I was a little surprised that she had heard what had happened to the Fountain, but it had probably been in the news a lot.
“Yeah, did you hear about the sabotage?” I asked.
“Sure, that was a big deal,” Kira said. “The Mayir denied they had anything to do with it.”
“That’s bullshit. I witnessed it myself. It was them.”
“Don’t say that too loud.”
“What are you talking about?”
She ducked under a dead tree that was wedged in between two others, creating a natural archway. “Figure of speech, but the Mayir own this moon.”
“You serious?”
“Yeah. They’ve owned it for several years, but didn’t do anything with it. Until recently. Now they built a big facility up in the southern highlands. Vortis, it’s called.”
“What kind of facility?”
“No idea. You know the Mayir. It’s all secret shit. But Vortis is the reason they’re kicking all of us out of here.”
That was interesting. I couldn’t help but wonder if this had anything to do with the Mayir’s operation in the Fountain.
“So you still didn’t explain how you came to be naked and wandering around in Bondril territory,” Kira said.
“Yeah, that’s a little more out there. I’m not sure you’d believe me.”
“Try me.”
I told her that my crew and I had been trapped in the Hodierna galaxy when the Mayir sabotaged the Fountain.
“I don’t know how much you know about the Fountain,” I said. “But once it closes, it won’t open again for at least seven years—possibly as long as twelve.”
“Are you serious? What did you do?”
“One of the artifacts we found—the Levirion—was supposed to open a jump gate. To one of four places.”
“What four places?”
“That was the thing. We didn’t know. We just had to take our chances.”
“So you ended up here?”
“Yes.”
“With your ship?”
“Yes. Kind of.”
“Where is it? And where’s your crew?”
“I—”
“And why are you naked?”
I quickly explained that once we activated the Levirion I blacked out. And when I awoke on board the Vostok I was alone.
“What happened to your crew then?”
“No idea,” I said. “There was no sign of them. I searched the ship from top to bottom. And there was no evidence that they had left the ship either. The launch was still in its bay and none of our exosuits were missing.”
“Weird.”
“It gets weirder.” I told her about the Vostok breaking down after turning translucent.
Her eyes brightened. “I’ve heard of that!”
“You have?”
“I have a good friend who is a Parfitian physicist with D&E. She studies something called ‘decrepitation phenomenon.’ I think that’s what it’s called.”
“Never heard of it.”
“She told me about it once. But we were both very high at the time, so I’m probably remembering it wrong. So don’t quote me on it.”
“Go ahead.”
“It was something that happened in their matter teleportation experiments where objects would break down after being teleported.”
“Did they turn clear first, then break down into white powder?”
“I don’t remember the details, and as I said, we were both pretty messed up.”
I nodded. Decrepitation phenomenon. I would have to remember that. Once I got home, I’d ask someone at the company to look into it. Maybe Sainecourt. That was right up his alley.
“So your ship is a big pile of dust now?” Kira asked.
“No, even the dust broke down. There’s nothing left.”
“And where did you land?”
“A big grassy plain with boulders. Northwest of here.” The thought of Sainecourt gave me an idea. “Do you have a comm unit at your camp?”
“Of course we do.”
“H-mesh?”
“No, are you kidding? Maybe they have H-mesh in Vortis, but not here.”
“What do you have?”
“Standard NB to the office in Ganga Kos. So we can check in every week. But the office closed down three days ago.”
“Where’s Ganga Kos?”
“Roughly two hundred kilometers due south. Maybe two fifty. I’m not exactly sure. It’s the one spaceport on Safadin. If you can call it a spaceport. Why are you asking?”
“I need to get word to my company. It’s urgent.”
“Well, there’s a private comm shop in Ganga Kos with a janky old quantcom unit. Owned by a friend of mine. Best you’re going to find around here.”
“Can you show me how to get there?”
“I can do one better. We’re shipping out of Ganga Kos in five days. You can come with if you want. Assuming, of course, that my parents like you.”
That was fantastic news. I smiled at Kira. “They’ll like me.”
We continued trudging through the jungle, past ancient ruins that looked like they had been built by the same civilization responsible for the stone bridge. When I asked about the ruins, Kira said that they were constructed by the ancient Manteans, a race that went extinct about a thousand years ago.
“There were three civilized races living here on Safadin,” she explained. “Now there’s only the Bondril—who are huge assholes—and the Naba-Sa’im who are even worse. Unfortunately we’re going to have to travel through Naba-Sa’im territory in order to get to Ganga Kos.”
“You have a ship, though? Right?”
“No, we’ve got a bunch of hover-sleds. We’re traveling overland.”
“And how far is this spaceport?”
“Two hundred, maybe two hundred and fifty kilometers. It’s kind of a long haul, especially with all our gear, but we usually only have to do it twice every two years.”
Kira explained that after graduating from college, she joined her parents at this Oeri research expedition. Typically they spent eighteen months in the field and then six months back home. This was her third expedition with her parents.
“What are you studying?” I asked.
“Oh, a bunch of stuff. Biology. It’s pretty technical.”
She sounded a little evasive to me, so I pressed her a bit. “I’m kind of interested in biology. Try me.”
“Well…” She made a little face. “The truth is it’s kind of confidential.”
“Corporate secrets, eh?”
“Something like that.”
“I totally understand,” I said. “No problem. I’m going to guess that you’re studying butterflies, but that’s just a guess.”
A serious look played across her face. “I can neither confirm nor deny.” Then she gave me a big smile. “Actually, it’s not butterflies. But that’s all I’m going to say on the topic. Other
