They sat in the crew room. After stowing as many boxes of spices as the second sleeping capsule could hold, and receiving a large box of local food that was also safe for him, including a huge loaf of bread, it was time to say goodbye. But first, he had Lart enter Lalleli and the spices on the shipping manifest.

Lalleli was in the hold to give them a hug, while he stayed in the crew space and waved his hand. Then Lalleli closed the large hatch and was trapped inside again. Beyond the hatch, the hanging plastic tubes would first be inflated by hydrogen gas to full expansion. Then the super-cold liquid hydrogen would turn the elastic tubes into brittle tanks. The wall of the hold did not change temperature when touched from their side, but the thermal differences caused some eerie creaking and bending noises.

While they waited, Lalleli gave a brief account of her excursion into the city. When she had returned, it had been almost strange to see him walking on two legs when everyone else was a preon. It was clear to him that she would have no problems living here. But he remained silent. If she wanted to come with him and help shut down this operation, all the better.

Then he excused himself, he had to go to the cockpit and check the departure list. There were also simulations, especially for the take-off from a runway. But Blackbeard assured him that it could do that on its own. And once in the air, there was almost no chance of messing up. They would fire the arc engines until they were out of the atmosphere, deploy the radiators and then switch to the weaker but more efficient direct plasma propulsion of the general engines until they had reached 1.5 escape velocity. The status screen showed him that the hold was already down to 50 Kelvin, the actual filling would begin soon.

He went back down to the crew area. "Filling with liquid hydrogen will start soon. Then it will only be 1000 or so."

"Good, I'll be glad when I can float again."

"I thought you liked walking on the planet."

"Yes, on the planet. But for now, I am confined to the area the size of my mattress. Floating is much better, there is so much more space for me."

"Well, it will take a little longer to get to zero-g." He rubbed his hands together.

"If you are too cold, just make it warmer, I have no problems."

"But the atmosphere is already quite dense compared to the planet and"

"Don't worry, I've been here for almost three days without any problems. I really don't mind."

"Thank you." If she said so, he would be happy to get rid of his thick clothes. "Blackbeard, 295 K for all crew areas, please."

Then he tried to explain to her what to expect during the launch. And she had to test her 4D harness. She hesitated a lot, it reminded her too much of the first time she woke up as a preon in that rack. But it would be much safer for take-off and would be necessary during the jump. And she could open it herself, which took away most of her concerns.

* * *

"Hydrogen is 99 % full," the AI announced.

"Blackbeard, thanks."

He climbed into the cockpit and watched the stream from the control room. Lart was sitting on his haunches, reading something. "He Lart," he called to get his attention, though his voice would probably be clipped. "We are ready."

Lart looked up and smiled. "Good timing, we can be home before dark." He left the control room, probably to give instructions.

He watched their activities on one of the outside cameras. It took some time to disconnect the hose. First, the connector had to warm up a bit before it could be disconnected. And then some more before they could hold the hose normally without thick leather gloves and not break it when they bent it.

Finally, they galloped down the runway to the control room with the hose still frozen. When they reappeared on the screen, he could see them stowing the steaming cold hose under the side row of tables in the control room.

"We're ready when you are."

"Blackbeard, bring the fusion cores online."

"Coming up, countdown is running. Once online, we need to be in space within 0150 to deploy the radiators after we use up the hydrogen."

"Ok, I'm bringing the fusion cores online. Takes about 0017."

"We won't go outside until you're off the planet, don't worry."

"Huh? This ship runs on clean fusion, no radiation outside."

"You will still be blasting the area with hot hydrogen."

He was right. "Ok, yes."

Lart took up his book again. He went through the suggested launch sequences in his mind over and over again while the time ticked down.

"Ok, fusion core 1 and 2 at 100 %," the AI announced.

"Lalleli, are you ready?"

"Yes, strapped and ready."

"Lart, we are ready."

"Well, see you next time."

"Thank you and farewell." He cut the audio. "Blackbeard, take us off the planet."

The whole screen changed to the view he had seen in the simulator, a large forward view and two small feeds from sidewards and aft. It took a few moments for the hydrogen pressure to build up and a little longer for the arc engines to reach a steady burn. During this time, the ship began to vibrate, bouncing a little even with the brakes on full. Then the brakes were released. Never in his life had he felt such acceleration. Brutal forces pushed him into his chair which hung in the unusual position. The screen showed only 2.2 g but it felt like entire planets were crushing him. They raced and bumped along the runway, pushed forward by a white-hot cloud of recombining hydrogen from the arc engines. Suddenly the worst of the vibrations stopped, they were in the air. Now another component of acceleration was added as they climbed steeply out of the planet's gravity well. But the higher they climbed, the less vibrations he felt. And while they were still accelerating, it was not so bad without the vibrations. Soon they crossed the terminator, and on the planet below it was pitch-black night again.

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Blackbeard rolled the ship and the familiar view of stars filled the cockpit. Although they were still too slow to escape the planet, they shut down the arc engines because the atmosphere here was thin enough to deploy the radiators and then switch to the much more efficient main engines normally used for jumps. They were soon firing at full power, which was 0.9 g, just a normal planet’s gravity.

"Lalleli, we are in space. Another 0030 of acceleration and then a 3000 of low g drift to align the vectors.

"Can I open the harness?"

"Yes, should be safe now."

Soon the ground station would be below their horizon. The deep space antenna was also deployed, so he called them. "Lart, no problems, we are in space. Thanks for everything."

The reply came immediately. "Yes, we see the data. And greetings to Lalleli, Per will be waiting for her return," Lart smiled, waved and cut the feed. Yes, they wanted to go home quickly.

* * *

Finally, they reached their target speed and the main engines were shut down. They were weightless for 0030. And then they would continue with a slower acceleration from the navigation engines.

