Anyway, the crew is divided into three work shifts. Carl and Jackie are on duty now. Brandon and Valerie are sleeping (Or, at least trying to). And, Tom and I are off. I’m glad I didn’t draw the first sleep shift. With all this excitement I wouldn’t be able to shut my eyes. In fact, I hope I’ll be able to sleep in about 2 _ hours, when it’s my turn on the bed.
A short while ago, I was giving Jackie a hand with the med-lab unpacking and setting things up, but Tom reminded me that I was on my free time and really didn’t have to do anything other than relax. Also, he was observing the work being done by the rookies and wanted a fair evaluation of their performance. I guess that makes sense, but I hope these evaluations are a temporary thing. You know I need to keep myself busy or I’m gonna go bonkers. Even when I’m on duty, I won’t have much to do for the next six months. Anyway, like one of those ex-VPs once said, ‘a mind is a terrible thing to lose’ or something like that. Ha, ha. Once the Hydroponics deck is up and running, we will all have more work to do: tending to the gardens and picking fresh fruits and veggies.
Well, it’s about time to get a bite to eat and to try and relax a bit before bed. I’ll write more, later on. I miss you already.
Love, Sally
< ≡ ♂ ≡ >
From: Valerie Thomas
Subject: Mars bound
Date: Sagittarius 25, 0031 19:15
To: Steven Thomas
(CLT): 0.80 sec
Well Honey, we’re on our way to Mars. As you can see in the date line, we’ve tried to adapt to the Martian calendar, already. That’ll take some getting used to. I totally understand your not being able to come to the launch. Some of us have to work for a living and get the job done. I saw the CNN Internet feed of this morning’s events. Such is the price of freedom, I guess.