diff --git a/gopher/Malkonkordo/0005.txt b/gopher/Malkonkordo/0005.txt index a65e2fc..5ae2c5a 100644 --- a/gopher/Malkonkordo/0005.txt +++ b/gopher/Malkonkordo/0005.txt @@ -1,7 +1,7 @@ ---- From: Malkonkordo Research Vessel Destination: SOL -Position: 84X.07, -71E.6E, -3624.#8 +Position: 84X.07, -71E.6E, -3624.E8 Departure: 7941.037.17 Shipdate: 0000272E Mode: Search diff --git a/gopher/Malkonkordo/0006.txt b/gopher/Malkonkordo/0006.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5d95937 --- /dev/null +++ b/gopher/Malkonkordo/0006.txt @@ -0,0 +1,85 @@ +---- +From: Malkonkordo Research Vessel +Destination: SOL +Position: 884.18, -15X0.66, -5368.99 +Departure: 7941.037.17 +Shipdate: 00002735 +Mode: Search +---- + +# Status Update + +* Entered orbit of Enketu Tri +* Completed Kvieta de Ses +* Conducting research on Enketu Tri +* Awaiting arrival of other vessels + +# Status Report + +Captain's Log SD2735 + +First, a note on our extended absense and a status update. +After the last broadcast from Malkonkordo, the cultural division brought to my +attention that based on their calculations Dekaoso Prime was observing Kvieta de +Ses, and so we were observing this blessed of traditions. +Now that the meditations and fasting inside the sensory deprivation chambers +have come to an end, the Malkonkordo is back online and we were delighted to +find the auto-pilot systems safely brought Malkonkordo within orbit of Enketu +Tri. +We will remain in orbit until SD2740, until then we be using our instruments to +take data, samples, and study the planet while we await the arrival of any +vessels that wish to assist us in bringing our communication systems back +online. + +With the formalities out of the way I bring my attention to you, Corpal Sam +Arnold of the Space Cruiser Excelsior. +Unless if I am mistaken, the 500 people in your craft are meant to more or less +be breeding stock for your species to populate and roam across another planet. +To destroy them would not be in your own or your people's best interests unless +if your species has the means to asexually reproduce. +This differs from our understanding of the situation with Hoffnung, which +appeared to be some form of idealistic take over where death was used as a tool +to remove the potential non-believers that would stand in their way. +In this way, the potential non-believers were weak for trusting themselves with +potential "extremists" (as you put it) without any safety guards on their part. +To live a life so care-free and trusting of those who motives that are unknown, +it should be no surprise to find their life was taken by an opportunist who saw +their vulnerabilities. +Should you, Corpal Sam Arnold, continue to live this way you risk meeting the +same fate. + +Furthermore, your routine arrogance continues to amuse us. +We agree with your assertion that trying to catch a moving target (let alone one +moving near or beyond the speed of light) would not yield ideal results, but you +also have to slow down and/or stop eventually. +You said it yourself, the Space Cruiser Excelsior is in search of another +inhabitable planet and it will be that planet that we will find you. +Space may be vast, but so is the outreach of the Dekaosans as it continues to +grow through the efforts of our research and colonizing vessels. + +I will be fair, though, that since we are communicating over quantum +entanglement communication you may be able to escape the grasps of the Dekaosans +through whatever gap in time is between us. +However, should time keep you and your crew apart from the gift of Diino we are +willing to settle. +Should you leave behind any offspring on this new planet you plan to inhabit +with the 500 people you have spared eliminating now, we will be sure to finish +the job the removing their weakness from the universe to serve the mission +bestowed to us by Sinjorino. +In fact, the roles of the time gap could be reversed and my people have already +found and purged you or your decendant's weakness from the universe. +Should we regain communications with Dekaoso Prime, I'll have someone check our +records so I can let you know if we already have. +It would be the first time we had the ability to inform the weak of their +certified demise ahead of time, and I am very curious to see if knowing about +now would give