March 22nd, 2117 C.E., 6:33 P.M., Earth Standard Time.

To my longtime friend and mentor, Professor Lawrence Kirby:

Professor Kirby, if you are reading this, then I am by now many, many millions of miles away from Planet Earth. In the event that you are no longer with us by the time this message arrives, I hereby grant your estate my express permission to assume control over this correspondence in your absence. You’re free to submit these documents for publication should you wish to do so, and any profits generated thereby are yours to dispose of however you see fit. Well then, if it’s all the same to you, Professor, I think I’d like to begin this first transmission with a brief introduction. You and I are already very familiar with one another of course, but I feel that it might be negligent of me not to provide at least a little information about my background and professional expertise in case you do decide to publish this manuscript. As you know, my name is Doctor Howard Collins Young, from Marion Center, Massachusetts. I was born at the Mount Tabor Convent of the Poor Sisters of Christ on July the twenty second, two thousand and fifty nine to Richard and Abigail Young, née Matthews. Both my father and my mother are originally from Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, but I grew up in Marion Center MA, about two miles east of Buzzards Bay. From about the time I could read until shortly after I turned sixteen I was homeschooled by my mother and my two older sisters. However, after passing my General Licensure Exams at the age of seventeen I decided to move to Canada in order to pursue a secondary education at a state university, rather than applying for a position at the local seminary as my parents so fervently wished. Instead, I went off to a proper school, earning my Bachelor’s Degree in Atmospheric Science in 2078 from the University of the Fraser Valley, British Columbia. Relocating once again, this time to the United Kingdom, I completed my Doctorate in Forecasting and Forecasting Technology through an advanced degree program at the University of Exeter, Cornwall in three years, skipping over my Master’s Degree. Post graduation I resolved to follow my dreams and pursue a career in academia, and after several months of job hunting I was able to secure a position as an Assistant Professor at the College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley. I also met my future spouse, Elizabeth Collins, around this time, the mother of my two beautiful children. Between the years 2090 and 2095 I held the position first of Assistant, then of Attendant Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of California Berkeley. While at Berkeley I made a name for myself through my work with Climate Modeling and Antarctic Ozone Restoration, as well as writing several papers on the subjects of Storm Dispersal and Weather Manipulation. After receiving an unexpected inheritance from a distant relative about fifteen years ago, I left the world of academia behind forever, terminating my contract with Berkeley and settling into an early retirement in Southern California. I sold my cabin in Big Bear and used the equity to buy myself a small condo out in California City, a pleasant little town about an hour and a half north of Los Angeles. After taking my leave of academia I’d originally planned on spending the rest of my days in the quiet privacy of retired life, but fate had other plans in store for me. Rather than whiling away my time