From the Desk of Director Sarah Martinez, Entry 5
October 13, 2101
Surprise! Erias went to hell so fast, I’m almost wondering if I imagined the entire thing.
But nope. The paper trail holds up. It actually happened.
What, you ask?
I went out, talked the Erias settlement team down by re-committing to increasing the available water supply and other quality of life improvements, then left only to find out they had locked us out of all station systems as soon as I hit the Blink Drive.
You know how I found out? My goddamned comms erupted and Luce was yelling at me that they’d lost systems access AND they’d sent a warning telling us not to come back without prior authorization.
“This is the Sovereign State of Erias now.”
Yeah. That fucking happened.
Oh, and remember Bones? That traitor bitch who just blew up MY Ladder?
She wants to talk.
This week really can go fuck itself, I swear to god. I have three ARKs to get shipped out by the end of the day, a goddamn riot to take care of halfway across the galaxy, and I swear there’s something else I’m missing.
It’s a right there/tip of the tongue sort of thing.
Eh, I’m sure I’ll remember tomorrow. After this I’ll delegate the ARK speeches to Connie, figure out how to wrangle these Erias pricks, then make a decision on Bones.
But this Erias thing… it’s not like I can send the Sol Protection Fleet in to cow them. That seems extreme.
Right?
Oh. Erias was identified by one of the old ALIZA-powered Blink probes! We didn’t pick it up once we started sending folks; seemed more dangerous than it was worth.
But what if I can use ELISE to take control of the probe and regain system controls? I’ll have to run it by ELISE and make sure that’s doable, first. It’s been decades, sure, but the old ALIZA firmware was fucking scary.
Even if I do miss the disconnect sometimes. It really would be nice not to worry about every goddamned thing all the time. Just close your eyes, let the AI take you through the motions, then open them and enjoy your downtime.
It’d be nice to breathe again.
Okay, the alarm went off five minutes ago.
Guess it’s time to go back to work.
Ugh,
Sarah Martinez
