Touchstone 1 - Stray

minute. For every five of these days the planet has one solar day (which explains why it stayed dark outside so long). I don’t in the least understand how a planet can have a longer day but a shorter year than Earth’s, yet similar gravity.
    The mind’s eye
    Den = second
    Joden = minute
    Kasse = hour
    Kaorone = ‘living day’
    Kao = day (single day/night cycle)
    So my name is a bit like a reference to time here. That’s better than the Earth meaning by far. Cassandra means ‘she who entangles men’, which has got to be the suckiest name meaning ever, and that’s not even getting into the whole cursed by Apollo and then everyone thinks you’re mad and you know everything’s going to end up a mess and can’t do anything about it part. I’ve never understood why Mum picked it, since she’s usually more sensible about names. I can think of ten million names I’d rather have than one which stands for tragic futility and madness.
    That’s – it sounds circular saying it, but it drives me nuts, thinking that I’m really nuts. I mean, walking through cracks in the world to different planets and having computers installed in your head? The giggling in a straightjacket possibility seems so much more likely.
    And I’m not. I’d know, somewhere deep down, I’d know if this was all imagination. Delusion. I’d never have made up being so sick, for a start, or those blisters. I’m not imagining any of this. I’m not.
    …
    Must sleep more and practice interface less. Then I wouldn’t get so worked up over stupidities.
    Tuesday, December 25
    From here to you
    Merry Christmas Mum. Merry Christmas Dad. Merry Christmas Jules. If there was some way I could make you feel better right now, I would.
    Wednesday, December 26
    Moving on
    I’ve been released from the Institute! I’m on ‘parole’ with Sa Lents, after a final medical exam where they decided they don’t need to keep me under close observation any longer.
    One thing the doctor told me just before she sent me off really brought home what kind of society I’ve found myself in. I currently have the barest access rights to the systems around me, but the government here has access rights to me. My interface isn’t just one way, and I’m not in control of it. It’s a school, entertainment, a health monitor and an alarm. It will send a distress signal if I’m sick or hurt, and it can stimulate my brain in a way which regulates hormones. I’ve automatically been ‘regulated’ for birth control. Rules about having babies are really strict here, and you have to be given permission to conceive, for each and every baby you want. You have to pass some kind of parental worthiness test and everything.
    Having someone else put me on birth control without my permission is just…I feel really strange about it, especially considering the uncomfortable conversation I had with Mum about babies at the beginning of the year, when I went out with Sean J. Sean and I have been friends a few years, and we were trying to see if we could be more, but it was totally a bad idea. We were careful enough, the couple of times we did it before the sheer awkwardness brought us to our senses, but if I’d wanted a baby, I could have walked down that path. I don’t get that choice here. I’d have to fill out a form first, and hope someone stamped it APPROVED.
    Sa Lents is taking me to his family’s home on a place called Unara, which involves a long journey by plane (or tanz, as these spaceshippy flying machines are called – they don’t look at all like our planes). It’ll take a few hours, but my interface practice comes with me everywhere. I’ve a whole world of work installed in my head, and it’s powered by my own body, so won’t run low on batteries – unless I do.
    I’m growing increasingly confident using the interface, now that I properly know a few basic words. The concepts aren’t very different from email or web browsers, just without a mouse or keyboard. I haven’t qualified for some of it yet, but have just stopped to write after sitting through the introductory lessons for how to record everything I see and hear, and keep a personal library. Every person on this planet is a CCTV system. I’m definitely going to have to remember that when I talk to anyone, or am in sight or earshot of anyone. I keep telling myself it’s not that different to everyone having a mobile phone and access to You Tube, but it’s hard not to be a little creeped