UEE Time, April 28th 2938
That's it my ass is frozen. I'm getting off this damn rock. The base doctor said I should calm down and the hydroid fever will pass. He told me they call it the hydroid fever not because it has anything to do with the nasty buggers but because of the spiraling branch formations it causes on the skin. The bastard also said I should keep a diary to report my progress and my symptoms, whether physical or psychological. He must think I'm crazy. I’m not doing it for him though. I write to assure myself I haven’t gone on the deep end when what my body is actually feeling begs to differ. My fingers and toes are having this euphoric tingling sensation. My eyes feel...twitchy and despite the 104 degree fever I suffered through last night my back now feels like it's crawling with little maggots made of ice. They say it's normal. It’s funny that that's how this all started with that phrase “it’s normal”.
I can still remember the day I landed on Castor. The ride over had been smooth enough. After going through the usual paperwork and pleasantries at the recruitment office I had been convinced that I had made the right choice in sticking with the BID. Right from the first day they laid on the royal treatment - high protein meals, drinks, relaxers, you name it they were there to provide. They even had the foresight to get us on Castor's day and night cycle by dimming the cabin's interior lighting every twenty two hours and thirteen minutes. For all we knew we were on Castor already. And things so far were going great.
On the first day I met this fair haired girl named Jen. When I say met, I guess I really mean saw. The only reason I knew her name was because it was emblazoned on her new Class I cold service parka. I looked down at my own, which said “Mark”. Fancy. Who ever said being in the mining business didn’t come with perks? Jen was the type of person from afar you didn't mess with. She had those cold eyes and that pucker of a mouth which definitely let you know she had a habit of being a bitch and knowing it. Despite all that, I was feeling good about myself and took the liberty of getting up out of my seat to stretch my space legs and walked over to her. Not to be deterred by her ice stare I said:
"How'd you like the grub? I'm surprised that they treat us so well here..."
"I'm surprised that they let a talking primate on this ship. Now skip back to your seat and leave me the fuck alone." she snapped back.
At that I decided to cut my losses and climbed my way to the drink kiosk at the other end of the ship. Needless to say I didn't speak to her for the rest of the trip.
Apart from that slight wrinkle everything else about the journey was very enjoyable. The ship really wasn’t too bad considering it must’ve been ancient. It didn’t even have a properly working quantum drive anymore - hence the seven day long haul trip through inner system space. No matter though, I wasn’t one to worry about the details and getting some quality R&R in the cabin seat simulator at the time was my idea of a good time. Little by little other things started to fall into place: lines for the facilities began to shorten after the first wave of planetbounders got used to jettisoning their “cargo” in space, most of us had gotten used to the daylight cycle forced onto us by the ship’s systems, and even some cliques began to form by the tail end of the journey.
On the beginning of the last day, the lighting came on a little earlier than usual. After a brief shudder throughout the ship I realized that we had changed direction. I checked my omni for the time and at that moment the cabin intercom flicked on .
“Good morning passengers. We’re now beginning our final approach to Coral IV, otherwise known as Castor.” said the captain with that ever so slight Lo drawl.
“If you take a look portside you’ll be able to see our descent into atmosphere before we begin landing maneuvers. On behalf of myself and the crew we ask that you engage your life support at this time and fully secure your seat harnesses”.
Face mask on and tightened, I craned my neck to look up through the spotless cabin window on my left. Sure enough there it was, a swirling blue planet with hardly any cloud cover to speak of. The ice desert just outside of the Corel system green belt once touted during the great Messer expansion as a brave new front for humanity, was a now desolate mining colony for the ambitious and the desperate. I asked myself one last time, what I was doing here.
What am I doing here...