26/08/2003
It's 17:56 GMT as I write this. I am not online as I type; I plan to write this entry and then post my final draft so hopefully I should avoid the spelling mistakes this time. Although having said that if I'm not sure about the spelling of a word I only have Jefry to ask and who knows where he gets his information. Some equivalent of a mainframe I suppose.
My craft positions itself so I receive the same amount of sunlight time that I would get in my home of south-east England so I think the craft will dip behind Mars or one of it's moons at just a touch after 19:00 on my clock. I will then be shielded from the Sun's light until about 05:10 tomorrow (there is a curtain effect provided for the mornings believe it or not). I only know the "sunrise" time because I just asked Jefry although I find it fascinating that Jefry reckons he can only give me a time accurate to within six minutes. Now I always thought that we meagre humans could predict the times of celestial events like that to within seconds or less. Lest a species that has mastered intergalactic space flight and who are actually controlling where my vessel sits! Jefry says about this, and here's an actual quote: "It's a bit complicated."
I presume those are the first words ever published on Earth from an alien civilisation! You couldn't make it up! although I suspect those reading this would beg to differ. Surely everyone reading this thinks this is fiction. I'm not allowed to use email, or contact anyone directly, even as an anonymous person on a message board; but I'd love to advertise this weblog somehow so my stay here is noticed by someone. I guess whether anyone believes my words doesn't matter in the long run and I hope and assume the truth will eventually be revealed. I still find it amazing that despite those rules, I have been, not just allowed but asked, to publish this. I'm sure you could understand my doubts about its real existence on the Internet.
Anyway, I think the reason they cannot predict the exact position of my craft at a given time in the future may be because of the importance of the juxtaposition of all the separate crafts in our little fleet. At writing these words, Jefry has given a snigger of affirmation. But exactly why is a question that probably is a bit complicated "I couldn't even begin to imagine at a guess I'll bet. No probably not, I'm told.
I should write some words about my "PC". Jefry has fashioned a keyboard and a mouse and has approximated a simple Word Processor program. I could of course simply dictate, but I'm used to this way of writing things. As I write this, Jefry has just pulled up a version of someone's hard drive from Earth! And I'm finding myself using Word and Windows XP without warning! I'm sure there's a legal issue here! I know he's only doing all this stuff on the screen to mess with my mind. An alien robot with a crafty sense of humour, it's everything I need...
Anyway ignoring all the squiggly red and green lines that I now look upon I will continue. My monitor is actually part of the inside wall of my craft, although it looks as though it is a few inches in front of me rather than a few feet. It's a bit disconcerting to say the least. I've been trying to work out whether my eyes are focusing near, at where the image appears to be, or far, at where the actual wall surface is. I put my hand in front of me to work it out every now and then, or look at a familiar piece of furniture, and my eyes go funny for an instant before focusing correctly. It gives me eyestrain if I use the computer for too long. The more cynical part of me suspects that this difficult viewing situation is a deliberate ploy to let them limit my Internet usage without the danger of getting me too upset about it. But that is terribly cynical.
I've also been trying to suss out whether my keyboard and my mouse are made from plastic or metal. At first I thought that this was some alien material with unfamiliar properties. However I'm assured that all the stuff that has been produced for me has been fashioned out of raw materials farmed recently from within the area around this part of the Solar System. Apparently it took my friends several attempts to achieve a working and stable computer system that could interface with what we have on Earth.
I'm getting pretty close to my word limit for this entry. I want to tell you about Jefry at some point but I'm not sure where I should start. The most important thing I want to write about is why these visitors have travelled here. It's not the predictable reasons that are usually banded about when people are imagining this sort of scenario, but the reasoning is both believable and reasonable. Before I begin to write every entry, I am having a lengthy chat with Jefry about what my topics are to be. I have some interesting things I want to say, and I have gained an interesting perspective of our world from up here. It is something I really want to share. I follow world news closely up here; it is very interesting to take in news when you an observer from far away. I usually forget what day of the week it is. Such things are terrestrial events anyway.
