Launch!

Personal Log: Teagan Dodge
WRC: Minerva Team
ID: 87310634

I don't know if I'm going to get used to this talking to a computer pad. Okay. So, this is my personal log. I'm ... heh. I feel like I'm at an AA meeting. "Hi, I'm Tee, and I'm going on a mission to another planet." "Hi Tee!" So long as no one makes me do a circle of hugs or something, I think I can manage. Heh. So...

So this is it!

I feel like one of the ancient pioneers. It's exciting. But at the same time I can't keep my palms from sweating. I'm kinda freaked out by the whole thing. I'm on one of four near-light speed capable spacecraft known to man, and we're headed to one of our closest stellar neighbors, Epsilon Eridani. We're going to be settling into the cryo beds tonight, so the next time I wake up it will over eleven years later. Eleven years! That's nearly as long as I've been an adult. It takes less time to earn a PhD! Crazy! Those kinds of numbers really bring it home how flippin’ far apart stars are from each other. When I wake up I'll be so far away from the Sun that it'll look like a tiny yellow dot, just another star in the night sky. That blows my mind.

And right now we’re so far from Epsilon Eridani that it’s hard to see except on clear nights. It’s easiest to spot in the winter night sky. Here:



Next time you’re out, look for the constellation Orion. Right next to him is Eridonus, the Great River. Epsilon Eridani is right in there.

Okay, so the whole purpose of this journal thing. Most everyone else on this tub is headed for the second planet of the Epsilon Eridani system, Iapetus. The planet is loaded with rare earth mineral deposits. We’re talking zircon, platinum, lanthanum, the works. There are also a lot of minerals the geologists say are great for cosmetics, and clown-faced women will practically kneecap each other to get the stuff and keep hiding their wrinkles. Iapetus is a corporate bigwig’s wet dream.

The corporate guys aren’t completely running things, though. Me and a handful of others aren’t going to Iapetus at all. Thanks to the World Research Counsel, we’re headed to the first planet in the EE system, called Minerva. Minerva is everything Iapetus isn’t. Minerva is an Earth-like planet. It has whole oceans of liquid water on its surface, and it’s practically oozing life. Some is even intelligent. Not a whole lot of monetary value on Minerva, but the World Research Counsel is frothing at the mouth to get at all those new plants and animals to catalogue. Nothing like new taxonomy to really get the scientists fired up.

And then there’s the intelligent life. The First Contact crew has already been and gone, so I’m not the first to meet them. But I’ll be one of the first to spend more than a few months with them, and I’ll be living with them directly. They’re called the Azu-nah, and we barely know anything about them. We know a few words of their language. We know they’re pretty friendly, but told the FC crew flat that they’ll start killing humans if we pull any Conquistador crap. Yikes. It’s exciting, but that’s pretty intimidating, you know? I really hope this goes well. I’ll be with them for the better part of the next decade. Hell, it’ll be the next decade next “morning”.

Speaking of which, I’d better get into the cryo hall…

… see you on the other side!