The Beaded Tapestry

Aboard the Derringer 8

Dear Annalis,

I have moved to the small coffee café to write my next letter. My assigned quarters on board are so small I knew every millimeter of the space within five minutes. Luckily there are many spacious community areas to relieve the feeling of claustrophobia. The coffee corner is by far the smallest and most private and I find it ideal to begin our onboard correspondence.  They have decorated the café with a holographic wall scrolling through various impressionist paintings. It is strange but welcomed  to see Monet’s lily ponds splashed across my vision first thing in the morning.

The coffee is surprisingly good. A bit on the weak side, but who wants a ship full of people jumped up on stimulants. The café includes a small sweet with each dispensed drink. Some type of caramel fudge with a mixture of walnuts. A delicious but unexpected treat for an automatic café.

The trip has gone  without  incident so far. After a short shuttle ride from Brighton station (two hours), I arrived at the deep space transit  station EM-40. Since the station’s orbit around the moon placed it on the Earth side during my visit, I was excited about getting a good view of my home planet before leaving it for awhile. Unfortunately the only glimpse I got was a blurry blue ball seen through a small port on the station. It was obvious that the EM-40 was not set up for the tourist trade. It was very utilitarian and had few viewing ports. Of these, most are so damaged by impact with small space debris that space outside is not worth viewing. Thus the blurry blue ball that I suppose was planet Earth.

The Derringer 8 was docked close to the shuttle hangar and after a short administration check I was able to board. I cannot tell you how relieved I am that I did not make my arrangement for travel on the freighter fleet. I saw one of the  ships docked near the Derringer and it looked quite unsafe. I know it was not,  but I feel better about using the extra allowance within the project for a passenger liner.

As soon as all the passengers were on board, the ship coordinator gave us an overview of what to expect during the voyage. We are scheduled to reach the outer planets within twenty days. After that we will report to the stasis division of the ship for processing before the ship exits the solar system. I have heard stories about what it is like to stay out of stasis during the Gambol process. I am glad I will be static  for the jump to the outer rim. It is described as having your insides placed next to you, and your outside layer traveling on. I haven’t read what it is like when the two meet back up at the end. As I will be unable to correspond during my two years of suspension, please continue to write. I will catch up on you letters when I am released from medical on the other side.

My accommodations  include a small reading/research station. It has an amazing database transferred from the Smithsonian. As the agency has taken over all data storage on Earth, it is listed as the most comprehensive data source available on just about every subject you could wish for. There is a large collection on our research subject at New London. Most of the information available I have already seen, but there was a new article published several weeks ago that I had  not seen yet. It commented on the growing number of artists flooding to the colony to immortalize the anomaly in all mediums possible. I am happy that our proposal to the Louvre has already been accepted and our sponsors are in place. Including the scientific aspect of the phenomenon combined with the artistic view  I believe  made our proposal stand out from the other supplicants.

I hope all is well with you. As I sent my first letter hard copy by a courier from Brighton station, you will probably receive this strip beam  letter first. Leave it to you to be so sentimental as to want an actual letter in your hand as a memento. I see from you status on the university site that you have returned to your research on campus. I hope this means your health has improved and not that you are fed up with being cooped up in the house. Please update your research on the array as often as you can. I will use all your saved data for setting up the new lab when I am retrieved from stasis. The Derringer will enter the Alpha Centauri system very close to the Array. Although the best artistic viewing of the phenomenon is from New London, the best scientific points are from outside the solar system, away from the atmospheric influences. I will have a total of four weeks to set up the new lab on the observation platform Phycodurus-8. That is where the Derringer will make its first stop after jumping. After that there is another two weeks to spend to studying the unobscured phenomenon. That is the length of time the Derringer 8 will be in quarantine before being allowed to continue on to the transfer station above New London.  So six weeks for one person to do what we calculated would take two people. What else can we do but hope I become more efficient than I normally am.

Tomorrow early we will be passing beyond the orbit of Mars and begin the acceleration to our Gambol point. As that will be the last data dump from the strip mail,  I Am hoping there will be a letter from you included before we switch to the new data retrieval system for deep space.

Love as Always

Victoria

Brighten station, United Kingdom

My Dear Annalis,

Here is the first of my promised letters.  It broke my heart having to leave you yesterday. I can still see you tear stained face peering out of the upper story window of our parents London home.  The journey to Brighton was uneventful and I arrived last evening with ample time to prepare for my journey.  The accommodations in Brighton were adequate, if small. My luggage took up most of the floor space as I was not able to arrange transport until this morning. I hope during the trip I will be able to remain in contact with you. If I am unable to send my letters I will continue to write, as promised, at least once a week. Then I will arrange to send what I have accumulated at the first moment possible.

After my luggage was picked up this morning, i spent a few hours arranging my allowed on board possessions. As this will be the last chance I will have to purchase any forgotten items, i tried to think of any situation i might find on board the ship. I had a short moment of panic when i could not find my reader. Fortunately I found it tucked into  the outer pouch of my travel sachet.  As you can tell I am not as calm as I should be. 

The station in Brighton is everything it was promised to be when they proposed the construction plan three years ago. I read an article on the architect who created the design for the main station building. His vision was to create a functional station that would blend the modern design of Spherism with the natural seascapes surrounding Brighton. The effect is amazing. Picture an enormous polished metal sphere that reflects the sea and sky surrounding it. If you stand at the correct points of the passenger drop off area you have the illusion that the building is part of the sea.  Truly inspirational. I stood staring so long when I got out of the taxi that the driver had to ask me three times for the fare.

I am now sitting in the main terminal waiting for my final papers to clear.  There are many families waiting here also. I find it difficult to imagine embarking on this type of journey with young children.  How do you explain to a six year old that you are taking them away from all that they have ever know. Family, friends, country, home – everything.  All gone.  As you can see, I am also struggling with leaving. Even though it is everything I have been dreaming about and working toward, I still find it difficult to leave.  Most heart breaking is to leave you dear sister.  This was our dream together but fate has played us a sad hand that you are not by my side for the start of this adventure. It will not be the same without you, but as we have spoken about this many late nights, I must come to terms with it.

I see my name has just been posted to the plasma screen for boarding. I guess my papers were all in order.  I have to thank Dad for that. He always did know the correct end of the pencil to use. I will have to sign off for now. As soon as I am settled on board I will write again.

Please take care of Mom and Dad for me.  I leave them in your capable hands.

Love Always,

Victoria