Two days passed and Nate and Yoli still hadn’t had a chance to talk. Nate was worried that she was avoiding him now. He realized he didn’t have her link contact saved so he couldn’t call or video chat with her. This morning he was up before Jarris was able to blow the air horn to get the day started. Jarris walked out of his room and was greeted by Nate, fully dressed and taking his supplements. Jarris blew the air horn anyway, but this time with a big smile on his face.

  Without saying a word, they sprinted out of the apartment, out of Slop, and towards Kalazan’s training room. Jarris’ speed far surpassed Nate’s and was there in two minutes. Nate had already shortened his time down to fourteen minutes and fifteen seconds, almost a whole minute improvement after a few days. Nate completed the rest of his conditioning exercises for the morning and looked at the board to see his progress.

  "Hey kid, we have a change of plans today." Jarris said.

  "What’s up?"

  "Here." Jarris held out his link for Nate to read.

  It pulled up an article from a news organization. In bold lettering, the headline read: “Earth Votes No!” Nate grew wide-eyed and looked up at Jarris. The article continued to detail how Earth took an unusual amount of time to get the votes tallied and when the results came in the vote didn’t pass. A statement from the Union encouraged all those who came from Earth before the vote to go to a special link page that would detail next steps for them depending on if they wanted to return home or stay with The Union.

  "Jarris, I have to find my sister."

  "I know, I already reached out to my contact. He said he would track her down. Apparently, they already assigned her to a team and sent her to some recovery op. You have some options, but you have a week to either go home and stay or settle your affairs and come back."

  Nate nodded. "I need to go home and check with my parents."

  "I’ll help you with that... Do you know if you want to go home or stay?" Jarris asked with a gentle inquisitive tone.

  "Stay. This is where I want to be. But I want to get some things, and I need my dog."

  "Dog?"

  Yoli was off-world at the site of a major earthquake on an alien planet. Jarris was right, the Disaster Outreach Division or DOD for short, was desperate for healers. Since she was low-ranked, she was put on a search and rescue team in a first responder type role. She was able to do more good by healing up wounds as they were transporting victims to more capable hands. Every search and rescue team the DOD sent out had three to four members: one to two healers, and one to two strength-enhanced beings.

  Because Yoli had the mending ability, she was the sole healer on her team, accompanied by two lifters, as they were colloquially known. One of the lifters was a human woman named Solvei, the other was a yellow-skinned humanoid with pointy ears named Kiki. Kiki was a huge, rippling mass of muscle. Solvei was a lot taller and a bit more built than Yoli, but still human. Yoli, thirty-four and decently fit, didn’t have too much trouble keeping up with her teammates despite them being outwardly more athletic looking. What she couldn’t do, however, was lift massive pieces of rubble as smoothly or as quickly as her partners could.

  The team had a good strategy. Kiki and Solvei would remove rubble quickly until they got to a point where Yoli could get to someone and start healing. Kiki would then start removing rubble around the area while Solvei would help Yoli get the victim out while preventing any structures from coming down on Yoli and the victim.

  Yoli loved what she was doing. She was also learning a ton about her abilities and felt significantly better about her calming ability, given the environment she was working in now. She would calm her patients down and then get to work on healing. She learned early on that she couldn't heal big wounds outright, but if she focused on healing smaller areas instead of big injuries as a whole, she could eventually fully close a wound, it just took a long time.

  Yoli and her team had heard cries for help while walking through the disaster zone from a nearby structure and were investigating and removing rubble, attempting to get to the source.

  "Stop! Stop! Wait!" Yoli yelled to her crew.

  "What do you see?" Kiki called to her.

  "I can see them, but they are in a hole. I think Solvei and I can get down if we move a couple of these big chunks."

  Kiki and Solvei jumped into action and hopped up to Yoli to examine the scene.

  "Keeks, I think you are going to have to work from the top down on this one." Solvei said.

  The brute pair got to work making a hole for Yoli and Solvei to jump down. Once they got down to the victims, they found there was more than a single person crying for help. There were two women humanoids that had light red skin and yellow ridges and with them were four children.

  Solvei tapped the link on her shoulder. “We got six down here. It’s pretty tight, but there is enough space. Structurally, I think we are okay, but go slow.”

  “Copy.” Kiki replied over the radio function of their links..

  "Is this everyone?" Yoli asked the women.

  "Yes." the woman said, sobbing. "We were on a little walk while our husbands were playing cards and the building fell on us during the earthquake. Quan used her little shield to protect us. Do you know if our husbands are okay?"

  "No ma’am, I’m sorry I don’t. Are any of you injured?"