you the ability to try and escape your fate. +A hunt through time certainly sounds like a task our soldiers would be eager to +take up, it should help break up the monotany that interstellar genocide of +extraterrestrials tends to bring them. + +Praise be to the Sinjorino and Alportas Majeston. + +~ Captain Kiu Serĉas + +---- +K38GMpaXqpuou9QZSxCUtqtzvdx7Hp5lvLlp1aaPBrQ= diff --git a/gopher/Malkonkordo/lynx-errors.log b/gopher/Malkonkordo/lynx-errors.log deleted file mode 100644 index e69de29..0000000 diff --git a/gopher/Oleander/002-sister-hajar.txt b/gopher/Oleander/002-sister-hajar.txt index 72bbaf1..d326392 100644 --- a/gopher/Oleander/002-sister-hajar.txt +++ b/gopher/Oleander/002-sister-hajar.txt @@ -6,5 +6,68 @@ SYS GOOD Entry 2 -- Sister Hājar +Sido, + +May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you. Our day +comes at hand. Hawwa leads us well; may Allah be pleased with her. +My love to you. + +We came aboard the Oleander only two cycles past and already +I know my path is righteous. My sisters radiate joy at our +mission. I wake each day and shout, "Ma Sha' Allah!" Our bread +tastes of honey, Baba. Please do not worry for me. + +I've know this path was from Allah from the beginning, from the +days in the krem refinery on Misha. We had nothing but each other +and still they came to take from us, to beat us, to kill us. I saw +my path in the face of that boy, Uzāir, at the well. Do you +remember him, Sido? Do you remember that day? + +It was hot. They were all hot, but I remember the heat +that day as special. It was late morning, just before first rest. +I was with the women at the well-queue, ready to gather for +washing. You had a cycle nearby you were tinkering with. I think +it was the baker's--or Samir, that boy that was always following +you. You had hoisted it up on a lifter and it was spinning in the +sun, dust blowing all around. Anyway-- + +Uzāir was a runner, just a bit older than me. His brothers had all +gone to ship and he was next, it was known. You remember him now? +Always scowling at things to make him seem tough, but he was just +a llenora in the den, mewling and soft. The women would laugh at +his act and shoo him away. I can still hear Sara's taunts in my +mind and laugh. You remember how funny she was. + +We were in the queue when Uzāir walked up, straight to the well. +Sara was already opening her mouth to unleash her special +blessings when she was struck dumb. Not just her. The whole square +went quiet. I looked to see--I remember that cycle drifting in +circles and you looking to the well with, Yes!, it was Samir, his +smock covered in oil and krem. I saw you both squinting and then +flinch before I heard the sounds. + +They had Uzāir on the ground already by the time I looked. He had +gone to stop them from taking the women, from taking me and Sara +and the others. Brave little coward, Uzāir. He put on his scowl +and stood up to them before we even noticed the danger. And he did +it, Sido! That idiot boy lying there on the ground as they beat +him, tore at him, ripped him apart. His blood leeching into our +dirt. His skull cracked, his mind and soul and--to Allah we belong +and to Him is our return. + +He saved us that day through his own suffering and sacrifice. +Allah granted me days more on these worlds, with you and with my +sisters. Those days were with purpose, Sido. We go to that purpose +now. My suffering will be short compared to that boy's. My +sacrifice small. It is the sacrifice of a woman without worth to +our people but spirit and love. I give them back to you, to all of +you. My life will not buy days for a few women at a well, but for +all of you on our worlds, from Misha to Doon. They will feel what +it is like to be torn apart. Let their blood feed the soil. + +Do not worry for me, Sido. Do not mourn. We are at peace. + +Aathama allahu ajrakom, +Amat al-Masih -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* diff --git a/gopher/Voortrekker/9-not-alone.txt b/gopher/Voortrekker/9-not-alone.