Entry 16

May 20th, 2166 - Sector 0001B - MSR2 Nora Greene

We've been flying around for a little bit now, trying to get our bearings. ever since
THE INCIDENT
I've been totally wrapped up with diagnostics and troubleshooting. When the Griflyn vessel had been torn away from us, it had corrupted a few of the protocols or the airlocks, and that isn't something you want to risk losing control of out of space.

With that fixed, the people who didn't have any real science or engineering background, went about trying to explore the sector that we lovingly named 0001B. To our pleasant surprise, our long range sensors picked up a planet that may very well be inhabitable!

In a few days we're going to be in orbit, and the Captain is going to put together a ground crew.

I hope she doesn't pick me - but then I really really hope she does. Or maybe allows us all to take turns if it's safe. Holo-screens and mood lighting can only do so much, and I think it would do everyone a great deal of good to see sunshine and colors and stuff.

Alright, back to work!

------- End Trans. -------

Entry 15

April 3rd, 2166 - Sector ? - MSR2 Nora Greene

Wow.

I mean incredibly, uncontrollably, WOW.

Guys. Whoever gets these broadcasts...

We TRAVELED THROUGH TIME.

I shit you not. There is no shits about it. 

So we decide to board the Gryflin vessel, right? I make that last pessimistic entry and suit up with my gear, and the marines and Zee, Seargent Hadley, and Anthony and myself go.

We get to the airlock.

CRAVE starts blaring more alarms. 

"Unknown energy signature approaching. Energy Wave inbound. All crew go to secured locations immediately." And she kept repeating it over and over and over, and then before we could even buckle down something HITS us. 

The Zephyr ROCKS. HARD. In OUTER SPACE. See how that makes sense? It doesn't. Anyway, more alarms blare because the Griflyn ship was still attached - WAS. Now things are blinking red lights and CRAVE sounds so incredibly loud, and I feel like I'm gonna hurl all over the place 

And then everytyhing stops.

The Griflyn Vessel is gone save for a loading arm that had automatically set to dock us down. 

We are in totally. Completely. Unfamiliar space.

AND our A.I. is losing her metaphysical shit.

The CoreCom was disconnected for twelve days. CRAVE didn't speak for 27 days. And then all of a sudden she tells us what time is is, what day of the year - and what YEAR. The recon from the closest satelites took long enough to bounce back that she could estimate the distance, and the information that came with it gave us the date.

I AM OFFICIALLY A TIME TRAVELER.

------- End Trans. -------

Entry 14

January 1st, 2164 - Sector Q247 - MSR2 Nora Greene

I don't have a lot of time.

But, because I'm the paranoid sort, I wanted to get this out before I go. In case we don't come back. Happy New Year, first off. I have to tell you about Lin and Masaru.

They're cousins through marriage. Knew each other from before, but briefly when they were kids. They discovered their connection at the Halloween Party and became fast friends quickly. I thought automatically of course that they had decided to become a couple, but as it turns out, I was again, wrong. When Lin attempted to get me involved, I interpreted it as naïve and sort of like she was rubbing it in my face - because n hind sight, who DIDN'T know that I had a thing for 'Rex' Masaru, the mysterious violinist?

Which brings me to the next bit. There was no real party, no craft event that Lin was running. She and Julia walked with me towards the general direction of the crafty rec room, and then they told me to wait in the hall because the forgot something. As I waited there, I heard Masaru playing. I thought about waiting, but honestly, it wasn't like they wouldn't be able to find me, so I meandered to where I heard the violin.

When I turned the corner, the rec room was pretty dark except for a few glow-sticks dangling from the corners of the room, and the craft table was covered and laid out for a dinner for two. When he saw me, Masaru stopped playing, smiled and bowed. He actually bowed. And then he held the chair out for me. I think I muttered something about how the girls were waiting for me, and he just sort of laughed.

"I asked them to help me bring you here."

I think I was staring because he continued. "After you got angry with Lin, she and Julia told me that you... well that you had feelings for me."

I know, at this time, I was red, and still did not respond. He poured me a glass of wine. Opened the trays of food to present me with some beautifully prepared food. Sushi I think and some other little delectables. He served them out. At that point  blurted out an awkward (yet sincere) apology for my behavior.

He sat down opposite me, raised a glass. "Happy American New Year, Nora. May we both prosper and grow." He smiled. I smiled. We had dinner. And at Midnight he walked me back to my room (Among an eerily vacant part of the ship, not even CRAVE said anything) and he gave me my first real New Years Kiss. (that I actually enjoyed anyway.)

