Trasee

This is the End

On March 16, 2015, I met Lola Wolf for the first time. We connected quickly and on March 19, I accepted her collar. We were married on June 6, 2015. Today, it has ended, and we’re both broken over it.

Before January of last year, she and I were able to see each other almost every day, even if it was just an hour a day. Then I moved and got a new job, and everything got turned upside down. Our time difference made it very difficult for us to be together, but we did everything we could to make it work. Unfortunately, everything we tried didn’t work. Not for lack of trying, not for lack of love for each other. It just proved to be too much. So, I made the very difficult decision to end things.

I hated doing it. I felt terrible. I was hurting, and I knew she was hurt by it too. I frequently told her “Always and Forever” and I meant it. I still do love her, more than I could express, and never wanted to end things. That’s why I tried so hard to make things work, but I don’t think it was fair to either of us. I don’t know if I was right or wrong to make that call, but the call was made. It is over now, but despite that, I will never stop loving her.

I love you, Mistress Lola Wolf, always and forever.

 

Alora Parthena – Cum Slut City (RP)

Character Bio: Cum Slut City RP

Alora Parthena
Female Human Priestess/Acolyte
Chi Tau Sororitry Caretaker
Apparent Age: 18

Abilities:
Advanced Healing and Longevity: Through her connection with the magic of the land, and the gift of the old gods, Alora was gifted with advanced healing and regeneration abilities to the point where her aging process has completely stopped. Even if she were to be killed, as long as she remains in the city, she will return to life a short time later.

Escape: Alora has the ability to escape as needed from any situation that would threaten her. Her method of escape would vary from situation to situation and will always be successful.

Personality:
Alora is shy and quiet. She works as the caretaker for Chi Tau Sorority. She works as both gardener and maid, doing her duties and staying out of the way of the guests. She won’t approach anyone first, but will respond when spoken to. She’s intimated by males, and her responses to them will always be brief with an attempt to leave their presence as quickly as possible.

Alora is a virgin. Cock is completely denied to her. She’s not allowed to touch them in away way. She can’t even use any phallic instruments. This is exactly the way she wants it.

Background:
Alora was born centuries ago, during the thirteenth century. Her mother was a prostitute. Her father was just one of her nameless johns. She lived in a small village with her mother and dozens of sisters in the outskirts of a small castle. The castle was the home of a beautiful priestess who was practiced in the dark arts, worshiping the old gods of sin and lust.

Alora had no brothers, it was believed that her mother drowned her sons after birth. Her girls, though, she taught from birth about the pleasures of sex and lust. They were expected, after they had their first menstrual cycle, to become prostitutes like their mother. In fact, that was the path all of Alora’s older sisters followed. Alora, though, was saved from that fate by a visiting sorceress.

The sorceress saw something in the ten year old girl, but what it was, she was never told. Alora’s mother was promised wealth in exchange for her daughter, a deal that her mother agreed to readily. The last she would see of her mother was the sorceress handing her mother a bag of jewels, and her mother impatiently waving away her daughter and the sorceress while she examined her newly acquired wealth. She did hear rumors later that the jewels came with a curse, but exactly what the curse was, or its effects on her mother, was never to be learned.

The sorceress took Alora up to the castle to meet the priestess. After the meeting, the priestess took young Alora on as her one and only acolyte. The one that she would teach all her dark arts to, and give her powers untold. She was to remain a virgin until her 21st year, when she would be sacrificed to the dark gods to be reborn as their priestess, with powers beyond compare.

Alora spent the next eight years learning from the priestess. Learning all the dark incantations, watching and learning from her lewd sexual acts, even traveling into other dimensions to see her interact with the beasts and demons beyond. She took in everything eagerly, knowing that one day she’d have the same powers, and receive the same rewards.

