Amazed by his good fortune, Cris accompanied Thom from the flight deck into the belly of the Exler. The captain introduced him to the two other crew members, Dom and Neal—both thick, muscled men in their thirties who were responsible for the cargo hold—and gave him a tour of the ship. There was little to see beyond the cargo area, workout room, kitchen and common washroom. Though it was simply appointed and lacked many of the comforts Cris had grown up with on Tararia, the Exler was clean enough and mechanically well-maintained from what he could tell.

The last stop in the tour was Cris' new quarters. It was a tiny room with only a bunk, toilet, sink and storage locker. Cris smiled politely when he saw the space, and Thom left him to get settled in. When he was alone, Cris set down his bag and looked around the modest accommodations. I need to reset my expectations.

He sat down on the bunk to test it. The mattress was firmer than he would prefer, but it was sufficient. I wanted to see what life was really like outside the Sietinen estate. It doesn't get more authentic than this. He took a deep breath. My entire life is changing.

He gave himself a few minutes to clear his head and then made his way up to the flight deck. Thom was waiting for him. "Ready to head out?" Cris asked.

"Yes. All stocked and ready to get underway," Thom confirmed.

Cris brought up the saved beacon sequence he had plotted during his interview and set it as the active course in the navigation computer. He locked in the first segment of the trip, a series of five beacons. "All set."

Thom smiled. "Let's go." He strapped into his chair and triggered buttons and switches at the front of the flight deck. A holographic control interface illuminated over the front panels. Using a combination of the holographic display and buttons beneath, Thom undocked the Exler and used thrusters to direct the ship away from the space station.

Anticipation swelled in Cris' chest. I'm leaving for real.

When the space station orbiting Tararia was a distant speck, Thom activated the jump drive.

A hum filled the air as the drive charged. The entire ship began to vibrate, rattling every rivet. It felt like the ship was going to fall apart, but Cris tried to hide his worry. As the vibration crescendoed, a shifting blue-green aura formed around the ship. It grew steadily brighter and more solid, drawing the ship inward. For a moment, time elongated. The ship slipped into subspace.

Cris let out a slow breath as the rattling subsided. The view through the front window was nothing but shifting blue-green light.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Thom said.

"It really is." Cris had taken previous trips via subspace, but the mode of travel was still a novel experience. Even more rarely had he been able to look outside while in transit. I could get used to this.

The first sequence of beacons would take several hours to traverse. Cris and Thom settled in for the journey, keeping a casual eye on the navigation beacon locks to make sure they stayed on course. It was uncomfortably quiet.

As much as Cris wanted to be social, he knew his background was very different from Thom's. He had little way of knowing what might give him away as High Dynasty. What's a safe topic?

Silence was the safest option, but Cris' lack of sleep from his midnight escape began to catch up with him. He knew he needed some conversation or he wouldn't make it through the rest of the jump.

"So, Thom," Cris said, breaking the silence, "what's the craziest cargo you've ever had to transport? If it's not something confidential."

Thom smiled. "A herd of horses."

"Horses, really?"

The captain nodded. "I imagine you haven't been out to the far colonies. Some worlds that have taken a more agrarian approach to life. They prefer horses to hoverscooters."

"Go figure."

Thom chuckled. "It was messy business. Sweet animals, but I'll take a depleted power cell over a pile of manure any day."

Cris laughed. "I'm with you."

"That was a long time ago." Thom leaned back in his chair. "I now make it a point to steer away from any cargo that isn't inanimate and doesn't fit neatly into a crate."

Thank the stars! I think I would have needed to find another ship. "A valid approach."

"I've been doing lots of textiles transportation for Baellas recently."

Clothing and home furnishings weren't the most grand of the High Dynastic ventures, but important nonetheless. "Is that what we have onboard now?"

"Yes, but I'm ready to switch things up after completing this delivery."

"What do you have in mind?" Cris asked.