My craft positions itself so I receive the same amount of sunlight time that I would get in my home of south-east England so I think the craft will dip behind Mars or one of it's moons at just a touch after 19:00 on my clock. I will then be shielded from the Sun's light until about 05:10 tomorrow (there is a curtain effect provided for the mornings believe it or not). I only know the "sunrise" time because I just asked Jefry although I find it fascinating that Jefry reckons he can only give me a time accurate to within six minutes. Now I always thought that we meagre humans could predict the times of celestial events like that to within seconds or less. Lest a species that has mastered intergalactic space flight and who are actually controlling where my vessel sits! Jefry says about this, and here's an actual quote: "It's a bit complicated."
I presume those are the first words ever published on Earth from an alien civilisation! You couldn't make it up! although I suspect those reading this would beg to differ. Surely everyone reading this thinks this is fiction. I'm not allowed to use email, or contact anyone directly, even as an anonymous person on a message board; but I'd love to advertise this weblog somehow so my stay here is noticed by someone. I guess whether anyone believes my words doesn't matter in the long run and I hope and assume the truth will eventually be revealed. I still find it amazing that despite those rules, I have been, not just allowed but asked, to publish this. I'm sure you could understand my doubts about its real existence on the Internet.
Anyway, I think the reason they cannot predict the exact position of my craft at a given time in the future may be because of the importance of the juxtaposition of all the separate crafts in our little fleet. At writing these words, Jefry has given a snigger of affirmation. But exactly why is a question that probably is a bit complicated "I couldn't even begin to imagine at a guess I'll bet. No probably not, I'm told.
I should write some words about my "PC". Jefry has fashioned a keyboard and a mouse and has approximated a simple Word Processor program. I could of course simply dictate, but I'm used to this way of writing things. As I write this, Jefry has just pulled up a version of someone's hard drive from Earth! And I'm finding myself using Word and Windows XP without warning! I'm sure there's a legal issue here! I know he's only doing all this stuff on the screen to mess with my mind. An alien robot with a crafty sense of humour, it's everything I need...
Anyway ignoring all the squiggly red and green lines that I now look upon I will continue. My monitor is actually part of the inside wall of my craft, although it looks as though it is a few inches in front of me rather than a few feet. It's a bit disconcerting to say the least. I've been trying to work out whether my eyes are focusing near, at where the image appears to be, or far, at where the actual wall surface is. I put my hand in front of me to work it out every now and then, or look at a familiar piece of furniture, and my eyes go funny for an instant before focusing correctly. It gives me eyestrain if I use the computer for too long. The more cynical part of me suspects that this difficult viewing situation is a deliberate ploy to let them limit my Internet usage without the danger of getting me too upset about it. But that is terribly cynical.
I've also been trying to suss out whether my keyboard and my mouse are made from plastic or metal. At first I thought that this was some alien material with unfamiliar properties. However I'm assured that all the stuff that has been produced for me has been fashioned out of raw materials farmed recently from within the area around this part of the Solar System. Apparently it took my friends several attempts to achieve a working and stable computer system that could interface with what we have on Earth.
I'm getting pretty close to my word limit for this entry. I want to tell you about Jefry at some point but I'm not sure where I should start. The most important thing I want to write about is why these visitors have travelled here. It's not the predictable reasons that are usually banded about when people are imagining this sort of scenario, but the reasoning is both believable and reasonable. Before I begin to write every entry, I am having a lengthy chat with Jefry about what my topics are to be. I have some interesting things I want to say, and I have gained an interesting perspective of our world from up here. It is something I really want to share. I follow world news closely up here; it is very interesting to take in news when you an observer from far away. I usually forget what day of the week it is. Such things are terrestrial events anyway.
21/08/2003
Well, I only have a few minutes before I am unable to post anymore but this is the first entry of my weblog which I am fervently hoping has not just been given to me as an illusion. I've been told this blog is mine and it will get published on the Internet. I guess it will because I have Internet access and I will check, but it would be easy for my hosts to fool me. I've been here for about 3 months now; although the time here and the time on Earth (I have got a clock and a calender thank you very much) seem to be a few days out now - I assume because I have been moving around at high speeds at various times.