When Alora was 18, crusaders stormed the village and castle. The priestess tried to use her dark arts to stop the invasion, to no avail. As the crusaders broke through the gates, they began slaughtering the priestess’s followers. The priestess, not wanting to see the same fate befall her progeny, used her dark arts to give Alora the power to escape the fate that was falling on them all, a fate that the priestess appeared unable to avoid. After all, save Alora, were slaughtered, the crusaders tore the castle to the ground, the remains of the dead burned and doused with salt.

Soon after the crusaders had left, a woman arrived and found Alora by the body of the priestess. The woman claimed to be the sorceress that had taken her from her mother years ago. She wanted to get here before the crusaders, but had failed. She told Alora that the priestess was not gone, that the dark gods had saved her and Alora had been chosen to watch over the land and wait for the return of the priestess, for as long as it would take. She needed to simply reside in the land of the priestess and remain a virgin until the time came for her sacrifice and ascension in power. As long as she remained this way, the dark gods would preserve her youth and her life.

The promise of the second sorceress proved to be true. Alora did not age and she healed from injury quickly. She even found she could do without food or water if needed. This allowed her to survive the centuries of near isolation while the land remained barren and destitute.

In the late nineteenth century, a wealthy woman took a fanciful interest in the destroyed castle and the legends that surrounded it. She convinced her husband to purchase the land and build their new manor home where the castle once stood. After it was built, Alora, thinking the woman might be the priestess returning, was hired as the live-in help. Wild parties and much debauchery was to be had in the manor house, but it soon became clear to Alora, that this woman was not the priestess. The manor never stayed habited for long. The original owners died under mysterious circumstances, and those that lived there after never stayed for very long.

After a time, the government decided to create a prison for women who were unfaithful, whores, or otherwise seen as sexually impure and perverse. Alora was taken from the manor as one of the first prisoners, a fate she willfully accepted, hoping to find the priestess among the inmates that were sent there.

As time progressed, so did the technology, and the cruelty of the men who began using electricity to torture and kill the women in efforts to “cure” them. Alora had escaped the fate of the electric shocks many times, but other women were not so lucky. Alora knew this could not continue, so she in the early 1950’s, she managed to sabotage the equipment so that the next time they were used, a fire began. Many men and women died in that fire, something she had not intended, but it did work to free those women that survived.

When the asylum was built later in that same decade, Alora became an intern under the psychiatrist and scientist who built the asylum. He appeared to have a lot of knowledge about the history of the land, and she hoped that staying close to him would help her find the priestess. She even wondered if any of the female patients admitted for sexual deviance would be the priestess she’d long been waiting for.

For thirty years, she remained in the asylum, before all asylums were shut down by the government. After that, Alora found herself alone again. The manor was empty, the prison a burnt husk, and the asylum was locked and boarded up. Alora returned to the manor, and lived there alone for many more years, until the manor was found by Ancilla. Ancilla decided to convert the house into a Sorority for girls, and Alora stayed on to help care for the house and the girls. Soon after Chi Tau Sorority was founded, it became clear that the sexual energies were again flowing through the place, and Alora wondered if any of these girls would be the priestess she’d been waiting so long for.

A few months later, Trasee, Rose and Ancilla decided to extend the reach of the Sorority. A university was needed, for what was a sorority without a university. Chi Tau University came into being, and with it, a Chi Tau City soon built up around it. Alora remained as caretaker for the Sorority, watching the girls as they went about their sexual desires. She knew something was different about each of the three founders. They all had their own unique gifts, more than any other girl that passed through the land in the past 800 years. She wondered if her wait could be over, if the priestess would again be revealing herself to the world. Until such a time, Alora would continue to serve and wait.

Trasee Darque- Cum Slut City (RP)

Character Bio: Cum Slut City RP

Trasee Darque
Female Cybernetic Snow Leopardess
Chi Tau Triumverate (City Founder)
Age: 25

Abilities:
Shape shifting: Can take any form, even other genders. While she can be male, the most she’s willing to do is add a penis if the situation calls for it. It doesn’t allow her to affect her cybernetic components.

