3.46.

  Sarah looked at the bank account.

  “That is a lot of digits,” she commented.

  “Is it?” Dornodo asked, looking over her shoulder. He embraced her from behind and she leaned back into him. The holographic display was tapped into the Earth’s internet, and she was checking on her various accounts.

  “We’re millionaires,” she explained. “Multi-millionaires and we haven’t even completed our first trip yet. This is just the money for the reservations.”

  “Which means that it’s not truly ours yet,” Dornodo reminded her.

  “I know, but still. We have no intention on backing out. Twelve rich kids and their chaperones are paying us thirty million dollars for a three-month tour of our region of the galaxy. It’s a little overwhelming when you think about it,” Sarah said.

  Dornodo shrugged. “I am sure that the price will go down once the other Toormondas arrive and begin competing with us. I have no idea what the final business model will look like for our little Toormonda, but if you say that this is a lot of money, then we should take it and keep it in trust for the child.”

  “This is a lot more than we’ll need just for the baby, Dornodo,” Sarah pointed out. “This is enough to retire comfortably on Earth. Even with the Yonohoan life-extension technology, we could live modestly for the rest of our lives with this, raise the baby--hell, raise ten babies--and still leave an inheritance for them when we’re done.”

  “Is it really that much?”

  “It really is,” she said.

  He paused. “Well, we should take advantage of it while the prices are high. When we have done a few trips for profit, we can look at doing a few trips for charity. To be honest, the business margin on planet Totola is okay, but not fantastic for Toormondas. It will take some time for me to adjust to the idea that I might be a lucrative businessman if I move to Earth completely.”

  “Well, the kids want to go to planet Totola for their Toormonda,” Sarah pointed out. “So you’ll be able to visit your family and friends soon.”

  “Yes. And they will be able to tease me ferociously for our Tuunka Powan,” he said.

  She giggled.

  A short while later, the shuttle containing their first passengers from Earth arrived. Sarah gave them the tour, and the children and the adults all settled in for a few hours before the ship jumped out of Sol system to begin a new adventure.

  ~~~~~~

  Gabriel lifted the small orb, toying with it carefully as he shifted it around. He hadn’t been in on the design, but he was the project lead, so he was in charge of approving the prototypes.

  Even if he had no idea what he was doing. He was a data analyst, not an engineer. He pretended to look like he was seriously considering the device in some way that would make him look intelligent.

  “You’re holding it upside down,” Major Phillips teased.

  He immediately flipped it over and continued to contemplate it.

  “I was just kidding. It doesn’t have an up or a down,” she said. “At least I don’t think it does.”

  “So, basically, the idea is that we pack all Earth ships full of these, and every time they make a FTL jump, they eject one of them and leave them behind, right?” he said. “Can we afford to do that? My grant is only eight million dollars for this project.”

  “We only really have to make the prototype. Once we do that, the Yonohoans can replicate them for the price of five pounds of matter,” she pointed out.

  “So the finished products will be perfectly identical to this, down to a molecular level, right?” he said.

  “That’s the way that replication works, yes,” she agreed.

  “Then we ought to make certain we get it right the first time. It would look embarrassing if we replicated millions of these things only to realize that we had a day-one issue that would make all of our data useless,” he pointed out.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “That is a serious concern, yes. Software shouldn’t be a problem to update; these things will be patched in to their own FTL network. We can push updates in real time from light-years away. But the hardware, the sensors themselves, those will stay the same until we come up with Bouncy-Ball 2.0, if we ever do.”

  “Bouncy-Ball?” Gabriel asked, frowning.

  “It’s the codename the eggheads in charge of changing the Tunnel Drive from an engine into a sensor have given these things. Don’t ask me why,” she said.

  Gabriel shook his head. “Anyway, what’s the life expectancy for them? How long will they continue to function once they’re in place?”

  “Theoretically, infinity,” Mary answered. “They’re packed with a mini tri-dimensional generator, so they’ll never run out of power. They’re shielded from cosmic radiation. They should just sit in their destination and continue to do their thing forever. Practically, we’re hoping for a fifty-year lifespan.”

  Gabriel nodded. “Okay. So we send out a few thousand of these all over the place and measure subspace. It will be slow at first, but eventually we should start getting some decent resolution on whatever the subspace structure is which we detected with the probes from the Seeker , and the way that it’s moving through our universe. Once we do that … well I don’t know what the next step will be, and that’s what’s really exciting.”

  “Yes, well, if you’re finished staring at it like you can spy through its shielding into its circuitry or something, we’re just waiting for your approval to begin preliminary testing. Once we’ve confirmed the basic specs, we’ll make a final prototype and give it to the Yonohoans. They’ll imprint it or whatever, and then both their ships and our ships will start throwing them out into the universe to see what happens,” Mary said.

  “What about the Acklatics and the Triumverants?” Gabriel inquired. “Do you think they’d help with this project if we asked them?”

  “They most certainly would, but it’s not my job to ask them about things like civilian scientific endeavors,” she said. “I only got roped into this because the military still owns the Tunnel Drive and you needed a liaison to develop your sensors. I could maybe get you an introduction to the alien ambassadors, however. How’s your poker game?”

  “Terrible.”

  “Damn. What about golf?”

  “I’ve only ever played minigolf, and I’m terrible at it.”

  “Okay, you’re not making this easy. But do you happen to like wine and cheese?”