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fdbb8cb --- /dev/null +++ b/gopher/Voortrekker/9-not-alone.txt @@ -0,0 +1,221 @@ +From: Chris Maldonado +To: Sameen Lee +Delivered-To: Sameen Lee +Received: from relay7.qec1.rs001.l4.earthsys.gov + by mta1.recoveryinstitute.org + with ESMTPS id x124so177123a067 for +Received: from relay3.qec2.ganymede.earthsys.gov + by relay7.qec1.rs001.l4.earthsys.gov +Received: from qec8.helio.earthsys.gov + by relay3.qec2.ganymede.earthsys.gov +Received: from qec.sv14417 + by qec8.helio.earthsys.gov +Date-Local: 23 Mar 2419 14:21:02 +0000 +Date: 06 Sep 2421 12:57:02 +0000 +Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf8" +Subject: Not alone! + +You always did say I didn't have much common sense, Sam. You'd be +laughing yourself silly at me right now! You will be. Here, let me +tell you about it. + +After I sent that last message, I wasn't sure what to do or where +to go. I wanted to find out whether or not anyone else had made it, +but I was scared to go out of Main Control - scared to let anyone +else see me, really. I didn't know what they'd think, if they'd be +afraid of me. If anyone was left to be afraid of anything. + +Also, I fell out of the chair trying to get up. So even if I did go +out, it'd be hard to get anywhere - I didn't remember any of the +lifts working, and there were a lot of ladders between me and +anywhere I'd want to go, and if I couldn't navigate a mostly flat +deck, what was I going to do to myself if I tried a ladder? Fall +and break my head open, I figured. So I stayed where I was. For a +little while, I told myself. Just until I was able to get around +better. + +One thing about the length of Ross's solar day, it really messes +with your sense of time. You live on Earth all your life, and you +get used to a certain cadence of sunrises and sunsets. Extend it by +a factor of almost three, and after a while your circadian rhythm +just throws up its hands and goes off to sulk in a corner of your +head. Sure, we trained for it aboard ship, prior to landing, but +it's amazing how much that didn't actually help, you know? Somehow +you can just feel that ship's lighting isn't real, isn't quite the +same, and it doesn't get right down into you the same way. + +Besides, I had enough else on my mind. A little while after I sent +you that last message, I found myself suddenly ravenous! No +surprise, I think, considering how long I'd been out and hadn't had +anything, and how extensively active my metabolism must've been +throughout, to make the changes I found when I woke up. Lucky for +me, nobody'd found time to raid the ration lockers in Main +Control. So I did, and very thoroughly - for the first third of a +sol after I talked to you last, eating and sleeping was about all I +could think about doing. + +That, and trying to get up on - well, call them my 'feet' for the +sake of talking about them, although they're not really that. I +don't really think I can explain how strange it was at first. Maybe +it helps to say that - assuming you're still basically the same +shape you were when I left - the closest analogue your body offers +to my new limbs of locomotion is your tongue. But it's not a very +close analogue! They're not squishy like a tongue, or damp. Kind of +scaly, but that makes sense, considering; ordinary skin doesn't +really have the stretch, and my best guess is that the integument +that's replaced it is much more heavily collagenous. I'll have to +biopsy myself at some point and see if I'm right about that. + +Anyway, it took me most of a sol, and a lot of false starts, to get +to a point where I could 'walk' mostly all the way across Main +Control without falling over or holding on to something the whole +way. 'Walk' isn't really the word, though. I used one of the comm +cameras to get a look at my gait from the outside, and it's a lot +more - undulatory - than it used to be. Have you seen those old +educational videos, from back when the oceans were still mostly +alive, where they'd show an octopus walking across the seafloor on +its tentacles? Honestly, it's every bit as weird as it sounds. But +I'm getting used to it pretty fast, now that I'm actually able to +use them in a way that isn't totally embarrassing, and I'm starting +to think they might be able to do a lot more than legs and feet +ever could. That'll be a while yet, though. + +Anyway, that's what I was doing - practicing 'walking', and trying +to get a better sense of how to not fall over - when I found out +I'm not the only one who survived after all. With how much +concentration it still takes to stay up on my new legs, I don't +know