  "Just some cuts and bruises. We are all shaken up."

  Yoli nodded and gestured for one of the kids to come to her so she could heal her. The kid reluctantly walked to her.

  "What’s your name, sweetie?"

  "Moma." the kid replied sheepishly.

  "Hi Moma, can I see your arm?"

  Yoli examined a massive gash running along the child’s forearm. It was too big for her to heal in one go, so to get started Yoli activated her calming ability causing the space to fill with the smell of burnt bacon. Moma calmed down and even smiled as Yoli started using her mending ability to sew up her large cut from one end, working her way up the rest of her arm. Yoli’s hand had a light green glow as thin green laser-like lines emitted from her finger tips. As she moved her hand very slowly along the girl’s arm the wound closed without even leaving a scar.

  Yoli made her way through the rest of the small family. By the time she was finished, Kiki had made her way through most of the rubble pile.

  "Keeks, I think we just tie them up and pull them up rather than climbing. Everyone is healed and can walk."

  "Copy." Kiki responded.

  A few seconds later, a rope came down, and Solvei started to secure the kids for Kiki to pull them up one by one. Each victim, and then Solvei and Yoli, made it out safely. Soon after they walked away from the rubble, the small space collapsed. Yoli looked back, relieved.

  "Looks like we got out of there just in time!"

  The group walked to the nearest refugee center, where Yoli’s dispatch lead came running up to her.

  "Hey, Yoli, your brother has been trying to get a hold of you. Earth voted no. He wants you to come back and help him sort things out." Her dispatch lead said, huffing as he was slightly out of breath.

  “Oh, uh, ok I guess I need to go now then, huh?” Yoli said.

  “Yea, you should. That's so weird, though. Why not join?” Solvei asked.

  “You don’t know Earth. We can be very stubborn.”

  “You don’t say!” Kiki said sarcastically.

  "I’ll be back soon. Promise.." Yoli said with a smile.

  "We’ll be waiting, girl!" Kiki said.

  Yoli was already back in The Hub about an hour later. Back at Slop, Nate was bussing tables when Yoli walked out of the elevator.

  "Hey, Turd." she said playfully.

  "Hey! How are you? I… I’ve been wanting to talk."

  "I know, me too. I’m sorry about the other night. The DOD put me right to work. Should we go upstairs and talk and work out what we are going to do next?"

  "Of course."

  Back in Yoli’s apartment, they sat in the living room area, settling in to talk after Yoli had a chance to change out of her uniform.

  "I meant what I said the other night." Yoli started. "Well, most of it. I’m not going to be a contractor. I’m actually really enjoying what I’m doing now, but I don’t want you to think I think you are a bad person or a murderer, I think I said." she laughed off.

  "I know you don’t. And I promise I’m not going to get into anything unethical. I want to be a good guy, a superhero. Jarris has already taught me so much."

  "Good. So you’re staying then?" Yoli asked.

  "Yeah, I’m going to stay. I was reading up on the protocol, and it’s not like the Earth is totally closed off. It’s just a little harder to access. It’ll be up to Earth if they don’t want interstellar travelers, but until that time, it’s still free to access. We just have to hire a charter ship to take us."

  "That’s good. What are we going to do about Mom and Dad though? It’s been about a week and we haven’t gotten in contact."

  "I was thinking about that. The Union says that they still maintain open relations with a planet that doesn’t join them, just at more of an arm’s length, obviously. I think we should go buy a link and take it to them. What do you think?"

  "Yeah, that sounds good to me.” Yoli answered

  “Cool. Kalazan said he has a personal craft we could use. We just need to call Dalma and she will make the arrangements. We could leave tonight even, if we wanted.” Nate added.

  "That’s incredible! I say we pack a bag and go tonight then.”

  "Alright, I’ll call Dalma. Which reminds me, give me your link info so I can just call you next time instead of having to send a message through a friend of a friend."

  "Ew no, I don’t want you to have my number." she said playfully as she held out her link.

  Nate sighed but inside felt relieved that they were still on good terms and able to joke with each other. A little later, Nate called Dalma to arrange for the flight to Earth. He then called Jarris to let him know he wouldn’t be around tomorrow as he was taking care of things back home. Jarris had replied with a drawn-out lecture about making sure he still did his conditioning and took his supplements. Nate reassured him that he would follow his routine before ending the call.

