Jess pulled the Wanderer out of jump space then slumped in his seat.
“That’s it,” he said. “We’re clear.”
“That took a lot longer than I’d expected,” said Ali. “We’re halfway to the next star system!”
“More like a third of the way,” replied Jess, the Wanderer pushing the information into his tired mind without prompting.
“So did we get what we needed?” asked Clay.
“Not really,” replied Jess. For a moment he said no more, not wanting to face what had happened, then his resolve wavered. “We didn’t get a straight line route. We did find one that would require a course correction in an area of jump space that is more stable, but following it doesn’t lead into the safe route we’d first found. Any ship would need to change direction again at that point, and for any other ship that mea