why I didn't fall over when I heard the hatch iris open! If +I'd had to turn to look, I'm sure I would have. But it wasn't a +main hatch, just the starboard-forward emergency access, and it was +right in front of me, and I just sort of froze and waited to see +who'd come through. + +Turned out, it was Jen from engineering. You know, with the red +hair? I'm sure I talked about her before - we spent some time +together on the trip. I wish you could've seen her face! A perfect +picture of shocked surprise. And I don't guess I blame her, +really - I've seen myself, remember, with the comm camera, and I +have to admit, I'm something of a sight these days. Especially +since the only thing I had to wear was that silly gown, remember, +that I woke up in, and I hadn't bothered to put it back on after it +fell off. Why bother, really? Well, I might've been less of a +surprise to Jen if I had, anyway! + +And I was pretty shocked, too. I hadn't known anyone was still +alive at all! Certainly anyone I'd been close to. But mainly I +just...I just wanted to hide. I mean, I'm a little embarrassed +about it now, but at the time it made sense. You kind of think +about how a moment like that might go, you know? How you'll make +your long and painstaking way down the ladders from Main Control to +one of the decks where you can get access outside, or at least +expect to find people, and when you get there, you'll see someone, +or they'll see you, and there'll be that moment of recognition +where they realize you're still alive, and...oh, I don't know. But +whatever it is, it isn't being suddenly surprised by a former lover +while you're stumbling around Main Control, mother naked, on four +thick tentacles instead of the two standard-issue human legs you +were born with. Of course I was struck all in a heap! + +And of course so was Jen, poor thing. She stared me in the face for +what felt like half a minute, her eyes and mouth as round with +shock as mine must've been. She looked like she was about to say +something, but before she did, she looked down and saw the rest of +me - all the rest of me, as I am now - and... + +You never got a chance to meet Jen before we left, I don't think. A +shame - you'd have liked her a lot. Will like her a lot, if you +join the third expedition and come out here with us. She's one in a +million - I mean, what would you expect, in a situation like that? +A scream, right? Or a gasp of horrified shock, panicky flight, +something like that, right? Not Jen. She took her time about +looking me up and down, and then looked me in the eye again. She +looked she was about to say something, but before she did, she +started giggling, and then laughing. + +I could feel my cheeks get hot, and I put my hands on my hips and +got ready to say something sharp, but before I could think of it, +she was hanging on to the access ladder with one hand, leaning on +the deck with the other, and just cackling helplessly - and before +I knew it, I was laughing too, hard enough that I barely remembered +how to sit down before I fell over again. + +And we just stayed like that for a minute, cracking each other up +in the weirdest way, and it just felt right somehow. Like I'd been +waiting for that moment, that laugh, ever since I came to from the +coma. I don't know, does that make sense? I'm not sure it does, but +right then it made more sense than anything that'd happened since +we crashed. + +And then she asked me what a girl like me was doing in a nice place +like this. That's Jen - jokes five hundred years stale, but she +makes up for it other ways. And it's apropos, anyway. But the +important part is, it turns out no one actually died! The people we +thought were dead were in deep coma like me, I guess so far down +their pulse and respiration weren't perceptible - either that, or +those of us still up were so far out of it, between fever and +exhaustion, that we couldn't tell the difference. I wouldn't care +to guess either way, honestly. From what Jen tells me, we still +have about sixty in coma - everyone else is at least awake, if not +yet up and doing. + +And even more - I'm not the only one who changed! There's about two +dozen more like me, Jen says. Well, more or less like me, anyway - +no one's really made a detailed study of us yet, but apparently the +tentacles are reliably