Rockets and Beyond!

A Population of Steve(DRAFT)

"Hiya, Steve the Librarian." Steve Jones the Engineering Student who wears a dark gray uniform with the numbers zero three two written out on it calls out to me with a curious sounding tone in his voice. "Do you have any copies of the engineering textbooks? I'm taking a class on engineering and the teacher, Steve The Professor says we need the textbooks for."

"Of course, I do Steve the Engineering Student! I've been around this library so many times that I have it memorized." I respond with a smile on my face as I step out from behind the sleek chrome colored metal desk that is my work station. There is a bit of a warmth in the air of the library at this current moment. It's comforting as it feels extremely cozy to me. If I weren't busy, I could easily just fall asleep.

I'm Steve Jones, and I work as a Librarian here on the space ship called the Uniformity. All my friends are Steve Jones and we all look alike too. Some would call us clones, but I like to think of ourselves as a group of friends. Our leader, Steve Jones dictates that we must keep our hair shaved and our faces smooth as can be. He also wears purple. We're all in this ship together, we work together, live together, and when we reach the end of our short life spans, we die together as well.

Walking with Steve Jones the Engineering Student I notice him smiling at me. He looks like me, with his fair pale colored skin and his shaved head. His pale skin makes him look like a ghost, the kind that I've read in some of the fantasy books that we have on the ship.

"So, what is it like being a student?" I ask Steve Jones the Engineering Student as we both walk.

"Well, I was assigned the job due to a lack of engineers. The great leader as dictated that people of my generation should become students. So, here I am. Working to become something for the good of the ship. There is a lot of mathematics involved in engineering, and a practical side to it as well. We're encouraged to be creative, but I've spoken with engineers. They tell me that there is a lot of down to the ground sort of work involved. It's almost hypocritical. As you'd think that an engineer would have the freedom to design parts, and to make use of whatever he needs to get the job done. We reuse a lot of the same designs, for the sake of consistency they tell me. It's like we clone the parts too!" Steve the Engineering Student explains as we both walk to the aisles of books.

The library itself has the chrome desk with a sturdy steel chair at one end of the room. While the room itself is narrow at the entrance, but expands as you step further into the library with the rows of books that we have with us. Some of them are old books, but others are used all the time. So, we must do book repairs a lot. There are some tables with chairs scattered about and even a few small rooms where one can use to study, or just read in peace. Steve Jones who do great work are sometimes are given the honor of being allowed to write a book to be added to the library. I only hope that one I impress the leader enough to be allowed to add my own book to our gigantic and endlessly collection.

After a bit of walking, Steve and I arrive to the aisle with the school text books at. The books are on steel shelves that are usually cold to the touch, exactly how I'd imagine being out in the middle of the vacuum of space would be.

Walking down the aisles I eventually come to an engineering textbook.

"Any specific book your professor wants you to have? Did he mention any names per chance?" I ask Steve the Engineering student.

"He said the "General Engineering Textbook" by Steve Jones." Steve Jones the Engineering student replies with a pondering tone. I look at him and I can see he's half here and half not. It's as if he's off in his own mind a bit. Can't say I blame him, as I sometimes do the same thing when the library is empty. Other times, I'll grab a book and start reading. Because working in a library has its perks after all.