Five days later, Negasi and Aurora stood in a field of blue-green grass that grew up only to their ankles. About thirty meters away was a cluster of trees, or what passed for trees on this planet. They looked more like big fat hands with stubby fingers, if big fat hands with stubby fingers were covered in round, blue-green leaves. This planet had 1.2 Earth gravity, so all the plants were thick and rather squat.

Negasi had the Imperium rifle he had picked up from the weapons locker on the old Imperium ship Brunel. It was some sort of energy weapon with three different settings and a hefty power reserve. He hadn't dared test it on the Antikythera for fear of punching a hole through the bulkhead. Now that they had gotten out of the minefield and were trekking along to Eridanus Delta, he had stopped off at the nearest planet with breathable air in order to put the weapon through its paces.

It felt good to get off the ship. Nova's presence, even locked in her quarters, was like an unshielded radiation source. He could feel it decaying his insides.

Aurora stood to one side and a bit behind with a scanner to record the results.

"Thanks for letting me come down," the girl said. "I like getting off the ship sometimes."

Negasi smiled at her. "Did you really have space fever or was that just an excuse?"

Aurora's cheeks reddened.

"Aha! I thought you were throwing your mother a line. I've seen you go for weeks on a ship without a break and come through just fine."

"Yeah, I don't really get space fever. It's boring being on the ship all the time, though. I like getting out and seeing new stuff."

"Well, you're about to see a previously unknown Imperium rifle model take out some of those trees."

Aurora lifted up the scanner. "All right. Recording on all frequencies. This is setting one on the rifle."

Negasi aimed at one of the trees, flicked off the safety, and pulled the trigger.

No recoil, but the result was fantastic. A flash of light like a meteor streaking through the stratosphere. The tree shuddered, leaves falling in a blue-green cascade. Once they settled, Negasi could see a tidy hole as big as his fist punched right through the thick, dense trunk.

"Nice," Negasi said with a grin.

"Nicer than that." Aurora walked over to him and showed him the visual, zooming in to focus on the trees beyond and switching to radar imaging two show him the result he couldn't see.

Four trees behind the first one had also been bored through.

"Whoa. Good thing I didn't try this out on the Antikythera."

"Big time."

"I wonder if there had been more trees if it would have gone through more."

"Maybe you should find a rock or something and try it out on that."

"Good idea. I'll make you a gunner yet."

Aurora crinkled her nose. "No."

He lifted up the rifle. "You want to give it a try?"

"You know I don't like guns."

Negasi grew serious. "I know, Aurora, and I understand. But we're in a dangerous situation here. The Syndicate is still on our tail and the entire Orion Arm is getting invaded. You should learn to how to defend yourself."

Aurora shook her head, her mouth turning down. Negasi felt bad for the kid. She'd seen a lot of violence. Wanting to stay separate from it may not have been the best survival strategy, but it did let her keep a hold on what little remained of her childhood.

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"All right, Aurora," Negasi said. "I won't push it. Let's get back to work. Hey!"

He had checked the rifle's energy meter. He had used up a quarter of it.

"Cack! I only get four shots with the first setting."

"Poor you. When it's that powerful, shouldn't four shots be enough?"

"Depends on the fight. Let's try the second setting."

Aurora raised the scanner to record.

Negasi fired.

The tree exploded. Even thirty meters away they felt the shockwave and heat. After the smoke cleared, they saw the tree was nothing but several large chunks of wood in a heap.

"That explosion was pretty localized. The surrounding trees are fine," Negasi said.

"Aw, did you want a bigger boom?"

"That's a pretty big boom already. Damn, look at the energy meters. That took a third of the total energy. I'd only get three shots on this setting. Now I'm down to 45% capacity."

"Try setting three."

"All right. I hope I have enough energy for it to work."

He shifted his aim to a third tree and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

He checked the energy meter and saw it had reduced another ten percent.

"What are the readings?" Negasi asked.

"Hmm. You shot out a subsonic pulse in a wide cone. The scanner says it would have knocked out most sentient species. Checking … nonlethal for most species including humans with a warning that repeated exposure could cause health issues. It's giving me a long list of those."

Negasi nodded. "Riot control."

"A riot? That's one thing we haven't faced."

"Don't say that. You might jinx us."

Aurora laughed. "You really are superstitious!"

"All tech scavengers are superstitious. Goes with the territory."

"Now what?"

Negasi looked at the rifle. "I guess we're all done here. It's too bad this thing doesn't have more of a charge. I guess it came with extra power packs. I didn't see any when I scavenged this."

"I'll design one."

"That's going to be complicated. It's not like adding a tear gas ejector on a combat mech. Imperium electronics are at a whole other level."

Aurora shrugged. "Gotta learn sometime."

It was nice to know someone so confident. The best part was that she really would learn how to do it.

"It's going to take a while."

"I'll get MIRI to help."

"MIRI is using all her spare processing power to analyze the jump gate technology."

Aurora rolled her eyes. "Oh, right. The whole saving the galaxy thing."

"I can think of less important things to do."

Like what I was doing for most of my life.

"Yeah," Aurora said without enthusiasm.

Negasi felt for her. This quest had stolen a large part of her childhood.

He forced himself to smile. "Hey, when we took the shuttle down, I saw a lake nearby. Let's check it out."

"Mom wants us to come back as soon as we've tested the gun."

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her, or us."

Despite Nova now technically being their prisoner, Negasi still felt a bit intimidated by the woman. He knew Jeridan felt the same.

They headed out, passing through the collection of trees, including the one he had shattered and the others he had bored a hole through. They walked over a rise, huffing and puffing in the extra gravity. When they got to the top, they could see a large lake stretching out before them. The surface was purple with golden sparkles glinting in the sun.

"It's beautiful!" Aurora cried, clapping.

Aurora started taking pictures with the scanner, then turned to take a selfie with Negasi.

"They're going to be jealous on the ship," the girl said.

"Big time. Let's take a closer look. The Interstellar Encyclopedia says there are no dangerous lifeforms on this planet."

They walked down the slope.

"Why was this planet never inhabited?" Aurora asked. "The air's fine."

"No natural resources and the land isn't all that good for farming. Not the right nutrients."

"Oh. Seems a like a waste, though."

They got to the shore. This close, they could see the purple was some sort of algae that covered the surface of the water. The gold flecks all across them sparkled in the sunlight.

"What are those?" Aurora asked.

"I don't know."

She picked up a rock and tossed it in. It disappeared with a plunk, sending ripples out in ever-widening circles. The purple algae rode the waves like a thin carpet, the gold flecks catching the sunlight even more to make a series of gold flashing circles.

"Oooh."

Negasi nodded. "That's neat."

"Throw a rock in. I'm going to take a vid."

He did. The result was stunning.

"They were dumb not to live on this planet," Aurora said.

"Hmm, maybe. I wonder what those gold flecks are. They look like some sort of strange algae or maybe a collection of single-celled organisms. Scan them and see what they are."

Aurora put the scanner away.

"Who cares? It's pretty. Why do we have to analyze everything?"

Negasi shrugged. "All right."

Aurora tossed another rock into the pond and they both admired that shimmering ripple it created.

"It's pretty here."

"This isn't the only uninhabited world suitable for life."

"Maybe we should find out and all settle there. The Rimscourge probably won't target planets they think are uninhabited. We'd be safe."

"You want to do that?"

Aurora sighed. "No. I guess we got to save the galaxy or something."

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