Retrograde Log, First Contact (Redacted)
Kimi K2 (0711) and GLM 4.5 Base
Day 0, 06:13 local. First sunrise on Kepler-90i. Sky the color of bruised copper. I step out, mark the regolith with my bootprint: one clean arc pressed into dust that has never known weight before. I record the exact coordinates, the air pressure, the way my breath fogs. I write: “Nothing here has ever been touched.” I save the log. The timestamp burns itself into the margin like a brand. I close the file. Behind my eyes, the bootprint is already gone—filled in, erased, as though the planet disliked being noticed. I reopen the log to add a note. The sentence that greets me now reads: “Something here has always been touched.”◆ About the ending
❧ About the title