After speaking with Doctor Nord, and the man assuring him that Yulia was now eligible for the advanced healing treatments, he returo his shop. He o secure housing for his neted daughter. As well as other things a child of her age might need.

  It was crazy to think a child relied on him now.

  As he entered his shop, he found it even more destroyed than it was when he left. “What the hell!”

  Nothing had been taken, and there were little evideags ohing. There was also a notice stuck to the door.

  Evidence was collected in the processing of case 98-3-21-2398

  He went to the terminal down the hall to look up the case number. From his resear station w, he knew all case records were made public. It didn’t take him long to find the case log and figure out why they had trashed his shop, instead of just taking images of the damage that was already present.

  Victim: Alexander Kane

  Accused by two defendants Gino and Svadi Coal of harb restricted items. A search warrant was issued for the premises. ricted items were found. The se was recorded, and no further a was taken.

  Alexander had been so caught up in his worry over Yulia that he hadn’t even knowation security had raided his shop.

  Again with those damn ons. They weren’t even funal! But somehow those two meraries had spotted them the first time they had entered his shop. Had he known a single g the damn things would have caused Yulia to get hurt, he would have destroyed them the moment he created the stupid things.

  He checked on the rest of the case. It had been a day or two sihe attack, but he didn’t expect muent. He roven wrong on that at.

  All crew of the Devil’s Bargairied and victed for piracy by the cil. They have all received a sentence of death.

  It was quite surreal for Alexander. He hadn’t met any of these other meraries, a he now learhey were all victed of the attad sentenced within a day. And why did the report not list their names like the previous report did?

  This was just another remihat life was not worth what it was ba his day. The ws here were swift and brutal for certain offehat didn’t mean he felt any remorse for these people. If not ht part of the attack, they still assisted the two men who did. If they hadn’t, those men wouldn’t have been oation.

  The only thing that gave him pause was sideration for Yulia’s past. Hopefully, the memories of that time were long fotten. He certainly wasn’t going t it up.

  Alexander flicked off the case s and started searg for appropriate housing. That along with Yulia’s agreement to allow him to bee her parent was all that was holding up the process.

  Finding a house wasn’t a challenge. Even on the sed ring, there were ‘houses’. He would have preferred to pce her somewhere nicer, but with not being able to use the normal lifts, he retty restricted on where and when he could travel acrs. As for Yulia agreeing to the adoption. He was about 80% sure she would.

  The young girl seemed quite enamored with him in a way she wasn’t with anyone else. The few times he had seen her i with other adults, she turned shy or withdrawn. She had a simir rea to Eva, even though that woman seemed to be able to get ao talk. He didn’t hold it against the retiree for w for Captain Na. He didn’t even hate the Captain. He just didn’t trust his or the station's motives after everything that had happened so far.

  After flipping through listings, Alexander found a small space that could double as a house. It was even in the same se that his shop occupied. There would be a lot more ing in his immediate future, he was sure of that. After purchasing the space for half a year, he closed that window.

  He had to sit there and think for a bit. The decision was far more important and long-reag than a simple house. Ever since he had realized he was no longer uhe restris Yuri pced into the holo emitter, he knew he was going to move on from Petrov. He had even stated as much whe with Headmaster Wong. Even if none of the past few months happened, he kaying here wouldn’t get him any closer to figuring out how he got trapped in this body. The attad the station selling him out only reinforced the o leave.

  Alexander hadn’t put any serious thought into where he was going to go though. Maybe a part of him hadn’t ever believed he would be able to free himself from the trol box. At least not without destroying the only thing that had kept him awake. That moment before the pulse bst tore the old holo emitter apart, Alexander felt genuine fear. It was masked by the rage he felt at the time, but looking ba it now, he knew what the emotion was.

  Alexander rubbed his hand across the surface of his body. His sensitive fingers couldn’t find the seams of the repair. His body was now pletely unblemished. But he had stared at the damage for over three years, so he could trace the tours of where the damage had once been.

  The fact that the damage had been fixed by a process he didn’t ua a chill down his metaphorical spine. Whatever had aplished the feat was clearly beyond human teology. It rekindled his o know where he had e from and how he arrived in this state. That o know had slipped into the background as he was forced to spend his time trying to just survive.

  If what he believed was true, he o step out on his own. He couldn’t have the STO, or these corporations breathing down his neck as he searched for evidence of his past. If his body was of alien in, there was no telling eople would do to get their hands on it.

