Osh Anderson's Questionnaire

REGULATORY LOG 3-87-Θ

Subject: Habitation Chamber (Standard) - Cylinder Alpha

Chamber demonstrates significant degree of untidiness; trip hazards present regularly throughout the dorm. I interviewed the resident about the furniture she had installed; when I asked if she'd anchored them securely, she pointed me to pads of adhesive notes placed underneath the front legs of several shelving units to ensure that they leaned slightly backwards against their bracing walls. Seating accommodations lacked the requisite anti slip cladding at their points of contact with the domicile flooring, as did the dining surface, and several shelves were filled with paper texts which were, outside of simulated gravity, otherwise unsecured. The sanitation chamber in the domicile was similarly untidy, but had fewer hazards to the occupant's immediate health; outside of cleaning supplies kept loosely in several drawers, the only flaws were that the grout lines in the sink and showers needed a decent clean, which is entirely beyond the scope of this inspection.

Corrections:

- Issued magnetic mounting locks for shelving units

- Applied rubberized cladding to heavy furniture

- Instructed occupant to tidy the chamber and provided helpful advice on the proper storage of household items. NOTE: advice was not appreciated.

- Installed security bungees to the front of each shelf so as to secure the contents in the event of a jolt

ADDENDUM: I have been notified that the occupant was fatally injured in a catastrophic shelving collapse. As the chamber in question is in close proximity to my favored depots, I am formally submitting a request to replace her occupancy.

BUDGET JOURNAL

I need to figure out a means to balance my finances - I'm reasonably able to hold onto money, but I do find myself running up on the edge of my supplies each month, and I could have a lot more accessible to me if I managed it more responsibly; my colleagues keep saying that someone with my job shouldn't have to pick and choose between personal expenses.

Food (Cultivators): $200

Rent: $800

Regulatory Redundancy Supplies: $13200

Noodles (Spine): $8300

Entertainment: $300

Professional Expenses: $150

Rough estimates, but I'm not sure what I could cut out. Maybe I could spend a little bit less on my entertainment budget? I have been told that I watch too many films, and that I'm no fun to watch films with because I talk too much (hard not too; most fiction is filled with hazardous environments). Not really sure how much that would help, though.

I am convinced the Odysseus is dying.

Every year, there are more failures; more hazardous maintenance scenarios, more infrastructural errors, more accidents. I have come to the conclusion that, in our current state, our situation is not sustainable; within the next few generations, the ship will come apart, and humanity will cease to exist.

I cannot allow this to happen.

The Odysseus is more than a means for humanity to reach point B from point A - it is our home, our lifeline. It is where we are born, where we work, where we die; it's what feeds us, and when we fail to care for it, it is what kills us. It is our parent, our lover, and our grave, and we as a collective whole have been neglecting it for longer than we have records.

This situation is not sustainable.

The pursuit of an "end" to this "journey" is a waste of resources and personnel; if we just put our minds to it, the Odysseus could provide all that humanity needs in perpetuity. If we just put our minds to it, we could reclaim Cylinder 4; hell, we could initiate external construction on existing cylinders or build cylinder 5. All of the resources that we would need are available at our fingertips: the void is replete with abundant minerals, water, carbon; our engines, if maintained, will burn forever. Somehow, we need to abandon the notion of finding a planet - we have no reason to waste our time searching for something that will never arrive when we have the opportunity to make our lives better now. 

There's no reason the Odysseus can't be better than any planet could ever be.

ACCIDENT REPORT

Incident: transit tram break and communications failure

Casualties: 14 fatalities, 35 injured

Details:

High speed transit rail tram 134-α experienced a sequence of critical failures while moving between Reclamation and Factory industrial sectors. While numerous failures were discovered upon inspection of the affected tram, two were primarily responsible for the incident: the failure of the braking system and the the failure of the communications system. The compounding failures resulted in the tram approaching the station platform at speeds in excess of 1000% acceptable approach velocity while simultaneously unable to notify platform control of the impending collision. The resulting impact between the tram and the rail terminus crushed the tram's interior compartments, reducing volume by over 33% and agitating the volatile materials in the cargo compartment to ignition, followed shortly by combustion. The combination of the concussive blast and the impact force launched debris from the tram onto the commuter platform, resulting in the bulk of the injuries, the remainder of which occurred when the tram impacted extremities extended beyond the edge of the platform at the time of impact. No bodies were recoverable from the wreckage of the tram.

