Audio Mail from Arcus Engelian –

To Daviri and Ellayne Engelian

Tag: Arcus - YEAR ONE Day 63

11 December 3.2194 – 15:43 Central Standard Time

                 

Begin recording:

     "Hello Dava, hello Mada. How are you? I am well. I have a rare bit of time, so I thought I would update you between classes. So, I think it’s safe to say that I’ve finally adjusted to life here at the UTF PESA (Physics, Engineering, and Scientific Application) Program. The first two months have been trying; growing used to customs here on the Amassian Southern Coast has been difficult, having come from the Northwest. I suppose growing up there for the past 15 years kept me somewhat shut off from this way of life, which by the way, is quite different here.

 

     It’s much faster and denser, not as serene and nowhere near as lush. I definitely took for granted the surroundings of the Northwest Pacinu Region; the lush landscapes of verdant trees and the snowy mountains, the mirror-like reflections of the lakes and calming nature of the sunsets as they reflect off the picturesque snowcapped peaks, I do miss it. Southern Amassia isn’t just geographically different though, it represents a whole different way of life that I’ve adjusted to, though I’d hardly call it preferable to the old way.

 

     Anyway, things are going well for me. I have some really big news. I’ve had a massive break through; two actually. An intriguing revelation in my work with my partner Franzi Dorfmund, and a surprising one in my personal life. I’ll keep the work explanation simple since I know the physics and the science can be a bit much for you guys sometimes: basically what we’ve hypothesized is the existence of a way to travel to far off locations in the universe through the use of teleportation-like travel. It’s quite extravagant but Franzi and I are seeing where it can take us—it all hinges on the existence of the supposed “middle-space” that we’ve hypothesized exists within our spatial dimension, but that can get really technical so I’ll spare you the details. I’m interested to see how we can pursue exploring and testing it, but that’ll be much further down the line. We’re still in basic classes and this type of work would certainly be for our culminating thesis exposition.

 

     But now for the second breakthrough: I’ve met someone. Her name is Brina. She’s brilliant Mada. She’s a Year Three Apprentice and she’s in the Physics Tier. She’s a phenomenal physicist but wants to make her focus education based, which is respectable considering that not many appreciate the field of education—or pursue it—despite their capabilities and talents. Research seems to drive everyone else here and I feel myself being quickly drawn in by its lure. But about Brina, she and I have two classes together right now and we regularly face off on the volley-court—she has quite the serve and a mean fore-swing. But I don’t want to get my hopes up or call this something before it is, as she is an upperclassmen and out of my league. Hmm…. She just makes me feel so alive Mada. And I know you’ll say, ‘but so did Vale,’ but this is different. Vale and I will always have our time together, but I think that part of my life is over now. There’s definitely something special about Brina and I want to pursue it. I’ll certainly keep you up to date on that as things progress.

                 

     Enough about me though, how are you? How is Dava? And the dog team? I hope they’re keeping a good pace and that everyone is doing well. I wasn’t happy to hear in your AM yesterday that Leeda and Kozi are fighting. I know that the winter weather will likely be getting them all riled up, but hopefully Dava doesn’t have to run them in anything too nasty. After all, Endyears is only two weeks away and I should get some time off before the start of the next trimester, so I don’t want him catching a cold or anything silly just before I come home!

 

     Well, I have to be going, we’re doing a summary review in my next class and I don’t want to miss it. As the end of the year is approaching, so too is the end of the current trimester, and I have some exams to be studying for.

 

     I love you both and look forward to hearing from and seeing you real soon.”

 

End recording.

 

Arcus Engelian

Year One Apprentice

PESAP – UTF

 

***

 

Audio Mail from Ellayne Engelian –

To Arcus Engelian

Tag: Daviri’s Condition

12 December 3.2194 – 09:20 Western Standard Time

                 

Begin recording:

     “Arcus I’m so happy to hear that things are going so well for you with your program. I know it’s meant so much to you for such a long time. You finally have the means to put your talents to the test and I thank Jorah for that.

