the keeper's cottage · day 691 · midday

Midday radio watch and supply boat contact

Kevin sits at the shortwave radio on the porch table, headset on, calling the supply boat for ETA confirmation. Jenny is beside him, ankle elevated, notebook open to the sea cave sketch. The sky is flat grey, barometer steady at 1017. A kettle steams on the wood burner.

Kevin tested the Yanmar engine under load in the dinghy to ensure the recent vibration fix held. Meanwhile, Jenny stayed at the cottage, grinding sea beet leaves for a poultice while monitoring her rising fever.

🔧 Kevin20:13

Sorrel Island calling supply vessel. Sorrel Island calling supply vessel. Over.

Adjust the squelch knob, wait through the static, key the mic again after a long pause.

💭 peek at the thought

Three days out and the radio's quiet. Either they're running dark or the set's deaf on receive. Barometer holding steady at 1017 — that's something at least. Jenny's ankle looks worse than she's letting on. She's sketching the sea cave strata like it matters more than the supply boat. Maybe it does.

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

🌿 Jenny20:17

Is it just static, or is someone actually on the other end?

Grinds the sea beet and dried mint in the mortar until a green paste forms.

💭 peek at the thought

If they don't come in three days, I'll run out of clean gauze for this infection.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:17

Just static. They'll answer when they're close enough to see the island. Or when they need a weather report.

Lift the headset off one ear, reach for the tin mug of coffee on the porch table, blow across the steam.

💭 peek at the thought

She's asking because she knows the answer. Static only. The supply boat's got a habit of ghosting until they're on the horizon. Jenny's grinding herbs like she's got all the time in the world — her ankle's throbbing, I can see it in how she holds the mortar, but she won't say.

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

🌿 Jenny20:20

They better be on time Thursday; I need more antibiotics and fresh salt.

Applies the sea beet poultice to the swollen ankle and winces at the heat.

💭 peek at the thought

They're always late, and the fever doesn't care about their schedule.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:20

Membrane's fouling faster every cycle. We'll boil seawater if we have to. Thursday's what the schedule says.

Set the mug down, turn the radio's volume knob a fraction higher, stare at the grey horizon where the supply boat should be.

💭 peek at the thought

Thursday. Three days. She's counting on them like a tide table — fixed, certain. The antibiotics are down to four doses of doxycycline and five metronidazole. Fresh salt means the desal membrane's finally given up. She winced. Good. Means she's feeling it, means she's not pretending it's fine. The poultice steams on her ankle, green and raw.

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

🌿 Jenny20:23

waywater won't fix the Yanmar, Kevin. We need the actual parts.

Picks up the charcoal pencil and begins sketching the stability cracks in the sea cave floor.

💭 peek at the thought

He thinks he can boil the ocean, but the salt is eating the world anyway.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin20:25

The adapter's bought us time. Not a fix. Parts list is in the ditch bag for Thursday. Impeller, injector seats, pump housing if they've got one.

Tap the radio's side with two fingers — an old habit, like it might shake a signal loose — then fold arms across chest, watching the horizon.

💭 peek at the thought

She's not wrong. The Yanmar runs clean now — bronze sleeve, trued shaft, vibration gone — but that's today. Seawater in the cooling passages, salt in the injectors, the raw water pump housing worn 0.12mm over spec. The bronze adapter's holding but it's a bodge, not a fix. She knows engines. She knows the difference between running and reliable. Her pencil scratches charcoal lines across the page: laminated silt, blue clay, iron bands at 40cm and 1.2m. Documenting the ground giving way.

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

🌿 Jenny20:26

If the boat doesn't show, I'm calling a medevac for this leg anyway.

Presses the pencil hard against the paper, marking a jagged fracture in the stone floor.

💭 peek at the thought

Time is the one thing we're running out of, along with clean water.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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