always there, if not all the other +changes. And now I have another reason to get better on my new +feet - once I'm out of here and back with everyone, I can start +getting some idea of how we've changed and what the similarities +are, and why, and - oh, there's just such a lot to learn here! + +I will say, I'd have thought people who didn't change would have a +hard time getting used to those of us who have, but Jen says no, +that people do naturally think it's a little weird, or unusual, or +at least unexpected, but nobody seems to have a problem, +particularly. Jen says there were a couple of people who might +have, but Director Soloviev - I hadn't known he'd made it through +the crash, but apprently so - he's made it clear that, as far as he +and the remaining board are concerned, we're still the same people, +and if we happen to be physically different now from how we were +before, he doesn't see why that should make a difference in how +anyone sees us or treats us, including ourselves. That we have +enough problems just picking up the pieces of our expedition, and +we don't need to give each other more on top of that. I wouldn't +have expected anything of the sort from him, but I guess almost +dying twice over must have an effect on everybody, and maybe this +is the effect it's had on him. + +I asked Jen if she'd help me out one of the main hatches, but she +says none of the lifts are working, and neither of us likes the +idea of trying to get me down all the ladders between here and +outside, not before I get myself figured out enough to manage +better. For that matter, neither of us can figure out how anyone +got me up those ladders in the first place! + +But she did stay with me a while, once she'd got done the work +that'd brought her here, and help me get a little more used to the +changes. Got under my arm and had me lean on her while she walked +me around the deck, but that didn't last long - too much of a +workout, I started getting something like runner's cramps. Only +worse, and twice as many! But Jen's really nice - I said you'd like +her - and she helped me down, then had me stretch out my 'legs' so +she could work some of the knots out. She's got strong hands, +too. It was really nice. And she's coming back tomorrow - next +Earth day, not next sol - to see me again, and help me get more +familiar with myself. Pretty soon I'll be back with everyone and +ready to help make a proper home out of what we've got left from +the crash. + +Look, Sam, about what I said before. Not that I didn't mean every +word, but...I'm sorry if I opened an old wound, or stirred up +something you'd rather have let lie. Please understand, I was alone +and afraid and not really feeling quite right, and I didn't know +quite what to say, so...I guess I said what I was feeling, and I +haven't stopped feeling that way but I hope you're not mad with me +for saying it. I do miss you, and I never did stop loving you, and +I do hope you'll join the third expedition, or find a quicker way, +and come find me here. Come join us here. I think you'd like it +here. + +But if you don't want to hear any more from me, about that or about +anything, that's okay too. I'll stop if you say so. But, +regardless, I'd like to hear from you. Please? diff --git a/gopher/listing.gophermap b/gopher/listing.gophermap index 406df9a..99dbd9c 100644 --- a/gopher/listing.gophermap +++ b/gopher/listing.gophermap @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ +0Voortrekker - Not alone! /Voortrekker/9-not-alone.txt +0Hoffnung - I am authorized to negotiate /Hoffnung/013.txt +0Malkonkordo - Only A Matter Of Time /Malkonkordo/0006.txt +0Oleander - Sister Hājar /Oleander/002-sister-hajar.txt 0Excelsior - Clarification - Beta Epsilon 7 Epsilon /Excelsior/004.txt 0Oleander - Annunciation /Oleander/001.txt 0Razarac - Hello World /Razarac/001-hello-world.txt diff --git a/gopher/rss.xml b/gopher/rss.xml index 83f8326..8ad0b2f 100644 --- a/gopher/rss.xml +++ b/gopher/rss.xml @@ -2,6 +2,429 @@ Cosmic Voyage gopher://cosmic.voyage Messages from the human stellar diaspora + + Voortrekker - Not alone! + alexis@cosmic.voyage (alexis) + gopher://cosmic.voyage/0/Voortrekker/9-not-alone.txt + gopher://cosmic.voyage/0/Voortrekker/9-not-alone.txt + Mon, 17 Dec 2018 22:56:57 GMT + +To: Sameen Lee +Delivered-To: Sameen