"Well, General, now that we got the awkward small talk out of the way, what can I do for you?"

Thomas leaned back in his chair and watched my face for a long moment before speaking. "Was it necessary to turn those boys into meat paste?"

I looked him straight in the eyes and replied, "If it had been the two gentlemen and me, then I would have ignored the soldiers. But when someone threatens the life of a child, I have zero tolerance or sympathy."

Blowing out a long breath, Thomas said. "Alright, I can't say I would have done the same thing, but I understand your reasoning." After a long pause, the man finally spoke again, "I could use a drink."

Grinning, I reach into the bottom drawer and pull out a bottle of whiskey and two shot glasses. "Never start a negotiation without having a bottle handy, something I learned from my old man back when he ran a multi-national corporation."

"Your old man seems like my kind of guy," Thomas grins and rubs his hands together.

"Yeah, you two would have got on great. He was also in the military during the fourth world war, I believe. No, it was the fifth; it was right before the Mars missions, I believe." Then poured two glasses, handing one over while holding mine. It doesn't affect me to drink, but the taste of alcohol was never my thing.

The General held his glass, swirling the contents slowly while staring into the brown liquid. When he next spoke, it was barely above a whisper. "Thank you for not killing my son."

Looking closer at the general's face, I see the resemblance. "Ah, your boy is the one that worked up the nerve to talk to me afterward. He is a good man. You must be proud of him. To disobey a direct order from a superior takes guts. Especially with the scene, I was playing out."

Sighing, I lean back in my chair. "I also apologize there hasn't been a military on my world for well over a century. I forgot you can't put on a show of power and make soldiers back down."

Looking at me like I'm an idiot, Thomas said. "That doesn't seem too bright what happens if a war breaks out or worse, an invasion from beyond your system?"

"Eh, when there are people that can destroy the planet with the wave of the hand, a military is kind of redundant."

With a raised eyebrow, the General asked, "could you? Destroy a world with the wave of the hand, I mean."

"No idea, and to be frank, I don't care to find out. Alright, let's stay on topic for a change," then I throw the contents of my glass down my throat.

Seeing how I doffed my glass, the General threw his back the same way. I got the pleasure of watching his face turn a bright red before he exclaimed, "wow, that's stuff got a kick."

"So I've been told," I say, passing the bottle toward my new friend. "It's all yours. Take it with you."

He grinned, accepting the gift stuffing into his shirt pocket. "Okay, Mr. Collins."

"Slate," I say, "Mr. Collins sounds like a schoolteacher, and I don't spout government propaganda to kids."

"Maybe our worlds are more alike than I thought," he said, "Alright, Slate, I got a proposition for ya."

Holding my hand up, "Is this yours or that retarded president?"

"No goodness, no, if he knew what I am about to say, I would lose my life, and probably my family would follow me. I represent a group of people from every race, sick of living under the elven royals' regime. We want to hire you to find us a new world to settle. Is this possible?"

"How many people are we talking about, and do you also need transport?" I like the sound of helping a group find and colonize a world.

Laughing, the General said, "far more than your tiny ship can hold, I'm afraid, son... Slate. This will be a long-drawn-out endeavor taking decades, I'm afraid."

"Sue, have you been checking on his story?"

Sue materialized beside me, making the general jump slightly and narrow his eyes. "Yes, Slate, I have infiltrated his comm device and backtracked it to several people in this underground resistance. As far as I can tell from speaking with several A.I.'s, everything he says is true. I believe that young Gregory is also involved, am I right, General?"

"General, do you mind if I invite Gregory in to double-check just to be safe?" I ask.

"That is fine. It was Gregory who contacted me and asked me to hire you for this undertaking. Although I am fairly certain he would tell us of any viable world, you may find. But he wanted you to get something out of this, as he doesn't enjoy using friends."

"Oh, is Gregory fairly high in your organization?"

"Yeah, you could say that he is the one in charge of the cell on that dustbowl planet of his," Thomas said with a chuckle.

