Personal Log 123: 9th - 15th May, 3302
18 Oct 2016Jemine Caesar
9th - 15th May, 3302 Before leaving Puiki, I had The Last Thing's power plant swapped out for a lower grade model. Oddly, this gave me an improved power output, 13Mw over the old one's 12Mw. I didn't understand it at all, but I couldn't argue with the numbers. I also sold my KW Scanner, as I felt I'd had enough to do just defending myself in my last battle to mess about with a scanner as well.
Sam and I completed our journey to Gliese 1269, and on May 11th we arrived at the famous Jaques Station. It was certainly an impressive sight. An ordinary Orbis starport at one end, but with enormous FSD engines at the other.
Once docked, we sold the astrocartography data we had collected on the way. For me, this amounted to just under 100,000CR, and moved my Explorer rank up to 'Surveyor' level. We also signed up for the Fuel Rats appeal, but since it was due to end the next day, we had probably arrived too late.
At the station's ship's outfitters I bought upgrades for The Last Thing's sensors and thrusters, and took her out for a tour of the system. Gliese 1269 was certainly in the middle of nowhere. All the surrounding systems were 'Pegasi Sectors', with no starports, outposts, or even inhabited planets.
On May 12th, I saw a headline on Galnet which confirmed that Jaques Station now had enough fuel to make its planned jump to Beagle Point. But, I thought, that meant that if the station moved, I'd move with it! I didn't want to go all the way across the galaxy! I had to get out, now!
Without a moment's thought of how idiotic I was being, I powered up The Last Thing and fled from Jaques Station. I didn't even think to tell Sam, who had taken the R134 out to explore nearby systems.
Jaques Station was the only starport in the Gliese 1269 system. I didn't want to powerdown in open space, so I needed to find another starport in which to dock, but where? I frantically checked my navcom, eventually locating a system called Darmovik, with a single industrial outpost named Shepherd Port. I locked the course and engaged my FSD.
On arrival at Darmovik, I realised what an utter fool I had been. I docked at the outpost, checked in to a room, and sent a k-cast to Sam:
*****
Hello my love!
Ummm...
You remember I said Jaques Station is fuelling up for a jump to Beagle Point? Well, while I was out exploring earlier, I saw on Galnet that the appeal has ended. Which means the starport has enough fuel to make the jump. To Beagle Point! It's thousands of light years away!
I panicked. I think I might have forgotten to take my meds.
So now I'm at Shepherd Port. It's an industrial outpost in the Darmovik system, just over 50LY from Gliese 1269. It's the nearest inhabited system I could find. By the time I got here I was feeling too worn out to return to Gliese 1269.
Love you.
Jem
x
*****
I returned to Jaques Station the following day.
"Oh, Sam!" I said, hugging him close. "You must think I'm such an idiot!" However, Sam was typically understanding.
"Not at all, my love," he said. "But when the time comes they'll give everyone plenty of notice for getting off the station, don't worry!"
We spent the remainder of the day wandering around the starport. Fuel Rat pilots were everywhere, and spirits were high in the aftermath of the success of their appeal.
I had read in Valentina! magazine that Jaques ran his own bar on the station, which was a popular tourist attraction in its own right.
"While we're here," I said to Sam, "we may as well pay it a visit."
Jaques' Bar was popular, all right. The room was packed, with every square metre of floor space occupied by revellers. It was quite a job getting to the bar. Sam, being so tall, was able to see over most people's heads, and so had little difficulty in navigating through the dense crowd. I was not so fortunate, despite my 12cm heels.
"Short people are at a definite disadvantage here," I wailed. "I can only see the middle of people's backs." I clung on to Sam's hand, and was dragged inexorably forward. I felt my bottom being nipped several times.
"I wonder if Jaques is here?" I said, once we had reached the bar. Disappointingly, he was nowhere to be seen.
"He's got extra help in," I said.
"Understandable," replied Sam, "considering the sheer number of customers."
I felt disappointed, and all the more so when Sam told me he'd actually spoken to the cyborg while I'd been in panic-mode at Darmovik.
"As a matter of fact," continued Sam, " my great-grandfather met him, about a hundred years ago."
I soon gave up any hope of seeing Jaques for myself. As we pushed our way through the solid mass of customers towards the door, my bottom was nipped three more times. We returned to our room.
"So," I said, kicking off my shoes. "Here we are on the famous Jaques Station." I wriggled out of my dress and allowed it to fall casually to the deck. "We may never, ever, come here again," I purred, unclipping my bra and draping it over a chair.
Sam, clearly catching my drift, undressed quickly. "Well, my love," he said, lifting me up and pressing me against the bulkhead. "We should certainly strive to make the visit a memorable one."
And we did.