During the initial phase of self-pity and despondency that typically follow a banishment of this length, Frank had attempted to abandon all tracking of time completely. Soon, however, if for no other reason than a desire to avoid discomfort, he found himself fashioning his lonely existence around the rising and setting of the hottest and brightest of Randon's three suns.
This morning, like almost every other morning for the past 17 years, he arose, chiseled a mark on the rock which served as a calendar next to his bedding, and immediately set himself about the task of checking for leaks in the Shelter. Thank God the UWR had at least granted him this one most useful technological tool. A few small cracks around the door and one on the tarp ceiling. The scan beam measured magnitude as well as location. But he would need to repair them all before the day was through anyway. Without wasting any time, he began preparing the plaster-like substance he depended upon as a shield from the potentially devastating effects of the sun's radiation.
Randon was a harsh planet, certainly unfit for anything human. If not for the Shelter, which he repaired daily, and the shield-suits so graciously provided by the authorities, nobody could last a week there, much less 30 years. Freezing nights and blazing days left the ground incredibly hard to farm. Only the strangest of plants and impersonal creatures could thrive in such a barren, sand filled, forsaken place.
Despite his best efforts, he had never quite found a creature on Randon that would make a suitable pet. It was against the terms of his sentence anyway, but who would know or even care - who would check up on him - and how could they punish him any worse? Of the very few creatures he had ever witnessed on the planet's surface, none were particularly attractive or affectionate - although, if the truth be told, that would not have deterred him in the least. They were all far too radioactive to risk bringing into the Shelter. That was the real reason he remained distant from the planets creatures.
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