Jenny didn't say much on their travels, and that was fine with Milo. He figured that if she was an elf disguised as a human she didn't want him making casual conversation about herself, and he didn't want her asking him about his adventures or the Network. When they were on the train between the Katharna Spaceport and the Cathedral, he noticed she was asleep and he took out his tablet computer. Milo had noticed that there were files on the memory cartridge he got from Baycorf other than the translation of the Leshraka King's diary. One in particular caught his eye that was titled "cubork_letter".

Baycorf,

Thanks for your letter. I am doing fine at the moment, but unfortunately that can change quickly. I will tell you what I know.

Of the three grays in the metaphysicist triumvirate, Nateedra is the one I know the least about, and I suspect that's the case for anyone who knows anything about them. He tends to not interact much with the hominids or the reptiles. I would question his very existence if Grithmeer hadn't explicitly told me there were three of them. I wish I had asked him more about Nateedra. Anyways, we both know that there tends to be a lot of outlandish and wild rumors about the secrets and technology of these grays. Though I will say that rumor about the so-called "hyperplane" is interesting. It is apparently mentioned in Alkarog's book, but I don't know what it really is.

Sincerely,

Cubork

Milo browsed through some other files, to see if he could find the original letter to get some context, but could find nothing. After about ten minutes of searching he gave up. It was about 15 minutes later that they arrived at the Cathedral and Jenny woke up. It was an absolutely magnificent building, more resembling a palace than a cathedral and surrounded by a heart-stopping gardens.

"Who are we here to meet?" Milo asked unable to contain his curiosity.

"Someone who is a friend to both the church and the HDD" she answered. Of course, that only raised more questions in his mind, but there was no point to keep on asking. They made their way up to one of the upper levels and onto a large balcony overlooking one side of the cathedral. A rotund and old reptilia was standing there.

"Milo" Jenny said, "this is Prudasaur, the elder of the Singed Leaf Clan."

"Visler has told me about you. It is great to meet you" he said giving Milo a hand shake with his huge hand.

"Prudasaur" Jenny said cutting off any further chatter, "we've got a bit of a situation. Milo said he got an entangled message from Ms. Rall saying they were sabotaged and are stranded in normal space time between here and Ariguar."

"That sounds like it could be a trap to me" Prudasaur said. I don't know if they would've been able to get a message out, even if they weren't blown to pieces."

"Maybe for a lot of people, but Kayla has been hyper-vigilant about this thing." Milo remarked. She's a technical prodigy and could've figured out a way to get a message out. She said they're sending out an alpha radiation signal."

"Well, you might have a hard time finding a crew here. That's a bit of a dangerous job."

"Prudasaur, I'd be willing to do it." Jenny said. "I just need one or two more."

"You would do that?" Prudasaur asked, seeming surprised. At that moment a thought occurred to Milo. Nadarska had mentioned she had elven skin, so surely Prudasaur could smell that she wasn't human.

"Yes."

"Well, if you're that sure, I will accompany you. This might very well be futile, but-"

"Kopbok, we're here, is our ship ready to leave right now?" Jenny interrupted, shouting into the radio.

"Yes, come on down" a voice almost immediately replied.

"Let's get going" Jenny said. They all walked back through the cathedral and out towards he space port. Prudasaur looked like he used a lot of effort in moving like an old man moved, but with his long legs was still was able to move quickly and keep up with their brisk walking. Their vessel was already getting fueled up at the quay. Milo recognized the diminutive-by-reptilia-standards Kopbok.

Stolen story; please report.

"Kopbok, did you check the craft-"

"Yes, Agent Drether" he said. "It has a sensitive alpha radiation detector, and I overrode the safety system so you could fly in the SPG lane that has been closed."

"Good" she said.

"Kopbok" Prudasar bellowed. "I want you to come with us. We will need you." Milo heard him say something under his breath, but he boarded as he was told. They all got on board the spacecraft and were off. As they activated the SPG, Milo turned on the monitor for alpha radiation and cranked up the sensitivity.

"I'll be watching this closely" Milo said. "Just be prepared to disengage the SPG and make the U-turn as quickly as we can." They continued on their course for about fifteen minutes, not saying a thing.

"Anything yet?" Purdasaur asked.

"Just background noise" Milo said. "No anomalies yet."

