[64—Lifeline]

I put my headphones on and sat back on my bunk.  I was wrapped around a pillow, and missing home again.

I had just gotten my first tape from Daddy.  It was full, with messages from all the family.

Daddy had bought himself a Grip, but a Grip I.  With it, he could take things from Robbie's Nack and convert it so I could read it with mine.  Not just data, that was already compatible, more-or-less.  

One thing he did was set the tape recorder up to record encrypted messages, than no-one else could listen to without a key.  This way they could all have a heart-to-heart with me, and not have to worry about privacy. 

Hey, punkin'.  How you doin'?  I guess you're well into your training by now.  Please let us know how it's going.  I think your mother is worried.  We are so proud of you and think the world of you.  The others are all here, waiting to talk.  So I'll let them get to it. 

Love you.

Hi, Dani, this is your mother.  Where on Earth have you been?  We tried calling you in Nebraska, but they said you'd gone.  We tried to call this Camp Winsome, but nobody would give us a phone number.  They gave us an address that's an APO number, whatever that means.  I hope you're safe, and dry, and well-fed.  Please be careful, Dani, the world can be a cruel place.

I'd get back to her.  I triggered it to forward to the next message.

Hi, It's Robbie.  I hope you don't miss me as much as I miss you. 

That was too much right now.  I really wanted the juice on my sister and friends.

Hey, big bris, it's me.  I'm not sure about this; telling you things in Mom and Dad's study.  It don't feel right.  Anyway, I'm gonna tell it, not that there's much to tell.  I think Mother knows we're doing it, and has really started watching us like a hawk.  I haven't had a sleepover at Topher's since you left. 

But we dance, every day. 

I moved on to the next.

Hey, Dani, It's me, Tammy.  I'm still at Topher and Mary Jane's place, I hope I'm not a bother, but Topher has been showing me how to work the clay and Mary Jane made me fill out some forms for school. 

The big one-eight is coming, real soon.  And graduation in May.  I'm hangin' in there, but it's not the same without'choo, hirl, I miss you sooo much.

Topher was next,

It's been less than a week since not kissing you goodbye, but it seems like longer.  I'd say two months, or maybe five weeks. 

Anyway, I miss you like crazy, and can't wait to see you again. 

Mary Jane misses you too, I think.  The house is quiet without all the Heywood hubbub.

She had a fight with Tabitha (her redhead), I think over Tammy; Mary Jane and her have been joined at the hip since you left—not literally, of course.  Tabitha didn't want to go out partying with a minor.

I've been working on a new figurine, but can't seem to figure it out.  It's a rabbit, or a series of them.  I'm making the masters big, so I have plenty of detail to work from.  They will be bipedal, even anthropomorphic. 

Tammy's got the touch with clay, but I think her true passion lies elsewhere.  I took her to Arcomm Vo-Tech and she tried her hand at welding.  The instructor said she was a natural.

There were burn marks on the app she turned it.  As I said, she's hooked.

What else?

It's been cold, and snowed yesterday.  I trust you are in a warm place.  Hope it's not too hot. 

Well, I'm going to go.  I don't know what else to say.  I thought I'd gush for hours and have to cut most of it out, but I'm as quiet as a tomb.  Guess I got a lot on my mind, but none of it is on the surface, where I can examine it.

I Love You,

      Topher.

It was sad, listening to all this, but I was resolved to not cry.  I went on.

There were miscellanea after that:  newspaper articles, clippings, even photographs somehow.

They were not very good and not very clear.  Sort of like the images from early space probes.

Still they were wonderful.  They showed the whole gang.  Mom and Daddy, Gina and Sonjin posing on the stage, Robbie and Topher playing Legos.  Singles of everyone, including Tammy and Lefty.  There were over a dozen photos. 

The clippings were mostly local, and I suspect the stories were transcribed, because they contained amusing errors.  I could tell which were typed on the Grip and Robbie's Nack by what mistakes had been made.  'Teh' for 'the' was done on the Grip; substitutions based on alphabetization were probably from the Nack.  Anything in all capital letters was from Robbie.

There was this,

AP WIRE

SHREE MEN WERE ARRESTED AFTER DRIVING THEJR JITTERBUG TO SPACE.  CAPTAIN THORVIN ATHELSTAN AND TWO OTHERS, JAN SNORRISON, 32, AND LARS SWENSON, 39, WERE ALL ARRAIGNED RECENTLY IN THE FIRST F4F7 COURT CASE IF ITS KIND TO BE DECIDED BY AUTHORITIES IN SPACE.

THE MEN WERE CHARGED WITH HUMAN TRAFFICKING, ENTERING HOLLAND ILLEGALLY, FAILURE TO FILE A BALLJSTJC PLAN OF FLIGHT, AND A NUMBER OF LESSER OFFENSES AGAINST THE I.S.A.

THE MEN ARE BEING HELD ON OPHIUCHUS STATION UNTIL THE I.S.A. CHARGES ARE TRIED.  EXPERTS EXPECT THE MEN TO FACE TRIAL JN HOLLAND, AND JCELAND, THEJR HOME PORT, AFTER THEY COME BACK TO EARTH.

That was pretty cool.  Funny how they glossed over so much.  And two of the names were wrong; unless the Astrogator really wasn't Heidigar Larson.

I desperately wanted to crash out, but I'd promised I'd write.  I wouldn't have time tomorrow at all.

Should I write or record?  I labeled a new tape and put it in.

Dear Mom,

I haven't been anywhere on earth the last four days.  I just hit dirtside this morning.  Your little hirl was in space!  Shit, did I say 'hirl'?  Damn you Tammy.

That wouldn't do.  I rewound it a bit.

...hit dirtside this morning <click>

I loved my Grip.

I was in space, Mother.  They needed a translator up there who spoke four particular languages.  I'm small, so that helped too, I'm sure.

It was the weirdest thing; they wouldn't let me take any baggage, so I didn't have my Grip.  But I was so busy up there...it was so fast paced.  But I met some really great people and have a letter of recommendation to the head of MIT's linguistics department.

I fell in love with zero-gee, but didn't have enough time in it.  Gina, you'd love it.  You'd be like a dolphin in water.

Robbie, I got to go on a spacewalk.  I got to see Mars and Saturn, and the Earth from orbit.  I passed out and wet myself, and woke up here, thinking it was a dream.

Anyway, I'm at Camp Winsome, which is in Puerto Rico.  We're in a National Park and it's very hot.  There is jungle here, and I'm teaching Spanish to my squadmates. We learned to sharpen axes today, and are burning brush and cutting firewood tomorrow.  They said if we're lucky, it'll get out of control and we'd learn to fight fire too.

I have these girls in my tent, who are from Montana, and they are triplets, only one is seventeen and the other two are nineteen.  Don't ask me how that works, but they are just like twinks.  They finish each others sentences and have their own twinspeak.  Only they don't get along any more.  Something about religion.

Our Troop is co-ed, but only on the squad level.  There are two squads for boys and one for girls.  The last is for us freaks, but I think it's better this way.  Otherwise, there might be violence.

Well, I need to go...or I won't get any sleep.  I will try to write during siesta tommorow, if I'm not too tired.  I slept the night before last in space, and tomorrow I'm cutting through the jungle with a machete.  How weird is that?

Love you all, and goodnight,

                       Dani Spacewalker

                           von Kaninchen

                             née Heywood