a letter from far away

a letter from far away:

Hi, Spock! Day #451 on the Eoria Terraforming Platform. And day #3 since my last letter to you, whoops! I'm so sorry for the radio silence, but we've been installing the new water system in Biome Delta, and it's such time-consuming work! We finally got the pumps working late last night, and let me tell you, the sound of raindrops falling on leaves was the most beautiful thing I've heard in a long time!

It reminded me of home, a little. The way we'd stay inside on those endless rainy afternoons and play card games, or race raindrops trickling down the window panes. I mean, not that I don't love working on Eoria (of course I do!), but I miss it sometimes. And I miss you a lot! How are you? I worry about you, travelling around all those lonely galaxies by yourself. You must come and see me soon!

We've made so much progress since you were last here. The grasses in Biome Theta have taken root brilliantly, and the coral seeding I sent you a letter about was a success! According to our project manager, we're more than half-way through the process! It's amazing to think about. Our ideal finish date is somewhere around day #750, but that seems so far away. The milestone I'm most looking forward to is the harvest of the apple trees we planted way back on day #81! Can you imagine - the first edible produce of a brand new planet! I'll have to send you a sample.

There's still a lot of hard work to do before harvest day though. Our next project is setting up the incubators for the first batch of insects that we're releasing to pollinate the flowers in Biome Epsilon. It's not as difficult as working on the water system, technically, but it's delicate work - my big clumsy paws aren't very suited to it, I'm afraid. I'm sure you'd be much better at it; you always loved catching bugs when we were kits. Won't you come visit me and help out?

God, I sound so desperate. Ignore me! I just miss my little bro. You aren't lonely, are you? I worry that you are, but then again, you always preferred your own company. It's certainly not lonely on the platform! A new group of young, excited students arrived the day before yesteray to study the terraforming process and help us out, and they've been keeping us busy. It reminds me of your student days, and how excited you were to start travelling the stars.

And now you really are! I'm so proud of you, little bro, and I'm glad you're doing what you love, even if you don't come and visit me anywhere near enough. No, ignore me, I know you're busy with your work, and I'm busy too! I don't want you to think I'm just rattling around and missing you. Writing letters just makes me emotional; you know how it is. And, well, I guess I'm just over-tired from what I've been up to over the past few days. But I think writing about it is a good thing! Getting your thoughts in order and all that, and don't they say diary-writing is the cheapest form of therapy? Not that this is a diary, but you get what I mean. Are you keeping a diary? Of all the things you've seen? I wouldn't be surprised if you were; remember that scrapbooking phase we went through when I was, what, 12? You were always better at keeping it up-to-date than me, as evidenced by the lateness of this letter. Sorry about that.

Whatever you're up to, be it diary-making or scrapbooking or getting sucked into black holes for all I know, I hope you're having fun. I'll cut this letter off here, before I have to spend another twenty credits on notepaper, but I'll attach some of the pictures of our latest project for you to see! Write back soon, okay? Don't take after your hypocritical brother, who lets letters moulder for weeks but expects instant replies. I'm a bad influence, I know.

Lots and lots and lots of love, your big bro,

Zach xxx