Lee +Received: from relay7.qec1.rs001.l4.earthsys.gov + by mta1.recoveryinstitute.org + with ESMTPS id x124so177123a067 for +Received: from relay3.qec2.ganymede.earthsys.gov + by relay7.qec1.rs001.l4.earthsys.gov +Received: from qec8.helio.earthsys.gov + by relay3.qec2.ganymede.earthsys.gov +Received: from qec.sv14417 + by qec8.helio.earthsys.gov +Date-Local: 23 Mar 2419 14:21:02 +0000 +Date: 06 Sep 2421 12:57:02 +0000 +Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf8" +Subject: Not alone! + +You always did say I didn't have much common sense, Sam. You'd be +laughing yourself silly at me right now! You will be. Here, let me +tell you about it. + +After I sent that last message, I wasn't sure what to do or where +to go. I wanted to find out whether or not anyone else had made it, +but I was scared to go out of Main Control - scared to let anyone +else see me, really. I didn't know what they'd think, if they'd be +afraid of me. If anyone was left to be afraid of anything. + +Also, I fell out of the chair trying to get up. So even if I did go +out, it'd be hard to get anywhere - I didn't remember any of the +lifts working, and there were a lot of ladders between me and +anywhere I'd want to go, and if I couldn't navigate a mostly flat +deck, what was I going to do to myself if I tried a ladder? Fall +and break my head open, I figured. So I stayed where I was. For a +little while, I told myself. Just until I was able to get around +better. + +One thing about the length of Ross's solar day, it really messes +with your sense of time. You live on Earth all your life, and you +get used to a certain cadence of sunrises and sunsets. Extend it by +a factor of almost three, and after a while your circadian rhythm +just throws up its hands and goes off to sulk in a corner of your +head. Sure, we trained for it aboard ship, prior to landing, but +it's amazing how much that didn't actually help, you know? Somehow +you can just feel that ship's lighting isn't real, isn't quite the +same, and it doesn't get right down into you the same way. + +Besides, I had enough else on my mind. A little while after I sent +you that last message, I found myself suddenly ravenous! No +surprise, I think, considering how long I'd been out and hadn't had +anything, and how extensively active my metabolism must've been +throughout, to make the changes I found when I woke up. Lucky for +me, nobody'd found time to raid the ration lockers in Main +Control. So I did, and very thoroughly - for the first third of a +sol after I talked to you last, eating and sleeping was about all I +could think about doing. + +That, and trying to get up on - well, call them my 'feet' for the +sake of talking about them, although they're not really that. I +don't really think I can explain how strange it was at first. Maybe +it helps to say that - assuming you're still basically the same +shape you were when I left - the closest analogue your body offers +to my new limbs of locomotion is your tongue. But it's not a very +close analogue! They're not squishy like a tongue, or damp. Kind of +scaly, but that makes sense, considering; ordinary skin doesn't +really have the stretch, and my best guess is that the integument +that's replaced it is much more heavily collagenous. I'll have to +biopsy myself at some point and see if I'm right about that. + +Anyway, it took me most of a sol, and a lot of false starts, to get +to a point where I could 'walk' mostly all the way across Main +Control without falling over or holding on to something the whole +way. 'Walk' isn't really the word, though. I used one of the comm +cameras to get a look at my gait from the outside, and it's a lot +more - undulatory - than it used to be. Have you seen those old +educational videos, from back when the oceans were still mostly +alive, where they'd show an octopus walking across the seafloor on +its tentacles? Honestly, it's every bit as weird as it sounds. But +I'm getting used to it pretty fast, now that I'm actually able to +use them in a way that isn't totally embarrassing, and I'm starting +to think they might be able to do a lot more than legs and feet +ever could. That'll be a while yet, though. + +Anyway, that's what I was doing - practicing 'walking', and trying +to get a better sense of how to not fall over - when I found out +I'm not