HALCYON STATION CENSOR'S OFFICE — HELD MAIL REGISTER
Quarter 3, winter 2189. Outgoing personal correspondence, refused at destination and returned to the office of origin for disposition. Kept in the deck-7 records cage. Entries in the censor's clerk's hand, blue ink, with marginalia.
Sender: Bar-Sela, Idit. Dock 7-C.
- day 19, winter — to A. Bar-Sela, c/o Marigold, run 88-W (Halcyon → Tethys). One sheet, 14 g. Returned: addressee not registered at intake.
- day 26, winter — to A. Bar-Sela, c/o Tethys Relay, deck 2. Two sheets, 21 g. Returned: addressee not on station roster.
- day 40, winter — to A. Bar-Sela, c/o Tethys Relay, attn. chaplain. One sheet, 12 g. Returned: as above. No covering note from receiving station.
- day 54, winter — to A. Bar-Sela, c/o any forwarding the station permits. Three sheets, 33 g. Returned: as above.
- day 71, winter — to A. Bar-Sela, c/o the Director, Tethys Relay. One sheet, 9 g. Refused at intake; returned unopened. Receiving stamp: I. Vasquez, day 74.
Across the foot of the register, in pencil, in a different hand:
Fourteen weeks. The sister comes to dock 7-C every second day asking after a reply. It would be a kindness to tell her something. I have written to the Director twice on my own initiative and had no answer either. — A. Mensah, clerk.
Beneath that, in blue ink, dated day 78:
Hold further items. Do not return to sender. Filed under standing instruction from the Halcyon Harbourmaster's office, copy on request. — censor.
Clipped to the page with a brass paper-clip, a folded carbon of an unsent reply form, Halcyon Censor's Office — Notice to Sender of Withheld Correspondence, the recipient field blank, the printed text reading in part:
The undersigned regrets to advise that the person to whom your letter is addressed cannot at this time be located on the rolls of the receiving station. The Office is unable to confirm whether the addressee has been transferred, has departed in the ordinary way, or is otherwise unavailable. No further inquiry is in the Office's gift.
No signature; no date; the form has never been sent.