Shine
Page 17
11:10 am April 7th, 2054 from distweet
@loucheroo Well, ok, truthfully for our first ever alien it's a bit disappointing looking but still! I'm SO GEEKING OUT HERE, as they used to say.
10:03 am April 7th, 2054 from distweet in reply to loucheroo
NSU has rebuilt the DNA in its lab and let it form itself. You probably already saw the pictures. AWESOME!
9:53 am April 7th, 2054 from distweet
This is the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me--finding not just a new species but a TOTALLY NEW FORM OF LIFE.
9:42 am April 7th, 2054 from distweet
@frogheart29 We made the top of Google News? AWESOME!
9:08 am April 7th, 2054 from distweet in reply to frogheart29
@the25thkarenbear Not related to archaea, bacteria, cyanobacteria or eukaryotes. Completely new lifeform.
7:04 am April 7th, 2054 from distweet in reply to the25thkarenbear
And, shit. Also confirmed: whatever these are, they are now in T's skin and blood. Probably elsewhere.
1:25 am April 7th, 2054 from distweet
Confirmation from NSU and company: Totally new lifeform. TOTALLY.
3:06 pm April 6th, 2054 from distweet
Got this non cellular structure to live on its own, in my lab. Definitely not just a space virus. Damned if I know what it is.
4:22 pm April 5th, 2054 from distweet
Wish I had time to teach R more of the basic principles of biology here; wasting so much time teaching him.
10:32 pm April 4th, 2054 from distweet
Back to the lab. Have got M and K to take over some of the garden duties while R helps me with some of the computer work.
7:37 am April 4th, 2054 from distweet
He's the doctor; he should know. He says medications well stocked.
7:21 am April 4th, 2054 from distweet
Went back into T's room. M right; T looks much sicker. He says he's actually better.
7:21 am April 4th, 2054 from distweet
M wants to know what I'm doing to help T. Have been so involved in studying this new structure that I haven't even thought about it.
5:02 am April 4th, 2054 from distweet
Isolated what seems to be the non cellular structure from T's tissue cells. I think this is it. Sending data back to company and NSU now.
11:03 am April 3rd, 2054 from distweet
Ran back into T's room to take pictures and samples and tell him he's the first person to ever be infected by an alien.
7:03 am April 3rd, 2054 from distweet
Getting more confirmations now--the DNA strand does not match anything seen on Earth. We think it was clinging to the comet that hit T.
6:04 pm April 2nd, 2054 from distweet
OH. MY. GOD. NSU thinks we've found the first real alien life!
2:22 pm April 2nd, 2054 from distweet
Isolated five more samples and sent the images off. This long wait for responses is really bothering me.
11:45 am March 31st, 2054 from distweet
Company asking for more samples. Working on isolating the DNA string.
3:21 am March 31st, 2054 from distweet
Ok, this is weird, but I've found a random DNA string that I can't match on any of our databases. Sending info to company to confirm.
11:23 pm March 29th, 2054 from distweet
Something got on the Nautilus tanks.
6:39 pm March 29th, 2054 from distweet
But it's remotely possible that something crept on board and has been lurking around ever since until it caused this. Or--
6:39 pm March 29th, 2054 from distweet
We shouldn't have any strange bacteria on board--we were pretty thoroughly, um, decontaminated, I guess you'd call it.
6:38 pm March 29th, 2054 from distweet
Sending results to company for second check.
6:02 pm March 29th, 2054 from distweet
Doing NA scans on T's blood and skin cells to see if I can isolate a bacteria or virus causing this thing.
4:43 pm March 29th, 2054 from distweet
Managed to wake T up. In severe pain; says can't swallow or eat. Skin worsening. On morphine drip.
12:15 pm March 29th, 2054 from distweet
Well, not exactly a stain--more like a fine red web settled across his skin. His skin is flaking everywhere.
5:52 am March 29th, 2054 from distweet
M overrode the computer codes and opened the door to T's room. He's covered in some red stain.
5:39 am March 29th, 2054 from distweet
K just pounded on my door. T not responding.