the only one who survived after all. With how much +concentration it still takes to stay up on my new legs, I don't +know why I didn't fall over when I heard the hatch iris open! If +I'd had to turn to look, I'm sure I would have. But it wasn't a +main hatch, just the starboard-forward emergency access, and it was +right in front of me, and I just sort of froze and waited to see +who'd come through. + +Turned out, it was Jen from engineering. You know, with the red +hair? I'm sure I talked about her before - we spent some time +together on the trip. I wish you could've seen her face! A perfect +picture of shocked surprise. And I don't guess I blame her, +really - I've seen myself, remember, with the comm camera, and I +have to admit, I'm something of a sight these days. Especially +since the only thing I had to wear was that silly gown, remember, +that I woke up in, and I hadn't bothered to put it back on after it +fell off. Why bother, really? Well, I might've been less of a +surprise to Jen if I had, anyway! + +And I was pretty shocked, too. I hadn't known anyone was still +alive at all! Certainly anyone I'd been close to. But mainly I +just...I just wanted to hide. I mean, I'm a little embarrassed +about it now, but at the time it made sense. You kind of think +about how a moment like that might go, you know? How you'll make +your long and painstaking way down the ladders from Main Control to +one of the decks where you can get access outside, or at least +expect to find people, and when you get there, you'll see someone, +or they'll see you, and there'll be that moment of recognition +where they realize you're still alive, and...oh, I don't know. But +whatever it is, it isn't being suddenly surprised by a former lover +while you're stumbling around Main Control, mother naked, on four +thick tentacles instead of the two standard-issue human legs you +were born with. Of course I was struck all in a heap! + +And of course so was Jen, poor thing. She stared me in the face for +what felt like half a minute, her eyes and mouth as round with +shock as mine must've been. She looked like she was about to say +something, but before she did, she looked down and saw the rest of +me - all the rest of me, as I am now - and... + +You never got a chance to meet Jen before we left, I don't think. A +shame - you'd have liked her a lot. Will like her a lot, if you +join the third expedition and come out here with us. She's one in a +million - I mean, what would you expect, in a situation like that? +A scream, right? Or a gasp of horrified shock, panicky flight, +something like that, right? Not Jen. She took her time about +looking me up and down, and then looked me in the eye again. She +looked she was about to say something, but before she did, she +started giggling, and then laughing. + +I could feel my cheeks get hot, and I put my hands on my hips and +got ready to say something sharp, but before I could think of it, +she was hanging on to the access ladder with one hand, leaning on +the deck with the other, and just cackling helplessly - and before +I knew it, I was laughing too, hard enough that I barely remembered +how to sit down before I fell over again. + +And we just stayed like that for a minute, cracking each other up +in the weirdest way, and it just felt right somehow. Like I'd been +waiting for that moment, that laugh, ever since I came to from the +coma. I don't know, does that make sense? I'm not sure it does, but +right then it made more sense than anything that'd happened since +we crashed. + +And then she asked me what a girl like me was doing in a nice place +like this. That's Jen - jokes five hundred years stale, but she +makes up for it other ways. And it's apropos, anyway. But the +important part is, it turns out no one actually died! The people we +thought were dead were in deep coma like me, I guess so far down +their pulse and respiration weren't perceptible - either that, or +those of us still up were so far out of it, between fever and +exhaustion, that we couldn't tell the difference. I wouldn't care +to guess either way, honestly. From what Jen tells me, we still +have about sixty in coma - everyone else is at least awake, if not +yet up and doing. + +And even more - I'm not the only one who changed! There's about two +dozen more like me, Jen says. Well, more