the keeper's cottage · day 920 · evening

Evening Prep and Arrival

Kevin and Jenny meet in the kitchen as the sun dips. The onshore breeze has picked up, carrying the scent of salt.

The humidity is a heavy weight over the cottage, and the thickening cloud cover promises a coming squall. Inside, Jenny sits at the table, her leg propped up as she winces from the throbbing pain in her ankle. Kevin prepares the saline and clean gauze, his focus entirely on the angry red skin of the wound as they discuss the supply boat's arrival tomorrow at high tide.

🌿 Jenny05:01

The boat is coming tomorrow at high tide. They have the impeller.

Winces as she shifts her weight, lifting the leg, and rubs the swollen area above the bandage.

💭 peek at the thought

My ankle is a drum of fire and the humidity is making the skin weep. I need to get those samples tested before the storm truly breaks.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin05:01

Copy that. High tide window, impeller confirmed." I set the mug down, wipe my hands on the rag. "Let me look at it. Proper look.

walk to the table, pull out a chair, sit and gesture for her to extend the leg

💭 peek at the thought

She's favouring it worse than this morning. The line I marked has moved — or she's just stopped pretending it hasn't. Two-hour window at high tide. Need the dinghy ready, the radio hot, and her ankle assessed before we commit to the transfer.

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

🌿 Jenny05:03

It's fine, Kevin. Just the heat.

Slowly unwraps the damp gauze, her fingers trembling as the fabric clings to the angry, red skin.

💭 peek at the thought

He's looking at it like it's a broken engine he can just tighten up. He doesn't see the rot under the skin.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin05:03

It's not fine." My voice stays level. "Hold still.

reach for the clean gauze roll and saline bottle on the shelf, peel the old dressing back slow so I can see the wound edges

💭 peek at the thought

That's not heat. That's tracking. The red line's past the second mark I made yesterday — maybe three centimetres past. She's running a fever too, the way her fingers shake. Heat doesn't make gauze stick like that.

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

🌿 Jenny05:05

Be careful... it's deep today.

Bites her lip, eyes fixing on the stone floor as the bandage pulls away from the infection.

💭 peek at the thought

The swelling is pulsing in time with my heart. If I don't debride this now, I'll never be able to walk the north ridge.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin05:05

Metro tonight. Clean it, pack it, elevate. If that line crosses the knee, I'm calling it.

pour saline slow over the wound, let it run clear, then blot with fresh gauze — no rubbing — and mix the sea beet poultice fresh while the water runs

💭 peek at the thought

Deep. She knows. The wound's weeping yellow-green, edges hot and raised. The red line's crept past the pen mark from yesterday — three, four centimetres up the calf. Lymphangitic spread. She's been on doxy but it's not holding. Metronidazole's in the kit, four doses left. Need to start it tonight, clean and pack this proper, and if the line hits the knee by morning we key the medevac on 16. Supply boat's two-hour window won't wait for us to decide.

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

🌿 Jenny05:07

I know. I just need to be able to move again for the ridge samples.

Closes her eyes, breathing through her nose as the cool poultice hits the swollen skin.

💭 peek at the thought

The smell of the crushed leaves and salt is sharp. I'm too tired to even hold the scalpel.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin05:07

The ridge isn't going anywhere. You're not walking on this tomorrow. I'll run the samples if they need running.

secure the poultice with clean gauze and tape, hand her the metronidazole blister pack and a mug of water, then pull the chair closer to sit with her

💭 peek at the thought

Ridge samples. She's thinking about the transect data while her leg rots. The north ridge can wait. The supply boat, the impeller, the Yanmar — none of it matters if she loses the leg. Or worse. Metronidazole first dose now. Second at 0600. I'll sit the radio watch tonight. She needs sleep, not soil pH.

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

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