There is so much good news, but so much of it is being
overshadowed by the bad. I will focus on the good first.
Our octopuses are growing very fast! Vivien, Natsuki, and I are training them. We’ve actually lost some work hours because the other women will stop what they’re doing to come watch us. We all admit to taking long lunch breaks because we want to watch the octopuses.
They are learning quickly, too. We keep the lights dim in the room for them, just enough that we can see, and lead them around the tank. We also, admittedly, spent some extra printer material to make different sizes of “barrels,” so they would know what to move when they do go outside.
I kept them in the stream in the garden as long as possible, but these creatures are the size of my head now, so we had to move them into a different tank. We filled it with ocean water from outside, and they have taken to it. I daresay they seem even healthier than when they were in Earth-based saline. Something about clean water, perhaps?
Natsuki and Ihsan started some fish colonies to release as well, so the octopuses would have bigger food. They’re doing okay on some shellfish, seaweed, and algae, but they definitely need more to eat. Occasionally, I sneak them some pieces of nutritional loaf, but they don’t like that as much as they like mussels and clams.
Vivien finally agreed to let me name them. We do have a bright red one, which I named Otto; a very orange, bumpy one whose name is now Ottilia; a pale red one with the smoothest skin of all four, named Orpheus; and finally, our rust-colored darling, Opaline. They love playing with the barrel toys, and mostly do it on their own for its own reward. I think they will take to the mining operation easily.
Along those lines, our ocean gardens are flourishing. We have some kind of flesh with half a nutrition loaf at nearly every meal – mussels are my favorites so far – and kelp garnishes our plates. We’re all a little perkier for the change in diet.
I think we have some tomatoes blooming. We haven’t had to use the aloe yet, but it too is doing well. The coffee senna bush looks a bit weak, but the stems are a little woodier than the other plants, I’m not surprised. It probably needs more light than its getting, but its leaves uncurled and it should start to blossom soon. Ihsan says we will have to take a brush of some kind and rub pollen from each of the blossoms into each of the other blossoms, so it will self-pollinate and produce seeds. It sounds like we should consider planting another few of these bushes, to diversity their genetics a bit more. The lettuce has nearly taken over the hydroponics, and if any of us have to walk past the garden, we end up taking a brief detour inside to grab a handful of lettuce leaves.
Our water, air, and waste filtration systems are all up and running. The old computer has taken fine to the new crystals, and Zariah sounded confident when she informed us that all atoms were properly entangled and we would have no fear of losing our contact with home. With Earth, I should say – this will feel like home soon.
We are thriving with what we have. But – and here’s where the bad news is – we don’t have much, and we won’t for some time.
We got a communication from Breathe Easy yesterday, in response to the one sent last week. They denied our first resupply mission, insisting that we contact them only when we’re ready for the first water barrels to leave Europa. We will have to find a way to negotiate with them, because, truly, we are running out of industrial materials and I’m concerned for our air filters. Yuda, Chloe, Samira, and Ihsan are discussing ways to reuse them, but we don’t have a great plan in place yet. Meanwhile, I have been charged with writing another communication for Breathe Easy, and I don’t know what to say. I can’t be too demanding, or we’ll never get anything. The most convincing thing I can think of is that the company should go ahead and send the first shipment of supplies, because the transit time is three weeks, and we should be able to get our octopus helpers trained by then.
I suppose I will have to officially write that to them, and then wait to send this transmission. If I send this first, as I have been, then it might come off as rude. I apologize to the CEOs of Breathe Easy – life is complicated out here, and we need the support.
Our octopuses are growing very fast! Vivien, Natsuki, and I are training them. We’ve actually lost some work hours because the other women will stop what they’re doing to come watch us. We all admit to taking long lunch breaks because we want to watch the octopuses.
They are learning quickly, too. We keep the lights dim in the room for them, just enough that we can see, and lead them around the tank. We also, admittedly, spent some extra printer material to make different sizes of “barrels,” so they would know what to move when they do go outside.
I kept them in the stream in the garden as long as possible, but these creatures are the size of my head now, so we had to move them into a different tank. We filled it with ocean water from outside, and they have taken to it. I daresay they seem even healthier than when they were in Earth-based saline. Something about clean water, perhaps?
Natsuki and Ihsan started some fish colonies to release as well, so the octopuses would have bigger food. They’re doing okay on some shellfish, seaweed, and algae, but they definitely need more to eat. Occasionally, I sneak them some pieces of nutritional loaf, but they don’t like that as much as they like mussels and clams.
Vivien finally agreed to let me name them. We do have a bright red one, which I named Otto; a very orange, bumpy one whose name is now Ottilia; a pale red one with the smoothest skin of all four, named Orpheus; and finally, our rust-colored darling, Opaline. They love playing with the barrel toys, and mostly do it on their own for its own reward. I think they will take to the mining operation easily.
Along those lines, our ocean gardens are flourishing. We have some kind of flesh with half a nutrition loaf at nearly every meal – mussels are my favorites so far – and kelp garnishes our plates. We’re all a little perkier for the change in diet.
I think we have some tomatoes blooming. We haven’t had to use the aloe yet, but it too is doing well. The coffee senna bush looks a bit weak, but the stems are a little woodier than the other plants, I’m not surprised. It probably needs more light than its getting, but its leaves uncurled and it should start to blossom soon. Ihsan says we will have to take a brush of some kind and rub pollen from each of the blossoms into each of the other blossoms, so it will self-pollinate and produce seeds. It sounds like we should consider planting another few of these bushes, to diversity their genetics a bit more. The lettuce has nearly taken over the hydroponics, and if any of us have to walk past the garden, we end up taking a brief detour inside to grab a handful of lettuce leaves.
Our water, air, and waste filtration systems are all up and running. The old computer has taken fine to the new crystals, and Zariah sounded confident when she informed us that all atoms were properly entangled and we would have no fear of losing our contact with home. With Earth, I should say – this will feel like home soon.
We are thriving with what we have. But – and here’s where the bad news is – we don’t have much, and we won’t for some time.
We got a communication from Breathe Easy yesterday, in response to the one sent last week. They denied our first resupply mission, insisting that we contact them only when we’re ready for the first water barrels to leave Europa. We will have to find a way to negotiate with them, because, truly, we are running out of industrial materials and I’m concerned for our air filters. Yuda, Chloe, Samira, and Ihsan are discussing ways to reuse them, but we don’t have a great plan in place yet. Meanwhile, I have been charged with writing another communication for Breathe Easy, and I don’t know what to say. I can’t be too demanding, or we’ll never get anything. The most convincing thing I can think of is that the company should go ahead and send the first shipment of supplies, because the transit time is three weeks, and we should be able to get our octopus helpers trained by then.
I suppose I will have to officially write that to them, and then wait to send this transmission. If I send this first, as I have been, then it might come off as rude. I apologize to the CEOs of Breathe Easy – life is complicated out here, and we need the support.
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