Dear Victoria,

As I await my fellow travelers, my mind focuses on the predicament of the Earth. With all the new restrictions on migration, I wonder if the administration who has initiated these new rules has forgotten the past woes of our species. The property wars of the last century and the near extinction of our elders in the decades of the pandemics all lead to asking ourselves the relevant question. How can we block out the memory of the thirty years of evolving epidemics that plagued the beginning of the twenty-first century? The genocide of an entire generation of individuals, unable to defend themselves from a geriatric killer. So much knowledge lost forever when disaster slowly enveloped most of the post 70 population. I have reread these histories as I await my embankment and wonder why the government has again set the Earth up for overpopulation. It makes no sense to me, unless the actions are but a power struggle to control the masses. I believed this type of attitude was well behind us, but it seems history continues to repeat itself; washing away the pain and tribulation of long ago as if they were pages in a fictional novel.

I spent many hours staring at the distant Earth as I await our departure, asking myself these questions; frustrated by the delay. The planning administrator wearies of my constant status checks. It does not help that there is little else to occupy my mind since the data centers on the transfer station are limited to general information and advanced engineering and station operational programs. Our three day delay has now stretched to six and there is no favorable news to lighten this predicament! The only bright event today was the arrival of a few more travelers in my area of the station. They are also bound for the Infinity, so this supplies me with some additional likeminded company. We still miss over a third of the allotted passengers, but at least some are receiving their permissions to leave Earth. The planning officer did inform me that the ship’s crew is complete, so at least there is some positive news.

I have arranged and rearranged my quarters at least three times during my time here. I hope with the new additions the time will pass quicker, but without any indication how long this delay will be I am at my wits end. If we miss the launch window at the outskirts of the solar system, what will that mean? Can the ship make up time like a delayed flight on Earth? So many questions without any answers and this does nothing to relieve my mental status. I was never one to be idle for long, so this forced inertness is frustrating. I wish at times like this I had your ability to self-entertain. I could attempt to create something artistic, but you know what a disaster that would turn out to be. I guess I will continue to release my frustrations out on the historic blunders for our ancestral government and also the current ones. At least it gives me someone to blame.

Love

Annalis