First day on the Pacifica

Posted on Sun Jan 11th, 2009 @ 6:51pm by Maria O'Brian

It's been an exciting first day for me on the Pacifica, and everyone I've met is just incredible. My roommate, Dana Blom, the ship's chef and nutritionist, is not anything I would expect. For one thing, she's only a couple of years older than me. For another, outside of being a few centimeters taller, she's my photographic negative. Whiter skin, or I guess I should say fairer, blonde hair the same length as mine, and the clearest blue eyes I can remember since...well, since Patrick. Caitlin's eyes are green, which I always thought was odd, given that they're twins. Well, yes, fraternal twins, but still. Do you call twins who are brother and sister fraternal twins? Never mind.

Dana and I became friends instantly. I was a little worried that she would think I was encroaching on her space, but she laughed at that, and said she was glad to have someone take some of the load off.

We talked and laughed about a lot of things. About how Dana thinks it's a bad idea to date someone on the same ship (if it goes bad, you've got nowhere to go), how the Marines keep on trying to get her to serve them beer and breaded, spicy chicken wings (for some reason, we call them Buffalo Wings back in San Francisco) in a tight shirt and orange shorts, and will probably ask me to do the same.

And about what our plans are after we leave the Pacifica.

Dana comes from a planet whom the majority of the original settlers were from Earth's Scandinavian region. She tells me that in a couple of years, she'll be able to put down a large percentage for a popular tourist lodge and restaurant.

She asked me what my plans were, and I told her I'd probably go back to teaching once I spent a couple years on the Pacifica. We talked about our families, and were both surprised that not only did we both come from large families, we both were the oldest daughters AND we both had a sibling who was a major sports figure back home.

I talked about Patrick a little, but not too much detail, and Dana didn't press. She did mention that civilian employees did have access to the Ship's Counselor. I had the same access back at the Academy, but I never did avail myself of it. I have family...two families, really, to fall back on.

Well, enough about that. I'm really glad that I'll be sharing a room with Dana, although it's still a little odd, considering I had a fairly good sized apartment in San Francisco that I didn't share with anyone. Well, I wanted a taste of what Patrick's life was like.