So, Drax gave tours of the ship—teaching everyone where things were, what did what, and so on. Did my best to pay attention, but it all sort of ran together in a few minutes. Besides, I was a lot more interested in what we were planning to do after lunch. Because after lunch, it was time to study the stars.
Chuckie, Brian, Drax, Mossy, and Hacker International had combined all the galaxy maps we had in our possession with what Mother had in her data banks into one big map so that we had the most accurate view, at least so far as we knew. We had every identified star system and celestial body marked—and since we now knew about a lot of inhabited systems, Mossy and Drax knew even more of them, and I actually had a list of every planet and system in the Galactic Council on my phone, the map was quite well covered.
Drax had put in several movie theaters for crew entertainment—because of course he had—and Mother was able to superimpose this combined map of what was known of our galaxy onto a screen. The little kids were interested, the older ones were fascinated, and the adults were all clear that this information was vital to our safety and survival, so we had a fully attentive audience.
The map put into clear perspective how far we’d gone already. Really damned far was the general statement on that.
We were headed toward what, due to map placement, we were calling the underside of the Milky Way’s halo area. Compared to those who’d come to us during Operation Immigration—who were still, for the size of the galaxy, “in our neighborhood”—we were going farther than anyone other than the Z’porrah and Anciannas traveled on a regular basis.
The Cradi maps had added a lot of information on the outer parts of the galaxy, as well as halo areas. But we still had, easily, thousands of stars and other bodies on the maps identified not by their “real names” but by what those who’d made the maps called them.
Because of where Cradus and Spehidon were and where we felt Kreaving was, there weren’t a lot of systems we were passing, relatively speaking, at least as far as we knew, because we were curving through the bottom of the halo.
“We had to figure that, wherever they are, they’re remote,” Chuckie said after we’d done the in-depth viewing, educational updates, and the younger kids, Jamie and Charlie included, had been put to bed. “Because if they weren’t remote, someone other than us should have heard them by now.”
“Presuming they haven’t already been rescued,” Drax added.
“They haven’t.” Everyone looked at me. Heaved a sigh. “Really? Gang, this is our goodwill trip around the galaxy. I’m sure there are other systems in need but, as near as I can tell, wherever we’re going, either planned or unplanned, we’re going there to save the day in a big way. We’re acting like the Shantanu and all the other races that go out to do their version of the Red Cross, only we’re going to the remote planets that aren’t on the main maps. Whatever Powers That Be who are affecting us clearly have their reasons, and those reasons appear to all be the same—save the obscure cheerleaders, save the worlds. So to speak.”
Raj, Len, and Kyle all chuckled. Heard many of Jeff’s Cabinet and relatives whisper to each other that they didn’t understand me. Heard Christopher whisper back that few ever did. Haters. Amy rammed her elbow into Christopher’s ribs while Vance snarled in a whisper that the First Lady should always be respected. Felt better.
“I agree,” Wruck said, interrupting all the whispering and proving that at least more than a handful understood me. “This is similar to what we and the Z’porrah did thousands of years ago. The Anciannas still do this, only not as often as we used to.”
“A big ol’ war with your former BFFs tends to reduce the focus on the do-gooding, yeah. So, my point is that we cannot and should not assume that Wheatles and his folks have been rescued. We’re all they have and that means we need to ensure that we’re bringing our A game.”
Chuckie nodded and pointed to the area we were heading for. “While there’s always a margin of error, we feel pretty confident that we’re going to find the system the Eknara is stranded in within this area. There are known pulsars within a reasonable distance, too, and at least two black nebulas that the Cradi had mapped, which are the only other solid clues we got from Kreaving.”
“Any other good news?” White asked, sounding as if he didn’t expect any, which, once again, proved why he was the best Field agent we had, even if he’d never officially been Field.
Chuckie nodded. “If any one of these suns goes nova, then they won’t affect the others.”
“That’s the good news?” Jeff asked, sounding just this side of pissed.
“It’s about all we’ve got, yeah.” Chuckie shrugged. “You know how it goes.”
“I do,” Tim said. “Let me guess what the bad news is. What if one of them becomes a black hole?”
“Then we’re all in trouble,” Chuckie said. “As per usual.”
“Check, so the sun that’s in Wheatles’ system is going to become a black hole.” Got the looks again. “Really? Okay, I mean, some of you haven’t rolled with me in this kind of situation before, so I guess I can buy you looking confused.” And not understanding me. “But the rest of you? Name a time when our luck runs any other way than the worst possible option. I’ll wait. Oh, and before you offer this one up, Cradus was the exception that proves the rule, not the norm in any way, shape, or form.”
There was a lot of silence in the theater. Jeff heaved a sigh and ran his hand through his hair. “You’re right. We need to assume the worst.”
“And then do everything to ensure it doesn’t happen.”
Gower chuckled and got all the looks. He smiled at me. “In other words, routine.”
CHAPTER 72
AFTER MORE DISCUSSION AND map gazing, we called it a night and headed for bed. Walked out next to Serene but it wasn’t until we all were almost back in our rooms that I remembered something I’d forgotten.
Grabbed Serene before she walked on. “Hey, do you need whatever it was you slipped to me when we were on Nanez?”
She looked blank for a moment. “Oh! You know, I forgot all about that.”
“Me, too. I haven’t even looked for it.”
She laughed. “It’s okay. I’m just glad we didn’t need it. And no, you can hang onto it.”
“What is it, exactly?”
She motioned and I opened up my purse. Jeff and Brian exchanged the “why me?” look and both headed into their respective rooms. Whatever, I didn’t want them for this anyway.
We rummaged around in there—noted that the envelope I’d gotten from the hamper in the White House wasn’t in here. Couldn’t figure out where it had gone, doubted I’d lost a manila envelope, particularly that one. Maybe it was in my rooms. Or maybe the Poofs had been peckish and decided to try out wood pulp.
Just as I decided to fret about this later, Serene came up with a small sphere that looked a lot like a whiffle ball and also like something we’d had used against us. “Gotcha.”
“Is that a Poof Trap?”