[Mildred types into her log, the night of the Earthlings' arrival]

I am typing because I don't want to have anyone overhearing.  I know, who really cares what I think anyway?  But you never know.  Clarence and Dad are playing video games and I don't want to have to tell them to turn it down.  Anyway, Dad would have lots of snarky comments about whatever I say.  Mom doesn't seem to joke about her kids as much, although she does about everyone else, but I would rather not have to think about what anyone else thinks about what I think.  Especially not about how I wrote that last sentence.

So, the newcomers.  Earthlings.  I used to feel like "Earthling" had a 1950's movie vibe, like we're cartoon aliens and they're the only humans, and I wanted to call them "newcomers".  But, I suppose that word would only work for a little while, so "Earthling" it is.

How to say it?  They smell weird.

I don't just mean right after they got here.  They took a good, thorough shower, and now they smell way better than before, I think maybe even to themselves.  But, there's something else a bit off about how they smell, maybe because they eat different food or something.  It's not a big deal, and I'll get used to it, but it's weird.

They also seem to be weak, like they're all sick or something.  Supposedly that will wear off, too, after they've been back in gravity for a few days.  Right now, they walk around sort of hunched over, like they're always tired.  Which I suppose is because right now they are.  Except for Helene, of course, who stands up totally straight all the time, but even she puts a hand on the wall next to her, like she's trying to make sure she doesn't fall over.

Helene seems cool.  I bet she's feeling the effects of the change in gravity just as much as everyone else, she's just too hardcore to show it.  Everyone acts like she is a big deal; it kind of reminds me of how Lillian follows me around all the time, and imitates everything I do.  Which is occasionally kind of annoying, although I usually don't mind too much.  I wonder if the Earthlings all imitate everything that Helene does.

The Earthlings don't have any actual kids.  I wonder if that means they aren't actually intending to stay.  Dad told me once that he and Oliver, when they were my age, were worried that Earth would send someone back to Mars just to euthanize them, once they found out there were no adults here anymore.  He seemed to think now that they had been silly to worry about that, but I don't know.  What if they are just now getting around to that?  Apparently things were really messed up on Earth for a while, with the malware complex, so maybe they wanted to do it before, but just now got things back into good enough shape to send a ship to do it.

I think it would be good if I started seeing what I can learn about them.  Maybe if I visit Dorothy in Building 29, I can snoop around a bit?

What I really need to do, though, is figure out a way to get onto their spaceship.  If they're planning something nasty, that's where there will be evidence.