Jack spends so much time talking about himself, politics, war, and peace that I feel like I’m in some Russian tragedy. But when does he talk about his ship? That’s me by the way. I chose him to be my captain, my pilot, my closest friend and ally in the universe. It was, I think, the best choice I have made in my life.
They want me to say what it’s like to be immortal. Fact is, it’s pretty normal. We’ve had the treatments for three centuries. Barring violence, it’ll be another five before people start dying. To scientists, we’re awful interesting. Maybe in a thousand years I’ll agree, but for now at least I’m just another child of the Second Age of Methuselah.
They want me to be more positive, so here goes. For a century now we’ve had peace, I’m hoping a few more millennia of that have passed by the time you read this. We did good back then. We smashed them up so badly they’ve still not come back. The Peloran still stand with us. The Arnam…well…I hope they’ve rebuilt by the time you read this.
They say I should tell you more about my self, so here goes. I was born in Mayo Tower. I grew up fishing in the Boundary Waters. The traditional way mind you, no stun grenades for me. Then the Shang came and killed my parents and a few trillion others as refused to bow before ’em. I fought. History says we won. Fact is, we survived.
If you’re reading this, I really hope it’s a few thousand years from now. They say we should start at the beginning, so here goes. It all started at First Contact. They brought us medicines, and now we live a long time. A few of us, we don’t age at all. I was one of the lucky ones. I was an adult. I feel sorry for the kids.