By the time he was on the ladder, Lalleli was already floating through the cabin, smiling madly.

"I see you are having fun."

"Yes, this is really great." Her right middle foot grabbed the ladder and she slammed into it, making the metal groan. "Ouch."

"Careful, your inertia is still the same. First rule of moving in 0g, make sure you can stop safely. The second rule would be to always be within reach of a handhold, but with our small cabin," he trailed off. "Anyway, are you all right? Stomach okay?"

"Now that you mention it, I could eat."

Not exactly what he had worried about. But it was good to know that Lalleli belonged to the lucky ones who didn't get spacesick quickly, even without being strapped in.

"Blackbeard, can we get 0.1 g?"

"Yes, we are right on the vector and can save some fuel."

Lalleli soon floated down in slow motion, looking disappointed.

"Believe me, eating is no fun at 0 g."

Even cutting the bread under low 0.1 g was a challenge. Especially without a proper table under which to place his knees to counteract the force on the knife. In the end, Lalleli grabbed four handles with her four feet and held him by his hips while he sliced the bread with the only flimsy kitchen knife they had. Since the spread wouldn't last long outside of the fridge, which it didn't fit into, they put a spoon in the pot and then a big pile of the thick spread on top of the slice. It was easy to eat in the low g, the slices did not buckle under their heavy layer of spread.

Lalleli wolfed down the slices as soon as he had finished cutting them. Her one hand holding him down and the other holding the slice. He didn't mind, he wasn't that hungry. Even with the upcoming jump, one slice was enough for him. Instead, he completed his evening meal with some hot tea. Lalleli was happy with some water and another slice of bread. Almost half the food from the box had already disappeared into her stomach.

He vacuumed up the crumbs and then they went back to 0 g so he could help Lalleli to relieve herself. He let her sail around a bit, but at 1200 she would have to strap in for the run up to the jump.

For someone with no experience of weightlessness, Lalleli did very well. At first, he was worried because she was doing slow somersaults right after eating. But after she drifted around and rotated on all axes without a problem, he relaxed. She was a natural at 0 g. He had fun trying to sail over or under her, just staying out of her reach. It was hard in the small cabin and with four legs, two arms and a tail at her disposal. It brought back memories of Jerka.

When Blackbeard announced the 0150 mark to the jump, they had to finish. He ordered slow acceleration and Lalleli landed on her mattress. She was reluctant to put on the harness but understood his concerns about 4D and re-entering buried in a hatch that was too small in normal 3D space.\

When she had buckled, unbuckled and buckled again the two belts of the harness. He went upstairs to get a patch for her. She was in her harness, her torso too this time. "Sweet dreams," he smiled at her.

"See you in Faleran."

"Fallerian," he smiled and stuck the patch the patch behind her ear. Her head and shoulder relaxed immediately, and the rest soon followed.

Taking advantage of the privacy, he went to the toilet and then strapped himself into his chair. "Blackbeard, all set."

The jump warning sounded through the ship and the room folded as he had hoped. And his patch connected.

* * *

Blackbeard had timed his patch perfectly. And their point of entry was right too. Or, to be more precise, it was believably far off. The original flight plan had had them docking at the Fallerian VII station. But they came out on the other side of the system, as if they had overjumped, just outside the inner edge of the jump zone. With their low fuel reserves and lack of food, and already drifting outside the jump window, they would have to dock first at Fallerian III, his intended destination. With their deliberately butchered jump, Fallerian III was only a day away. He smiled. "Thank you, Blackbeard, well done."

The AI did not answer.

They kept radio silence, as if he were still under the patch. He had set a timer, no response until 0714.

At 0517 came the first coded message from Fallerian VII. They must have been monitoring the system, their ship would have just appeared on the screens when they sent it.

But he still did not acknowledge receipt. Until 0714, when four more messages arrived.

"Blackbeard, I assume we can decrypt this?"

"Yes, it requires the private key to our flight plan. Here."

It was no surprise. They wanted to know why they had come out wrong. And they were supposed to make an intrasystem jump to the arrival zone of Fallerian VII. Nothing unexpected.

"Blackbeard, I assume they provided us with a key to answer?"

"Yes, of course, it was in the message. What do you wish to send?"

"We apologise for jumping too far and taking too long to respond. We are currently outside of the allowed intrasystem jump window with insufficient delta v to reach another. Due to our fuel situation, we will instead dock at Fallerian III, refuel and make an intrasystem jump from there. The estimated delay should be less than 4000 from the original flight plan. Thank you for your understanding." He waited until the AI indicated the end of the recording.

"Do you think they will buy it?"

"Blackbeard, what are they going to do? If they had a jump ship, they would not have shanghaied me. Can you trace the message?"

"Probably not."

He sighed. "Blackbeard, open a secure channel to Fallerian III flight control."

"Narrow beam is the only option. You may transmit, delay is 0003.23,"

"Fallerian III, this is Silen from Samur." Then he switched to Fallerian. "Calling clause 14-33. Must divert to Fallerian III with low fuel. Original destination is Fallerian VII. Can you help me fulfil my contract?"

Well, that should be very clear. Maybe too clear.

"Fallerian III replied, also encrypted with our flight plan. Now we have a secret key for them as well."

"Blackbeard, thank you. I will first send the docking request unencrypted and then explain more things encrypted. So tell them to be patient, I will do the official flight protocols first."

And so he did, a normal exchange with the Fallerian III station. While waiting for the answers, he composed the secret message. Eventually, he was able to send their whole situation, as well as the problem with his ID and licence. Then it was still half a day of braking and 0 g drifting to reach Fallerian III. After taking care of the most urgent things, he went to the toilet and had a shower. And let Lalleli be knocked out by her patch, it was the best for the moment in the narrow cabin.