  ~~~~~~

  “Congratulations on your ship,” the boy said, surprising Vlad as he walked home from class. His father had talked him into finishing out the semester before going off on his jaunt to the stars, so he had two weeks left. In the mean time, his spaceship was parked in orbit around the moon. The ‘keys’ were in a safety deposit box that he’d opened immediately after concluding the deal.

  Well, one set of them. He’d gotten an even dozen PHDAs and could control the ship from any of them. He’d handed five of them out to the friends who were planning on coming with him, while keeping one for himself. The rest were backups that he’d hidden in case he lost his primary one, or he found someone else he wanted to keep in touch with once he’d left Earth.

  “It’s you,” he said. He frowned at the boy, who was wearing a different outfit with the same theme. A skull on his shirt, and ripped pants. Just a different shirt and different pants. “I suppose I should thank you for your help.”

  “Yes you should,” the boy agreed. “I am Trewali. I am one of the Einherjar. I want you to pay back the favor you owe me.”

  Vlad swallowed nervously. “You’re an alien? You don’t look like it.”

  “Einherjar can change their faces. Very useful. Also very painful, so we try not to do it very often if we can avoid it. I hope you do not expose me so that I need to change my identity, it is very annoying to do in this society,” Trewali explained.

  “I won’t out you. Promise. Your secret identity is safe with me, Clark Kent,” Vlad said.

  “Hah! Is funny because I’m from other planet too! But yes, I shall trust you,” Trewali said. He smiled. “The question is, will you trust me?”

  “That depends,” Vlad said. “What do you want me to do?”

  “I want you to give someone a ride when you go on Korjakala,” Trewali answered. He grinned. “It will be very, very funny. But also very, very serious. Not dangerous, I think, but it will change the way that outsiders view Earth.”

  “Okay. Who exactly am I going to be giving a ride?”

  “His name is Towari. He is a Mokoari warrior.”

  “What the hell is a Mokoari?” Vlad asked.

  Trewali grinned mischievously. “I believe you would call them one of the few remaining ‘uncontacted tribes.’ He is married to one of the Einherjar, and she believes that her husband could use a bit of seasoning. I believe that the universe will quake with amazement when they discover that people like the Mokoari exist. If you bring Towari on Korjakala with you, you will become a trillionaire. Trust me.”

  “That means ‘fuck you’ in yiddish, you know,” Vlad said. He sighed. “Fine. You haven’t steered me wrong so far. Just tell me what to do.”

  ?