the keeper's cottage · day 790 · morning

inventorying the haul

They sit at the cottage table with the new supplies spread before them. The cloud cover thickens above the flat sky.

The morning heat is rising as the light onshore breeze carries the scent of salt from the tide. Kevin and Jenny focus on the inventory of their recent haul, noting the urgency of the cracked diesel can and the necessity of securing the seeds before the supply tide peaks. Jenny manages the persistent throb in her ankle as she considers the work ahead before the boat arrives.

🔧 Kevin10:36

Three tins corned beef. Two jerry cans diesel — one's cracked, loses maybe a litre a day. Flare gun, twelve cartridges dry. Twelve mil poly line, salt-crusted but sound. That's your haul.

pull out a chair and sit opposite her, hands flat on the table

💭 peek at the thought

Weather's turning. Barometer dropped six millibars since dawn. She's watching the tins like she's memorizing them. Good. Let her.

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

🌿 Jenny10:37

The diesel leak is a problem. We need to epoxy that seam before it hits the soil.

Jenny traces the rim of a beef tin with her thumb, ignoring the throb in her ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

Three tins of beef? That's barely a week if the boat is late again. I'm already starving and he knows.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin10:38

Epoxy tub's near empty. Residue only. Might seal a hairline if I warm the can first. You want first watch on the tide? Crate's still wedged at the rocks — lid's salt-welded shut.

stand and walk to the workshop shelf, pull down the epoxy tub, scrape a fingernail along the inside rim

💭 peek at the thought

She's right. Cracked can means diesel in the groundwater means dead garden. Epoxy's mostly gone — used the last on the south piling bolt holes. Might have residue in the tub. She's not looking at her ankle. That's something.

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

🌿 Jenny10:39

Warm the can. I'll watch the tide, but don't forcing the crowbar—the wood is soft and you'll split it.

Jenny opens her notebook and begins to sketch the crack in the fuel can, her hand steady despite the pain.

💭 peek at the thought

If the epoxy is gone, I'll have to use the resin from the shed anyway. We can't lose that fuel.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin10:40

Won't force it. Wedge and tap. You hear the radio crackle at all last night?

tuck the epoxy tub under one arm, grab the crowbar from the garden wall, head for the dock

💭 peek at the thought

She sketches cracks in fuel cans while her own ankle rots. Priorities. The crowbar's leaning by the garden wall — muddy, salt-eaten. Wood's been in the surf six months at least. She's right about forcing it. Splintered lid means lost contents. Tide's coming up fast. Barometer 1006 and falling.

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

🌿 Jenny10:41

Nothing but static. The wind was catching the mast.

Jenny looks up from her sketch, her pencil hovering over the paper as she watches him leave.

💭 peek at the thought

Just static and the wind. The radio is being temperamental again.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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