Fast healing: As a result of her shape shifting abilities and cybernetic nanites, she is able to heal and even restore lost body parts should it be necessary. It doesn’t take away the pain, and even after healing, she may still be in pain for some time. This ability has effectively stopped her aging process. Provided she always has power, she will never age or die.

Data gathering: As a result of her cybernetic implants, she has the ability to gather information about anything, or anyone, she sees. This shows up as a holographic data screen that is only visible to her. This allows her, at the minimum, to see the names of individuals she is looking at. She can access additional information about individuals and objects from the Internet, and parse it for relevant data, if the data exists. Once downloaded, she can store it in her memory core for quicker retrieval. If she’s in a technology low area, or otherwise has dampening preventing her from retrieving data from the Internet, the most she can access would be the data stored in her memory core. When connected to her diagnostic bed, she can perform a backup of any data she collected. Once backed up to her diagnostic bed, data and memories can be wiped from her mind, effectively allowing her to “forget.” Any deleted memory can be restored from the diagnostic bed at any time. Her combined neurological/cybernetic/organic signatures ensure that she is the only one able to access the data backup in her diagnostic bed.

Flight and FTL travel: Faster than light travel with flight was made possible as a result of her cybernetic implants. This ability gives her the ability to fly and the appearance of teleportation. She is unable to use FTL travel if the area has FTL dampers or flight dampeners in place.

Personality:
Trasee is a builder and a slut. As one of the Chi Tau Triumverate, she is one of the three founders who are responsible for handling the day-to-day responsibilities overseeing the city. Of course those tasks are occasionally interrupted by various sexual encounters.

Background:
Trasee was born human. She was a normal girl, quiet and reserved, preferring to keep to herself and her studies. She had one younger sister, Rose, who was much more outgoing than she was. Despite those differences, the two sisters were best of friends.

When Trasee was 18, after she graduated from high school, she decided she wanted to travel the world. She wasn’t ready to return to school, and thought it would be better to learn from the world as a whole. It was on those travels that she met a woman by the name of Aradia. Aside from Rose, Trasee had never really been able to get close to anyone, but there was something different about Aradia. She was much older than Trasee, almost like a mother figure.

Aradia was very knowledgeable about the world, and accompanied Trasee on her travels. She told her secrets about places that even the locals would find as obscure facts. Stories from ages long since past were told as if Aradia had experienced them personally.

When Trasee was 21, Aradia brought Trasee to an ancient stone grove. Trasee knew there was something special about this place. There was something that felt almost tangible in the air, powerful, and ancient. Aradia told her stories of druids that worshiped the gods of nature from that very spot. She even told the tale of the powerful sorceress, Morgan le Fay who used this spot to gain eternal life. She did so by sending her soul into the body of a young druid woman, sharing her body, mind, and memories. Every fifty years, she returned to this grove and transferred her soul into another young woman. Aradia revealed she was the last to receive Morgan le Fay’s soul, and she had chosen Trasee to carry on the legacy.

This revelation frightened Trasee. She wanted to run, but the ancient magics of the place, and perhaps of Aradia herself, kept her in place. Aradia told Trasee that she’d have great power, the power of an immortal sorceress, but Trasee only wanted to go back to her normal quiet life. Unfortunately, Aradia confirmed that was not to be the case.

What happened was a mystery. It was evening when Aradia began a mystic chant. Trasee must have blacked out soon after. The next thing she remembered was waking up, lying on the ground in the center of the grove, and the sun almost at its zenith. She was naked, and Aradia was nowhere to be seen. What surprised her even more was that her entire body was covered with white fur with black spots, and a similarly colored tail extending out behind her.

As she recovered from the shock of the situation, her body shifted back into her human appearance. Her fur and tail were gone. More than that, she could feel a new presence inside her. It was almost as if another voice in her head. It didn’t speak to her, more that her presence could be felt and understood, as if the thoughts were her own. Even centuries of memories were in her mind, mostly obscured as if hidden by a thick fog.

