A Peculiar Blog

From the Captain’s log USS Discovery, Tue Jan 01, 2013 08:01:27 GMT

As we begin the new year in deep space life aboard discovery remains the same.  Because the scientific team was put aboard already in hibernation Ralph and I are the only two awake on board.  One could say that Hal is “awake” in his own way but he doesn’t face the risk of boredom.

Our lives are by necessity routine. We have scheduled activities every day.  While Hal does monitor all systems and is quite capable of doing so on his own, Ralph and I have the task of checking various ship systems on a regular basis.  This is both to double check Hal’s information and more importantly, give us something to do.

Because the delay in communications will continue to increase from it’s current ten minutes one way we cannot rely on communications from home to keep us occupied.  Besides which, there are relatively few transmitters on Earth capable of sending a signal strong enough to reach us in the first place.

We do receive daily transmissions of news programs and a small selection of entertainment channels but mostly we rely on our on-board video library.  We have enough material that we could watch three feature length movies every day and not even be halfway through all of them before we arrive at Jupiter.

My day starts at 06:00 ship’s time.  I have some time in which to dress, get completely awake, do twenty minutes of exercise designed to maintain fitness.  By 06:30 I am having breakfast.

At 07:00 my shift begins and I officially relieve Ralph and he goes over the ship situation report with me noting anything that might need attention.

Through the rest of my day I go over most of the ship systems.  Discovery is a very advanced, very capable ship but various instruments need to be calibrated occasionally and other systems need regular maintenance to insure they continue working their best.  Besides which anything, no matter how well made, can break down.

By 16:00 ships time I’ve gone through the entire official routine and I am technically “off duty” and free to occupy my time however I see fit.  Some days I’ll watch a movie from the ship’s library, others I might read an ebook or perhaps engage Hal in a game or two of chess.

At 18:00 ship’s time Ralph’s day, essentially a mirror image of my own, is just beginning. At 20:00 I’ll go to bed and from there the cycle repeats itself.

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