This is my life, from left to right:
To the far left of the reverse thrust controls, I have my morning coffee-- or evening coffee, my clock stopped working a few years ago, and it's a pain to get AAA batteries out here. Underneath my coffee sits the most recent issues of GlobeGeo, surveying a number of planets in the working federation and issuing a listing of the variety of animals. Honestly, I think that a majority of these animals are like your typical EarthThings: cats, dogs, elephants, whales, bugs. There are a shit ton of bugs out there in space.
I think that I'm getting off-topic. Was I talking about my coffee? Well, I like to keep nearby a stack of soluble cubes for that saccharin illusion. Sure, YOU may think it's gross, but I have reason to believe that it's not gonna kill me any faster than the fake air I'm breathing or the box I'm floating around in.
The thrusters stick sometimes. Especially the reverse ones on the left. I don't really enjoy having to kick it into action, but hey-- it's exercise in the end. If I don't kick it after igniting the reversers, there tends to be a pretty scary fragrance of burning rubber. The mechs don't seem to bother repairing these things-- they're too preoccupied with their re-runs of John Wayne films in the make-shift cinema aftward.
So that's my left. In the middle I have the general display. It's a bit smudged with food and drink and other things. I'd hate to bore you with the details, but let's just say that you could probably clone a few things and people from the stuffs on these things. I've got alot of buttons, too. They're all worn down and rounded by now since I started-- but hey, it's characteristic I think. I also think that I should get the mechs to repair some of these too. I worry that if life-support fails that I wouldn't be able to initiate the backup system... I'm not sure that I remember which button that is anymore.
There's a lovely screen, too. It's bright green with some sort of antique-y finish to it. Fake gold and interesting filigree scrolled along the top, while the text on the prompt is in a goofy comic sans font. I suppose it's intended to keep the driver at ease while telling them to make evasive maneuvers through the oncoming asteroids.
I don't want to talk about the trash under the middle of my workstation. Let's move on to the right.
Here we have all of my pass-times. I have string that I tie into knots, an old game system called a Texas Instrument. It enjoys maths, even though I don't. I like to test it. I also have a scribbleboard that I play tic-tac-toe on day to day. That is to say that I play with myself with this very intellectual tactic in mind, but then when the opponent (also me) makes the next move, then I cannot remember my own tactic, and so, in the end, it's all very hard to predict.
Underneath those things are all of the handles for steering and grav fields and alert systems. I'm sure there are a few alert bulbs in need of replacing, but for now I just listen closely for that whirring that turns it on. No casualties yet.
I'd like to see where you work. Do you mind if I come by sometime? I am jealous of the robot you have on board. That game you play, Man-O-Polly? Is the robot any good? My Texas Instruments doesn't seem as much fun as yours.
You know what, I'm gonna come by.. If you see a green ship any time soon, don't panic-- it's just me. You'd let a penpal like me aboard to make you lunch, right?
Until then,
Traveling Stu.
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