Diary on the Space Soarer 5

20170614

Dear Diary,

Someone else died today. One of the lower engineers working on communication systems. Someone doing the exact job I’ve always wanted. Well, I’d take any engineering job, but communication engineers? I’d love that… But this…

His poor family must be devastated. His friends must be heartbroken. He has a girlfriend apparently and they were planning on tying the knot when they got to the New North. It’s horrible.

And I feel absolutely rotten. That little tiny part of me sees an opportunity, but I just can’t. It’d be so wrong. No one likes stepping into dead men’s shoes. I don’t want to do that.

I’ll just wait. A good opportunity will come. I’ll work and earn my way up. I can do it.

I just… I can’t get the image of that guy out of my head. Unlike the first person who died, this guy was super popular. Loads of people knew who he was. Even I had heard of him. He was one of the engineers who worked nearby. I’d SEEN him.

Then poof, he’s dead.

They found him near one of the Cassian sleeping areas. His place was only a few meters away. Someone found him leaning against a wall, looking like he was asleep. Then they noticed that his face was puffy and he couldn’t breathe. He’d just been to see a doctor. There’s so many doctors on this ship, and the Cassian ones are amazingly good, despite being so weird-looking. They also give free massages when they’re done with you.

Turns out, it was some sort of allergic reaction apparently, to an exotic metal used in Cassid medical equipment. Specifically used in their thermometers. Something that the poor guy didn’t even know he was allergic to. He’d gone in with a fever apparently.

Like… imagine finding someone like that… And not being able to save them… And how the Cassian doctor must feel, having inadvertently killed someone…

I have to change the subject, but it bugs me. It’s like… I know there’s over a thousand beings on this ship and some of them are bound to get ill and die, but it’s only been a week and we already have two rather weird deaths. It’s pretty crazy. It’s keeping everyone on their toes. Now there are bulletins on the social networks about not lying on medical forms and getting allergy tests done and things like that. There have also been extra safety bulletins.

The other guy that died though, they still haven’t confirmed what killed the person. Rumour is that it was a heart attack but surely they’d announce that or something? It’s weird. Unless it was the family who wanted to keep it secret or something? I have no idea.

As for me, things have been boring. Cleaning stuff. All the time. Doing extra work because one of my workmates was ill. Just a cold, they said. I hope they don’t catch it. We get holiday time, this isn’t like the old days where people didn’t get sick pay, but still, this is a long journey and I don’t want to get ill already.

Oh god, I’m going to start making myself worry. Getting ill, things like that. I’ve been extra vigilant with safety and stuff.

You know what? I’m just going to call it a night. Apart from static and stuff about that guy’s death, the scanner picked up nothing interesting. I could do with an early night.

See you tomorrow.