by Beth Hoyer
of my head, when I woke up. I thought the same thing that happened yesterday would happen today. I was wrong. After breakfast Mathew took us to the infirmary. The infirmary was like the cafeteria. All rectangular looking with a lot of gizmos on the walls and also had five beds jutting from the walls. He did some tests on us. Waving lighted devices over us and included drawing our blood with a needle. I hate needles. I’m not keen on needles. Hmm, Mathew was gentler with Sue, but he stung the needle in my arm with a creepy look on his face. It looked like he was satisfied that he hurt me. As for the needle cut he rubbed Sue's arm with a small square cloth but on me he dabbed quite forcefully that it hurt. Then we went to the weight room to be tested with weights. We each wore a test strip on our arms. Mathew gently put it on Sue but on me he rushed and pinched my arm with the test strip. He has a look of annoyance on his face. It wasn’t nice to wear them. Then we had lunch and after lunch were more tests. Mathew wanted to make sure the virus was completely gone. He gave us an hour break to nap and rest. Then we had dinner and after dinner was more tests and working out. I’m so tired that I could just drop on the floor. We dragged ourselves to our room. Sue went to sleep right away. I could barely write this and I'm so tired I might as well snooze.
Yawn,
Elizabeth
January 24, 2101
Dear Anne,
We were so tired that according to Mathew, we slept all morning. Oh really because where did the twenty third go? Mathew let us sleep late. I felt some poking and prodding during my sleep. I also felt a needle prick in my arm that made me feel more tired. I had a weird dream that yesterday Mathew woke me up and I was in a wolf form and growled at Mathew who backed away. He had to use a dart gun to make me sleep. Sue was awake during this wolf dream and was still in her bed rubbing her tummy like she was pregnant. I woke up and Sue was gone. I saw the date twenty fourth flash on the voice computer. Hmm I wonder if I really had a dream or it was real. Sue came out of the dubbed clean room with her hair wet. There was a look of surprise on her face. I noticed that she seemed shocked. I think she took a shower. I went and took one. She had to teach me how to use the faucets. It's push buttons for water on and water off. There's also another button to raise the temperature of the water and also to decrease the temperature too. The shower was spray. The water felt fine. Then Sue and I talked about what happened to us. I asked her about the crew talking to her and ignoring me. She told me they asked about how to communicate with me and about us. I didn't know why but I could tell that she was lying about this. We went to the cafeteria to eat lunch; the machine on the walls prepared our food and drinks. We got pink stuff and pink drinks. Sue and I tried to guess what was in the drinks and food. We figured it was meat and meat drinks. Mathew came in and told us it was actually potatoes we’re eating. I can’t believe that.
I asked Mathew “Does the ship have an entertainment center?”
Mathew and Sue exchanged looks then he told us while glaring at me that there was no entertainment center. The ship wasn’t made to have one yet. It was mainly a supply and transport ship. (I think it’s going to be boring here.) I asked about our tests. Mathew looked furious about this. Oh, what's going on here? He told us our tests results came out negative. We went to our room to read. I started reading my book as Sue read her magazine. I read the novel until dinnertime. We ate dinner with the crew. This time the crew hesitantly talked with me. They asked me slowly about the twentieth century. I told them about cars run on gasoline and oil heated houses. They had a lot of questions about me being deaf. I didn’t mind the questions. I answered truthfully as I could. They spoke slowly enough for me to lip-read. Sue oddly looked mad about that. I think she likes to be the center of attention. After dinner was working out then Sue and I retired to our room. Then Sue wanted to look up her family on the computer. She didn’t know how to use it. I had to show her pointing out the controls to the computer. She was quite rude to me and didn't thank me. I taught Sue how to use the computer. Then she looked up her family tree. Mathew is her great grandson. She’s lucky she had a brother. We looked up my family tree. My parents didn’t have any other kids. Neither did my aunt Svetlana and Cousin Zoya and my uncles. I’m the only descendant of my family tree alive. I envy Sue. She knows about this. I told her that and she laughed in my face. This left me confused. What's going on with Sue? I thought she was my friend. Sue is asleep. I think I’ll go to sleep now while feeling tired. Uh one thing that bothered me is my family's year of death was oddly with no cause listed. But in Sue's family the cause of death such as heart attacks and old age were listed. Some things been bugging I and I don't know what it is.