5:03 am March 29th, 2054 from distweet
Pulled out three chocolate packages and what they call 'steak' to celebrate. Still sick but joined in.
3:12 pm March 27th, 2054 from distweet
A and R confirm we're set for fuel. We will get home.
11:47 am March 27th, 2054 from distweet
T looked at amputation, said he couldn't have done it better himself. Still feeling sick.
9:30 am March 27th, 2054 from distweet
M came by and pulled me against him so hard I think my back is bruised. We didn't speak for two hours.
6:08 pm March 26th, 2054 from distweet
Done. Felt sick for hours afterwards.
4:31 am March 26th, 2054 from distweet
oh god I do not want to do this really do not want to do this
3:28 pm March 24th, 2054 from distweet
Company has sent detailed instructions and video on how to amputate. A and R will be helping. R's going to read the instructions to me.
10:19 am March 24th, 2054 from distweet
I don't know what I'm doing.
3:43 am March 23rd, 2054 from distweet
I'm going to have to do the surgery. We have no one else.
3:43 am March 23rd, 2054 from distweet
Sorry for silence. T badly hurt. Something struck his foot out there. The suit automatically adjusted so he only lost pressure in his foot, but it's bad.
3:24 am March 23rd, 2054 from distweet
I dragged T in it was awful it was god.
12:35 pm March 20th, 2054 from distwwet
Not just me. Nautilus demanding to know what's gone wrong.
9:53 am March 20th, 2054 from distweet
Something's wrong. T's voice is strained and I'm hearing something through the com.
9:49 am March 20th, 2054 from distweet
T's hooked up the drag line. Got signal to tug him back.
9:42 am March 20th, 2054 from distweet
Oh god. We did it. We did it. We got T back on the fuel tank.
9:23 am March 20th, 2054 from distweet
I have to tug him. I've got to get him to the tank.
8:37 am March 20th, 2054 from distweet
T's missed his fuel tank.
8:37 am March 20th, 2054 from distweet
M's on one fuel tank, attaching one drag line now. Says he's ok. I can start pulling them back.
8:03 am March 20th, 2054 from distweet
I can't watch. I can't not watch. I remember loving it out here.
7:36 am March 20th, 2054 from distweet
Them--the spacewalkers. Including M.
7:29 am March 20th, 2054 from distweet
Nautilus releasing fuel tanks. This is the bad part. If they can't float exactly there we're going to have to tug them.
7:29 am March 20th, 2054 from distweet
R says the Nautilus is as close as it can be for safety. It looks so small. They look so small.
7:09 am March 20th, 2054 from distweet
R timed me exactly. They're floating out.
7:07 am March 20th, 2054 from distweet
Put them in hatch. Watching now. If I fuck this up-
6:38 am March 20th, 2054 from distweet
T and M ready to walk out, R helping sick K pilot ship, me helping spacewalkers.
6:20 am March 20, 2054 from distweet
Just reali
zed how rare it is for all six of us to be awake and working at the same time, but here we are-
6:19 am March 20th, 2054 from distweet
Very narrow window of opportunity here. Trying not to think about what happens if something goes wrong.
6:09 am March 20th, 2054 from distweet
Got T and M suited up. Think M said something about feeling harder than ever. Nearly smacked him.
6:03 am March 20th, 2054 from distweet
Spacewalk starting in about three hours. Of course, by the time you read this, it will already be over.
4:08 am March 20th, 2054 from distweet
T won the game, so he's heading out. Claims it's better to risk the doctor than the main pilot. M agrees.
3:06 am March 20th, 2054 from distweet
Tried to do a coin toss, but that just doesn't work in low gravity well. They're playing cards now.
2:48 am March 20th, 2054 from distweet
Crap. K extremely sick. T says unsafe to let her go. R and I not trained for spacewalks. That leaves T or A.
2:33 am March 20th, 2054 from distweet
M says not to worry. Fuel tanks won't weigh anything in space. Worrying.
10:51 am March 19th, 2054 from distweet
We've barely spoken in months.
12:39 am March 19th, 2054 from distweet
M one of the spacewalkers. I feel sick.
