"I can't believe that apricots are extinct," Mindeham said as they walked back to their ship. "What about plumcots?"

"What are plumcots?"

"Well, when a mummy plum and a daddy apricot love each other very much--"

"I'm pretty sure they're gone as well."

"The future, while very nice, sometimes sucks, you know?"

"We do have that Bardlenni lichen stuff that you like, though," Lae said.

"I guess," Mindeham sighed. He put his hand to the door of their ship, and it automatically let them in.

"Let me out, or face the wrath of a thousand hells!" the teddy bear greeted them with.

"Are we going to space that bear?" Lae asked.

"Maybe we can think of him as a particularly annoying parrot?" Mindeham suggested.

"A murderous parrot," Lae said.

"I mean, if it gets too much we could space him," Mindeham said, looking significantly at the bear. It growled quietly, but stopped shouting.

"Ship. can you send out an undocking request to the station?" Lae asked.

"Of course," said the ship.

"And please send funds to Jole's Costume Store; I lost his wig sometime during our stay here."

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Happy to," the ship said.

"Well, at least we got a few expressions of interest at this station," Mindeham said cheerfully.

"Yeah," Lae said. "Look, about what else happened, don't let it get to your head, alright?"

"Why would I let it get to my head?"

"I imagine being a patron god of an entire station, even if just for a little while would make anyone bigheaded."

"I didn't do anything. People just attribute random things they do or random twists of fate to me, that's all."

"You were there for Leonard," Lae pointed out. "That's actually pretty spooky, Mindeham."

"Not really," Mindeham said. "First time I ever was there for someone when they called for me. And you know what? Plenty of people could have been praying at that exact time. I can only be in one place at a time. No god worth their salt would have that limitation."

"Well, don't let it get to you the other way," Lae said. "Don't feel responsible for Leonard, or the cult, or my dad."

"But I like your dad," Mindeham said. "Though if anyone's his patron god, it'd be you, I'd think. What do you think they'd make you the god of? Rescues? Though if that test thinks you're Preasi's, maybe something to do with business?"

"I--" Lae stammered, before the ship interrupted.

"We've got permission to go," the ship said.

"Right," Lae said. "Let's go."

"Okay," Mindeham said, hopping into his seat and strapping in.

They slowly pulled out of the station, and navigated their way to free space.

"Where to next?" Lae asked.

"A place near the centre of human space, called Arendri's Fortress," Mindeham said, looking up their job list and punching in the coordinates on their ship.

"Ready to go?" Lae asked.

"Yeah," Mindeham said.

"Coordinates checked and locked," the ship confirmed.

Lae pushed a button, and they disappeared into warp.