Day 23:
I’ve forgotten what it’s like not to have aching arms and legs. The Company always used laser mining pistols and hovercarts to move the earth. I’m using only me. I’ve lost a lot of weight, that’s for certain, and my clothes don’t fit so well any more. They’re tight in the shoulders and the calves, loose in the hips and thighs and rear. They’re starting to fall apart quite a bit too.
I lost weight when I joined The Company, but that was more because I couldn’t just wander into the kitchen and snack the way I did in high school. Those first few months were kind of grim, out on a ship in the middle of space with only three squares to fill me up. I used to try to get my crewmates to give me their bread rations. Oh, the cook’s bread was the best, so warm and crusty… I’d gamble for it, if they’d let me.
But that was weight loss and this is work. I think I’ve pulled something nasty in my left shoulder because my arm aches all the time, even when I’m not mining. I’m right handed so that shoulder’s never quite happy either. My back was giving me trouble the first couple weeks, but now it’s more my legs. I guess I figured out how to lift correctly or something.
You know, it’s funny, I don’t even miss the bread rations right now. But what I’d do for a thick juicy steak.
I thought about killing one of my cows, but I haven’t had the heart to do it. They, well, it sounds silly to say about cows, but I think they love me. They moo a lot and they let me hug them when I’m sad, and they look so silly when they eat. Just big noses and tongues lolling all over the place.
My sheepskin bed stinks. My clothes stink. I tried cleaning them in the spring in my cave, but it’s harder to clean things when you don’t have any soap.
Five more days and The Company should be here to pick me up. It’ll be nice to be in an antigrav bed eating proper food and wearing clean clothes.