I pulled out of the kiss light as a feather, dizzy and smiling, sort of delirious, and on the verge of manic excitement. I couldn't hear anything except the cliche hammering of my heart, and I was watching his hand come up in slow motion to press against my cheek in that old movie romantic kind of way, and then the red lights of the emergency proximity alarm started flashing, and the alarm system kicked on and blared, a box resting just above out heads.

Both of jumped back and our heads whipped around and Julia and Gilda flew out of our room, one throwing on her nurse coat and the other strapping on military grade plate armor panels for light infantry. (She told me all about it drunkenly after the Christmas party. Regardless of me being in a foul mood I listened and remembered rather well.)

CRAVE said over the intercom:

"Unidentified Vessel approaching port side. Emitting mid to high levels of radiation. Broadcasting mid-range communication. Consulting with Xilin Cthi Linzdar on linguistic translation."

Masaru and I exchanged looks. Capain Peterson came onto the intercom as we all rushed to our respective stations.

"This is Captain Peterson. All crew report to your main operating stations. Sargent Wesley Hadley, MSR3 Pearson, MSR3 Horne,  FER2 Callucci and MSR2 Nora Green please report to the bridge."

I felt like I was under water. We haven't been out here very long, but we found something! It was both exciting and absolutely terrifying.

After a mind-numbing twenty minutes of jargon and a blaring broadcast of some sort of snarling, angry demonic growls and barks, like hissing dogs, Captain Peterson and Zee determined that it was a breed of alien called (in Human translation) Gryflin. Except this ship was sending out a distress broadcast.

Masaru went to work guiding the ship to a docking sequence with the drifting vessel, everyone seemed very serious - and the reason I was there?

(Along with Zee, Sargent Hadley, Gilda and Horne were the muscle, and Flight Engineer Anthony Callucci. His specialty is living conditions and atmospheric adjustments. He's a biologist and ecologist of genius level. He's quick witted, sharp tongued, and about 5'3" and built like a dumpy barrel. Zee was coming because he knew their language relatively well, and would be familiar with their technology, which was mainly what our system was fabricated after)

I am going with them onto the ship so I can run analysis on their systems. Because I'm the only analyst we have on board. I could hypothetically read their system and figure out where the problem is.

SO yeah. In case I don't come back - Masaru is the bestest thing on the planet, I have great friends, and I miss rain. Wish me luck.

------- End Trans. ------

Entry 13

December 29th - Sector Q247 - MSR2 Nora Greene

The Zephyr IV has been chaos. Because of the fluctuating morale of the crew, CRAVE and the Captain have taken it upon themselves to create all sorts of activities for us. At one point just before Christmas Morning, we had a cultural holiday breakfast, with a kosher dinner served in the mess hall that evening. (I am constantly amazed by the calibrations of our food processor.)

After that, a couple of the crew got together and meandered around the ship singing every carol they could remember (Including not-carols, like Dreidel, Dreidel.) The Marines tipped them in cigarettes. The nurses tipped them in colorful band-aids and we techies tipped them in origami analysis printouts made from scrap paper.

Mickey was singing, and surprise, he was pretty good! The greatest voice of all however, was Sargent of Communications, Wesley Hadley. He had that sort of deep, booming voice that demanded silence and awe. I haven't hung out with him really, but he is a little intimidating. His dark skin is perfect, his eyes are mysterious and piercing, and he's also about 6'6". So he's flipping tall.  Zee trailed around with them too, and by the end he was humming along too. Very harmonious.

Masaru played the Violin.

The Marines are hosting a weekly poker night, bargaining and betting on chores and cigarettes. (We can apparently smoke in one of the airlocks. They have atmo-cleansers in it so the smoke is flushed out when they're done.)

Christmas itself was nice. CRAVE changed the font and color of the analysis displays to red and green and There was always some sort of minty, festive dessert in the mess hall. And cookies. SO many cookies I could die. I think the sugar content alone made people feel better. Gift giving was sparse, obviously because where were we going to shop for anything? But... I did get hand made cards from people, and I sent out some CoreComm e-mails filled with cheer.

Lin is hosting a craft night. Julia wants me to go with her this week.I told her no originally, then Lin came up and asked me too. I'm thinking about it. Besides. I can't be in this crappy mood forever. I have to get over myself (and them) sooner rather then later. I'm going to be on this ship FOREVER so I may as well start now, right?

