"A couple of stars before lunch?" Schmidt repeated.

"It'll be another few days at least before NASA has any probes ready," McAffee pointed out.

"We'll be back again," Captain Telnik waved a paw airily. "This is just a first look—to get you familiar with the procedures, so you know what questions to ask next time, that sort of thing. Along with Nick, you'll be the first humans ever to see those star systems. I know it must be momentous for you, but Nick's done this hundreds of times on the way here. But we skipped over the last few systems once we got close. So! Shall we go meet the neighbors?"

"The neighbors?" McAffee blinked.

"About 5% of star systems have decent planets. About 3% of those are inhabited. Your closest neighbors might be only a few hours away. Anyway, do you have a preference? We've translated your star maps, so you can just give us your designation for a star."

"Alpha Centauri. It's the closest system to Earth," Schmidt suggested.

"Alpha Centauri...interesting, a triple star system? Not going to be much chance of good stable planets...Well, let's find out, shall we? Crew! Ready engines! Helm, Alpha Centauri system. Whichever star is closest at the moment."

"Beep the beep," one of the crew replied. It didn't happen often, but some concepts still just didn't translate.

Nick watched with some interest. This was his first time aboard the Guranaki Melor, so it was interesting to see the differences in how the ships and crew worked.

"New Hope, this is the Guranaki Melor. We're heading out-system for a few hours."

"Guranaki Melor, this is New Hope. Go with care. See you soon."

< Petra, I'll be away for a few hours. > It would be his first time he had left Petra behind when traveling, but he didn't want to draw attention to her by going back to fetch her. I didn't expect to leave the system, so I didn't pack. Maybe I—

< Instructions for if you do not return in a few hours? > Petra replied.

< Continue with the printing queues. If I'm not back in... two days, inform Geh!kin that he is ka-orbathic. Do not make him orbathic for at least a week, just in case. >

< Nick. I am not happy. >

Nick blinked. Did Petra just...? He went to send her another message, but got Out Of Range on his HUD. Oh, crap, did we already go FTL?

They had. The FTL drive wasn't silent, but Nick wasn't used to the sound of the freighter's engines.

Nick filled his cheeks and blew air. Petra and I are going to have to have a talk when I get back.

* *

After a fair while of them getting underfoot, the humans had retreated to the astronauts' guest quarters, where they could turn the lights up to a comfortable level. Nick was leaning against one wall, and McAffee and Schmidt were sitting on their respective bunks. Nick set an alarm for five minutes before their ETA at Alpha Centauri. He told the others to do it too, so that they wouldn't keep obsessively checking the time, unwilling to miss the excitement of their arrival in another star system.

"So, this is routine for you?" Schmidt asked.

"Mostly," Nick answered. "Different ship, but a lot of similarities. They use most of the same tech. It's a little more exciting for me this time because we're going to find out what's close to Earth. If we have an alien civilization less than a dozen light years away, that's big news."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Is that likely?"

"It happened with the Ooafans and Arrurrans," Nick pointed out.

"How many worlds have you been to at this point?"

"I lost count after a hundred, honestly. Um...the ship records on the New Hope could tell me when we get back. Most systems are boring and we keep going after a quick look. Finding another alien race is always exciting, though."

"Nick, once you are cleared to land on Earth, what are you going to do with yourself?" McAffee asked.

"Eat bits of a couple of dozen meals."

"I mean longer term."

Nick shrugged. "Honestly, I just want to relax on a beach for a bit, walk in a forest, go to a ball game, and spend more time with other human beings. I haven't really thought much beyond that. My friend Steve is going to make sure I get rich. People are going to pester me for favors, so I guess I'll have to go into seclusion until they figure out that I don't have superpowers once the ships leave. Maybe I should learn how billionaires do it."

"You don't want to keep traveling through space?" Schmidt asked.

"I mean, sure, who wouldn't? But I'd like a break. I've been away from Earth longer than any astronaut ever did, right? What's the record for days in space, anyway?"

"675 days, actually. Peggy Whitson on the ISS. That's for continuous days in space. Oleg Kononenko has over three years in space total," Schmidt answered promptly.

"Huh. Wow." I bet she knew that without help from her HUD, Nick thought. Astronauts are impressive people.

"Nick...once the ships leave, when is someone else going to come visit Earth?" McAffee asked.

"Well, the Ooafans will send the New Hope again at some point, to check on their ambassadors if they stay. They also might hire another ship to come visit. Then there's the Goldaskians, who might show up again looking for the Kalash-Quovo."

"That's the New Hope, now, right? The same ship that visited Earth last October?"

"Exactly. It's not a guarantee, as we're not sure the Goldaskian Empire even knows where the Kalash-Quovo went. Captain Foh apparently was using his initiative going after...the thieves."

"What did those thieves take, anyway?" Schmidt asked.

"A piece of restricted advanced technology. Kind of like stealing nuclear secrets, for us, I guess. Captain Foh wanted to get rich by recovering it for himself."

"Valuable enough to spend a year or more chasing it?"

Nick nodded.

"Did you steal it from the Nagathi?" McAffee asked bluntly.

"No." Nick sighed. He'd thought about how much to divulge, and it seemed to be time. "One of them gave it to me. She tossed it through the portal just before it closed."

The astronauts digested that for a long moment. "So, what is it?"

"It's a printer."

"The Goldaskians have eight big printers aboard the New Hope already, so they can rebuild any part of their ship that breaks while they are off in deep space," Schmidt pointed out. "It has to be something more. Small, I assume?"

Nick decided not to describe Petra's physical appearance. "It is also a copier. That's how I survived; I copied the groceries that came through, and my meds."

"So it can copy anything?"

"So far."

"And that's better than the Goldaskian printers?"

"Yup. Those can only print out Goldaskian designs."

"Did the printer come pre-loaded with designs?"

"No," Nick lied smoothly, having practiced this part. "They stole it before it got initialized and the information downloaded. It was mostly a blank slate. If it couldn't copy what I fed it, it would have been a useless brick. I'm lucky it had solar panels and other basics, but no, it doesn't have plans for a Death Star or anything."

"Why haven't you sent it down to Earth right away? It's a national treasure—a planetary treasure!"

"I traded it away for a ride home," Nick told them. They stared at him in shock. "It was the only thing I had of value! I downloaded everything I could.

"Besides...it's a hot potato. Believe me, I thought hard about keeping it. But it would take a lot longer for Earth to build the means to defend itself, than the time we'd have before someone came looking for it. If we kept it, aliens would just come take it from us. This way, we get a bunch of tech and knowledge. We've got plenty to keep us busy for a while, after all."

"Why hasn't anybody simply taken it from you, if it's so valuable?"

"It does have security features. Basically it will brick itself, and it is so valuable nobody wants to risk that."

"But the Nagathi stole it, and the Goldaskians tried to steal it," Schmidt pointed out.

"They were hoping that it hadn't imprinted yet."

"Why didn't the Nagathi make it imprint on them?"

"Well, a few reasons. First, they were still in the middle of the heist, and probably very close to being captured, and it takes a while. Second, it wasn't a unanimous decision, another Nagathi looked pretty pissed at her when she threw it to me. Third, the only way to un-brick it is to bring it to another one, which means it goes back into the hands of the high tech people. But those were the same people the Nagathi were fleeing, so the risk of it bricking wasn't relevant for the people chasing them.

"As for the Goldaskians, Captain Foh seemed to just be hoping that he could find a way past the security. I don't have a better explanation."

"But—"

The alarms went off.

"Looks like we're almost to Alpha Centauri," Nick observed. "Let's head to the bridge."

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.