SID 23111.19

KEINMOND-CLASS MINING PLATFORM KEINMOND II
PLASMA DRILL TECHNICAL TEAM KTT-1
CT2 ARMIN SHALE

TECHNICIAN'S LOG

I'm tired as all gakk. Tired, exhausted. Can't seem to fall asleep, though. Been up and down for hours now. Tried to sack out around 22:00, but, no luck; tossed and turned, then finally gave up and dragged myself out of bed. Poured myself a finger of june, plopped down on the settee, threw on the holovid, and tried to zone out. Now it's 24:35, I'm exhausted, dizzy, and bored from holographic infomercials, but I still can't fall asleep.

Why? Well, I'm worried. Worried, worried. Found a little book in my locker today. Have no idea how it got there; the lock is keyed to my thumbprint and retina pattern. Someone'd have to dupe both sec-prots to get into the locker, and why would they go to all that trouble just to leave me a little book?

Yeah, about that book. Brothers & Sisters is the title. Little short hundred page story, about a close-knit family and its trials and travails. Greeting card garbage. But there's something about the writing- strange turns of phrase; sequences of words repeated multiple times throughout the story; endless, obsessive descriptions of hemp-based foods- that leads me to think the book must be some kind of coded text. From the Communion. I think they're trying to recruit me. I think I may have unintentionally signaled some kind of interest when I went into that weird hippie store those weeks ago.

Great. They think I'm a closeted Brother of the Book. All I know is I have to get rid of it. I need to dump it, but I need to dump it in a way that doesn't look like I'm dumping it. Eyes are watching everywhere, I know. Leave it in a stall in the gents? Maybe. Let someone else deal with it. I'm just worried that the Communies will continue to try to reach me. How soon before Black Legion catches on? I know there's gotta be some onboard. Those IL folks don't play around; they'll airlock you as soon as look at you. Gakk, I think I need another finger of june...

SID 23111.04

KEINMOND-CLASS MINING PLATFORM KEINMOND II
PLASMA DRILL TECHNICAL TEAM KTT-1
CT2 ARMIN SHALE

TECHNICIAN'S LOG

Gax, it's cold here. I crank my CC up and up, but it never seems to get warm. Must have something to do with the cooling system for the plasma drill; it keeps the drill cool, sure, but it makes everything else gakking cold, too. As an old climate control engineer, I gotta admire the efficiency and effectiveness of the cooling matrix, but c'mon man. I'm like a gakking pengu in here.

Thank the Imperator for double-layer coveralls, I guess.

Still getting acclimated (hee hee) to the new assignment. Lots of meetings and training sessions. Lots of amazing opportunities for embarassment. Turns out that a plasma drill isn't as much like a plasma cannon as I had been let to believe. Really made an ass of myself on my second day, when I mentioned something about ejecting the antimatter capsule from the fuel chamber. Which you must NEVER DO with a plasma drill, because the antimatter capsule in a plasma drill is not jacketed. So, a big "NO" to ejecting the antimatcap, unless you want to obliterate two star systems and a large orbital mining facility. Sheesh.

At least I have the beaches of Kismy Prime to look forward to, right? Sorry, bub, but the ol' KP is all booked up. Festival of Gama Gesh, and all that. All month long, of course, because the Kismiti Concordians never met a minor religious observance that they couldn't turn into an excuse to miss work for 5 weeks. In the Western Synod, Gama Gesh Day means we get to take the afternoon off, maybe go see a movie. Have a nice turducken for dinner.

Anyway, Kismy prime WAS a no-go, so I settled for a quick trip to Kakalak I in the Sebarti system. It was okay, I guess. The beaches were fine, but I don't think Kismy has anything to worry about. Plus, it rained most of the trip, so I spent a lot of the endweek poking around Viabos City, trying to find some good battos, maybe pick up a book to read. I wandered into this funky shop, started poking around. Pulled a book off a shelf, read the title - The Communion of Free Beings by Lister. The Book. Holy gakk! I had never seen it in person. I didn't even think you could buy it openly. In fact, I'm certain you can't, so I figured the book was a plant. If I pulled it off the shelf- blammo: a strike team of Black Legion comes bursting through the windows and carries me of to be "re-educated". No thanks. I spun on my heels, calmly walked out the door, the jogged all the way back to my lodge. Stayed in my room the rest of the trip.

So, yeah, won't be going back to Kakalak anytime soon.