Apparently there is some fancy New Years Craft Thing they're doing. Julia is super excited, and she's contagious when she gets that way. (Except to Junpin. Junpin is immune.)

------- End Trans. -------

Entry 12

December 17th - Sector Q247 - MSR2 Nora Greene

I really messed up.

I just got back from my first ever hour-long session with Doctor Hynes. Other then the monthly psyche evaluations he gives out of course. You see, I had a bit of an incident yesterday.

No, no, don't worry it wasn't anything like Royce. I didn't try to, you know.... But I shouted my head off in the mess hall for everyone to hear. It was the strangest thing. First thing was I was collecting my processed food in line like everyone else and as I was headed over to sit with Julia, Lin comes bouncing up to me.

"Hey Nora! I have a question."
I'm pretty sure I shrugged in a noncommittal manner.
"I was going to make something for Rex for his birthday and I need your help."
I think straight off when she called him 'Rex' I could feel the twitch at the corner of my left eye. And then when she decided she apparently needed my help with something for him It got my blood sizzling a bit. So I said something along the likes of, "Why do you need MY help? I don't know 'Rex' half as well as you do."
And Lin smiled at me with that chipper, happy, genuine nice-ness and said something like, "Well I know how well you two get along and thought you might want to help me make him something nice."
At least I think that last bit was what she said. I really only remember 'well I know how you two get along-'
Then I think I dropped my tray of food.

It was the weirdest sensation, like my fingertips went numb, and my face was hot and I felt like everything was blurry and moving in slow motion, and then words just started pouring out of my mouth. I can't even remember half of it, something along the lines of 'how can I get along with him if I never see him because you're always with him, and do you think anyone on this ship actually knows one another? Do you think we're all happy here like you and 'Rex'?'

When I snapped out of it, the world sort of pitched and I fell over and then I remember waking up and Julia was hovering next to me like a nervous hummingbird.

Dr. Hynes diagnosed me with mild C.D.A; or Compact Dwelling Anxiety. He told me not to worry that there's at least a dozen of us that have light symptoms. He told me to take it easy and try not to get stressed out and I won't have an 'episode' again. Julia suggested that I go talk to Lin and Masaru to straighten things out. Mainly so I don't worry about it anymore. Gatta be honest - terrified to do so.

In light of these events, CRAVE has seen fit to remind us what season we're in. All the screens are showing pretty Winter scenes and the temperature dropped a bit so we're all wearing sweaters and drinking hot coffee and cocoa. I think Lin and the others have been making garlands, because there are paper-ring strings hung everywhere.

I haven't really been to see anyone yet, I've been sticking to my basic duties, my bunk with Junpin, Gilda and Julia and the medical facility. This morning, when I was in the Server IV chamber, CRAVE spoke to me. Got me thinking.
"MSR2 Greene. May I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"I understand the symptoms and qualities of space-born illness, but i cannot compute the emotional triggers behind them. Why did you shout at Flight Engineer R3 Yang?"
"Well... I happen to like Pilot Hamatsu. She was spending a lot of time with him and I was not. So I got angry."
"Please explain."
"Well when people like someone they want to spend time with them. But if someone else is, I guess people feel awkward about being around them if they are a couple."
"So you feel awkward around them because they are a couple and because of this you yelled at Flight Engineer R3 Yang?"
Sigh. "Yeah. I guess."
"When you say couple I assume that you mean mated pair."
"Geez, CRAVE I don't know if they're mating."
"Do you believe Flight Engineer R3 Yang to be unsuitable for Pilot Hamatsu?"
"....No."
"Do you believe that Flight Engineer R3 Yang is inferior to yourself or someone else aboard the Zephyr IV?"
"No, CRAVE."
"Is there a more feasible reason for you to be angry with Flight Engineer R3 Yang?"
"No."
CRAVE was quiet for a moment. I was too. I wasn't sure how to explain jealousy to an AI, but I didn't have to. I was working it all out in my head.
I'm such a jerk.
"I do not understand certain nuances of human culture."
"I don't either CRAVE, its all right."

You know, the fact that I'm out in space and not on an inhabitable planet doesn't really bother me.  At least, not that I'm aware of. I think maybe it's the emptiness of outside that does.

