Day 1
Well, we’re off.
In a manner of speaking.
Our launch date was moved up a bit because of some irresponsible dock manager over-booking the berths, so several ships had to skedaddle out of here ahead of schedule in order to make room for the incoming supply ships.
Ugh. Of course. The little people are always booted out of the way for the big coorporations.
Sure, they offered us a free two-week docking pass next time we came back here… but… well, we’re not planning to come back here. So what good does that do us? None at all.
Doesn’t matter in the long run, I guess. The point is… we’re off. I scrambled around yesterday trying to hit the various markets to buy the last of the supplies we needed for the first leg of our journey, and that was an adventure in and of itself.
Seems since several other ships got kicked off the station around the same time as we did, everyone else had the same idea! Most of the markets were super low on all the essentials, and on most of the non-essentials, too. Sigh. It took me longer than it should have, as I had to go to a few different markets, but eventually I found everything we needed. Whew!
Of course, it doesn’t help our replicator is broken, so we needed extra ingredients in order to actually cook things. Yeah, yeah. The Defiant may not be a brand-new, first-class ship, but she’s got it where it counts, kid!
… at least that’s what the previous owners told us when we bought her. But hey, she’s got an 8-acre atrium topside, which is what most mattered to me. I like my trees and grass. And sure, there’s a holodeck, too, but it’s just not the same as the real thing, ya know?
So now we have 8 acres to trek around on, full of real grass and trees. We’ll have to upkeep it, but I think it’s worth it. I’m a tad claustrophobic (okay, a lot claustrophobic in certain situations), so having some open air and nature, even in the dead of space, will help to keep me sane… I hope. 😛
But, as I mentioned, we do also have a holodeck, and it is functioning (unlike the replicator). So, in case the atrium isn’t enough, I can always take some time in there to visit other, more exotic locales now and then. Not the same as the real thing… but hopefully still helpful.
Now that we’ve officially set sail though… well… I’m already feeling a little… enclosed. There’s no real reason for it… it’s not like I’m stuck in one small room or anything. But just the knowledge that I can’t decide on a whim to leave the ship and go anywhere I want leaves me… rather anxious, if I take the time to think about it.
It makes me feel like I am, actually, trapped in a small room, even though I’m not. Oh boy.
When we planned this interstellar trip, I never considered that might be a thing. Surely, with an entire spaceship to call home, and especially with that atrium and holodeck, that would be enough space, right?
Well, maybe not. Gulp.
We’ll see how it goes, I suppose.
There are other things, too, that you sometimes wouldn’t think to consider before hopping on a starship to gallivant around the galaxy. Especially as just one family on a smaller, civilian vessel.
For example… haircuts.
The Defiant is not equipped with hairdresser bots. Or bots of any kind, really. Okay, that’s not entirely true. We have a small cleaning bot we’ve lovingly dubbed Dee-No. And another bot that’s pretty much only good for checking for space anomalies and keeping track of what supplies we’ll need to get at our next stop. (We call her Alexa.) But those are all we’ve got. And I wouldn’t trust either of them with my hair, that’s for sure.
And of course I put off my own haircut before for reasons, thinking, obviously, that I could merely reschedule for later.
But then this whole docking berth fiasco happened, and we had to ship out in a hurry, and I didn’t get my haircut. Neither did my son. And he needs one real bad now. Sigh.
Also… dentists. And eye exams.
My son had both scheduled for the near future… and now both had to be cancelled. So aggravating. Luckily neither were in dire need… no painful cavities needing to be filled or glasses (much) needed (I do think he might need glasses, but it’s not bad enough to be obvious, at least).
It makes me a little nervous to know these kind of amenities won’t be readily available for the foreseeable future. Who knows when they might be available again. In the meantime, we’ll just have to do our best with what we have.
Thankfully, all of us are in good health for the time being. We’ll just be extra sure to give our eyes breaks from screens now and then, and clean our teeth extra well, and hey… I used to groom dogs for awhile back in the day. Surely I can manage a halfway-decent haircut for a human? We’re about to find out. I’ll be sure to log some pictures for posterity…
Hey, this is our first time out in space, okay?
We don’t really know what we’re doing, I’ll admit. It was never really supposed to happen like this.
That’s also why we don’t have any chairs at the table in the galley. We sold off the old table and chairs recently… but before we could get any new chairs. We were supposed to get new chairs this week, but then, well, we had to ship out.
We’ve managed to make do for now with an exercise ball, and old chair I brought with me from our childhood lake house, and a folding chair. Hey… it gives the galley some character! Hah. Maybe we can get some new chairs at the next station we happen to stop at. Here’s to hoping…
I’d better get back to it now, though. My son has just finished his schoolwork for the day (yeah, that’s another thing, I now get to be his teacher on top of everything else… at least he’s a good kid and can pretty much do it all on his own! Whew!), but I’ve still got a lot more work to do myself!
Keeping a starship running smoothly through the black of space ain’t easy, you know.
And I already miss my friends! Good grief.
Well, we’ll be having numerous video calls via the quantum entanglement bouys here and there, I’m sure. Thank goodness for the wonders of technology! Oh lordie, this might end up being a real long trip…
To all the other intrepid adventurers out there, godspeed to you!
Signing off…
JENI
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