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5.4

10 August

Thalia Buoyant Island

Southern Stratosphere

Venus


Weightless® Direct Message Log #AG5720

LadyCaffeine: Thank you for agreeing to speak with me individually! I know you have a busy life and lots of joiners, so I appreciate your taking the time.

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): It is my pleasure, ma’am. You left out “limited bandwidth.”

LadyCaffeine: You should petition Weightless for a wider channel. You’re a huge draw for them; the least they could do is underwrite your Deep Space Network access.

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): Haha, I think part of the charm is how slow I communicate. If people heard from me more, they might not find me so interesting.

LadyCaffeine: I doubt that.

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): Thank you, ma’am. What did you want to talk to me about?

LadyCaffeine: Sorry, my attention wandered. I was doing something else during the time lag. Are you still there? Full disclosure, I am writing an honors thesis for my bachelor’s degree, about the psychological challenges faced by space settlers.

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): So you are in college? Yes, I am still here.

LadyCaffeine: Yes, University of Hawaii. You and I are both islanders.

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): /heart/ /smiley face/

LadyCaffeine: May I ask you some questions that may end up in my thesis?

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): Yes, sure.

LadyCaffeine: May I use your name? I want to be very certain about your consent before proceeding.

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): I am not in a position to sue anyone for quoting me. I do not have much access to the world outside of this site, but I know people quote me. Maybe misquote me. Yes, sure, you have consent.

LadyCaffeine: Thank you! Can you tell me about the stresses you face in your daily life? In your feed you talk a lot about the practicalities, which I love. But the same few names keep coming up in your descriptions, over and over again. It makes me wonder sometimes, if loneliness is one of the factors that drove you to communicate with Earth in this way.

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): Loneliness? Yes, definitely! I only know fifty people, and many of them have no time for a fifteen-year-old boy. It is assumed I will be working with my father as a trawlerman, so those are mostly the men who will speak with me. And Tohias, the mayor.

LadyCaffeine: Oh, I didn’t realize you were so young! I assumed you were in your twenties. You have a very mature face for a teenager.

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): The mustache? Yes, I am told we get them early in my family.

LadyCaffeine: Who else do you speak with?

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): Well, there is Francisco, who is our doctor, and Marcus, our priest.

LadyCaffeine: Those are all men. Do you speak to any women? Or girls? You must, I’m thinking.

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): I have a mother and a sister. My mother’s friend, Noemi, is Basilio’s wife, and she is very kind to me. And there is a girl, Basilio’s daughter, Juanetta, who thinks she is my fiancée, and another girl, Tika Valdez, who is the only other person I could plausibly marry. But she is only nine years old, so no one has talked about it. I speak with her, sometimes. She seems nice.

LadyCaffeine: So your culture practices arranged marriage?

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): Haha, yes. Arranged by lack of options! But I am being rude. Juanetta is a smart young woman who knows how to run a 3D printer. I could be much less fortunate, I know.

LadyCaffeine: But that is not very many people in your circle.

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): No. When we left Earth, I was only 10, but I remember knowing a lot more people. Even my own family was a lot of people. I had nine cousins!

LadyCaffeine: There are no babies on Thalia?

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): No. Not until we are more established. The adults voted on it.

LadyCaffeine: Do you want children someday?

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): I think so. It’s hard for me to imagine, because there is a lot of danger here. When my sister was younger, we worried all the time that she would walk out a door by herself, without a mask, and no one would know until it was too late to save her. Or she could fall off the edge, or get her hand caught in a printer. A lot of different things. I think everybody thought there would be more people here by now, and more things to do.

LadyCaffeine: That sounds stressful.

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): I suppose so, yes.

LadyCaffeine: Does it take courage, just to go outside?

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): Courage? I don’t think so. It is probably dangerous where you live as well. Hawaii? You could be hit by a car, or eaten by a shark, I am thinking. And there are also dangerous people on Earth, almost everywhere. It is one of the reasons my parents wanted to leave. Do you want children?

LadyCaffeine: Yes.

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): And you will worry about them wandering out into the world as well. Although I suppose you can take care of them at home while your husband goes to work. Or, is that sexist to say? I’m still learning how it works on Earth. Maybe you will send them to a day care center, where somebody’s entire job is watching children all day?

LadyCaffeine: Something like that, yes, probably. So your psychological stress is mostly driven by loneliness, then? And limited choices?

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): Yes. I was very surprised how interesting my life is to people on Earth. Eventually I will run out of new things to say about it, and it seems like people will then discover I am somewhat of a fraud.

LadyCaffeine: Fraud? I don’t think so at all. I’m impressed you ever even figured out how to get on the Internet. And you can take one hundred percent credit for the charisma you bring to this.

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): I am sorry, I think that word is not translating properly. Are you saying I am handsome?

LadyCaffeine: Haha, yes. That’s not quite what I was saying. I meant that you have charm, especially for someone so young. But yes, you are very handsome.

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): I am blushing! Your profile picture is also very beautiful.

LadyCaffeine: My profile picture is a butterfly. But see? That’s what I’m talking about.

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): Still blushing. It is very late here. The Sun will not be up for days, and everyone sleeps longer on the night nights. Everyone except me.

LadyCaffeine: Well, it’s very kind of you to speak with me when you should be sleeping.

FrOrtega211 (xlt esp>eng): Very kind of you to have an interest. I’m not sure what a thesis is, but I hope you have good luck with yours! Good night!


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