"So what do do here?"

"Oh, uh me. I'm not working, just visiting."

"Yeah, Kurt I told you, its my brother he's visiting, from you know.... outer space ."

"Oh, yeah, fuck yeah man, the space boy. That's right, how was that." Kurt said not really looking directly at Cal, instead he...

The girl was confused, who talked like that. It was like he was from another planet. Or  space she looked up was she was counting roses. Carefully studying him trying to decide if he was just a little off, or from another planet. 

"You mean you want 5?"

"Yeah.." He adverted...

She would be gone soon. Back to the smell and taste of fresh bread in the morning. To feeling dirt under her feet as she walked. Having a town square to walk to rather than the aimless, destination-less walking she did now to keep from going crazy. Back to sleeping...

On the third story of the infinity office, Shawn Samuels sat looking at the artificially maintained woods. When his friends saw his view, he self deprecated himself, saying that it was still a view of the inner part of the ring shaped office. The more senior people had views facing...

He looked out the window. earth was in view. He felt small again. Like that moment he realized how high the chewing mouth was above. Keith had tried to get the giraffe to recognize what he had just recognized. That the giraffe was so tall. But the animal gave no...

There was a smoking section in the ship. It was a chamber with a special air filtration unit. Keith wondered why they didn't have such air filtration in the rest of the station. He was told it wasn't needed. Apparently they had  engineers and  scientists who made sure everything was...

She had to imagine the soap. And the hot water. And the dish becoming progressively clean. The previously crusted ceramic surface turning a smooth white. It reminded of the few times she did  dishes in college. The lighting was good in that memory. The sun coming in through the kitchen...

The  smell was why used the machine. That and the hum of the machine as it poured the stream of the black extract.

The machine cost half the salary of an entry level watcher. When Keith first arrived this appalled him. Many coworkers quipped about it still. Now Keith understood...

He didn't get paid more. But Keith liked to work more. Because what else was he to do out there in  space ?

Other people tried wiling their time away with hobbies, but Keith didn't have any. Instead he would just watch. Work.

He got to know his subjects so well that...

There were people in the sky. Watching down. They had signed up to go up there when they were younger. Back then it seemed like a good deal. They were not yet old. And people they knew weren't dying yet.

A few years into their tenure up in the  space station,...