After two days of travel outward from B-003, I've come to B-004, a large gas giant with several moons in its orbit. One of the larger ones seems to have a breathable atmosphere. I settle my ship into orbit and start my scans. After several hours in orbit my scan shows that most of the moon is covered in desert or badlands type of broken terrain. I have found a suitable landing site and head down to the surface to start my exploration.
After landing in the desert and stepping out of my ship I notice that there are several patches of the desert sand that has been turned to glass. It looks like the patches are in a random pattern. I take some readings with my portable scanner and find that these are the result of lightning strikes. I hope no storms turn up while I'm on this moon. I'd hate to get struck by lightning.
I make my way towards a steep canyon that seems to have been formed by water erosion. The desert storms must dump a lot of rain to create such a steep canyon. While walking in the canyon I see lots of moss growing on the canyon walls. They must be well sheltered from the heat by the walls and there must be plenty of water that comes through the canyon to keep them well hydrated. I'll have to make my way out of this canyon quick so I don't end up in a flash flood.
After following the canyon for several hours, I came out the other end to more desert. There is a small river that goes from the canyon to what looks like an oasis in the distance. The rain water that cut the canyoun must also feed that oasis. I think I can make it there by nightfall.
By the time I made it to the oasis, the heat of the day had almost dried up the small river that I was following. After a long hot walk I set up my shelter in a grove of trees that encircle a pool. The pool seems to be 20 to 30 feet deep. I wonder if it also dries out in this heat, or if there are frequent enough storms that it stays full. I'll leave a sensor to collect data on this oasis and come back on my return trip at the end of the year. For now I need to get some sleep.
In the morning after breakfast, I take down my shelter and head off to investigate a rock formation not far from here. As I come to the rock formation I notice that there is a wrecked ship in among the rocks. It looks like a survey ship like mine. I find an opening in the hull and make my way towards the bridge, that must have broken off on impact. I make my way back towards the engineering section to try and find some information about the ship. There I find a computer console. It takes several hours to get power it up using my portable shelter power pack, but I am able to access the auxiliary computer core. I'll download the info I find and take it back to my ship. For now, I need to move on.
I make my way to another canyon that I spotted from the crash site. It takes me several hours to get there, but it's worth it. The waters that cut this canyon have uncovered a vein of gold running through the walls of the canyon. Enough to make a man extremely rich. I'll send this info along as soon as I can so I get credit for finding it. The finders fee for a vein this large should be plenty for me to retire after I finish out this survey contract.
After two days of travel back to my ship, I lift off and put my ship back in orbit. I upload the information I got from the crashed survey ship and find that it went down 3 years ago. The captain was Caleb Goodwind. He was on his way back when he lost power to his engine. He tried to set it down on this moon but ended up crashing. I'll send this and the gold vein info to starbase 059. They'll probably send a recovery ship out to pickup the wreck.