The Journals of Zaleem: Part 3 - Adaptation

As the result of an accident aboard their ship, Xacs Omathe, a California avocado grower, is inadvertently abducted by an alien race which has cultivated life in our galaxy and the greater universe for billions of years. He lives and travels with them for nearly three centuries, experiencing what the future may hold for the Human race.
The creation of all life on Earth was accomplished by the Aanbollth, an extraterrestrial race dedicated to the improvement and continued development of life in the Universe. They are the ultimate engineers of all organisms, great and small, on this beautiful planet known, in part, as M37CXA19B24R3.
The history of Earth and many other worlds is chronicled in the journals of Zaleem Aah Ju Amaharah Ees, Earth’s gardener until his untimely death at the relatively young age of 48,373 Earth years.
An Aanbollth female, Oelphia, for short, is the only other long-term survivor of the accident. She becomes Xacs’s life-long mentor, supporting him initially through genetic modifications and rehab, and later by finding him a job and a mate.
A year and a half after arriving on Aanbol, Xacs and his mate, Sharnielle, move to a relatively remote citrus farm as managers and his adventures with life on an amazing planet blossom like the trees.
Having turned over the operation of the farm to Sharnielle, Xacs has focused on his painting and carving full time. Shar has become the general manager and Pozzy becomes the farm manager.
Early in Part 3, Xacs reflects on the crew of the ship, Albatross, and creates a portrait of the crew as a gift to Gardener Services. His unusual perspective shows the crew as reflections in the mirror finish of the ship’s surface, portrayed as they were in life, and in the Other Life.
Xacs is now using the Strawlrend to fabricate desks from slabs cut from tree trunks of the huge trees they’d had removed from the farm. That work will occupy him for a major part of his life.
Because of his ability to communicate with the spirit world, the Other Life, he’s asked to join a committee investigating the accident aboard the Albatross. The team sent to the transfer port has returned with evidence that the ship might have been sabotaged. As he conducts interviews with crew members who died on the ship, several attempts are made to kill him.
As his work and life progresses, Xacs constructs a bridge to span the large stream that runs through the farm. A main feature of the bridge is the portrayal of two pterosaurs appearing to be picking up the bridge. That work brings him to the attention of an architectural firm who ask him to work on a large development project.