Over time, Trasee learned that she had the thoughts and memories of Morgan le Fay, just as Aradia had told her. Not only those memories, but the memories and thought of every person through the centuries that held her soul inside them. Morgan le Fay was more than just memories, though, but her will and personality filled Trasee’s mind. Trasee used that learn about her new abilities and to try to learn more from the sorceress inside of her.

The first thing Trasee discovered, by virtue of waking up with fur and a tail, was that she was able to change her form and appearance to anything she desired. Even her gender could be reassigned at will. She ultimately decided to keep her form as a female anthro snow leopard.

Trasee spent a year in the grove, learning what she could learn, before deciding it was time to move on again. She wanted to explore more, with her new appearance and new thoughts and memories. She wanted to learn more, and felt that her exploration would be the best ways to do that.

When Trasee finally returned home from her travels, she was 23. She found Rose and told her sister about everything that happened over her five years away. She even showed off her new abilities to her sister, and showed her sister her snow leopard form. Rose loved her shape changing abilities, especially the snow leopard form. Trasee soon found herself seduced by her sister and making love to her.

Over the next few days, Rose told Trasee about Chi Tau Sorority, convincing her enroll in the University and become a sister. As it turned out, their cousin, Ancilla, was the founder of the Sorority. Trasee liked the sorority so much, she decided to take it a step further. She convinced her sister and cousin to found a new city based on the Chi Tau principles.

Over the next year, Trasee worked with Ancilla and Rose to build Chi Tau City. During this time, she continued to learn more about herself, and more about the spirit of Morgan le Fay inside of her, and learning new abilities along the way.

When Trasee was 25, she married Ancilla, and became part of the Darque family. It wasn’t long after that when she was abducted by an unknown assailant. Blinded and deafened during the abduction, she had no idea who her captor, or captors, were. She was operated and experimented on for what seemed like an eternity. Her rapid healing allowing her to recover quickly, but the pain remained.

While it seemed like years to Trasee, when she awoke back in the city, she discovered she was only missing over the course of a weekend. She was also no longer completely organic, but had cybernetic components in her body. Aside from needing a regular supply of power for her battery, she is still learning the full details of her artificial abilities.

Calendar Creator Updated for 2018

Calendar Creator 2018

Calendar Creator 2018

The Calendar Creator has been updated to version 3 and has been released at the same time as the calendar grid for 2018. Everyone who purchased the Calendar Creator previously is eligible to upgrade for free to version 3 (also named Calendar Creator 2017).

This new version contains bug fixes that were found in version 2, and a new permissions check. Permissions for distribution now must be no-modify only, but can be copy/trans if desired.

As with the previous versions, you can create your own calendar grids, or purchase a new calendar grid for each year. In addition, you can localize your calendar, and have the menu display in your own language. Everything is configured from a notecard.

There is a FAQ page here that answers many of the commonly asked questions regarding the Calendar Creator. https://www.darkwatch.me/calendar-creator-faq.html

Calendar Creator with 2018 Calendar Grid ($500L): https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/TD-Builder-Tools-Calendar-Creator-2018/12404833

Calendar Creator with 2017 Calendar Grid ($400L or Free Upgrade): https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/TD-Builder-Tools-Calendar-Creator-2017/12404832

Calendar Grid 2018 Only (Requires Calendar Creator) ($100L): https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/TD-Builder-Tools-Calendar-Grid-2018/12404834

Inworld Store: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Icewater/142/52/21

If you have purchased any version of the Calendar Creator previously, you are eligible to receive the Calendar Creator with the 2017 Calendar Grid for free. Go to the redelivery terminal in the TD Creations inwold store to receive your upgrade.

New Car

Today was an interesting day, to say the least, one that ended with driving a new car home.

On Saturday, I had an issue come up at work, that required me to set up my work laptop from home so I could take care of it. As soon as that was done, I left the house and headed to an extended family member’s 100th birthday party. Later that evening and the following day required me to do some follow-up related to the issue from work, so at the end of the evening last night, I packed my computer up to bring back to the office today.

