A Day in the Life of an Observer

A Day in the Life of an Observer

[Day 2317, Hour One, Freidric Recording]

“This is my first day at the city they call Yellom on Pakkan. It’s one of their smaller cities. The population is 76,000. I pick one person each hour to observe. That’s ten per day. Fifty each week. Three hundred every month. This first hour I have been watching a male. He is a Supervisor at a factory that make Hover Cars. All he did is yell at a couple of workers he called in. That took about fifteen minutes combined. The other thirty-five minutes he worked on his Data Monitor.”

[Day 2317, Hour Two, Freidric Recording]

“All I do during my shift, the middle of the day, is observe whichever human I decide to watch that hour. It’s a pretty boring job most of the time. I watch them for forty-five minutes. Then the last five minutes of each hour I spend recording these Reports. The female I have chosen for this hour is a woman in her mid-thirties. All she did is shop. First for some cloths for herself. Then some toys for her three young children. Finally, she did some shopping at the Food Market.

[Day 2317, Hour Three, Freidric Recording]

“Some Observers like to observe families or groups, but I like to watch individuals. They can be part of a family or group like the last one is, but usually it’s just one person. Sometimes it’s an adult. Every so often I select a child though. This hour it is a child about ten. She is riding her two-wheeler up and down her street. Her mother, I heard her call her that, came out very few minutes to check on her. The mother also told her not to ride too far from the house.”

[Day 2317, Hour Four, Freidric Recording]

“I only have a minute to decide who I am going to observe that hour. Some of the other Observers already know who they are going to watch. They do it by deciding while they are watching the current humans. I’m not like that. The one I selected for this hour is a male about fifteen-years-old. He has just finished a game of Hoop Ball with some other males around his age. Then he headed home. Bouncing the ball, he has, all the way there. That’s why it took him so long to get home.

[Day 2317, Hour Five, Freidric Recording]

“There are over ten thousand Observers at the two moon bases. I am part of Moon Base One. We observe the humans on that side of Pakkan. The second Moon Base is on the other moon. I decided to observe a female in her late thirties to early forties this hour. By the cloths she is wearing I would say she’s an executive of some kind. The hour I watched her she is at a fancy Eating Place. Which also tells me she is a ‘higher up’ in a business.”

[Day 2317, Hour Six, Freidric Recording]

“Each month we get a new city, town, community or village - depending on what part of the planet they live in – to observe. Only three hundred observations don’t sound like much, but there are three shifts per day – and about ten other Observer Shifts every day too. This hour I choose a male in his early fifties. He is a Foreman. Only he didn’t act like the Supervisor I observer a few hours ago. This one didn’t spend much time in his office. He spent it with his Co-Workers at the furniture factory.”

[Day 2317, Hour Seven, Freidric Recording]

“I have only been here for almost ten years, but we have been observing this planet for over two hundred years. I’m still not sure why we are doing this. All we are doing it watching them. We aren’t trying to change - or destroy them. I can understand if we are doing something, but we aren’t. The one I selected is another kids. He is about twelve years old, and I found him at a Play Area. There are other kids there too, but this one is playing all by himself.”

[Day 2317, Hour Eight, Freidric Recording]

“We could observe from Pakkan if we wanted to. After all, we are humans too. The only difference is we are from the planet of Oberona. We are also a lot more advance than they are too. I decided on another kid this hour. She looks to be around thirteen, and she is getting ready for a date. No, I didn’t see her doing it. We can observe within a house or business, but some areas are off-limits – especially to the opposite sex. I heard her talking to her father about it.”

[Day 2317, Hour Nine, Freidric Recording]

“My agreement to be an Observer for this planet is almost over. I only have a few months left before I have to decide what I want to do. If I wanted to I could also choice another planet. We are observing about a thousand other planets too. The male I selected appears to be in his mid to late forties, and he owns, and runs, a small Eating Place. At first I thought he just worked there as a manager or something, but the way he acts he’s more than that.”

[Day 2317, Hour Ten, Freidric Recording]

“The planet that I am from used to be a Warrior World. That’s why every so often I think we are observing this, and other, planets for conquest. If that is true, I think, we should have done it by now – shouldn’t we. I decided to take it easy the last hour of the day – I usually do. So I chose to observe a female in her early to mid-twenties. Who works at a Food Market as a Credit Collector. All the time I observed her that’s what she is doing.”

The Word Count, including the Title, is 990.