Free Transplant by D. B. Reynolds-Moreton Page A

is the three hundred and thirtieth year since the expedition set forth from Earth.
    Sadly, it has taken just over two hundred years for someone else to discover this diary of events, which just goes to show how much the book room is used.
    I have read the story up to this point, and was curious as to what happened to Jon, as his entries ended so abruptly. I can only assume that some tragedy befell him while in the service tunnels he was so keen to explore, but there is no proof of this.
    I have questioned the Medic at great length, and in a somewhat devious manner to try and elicit some information from him, but to no avail.
    All I can find out from the records is that he was here one day, and gone missing the next. Everyone at the time searched high and low for him, leaving no corner of the ship which they were allowed to enter, unchecked.
    According to the Medic’s records, a couple were called in to the medical room two days after Jon’s disappearance, and given permission to bear a child. I can only conclude that the Medic knew that Jon wasn’t returning to the ship’s company, and so a replacement was authorized.
    I have no desire to go wandering down among the service tunnels, as these places are meant for machines and we are forbidden to go anywhere not clearly shown on the corridor map. Unless, of course, there is an emergency, and then we are given explicit instructions on where to go and what to do, watched over by the Captain on a video link.
    The quasi religious group mentioned in Jon’s report earlier, seems to have fizzled out as there is no sign of it now. In fact, quite to the contrary, we seem to be a very materialistic group, in so far that we do not believe in any gods, devils or things spiritual, just ourselves.
    One of our number, who is into higher mathematics in a big way, is of the opinion that the day and week we experience on the ship bears no relationship to that of Earth times. We have no way of proving it one way or another, but the concept is gathering interest by the day.
    We have tried to question Teacher about it, but it denies all knowledge of a difference, and the Captain won’t even entertain the questions in the first place. This leads us to think there might be something in the theory, but we can’t understand why the truth is being kept from us. Our mathematician is still working on it, and no doubt will come up with a satisfactory answer one day.
    We had a bit of excitement the other night when the Captain announced at the evening meal that a large piece of rock was coming up behind us, and although it would not hit us, it would pass by quite closely and would be worth looking at. The observation room is very small, having only four chairs for prolonged viewing, and just enough room for four other people to stand behind them, so we had to take it in turns to view the rock.
    It was massive, much bigger than our ship, and we could see the shadow of our vessel on its surface as it blocked out the star light behind it.
    It passed by very slowly, giving us a chance to view the surface and some strange constructions thereon. We have no idea what they are, but they looked as if they were not natural, but who can say what natural is?
    Glyn stopped reading, his heart missed a beat and he could feel cold sweat beginning to form on his back. The description of the space rock event was too much like the asteroid which had passed them not so long ago.
    ‘Two asteroids with almost the same details passing so close to the ship in the space of a couple of hundred years is well beyond chance, unless it’s on a curving path and we’ve intersected its path again. I wonder.’ he said to himself.
    Glyn read on hurriedly, but there was no further mention of the mystery asteroid. Obviously, the author hadn’t felt inclined to query the incident, as he had done.
    He somehow felt he wanted the company of his fellow humans, and Arki in particular, so he noted the page number he had reached in the