Chapter 26
Jess breathed a sigh of relief as the Wanderer left the wormhole and crashed through into normal space once more. The Wanderer quickly confirmed that they were back in the Southern Sector, and reasonably close to the arms dealer’s system.
“It’s like we’ve hardly been away,” he said.
“Not quite,” said the Guardian. “Travelling through the wormhole greatly reduces travel time but it’s not without its costs. Time passes more slowly within the wormhole than outside it. You have traversed two wormholes recently. Recently from your point of view at least. Nearly a year has passed since you first entered the Quarantine Zone.”
Jess struggled to take that in, then asked the Wanderer to check. They’d emerged into a system with two large gas giants orbiting it. Sure enough the