or less like me, anyway - +no one's really made a detailed study of us yet, but apparently the +tentacles are reliably always there, if not all the other +changes. And now I have another reason to get better on my new +feet - once I'm out of here and back with everyone, I can start +getting some idea of how we've changed and what the similarities +are, and why, and - oh, there's just such a lot to learn here! + +I will say, I'd have thought people who didn't change would have a +hard time getting used to those of us who have, but Jen says no, +that people do naturally think it's a little weird, or unusual, or +at least unexpected, but nobody seems to have a problem, +particularly. Jen says there were a couple of people who might +have, but Director Soloviev - I hadn't known he'd made it through +the crash, but apprently so - he's made it clear that, as far as he +and the remaining board are concerned, we're still the same people, +and if we happen to be physically different now from how we were +before, he doesn't see why that should make a difference in how +anyone sees us or treats us, including ourselves. That we have +enough problems just picking up the pieces of our expedition, and +we don't need to give each other more on top of that. I wouldn't +have expected anything of the sort from him, but I guess almost +dying twice over must have an effect on everybody, and maybe this +is the effect it's had on him. + +I asked Jen if she'd help me out one of the main hatches, but she +says none of the lifts are working, and neither of us likes the +idea of trying to get me down all the ladders between here and +outside, not before I get myself figured out enough to manage +better. For that matter, neither of us can figure out how anyone +got me up those ladders in the first place! + +But she did stay with me a while, once she'd got done the work +that'd brought her here, and help me get a little more used to the +changes. Got under my arm and had me lean on her while she walked +me around the deck, but that didn't last long - too much of a +workout, I started getting something like runner's cramps. Only +worse, and twice as many! But Jen's really nice - I said you'd like +her - and she helped me down, then had me stretch out my 'legs' so +she could work some of the knots out. She's got strong hands, +too. It was really nice. And she's coming back tomorrow - next +Earth day, not next sol - to see me again, and help me get more +familiar with myself. Pretty soon I'll be back with everyone and +ready to help make a proper home out of what we've got left from +the crash. + +Look, Sam, about what I said before. Not that I didn't mean every +word, but...I'm sorry if I opened an old wound, or stirred up +something you'd rather have let lie. Please understand, I was alone +and afraid and not really feeling quite right, and I didn't know +quite what to say, so...I guess I said what I was feeling, and I +haven't stopped feeling that way but I hope you're not mad with me +for saying it. I do miss you, and I never did stop loving you, and +I do hope you'll join the third expedition, or find a quicker way, +and come find me here. Come join us here. I think you'd like it +here. + +But if you don't want to hear any more from me, about that or about +anything, that's okay too. I'll stop if you say so. But, +regardless, I'd like to hear from you. Please? +]]> + + + Hoffnung - I am authorized to negotiate + kensanata@cosmic.voyage (kensanata) + gopher://cosmic.voyage/0/Hoffnung/013.txt + gopher://cosmic.voyage/0/Hoffnung/013.txt + Sat, 08 Dec 2018 12:56:43 GMT + + + + Malkonkordo - Only A Matter Of Time + aewens@cosmic.voyage (aewens) + gopher://cosmic.voyage/0/Malkonkordo/0006.txt + gopher://cosmic.voyage/0/Malkonkordo/0006.txt + Mon, 17 Dec 2018 20:56:16 GMT + + + + Oleander - Sister Hājar + tomasino@cosmic.voyage (tomasino) + gopher://cosmic.voyage/0/Oleander/002-sister-hajar.txt + gopher://cosmic.voyage/0/Oleander/002-sister-hajar.txt + Mon, 17 Dec 2018 04:35:11 GMT + + Excelsior - Clarification - Beta Epsilon 7 Epsilon khuxkm@cosmic.voyage (khuxkm) @@ -333,12 +756,12 @@ void howling, text silent. aewens@cosmic.voyage (aewens) gopher://cosmic.voyage/0/Malkonkordo/0005.txt gopher://cosmic.voyage/0/Malkonkordo/0005.txt - Tue, 11 Dec 2018 17:39:24 GMT + Mon, 17 Dec 2018 17:52:07 GMT