XUDE’S PRIVATE DIARY inkmdn;a3io3jafterend

I have reread the transmission seventeen times.

There are no additional instructions.

I checked.

There is no attachment.

No secondary transmission.

No extraction coordinate.

No further conference calls.

No return procedure.

No mention of me.

Earth has been approved for deconstruction and materials extraction.

I am on Earth.

This seems relevant.

Perhaps Headquarters has overlooked this.

I find that unlikely.

Headquarters does not generally overlook personnel placement.

Marbles is asleep beside me.

He has one foot pressed against my leg and occasionally makes a small sound through his nose.

I have been watching him for some time.

Biological material has not been assigned extraction priority.

Marbles is biological material.

I dislike this classification.

I dislike it considerably.

He does not know that his planet has been approved for deconstruction.

He does not know that he is composed of materials Headquarters has determined are not particularly useful.

He does not know that the people at my places of employment are biological material.

The woman who remembers my coffee.

The man who says good morning even when he is clearly not having one.

The child who waved at me through the window yesterday.

All biological material.

Not assigned extraction priority.

I had thought I was failing this mission.

Perhaps I was.

I became attached.

I stopped seeing interactions as observations.

I began participating in them.

I brought home a cat.

I gave him a name.

I learned that he prefers the left side of the bed and will not eat the expensive food but will attempt to consume plastic.

I know where he likes to be scratched.

I know the sound he makes when he sees a bird.

I know that if I remain still long enough he will place his forehead against mine.

None of this is useful data.

Marbles has awakened.

He is purring.

I placed my hand on him and the frequency changed immediately.

I caused that.

I do not understand why this matters so much.

Headquarters would say it does not.

There is also the question of my own extraction.

They did not mention it.

I am surprised by how little this frightens me compared with the other omission.

They did not mention Marbles.

Of course they did not mention Marbles.

They do not know Marbles exists.

But they know Earth exists.

They know Earth contains approximately eight billion humans and an extraordinary number of other living organisms.

They know.

They simply did not mention them.

I keep returning to that.

They know.

Marbles has climbed into my lap.

He is looking at me.

I have no idea what I have done to deserve the degree of trust this creature has placed in me.

But he has placed it.

That seems to create an obligation.

I was sent here to observe.

I do not think I can do that anymore.