The Starship Aprilis: Irina

This blogpost is part of the A to Z Challenge which begins on April 1st. The goal is to post every day (except Sunday) in the month of April. Each blogpost will be associated with a letter of the alphabet. Check the A to Z Challenge page for more information.

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The Starship Aprilis was a common and unremarkable transport ship built on Earth, back when humans were still bipedal and mostly organic creatures. The ship travelled between the many human colonies that were established at the time throughout the galaxy and served as both a cargo carrier and passenger transporter.

The ship finally met its end when it was stuck in a crushing gravity field off of Taurus Baqara C, which killed all who were aboard and destroyed all the on-board data and most importantly, the ship’s log. Of the ship only a small section survived, which was discovered quite recently several million light years away, in a slow decaying orbit around a black hole.

The remains of the ship offers no clue as to what really happened to consign the ship to its fate. The only document that could be salvaged from the remains is a travelogue, believed to be written by an unknown crewmember. The travelogue offers a glimpse of what life was like for a traveller of the stars in those heady days, thousands and thousands of years ago. Most importantly, it gives us a glimpse of many different planets and what they were like during the time.

The following entries are excerpts from the travelogue. May you find amusement and enjoyment from reading them.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M

N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

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Irina is the doctor we met at the clinic when I accompanied Crewman Friday. Ever since that initial meeting, she has been on my mind. I’m not exactly sure why.

She’s not exactly the most attractive woman on the ship, but there’s something about her that keeps pulling my thoughts back to her. At first I thought I would eventually forget about her as our paths do not cross much on this huge ship.

Yet, somehow, I have met her almost every day since our first meeting in the clinic. I would either bump into her in one of the corridors, or I would see her in the mess hall. Sometimes I would see her in the crew section where I am stationed the most. I am definitely not going out of my way to see her so I am wondering, is she going out of her way to see me?

We don’t talk much every time we bump into each other. Just a short greeting and perhaps a furtive smile if we are able. I’m wondering if I should ask her to join me for lunch or dinner some time.

She was among the medical teams involved with the Hangarbay 9 disaster and we made eye contact several times. She didn’t smile at me at the time, perhaps due to the rather difficult situation at hand but I still wished she did.

Her smile is… well, whatever it is, it’s something.