"How about this instead? I'll try to get you somewhere in the Union that's still operational. Then you can call on your other Seeker brothers, and go off on an expedition without me. Does that work?"
That wouldn't inconvenience me. I'd already promised Metra we'd go looking for her Void Tower. Determining if the Union was totally screwed was pretty high up on the priority list anyway.
"Yes, that would be very acceptable, Jake. Thank you."
The conversation seemed over, and I watched for an awkward moment or two as Regar turned the cylinder over in his hands, looking at it silently.
"It's not like I don't want to help the galaxy. I do. But if I leave to go questing with you, when I come back everyone is going to be dead. I can't live with that."
"If you don't leave, everyone might be dead anyway. Life is a series of choices, Jake. I will not pressure you to make the same ones I must. I will only accept whatever help you can give me. I will accept it with grace, and do what I can."
"Alright. Get better soon, Regar. Maybe spend some time and figure out where we're going to be going. Somewhere close by."
"I will. Good hunting, Jake."
I recognized the farewell for what it was and excused myself. The door closed silently behind me.
Chapter Forty-Seven: Solar System Tourism
AFTER THAT UNCOMFORTABLE conversation, I returned to the Redemption through the gate and Marty and I continued our cleanup work. We took frequent breaks, just for our sanity. It was easy to have a luxurious break when you merely had to step through a gateway and you were back home. The only thing we needed to make sure of was that someone manned the Redemption's guns at all times. There were still a few of the larger, space-mobile Ferals out there. Letting one of them sneak up on the Redemption while we were both back at Pax taking showers or getting a meal would be a bad idea.
When we were finally done with the cleanup, the haul was enormous. There were so many Nanite Clusters we had to empty the internal storage tanks three times. Luckily with the gate, that wasn't an issue. Brick simply facilitated the transfer through the gate and into the station’s internal conduits. At the end of our expedition, things were looking up.
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Resources in Station Storage
Nanite Clusters: 284418 (+225000)
Metals (Tier 1): 611.0kg
Metals (Tier 2): 314.9kg
Metals (Tier 3): 12.5kg
Organics (Tier 1): 62.1kg
Organics (Tier 2): 170.2kg
Organics (Tier 3): 912g
Exotics (Tier 1): 22.4kg
Exotics (Tier 2): -518g
Exotics (Tier 3): 144g
Radioactives (Tier 1): 26.1kg
Radioactives (Tier 2): 2.2kg
Radioactives (Tier 3): 23g
╠═╦╬╧╪
Our materials were still low, but Metra's hauler was almost finished. Once it was, we would reclaim the satellite stations and bring Pax fully back online.
The flight back to Earth was fun. We buzzed Saturn's rings, flying above, below, and through them. It was just as cool as it looked in the movies.
We checked out the red spot on Jupiter. While we were there we surveyed Europa and landed. We couldn't find any monoliths.
We checked in on all Earth's probes on Mars, most of them long nonfunctional. One of the rovers was still working. Marty landed Redemption ten meters away, and we both got out of the ship and walked over. Life on Mars hadn't been kind to it. It was weathered and moving slowly, but still attempting to take samples and pictures for the scientists back home.
I gave it a friendly pat, and then Marty and I posed for pictures in view of one of its cameras. A few minutes later we were in Redemption and on our way.
"Why did you just do that?" Metra asked, puzzled.
"For fun," I replied.
She snorted, but had no other comment.
Epilogue
A COUPLE DAYS LATER we were back in Earth orbit in a fully repaired Redemption. The cargo bay behind us was empty, the gate connection to Pax open and ready. I was wearing the Krigar Assault Armor, gleaming and pristine once again after repairs. Metra had spent some time on it during our preparation.
Nearby—in astronomical terms—Brick's infiltration drones had docked with and compromised nearly every major communications satellite in Earth orbit, giving us access to the Internet again. He wasn't going to be able to hack the planet from high orbit, but Brick had some of his mojo back. Enough to do what was needed.
"Everything's ready," Marty reported, and clicked off the call he had been on with Theo.
"Good. Now it's my turn," I said.
I brought up the Interface and willed a real-time connection, targeting the northern outpost and Meredith, specifically. The connection established immediately, but Meredith didn't appear. It was the Union equivalent of the phone ringing. Five seconds later, she snapped into existence in front of me, as elegant as always even standing in Redemption's cramped cabin.
The moment she appeared I stepped through Redemption's open hatch and reoriented toward the blue expanse of Earth below me, accelerating slightly. Meredith fell with me, now standing in open space and keeping pace with me. The connection between us would show my avatar, not what I was doing or where I was. For all she knew I was sitting comfortably having this chat rather than dropping into Earth's atmosphere at high speed.
"Jake, it's lovely to see you," she said.
"Meredith. I received your message," I said, my voice filled with the resignation and defeat I usually felt when speaking with her.
"Wonderful. You fulfilled your part of the bargain marvelously well. Perhaps a little too well, since the flashes on Pluto were quite visible here on Earth. No matter, we can explain that away. Where are you now?"
The outer surfaces of my armor were heating up as the atmosphere thickened. The strong Union material was in no danger of failure but the noise was getting rather
