Chapter 11: My name is James and today is my retirement party.
I'm Jefferson's eldest son. All the excitement happened to my ancestors. I was 21 when I was given the journal.
Looking back, the only high points in my life were when I got married, the births of my four children, and now my retirement. I worked as an engineer in the environmental section for 50 years. I guess we've got our technology just about perfected.
The most exciting things I can remember is when a friend ripped a glove on his spacesuit and almost died. The other was news that contact was finally established with a species calling themselves the people.
In the past 50 years we've visited 12 star systems and found no intelligent life forms. Twelve new habitats have been built and the convoy has split 4 times.
At the retirement party I plan to pass a copy to both of my children. Hopefully they will have a more exciting life than their mother and I have had.