20170609
Dear Diary,
My name is Daisy Callaghan. I’m on the SS Star Soarer, a ship that’s taking a thousand civilians of assorted races to a scientific colony called The New North. The trip is supposed to take two months, but that’s assuming we don’t run into any problems along the way. Mostly hostile star-travellers or cosmic storms. We are heading to the New North not only to test how various species can live together, but also so a lot of us can start new lives. Me especially.
I signed up as an engineer, but I couldn’t get a job. My test scores were just shy of their minimum requirements. Literally off by one. So instead I signed up as general staff and was hired to work in cleaning. It’s not great, but that doesn’t matter. I’m here on this ship, getting away from it all.
Seems stupid really, me jumping on a ship, travelling half-way across the galaxy, just to get away from an abusive ex. But my family didn’t care, no one took my side. Fuck the lot of them. I’m pursuing my dreams.
Anyway, back to the ship. We actually set off yesterday and I didn’t write a diary entry or anything because everyone apart from the most essential staff was put into stasis. It’s only for the very rough launch. Our ships are the biggest and fastest in our little local group, but the launch systems we use require lots of slingshotting and it’s just too dangerous for the average person. That being said, the captains who deal with ship launches get paid huge amounts of money for the risks they take.
On the ship there are four species. Most of us are bog-standard humans. About 50-50 male and female, all various races but mostly blancs, about 50% of the ships’ population in total. Many people here are either scientists or middle class. People desperate to get away and lucky enough to afford it. Only the cleaning and maintenance staff seems to be different, working class people doing their jobs, or in the same position I am.
The other races, they’re an odd lot. About half of them are Cassians or Cassids, weird, slender dinosaur beings. Those bird-like ones that you see running in flocks, but these guys are super intelligent. Again, about 50-50 male and female. Most of them seem well-off. I don’t know if they’re rich or not but they’re definitely not struggling. The other two races, they are split evenly between Secta and Raptai.
Septa are an insectoid race. Weirdly peaceful. They don’t have any of that hive mind, kill-the-queen-they-all-die traits. Really, they’re just like humans. Ugly as fuck though. Two sets of arms, segmented bodies, pincers and a carapace on their back that hides wings. Most of them can’t fly though, that’s restricted to like the upper classes or something. They have weird stinger tails as well, kinda like a scorpion, but they always keep the pointy bits sheathed.
The only reason the Raptai are on the ship is because they breathe in carbon dioxide, and that means they counter the fact that the rest of us breathe out carbon dioxide. They’re really weird plant-like creatures. Sorta reptilian in shape but made of like vines and stuff. Some of them have flowers on their bodies. Weird creatures. But having them around means the ship can run at a much higher capacity, using less fuel recycling air. There may only be 250 Raptai on board, but combined with the agricultural parts of the Star Soarer, the air is so much better than on normal ships.
Luckily, everyone is friendly with one another. Can’t imagine how it’d be with unfriendly races.
So yeah, it’s going to be an interesting journey. Not so much interesting for me, I’ll be cleaning things and trying to work my way up. Because I’ll be damned if I don’t get a proper engineering job, after five years of study and hard work.
And I’m already doing stuff. I’m listening in to the engineering channels while I work. These are long shifts I’m working, and keeping up with the higher ups is the way to go. Thankfully, apart from some sort of tiny impact just after launch (probably just an ancient satellite!) everything seems to be running smoothly.
Here’s to a good trip!