Today, I got into the office and started hooking my computer up, only to realize I left my mouse at home. So, I worked for most of my day in the office, then at lunch, I went back home and finished off the day from home. As a result, I was off work and already home at 4pm. I decided to do some research on hybrid vehicles before dinner. I certainly wasn’t planning on buying a car yet, it was just some initial legwork for something that may be considered around September, when the new models come out.

My previous car was a 2010 Hyundai Elantra Touring. It was a great car, and I had no problems with it at all. Where I lived before, I was working from home, and most of the driving that was done after hours was highway driving. As a result, I averaged around 27mpg, which wasn’t too bad. For extended trips, I even got up to about 30mpg or slightly higher. Now, though, I work 8 miles from home, and it is all street driving, with a lot more traffic to deal with. That had dropped me down to about 20mpg. As a result, I was looking into the possibility of going with a hybrid later this year.

As I was researching, I looked at the local Hyundai dealership to get more info about their Ioniq. While I was there, I noticed a listing for a preowned 2016 Sonata Hybrid. It had less than 100 miles on it, almost fully equipped, for less than the price of a base model Sonata Hybrid and less than the base model of the Ioniq. It was too good to pass up.

So, instead of dinner, I drove out to the dealership and found out that they had just listed the car, so my timing was perfect. I took it for a test drive, and thought I was give it a try. I have a lot of unpaid medical bills, so I didn’t know if I’d be able to qualify to buy it, but I figured I’d try and see. Well, turned out I did qualify, but my interest rate is quite a bit higher than I would like. So, my goal is to pay the higher interest for the next few months as I start to get rid of some of the lower medical bills from my credit report. Somewhere after the first of the year refinance and try to get a lower rate.

As they were finalizing the papers, I was watching the time. I had to deal with work at 8pm this evening, and it was closing in on 7pm. I told them about my rush for work, so they were able to get things finished, and I was able to drive off the lot at 7:30 in time for me to get home and get to work. I’ll be going back on Friday to pay the last of my downpayment as well as get the complete walkthrough of my car, since we didn’t have much time to go over things.

So, with this new bill, my entertainment/dining out budget is a bit slashed. I’ll be juggling some things over the next few days, recalculating my budget. I’m not too worried about it overall, as after Sunday, the last my moving expenses will be fully paid off. Now it is just a matter of getting old medical bills paid and fitting the car payments into the mix.

Picture Frame Sets

I have updated and expanded my previous picture frames. There are three separate types of picture frames: The matted picture frames, the narrow frames, and the wide frames. Each frame is 100% mesh and only half a land impact, so you can link two together and still only use 1 LI. The frames include both 4:3 and 1:1 ratio frames, depending on your need. In addition, there are non scripted, fading slide show scripted, and standard slide show scripted frames. Since all the frames have copy/mod permissions, you can use as many of each type as you desire.

The frames are sold individually by style: Matted Frames, Narrow Frames, Wide Frames. They can also be purchased together in a discounted multi-pack.

100% Mesh

Land Impact: 0.5

Permissions: Copy/Modify

Matted Frames Marketplace Listing: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/TD-Creations-Picture-Frames-Matted-Frames/6931677

Narrow Frames Marketplace Listing: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/TD-Creations-Picture-Frames-Narrow-Frames/10152319

Wide Frames Marketplace Listing: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/TD-Creations-Picture-Frames-Wide-Frames/6592379

Multi Pack: Marketplace Listing: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/TD-Creations-Picture-Frames-Multi-Pack/10152318

Store Updates

I’m starting to get out of my depression a little more, finally. Now I’m trying to get back on track with my store. Ultimately, I want to redo some of my older mesh models, improve upon my earlier works, but if I wait until I’m ready to do that, my store will never be updated. So, I’ve spent part of the weekend creating a new vendor to use with CasperVend for my store. I’m now slowly migrating my existing products to the new vendors with updated LMs, updating the Marketplace listings, and updating my new blog as each product is being readded. I’m using the date from the original blog post to keep things aligned. The first product has been updated, the rainbow bangles. These are just simple prim bangles that work with any avatar, and are only L$5 for the pair.