"I really think this is futile" Kopbok said. Milo ignored him. About five minutes further, and still nothing.

"I really don't think they would be able to get a signal strong enough for us to detect it" Kopbok said. "We risk getting in some serious trouble the longer we fly in a closed SPG lane." About two minutes later, it happened – a spike in the radiation, but not a big one."

"That was it!" Milo said. "On our right side! The location has been marked, now let's make the turn-around." The turnaround was pretty slow and gradual and seemed like it went on forever. The craft made its way back to where they could detect the radiation.

"Over that way!" Kopbok said pointing 10 o'clock low. "There's some craft over there!" They moved the craft slowly, shining their light ahead. They must've moved about twenty minutes in near-total darkness of inter-stellar space until Kopbok's voice once again chirped.

"Slow down!" he said. "We're getting close!" Within another minute, they could see a space ship in the lights.

"Absolutely nuts" Kopbok said. "We might just pull this off."

"Stranded spacecraft, are you all right?" Kopbok asked on the radio. For a brief moment there was nothing but silence.

"Yes, we're all right. I can't believe someone found us! Who are you?"

"We're from Katharna base. We're going attempt docking now to bring you back." The docking process was somewhat cumbersome, but they were finally able to do it after a few failed tries. One by one a bunch of relieved people came through the airlock into their spacecraft. The last one was the red and frizzy-haired Kayla. When she came in she gave Milo a big hug and she kissed him on the cheek.

"Thanks for the daring rescue" she said.

"How did you get the message off?" Milo asked.

"Well" Kayla said, "I entangled some cubits on our phones and partitioned them so the operating system couldn't access them. Lucky for me and the crew that the virus that was put on the ship's computer that got into our phones didn't find them. It's a good thing that I prepared for this." The rest of the way back there was just casual chatter on the ship. Milo's mind would have normally been very busy with everything to think about but was too relieved to do anything but enjoy the trip. After what seemed to last a long while, eventually Milo was alone with just Kayla, Prudasaur, and Kopbok on the balcony where they had met Prudasaur.

"I just got some pretty disturbing news" Jenny said. "I just got word that the carrier that Milo was originally going to use to go for questioning before he agreed to come with me was also sabotaged. It was rigged to blow before it even left the atmosphere apparently."

"Who could have done this?" Milo asked.

"Come on, Milo" Jenny said. "It has to be someone that knows the two of you and is resourceful enough to pull off that sophisticated sabotageI'm sure you can think of at least one suspect fitting that profile."

"You think Dover and the Network are behind it?" Milo asked.

"I wouldn't completely rule it out" Jenny said. "Kayla obviously thought the two of you were in danger."

"I don't suspect the Network" Kayla said curtly.

"Who then?" Jenny asked. Kayla hesitated for a moment, not seeming to want to divulge what she was about to say.

"I think it's McGrath" she said.

"And why would you suspect him?" Jenny asked incredulously.

"Various things" she said. "My reassignment over here has never really made any sense, I've had people watching me and following me, and it would be much easier for one of his agents to rig the spacecraft than one of the Network's guys. Plus, I've met McGrath, and he gives me the shivers."

"Well" Jenny said not sounding at all convinced, "We can really only guess right now. Now then, Milo, how do you plan to find Dalton Dover's headquarters?"

"I'm a man of my word" Milo said. "I will have a talk with my friend Brian, who is a member of the Network. He will tell me how to get there." Milo noticed Kayla shooting him a disapproving look.

"Good" she said. "I would like you to find out as soon as you can" she said. They all left the balcony and Milo and Kayla walked in a different direction.

"You're going to tell them where the Network's headquarters is? Why?" Kayla asked barely able to keep her voice under a whisper.

"Yes Kayla, I plan to. Drether saved your life and apparently inadvertently saved mine on top of agreeing to get me out of questioning at royal intelligence." Kayla let out a light sigh.

"The Network also helped you out, Milo. Helped us out. I'm not going to give completely unconditional loyalty to Dover but I certainly don't feel right at all about giving him up to these people here. Something here is really, really off. You've got HDD agents, some Singed Leaf reptilia, and CIA agents all working here. I don't like this at all."

"I certainly don’t like it either" Milo admitted. "But it was either this or both of us losing our lives. I think we need to talk with Brian and explain the situation to him. He'll understand and think of something."

"He will understand, but Dover may not" she answered.