There was a knock at the door, then someone pushed it open. "you wanted to see me, boss... Oh uh, hey Thomas, I take it I blew my cover?"

"Gregory, come in and sit," I say. "Now, Gregory, you have been all over my ship. Can we help all at once?"

My friend looked uncomfortable. "I don't want to divulge any of your secrets, but since you asked so directly," he turned to Thomas, "if Slate wants to help, he can take everyone all at once. If we can get them together in groups and send them through the tele in an orderly fashion."

To my side, Sue suddenly interrupted and in a far more serious tone than she used recently said. "I will allow no one on this ship without a full background check by me personally."

Both my guests turned to me questioningly.

"What," I say, "she is the ship; it is her call. Just let her in your system, and it will only take a couple hours at most."

"I am already inside their system and have already green-lighted one point seven million and flagged another thirty-six as elven spies. Do not make the mistake that all the elven people wanting out are spies. Nearly ninety-seven percent sofar has passed inspection."

"I'm sorry, almost two million sofar?" Sitting forward, looking between the two, "by your estimates, how much of the population does your organization represent?" Turning to Gregory, "also, how did you meet Jarlen? He seems more suspicious by the moment."

Gregory looked me in the eye "better to keep enemies close."

"Shit, that's what I thought. What about his sister? Maybe we should skip the trip to the big world."

This time the general held up a hand "no, Zentha is one of ours. She has done more to help those persecuted by the royals than anyone else."

Turning to Sue, "well, what do you say?"

"According to what I can find, what they say is true; however, I would like to wait till after we have landed in the Capital. Then can sift through the more restricted data that will be available. Before giving the final verdict."

"Okay, and how is reverse-engineering the teleportation tech coming along?"

"With the help of Henry, we have made much headway, and I believe we will have it operational within the hour."

"Alright, that's good to know. Now the most important question before we set any plans into motion. How many can we fit in the holds, and for how long?"

"Roughly four hundred million if we stuff them in like sardines," Sue said as if that would be normal.

Thomas stared at the hologram, mouth hanging open. "Like sardines, you know people have to move around, eat and sleep, go to the bathroom, and other basic needs, right?"

"NO, I will place a stasis field over the cargo bays, and it will be as if we stepped from one world to another for them," Sue explained.

"Yeah," I say, "that could work. Surely you lot aren't needing that much space, right? I mean, we will need to ste.... acquire necessities for when they get dum.. set up their new home."

"There will be no stealing. We have been planning this for decades. All we needed was the ships." Thomas said. "We have warehouses filled with farming equipment and everything needed to build several cities hidden all over the seven worlds."

"I would say around a hundred and fifty million signed up at last census," said Gregory.

"I don't know if we can take all the stored goods. But if we find a good planet, maybe that won't matter, anyway. Gregory, why don't you take the general on a tour while I play politician and call the President. seems I need to stay in this world for a few days, at least."

"Also, try to keep Jarlen busy and away from anything he can report to the council. Oh, and General, have those six soldiers come aboard. I am hiring more security at the moment." Then with a wave, I send them away.

After they're gone, I stretch my arms "well, that's done, so what did you find out about what I asked about earlier?"

Sue walked around the desk and sat down across from me. "You're talking about the super radiation?"

"Yep, are there any you could find? I have my suspicions about the royal family. In case I never mentioned it, Jarlen made his way across the desert with no transportation. Unless he hid it nearby and abandoned it."

"Yes, I found a small trace. They sealed it beneath the royal palace."

"Oh, is there a chance of it escaping and permeating these worlds, like it did earth?"

"Unlikely, they sealed it in a tritarium bunker, and only the Queen has access as far as I Can tell."

Staring at Sue skeptically, "and how about what they are using to power all the machinery beneath the surface?"

"The scans are good but not that good," she says; however, I see a small trace of guilt, but I let it go. If she won't tell me, then it is for our own good.