Silent Again

It was about two weeks of silence. I didn’t really get much accomplished in those two weeks either. Nothing from my list of things I wanted to do, that is. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother. What is the point in anything? I go through the motions of the day, doing what needs to be done, and procrastinating on other things. Even now, as I write this, I’m asking myself why am I doing this. I’ve struggled a little with this before, but ever since the move, it seems to have gotten worse, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.

The move was to a much better job, with a huge pay raise. I like the company I’m working for, and the people I’m working with. It’s always busy, but not usually overly stressful. I’m even planning on working out after I get off work to start getting in better shape. I’ve been trying to do that since starting the job, but something always seems to get in the way.

The move put me closer to my family than I was before. I’m in a rare situation where my family is not dysfunctional, very loving, and very close. Being able to be close enough to spend every holiday, like the upcoming Mother’s Day, with my family is wonderful. My parents even came down a few times to help me get some things done at my house, and then go out to dinner before they went back home.

There is so much more to do here, compared to where I lived before. Since moving down here, I’ve been going different places, eating at new restaurants, just doing different things as I’ve had the time. Usually that was on a Sunday, leaving my Saturdays home. The restaurants could have been at any time of the week. It really is great.

With all that, why am I struggling so much? What is it about myself that I haven’t fully grasped yet? Is there anything that I’m missing? Am I just trying to read too much into things? Why can’t I just enjoy this, and not worry about anything else?

I look back to before. I was working at home. I was off at 3pm, and from 3pm to 4pm, I spent an hour in SL, unless I had an appointment to go to in the afternoon. I’d usually be back in SL between 6pm and 7pm and spend the rest of my evening there. Then weekends I was almost always in SL. Hours upon hours in SL. Probably too much time. Now, I’m hardly in SL anymore. Technically, I could be in between 8 and 8:30, and stay until 10 or so. I do have time on weekends, maybe not as much as before, but still could be there most of the weekend. Yet I’m hardly there now. Is this good or bad?

Why is SL so important to me? Not just SL now, but my entire online identity. I’ve mentioned it before, but it is because that is where I can be fully me. In life, I live as everyone else expects me to live. I had thought about changing that before, but there are just too many risks that I’m just not willing to accept. So, to counter that, I express myself through my virtual self, which I think is more real than my real self. I am Trasee, and Trasee is me.

Does this mean that because I’m not in SL as much, I’m not Trasee? When I’m writing these blogs, writing my stories, playing games on my PS4, who am I? I’m still Trasee. When I’m at work or dealing with other things in life, I’m the other person I have to be. During those times, though, am I really thinking that way? No, I’m just doing what I need to do, regardless of my “identity.” So, what is it that’s really different? What is it that is keeping me in a depressed state more than before?

I don’t have the answers to it. In many ways I’m still trying to learn who I am. I had a couple blog posts here on who I am. Thinking back at them, I wonder how accurate they are. Just like everything else in life, things don’t always line up, and things change as time goes on. Those things I wrote are still true about me, but the reality is much more complex. So much that I have trouble seeing through the fog a lot of times.

For now, I just need to keep pushing forward. I want to push forward. Everything will work out in the end.

Orientale Station

The first part to take place on the moon has been written in Lunar Penal Colony. I found out about these things on the moon called mascons that tended to occur in lunar basins. I couldn’t find a lot of information related to exactly how they worked on the moon, except they were gravitational anomolies that had caused satellites to crash and made lunar navigation difficult. It seemed like gravity in these areas were denser than other areas. So, it seemed only natural to choose one of these basins to put the penal colony on.

Orientale Basin is a real basin on the moon, and naturally the name extended to to the station as well. As I think about it, the name Orientale Station is a much better name than Lunar Penal Colony. Perhaps that could become the name in the future, or something similar. I’ll have to see how the story continues to progress, to see if a better name comes up in the future. For now, the ugly name Lunar Penal Colony will remain.