------- End Trans. -------

Entry 11

December 8th - Sector Q247 - MSR2 Nora Greene

I know. I know. It has been over a month. Everyone has been telling me to update my stupid CoreComm entries like its going to help. I'm only doing it now because Junpin, Mickey, Julia, Royce and all the other cook staff threw me an intervention. Even Archie was there. They sat me down so I couldn't escape and tried to get me to talk to them, but I didn't want to, so they demanded that I update my CoreComm.

I only agreed because they said they would leave me alone. I was probably being a little hard on them but... I just haven't felt like it.

Anyway... so we made it out of Border Space last week. With the mapping program we have, apparently we are in Q247. In layman's terms, its takes into account the infinite span of space and lays out segments of it like chunks of a sphere, bubbling out from our known space. We are in Q247.

Ok, so I've been in a really crappy mood. Remember that nonsense at the Halloween thing? How I was too embarrassed to talk to Masaru, and how I may have sort of gotten drunk to the point of no-memory? Well, I finally got over myself enough to go talk to him. I have Junpin and her critical snarkiness to thank for that one. I hunted him down after dinner only to find him holding hands with Lin watching some sappy movie as she cried into his shoulder. They were all snuggled up and everything, so I left.

Man I haven't felt so crappy since high school drama. I guess.... I just got really upset, you know? Here I am, crushing on this super talented, nice guy, out in space, alone with a small crew and nothing but stars and processed food, and there he goes picking Lin: the happiest, most upbeat and kind and pretty and talented and smart and -

Whatever.

So yeah. I should have known after seeing them dance on Halloween. She knows about classical music and opera and stuff like that and so does he and frankly they belong together and I wish them the best of luck.

I have analysis to run.

------- End Trans. -------

Entry 10

November 3rd, 2163 - Border Space - MSR2 Nora Greene

What a Weekend.
I know that weekends in space are different, and that we all kind of work all the time, but this counts as a bonafide weekend.

It started with me and Julia trying to figure out a costume. We weren't the only ones, either. We ended up spending a lot of time with Lin Yang, an engineer who works with Archie. She's sort of the total opposite of Junpin, is always happy, and loves, loves, loves her work. She was hot-gluing scrap metal and broken bits of spare machinery together and said she was making herself into an android. (She was a lot of fun at the party too.)

Julia and I thought up all sorts of really dumb costume ideas. We were going to turn our jump suits inside out and make paper name tags to pretend to be garage attendants.  Another idea was to put medical tubing in our hair and being a pair of gorgons. The final decision was using our bed sheets as togas and going as a pair of muses. We did each others hair (or rather, Julia did mine, and I valiantly attempted to do hers. Junpin fixed it.)

Saturday started out like a normal day; we all did our work, I checked the systems and found no out-of-place anomalies. When it approached 1900 hours Julia and I got ready and we all piled into the hanger. They did a pretty good job for last minute, like the Space Prom. People had made little cut-out pumpkins and skulls and things, and there was more punch and snack foods, and we even had a bobbing for apples. (They were totally fabricated - no stems, cores or pits!) The Captain didn't want us wasting our real fruit on a game, but I think the fake ones were actually MORE challenging.

Masaru was there, of course. He had on a Phantom of the Opera mask. (I don't watch or listen to musicals, so I had to have Lin explain it to me because she seemed to be the only other one who knew other then Archie.) His dress uniform ins in black, so he just had some artfully cut and pinned bits of paper to hide his name tag and serial number.

I remember that he asked me to dance once. It was very nice until I tripped on the end of my toga and almost flashed the rest of the crew. Julia helped me flee to fix my garment, but when I returned, Masaru was dancing with Lin and then had to leave.

I managed to pass off my disappointment with some more fermented/processed/ punch stuff. It was fun I think, until that point I can't remember.

Ugh.
Sunday was a total loss. I woke up in our bunk, told CRAVE to do a system scan and to let me know if anything goes wrong. Nothing did. Julia came in from time to time and fed me. CRAVE fabricated some vitamin juice for me (as well as several other people, mainly marines I was told.)

Monday was the I'm-going-to-do-my-job-so-that-no-one sees me. Julia was convinced I should go talk to him. But c'mon. I don't THINK I made a scene, but how can I be sure? Julia says I was fine bur... If you haven't figure it out yet, I'm a bit self conscious.

Today was a lot of the same... Man I am so gutless. I'm out in space with all of these people, and I can't even muster up the courage to laugh at myself.

Oh God I hope I didn't say anything TOO humiliating.

------- End Trans.-------