Astronaut: Layth Cinders
Location: Deep Space, aboard _Venture 01_
Date: 2/22/2222 16:45:02 UTC
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Is this thing on? Okay, looks like it. The green thing is glowing. Um... Hi, so, I've been slacking on making these recordings, and my trainer, Elizabeth, from mission control finally caught me, so that's why I'm here now... Saying all of this into a machine. I always felt weird doing these sorts of things, it makes me uncomfortable knowing my thoughts exist somewhere else outside of my head, but whatever. It's part of my job now.
I guess I'll start with the basics. I'm Layth Cinders. I have a Bachelor's in Biology, a PhD in Theoretical Physics, a Master's in Environmental Science, yadada. No one cares about that, the fact is that I'm smart. Now I'm an astronaut and exobiologist. I'm on the first mission to a planet that is known to host alien life. Not intelligent life, mind you, just plants and animals. Which is why I'm going! I've studied biological creatures my whole life. I've always loved being outside and watching the birds, and once my dad showed me how to use his telescope, I was glued to it. I would go outside and look at the moon every night, if it wasn't cloudy. Those gosh darned clouds, they always got in the way when it was a full moon. I just wanted to be there on the Hegemony's moon base, just like how my mom was. Whenever she would call down to my dad and I, I would make her turn the camera out her window so I could see the surface. She always said that maybe one day I could put my own boots in a crater, just like she was doing every day, mining ice.
So that's why I'm here, I guess. I never did actually go to the moon, but I did do my training on Mars, and in various parts of the Earth that haven't been destroyed by industrialization. The next step, obviously, is to explore a planet no one else has been to before! I am really excited, also terrified, but mostly excited. The training crew keeps all of us astronauts busy by running us through how to use the tools every day. Otherwise we all might go a little crazy, being that we're cramped into a ship with corridors that all look the same. It's not like we're stuck in a capsule or anything; it's about as big as one of the old navy ships I'd say. I'm just here to look at cool aliens, not to engineer a spaceship or think about social dynamics. I just do what they tell me and I tell them about the aliens.
This was actually pretty therapeutic. I see why it's a requirement now; it'll help all of us stay sane. I just hope that Alex doesn't break into my room and spill all my secrets to the rest of the crew... If he does I'll just have to tell everyone about his big crush though. Maybe tomorrow I'll talk more about the planet I'm going to, but for now I have to get back to writing my pre-analysis report.