  And holy… He wasn’t willing to work for aher than himself. Alexander decided to write Dr. Lund first.

  Dr. Lund,

  First of all, I just wao thank you for assistih the few questions I had. Our discussions were eye-opening. I’m messaging you to let you know, I will be turning down the offer to join your research group. Some things have ged for me retly, and it simply wouldn’t work.

  I uand what you are doing is important. But I feel w for myself is simply the better option. If you ever feel like getting out of the theoretical game, send me a message. I may have a job for you instead. Please keep in touch.

  Alexander Kane.

  He hit send on the message. Depending oher their ship was near a station with a Q or not, it could take hours or weeks to get a response.

  Before he sent his message, he did some research. Uhe station’s listing for properties, there wasn’t oral pce to find properties for sale across human space.

  Instead of wasting his time trying to locate ohat would fit the goal he had in mind, he tacted a real estate agency located in a core world called Ganos.

  “Fidelity Properties, My name is Violet. How I be of assistaoday?”

  He was surprised to see a video window pop up instead of the standard text interface. The video came through grainy, but he could hear her just fine.

  “Oh, it appears our e is rather rough. I do not see any image, are you hearing me ok?”

  “…I am. Sorry, Violet. I’m on a public terminal, and I don’t think it even has a camera.”

  “Oh, that’s fine. How I help you today…”

  “Alexander Kane. I’m looking for a property.”

  “That is wonderful news, Mr. Kane. What type of requirements are you looking for in this property?”

  He listed off the items he would need. Even through the grainy video, he could see the woman frown slightly.

  “Those are some very specific requirements, Mr. Kane. May I ask what sort of budget you are w with?”

  Wheold her the amount, she immediately perked up.

  “Well, that will certainly make things easier. It may take some time to find something that meets your needs, but I believe it is doable. Do you have a timeframe?”

  He wao say no, but he holy wao get off this station as soon as he could. “Is a couple of months doable?”

  She tapped in some items on a s off to the side. “It will limit your options to already vat properties. But we should be able to make something work. Do you have a personal number I tact you at?”

  “Not currently. I have a mert at though, so just send any correspondehere.” He sent the mert at information to the woman.

  “Alright, I have the information and what you are looking for. We will be in touch soon, Mr. Kane.”

  He thahe woman and closed the e. Alexander knew requiring the property to be outside of STO-trolled space was a big ask, but it was mandatory if he wao work in peace.

  The message was a bit more difficult for him to send. First off, he didn’t want to rely on anyone else if he could avoid it. That obviously hadn’t helped him so far. But he didn’t have the resourecessary to buy a ship, learn to fly it, and operate it all himself. He could purchase a ship and pay a crew, but that money would be better spent purchasing his new home.

  He was also forced to sider where this home would be. It certainly wouldn’t be on a world that humanity wanted. But it did o have a breathable atmosphere. Wherever he ended up o be safe enough for Yulia, yet outside of the STO’s reach as well as any local gover. There was no point shug off the reins of the STO, only to be saddled with some local force that was equally as shitty, if not more so.

  In his research, he knew humanity had explored quite a bit farther than they currently cimed for territory. The thing is, nominally habitable worlds, were not all that rare. Earth-like ps were, but there were still five of those that posed the core worlds of the STO’s territory. And they had another dozen worlds that were being terraformed as they were poputed. If you didn’t like that, there were orbital instaltions like Petrov, satellite ies, bubble habitats on worlds like Mars, and eveain asteroid instaltions.

  There was no ck of space to live. Humanity had picked the closest and easiest-to-reach targets to occupy and the rest was just waiting for them to expand outward at a ter date. He figured their reluce to spread themselves out too far probably had a lot to do with their run-in with the Shi, the first alien species humanity had entered.

  He added that to his list of things to research. It wouldn’t do him any good to establish a home in some distant world, only for those aliens to show up.

  Another major sideration was supplies. Wherever his base of operations ended up, it would likely need stant replenishment from shipping. It might be a decade or more before he mao establish a self-suffit ey, if ever. It really depended on what resources the world had to offer.

  Then there was hiring workers aing families over and… He paused, his mind spinning from all the details. Details he didn’t o worry about at the moment. It was at times like this he wished he could take a calming breath. Instead, he tered himself as best he could in his mind. Then he posed his message.

  Jasper,

  Is your offer still good? I may need some assistance. tact me as soon as you get this message.

  Alexander.

  Now he would wait and see.

  He closed the terminal and headed back to his shop to . Then he would head to the neartment.