A bit of evening fun: I wanted to see how far a quick vibe coding session could take a Mandelbrot renderer in Free Pascal, drawing straight into the terminal. Pascal was one of the first languages I used, and the Mandelbrot set is the classic “hello world” of fractals, so it seemed like a good pairing.

The result is alastairhm/fractals: four small programs, each one building on the one before, going from plain ASCII art up to truecolor half-block graphics.

All 31 days of Inktober 2026 in one place: every drawing and every log, in order, from the last fresh apple before launch to two robots flexing on the grass back home.

Day 1: Apple

Mission Log, Day 1: Last Fresh Fruit

One apple, already bitten, sits on the console beside the launch checklist. It’s the last fresh fruit aboard before we leave the ground behind. After launch it’s freeze-dried and foil pouches for the duration. The cables are strapped down, the gauges are alive, and the ship is ready. I’m giving the apple a few more minutes.

Inktober 2026 31, Flex

Captain’s log. We are home. All of us, hero, survivors, SOSi, even the two robots, down the ramp and onto solid ground, and I don’t mind admitting my knees gave way.

The dapper man walked us to the edge of the landing field, tipped a gloved hand, and went back aboard without a word. We stood there breathing real air. That should have been the end of it.