-- 9 FEBRUARY 2267 --

Another ugly day in the ugly world. I am grateful to have a job I enjoy and somewhere to live that is UV proof. So many do not.

The government is threatening to withdraw support from the north. This wouldn't achieve anything. I'm sure they're only talking about it to make it look like they're really doing something. Taxes are going to go up again, only we don't know when. Probably just after the election, if they can organise themselves sufficiently to call one.

Freshwater fish are the latest creatures on the imminent extinction list. One less source of protein. Though considering I've never seen real fresh fish for human consumption ever in my life, they may already be gone and we've been eating freeze-dried stocks all this time without knowing it.

Told the Purity Commission I would be happy to provide some personal journal material for their capsules. They promptly sent a slicker round to teach me "puffable" nano. I let him talk for about an hour - it was actually going to be less but he seemed to be really enjoying himself and I felt sorry for him - before I quietly directed his attention to my certifications (hanging on the wall as old-fashioned paper pieces, but I like the look of them). Silly old slicker. Didn't get the right education, or didn't pay attention (faulty implants? would look into it but it's not my area), because it came as a horrible shock to him to realise he was talking to one of the three people who developed "puffable" nano. It was only 12 years ago, for zassake! I'm not that old - or did I look too young?

Reminds me. In the course of today's work, had to look up something on post-First Purge education, and discovered that it wasn't until 2006 that there was a standard, nationalised school-entry age in this country. No wonder the records are all over the place. Probably they finally woke up to themselves and realised that with the reduced population, the only thing that was going to keep society going was tighter rules and a more standardised approach to things like basic education.

Now, as promised in my first entry, here is some of my background: My name is Matilda Curtis and I was born in 2235 in Shore Sector, which according to Central Registers is co-ord LNS-089G29-901. It may be something else to you (whoever is reading this, whenever that may be), or it may be gone. I don't expect Central Registers to still be functioning in 120 years, so for general reference, to reach the centre of Shore, begin on the north side of Main Station and proceed in a north-easterly direction for approximately 2km. You should be going uphill all the way (unless you have to cross a crater). On your right you should soon see a large rado-concrete slab. This used to be a wildlife reserve (bombed in 59 and razed two years later by crazies who thought they were going to use the land for farming, until radiation readings suggested otherwise; was sealed over in late 61 and is expected to remain hot at least until 2409). Turn right. Craters and volcanic activity aside, you should be going downhill, then uphill, then following the natural curve of the land first to the left, then to the right, for a total of 1.5km. When you can see bits of the harbour on your right, you've reached the official centre of Shore Sector.

Of course, if they have managed to get the pos-sats working again, just use the co-ords and an auto-nav. (The pos-sats have not been working for 62 years - if they are successfully reactivated within the next 60 I would be very surprised.)

I went to school like everyone usually does - eight years standard and four years implant, then specialised for one year implant, on a scholarship from Hoyer. This did not obligate me to work for Hoyer but after several unhappy placements elsewhere I applied to join the research division for the Hoyer Project. They were pleased to have me and I have been merrily researching Hoyer's Syndrome (and general pre-Purge history) over the last nearly 13 years. I was a Clearance One for 5 years and have been a Clearance Two the last seven-and-three-quarter years, although now it looks like I am about to be made a Clearance Three. Naturally this entitles me to the luxuries of better living quarters, increased rations and more leisure options, but also requires me to be more diligent in my work, meaning I am expected to delegate less and display more initiative.

Of my family, only my mother and one sister are still alive that I'm aware of. I have very little contact with either, my sister being a glat researcher on the Jupiter station and my mother being of a dubious mental state and reluctant to tell anyone where she is at any time. Presumably the tax office knows where she is, as I haven't had any of her tax debts land in my lap, but she doesn't communicate with anyone else. The last time I heard from her was when I graduated. She said she was proud of me, but also that she was sorry. She became too upset to say anything else and hung up on me before I could think of a response.

In pre-Purge times I would have been called an abused child. It wasn't my mother's fault as her education had been incomplete and the authorities who were supposed to help her simply didn't bother, as there was no political benefit for them if they did. (My mother is one of hundreds of thousands so affected and thankfully things have changed since those days.) In very basic terms, she wasn't mentally suited to parenting, and this should have been taken into account when she was allocated birthing status. Because she's always been very independent and self-motivated, they said she could have three and she didn't have to marry or bond. She had the allocated three, and we all have different fathers, none of whom have taken any interest in us after our first year. My mother could have chosen better, could have found someone who would want to stay with her, but she fell quite hopelessly in love with my father (and not with the other two) and when he left her, finally, when I was about 1½, she completely lost interest in being what is called "a responsible parent". She should have had help but it wasn't politically viable to give her any.

My younger sister died during the Veracci raids in 42, when she was 4. My mother had to be hospitalised after that, and Brianna and I were looked after in the nests. My mother was discharged the year before my graduation but as I was already legal and had not seen her in such a long time, someone thankfully decided that I did not have to go live with her again. Brianna was already working on the first glat farms at this time, and established on her own, so our mother could not claim any dependents and had to take a pension unit in New Helo Sector, which is 250km west of Main Station. I tried at first to stay in touch with her, but she didn't return calls and never wrote, so I stopped trying to contact her.

Brianna's father died shortly after my graduation. I saw a notice for his funeral and sent it to her, but she was in quarantine and couldn't have attended without having to lose her place and start several months' work again from the beginning. My father has been dead for nearly 6 years. He had moved to the eastern continent a few years before that. A friend of a friend of his sent me the funeral notice some months after it had taken place. I would have liked to have gone at least to find out who my other relatives are.

I am not married nor bonded. I enjoy relationships from time to time, but nothing serious. I have inherited some traits from my mother which would make me similarly unsuitable to parent, and frankly I'd rather have an interesting and rewarding career than my own offspring. The nests are an excellent environment for growing children and should I be asked to donate some eggs I would be happy to do so. (Thus you know my politics.)

[ two (2) paragraphs censored by Purity Commission veto ]

And that's just about all I can say today. I have to catch up on my pre-First Purge reading, as it now looks like I'll be made a Three by the end of the month and tipped down by the end of March (it would be more economical to wait until the end of April but there will be less traffic and "durational noise" if I am sent sooner).