Of course, she noticed cuz she grinned at me, "and that's why you are my favorite human."

"What about the twins, after all, they made you?"

Sue placed her hand over her mouth. "Oh, my adorable child, you think they built all this? she waved around herself. No, silly, there so-called inventions they got from me."

I cocked my head to the side. "So much makes sense now, I never understood how they could come up with outrageously new things. One after another for nearly two centuries without ever running out of ideas. So who or what are you, really?"

"Just an old soul who lost her family long ago and just wants to explore the universe in peace and help fun people along the way."

"Hmm, I don't think of myself as fun."

"No? You should ask Jenna her opinion, but no, I came to you because I trust you to help protect the children of this universe from what will eventually come. They will not contain their next war inside their tiny plane outside of time."

"Next war?"

"A story for another time, perhaps. I have background checks and supplies to organize." With those parting words, she vanished, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

Suddenly a swirling patch of light appeared in front of me, floating over my desk. Eventually, the swirling stopped, and I could see a small child with feline characteristics staring back nervously. Steepling my fingers together, "well, hello there, and who might you be, young man?" As I could tell, he was a boy, even if he was the most alien-looking being I had ever seen.

The boy was alone inside what looked like a rotting tree. He was also filthy head to toe. Frowning, I could see several injuries on his small body.

"M..my name is Arthur, sir." The lad nervously said.

"Well, Arthur, are you okay?"

I could see now that Arthur was very young. Arthur shook his head even though he tried to keep his face impassive. I saw how his eyes were watering.

"If you need to cry, do it; it is terrible to bottle up your emotions too long, young man."

As I finished giving my advice, the dam holding his tears back broke, and the child bawled snot flowed down his fur, slowly dripping to the floor. After a full ten minutes of this, he stopped looking back at me, clearly embarrassed.

"It's fine now why don't you tell me what is wrong? I always find talking about my problems to strangers relaxing. Maybe I just like to spread the burden, who knows."

For the first time, young Arthur smiled, which made me grin back. Then he told me a sickening story of betrayal from his family and how he is learning to survive in the wilderness. When he told me of learning how to use a knife, I gave him a round of applause, telling him he did an excellent job. Then about getting attacked by a boar and falling into this strange place beneath the tree, he slept in the night before.

"So there is a message above this pedestal that said you earned one chance at getting an item you need if you placed something important to you on it, right?"

Arthur nodded. "I put my pocketknife on it. That's all I had when I fell."

"I see. Well, I better give you something even better." I took a small cube from my pocket, willed some food and water, and a few old knives. That I got somewhere in the past. "This is a dimensional inventory, and judging by the widening eyes, I don't need to explain what that means."

"No, sir, but those are really rare. Only the King has one. It can hold three items."

Winking at the child, "well, this will hold a great deal more than his, I guarantee it. I doubt you will fill this soon, even if you stuffed every acorn in the woods inside."

"Hmm, that's strange. Are your wounds closing already?"

Arthur looked down "this is the first time something has hurt me. Are they not supposed to close?"

"No, they are, but over several days, not minutes. interesting well, at least I Can rest assured you won't bleed to death soon, but you better learn to defend yourself if you plan to stay outside of a town." Then I toss the cube through the small portal and watch as Arthur deftly catches it,

Arthur turned and bowed to me "thank you for this gift. I will keep your kindness in my heart forever, and should we ever meet again, will repay it tenfold."

Since it sounded like a traditional saying for the boy, I didn't object and said, "I will await that time. Good luck, Arthur, and may this gift help you on your path to greatness." (Okay, WTF, why would I say such a corny line)

As the portal closed, Arthur held out his hand, and a small book appeared. He opened it, tore out a page, and tossed it through. "Someday, if you're in trouble, write a message on that page, and if I have the power to do so, I will aid in any way I can."

Smiling warmly at the small feline boy, I watched the portal close.

"Well, that was interesting," Sue said from behind me.