January 5, 1832 6:05 PM

    What a day. Even as a family member getting whatever passes for the luxury treatment on this ship, I voluntarily worked my boots off repairing the rest of the damage: patching the sail, repainting the figurehead, and repairing the damaged or chipped wood. I walk over to an empty cabin with a nice view of the sea, with the brilliant sunset in the background. I am still lost sketching when I hear footsteps. Bartholemeu taps me on the shoulder before I can react and says lightly, "Where were you? Of all the places on this godforsaken ship, why the last cabin I check?"
     "You need me now?" I said in some disbelief, as I hoped to get some rest.
     "Yeah. Cap'n wants to see you," he replied, having picked up some ship slang during our short stay. I rushed out of the doorway and accidentally trampled my sketch, but I arrived at the captain's cabin in no time (still, if you want to see no time, check the Stofer Interface time-space vortex (patent # 924)). I was quite surprised to see not the captain but the esteemed naturalist Charles Darwin. "Sorry about the diversion," he said in a slightly sad voice. "I had to get you here. You see, a snake bit me—don't ask me how it got here—and the captain said I should ask you."
     A protest formed on my lips, but he answered first, "I know, I'm the naturalist, but this was unfamiliar. It looked like it had a copperish body and head with lighter tan diamonds along its body. I thought you might know."
     I replied, having encountered more than one poisonous snake in my time, "It was probably a copperhead, a not-very-venomous pit viper. Go get these herbs from Aliaranel and put them on it." I finished muttering with the words "Darn Stofer Interface!" as I realized that the snake had jumped through patent #924 at the same time as one of the other customers.
     "What was that you said?" remarked Darwin.
     Before I lost my cover, I replied, "Nothing. I said that I hope you get better soon." and with that, we parted ways for the night.