then simply vanished. There is surely a bounty on your ship by now. Every half-witted criminal with delusions of grandeur will be looking for you. And you’re sitting right in the middle of the biggest collection of ne’er-do-wells the galaxy has ever seen.”
“Great,” Jessica said. “We’re in it up to our eyeballs, yet again.”
“Well at least we know about it now,” Nathan added.
“Captain,” Tug added, leaning forward once again. “Did any of the Ta’Akar ships see you jump away?”
“Yeah,” Nathan said, looking at Jessica, unsure of the number. “At least one, maybe two. I’m not sure.”
“Jalea is correct. If they have realized you have the ability to jump between the stars, they will stop at nothing to obtain this technology.” Tug could see by the look in Nathan’s eyes that he did not see the seriousness of the situation. “You said you were hit by an anti-matter explosion just as you jumped?”
“Yes.”
“And that it propelled you much farther than you thought possible?”
“That’s the working theory, so I’m told.”
“When the Ta’Akar figure this all out, they will want to combine your jump drive with their new power source. With that combination, they will become an unstoppable power.” Tug shook his head in disbelief. “You must destroy it, Captain.”
“Destroy what?”
“The jump drive!”
“Are you nuts?” Nathan cried, suddenly standing. “That’s our only way of getting home.”
“It’s the only way to be sure-”
“You don’t understand,” Nathan interrupted. “It’s one of a kind. There are no others back on Earth. There’s not even a record of it. That drive is the only hope my world has of repelling an invasion.”
Tug looked Nathan squarely in the eyes. “If the Ta’Akar capture your jump drive, Captain, these Jung you speak of will be the least of your problems.”
The front door of Tug’s home swung open wildly as Nathan burst out onto the front porch, stumbling down the steps. Jessica came running out of the house right behind him, with Jalea and Tug close on her heels.
“Nathan! Where are you going?” Jessica yelled.
“We’ve gotta get back to the ship!” Nathan muttered as he walked out into the amber twilight. “We’ve gotta get outta here, now!” He suddenly realized he was headed nowhere and stopped dead in his tracks. His mind was spinning. He had to clear his head. He needed to be able to think more clearly. His people, his ship, and his world were all in danger, and he had to do… something.
Nathan spun around to face the others. “Jalea, call Tobin and tell him to pick us up.”
“Of course,” she responded.
“Jess, round everyone up. It’s time to go.”
Jessica looked around. They were all standing right there, even Vladimir and Danik who had heard the commotion and come back from the far end of the compound.
“Good, you’re all here,” Nathan said, as he saw Vladimir and Danik approach.
“Tobin is not answering,” Jalea informed him.
“It’s just as well, Captain,” Tug assured him. “A ship coming out here at this late hour would surely raise suspicion.”
“Okay,” Nathan said, thinking of another plan. “A ride, then. Can you give us a ride back to town?”
“To what end?”
“We can meet Tobin there, at the spaceport.” Nathan was beginning to sound desperate.
“And if he is not there?” Jalea asked.
“We can wait for him,” Nathan said.
“It would be safer for you to wait here, Captain,” Tug assured him. “Away from the very types that would hand you over to the Ta’Akar for the reward.”
“Jalea?” Nathan pleaded. “Anything?”
“He is not answering, I’m afraid.”
“Jess, raise the ship,” Nathan ordered, becoming slightly more rational. “Tell them what’s going on, and see if they can raise Tobin on the comms.”
“Yes, sir,” Jessica answered. She began to step away slowly, passing in front of Vladimir. “Keep an eye on him,” she whispered.
“Do not worry,” Vladimir promised. He moved closer to his friend. “Nathan, what is wrong?”
“We’re fucked, Vlad,” Nathan admitted under his breath.
“What do you mean? Why?”
“If what Tug says is true, then every Tom, Dick and Ta’Akar in this sector is going to be hunting for us. And we’re too busted up to fight them all off, Vlad.”
“Then we will simply jump away again,” he told him. “And we will keep jumping. All the way back to Sol if we have to, ten light years at a time.” Vladimir put his right hand on Nathan’s shoulder. “And they will never catch up to us,” he promised, patting Nathan’s cheek with his other hand. “You worry too much, Nathan. We will be fine, you will see.”
Nathan looked his friend in the eyes. Nathan envied Vladimir his strength, his confidence. No matter what fate threw at him, Vladimir took it head on without hesitation. “I don’t know what to do,” Nathan admitted quietly to his friend.
“You will figure it out, Nathan.”
“What if I’m wrong?”
“Then you will figure out another way,” Vladimir told him. “Now straighten up, hold your chin high, and stop whining,” he joked. “It’s embarrassing.”
Nathan looked at Vladimir as a smile formed across the Russian’s face. He made a face at Nathan, like he was pouting, mocking him. “Right,” Nathan laughed. Nathan tapped his comm-set to open the mic. “Jess? Tell the ship we’re spending the night here. Have them locate Tobin and tell him to be ready to run cargo and passengers from this location to the ship tomorrow around…” Nathan looked at Tug for an approximate time.
“Around midday?” Tug suggested.
“…Midday,” Nathan continued. “And tell them we’ll check back with them later before we turn in.” Nathan keyed off his mic, turning to Tug. “Mister Tugwell, we’ll be taking you up on your kind offer to stay the night. But we will be departing tomorrow.”
“You’re still buying my molo, aren’t you?”
Nathan smiled. “Of course.”
“I do have one request, Captain,” Tug added.
“And what might that be?”
“Would you tell me more about your world?”
“Of course,” Nathan said, as he started back for the house.
— 6 -
Nathan stepped back out onto the front porch of Tug’s house. He had spent the last two hours telling Tug all about the Earth-from how they had first colonized the core systems, to the bio-digital plague that nearly destroyed all of humanity. He had told him about the centuries of despair that had followed the great plague, and about how the Earth had gone through a rapid development spurt since the Data Ark had been discovered a century ago.
Tug had hung on his every word, like a child being told a magical story of a faraway land. The entire time, Nathan couldn’t help but feel like he was solving a mystery in Tug’s mind, like it was the piece to a puzzle that he had been missing all his life, preventing him from finding true satisfaction. It had been an unexpected experience, for the both of them. By the time they had finished, Tug surely knew more about Earth than any native in the entire quadrant.
Nathan wondered if he had told Tug too much. Had Jessica been there, he was sure she would’ve thought so. But Tug had wanted the information and more. Nathan couldn’t quite figure out why the knowledge of Earth had