"I heard about some new food distribution contracts with Makaris Corp in the outer colonies. It'd be steady work for several months at a time. I don't particularly love it out there, but can't argue with the pay."

Cris nodded. "That does sound like good, steady work." Food and water filters were a necessity everywhere. Makaris' rank as the third most powerful Dynasty was only constrained by the reliance on SiNavTech's navigation network and VComm for communications.

"I've learned that it all comes down to the specific contract terms. It doesn't really matter what the cargo is when it's all packaged up. In the end, all of the Big 6 are pretty much the same to work for."

Cris' brow furrowed in spite of himself.

Thom must have noticed Cris' confusion. "The six High Dynasties," he clarified.

"Oh, thanks," Cris said as casually as he could. "Haven't heard that before." So they call us "the Big 6," huh?

"I had already pegged you for the inner colonies, but that confirms it."

"Tararia itself, actually." Cris regretted the statement the moment he spoke.

The captain nodded. "I'm not surprised. Well, out here, you'll hear a lot of different opinions about the Big 6. Generally speaking, the farther out you go, the less favorable they will become."

"Interesting." I'll have to watch what I say.

"Don't get me wrong," Thom continued. "Tarans in aggregate recognize the importance of the core services the Big 6 provide, but most worlds try to have their own identity. The descendants of the older colonies even look and sound different—an entirely divergent race from a native Tararian like yourself. To them, the High Dynasties and the Priesthood feel like very distant, disconnected, and often inconvenient overlords."

But without those services fulfilled by the High Dynasties' companies, everything would fall apart. "I could see that."

"Since the outer colonies try to make it on their own as much as possible, they sometimes get neglected by the central oligarchy. It's one of the reasons I was looking to pick up those Makaris contracts."

"That's good of you." My instruction always made it sound like it was equal access and opportunity for all the colonies. Maybe that's not the case.

"Well, first we have to offload this Baellas shipment. Need to take it one contract at a time."

Cris smiled. "Of course."

Thom sat up straight. "Hey, do you know how to play Fastara?"

Cris hesitated. What in the stars is Fastara? "I can't say I do."

"Hold on." Thom searched through a cabinet near his seat and produced a deck of plastic playing cards. He removed them from their clear box and fanned them out. There were a series of symbols in different colors on the cards. "I'll teach you. There's no better way to pass the time out here."

"Sounds great."

Thom deactivated the holographic course projection from the navigation console and moved the most vital information to a heads-up display over the front window. The touchscreen top of the console became a perfect tabletop for laying out the game.

"The objective is to win," Thom said with a toothy grin.

Thom went over a series of rules that Cris tried his best to follow. There were a lot of contingencies based on the specific cards in play. After a few confusing explanation attempts, Thom dealt out the first game and walked Cris through an open-hand demonstration. Even with the coaching, Thom won by a ridiculous margin. They played three more rounds in the same manner before switching over to private hands. Cris was still terrible at the game, but he started to understand the mechanics. While reading Thom's mind would have been an easy solution, it would defeat the purpose of the game—and, that kind of invasion was no way to begin a friendship.

The hours sped by with the rounds of Fastara. Cris was startled when the navigation system flashed, indicating their approach to the exit beacon in the sequence. They cleared the game and moved the display back to the center console.

With a shudder, the ship dropped back into normal space. The swirling blue-green dissipated and they were once again surrounded by blackness and stars.

Cris looked at the map. It was officially the farthest he had ever been from home. "Jump complete." They'll have a hard time finding me now.

"Now we take a break," Thom said as he got up from his chair. "The jump drive only needs four hours to cool down, but we'll stay here for eight so we can get some sleep. After this, we'll do two jumps in a day."

"That works for me." Cris got up from his seat, feeling stiff after remaining stationary for so long. "Hey... Thank you for the job."

"Everyone deserves the chance to start a new life," Thom said. "Get some rest."

Cris went to his room and got into bed. The ship's engines produced the perfect background hum to lull Cris to sleep. I'm free.

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