Metafire

"Well, I am pleased to meet you. Sorry about your girlfriend, Jack. We'll try to help you find her, or at least what happened to her. I'm the only one of us that has completed space training. I'll guide you. You get to learn as you go, along with Steven here."

Jack noticed how much of a people-person Jim seemed. While Steven was friendly, he was a bit tough. Jack wondered what it would be like in close quarters with him. Would he behave reasonably, or would he act like he was better than Jack.

Ferguson started in with the instructions. "The launch is tomorrow, guys. We have to get you to Vandenberg tonight. The capsule has been set up. Jack, we've got it all equipped with your computers. Ya'll will be going in with orders from the NSP to join with the Metafire colony. Your first join will be Metafire Two. They have a space cavern being set up right now. Metafire One is being tendered over to Discovery for a join with the Russian capsule. We will hold Metafire One and the Russian capsule in Discovery until they agree to accept your join with Metafire Two. They won't have a choice. We are not going to tolerate their saying 'no' again."

"Now, guys, we can't give you guns for obvious reasons. We thought about it, and we really don't want you to have any kind of piercing projectiles or even high voltage electrical devices. Anything could happen. These capsules are easy to damage. New Boston has enough meteorite damage. We don't need guns up there.