Lunar Penal Colony – Part 6

Based on the last part, the date is important, to an extent. A lot of what happened in the previous five parts, though, seems to be pointless filler material. The court scene in part one is important. I think the scene at the processing center in part five is also beneficial to the story. Then there is the history narrative, explaining why the birthday is so bad. Instead of a single info dump, it should probably be spaced out a little differently. I think it is important to include that information in some fashion, though. – Trasee

Waking up from a medically induced sleep, or would that be a coma, is not an easy task. Waking up from a medically induced sleep on the moon is even more disorienting. I don’t know how long I stayed in bed, just trying to focus and get myself oriented.

The bed and pillow were quite soft. A warm blanket was pulled over me. It was very comfortable, unlike the stone beds I was on in the detention centers. Even the room I was in was completely different. For starters, it was an actual room, not a cell. I was in the twin bed, with the white sheets and light grey blanket. A simple white desk with a chair and a white desk lamp was next to the bed. A small tablet lay on the top of the desk. On the opposite wall was a wardrobe and dresser, also in white. Even my hospital gown was replaced with white pajamas. The bathroom, white of course, could be seen through an open door, contained a shower, sink, and toilet.

A clock on the wall gave the time as 15:08. I had to think for a few minutes to understand that was three in the afternoon. My brain damage, combined with the waking from the sleep, made it difficult for me to do the conversion.

Once I felt awake enough, I slid out from under the covers and stood up. The action felt odd to me. I don’t know how to describe it. Almost as if I were underwater, yet without the resistance of the water around me. When I slid out the chair to sit down and picked up the tablet, everything seemed lighter to my touch than I expected.

I touched the screen of the tablet to turn it on. The image of a woman appeared on the screen, holding the tablet. She turned it around to show me the back of the tablet and pointed to a small circle in the back. “Please place the tip of your finger here to unlock the tablet.” Like the nurse, she had a kind voice and a very sweet smile. After she finished the instruction, the screen turned off. With a slight shrug, I found the circle in the back of the tablet and pressed my finger to it.

The tablet flashed to life again, and the same woman appeared on the screen, smiling. “Good afternoon Val Edelstein and welcome to Orientale Station. This is one of four science stations on the moon designed to house prisoners from earth. This station is meant for those who have been sentenced for crimes of inconvenience, such as your inability to keep a steady job. We want to make your time here as comfortable as possible, but make no mistake, this is still a prison. You will be expected to follow the rules, and if you break them, you could be sent to one of the other stations.

“There are a couple things you should know. We’re located in the Orientale impact basin, an area of the moon with a slightly denser gravity, but still half that of earth. That means it will take less energy for you to move or jump, as you’ll literally be lighter on your feet, and things here will feel half the weight as they would on earth. It will take some getting used to, but you should be adapted to the changes in a week or so.

“It would be a good idea to keep this tablet with you at all times. It contains a map of the station so you can find your way around, and will give you important messages, such as when meals are served. You are expected to stay in your room between twenty hundred hours and eight hundred hours, that’s eight pm to eight am by the earth clock. The rest of the time you are free to roam the station. If you need assistance, just contact the guard desk via the messenger app on your tablet. While the circumstances of your arrival were not ideal, we do hope that you will enjoy your stay here.”

The woman flashed off the screen, and the desktop of the tablet appeared. The date and time indicated it was Friday, May 7, 2117, and was now 15:46. A schedule of upcoming events showed that dinner was in the cafeteria from 1700 to 1800, karaoke in Jupiter Lounge from 1830 to 1930, followed by lights out at 2000.

A nice, albeit very white, room. A comfortable bed. A tablet of my own. Karaoke night even? This wasn’t a prison, this was a whitewashed resort with strict rules and curfews. If this is what it is like here, no wonder no one ever came back to earth. Who would want to leave this comfort, even if the decor was kind of plain.