Welcome to the Journal of Now and Forever. This Journal is a collection of my Star Control and Star Control 2 fiction. Note: Some of this material is, by necessity, extrapolation from the slim information provided by canon sources.

New fiction is posted first at My Livejournal before it appears here. This story is in response to 15 Minute Ficlets' Challenge #73.

It took some effort at first, but I think I can safely say my aberrant behavior is now in the past. I note this because it's been four months since I realized I was becoming like him, and I think I'm doing much better now.

Of course, nothing exists in a vacuum, so even as I've gotten myself back on track, Dina is essentially reassigned with her committee work. I'm not entirely sure what she does – I don't think she entirely knows either – but, to be honest, there isn't much reproductive research left to do here. Skip's been reassigned as of today, and that leaves me and Aron as the last of the team, besides Dina of course. So I suppose I'll be reassigned any day now.

Speaking of today, we had to help with the harvesting, which wasn't as bad as I expected. We've got a few machines capable of doing harvesting, but some crops just need human hands instead. Let's just say it's a good thing I like olives. Olive trees love Eta Vulpeculae, and we can use them in so many ways beyond food – soap comes to mind. We brought a few cultivars and biostocks during the Exodus, and they've all grown like anything. I wonder sometimes if they'll overtake all of Eta Vulpeculae 2, and if the Reproductive Research team succeeds, if someday our descendants will be struggling to clear forests of olive trees and wondering why we set them loose.

Forgot to note in my entries the past few days that some knuckleknobs have started a church. (You'd think I'd've remembered to post this, because it's been all the talk lately.) Since the word is "church" and not "mosque" or "synagogue" I have to presume it's Christians, which should prove interesting if there are any non-Christian religious Androsynths about. I can't believe anyone has time for that sort of thing, but if they want to spend their free time on it, I suppose it's up to them.

There's been quite an outcry against it, however, which is leading to questions about "Who exactly are our leaders and what are they going to do about this?" So far, the answer to the latter question is: They haven't done anything yet. I haven't met any of the so-called churchgoers (at least, not that I know) and I can't say as to what they're up to. I don't think religion and science can coexist peaceably, and we're not the same as the Earthlings, who grew up with religion as a way to give hope to their miserable preindustrial lives. Everything we do here, we base on strong, practical principles, and it's been refreshing, now that I think on it, to not worry about someone taking offense over what we're doing or what we've done.

Still, I suppose we'll see what happens. The whole thing is a baby-chick idea: once out of its shell, hard to put back. I don't think anyone could tell the religious to stop it, or we'd suddenly have cries of persecution or the like, and that would just make things worse. I'm glad I'm not the one to deal with it. (Side thought: How can these people follow a religion, when no major religion on Earth officially recognized us as "fully" human?)

~Personal journal of CRC-16 "Grif" Reproductive Researcher

Comments? Email me: laridian at aol dot com