Seventy-Third Entry

March 15^th, 2037

0733

Dear Space Diary.

Had a pretty bad dream last night. Dreamed the lightdogs all came back and attacked us, and then I was back on Earth as if I’d never left.

First time I’ve dreamt of home in a while. Must be Mary’s fault.

“Hey!”

Mary’s bruise has healed up nicely. She still thinks it’s weird that I’m running this log (she has no desire to talk to NASA at all), but she’s very keen to help get me home. I, for my part, am very much looking forward to getting out of here and never seeing her again.

She’s making faces at me now. Such a teenager.

Actually, her age is a bit of a sticking point, and she’s a weirded out by it as I am. Mary lasted 20 years in space before landing on Splat, and a couple of years marooned before I turned up. So she’d be about 40 now, and a good 7 years my senior. Yet she looks not more than 21-22. So the only ageing she’s done has been since she landed.

I didn’t see any sign of a suspended animation device on the Zubrin that she could have used. Either she’s got a really good anti-ageing cream, or…?

“I’ve told you. No idea. Maybe I just look good for 40.”

Or maybe she just looked really bad at 18…

“I still owe you a punch, you know.”

Jokes and violence aside, Mary and I are going to try and dig my spaceship out this morning.

Today’s going to be a good day.

0800

Say what else you like about Mary and her magical non-ageing powers, she’s a good lifter.

We couldn’t wedge the shovel under the Zubrin as the ground is simply too crumbly, but we managed between us to roll the Zubrin to the side. Let’s hear it for cylindrical space ships.

The crashes emanating from inside the Zubrin indicate we may have wanted to bolt a few things down before rolling it.

0840

Finally cleaned up everything inside. Told Mary the story of being trapped under the cupboard and using the food paste to pry it off.

Mary thought that was just about the worst escape plan she had ever heard of.

I pointed out that it worked, and she pointed out that I had covered myself in nutritional paste.

Then she asked if I had eaten the paste afterwards.

1040

Two hours hard digging and we’ve made little progress. Not only is the ground crumbly, it seems very disinclined to stay on a shovel. If you’re not careful with the angle, it slides right off the shovel and back into the hole you just dug it out of.

Mary is of the opinion that I’m not careful with the angle.

I’m of the opinion that Mary is a stuck up brat. Still, 20 years in space is a pretty good excuse for being a bit narky.

And yes, I’m recording this out of ear shot.