May 15th, 2343

Aric: 

     Today is Launch Day!  Launch Day One, to be exact.  It was exactly 365 days ago (ship's time of course) that We Three began this Incredibly Long Trip.  It's not, I'm thankful to say, the Longest Trip Ever; that honor belongs to the Cetacean.  Even though the two of our ships were launched at the same time, their destination is 12 light years away, and it will take them longer to get to their destination than our entire round-trip will be.  Still, six years one-way is long enough I think it deserves the title 'Incredibly'. 

     We have now traversed a bit over .7 light years, but we still have a long way to go.  The stars seems to lengthen by the day, though that's probably my imagination.  Certainly they are getting longer.  And creeping forward.  The gap behind us has opened to swallow a full half of the celestial hemisphere behind us.  This is of course a natural phenomenon; a result of our ship moving closer to the speed of light, but it's a little disturbing nonetheless. 

     I have been actually sleeping at night, thanks to amenities (or lack thereof) of the Tunnel.  I have a cozy, yet still portable setup in there.  I don't actually need much.  A sleeping 'pad' formed of layered blankets.  A blanket and a pillow.  A light to read by until I'm tired enough to [thank the lord] naturally fall asleep. I still fear that Mike will find out and disapprove, so I keep everything packed up and ready to move when I'm not there.  Prepare for the worst, hope for the best sort of thing.  But, I figure while I'm hoping for the best I might as well get all the sleep I can.  I'll worry about Mike when (and if) the time comes to do so. 

     We've been partying all day.  This is our real New Year's day.  That old day on January 1st is a remnant of Earth and is pretty meaningless here.  Tomorrow begins our second year together and we're celebrating.  Vodka is the drink of the month, with potatoes being in season (whatever that means here) for the past 6 weeks.  I think we're using more potatoes for vodka than we are for food.  Certainly we've been drinking more vodka than eating potatoes.  Why am I rambling about potatoes?  Probably all that vodka. 

     The party's still going, so I probably shouldn't continue this much longer (who leaves a party to write a log entry?).  Theresa's supposed to show up soon and there's this rumor (spread by Sarah, of course) that Mike's going to break out a secret stash of chocolate.  I gotta say, if she's fucking with me, I'll be pretty disappointed.  I'm really looking forward to giving Mike a ration of shit for holding out on us. 

     I'm still rambling, aren't I?  Oh well, maybe I need more to drink.  To close, here's a picture I took from the lander one year ago as we approached our new home:  

Our ship, the UEN Centaur. 

:Aric