98 lines
5.9 KiB
Plaintext
98 lines
5.9 KiB
Plaintext
;<CONSTANT DIARY-ENTRIES
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<PTABLE
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"BUG #??"
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"11,344 July 22 -- Transferred from S.P.S. Trilobyte to S.P.S.
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Feinstein for the third of my four tours of duty. I'm truly going to miss
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my commander, Ensign First Class Lim. He was a friend in every respect --
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someone you could always go to with a problem, someone I could really look
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up to. We would sometimes talk long into the night. He would tell me
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about his home world of Ash-Down V, and I would talk about growing up on
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Gallium. I'd get pretty homesick sometimes, even though Gallium is not
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exactly one of the garden spots of the universe. I just hope my new
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commander is half as nice as Lim.||
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This new ship seems pretty swell. I'm in a cabin with only five
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other ensigns, and I've got one-and-a-half cubic meters of locker space!"
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"11,344 July 23 -- Met my new commander today -- Ensign Cadet First
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Class Blather. He seems like a real krip. (Excuse the language, Diary.) But
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that might just be a bad first impression."
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"11,344 July 25 -- One of my cabin mates, Gorund, organized a Double
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Fanucci tournament among all the Ensigns Seventh Class. We were playing
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during the 150-millichron rec period after lunch, and Blather burst in and
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confiscated the sets and told us that playing war games was a violation of
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patrol regulations. But Ensign Whirp, who's studying to be a patrol lawyer,
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said she couldn't find anything about it in the regulations anywhere.||
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BLATHER IS REALLY A TOTAL MEGAKRIP!!!"
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"11,344 July 28 -- I went to see the personnel officer today to find
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out what my new duties would involve. He showed me a list of all the open
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assignments, and I decided to put in for the grotch-feeding detail. We picked
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up a few grotches when we were on Crassus, and we're taking them to the
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Zoology Labs on Tremain so that maybe they can figure out how an animal can
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produce 47 times its weight in trot every day."
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"11,344 Bozbar 7 -- Everyone from the P.O. to the ship's cook has
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approved my application for the grotch-feeding detail -- except Blather. I
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have an appointment to see him tomorrow. Wish me luck."
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"11,344 Bozbar 8 -- TROT!! Blather rejected my application! And to
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make it worse, he said that since I seem to love grotches so much, he's
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assigning me to clean out their cages. TROT AND DOUBLE TROT!!"
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"11,344 Bozbar 26 -- I haven't had time to keep my diary lately,
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because Blather's been watching us all like a Teleran bird. Also, last
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week he found the diary during a surprise inspection, gave me 200 demerits,
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and told me that diaries were against regulations. But I'll be frobbed if
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I'm going to stop. I've started hiding the diary inside my official documents
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file, and I keep that hidden in the air duct. From now on I'll have to sneak
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away somewhere to use it."
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"11,344 Bozbar 27 -- Greeting from the Deck Four Supply Closet of the
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S.P.S. Feinstein. I hope I'm not tempting fate, sneaking around with my diary
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this way. I used to be as much of a disbeliever in destiny as the next guy,
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but not anymore. Not since the time my mom warned my dad not to tempt fate
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by walking across the astral plains after dark, when the computerized analysis
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showed a 43% chance of resulting injury. My dad, stubborn as always, just
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laughed at her and went right on taking his nightly strolls. THE VERY NEXT
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SUMMER HE WENT WALKING AT NIGHT ON THE PLAINS AND STUMBLED OVER A CRATER AND
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BRUISED HIS KNEE! Gosh!"
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"11,344 Bozbar 28 -- We entered planetary orbit today, a non-human
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world call Accardi-3 (although the natives call it something like
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Blow'k-bibben-gordo). They're not officially part of the union. The rumors
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say that we're picking up a special ambassador to take back to Tremain for
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negotiations on joining the union. Tomorrow we have to put on our dress
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uniforms for some special welcoming ceremony."
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"11,344 August 2 -- I caught a glimpse of the alien ambassador during
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the welcoming ceremonies yesterday. He looks like a cross between a tree
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trunk and a melting ice cream cone. But at least the ceremony got me out of
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cleaning the grotch cages today."
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"11,344 August 7 -- Went to the mandatory Patrol Informational
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Tri-vision Triple Feature last night. We saw 'Treatment For Space Lice
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Infestation,' 'Shorleave Shirley: How to Guard Against Contracting Alien
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Diseases,' and 'The Oxygen Tank: Your Galvanized Buddy in the Vacuum.'
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Blather confined half the ensigns to quarters for hooting during the second
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feature. (The other half had fallen asleep during the first feature.)"
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"11,344 August 24 -- TROT THAT TROTTING KRIP!! I applied for
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astrophysics training for the next quarter, but Blather says my work for the
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special assignment task force hasn't been good enough, so not only did he
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reject my astrophysics application, but he says I'll have to take remedial
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scrubbing next quarter. WHAT A TROTTING KRIP!||
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You know, for the first time I'm beginning to have doubts about
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whether I'm really cut out for the patrol. When I was growing up on Gallium,
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it was always taken for granted that I would join up when I came of age. My
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family has served in the patrol for five generations. In fact, my
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great-great-grandfather was a high admiral and one of the founding fathers of
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the Patrol! But I seem to be permanently stuck at Ensign 7th, and Blather is
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making my life miserable..."
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"11,344 Septem 4 -- We left hyperspace today at about 7600; weren't
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scheduled to for about another two weeks. The grapevine says we have special
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orders to investigate a planetary system here. Apparently, some of the
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archaeologists back on Varshon think it might have been part of the Second
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Union. I can't imagine why anyone would settle out here in this remote
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corner of the galaxy."
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"11,344 Septem 5 -- That krip has done it again! I missed two little
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pellets of trot when I was when I was cleaning out the grotch cages yesterday,
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and Blather gave me 100 demerits and assigned me two extra shifts of deck
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scrubbing -- including Deck Nine, the filthiest deck on the ship! I'm
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considering asking for a transfer -- or if things get worse, I might even
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abandon ship!">>
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