I made it back, what more can I say? I was stuck inside the little one-man lifeboat for a few hours. I hope that Darah got the coded message that I had made it. I was picked up by the Darrington ships and returned to Darrington station. I saw a few old friends there. My folks weren’t there, they had returned to Cincan. I was stuck at Darrington for the time being. There was still fighting going on at Cincan and Darrington would not risk a ship.
I did manage to get through to Cincan on the radio. I talked to my mom and dad; we had a happy and tearful reunion. They had almost lost hope for me; no word had reached her since I had been abducted from Whitehead Station. No one received the cover story which Zaro and the Whitehead Captain had concocted; that I had been taken to the Trojan to be re-united with my parents. As far as everybody was concerned, I had just completely vanished from Whitehead, nobody had heard from me in over eighteen months, and I was presumed dead.
Les and Susie were okay! They had stayed at Whitehead and had survived the riots. They had reestablished normal communcation with the Trojans, and with New Eden after it had been liberated. They hadn’t been able to establish normal contact with Cincan yet, but underground channels were available. So Les had already contacted her parents. Susie’s parents had been contacted as well. And I heard that Susie was walking and talking now. Her first word was “ball”. We had raised that kid right, after all!
I am something of a local celebrity and hero. I had been to the Gates of Hell and back. EarthNet wanted to make an After-School Special about my adventures. I told them no way. Instead, I told EarthNet I wanted to write my autobiography and asked for a very large sum and a percentage of sales. They said they’d think about it. I haven’t heard from them since.
I don’t know what has happened to my friends from Dannelon – Robert, Darah, Sandy, and the rest. We are on a war footing with the Outer Planets and all communications with them have ceased. I’m sure Robert survived, especially with the help of the little package I gave to him as a going away gift. Darah and Sandy probably got into a whole lot of trouble with their father. For the Triton excursions, for their friendship with me, they probably even got blamed for the destruction of the Saint Anne. But I’m sure they survived as well; all Darah had to do was to flash that petulant look of hers at her father, and he would melt down. Only she, of all the people in the world, could bring out that last remaining vestige of humanity in Zaro’s soul.
Maybe after all of the silly fighting is over with, we can have a reunion; as long as it’s on my territory. And as long as Zaro is excluded. I don’t imagine he likes me very much after I helped to blackmail him, kidnapped his kids, and blew up his ship. That’s okay, the feeling is mutual.