Apologies if this first entry is brief and vague, but I only got told I can do this today. I will write a longer explanation of who I am, where I am, and anything else I can say next time. Previously I have agreed to not attempt to make any outside contact. I haven't tried, but even if I had I've no doubt my signal would have been intercepted. I've not met my alien hosts and I'm beginning to doubt I ever will. I want to stress I am up here VOLUNTARILY. I am 36 years old and made my excuses to my close friends and family and went off after being invited. The contact I first had was with who I thought was a human (and who I can only now assume was not, as I'm told I'm the first terrestrial being to have been made contact with. It's an enormous enormous honour without doubt). I am on my own vessel close to a small-sized fleet of vehicles. I am looked after by an automaton whom I have named Jefry - the last song I heard on Earth was a Pixies song which has the line 'Jefry with one f', and it stuck in my head. Jefry is amazing - very friendly and open. He shares his mind with my ship, so I suppose he is the ship/craft/vessel/whatever (Jefry doesn't attach English names to things very readily, I suppose it's up to me to label things for myself, and I suspect they take great interest in how I do it) I don't have any windows in my craft (which is a fair size - maybe about as big as a 5-a-side football/soccer pitch) but the walls are able to produce any image like a versartile television screen. If I want I can make the walls seem to disappear so it looks as though all the funiture is floating in space near along with me. Alongside us is the planet Mars which looks absolutely beautiful. I've been staring at it for over 12 weeks now and I can feel no sign of ever getting bored.
My time is running short. We are connected to the Internet - it seems the best way the aliens can tap into human society - but not for very long periods (well, not for me anyway). Obviously I don't expect many peole to read this. It is more of an excersise for me really; maybe this blog will become well known and people will wonder if this is made-up or not; or more likely assume it is. Either way I'm not expecting shockwaves to be spread around the world upon the publication of this like there should be. But this is just a bunch of words on an Internet site - like science fiction I suppose. Even I doubt if this is real sometimes - maybe I'm caught in a bizaare experiment and I'm in some lab in Birmingham somewhere. Fuck, if that's true there have been some amazing developments that are being kept secret. I wish I could publish photos; but then perhaps this wont look like a story any more and will make more of a splash than my hosts would like. As it is, this is a bit of fun with a very serious edge. The next few months look as though they could be very interesting indeed my friends....
Apologies if this first entry is brief and vague, but I only got told I can do this today. I will write a longer explanation of who I am, where I am, and anything else I can say next time. Previously I have agreed to not attempt to make any outside contact. I haven't tried, but even if I had I've no doubt my signal would have been intercepted. I've not met my alien hosts and I'm beginning to doubt I ever will. I want to stress I am up here VOLUNTARILY. I am 36 years old and made my excuses to my close friends and family and went off after being invited. The contact I first had was with who I thought was a human (and who I can only now assume was not, as I'm told I'm the first terrestrial being to have been made contact with. It's an enormous enormous honour without doubt). I am on my own vessel close to a small-sized fleet of vehicles. I am looked after by an automaton whom I have named Jefry - the last song I heard on Earth was a Pixies song which has the line 'Jefry with one f', and it stuck in my head. Jefry is amazing - very friendly and open. He shares his mind with my ship, so I suppose he is the ship/craft/vessel/whatever (Jefry doesn't attach English names to things very readily, I suppose it's up to me to label things for myself, and I suspect they take great interest in how I do it) I don't have any windows in my craft (which is a fair size - maybe about as big as a 5-a-side football/soccer pitch) but the walls are able to produce any image like a versartile television screen. If I want I can make the walls seem to disappear so it looks as though all the funiture is floating in space near along with me. Alongside us is the planet Mars which looks absolutely beautiful. I've been staring at it for over 12 weeks now and I can feel no sign of ever getting bored.
My time is running short. We are connected to the Internet - it seems the best way the aliens can tap into human society - but not for very long periods (well, not for me anyway). Obviously I don't expect many peole to read this. It is more of an excersise for me really; maybe this blog will become well known and people will wonder if this is made-up or not; or more likely assume it is. Either way I'm not expecting shockwaves to be spread around the world upon the publication of this like there should be. But this is just a bunch of words on an Internet site - like science fiction I suppose. Even I doubt if this is real sometimes - maybe I'm caught in a bizaare experiment and I'm in some lab in Birmingham somewhere. Fuck, if that's true there have been some amazing developments that are being kept secret. I wish I could publish photos; but then perhaps this wont look like a story any more and will make more of a splash than my hosts would like. As it is, this is a bit of fun with a very serious edge. The next few months look as though they could be very interesting indeed my friends....
Visitors:
