“Where?” Raj asked.
“The Goldilocks system by the Clown Consortium system. Those planets are all Earthlike and all uninhabited. And I claimed them for Solaris, and the people from Helix Noblora and Helix Rime are now considered Earth citizens and wherever they live Earth territories.”
“That will fly with the Council,” Raj said. “Vatusus expects ships to you within a few hours.”
“Perfect. We’ll start getting the natives ready for evacuation. It may take some time, though.”
“You’re the heroes of the galaxy right now,” Raj said. “Take all the time you’ll need.”
Jeff caught my eye and smiled. “I plan to.”
I laughed. “I’m glad you’re always laser focused on the priorities.”
CHAPTER 110
EVERYONE ON THE PLANETS was truly okay, which was a relief. The evacuations went more smoothly than any of us had expected. They took longer than anyone wanted, too. But smooth and slow was better than chaotic and fast, at least in this instance.
We disintegrated the Helix Rime food replicator, but not before we got confirmation that feeding the planet’s dead sandworm monsters to it had created the planet’s rage virus.
We’d lucked out in one way—all those who were irreparably mutated from eating the replicator’s food were all dead, killed in our battle or by each other when imprisoned after. ACE and Lilith both felt that, with the replicator and the truly mutated gone, we were okay allowing Helix Rime to disintegrate into the galaxy along with the rest of the system when Helix and Space Lucinda finally went supernova. And the rest of that population was decreed healed or healing.
ACE and Lilith drained out of each of us during this time. ACE went back to Jamie, Lilith went back to being free, though she stuck around with us.
I finally got to meet Ixtha. She was cool and, I was happy to note, a lot like me, though our frames of reference were very different. Jamie and Charlie were overjoyed to get to see her, and she spent a lot of time with all the kids, making them all happy and giving them something to lord over the others when we got back to the Apata system.
Settling refugees wasn’t something that was going to be completed in a weekend, though. Alpha Four had been contacted and they were sending ships, too, with supplies for a new colony. After all, if they were Solaris territories, that made them part of the Annocusal Empire. That was us, expanding Alexander’s holdings everywhere we went.
Kevin and Adam volunteered to take charge of refugee resettlement. Hamlin insisted on going, too, and ultimately, we sent Len, Kyle, Mossy, Wruck, Jeremy, and Butler as well. The Vata guaranteed that our people would be returned to us, either at Apata, Vatusus, Alpha Four, or Earth, depending on where the rest of us were when the resettlement was completed. Lilith chose to go with them, which felt right and meant that they’d have great help.
They’d also have the rabbits of ours that had gone giant and the Most Weasels. Those animals had decided that they were needed to keep the Helix Rime people in line. Couldn’t argue because I knew they were right. On the plus side, not all the rabbits had chowed down on the Orange Scourge, per Peter because SuperBun had given them instructions before he’d become SuperStar. Worked for me, because we still had all our personal rabbits. And the Most Weasels had obviously been brought along by Algar to do exactly what they’d done and were planning to do, so no arguments from me there.
The rest of us, including Denise, Raymond, and Rachel, went back to the Apata system. Ship docking went much more smoothly with Brian and the flyboys at the controls. Now that the Helix system was back in the galaxy, Mother didn’t care who was driving.
Grentix and Kreaving were treated like returning heroes, deservedly. So were the rest of us. Apata had gone from isolationist to pro-Galactic Council in the time we’d been gone, in no small part due to who we’d left in the system. Jeff’s family had really stepped up and so had our politicians. It was definitely a Go Team experience.
We’d made it down to Ignotforsta, which was a lot like the Earth, only less paved, but we were only there a day when Chuckie got a communication from Councilor Leonidas of Alpha Four.
“Leonidas thinks that we need to send some people to Alpha Four,” he told me and Jeff.
“Is something wrong?” Jeff asked.
“Not really. But other systems are getting lots of face time and they aren’t. It’s totally political. He doesn’t want me to come, for example. But he does want you and Kitty, Jeff. And the kids. And Richard and Paul. I think there’s a religious festival going on and Alexander wants to include the Exonerates. Honestly, that’s a huge thing. I think you guys need to go.”
“We can’t leave right now,” Jeff protested. “The Apatans will be offended.”
“Leonidas doesn’t want everyone. Just a handful.”
“We can take the sports car.” Both men looked at me. Shrugged. “I can fly it, and if you want to freak out about that, then ask James to come, too. I mean, if Paul’s going, James is going to want to go anyway. We’ll take them, us, the kids, Nightcrawler, and Richard. You know, we can take the Ard Ri, too. That’s an extra royal.” And that way I’d know exactly where Algar was.
“Who else?” Chuckie asked. “I think you need a couple more to make it look good.”
“How about MJO and Kristie? That way they get press coming with us.”
Chuckie nodded. “That’s a group of a dozen. I think that works. I’ll let Leonidas know you’re coming. You guys are going to have to leave in the morning, though.”
“No rest for the wicked, the weary, or the just plain done with it all, we know.”
Gathered our impromptu Impress Alpha Four team together. The only one protesting wasn’t on the guest list. Buchanan was basically having kittens that he wasn’t going. Finally got him calmed down a little by explaining that the Role of the Guy Who Haunted My Every Step would be played by Siler for this short trip, but he was still pissed.
Jeff finally lost patience. “Look, not only can the rest of us protect her, but she can protect herself. You’re the best, no argument. However, you’re going to serve everyone better by staying here and ensuring that we haven’t offended these people irrevocably by doing this side trip. And, I’ll pull rank if I have to. Don’t make me have to. Or make me ask the Ignotforstans to imprison you until we leave.”
“Fine,” Buchanan said, clearly angry and somewhat disgusted. “God forbid I do my job.”