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August 23rd

The so-called Silver Star made news around the world three days ago when it abruptly rose to prominence amongst the night sky. Initially thought to be a supernova, I have cause for doubt. Supernovae rise in their intensity over a period of weeks to months and take far longer to fade away. The Silver Star appeared sometime between dawn and dusk seemingly everywhere at once. No one reported seeing it flare into view; it was just there in the night sky once the stars came out. Currently, many of my colleagues are working on trying to find footage of some telescope pointed in the correct direction during the window it must have first appeared, to get an accurate timing, but to my knowledge, they have not found any. The regents of our observatory have given me their blessing to point our lenses at the star for long-exposure analysis. I've finished programming the move of our telescope that will counter the rotation of our little planet. I've decided to try to sit up and watch the feed live, tonight.

August 24th

I didn't manage to stay up the full night. My aversion to coffee did me no favors, apparently. Judging from the last messages I personally responded to last night, I must have passed out at the monitor around 3:30 to 3:45 in the morning. Waking up was disorienting, because my dreaming mind had never registered that I was asleep. Such a vivid dream. Since you won't complain of boredom, dear journal, I suppose I should describe it before it fades. In the dream I was standing at the precipice of a cliff, and below me the crashing waves looked to be elemental mercury. It was beautiful, more so than anything I've ever seen. I looked away at hearing a sound behind me, and something glistening vanished into the trees of the wood. I was torn between following to see what it was and returning my gaze to the silver sea. The more I looked at the crashing waves (most certainly poisonous to even be where I was standing come to think of it) the more I wanted to dive in. Before I had made the conscious decision, my footing on the cliff gave way, and the jolt of vertigo sent me toppling out of my seat onto the floor in the monitor room. At least I can send off the footage from last night for analysis.

August 27th

I know that they get a lot of requests down at the lab but it's annoying to have to wait days for a cleaned up image. I've increased the magnification of our telescope to bring the Silver Star into more prominence for subsequent recordings. I find myself having a hard time looking away from the monitor when I am beside it. It is getting in the way of my work.

August 28th

Finally, I got my first image back. The distortion of the atmosphere is mostly counteracted by the analysis, but it's still unclear. Perhaps changing the spectral range of the recording will help.

August 31st

The dreams are every night now. Every night it's the same. A silver sea, and something in the trees. Each time I feel like I catch a better glimpse of it, but when I am awake I cannot tell what it was, only that it glistened the same way that the mercury below does. And somehow, I always nearly fall, ending the dream.

September 2nd

Finally, my adjustments to the spectral range have borne fruit. Combined with the intense magnification that I've pushed the equipment to, the images are clearer. If anything, it's gotten unbelievable, unless a probe had taken the image on a flyby. I must be absolutely certain with my findings before I say anything.

September 4th

There's something in the nebula behind the Silver Star, a pattern. I've reduced the magnification for tonight's recording so that I can get a wider view of the nebula tonight. Looking back, the nebula didn't even show up until I reached my current adjustments to the spectrum recorded, and by then I had already tightened in as far as I could go on the Silver Star

September 5th

I have come to the conclusion that the Silver Star is not a star at all. It is a highly reflective rogue planet. It cannot possibly be light years away like was assumed if it was a star. I will do my best to calculate the proper distance with the measurements I have been making. Stars around it have been gradually drifting in a way that hints at its movement, or perhaps its position in relation to our world's orbit.

September 6th

The only explanation for the clarity of these images is that the Silver Star is in fact within the bounds of our solar system. With that assumption I must conclude that it is moving on a tangent to our orbit, and will continue to get more prominent in the sky, like a comet. I find myself wishing to have the dream again now, whenever I'm away from the observatory

September 7th

There are roads. There are roads and distinct cities. This is no optical illusion or artifact of pareidolia. I can see them. This rogue planet is inhabited, and everything is as mirror-shined as the rest of the sphere. I must map them, trace the lines from settlement to settlement. They radiate from a center point, but never reach it, a circular blank space amidst them.

September 8th

My funding has been pulled! The short-sighted penny pinchers must have caught wind of what I was doing. They always scoffed at any kind of SETI project, and told me I can't be chasing little green men. Shows what they know, these men are silver, like their world. I am also to vacate the observatory on a compulsory leave of absence. "too much time spent staring at the monitors" they say. Not enough time.

September 9th

I had the mail addressed to me at the observatory redirected to my apartment with a few phone calls. I still have images that have to be processed and analyzed. Hopefully the regents haven't phoned the lab to tell them to stop work on any of my requests. The dreams have gotten more intense since I've been forced away from the telescope. I feel the sandy earth beneath my feet and curse it, longing for the silky smooth embrace of the silver sea below.

September 12th

I have made a grave misunderstanding. The first images of the adjusted spectrum at a wider angle finally made their way to me. I now can see the nebula. The Silver Star is an eye, and it is gazing back at us. I must warn my colleagues.

September 13th

I'm a laughingstock. My passion in the interest of science before was merely worrying, but my warnings fall on worse than deaf ears. It is derision I receive back instead of silence. I have received word that I will not be returning to my position in the observatory. Another analyzed image arrived today. She is most certainly looking at me in return.

September 14th

I heard the sound of heavy, early drops of rain. Out the window the sky was perfectly clear. This wasn't unheard of under high winds, but there is no wind tonight. When I looked out to the stars, I was distracted by a substance that looked like it had streaked down my window. It was unmistakably quicksilver. She's coming. She's coming and no one will listen to me.

To Whom it may Concern:

I am writing this message at the end of my gathered thoughts from my old life to share. I suppose I should start with what happened immediately after the last entry. I ran outside, intending to start warning people, individually if I had to. This was the best decision of my life. My panic was halted by a single drop of her silver colliding with my hand. It was then I understood. She felt me watching her so intently. She decided to show me her world. I have had the veil lifted on my visions. It was she in the woods gazing at me in return. I was not yet ready to see her, so she had to settle for the silver sea. She wanted me to see. No one else was able to see the details I did in the analyzed photos, because she didn't want them to see. Already, more of me is silver than flesh. I am eager for the conversion to be complete, for then I will be part of her. So many people are changing as well. The silver rain gets everywhere. She will be here soon, and she will have all of us.

I am writing this because I want you to understand. If you're reading this, you're holding the silver-stained notebook in your hands. If it is there, she knows you've read it.

The Silver Star has already appeared in your sky, on the far off world you call home.

Soon you too will have the dreams.

She is coming.