If I Die Without a Home

Intro by Stith: Why I Write this Story

If you're a writer too, you should know there's a lot of stuff out there that can be classified as good work. And then there's the bad work, those that fall short of the effect that it should have on the reader.

What's my point, you might ask. My point is when we're talking about as broad a subject as the unique history behind the people who formed New Earth, there's always going to be a lot of literature out there talking about who did what and what was what and what happened and all these insignificant details. So you'd better get things right. This is YOUR history, my human friend, not mine. This is the defining character of your culture, the real reason of your feet on solid ground today. Do I even dare to claim that a decade after the events of 3043, the human race has forgotten its past?

Well, I was there on 3043. I watched the planet condense and become reality. I saw the reactions Cale and Akima had. Because I saw it, and because I felt it, I have the right to claim whatever I need to claim for this story to be true. I was part of the struggle which led up to the formation of New Earth in 3043. So I don't need to be objective in my story, because since only four people have access to the truth, you won't know how truthful my truth is until you ask either Cale or Akima or Gune themselves. Sure, they've written enough about the subject for you to look up upon, my human friend. But how do you know if THEY'RE telling the truth?

My point is, you'll have to accept whatever I say, because – by right – I am part of the history of New Earth. Just short of a founding father, but surely one-fourths of the moment when the New Earth became reality on 3043. And because I'm the only other non-human who witnessed it in full, I'm capable of giving all you interested readers out there the MOST reliable and objective story. One not made sentimental by human emotion anyway.

But though that's my point, that's still not my reason in writing this book. I know I have stated my main reason was to commemorate the tenth anniversary of New Earth with some literature to help my human friends understand their history better. But seriously? If you're talking about anniversaries, I have to claim – and this is not boasting because it is a fact – I've been writing more books about the subject since. I write them as much as I love my weapons.

And the part about history? You can get anything to satisfy the stuff you don't already know. Cale and Akima have written their biographies, and have spoken to all you people about it. Gune lectures, he teaches, he instructs and I have to admit he has a broader knowledge of human history than I have. Even more, two human authors have written two books of Cale and Akima's stories before the New Earth in the most objective way possible. And there's the movie you all enjoy, Titan A.E, the crucial reason for New Earth's existence. That movie will tell you more than all the books put together.

But, NO, my human friends, I am writing this book in the sake of the truth. I was there on 3043. And I was there long before it. I can provide everyone with the truth, in the most subjective means possible. I can show what happened in the early years on the Valkyrie in between that gap of time when I went on board and when we found Cale. You watch the movie and all its documentaries, you read Cale's Story and Akima's Story and their biographies, you listen to Gune's lectures. In the end, it's very objective, it's very truthful. Therefore it's history, plain and white history.

But this, my friends, is not objective. It's not going to be nice to listen to; it's not easy to understand. Yet it's the truth. Therefore, it's not history. This, my friends, is fiction. In your face.