12:37 am March 19th, 2054 from distweet
But we'll have a small window for a spacewalk where we can in theory pick up the fuel.
7:48 pm March 18th, 2054 from distweet
Nautilus passing by in two days. Turns out the ships won't connect.
7:46 pm March 18th, 2054 from distweet
Incredibly snappish at each other. Thought it might be oxygen deprivation but we're not there yet.
7:52 am February 27th, 2054 from distweet
@frogheart72 You have one sick sense of what 'divert' means. I'm tempted to deny our relationship GRIN.
4:02 pm February 19th, 2054 from distweet
Got a full month to wait for the Nautilus to arrive. Divert me. Please.
1:29 pm February 16th, 2054 from distweet
Company tells us that they can divert the Nautilus to us. Then we hook up to Nautilus and take enough of their fuel to make it back.
11:13 pm February 14th, 2054 from distweet
The plants and cyanobacteria can only recycle some of the oxygen; we need the cleansers for the rest. They need fuel.
2:14 pm February 12th, 2054 from distweet
@piehole72 Yeah we can reduce rations for awhile and that will help, but not indefinitely. Plus. Oxygen.
2:13 pm February 12th, 2054 from distweet in replay to piehole72
Calculated food load and growth patterns for fifth time. Not enough food. What more do they want me to do?
4:22 am February 10th, 2054 from distweet
@piehole72 Some waste is recycled in my garden and the unused stuff thrown out.
8:27 pm February 9th, 2054 from distweet in reply to piehole72
@piehole72 For fuel reasons our food load was calculated very carefully to reduce weight. We have exactly one month of extra food. Maybe.
5:31 am February 6th, 2054 from distweet in reply to piehole72
@frogheart29 You be the judge of what to tell the parents. I'm not in the emotional space to figure that out right now.
9:04 pm February 3rd, 2054 from distweet in reply to frogheart29
@piehole72 Water's not a problem. That's all carefully controlled and recycled. The problem is oxygen and food.
4:21 pm February 3, 2054 from distweet in reply to piehole72
Attempting to see if I can grow enough to keep six people fed, but it's doubtful and my plants have to provide oxygen too.
2:38 am January 31st, 2054 from distweet
Calculations confirmed by K, Z and all engineers back on Earth. We are beyond screwed.
6:48 pm January 30th, 2054 from distweet
@piehole72 No, I'm not fucking joking.
10:26 am January 27th, 2054 from distweet in reply to piehole72
Christ. Computers tell us we don't have enough fuel to make it back.
9:24 am January 24th, 2054 from distweet
Even my tiny plants seem to be drooping.
3:21 pm January 16th, 2054 from distweet
Can't sleep. Not sure if it's the shift changes catching up on me, or--Never mind.
11:08 am January 16th, 2054 from distweet
@frogheart29 You tell Dad and Papa, I kill you.
1:24 am January 1st, 2054 from distweet in reply to frogheart29
Even if the guy does things in near zero G that I wouldn't have thought possible even in near zero G.
8:31 pm December 31st, 2053 from distweet
It was so not a relationship.
4:03 pm December 31st, 2053 from distweet
@piehole72 Scratch that. No relationship.
3:06 am December 31st, 2053 from distweet in reply to piehole72
@piehole72 No, I didn't plan on having a relationship up here. It just happened--did I just use the word relationship?
2:23 am December 31st, 2053 from distweet in reply to piehole72
@loucheroo But look, celibacy for four years is just not practical. I mean, I'm not a nun.
12:08 pm December 30th, 2053 from distweet in reply to loucheroo
@loucheroo You were right. I shouldn't have gotten into this.
4:03 am December 27th, 2053 from distweet
Even in the periods where I'm scheduled to sleep when he's working, he's then scheduled for leisure while I'm working. And so on.
8:04 pm December 26th, 2053 from distweet
It's not like I have any way to actually avoid him, really.
8:03 pm December 26th, 2053 from distweet
M broke up with me. This could be tricky.
6:03 pm December 26th, 2053 from distweet
I really love it out here.
