"Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of your species who lack the ability to process new facts and adapt, but with humans those are mostly old people, their brains no longer are able to process new information. Or they're just lazy. But with some species, even the young have difficulty with facts that conflict with their rigid belief systems. I am impressed with humans. There, I said it."

"So, we're not just bacteria?"

"Don't push your luck. You're bacteria with potential now."

Thirty seven minutes later, an alarm sounded in the cockpit. "Excellent!" Skippy reported. "Two Kristang ships jumped in, a frigate that is sending us a homing beacon, and a destroyer."

"Where?" I asked anxiously as Skippy displayed on the bulkhead screen our position relative to Paradise, the two Kristang ships and various Ruhar ships.

"I have loaded a course into the nav system."

"Got it, sir." Desai confirmed. "Hold on tight everyone, engaging autopilot."

I hung on as the Dodo's engines roared and we surged ahead. "Skippy, how far? How long until we rendezvous?" I repeated, an anxious eye on the display. There were a half dozen Ruhar ships that were uncomfortably close.

"The Kristang frigate is accelerating to match our course, we will meet in three minutes and six point three six seven four nine seconds. Approximately."

Approximately? Adams and I exchanged an amused glance.

"Huh," Skippy gave a good imitation of a grunt, "that was good navigating by the lizard pilot, they jumped in about as close as their technology allows. Got to be luck, no slimy lizard is that smart. Colonel Joe, it is going to be close, two Ruhar ships are preparing short range jumps to intercept the Kristang frigate. I couldn't conceal the lizards jumping in, or the Ruhar would realize something is wrong with their sensor systems."

"Do they see us?"

"No, they're tracking the frigate. The Kristang destroyer is moving to provide cover for us."

"Great. And you're sure that once we're aboard the frigate and it jumps away, you can spoof the frigate's nav system so we'll jump to a different location than the destroyer?"

"What? No, I told you, I need to physically jack in first before I can establish any sort of control of the ship. Duh. Weren't you listening?"

Holy shit!? "Skippy, what the hell? You said you could-"

"I said that I could make whatever ship takes us aboard jump to a different location than any ships that are escorting it."

"Yeah, and? Don't you need to-"

"Hahahaha! Oh, you're cute, Colonel Joe. You think I need to hack into the lizard's computer to screw with their jump drive? No way, dude! I'm going to distort spacetime at the last picosecond, so their jump drive field skews off course."

"You can distort spacetime?" Simms asked incredulously.

"Uh-huh, yeah." Skippy answered flippantly. "It's sort of a hobby. I tried collecting stamps, but messing with the universe is so much more relaxing."