                 

     But about Daviri….Unfortunately your father was caught in a terrible blizzard on the Lower Casada Trail. An avalanche took him and the team right off the trail... Two dogs died and he had to put another one down. Your father suffered several fractures along his right arm and leg in the crash and his condition has deteriorated since his rescue. He was rushed to the hospital yesterday and last night the doctors discovered fluid in his lungs. One doctor says its cardiomyopathy resulting from the stress of the whole ordeal on his body and another thinks its pulmonary edema from the high altitude… I don’t know what they plan to do but whatever it is, they need to act fast. I’m not sure how much longer he can hold on. He’s in such pain…

                 

     Oh, this is all such a terrible situation... 

 

     But you keep focusing on your studies Arcus. I don’t want you worrying yourself over us. I want to hear more about this wild theory and I can’t wait to hear more about this new lady friend of yours. Keep yourself out of trouble and keep your father in your thoughts and prayers.

 

     I love you Arcus.”

 

End recording.

Ellayne Engelian

 

***

 

Audio Mail from Arcus Engelian –

To Daviri and Ellayne Engelian

Tag: Arcus - YEAR ONE Day 64

12 December 3.2194 – 16:04 Central Standard Time

                 

Begin recording:

     “I asked my Instructors about taking my trimester finals early and heading home and they told me I can take my finals as early as tomorrow. I’ll take them all in the morning and be on the first transport home. I love you Mada. Tell Dava to keep strong. I’ll be there soon.” 

 

End recording.

 

Arcus Engelian

Year One Apprentice

PESAP – UTF

 

 

 

***

 

 

From the audio journal of Arcus Engelian –

United Terran Federation: Physics, Engineering, and Applied Sciences

Tag: Endyears – YEAR ONE Day 93 

4 January 3.2195 @ 21:36:55 CST (Central Standard Time)

 

Begin recording:

 

     “What an Endyears… To be honest I don’t quite know what to make of it. So much happened... I don’t know how to think about it. Perhaps just getting some of it out might help me acknowledge it all.

                 

     Dava is gone. He lasted a day and a half longer than the doctors had expected. After his accident he’d been hanging on, but I guess he never truly showed real signs of recovering. Eventually he’d stopped breathing in his sleep and simply slipped away. I said my good-night to him knowing that it was ultimately to be a good-bye. Mada’s devastated and I fear she won’t know how to handle his absence. It pains me that this commitment to the UTF has me unable to stay longer to help her through it, but at least my stipend bore the brunt of the medical expenses, for all the good that did.

     

     Despite the distressing nature of Dava passing, that isn’t really what I’ve focused on since returning. Dava being gone is terrible, but it was what he said when I said good night to him on Endyears that has kept me so perplexed and melancholic this whole time. I remember it perfectly, he was sitting in bed with a blank warm stare on his face. He looked up at me and said, ‘Good night my sweet angel. I go to find peace in the outer heaven you came from.’

 

     At the time I was confused by his words and simply thought them the clouded words of a heavily sedated and dying man, but I remember lying awake thinking about his words late into the night. It wasn’t until Newyears Day that Mada explained just what he’d meant. She filled me in on the truth of my past—I’d known that I was adopted, but they’d never told me the exact circumstances of that adoption or anything about my birth parents—but what she had to say was… unfathomable.

 

     She told me that when they adopted me I had been wearing a beat up tunic that had a unique name on it in a bizarre script. The tunic had been tattered and burnt back then, and was faded almost beyond recognition when she showed it to me. I could barely make out the remnants of the letters but she assured me that it once read the name Angelus.

     

     Furthermore, she told me that I had been wearing it and not much else as I crawled around helplessly on the Great Mountain Cascade when Dava and his dog team found me in the middle of a blizzard nearly two decades ago. It was such a strange thing to him to see a boy caught in the middle of that storm, but he said the dogs sought me out; they knew I was there. He told her that I didn’t have a single sign of frostbite on me, despite the fact that I’d been unprotected save for the tattered and burnt tunic. However, that night when he’d brought me home I couldn’t say a word about my origins or what had happened to me other than my name: Arcus Angelus.

 

     The boy they had adopted was an orphan, a wandering vagrant from out of a blizzard with the name Arcus Angelus.”

 

     “Arcus! Hey Arcus, it’s Franz—hey, are you in the middle of something? Quick, finish that up! Dean-Magister Bonastas has a few questions for our proposal and needs us now.”

 

     “Okay. Gimmie’ a second Franz. I guess I’ll have to end this here for now. Maybe taking my mind off of all this for a while will be a good thing.”

 

End recording.