TEXT | un: p.parker

[webdesigned]

so, its my birthday next wednesday

& dont get me wrong? not a big deal, i guess, its just a day, i forgot it even happened last year, but

thats the whole thing. ive gone from 19 to 21 here, that's longer than i ever imagined staying, which has left me thinking about how long ive been here

what was your favorite mission? what do you think youve learned, from being here? who have you met that youre going to miss when you go home? what moment sticks with you the most? or, idk, anything you wanna talk about. we always get stuck on the negative stuff,
& i get it, its easy to get stuck there

but there is more than that. & i think that its important for us to remember that.

so, i will go first, i guess. i think my favorite mission was zeta-12. definitely. the squidges are great and i still think about it there sometimes. it was nice feeling like we made a difference there and helped that species continue. if youre curious, here is beaker and scooter now.

( there's a picture attached of two full-grown squidges, apparently holding hands and puzzling over a plant native to Zeta-12. be glad it's text mode, or Peter might be getting misty about his alien baby. )

ive learned that there is no such thing as protecting someone from the truth. im going to miss my friends. i already miss some of them that have transferred. im going to miss my boyfriend, though he may or may not kill me for using that word and then i wont have to miss anybody. and... i think woodhurst is always going to stick with me the most.

so, thats me. im sure we all have our own stories. id like to hear them, if you wanna share.

Comments

[forcevisions]

I've never heard of anything like that. How do they do it?

[webdesigned]

theres a lot of ways

sometimes it means sheltering species that are growing extinct, sometimes it means pulling them from a natural environment to try and build their numbers until they can reasonably be reintroduced to the wild.

sometimes it means protecting a vulnerable group until theyre capable of taking care of themselves. what we did with the squidges, to a t.

[forcevisions]

Because they couldn't do it for themselves. Does that happen a lot, where you come from? a whole species unable to look after itself?

[webdesigned]

i mean, there are millions of species, so some would say no.

but personally i think too many are in danger, and usually thanks to some human element.

[forcevisions]

Hunting?

[webdesigned]

hunting, yeah. poaching for particular animals just for their skin or some other supposedly valuable element

or just destroying their habitats, either by deforesting them or pollution that limits how much life it can support.

sounds so easy to prevent but back on my world too many are anthropocentric. or ... focused on themselves and their interests, and not the bigger picture