Dear Jim,

I don't even know which season it is back home for you, but around here spring is coming. After the rain we had during the last few days you can watch the plains getting green and in the fields Tom's grains are also sticking their heads out of the ground. The water in the river is higher than usual and the puddle next to Peter's and Frode's pod has also filled up. I guess the snow is melting in the mountains, too. The trees however sound somewhat muffled. Maybe they got water in their hollow branches? Who knows.

After breakfast both Barbara and I left the pod. Barbara wanted to make a trip to some spot at the lake where she wanted to watch some birds. I on the other hand went over the bridge to the tent at the meeting place. I had decided that I should have a look at the OMR and do some maintenance, which I neglected during winter, when we could not use it anyway. I set down my toolbox and looked at the whole machine critically. It had collected some dust over the last few months, which meant I had to clean it, too. I would have to take some bits apart and clean them, too and then check whether anything had to be repaired or replaced. There was a light on in the doctors' cubicle at the other end of the tent, I noticed. There was someone in, it seemed.

I followed the maintenance instructions meticulously. At some stages I had to watch videos provided by the engineers at mission command at home. Some stages I had to watch several times. I was glad nobody was there to notice. What I did notice however was that I had a sore throat, so I took a break to get some tea. When I returned with my thermos, I started scrubbing the raw material conveyor. This was taking a very long time. I had not expected that.

I looked up when I heard loud voices outside of the tent. Someone coughed heavily. A few moments later, Mr Pollak pulled aside the flap of the tent and let his wife enter before he himself walked in. Crystal's face was red and puffy and I saw so were her hands. When she noticed that I was looking at her she was visibly angry.

'Mind your own business,' she snapped and they walked on to the doctors' cubicle.

Mr Pollak burst through the door without knocking, which caused some disruption inside. I heard Frode telling them to please shut the door and he would be there for them immediately. Mr Pollak did not like this but shut the door with a bang. I tried to watch inconspicuously as they stood at the door impatiently, Crystal scratching her back and arms, Reginald coughing vigorously. Both of them complained loudly the entire time. I was so distracted that I misplaced my screwdriver and had to search for it for half an hour, which pushed me right off my schedule. Tomorrow is another day, right?

Finally, Laszlo came out of the impromptu sickbay and Crystal and Reginald Pollak would have stormed in if they hadn't both tried to get through the door at the same time and got stuck. They did not see Frode's face. I did. I turned away so they didn't see me laugh. The door finally closed behind them as Laszlo greeted me in passing with a friendly nod. I saw that he had red spots in his face.

At some time I decided that this was enough of the OMR for one day and I had some other things I wanted to have a look at. I left the tent and walked across the meeting place. In passing, I gave a wave to Tom, Gerald, Nisha and Susana, who were having lunch together at the tables in front of the tent. We exchanged a few words and I gave Ryker a pet.

On Gerald's request I went up the river, past the young apple trees. I greeted his chickens on my way past. They were hopeful for food, but I had to disappoint them. I went over to the barn. I pushed the large door open and went inside. The air was stuffy and slightly warmer than outside. I connected my wrist pad to the incubator and checked the system. Everything looked fine. It wouldn't be long now.

As I stepped out of the barn I had to cough. I headed on, away from the center of our cluster. I was on my way to the crashed pod of the doctors to check on a few things.

While I walked I saw two people under a nearby tree. As I slowly came closer I noticed that it were Yang and Loreley. Both of them were sitting on the ground with their legs crossed and their eyes closed. As I came closer I could hear a faint soothing music. Sometimes one of them got a coughing fit. Yang noticed me when I was just a few paces away and opened his eyes.

'Hi Sarah. Want to join us?' he asked. 'Join us in our search for eternal peace and the silence of the universe.'

He patted the ground next to him.

'What happened?' I asked suspiciously, which resulted in a long sigh from Loreley.

'Candy has thrown out part of my personal stock of sweet,' Loreley said, noticeably trying to stay calm but only halfway succeeding. She kept her eyes closed. 'She claims that she knows I don't want to get fat and stay healthy. She also claims that I am too pretty to get fat and she saved me from myself. These sweets were supposed to last for 5 years! I screamed. I shouted. I did not kill her.'

At this, Loreley took a deep breath and Yang nodded in approval.

'Be one with the universe. She is just a tiny insignificant speck of dust. She cannot hurt you,' he said in a calm voice and closed his eyes again.

I remained standing there, watching them for a few seconds, then I had to cough and decided to leave as I didn't want to disturb them. I sneaked away and towards the doctors' crashed pod. When I arrived I was surprised to see that the door was unlocked and just pushed shut. I climbed inside and looked around, but couldn't see anything suspicious. I looked around at the work I had done so far, the stripped walls, the uncovered devices. And then, in a corner of the room I saw an empty bottle of Crypto Cola and a chocolate wrapper. Someone had been here. I was sure if I wanted to find the culprit I would need two guesses at most. However, I thought there was no damage done so no reason to start a fight. Yet.

Instead of returning to the OMR I started to tinker on the pod. As I had already removed the water purification unit, I now started disconnect the main computer from all power lines and links. It took me a while to do this and then unfasten it from the central column of the pod. My plan is to open it up, take it apart completely and see if I can get it to work again. Then I'll dump it on Yang for a check of the software. I hope we can get it to run again. I will also strip the pod of all power lines I can. It would be a shame to let them go to waste and also I have hopes on accessing some of the systems on the lower side of the pod from the inside. We'll see how much is left of them. As you know the bottom part of the whole thing crashed into the ground, so there is no way to access anything from below.

In the late afternoon I dumped everything at Peter's shed. He muttered something about building an extension while he was freeing up some space for me. I feel bad for getting on his nerves like that but I wouldn't know where else to go at the moment.

When I came back to my pod I found that Barbara was not yet back from her trip. By now I have waited for two hours during which I have sent several messages to her. She did not reply to any of them. It is already dark outside. I will alert the others.

Love,

Sarah

Tavaron

15.07.24 Front Page

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