CAPTAIN JUNK AND THE PRINCESS ANN

Whenever I go on lecture tours for the college circuit, I am asked the same questions again and again.  My fame precedes me and the students are always eager to hear about the wonders of the galaxy, for I've seen a considerable amount of the galaxy in my career as a news photographer.  I've seen planets destroyed, new suns formed, miracles of life - and death, death more often than I care to recall.  I've met alien races, both friendly and indifferent, and recorded religions that add to the knowledge of the Enth.  I've been shot at, jailed, kidnapped, and ransomed in my long career.  I've met despots, devils and angels, and managed to photograph a majority of them.

Students usually want to know which interview was most memorable.  Which photo story was my favorite?  Who was the most unforgettable character I've ever met?  And there have been plenty of the latter.

Their questions are always hard to answer because of everything that I've seen.  No one story, character or photograph comes to mind, so I usually ignore the questions or beg off on the pretense that I may offend someone.

There is one question that I often get to which I do know the answer.  It is; what were the events that led to the greatest calamity in the history of humanity, from which we still feel the effects some sixty years later?  A catastrophe I personally witnessed and was a key player in – though I didn’t know it at the time.  The story of the Princess Ann and the Ists is like an old epic that just kept growing.  It grew like the proverbial fish story until now; the real truth is lost under a ton of speculation and what ifs.  Now the questions I receive are more concerned about the hundreds of What Ifs instead of the details of what really happened.

To save further voice and set the history right, I’m re-releasing my very first story from the stars, a photoplay that looks insignificant to what followed, but is integral to understanding those events. 

The story is a bit impersonal from the standpoint of delivery, being in the third person.  I wrote it while working on my reporting style and so I chose not to make it sound too personalized.  The story shows all my early failings, which I hope will deflate some of the hero worship that I see in these young students and stop their fool questions every time I get behind a lectern.

James Flint of New Wicklow of Ireland Three.