Case

“Well we found ourselves a home… Or...well I guess Mary had a home… The ship we tracked down. I’m not going to go into how we found it… Not smart to implicate yourself. It was good for a while, traveling back to New Haven to get it patched up, Mary has some connections. Mary always has connections. The ship is called The Gremlin and its… it reminds me of some of the stations I served at but… obviously it's smaller.

I’m still trying to figure Mary out. She’s cagey...a little cold. Definitely not the type of person I thought I’d ever get along with. She reminds me of a few people I knew in the corps… She seems like a good person, maybe a little loose in morality. I must seem like a real bleeding heart to her.

Made a new friend though, I guess a roommate -

File Corrupted - Unavailable

Recording Ends.

User Deleted File

"So apparently... I'm suffering from something called 'displacement trauma'... I don't usually do these...personal recordings? Not really the 'Dear Diary, how are you?' kind of guy but the shrink at the clinic who did my mental assessment suggested it. She'd said it would be a good way to cope with the changes. And since I've got nothing better to do than sit in this shitty motel room feeling sorry for myself, why not give it a try? So... new world huh? That's putting it lightly."

Long pause filters over the recording before a frustrated sigh sounds.

"I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to say here... I lost everything? How am I supposed to 'cope' with that looming over me? Beth and Attie are..gone. I can't get back through to them because apparently wormholes don't work that way. Doc said I'd either tear myself to bits or end up in a different time and different place. In other words... I'm fucked. I keep thinking about the stupidest shit... like what is Fred going to do without those bars I was transporting? Is the colony going to be able to last the shortage season? How is Beth going to afford rations on her own?... Is my son going to know what kind of person I was? Is he going to hate me? Is he...safe? In reality, that world is probably hundreds of years behind me and my brain can't seem to grip the fact that everyone I knew and loved is likely long dead. Another time...another place."

The sound of a mattress shifting can be heard in the background along with the shuffling of fabric.

"I almost threw out my old hand terminal today... Not like it was going to get a signal here and all my files are already on my chip... but then the thing rang. I don't know if its just... some sort of interference, but I swear to God I heard a voice on the other end... real faint and garbled... Its probably nothing, but... there's this irrational part of me that keeps this idiotic thread of hope alive. Maybe Beth is still out there, trying to reach me through a few hundred years and God knows how much space? It's stupid... I know its stupid... but I don't think I'm ready to let this piece of my past go yet..."

A muffled thud resounds over the recording as another pause ensues.

"I never thought I'd actually be planetside again, especially not on two different planets in a single week... not after I defected. It must have been something like...ten years since I've been under this sort of gravity and let me tell you, it fucking sucks. I don't know how people live like this, with their feet stuck to the ground all day, every day. This planet is called...Titanus?...Wait no that's not right..."

The sound of papers being shuffled sounds in the background.

"Ty-ton-i-dias... I don't know what to think about it just yet... but they've got actual fucking...aliens here. Doing my best to get used to the idea that humans aren't the only ones navigating the stars now but, it is what it is. Locals don't seem all that friendly...but I'm not sure if that's cause I keep accidentally staring at them or if they've got something against humankind. Mary says it's only temporary... I gotta keep reminding myself we'll be done here soon. It'll be nice to feel a little normal again once we get off this gravity well and back into the void... you know... once her contact reaches out with a job. I just hope that job isn't to kidnap some poor schmuck that didn't do anything to deserve it and deliver him to the feds... I spent a long time being the boot on the neck and I'm not trying to go back to it."

He clears his throat.

"Anyway..."

Long pause and a murmur transfers over.

"How the hell do you turn thi-"

Recording Ends.