Once Thorn put him down, he turned to Viera, and his emotions dropped. His sadness washed over her. He trudged over to her. “Ms. Kor, Tiffany’s gone.”

She dropped to her knees and gave him a hug. “Oh, sweetie. I know you two were good friends. I’m sure you can still message her.”

“I know, but I miss her. And it’ll take so long until I can go home … you know, my real home, Abritos. But not forever, so why make new friends on Earth? It’ll just end like Tiffany. It’s all awful. I just want friends to grow up with.”

She hugged him tighter. “Can I be your friend?”

He sniffled. “But you’re an adult. And when we leave Earth, you’ll stay there, so you’re like the rest, aren’t you?”

She smiled at him. “I know, but we can still be friends until you leave, can’t we?”

He wiped his nose on his arm. “I guess.”

Behind him Betsy put her hands on his shoulders. “I know he seems broken up, but believe me, we had some good times while you all were gone.”

He looked up at her. “Well, that’s true. We did. Tiffany just left a few days ago, and Betsy was great.” He sniffed. “I’m sorry, Ms. Kor. I just miss people.”

She gave him another hug before standing up.

Thorn’s face was soft as she watched them. “Okay, bud. We’re going to pack and head back to Earth. How much time do you need?”

“I’m ready to go now. Well, no … maybe a half-hour?”

Betsy ruffled his hair. “Well, I need about an hour.” She shook her head. “That is, unless that rascal, Wes, has messed up my room again.”

Thorn threw her head back and laughed. “No take-backsies. You asked for the ven, now they’re yours.”

The group turned to their rooms, but before they got far, Balzeno approached. “Earthling, Pillar Viera Kor, I am glad to have run into you. Are you planning to stay on the station for a few days?”

Tingles of shock prickled up and down Viera’s body. She licked her lip, dry from shock that the dwarf had acknowledged her again. “Um, sir, er, Elder Balzeno. No, I’m afraid not. We need to get back to Earth. We’re just here to pack and pick up the crew who didn’t travel to Abritos with us.”

One of his bushy brows quirked up a pinch and he smiled slightly. “Very well. We’ll have to find another time to talk. Maybe I’ll visit that magical planet of yours. Until then, I have a gift for you. With your trifecta of powers, making you the youngest Elder ever, I know that your magic is hard to contain. Time is a tricky proficiency. I’ve created this bauble for you. I hope you’ll accept it.”

He held out a small silver bracelet, simple, but elegant. It was made of two intertwined bands. Where they crossed there were tiny leaves or flowers all in silver. In the center of each flower was a small amethyst.

Viera held her hand as stable as she could to take the beautiful trinket. Before she could grab it, Balzeno slipped the bracelet on her wrist and clasped it shut. Viera could feel the magic pulsing through the metal, though she had no idea what it did. Apprehension filled her. “Thank you.”

“May time always be on your side, my dear.” He winked, then spun on his heel and sauntered off.

Behind her, Flower Prancer snuffled. “Ms. Kor, we’ll need to figure out the magic in that artifact. Meet me in the training room in two hours.”

She groaned as she headed off to pack.

***

It didn’t take Viera long to get the things on Torville Station Number Six packed. Most of her belongings were already on the Ziner. Once she was done with her stuff, she helped Scout with the ven and Thorn with her stuff.

When they got to the ship, she and Thorn went to their room to unpack. “Do you think Scout will be okay?”

Thorn sat on the edge of the bed. “I think so.” She leaned back on her hands. “He’s been moved around a lot.” She let her head fall back as she thought. “I’ll tell him when we get home and things get finalized that we’re heading back … home. He’ll be happy to know we’re taking this final jump.” She shook her head. “Deciding to have Violet take over on Earth so we could return to Abritos was the right decision but it’s suddenly all happening so fast. I may need to find some of his old friends and their families and get them on the short list to return. I don’t want him to be lonely.”

Viera leaned against the wall. “So, he’ll come home with you. What will he do during the day?” As excited as she was for Thorn and Scout, the realization that this was the beginning of the end felt like she’d been hit with a ton of bricks.

She sighed. “I don’t know yet, but I don’t want him to be on Earth alone. He needs to be with me. There are probably other workers with kids who will be coming to help rebuild. He won’t be alone.”

“Okay, yeah. With the transporters, the kids can all be corralled during the day. It should be manageable.” Viera’s mind started putting the pieces together for a world so unlike her own.

Before anything else could be said, an alarm came from the panel. Viera tapped on the wall. “Ms. Kor, it has been two hours and three minutes. You’re late.”

Viera bit back a groan and Thorn covered her mouth as she chuckled. Viera plastered a smile on her face. Her mom always said a smile could be heard over a phone line; this was probably the same thing … right? “Sorry, on my way.”

With a wave, she headed out the door and ran. The urgency in her had her running faster than she’d ever run before. There were a few people in the halls, but they were just standing still, probably checking out a data pad or something on a panel display. She didn’t spend time analyzing as she made her way to the training room at top speed.

She burst into the room to find Flower Prancer backing up from the panel. His violet eyes snapped to her. “Ms. Kor, you’re here.”

“Well, yeah. You just snapped at me for being late. Why wouldn’t I be here?”

“I just messaged you, Ms. Kor. It’s been mere seconds. Did you have Horax or Ensign Snow transmit you down here?”

The familiar sensation of frustration bubbled in her. “Of course not. I just ran. You made it sound important, though with days of travel and nothing to do but train, I don’t know what a few minutes matter.” She took a deliberate breath to calm herself. “But no, I just ran.”

His voice flat with disbelief, he said, “That’s impossible, no one runs that fast.”

She clenched her jaw for a moment. “I passed people in the hallway, Elder.”

His eyes narrowed before he stepped back and shook his head. Then his eyes lowered to the bracelet. “Do you feel winded? Sore?”

Viera paused, realizing she didn’t. She felt a bit nauseous, but beyond that, the run didn’t feel any different than if she’d walked to the room in an easy saunter. She lifted her arm to gaze at the bracelet. “I think you may be right. I need to know what this bracelet is doing to me.”

***

It took most of the trip to the GPS and beyond to figure out how the bracelet controlled her super-speed. The ship wasn’t the best place to learn its features. Viera also realized it helped her control other aspects of time magic.

When she went to shower, she couldn’t figure out how to take it off, and neither could Thorn, so it stayed on. One day when she met the dwarf again, she’d have a list of questions a mile long.

After the Ziner passed through the GPS, the krottel ship was spotted near Earth. Two messages were sent, but true to form, they didn’t respond. When they got close enough to confirm the ship was within a day's travel to Earth, Thorn sent a message to Earth warning them. Viera hoped they had their sensors listening for incoming messages. They hadn’t thought the krottel were anything to worry about, but the ship on their sensors told a very different story.

Chapter 24 - We Come In Peace …

Viera

As the Ziner approached the krottel ship, Flower Prancer, Viera, and Juniper headed up to the bridge. Betsy was already there. They all sat at a table in an alcove out of the way of the bridge crew. Viera watched as the krottel ship grew in the display, outpacing the size of Earth.

Trembling, Viera whispered. “There are so many bugs on that ship.”

Flower Prancer gazed at her. “Ms. Kor, we are far from them. Are you saying you can feel them?”

She realized her nails bit into the palms of both hands and tried to relax. “It’s like … we know they’re a collective with a queen, or several queens. Because they pushed their sensing magic into me, I’m somehow still—” a shiver ran down her back, “—I don’t know.”