  Night came and it was time to leave. Nate and Yoli boarded the personal craft Kalazan offered them which looked like a yacht that had been closed up to go underwater, or in this case, space. It was matte blue with a familiar yellow stripe that was just left of the center. The windows were tinted and the interior had extravagant wood floors arranged in a chevron pattern, beautiful artwork, and luxurious furniture. The overall feel was elegant yet homey at the same time. Nate wasn't at all surprised by this as he had come to realize that was Kalazan’s style.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  The craft took off and headed straight for the Planetary Nexus. As they came up and over the top of the tree, they started heading directly towards the booth area at the entrance of the Nexus. Nate was nervous, hoping that the ship wasn’t going to crash land into the booths at the base of the tree when he finally noticed behind the massive Nexus building itself was a huge window. The window was as big as three or four of the Nexuses put together and had smaller door-like openings adjacent to each other in its center. There were two lanes of spaceship traffic aligning with each door with a large metal apparatus stationed just before the door that Nate assumed was a scanning device of some kind. The ship stopped in the middle of the apparatus for a brief moment and then continued through the door.

  The ship picked up speed considerably once past the door, heading for a structure floating out in space next to the Hub. looking out the window to see what they had left behind, the siblings each realized this was the first time Nate and Yoli had actually laid eyes on the Hub itself from the outside. They had seen a picture from the class they took at the IC, but this was totally different.

  The ship banked, and straight ahead was a cylindrical array of circular objects with a familiar green center. They were gateways, Nate realized. These were huge though, each one looked to be about one football field across, and there were hundreds of them. As the ship ventured closer they could start making out other ships and the long line of traffic that some of the gateways had.

  Nate and Yoli’s vessel came to a stop in front of a gateway that only had one other ship in line. There was a large red light attached to the rim of the gateway and once it turned green, the ship in front of them went through. A voice came on from an intercom they couldn’t see; it was gargled like the microphone was maybe being chewed on by whomever was on the other side was talking into it. They did make out though that who they figured was the pilot asked them to take their seats.

  As they took their seats the ship inched forward to the front of the line and waited for the light to turn green. After about 10 seconds, it did, and they were off. The ship accelerated significantly and sped through the portal. Once they were on the other side, they couldn’t see anything outside the windows except for electrical currents lighting up thick clouds around them. Nate figured that was the reason the rumbling started.

  The pair were sinking further into their seats as the ship picked up even more speed. About twenty seconds passed before they broke cloud cover and could see open space again. They banked to the left and then they saw it, or at least a quarter of it. The gas giant Jupiter. It was unmistakable as they’d grown up seeing it in their school science classes. Now it was up close but getting smaller as they were flying away. Nate and Yoli were in awe at the sight of seeing a planet from their solar system for the first time up close and not in some textbook.

  "It makes me think of all the astronauts that said how your perspective changes when you get out to space." Yoli said.

  "Remember when Katy Perry took the penis rocket to space and came back crying and we all made fun of her for how out of touch her comments were? I feel a little bad now… still a rich prick though." Nate replied. Yoli laughed in amusement.

  The ship was still circling Jupiter but picking up insane speed. They had no way of knowing how fast they were actually going, but they started to feel the G-forces press on their bodies. They exited the orbit of Jupiter at such a high velocity the stars started to look more like lines than dots. The pressure of the gravity on their bodies subsided, and the pilot’s voice came back on. They said something about Earth and 10 minutes, that’s all they could make out.

  "Nate, we are in a spaceship right now."

  "I know, right? Dad would freak. Should we… snoop?"

  "No way, I…" Nate was cut off by a door opening to the passenger area where Nate and Yoli were sitting.

  A human of similar origin to Dalma and Kalazan entered the room.

  "Hi, I’m Mandiba." he said, with a different accent than that of Kalazan. "I’m your pilot and I would like to go over a couple things before we land. First, take my link info so you can let me know when you are ready to head home. You have about forty-eight hours to do whatever you need to do. Since your planet is letting you retain your citizenship, you won’t have to go through any border protection, but the big ship is going to have to stay outside of orbit for the duration of your trip. Once we get into high orbit, we will take the shuttle down to the surface and I’ll drop you off at your house. The shuttle is large, but it’s not big enough to pack up all of your belongings, so you’ll have to make some choices. Plants and animals are fine, but we have to declare them when we get back. There aren’t any restrictions for these things on The Hub since nothing is native there, obviously, but taking those things to other planets is deeply illegal. I think that covers everything, any questions?"

  The siblings shook their heads.

  "Great, I’ll come over the comm and let you know when we are in position. You’ll feel us come to a stop, but when we do, just go through these doors here and hop in the shuttle and I’ll be right with you while I lock up."

  "Thank you, Mandiba." Yoli said.

  "You’re welcome, Miss." Mandiba replied with a warm smile.