Upon inspection of the wreckage during reclamation, it was discovered in tram logs that during the prior four full maintenance cycles, critical systems were checked at a cursory level instead of undergoing a full inspection.

Conclusion: negligence likely cause of failures. No further action required.

TRAM FATALITIES

Tram Operator: Thack Eskell, 42

Tram Maintenance Technician: Mirtola Eskell, 20

Passenger: Foley Projection, 28

Passenger: Wistful Maxim, 24

Passenger: Veranda Eskell, 41

Passenger: Laborious Trunch, 56

Passenger: Saxle Break, 19

Passenger: Fenway Fields, 22

Passenger: Klaxon Quiet, 33

Passenger: Siren Quiet, 12

PLATFORM FATALITIES

Cogg Anderson: 34

Pinion Anderson: 32

Mettle Falsely: 29

Toggle Anderson: 8

INCIDENT REPORT STATUS: RESOLVED

AGE OF INCIDENT REPORT: 21 years, 3 months

TIME TO RESOLUTION: 29 days

Would you like to return to the control screen?

Y/N

I've been informed I should begin keeping a journal - my supervisor believes my lack of socialization is unhealthy and has expressed concern over my well being. I declined to comment, which she unfortunately seems to have interpreted as confirmation of her suspicion; following, she recommended I begin keeping a journal so that I might, in her words "unpackage my brain", which I think means record my thoughts. While her concern is unnecessary - I've used several pamphlets to perform self diagnostics on my mental health and have found repeatedly that I am a, mentally sound, and b, something called a 'taurus' (misspelling of torus? Unlikely, I don't think a questionnaire can check for geometric shape, and even if it could, I've never encountered a torus-shaped person) - a personal log could be useful in keeping track of things that seem uninteresting in the moment, but might be useful in the future. It looks like she gave me a journal that used to belong to her - several pages have been torn from the front, and the name "Pintle Foxhole" is written on the inside cover. 

Because I am now the owner of the journal and it makes no sense for my supervisor's name to be written on the inside cover, I have blocked it out in black and replaced it with my own name.

I told my access consultant in Engineering about the journal. For some reason, he seemed upset that I'd removed Ms. Foxhole's name from the inside cover - I did correct him and tell him that I didn't actually remove it, just added material until it was no longer recognizable, but that didn't seem to have much impact. It's very confusing why he thought that Ms. Foxhole would be upset at the removal of her name; she did give it to me, after all. When I insisted on it, he called me insufferable, and I called him a faulty gasket, and then we went out for noodles. The noodles were very excellent, and very unique; in the event that I don't remember, NOTE TO SELF: SEE GASKET FOR NOODLES.

Before leaving Engineering, I purchased three extra servings of noodles. I'm going to take them with me the next time I pass through the secondary hull in case I run into Seneca's gang again. Ms. Foxhole routinely warns against fraternization with the Forgotten, but I've found them to be nothing but helpful; they're always appreciative of my inspections and maintenance (which are also universally DIRELY required). I think they think that I do the work and use the necessary resources specifically for their benefit, since they're typically not able to get access to the supplies themselves, but really it's just because I know that those portions of the Odysseus that they frequent are usually the most neglected, and Safety is Everyone's Business. Still, I'm in no hurry to correct the misconception. Seneca is probably my favorite of her people; she's very pragmatic, and I think she knows that I don't do what I do out of charity, but also understands that it still benefits her. It's a good basis for a friendship; I don't feel like I need to be performative around her, and she doesn't seem bothered if I display an "eccentricity". She also accepts my stickers, which I like. I always bring noodles on the off chance I run into her; if I don't, I can always leave them where I know that the Pipe Voice will find them.