Pay Attention

One of the condensors blew while I was at Mos Arya. It was ugly. The side blew out and took my little PK unit with it. Well that solves that problem. I'll have to buy a new droid when the Jawas come back through. This will set me back though. I can't afford to fall to much further behind - the dry season is coming up and people need their water supplied. If I don't come through, they will go elsewhere.

I bought a new news vidcom. The idea that the republic has gone has hit me like a ton of bricks. Never took too much of an interest in politics. Hell, I don't know who my senator is, didn't vote for him.

...or her...

...or it.

A New Reality?

On Sunday I went to the fair in Mos Arya. I was sitting down after being out in the sand for hours, ready to start another blog entry. Focused on the words "haven't seen another human in over a year". over a year. It really has been that long. I've seen my son's face on the vidcom, and i've seen the jawas and rhrro'rhis on occasion, but other than that its been too quiet.

I dusted off the speeder (no, really - everything in this place needs dusting if its outside for more than an hour, and the speeder had been sitting for much longer than that. It ended up being a four hour affair) and headed out to Mos Arya. The fair was smaller than I remembered it, but I hadn't been there since Seldon was a little tyke.

It was almost as if i had forgotten how to 'be' around people. When to look someone in the eye, when to look away. What sorts of meaningless chatter you make to indicate nothing more than a common general sense of goodwill, "nice day, isn't it?". Its never a nice day here. Its always a hot day. A very hot day.

There was a decided lack of enthusiasm and cheer. At first I wondered if it was because I had been too removed from those concepts myself for so long. No, it wasn't festive at all -not for a festival. I went into Grintin. Jrasp was still behind the bar, he didn't look a day older. Anyway, I sat down to have a drink and he greeted me like it was just yesterday he saw me. Maybe it was like just yesterday for him. I have no idea how long his people live. I made a remark about the gloom over the festival and was about to segue into a more existential thought about it being my own disposition when he stopped me.

You haven't heard? He asked. The Emporer has started naming races he determined enemies of the Empire. Niktos were on the list. I'm guessing that Jrasp is a Nikto.

What Empire?

Jrasp looked at me incredulously. Where have you been? He asked after a moment.

I told him.

He then explained to me what has happened in the last year. The jawas and rhi'hi'roul can't really be counted on for news, but I never really paid much attention before anyway. Didn't think i was missing much.

The Republic is no more. Now there is the 'galactic empire'.

I said something that was pithy, but probably came across as uncaring. like i said, i forget how to 'be' with people.

I'm not sure what this all means. I stayed in a small hotel in Arya yesterday and for reasons i can't explain, spent most of the night staring out through the blinds at the empty streets.

Banthas Smell Bad.

Rhrro'rhis came by today on his trip back towards his village. He's what we call a "Tusken Raider", but I've since found out that they call themselves the Rhi'hi'rhoul. The way we met and became friends is a long story. Maybe I'll tell it another time. Suffice to say, few people can claim friends with the Rhi'hi'rhoul. They tend to keep to themselves and be wary of outsiders. Most of 'em don't like us very much. Makes sense. I wouldn't like them so much if they moved onto my planet and started taking resources without asking.

Anyway. He brought me some Grh'aak, which is a kind of tea, I guess, that's made from a hearty root. We sat and drank it for a little while. It doesn't taste great, but for some reason it makes you feel less thirsty. He doesn't talk much. That's good. Neither do I.

Don't think that his people would take too kindly to know that he stops by here sometimes. I don't think my people would understand much either. That's ok. Haven't seen another human in almost a year.

A Real Tree

I've never actually seen a tree. Well, there's one in the Grinntin cafe over in Mos Array, but I don't think it's real.

Just something I was thinking about today as I was getting to know the hum of the vaporators.

The Hum

The older interfaces, it turns out, aren't giving me the proper readings. I spent a few hours tinkering around and then gave up. In helplessness, I sat down in the sand and stared off into the endless desert.

I must have been sitting there for a while, when i realized i was absently drawing in the sand with a copper rod from the condensor. I must have been doing it for a while, as there were lots of circles and lines and the rod extended from my hand to the end of where I had written my son's name in the sand.

There was a warm breeze and the vaporator's consistent hum. I started to manually adjust the valves on the condensors, and noticed slight changes in the vibration and pitch of the vaporator's hums as it filtered through the condensor. Very subtle. I could probably throw out the interface and just do this myself if I just listen.

Five Broken Things

Today the interface on my condensors stopped working. The machines were on, the control panel was blinking and responding to simple commands, but I couldn't change the levels or get any kind of status report. I hooked up an older interface which is doing the job for now. Things seem to be breaking down now. The PK, the interface, the battery droid.

They say things happen in threes.

...but my coffee pot is broken too, so they're wrong.

Things are quiet today. Haven't seen anyone since the Jawas rolled through yesteday. After the one of 'em fixed the droid, I offered him a cup of coffee (that's when i figured out the pot was broken). Didn't seem to understand the hospitality. Either that or he didn't like coffee. Anyway. I found myself trying to make conversation with a Jawa, just so I'd have someone to talk to, even for a short period of time.

I think something else is broken as well.

Tune In, Tune Up.

Today my throat feels all scratchy and dry. Shouldn't be surprised, I guess. Everything around here is scratchy and dry.

The Jawas came by today. They made me an offer on the PK unit, but I'm not ready to sell. I think I'm gonna fight to get what I paid for. Anwyay. On a seperate issue, I had a batery droid that I had bought from them that doesn't run on full capacity. They took it in and gave it a tune up. Seems to work fine now. Didn't charge me a dime. I've always been a little wary of doing business with these guys, don't trust them entirely. But they take pride and care in their work, not like these big off planet corporations. Should've bought the PK from them. Oh well, I know for next time.

Right now I can see one of the suns starting to set. It's very quiet except for the hum of the vaporators.