[2112:03:29:20:50] I hope you are getting these

Kate,

I know you are busy with the new baby, but please write back. No one seems to be getting my mail. I'm starting to get a really weird feeling about all this. The network has never let me down before.

Tomaz

[2112:03:29:20:30] RE: Network problems?

SysAdmin,

Thank you for your reply. As you say, the messages are not getting bounced back and the network seems to be accepting and delivering them. Thanks for your help.

Tomaz

[2112:03:29:19:10] Network problems?

SysAdmin,

I've been having trouble with the mail system. Is there a problem with the DTN? I think the Disruption Tolerant Network may have become disrupted. I've sent several messages since we left radio dark and been expecting responses, but I have not received any replies or errors. My messages seem to be disappearing into a black hole somewhere. Your help would be appreciated.

Tomaz

[2112:03:29:10:45] Where are you?

Bobby,

Where art thou brother? I sent you a message 5 days ago and have not heard from you. That's not like you and I'm getting worried. I may be 1200 billion kilometres from home, but email can get here in 90 minutes. Send up a flare and let me know you're alive.

Tomaz

[2112:03:28:18:26] Congratulations.

My Dearest Kate,

Congratulations on your new little girl! I am sorry I could not be there for you when she arrived. I am sure Robert has everything under control, being the good husband he is. You will have so send me a vid so I know what she looks like as it will be a few months yet before I make it back home. Not that it really maters, I can just picture you as a little girl when you still let me call you my "little" sister. I am sure she is just as beautiful as you always were.

We are just leaving Saturn on the return trip home and I can't wait for some of your home made pecan pie. I'll have to wait a few months but hey, consider it fair warning. This freighter doesn't have a great galley and I swear the food packets are left over from the 2095 Mars colonization.

Can you do me a small favour? I sent a message to Bobby right before we went radio dark on the other side of Saturn, but I have not heard from him yet. Our brother doesn't usually waste any time responding to mail but it has been a few days now. I expected a message to be waiting when we started the trip back, but there was none. It's a little strange that he did not write back so can you maybe give him a call and make sure he's okay?

Thanks Sis, looking forward to your mail.

Tomaz

[2112:03:28:11:01] Hello from Saturn!

Hi Mom,

I hope you are well and still beating those old men out of their money at Bridge on Wednesdays. I have not been able to write since we entered "radio dark" on the far side of Saturn. The replenishment at the science station went well and we are on our way back home. It will take a few months but I will write every chance I get.

They contracted me as a Nav-Tech for this trip, but I have been doing a lot of engine maintenance and on the way back will be cleaning storage bays. Frankly, the trip back with an empty load is pretty boring. Once we leave Saturn, there is a lot of empty space for a long time.

Sorry I missed Kate's new baby coming into the world. You will have to send me a vid.

I miss you all.

Tomaz

[2112:03:28:10:43] Leave

Elizabeth,

We have just finished a corrective burn to roll past Titan and escape Saturn's gravity well. This should be the last correction until we get to the inner planets. You should be getting this message in about 90 minutes, but you have not responded to my last one. I hope you are okay. I hope you still want to see me again. I was assigned to the Nelson on that same day we met in San Francisco and did not have a real chance to say goodbye.

These long freighter runs to the outer planets pay well, but they are long hauls and it can get lonely out here. You can only play so much poker and the vid list is limited.

Anyway... if you still want to see me when I get back to Earth orbit, let me know. I do miss you.

Tomaz