║●

1 half-rotted black boot.
Initial inferred usage: fashion.
Final inferred usage: survival.
(Note: the phrase
“The crumbling signs of material wealth
from an ineffectual species
bent on effortless luxury.
But we ended beautiful.
We ended beautiful”
added into record
post-collection by unknown entity)

║●●

1 gas mask,
attached to glass dome painted black,
tiny fissures
around points of contact.
Conclusion: fatal.
Within, plant material – desiccated:
final attempt at oxygen exchange?
(Note: the phrase
“It was not enough green
to remind a decaying species
the color of their planet’s birthright.
Of their birthright.
So we kept experimenting.
Kept playing
with what we might find
in the beyond.
And     it     answered”
added into record
post-collection by unknown entity)

║●●●

2 spent flares,
containers cracked plastic.
Age: one thousand years old.
(Note: the phrase
“The light took so much
when it birthed itself alive.
It had never been the empty dark
so silent
we needed fear.
What hid in the bright
filled us so deep
and long—
never darkness again.
Can you forgive our brilliance?
Eyes becoming fluorescent marbles,
too aflame with now to     ever     look     back.
Bodies hung lamps—
nightlights going unused
in the swinging forests”
added into record
post-collection by unknown entity)

║●●●●

1 tattered field guide
on edible plants,
each entry crossed out.
Conclusion: X-marks covering up
multiple entries
from variously aged inks
spanning decades.
(Note: the phrase
“Those deficient
in cholecalciferol
lasted longest.
Their final season endless enjoyment,
for us.
But the world died,
underfoot.
Flora, fauna overdosed
on radiant excess from us
Walking Bright.
Survivors sat in darkness,
alone,
afraid
to even hold the memory of light.
You have so much beautiful light in you,
don’t you?
You glow, in your little metal ship,
in the vast expanse of space.
The dark doesn’t notice you.
Doesn’t care for you.
Won’t hold you.
It is a wonderful thing,
to be together.
It is a wonderful thing,
to give in.
It can be a wonderful thing.
We can be
a wonderful thing”
added into record
post-collection by unknown entity)

COMMAND ORDER: approved for immediate burn upon discovery of ghosts