Journal, Entry 2

They’re distributing paste rations again, which means the rumors about pirates hijacking the freighter from Mars were true. If any pirates end up reading this, I hope you’re eating well tonight.

The upper cores always save the meager output of the local hydroponics for themselves, but I bet even they’re rationing that.

Mips came over for some bonk and afterward we got talking about the paste. We both remember the early stuff they churned out when the trade network collapsed following the Assembly.

At least the current stuff tastes better. Never seen a banana, but it’s my favorite flavor of paste. Mips gets strawberry. We both agreed the flavors make it easier to ignore the fact it’s made out of bugs and the dead.

Have you ever wondered if your gramaw was ‘constituent biomatter’ of what you were eating, Mx Pirate?

Mips keeps asking what I want to do for my birthday. I said I just wanted bonk and vids. Most food stalls are already shuttering for the duration, and I’m banned from all the bars in this Core worth going to.

She told me I was boring, and sulked when I wouldn’t let her plan something else. Eventually wandered off. This is why we haven’t gotten a two-unit together.

Petey found me a job. Security gig. Guess that means I’ll have money to buy real food if a freighter ever makes through again.

Maybe I’ll let Mips do something for my birthday.

-Geary

Journal, Entry 1

Core E, Habitat P-M0-F0 – Callisto, Jovian Republic

I miss Earth. Only visited once.

Sure, Earth’s still there, just pitted and scarred, like the cheeks of the friendly noodle vendor down in Core F, as the drones of the Assembly mine it in ceaseless toil.

God knows why they’re mining it, or how the Assembly even started in the first place. There was no mention of it in any of Earth’s media streams until three days before the already ‘Assembled’ forced the rest of humanity to upload themselves, or die. Most chose death.

Yet the Assembly continues to grow, no one’s quite sure how, since they’ve long since run out of new human minds to upload. They’re certainly not talking, treat any attempts at contact as attacks.

Maybe we’ll figure it out, someday.

I wish I could remember the name of where we went. I was little, maybe five or six. I just remember standing on the beach, stretching and scrunching my toes to gather up the coarse sand of the beach as the tide slowly erased my toes’ labor.

Oh, and something called a ‘seagull’ stole my pizza. Honestly, those birds were the worst part of what I remember about Earth. One crapped on my dad, but the locals said it was good luck.

He did win at the casino, that night.

I’m guessing the Assembly has killed all the seagulls by now, along with the rest of Earth’s biomatter. I didn’t like seagulls, but I wouldn’t want them churned up for… whatever they’re doing.

Told Petey I started a journal, and he asked me why for. I told him I didn’t know why, I just decided to start a journal.

Maybe the pirates who eventually breach the habitat will get a kick out of it?

That’s who I’ll write this for, since I’m never going to read it once I get it out. I’m writing it to one of the pirates who murder us to loot the habitat. It’s more likely than not, way things have been going.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my journal, Mx Space Pirate.

–Geary