What am I going to do? Just what the hell am I going to do? It's been at least 12 hours. 24 hours. Maybe 48 hours. I don't even know how many hours it's been, but I've been stuck alone in some stranger's house for almost or over a day and still haven't seen any sight of them. What's going on here? This is madness! Something terrible is on the horizon, I just feel it! No connection to the Stratus, no radio signals, no GPS assistance! This is the kind of crap that goes on in horror movies: A lone young man in a forest cabin thinking everything is fine and then -- Wham! --, dinner plate to the head and he wakes up in a bathtub full of ice!

I am going to get a hold of myself, that's what I'm going to do. I just need to keep a level head. I've been through situations just as bad and come out of them fine. Remember how many exams you walked into without ever even cracking into a MIRRD that week? You came out of those just fine, Benjamen, and it was all because you remained calm and just assessed the questions piece by piece. The answer can't be too hard to find if you just look and think about it. Alright, I think I am back in a good place now. Let me start arranging the pieces here to see if I can come up with anything.

I awoke today still lying on that same sofa I found myself on yesterday. With a bit more strength returned to me, I have attempted wandering about the house and tried to call out for anyone who might be home to answer me. Nobody answered, however, and instead the only attention I did receive was from a rabbit. This little white rabbit is a very peculiar find. He seems to be far more intelligent than any of the rodents back on Terriel that I know of. As of this moment, that rabbit is in the corner of this room brandishing a knitting needle like a polearm and keeping a watchful eye on me. He has already pierced my boot once with it when I tried to pick him up, so I am going to remain on my best behavior from here on.

There is one factor that continues to concern me: My CCMI is completely unresponsive. Unresponsive? How can my interface with my cranial processing unit be offline? This just does not happen; it just does not! The only times this can occur is during virus attacks or hacking attempts, and as far as I can tell I have been too far from the Stratus for someone to access me remotely. Have I been tampered with while I was asleep? I don't have any wounds on my head, so they did not attempt a manual connection, and my I/O ports are still locked. They could not have. I hope they could not have.

I needed a moment to catch my breath. With my CCMI deadlocked, I am finding the thin atmosphere in this cottage to be very difficult to breathe. If I take anything less than long, measured breaths, I start to feel lightheaded and a little numb. This means that my respiratory assistance is offline along with the rest of my CCMI functionality. I should be fine for a little while, but I can hope that this malfunction does not last for too long. The danger of suffocation is uncomfortably high right now.

Respiratory assistance is not the only thing that is affected. When I attempted to access some music files to help calm myself down and steady my breathing, I realized that I could not, and all attempts to interface with my CCMI are moot. Media, networking, indexing – everything is refusing to respond. For those of you who like to use your CCMIs and never even consider what the hell they actually are, here's the short explanation for your equally short attention spans. When you were an infant on Terriel, there was a mandatory surgery performed on you for the purpose of installing a cybernetic, mesh, pseudo-organic overlay between the interior of the skull and the top of the brain. With an astonishingly low rejection rate for infants, the pseudo-organic material is meant to grow as a part of your own brain as well. It also connects with major respiratory and cardiovascular organs for purposes such as assisting with oxygen intake of the lungs in lower atmospheric pressures and offering assisted circulation in differentiating gravity scenarios. It does not automate these functions, but it can force them to function should the need arise such as sudden cardiac arrest, paralysis, etc. This means that one will not die from their CCMI ceasing to function, but it should never cease to function unless you are dead, have contracted a virus, or are being hacked! I feel this little lesson is incomplete without me clarifying that the CCMI (Cybernetic Cranial Mesh Interface) is the actual internal display and relay used when trying to access information storage or connect to the Stratus, media banks, or optical recordings. The CCMI is directly connected to your I/O ports. (That happens to be the jacks on the back of your neck; however, if you really needed this explanation at all, I should give you the layman’s terms that it's the place you hook your MIRRDs into to play your virtual games and watch your movies. You're welcome, ignorant bumpkin.)

Now that the owner has been absent for so long, I suppose I could take a moment to look around. I can only hope they get home soon, for I have many questions to ask them. One of those questions is if they could be hospitable enough to spare a meal. I checked my backpack by the sofa for some of the jerky and trail mix I had brought along with me, but they are absent from my supplies. I can only guess that they are missing because of that damn rat; the little thief must have eaten my rations before it started napping. As it stands, it would be terribly rude for me to go rummaging around their kitchen for food. If my common sense will not keep me in line, the mutant bunny with the knitting needle will. I should probably not appear to be looking for anything lest I wish to be attacked again.

Butterflies! What is with all the butterflies? They're everywhere in here! Not live butterflies mind you, but engravings in the wood, paintings, stitchings, and pictures of butterflies are all over! This person is obsessed with them. I can only assume that it is either a woman or a Lufae (look at me stereotyping all Lufaen men to be homosexual – I need to get a hold of myself – there is no excuse for that kind of behavior, even in a situation like mine) because of all the colorful (pink? teal? viridian? Fuchsia? – I could not begin to tell you what the names of all the colors here are; interior design has never been my forte) and decorative butterfly portrayals.

On closer inspection, I just realized that the yellow horse is missing. I have not seen it since yesterday at all, even in my few wanderings that I have been allowed to undertake. Most peculiarly, I have not been able to find a place set up for it to sleep. The only thing I can think is that the animal must be allowed to sleep in the bed upstairs? That's odd to say the least, and probably more accurate to say unhealthy. Perhaps it is normally meant to sleep on the sofa I was occupying? Still a damn odd thing to have set up.

Pardon, there is a knock at the door. Since the owner is not home, I guess I'll go answer it. I can hope they will not mind me at least getting to see a friendly face for the first time in almost a week.