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The team spent less than a minute on Ramosus in 2561 before agreeing to jump
right to the coordinates of their newest mission. They were on a space
station orbiting a star that was 299 light years from the Core Colonies. It
would have to be a relatively fresh settlement, being this far out, and so
newly reached by the Project Stargate quantum seeder module. This placed it
well within the Extended Bubble, which meant it received no protection from
Teagarden. Whoever was here would have to claim and defend it on their own,
using whatever means they felt necessary. And if that meant violence, that
was their choice, and it was looking like the choice that they made.
Team Matic found themselves on some kind of station or ship. There were two
separate groups of people, standing opposite each other on either side of
the room. They were all completely silent, confused and nervous, likely from
having just witnessed seven strangers randomly appear through the
technicolor burst of the slingdrive. Leona looked back and forth. “I am
Leona Matic from a world known as Ramosus. I’m the captain of an outreach
program, attempting to provide volunteer services for worlds that lie
outside of Teagarden jurisdiction. How can we help?”
After some more silence, everyone began yelling. They were looking at Leona
for the most part, but also at each other. It was completely unintelligible,
but it was clear that the two groups weren’t preparing for a set dance. They
were at war.
“I’m sorry,” Leona cried. “Did you think I could help you if you talked to
me like that? Don’t answer that. Raise your hand if you are a leader
of any faction in this room.” She raised her own hand as that applied to her
as well. She nodded when two others did the same. “Well, that is much more
manageable. You two, step forward, and tell me what the problem is. One at a
time.” She pointed. “You first.”
“You’re right, I was first,” the man claimed. “This is our star. They
are intruders.”
“We came here fairly, just as you did,” the woman from the other side
argued. “It’s not our fault that you failed to lock out the quantum
terminal.”
“We did lock it out! You snuck in through a different terminal!”
“Oh, don’t you use that word. There was no sneaking. When we were
searching for a destination, we saw your lock, but then we saw another
terminal, and thought that maybe the other one was damaged and replaced. We
didn’t know you were here!”
“Wait,” Leona interjected. “There are two terminals. Who built the second
one?”
“The automators,” the woman answered. “We think that it was damaged en
route, so the nearest neighbor sent a replacement, but then somehow, the
first one fixed itself, and went back to its implementation procedures. He’s
on a moon; we’re on an asteroid. Now we’re both trying to colonize the
unaccreted zone.”
Mateo looked through the nearest viewport when a large manmade object
appeared. It was an expansive, complex space station. “How long have you
been here?”
“Six years,” the man answered. “We just found out about each other two days
ago.”
Mateo shook his head. They came here separately, and didn’t know it. It
didn’t seem crazy to him that it could have happened in the first place, but
that they could have spent quite this much time not realizing that it was
happening. Did they not ever detect each other’s radio signals, or did they
all stay pure quantum? Those weren’t necessary to answer. The solution was
simply, though probably hard on principle. “Space is big; even the space
within a single solar system. Have you ever thought about sharing the
star?”
They all acted like they hadn’t thought of that before, but now the
conversation could begin. The first thing they needed to do, however, was
sit down and relax.