2:32 am December 22, 2053 from distweet
But that's the way astrophysics works, I guess. Or do I mean solarphysics? Planetphysics? Physicsphysics? Whatever.
10:15 am December 21st, 2053
Passing the orbit of Mars again. Somehow means less this time. Still amazed that I've passed the orbit of Mars twice without seeing Mars.
10:14 am December 21st, 2053 from distweet
@frogheart29 No, you MAY NOT TELL PAPA AND DAD. Honestly! You're so lucky we have so much space between us.
7:25 pm September 1st, 2053 from distweet in reply to loucheroo
@loucheroo Nah, it really is just a shipboard fling. Nothing more, nothing less.
7:23 pm September 1st, 2053 from distweet in reply to loucheroo
M and I did a little more private celebration of our own later. More firsts in space, I expect.
5:00 am August 28th, 2053 from distweet
Huzzah! Company tells us we have all earned major bonuses, already deposited. Celebrating with another chocolate pack.
6:42 pm August 27th, 2053 from distweet
Also mined barium and lithium and lots of other things you don't care about ending in um.
3:48 am August 17th, 2053 from distweet
And people said those efficient iridium/lithium batteries would never work because iridium's so rare on Earth. HA!
3:46 am August 17th, 2053 from distweet
Mining major success. M, K and R note that we've mined 145% of expected iridium, enough to power 2 billion cars for 50 years. Staggering.
3:45 am August 17th, 2053 from distweet
Approaching the asteroid that we'll be extracting iridium from. Expect a bit of silence from me for a bit.
5:42 am July 8th, 2053 from distweet
@loucheroo We have a now two year old version of Wikipedia that M uploaded back on Earth, but of course it hasn't been updated.
11:26 pm May 11th, 2053 from distweet in reply to loucheroo
Oh, I can get on the net, but by the time my search query reaches an E
arth computer and then responds, it's been a couple days. Not worth it.
5:19 pm May 9th, 2053 from distweet
@the28thkarenbear Right--I knew one of you could look it up. Star Wars. It just takes so long to research anything here.
5:17 pm May 9th, 2053 from distweet in reply to the28thkarenbear
Instead, we just see more points of lights.
3:34 am May 4th, 2053 from distweet
You know, the one where they're flying through rocks? That's what I thought we'd see, but we're not close enough to them to see rocks.
3:23 am May 4th, 2053 from distweet
Asteroid belt really not what I was expecting--even though they told me not to, kept thinking of that scene from that really old movie.
3:23 am May 4th, 2053 from distweet
Did I mention allowing R to bring along his horror movie collection a MAJOR MISTAKE?
9:42 pm April 29th, 2053 from distweet
Entered asteroid belt. This is where everyone else's jobs go nuts. A, K and R very bitchy--stress of piloting through this getting to them.
2:21 pm April 23rd, 2053 from distweet
Let's just say that some things really are better in space.
2:26 am March 1st, 2053 from distweet
M and I still managing to catch moments when we're on "breaks" during work shifts. No, you don't get details.
2:24 am March 1st, 2053 from distweet
Sigh. Just shifted to sharing work and leisure time with K again. Oh well. It's just two months, right? Wish this was with M.
6 pm February 16th, 2053 from distweet
R begging us to stop singing Judy Garland. Even promised to turn off his entire horror movie collection if we do. Tempting!
7:13 pm January 18th, 2053 from distweet
Even if he sings to the stars with me. Even if he sings Puttin' on the Ritz with a Judy Garland accent with me.
4:26 am January 11th, 2053 from distweet
@loucheroo :laughs: No, I wouldn't call this a major romance. Just a shipboard fling.
4:21 am January 11th, 2053 from distweet in reply to loucheroo
@piehole72 Um, I so don't see this group doing a space orgy. Intriguing idea, but, so not.
5:23 am January 9th, 2053 from distweet in reply to piehole72
@piehole72 Ok, the 43.5 million Mile High club at this point probably. To be technical about it.
4:42 am January 6th, 2053 from distweet in reply to piehole72
And yeah, I know all about "fornicating" in the workplace, but it's cool. And we're not the only ones doing it.