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there’s something I want to find out and it may be in one of the books.’ He replied, not that he had anything specific in mind, but he wanted to be alone for a while, there were things to think about and he didn’t want any interruptions. She just nodded and smiled. He sometimes wished she would show a little more interest in life, a little more spark.
    The first time he had gone to the book room he had some difficulty in finding it, but this time he suddenly found himself there, not being aware of the journey apart from the last few metres.
    The fact that he had to suit up again didn’t seem to matter this time, and he went into the main room and sat down. Just what was it he wanted to find out? He wasn’t sure, but he felt it had something to do with the Captain, but what? He felt quite sure that the Captain was just an extension of the computer system which ran the ship, similar in a way to Teacher and Medic before they had ceased to function.
    He began a random selection of the books, one here, one there, finding the contents of most of them interesting, but nothing really grabbed his attention.
    A systematic search was the only way he was going to find what he thought he wanted, and so he pulled the chair over to the narrow end of the room, climbed up, and began checking each book in turn.
    There was a lot of information here he thought, but virtually nothing pertinent to the ship or how it was run. It was when he reached the last book on the top shelf that he came upon the first clue in his search.
    The title on the spine ‘Cement manufacture in the twentieth century’ seemed an odd selection for a book representative of Earth’s history, so he pulled it out to take a quick look at its contents.
    A small clasp held the book closed, and he returned to the table to try and release it. Why should a book, which was intended to be read, have a clasp to seal its contents? He felt his heart beat a little faster, surely this couldn’t be just another ordinary book, and he fiddled with the clasp until it suddenly sprang open, and the contents were exposed.
    He had been right, this was no ordinary book, but one made up from separate sheets laced together and placed in the cover of a book whose contents had been removed.
    It was hand written in a clear script which made easy reading, and he dragged the chair back to the table, sat down and almost reverently turned the first page.
    ‘My name is Jon Silworth, I am twenty four years old, and of the third generation on board this great ship which is into its one hundred and twelfth year in its mission to find mankind a new home among the stars.
    According to the Teacher, which is a computer driven device intended to educate the new born, the ship was built by a consortium of very wealthy and philanthropic individuals who foresaw the demise of mankind on planet Earth.
    The main reason for writing this record of our lives here is so that if anything should go wrong with the system, then those who are to come will have a record of things as we have seen them, and the purpose of this great venture.
    The ship is vast, but we do not know of its true size as we only have access to certain parts of it. Everything is recycled automatically, so sustaining our needs. Most things seem to be self repairing, as far as we can tell, only occasionally do we have to physically replace or repair items as instructed by the Captain, whom we have never seen, but assume is part of the crew in a separate section of the ship. Why they are apart from us, we do not know, but there must be a reason. Perhaps we shall meet when we find our new home.
    There is one aspect of our life which some of us do not agree with, and that is the allocation of mating partners and the production of the next generation.
    Our numbers are strictly controlled, and that is reasonable, or the ship would not be able to sustain our needs, but the choosing of partners is something we would like to do ourselves. When this was