  The ride down to the planet was significantly bumpier than exiting Jupiter. Looking down on planet Earth from space was another inspiring moment for the pair. How insignificant their size was compared to the vastness of the planet, let alone the galaxy. The Earth had voted to not join the Union and now would be left to continue their age-old squabbles knowing there is so much more out there. The shuttle was narrowing in on the western part of the U.S. where the sun started to set behind the Rocky Mountains.

  After a while, they were flying over the city of Denver to the suburb where their parents lived. They slowed down as they approached their hometown, then their street, then their house. The shuttle, which was the size of a small box truck, landed on the side of the street behind Nate’s car where he parked it almost a week ago. The door to the shuttle swung upwards like a DeLorean, and a set of stairs expanded down to the grass parking strip below.

  "I’ll be holed up here until you’re ready to leave or go somewhere else, just shoot me a message and I’ll get the engines spun up."

  Nate knocked on the door and could immediately hear Charlie let out one continuous howl of a bark like he was pushing all the air out of his lungs at once. After a short wait, their Dad opened the door and his jaw went slack. Without saying a word, he pulled them both in for a tight bear hug.

  “Hey, kids.” he said, choking up.

  “Hey, Dad.” they both said.

  He released them, and Charlie launched at Nate, almost knocking him off the front steps. Nate sat down with him as his body continued to wriggle and wiggle, unable to contain his excitement.

  “Hey, Chucky.” Nate said softly over and over again as the big black lab started to calm down. He was breathing heavily with a soft whine coming through each breath. He calmed down all the way from his initial excitement and rested the top of his head in the middle of Nate’s chest as Nate scratched and patted his neck and body.

  “Good boy, Chuck.”

  Then the kissing started. The licks were fast and vigorous.

  “Alright, alright, that’s enough making out, bud.”

  Nate got up from sitting down with Charlie and walked into the house. Their Dad and Yoli had already walked in to see their Mother so when Nate went into the kitchen his Mother pulled him in for a desperate embrace.

  “My babies, oh, when was the last time I had you both here?” Their Mother said dramatically like she was in a broadway show.

  “Christmas, Mom, we are here every year.” Yoli said, like it was obvious.

  “Oh, too long, too long.” Their Mother added even more dramatically.

  “Ma, you’re being over the top. We haven’t even been gone a week.”

  “My babies went to some alien spaceship and you think I didn’t worry?”

  “Good point.” Yoli replied.

  “Hey Dad, did you see our ride?” Nate asked.

  The four of them all walked out to the shuttle where their Dad had a chance to examine and sit in the pilot’s seat. Their Mother, of course, offered the pilot some food, to which he declined. Nate gave him a good nudge with his elbow, to which the pilot reversed his decision.

  Back inside, Mom made a couple of glass dishes of creamy chicken enchiladas, Mandiba took his plate back to the shuttle so the family could have some privacy. Dad was the first to speak up, asking to know everything. Nate and Yoli relayed every bit of information they could remember. Everything from the people they’ve met, their attunements, the arena fight, training, and working with the Disaster Outreach Division. They showed demonstrations of their abilities, to which their parents were completely dumbfounded just as they were the first time they saw magic up close like that.

  The conversation shifted in tone. Yoli spoke first.

  “Mom, Dad, we are staying at the Hub.”

  “We know. With everything you’ve told us so far, why would you come back here? Please don’t worry about us. It’ll be like when you both moved out, it’s not a big deal.” Dad replied.

  “Yeah, but getting back isn’t as easy as jumping on a plane though, guys. I don’t know how much it cost, but Kalazan let us use his private ship and pilot, so I can’t imagine it was cheap.” Nate added.

  “The only thing your Mother and I have ever wanted was for you two to be happy, safe, and successful. Nate doesn’t seem like he is going to be safe… but you seem happy. I can settle with that.”

  “The President came on and said they were working out a deal with the Union for tourist travel, but it fell through. Our currency doesn’t translate, we don’t have the technology yet, and they won’t deal with singular governments, only joint planetary resolutions. I’m sure it’s pretty complicated.” Mom said.

  “We will be back to see you guys as often as we can." Yoli said. “We will be back for Christmas at the very least.”

  Mom smiled but was tearing up. She couldn’t speak.

  “Oh! We brought you something!” Nate pulled out a link and tapped it to his and Yoli’s.

  “This is a link. They’re like intergalactic cellphones. You can message and call us using these. I texted Peggy and Kalazan not too long ago letting them know we made it, and they both replied, so they should work.”

  Dad took the link, examining it and then placing it down gently, seeming fairly uninterested.