Curious,
Elizabeth
January 25, 2101
Dear Anne,
Sue and I slept late. We were so tired but we slept fine. The doctor tells us it’ll take awhile for our bodies to be restful. I ate a late lunch in the cafeteria. Then we decided to separate and explore the ship alone. Sue went to see Mathew. I went to the bridge. On the bridge the consoles were lighted up. Crew members saw me but didn't say anything. I sat in a chair in the middle of the small room, which was the captain’s chair. A crewmate annoyingly told me that. She told me quite harshly that only the captain sits there. I got up immediately. She introduced herself as the captain herself. Her name was Draguta Eberhard and she was a tall blonde about six feet. Her name sounded German to me. She showed me how monitors working. It was nice of her. She kept telling me that it was too complicated to explain. She pointed out to me a lot of buttons to push to keep the ship in working order. It was nice of her. I left the bridge and went to the engineering section. I passed by Sue on my way who I told about what happened in the bridge. She told me the engineering crews were very nice to her. I went to engineering, there are no windows. The engineering crew was very nice showing me the ropes. I learned that it was complicated to keep the engines working. I went to have dinner with the crew. The crew once again asked the both of us about our life. I didn’t mind. After dinner Sue and I retired to our room. We both read our books. I’m glad I have my journal. The ship is making me feel some phobia about small spaces. I do feel like I’m in a hospital wanting for fresh air. I felt like I wanted to run around on fours. Strange. Sue went to sleep. She oddly sleeps a lot. Oh, I asked Mathew about what the virus did to our bodies. He told me the virus did some internal damage to our bodies. It’ll take some time to heal from the damage. I don’t know how to explain. The damage is making us tired. Our bodies are healing slowly. I can’t wait to stop being tired. I think I’ll go to bed now.
Yours truly,
Elizabeth
January 26, 2101
Dear Anne,
"Who cares of the date anyway?”
Whoa! I found this written in here in an unfamiliar handwriting. Someone's reading in here without my permission. I should have noticed this earlier. That I caught Mathew reading my journal last night, but he acted like it was his duty as a doctor to read it. I noticed he seemed disgusted. I'm annoyed at my lack of privacy. Mathew woke us up for tests again. He actually shook me awake and pinched me on the arm which hurt. It was getting our blood taken and working in the weight machines. We had breakfast an hour later. Make it two hours because Mathew left me on the work out machine a lot longer than Sue, which was really rude of him. Mathew told us the ship would be orbiting Terra soon. I can’t wait to see what the planet looks like. I hope it’s like the picture.
Sue sat next to me on the floor of the bridge. She told me that the Captain told her to look out the window. The Captain tried to dissuade me from looking out the window but I glared at her and was assertive. She was shocked at my assertiveness. We both got up and looked out the window. Terra is like its picture. A beautiful world that I hope it has what the computer said. We sat down on the metal floor. The captain told us to stand and hold onto her seat. We did that. The ship entered the atmosphere and entered the planet. I could see tall crystal spires. I asked the captain about that. She told us the sp
ires were there when we arrived to the planet in the first place. Some scientist thinks the planet was occupied by some race a long time ago but died off. The ship landed like a plane on a landing field. Then the captain told us to get our backpacks and get ready to leave the ship. We walked to our room and got our backpacks. Then Mathew led us to a door. He pressed some buttons the door slid open. The air felt warm with touch of coldness in it. It was a beautiful sunny day. I saw crystal spires as far as the eye could see. I could see trees and bushes. I heard with my hearing aids waterfalls. Terra looks so beautiful. I was excited to see it. Mathew told us to go through the building there. The building he pointed to was a tall crystal spire. He had a look of relief on his face like he was glad to be rid of us.
As we walked to the building and entered the doorway I turned around to see the ship Christa disappeared in a cloud of fog. I only glimpsed a large airplane and then the fog came and then left. The ship was gone when the fog left. The doorway was a crystal spike like. I touched it and it was cold as ice. It was like touching a cold glass of water