"Unlikely. But if you're worried about it, I reprogrammed the wormhole controller, this wormhole now has an entirely new set of emergence points. If there's an armada waiting at one of the old emergence points, they'll be waiting for a very long time. Like, forever."

I resisted the temptation to say that is something he should mentioned before we left Earth. "Great. Super. Program a course through the wormhole for us."

"Done."

"Pilot," I paused. This was it. Most likely the last time I'd ever be within a hundred lightyears of Earth. All the cheeseburgers in the universe couldn't make up for that. "Take us through."

"Aye aye. Engaging autopilot now."

The transition through the wormhole was the nonevent it always was. One moment we were on one side, then next moment we were a hundred or more lightyears away. "Transition complete," Desai reported, "and, we're right where Skippy said we would be. If these displays are accurate."

"They are," Skippy said cheerily. "Everything's fine, Joe, no problems with the ship."

"Do your thing, Skippy." I ordered, with just a tiny bit of apprehension. If Skippy double-crossed us now, there wasn't anything I could do about it.

"Confirmed." The display screen showed that, behind us, the wormhole's pool of light blinked out, seventeen seconds early. "Wormhole deactivated."

"It won't reset, reboot, nothing like that?" The display, which had shown the wormhole as a brightly glowing symbol, was now blank. In deep interstellar space, there wasn't anything other than the Dutchman within a lightyear.

"No, never. The wormhole generator has been shut down, disconnected from its power source. Like I told you, if you decide to use your magic bean, you need to give it thirty eight hours to come back online. Forty two hours, to be safe."

The magic bean Skippy referred to was the Elder wormhole controller module in the cargo hold, connected to my zPhone, that could bring the wormhole back online for a one-time use. For us to get home, without Skippy. A magic beanstalk that led home. I'd insisted on having it, Skippy relented reluctantly after a long argument. Again, it wasn't about us actually getting home, it was about the possibility. Hope. "Thank you. Excellent. Where to next?"

Skippy answered. "How about that blue star over there?"

Desai waved her finger at several blue stars in the display. "There are a lot of blue stars. Which one?'

Skippy chuckled, with a soft blue glow. "Does it matter?"

THE END