  “You can use the Codex, get news, all that other stuff too.” Nate added.

  “Awesome, thank you.” Dad said. He was interested in the tech, but more interested in his kids by getting the conversation back on track.

  “So. How long are you staying? You both have jobs and stuff to get back to, right?”

  “Well, we were thinking we could pack up the essentials and head back tomorrow.” Yoli replied.

  “Actually… could we maybe go to the lake?” Nate asked.

  Everyone looked around shocked at first, but huge smiles quickly crept on their parents' faces and they nodded in agreement.

  The next day was Nate and Yoli’s last day on Earth for a while and it was filled with packing and getting ready for the lake. They stayed at the lake for hours, Nate threw the ball for Charlie over and over again. They rented a boat and did some cruising and tubing. It was a picture-perfect day, and the siblings felt like little kids again.

  After the day had passed, it was finally time to go. Both Nate and Yoli had decided to leave their pets behind since they didn’t know how they would be able to take care of them given their schedules. Nate and Charlie spent a good long while cuddling and hugging and kissing before it was time to go. There was no dry eye amongst them as they boarded the ship and flew off back to their new life amongst the stars.

  The flight back to the Hub was almost silent. Nate and Yoli both reflected on the day, seeing their parents and their pets and spending time with them at one their favorite places to go besides home. They hadn’t even been gone a week, yet the weight of it all was pulverizing and they hadn’t realized it until they left..

  Yoli had done this before. She had gone to university in New York, done her residency there and landed a big doctor job. She had normalized this a long time ago. She was 34, she had hit all the milestones that are typical for an American woman, except for marriage and having babies. The last two she was perfectly fine waiting for until it felt right, if at all. She was a successful and fiercely independent woman at a young age. But now the figurative world had flipped upside down. What was success defined as now? What was expected of her now?

  Yoli was always looking forward; she was an excellent planner and could always see the end of the road and what she had to do along the way. But the possibilities were truly endless now. Nate and Yoli’s perspectives had reversed overnight. Nate was now the one who knew what he wanted, knew how to get there and what it would take. Yoli was left wondering, and she was scared of it.

  Did she want to stay on with the DOD? Did she want to study alchemy? She had told Nate she was going home as soon as her powers were stronger. Once she could heal things like cancer, she’d be gone. But now she was hesitant, second-guessing herself. Did she want to leave the galaxy behind and go back to being a doctor or not?

  On the other side of the ship, Nate’s mind was at home. He hadn’t left home like this, he’d moved out of the house to his own apartment when he got a steady job and could afford it, but he’d only moved 10 minutes away. He was sad he had left Charlie behind again. He would bring him to live with him eventually, but not while he was going to be away at school. The promise of the future pulled him away from the life he left behind. He would miss his parents, his dog, his easy job. This wasn’t a quick vacation like originally thought it would be.

  He had powers now though, and that was a pretty awesome compromise. He had 3 months of training left to go before he entered the Academy and after that, who knows? Would he be a mercenary, a gun for hire? Or would he be a treasure hunter like those pirate-looking folks he had seen when he first arrived at the Hub?

  What about Yoli? She would be fine he thought; she always had her life figured out. This was Nate’s time to shine. He was enjoying training, he was enjoying using his powers. He could teleport a short distance now, but in the future he would be able to do more. Whatever happened during school, whatever happened after, one thing was perfectly clear to Nate: he would never stop getting stronger.

  The siblings arrived back at Slop where Hal’s band had already gone off stage for the night and last calls were going out. Gemma had the kitchen fix something up for the pair as they sat in a booth.

  “Back to the crew tomorrow?” Nate asked.

  “Yea, you?”

  “Training. School is in three months so every day counts.”

  Yoli nodded in silence.

  “You ok?” Nate asked.

  “Yea, I’m fine. You?”

  Nate sensed there was more there that Yoli wasn’t sharing, but he didn’t prod.

  “I’m good. I’m going to miss them. This will be the longest Charlie and I have been apart. But it’s what’s right for him. It’s what’s right for me too.”

  “Yea. I remember when I left for New York I was worried, but it’ll pass. And we have such an awesome support system that we stumbled into here. It’s honestly a miracle.”

  “Yea, literally the best possible outcome.”

  They both smiled and nodded as the conversation drifted off to silence.

  “Well, I should get some sleep. Jarris is gonna wake me up bright and early.”

  “Yea, same. I need to make it back to my crew.”

  With a conversation where more was not said than was actually said, Nate and Yoli went to their apartments and went to sleep with the anticipation to embrace their new normal.