title: Cosmic Tales: Advantures in Far Futures
author: T.K.F. Weisskopf
description: <b>Toni Weisskopf</b> is executive editor at Baen Books. With Josepha Sherman she compiled and annotated the definitive volume of subversive children's folklore, <i>Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts</i>, published by August House, now in its third printing. Long active in science fiction fandom, she has won both the Phoenix and Rebel Awards given by the DeepSouthCon. Weisskopf is a graduate of Oberlin College with a degree in anthropology, the mother of a delightful twelve-year old daughter, married to sword maker and freelance nonfiction writer Hank Reinhardt, and is possessed by a truly devilish little dog.
zlib_text: # Grace’s Family
  
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  [Cover](text/cover.xhtml)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![cover image](../media/epub-to-image.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #
  
  
  The mission: to survey the galaxy and beyond. An endless stream of probes and
  starships heading out into the universe, surveying, cataloguing, assaying.
  Forever. And on board those ships, the intrepid explorers who give it all
  meaning.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  >
  
  
  _We are a way for the cosmos to know itself._
  
  
  —Carl Sagan
  
  
  
  
  
  I set my coffee cup on the watch officer’s console, careful not to spill. “Not
  even the next episode of the Fleeners?” I said, already knowing how _Grace_
  would reply. We’d had this argument about stories before. Not always about the
  Fleeners, but still. “Come on, it’s even kind of educational.”
  
  
  _Grace_ was her usual adamant self. “Jojin, you’re standing watch. That means
  you need to pay attention. Stories in their proper time.”
  
  
  “But you can keep watch on yourself. You do all the time.” No matter how many
  times 