“Oh, I can tell you that,” Lana said brightly. “They’re like these ultra-powerful aliens that control entire fleets and their territories cover entire star systems.”

“She is correct.” Alzigo nodded. “There are scores of them, spread throughout the galaxy. They usually keep to themselves and do not interfere in local laws or internal struggles, but they do enforce galactic laws. To anger them is to seek death. That is partly why I find the notion of an external force influencing your planet so unlikely. One of the first laws is to keep away from un-Infused planets and let them reach maturity on their own.”

His words were followed by a few more moments of silence.

“Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?”

“I do.” Lana cleared her throat. “Steering away from intergalactic overlords … there was something I wanted to ask about Paths, specifically a Path’s score.”

The tall alien looked at her expectantly.

“Some of us got a notification saying our score had increased, though none of us leveled up at that time. Do you know why that was?”

Alzigo shook his head. “I keep forgetting you’ve only recently been Infused. Yes, of course. Performing extraordinary feats that relate to your Path may result in a spontaneous increase to the score. It reflects an innate ability, a resonance you have with your chosen Path that makes you even more proficient with it. Whenever such an occurrence happens, the Tec in your body reconfigure and optimize, and that results in your score increasing. Mind you, it takes a lot of effort to improve oneself in that fashion, and as you raise in level, the harder it gets. There are easier, faster methods to improve your score.”

“Such as?” Nori said.

“As I have mentioned earlier: implants and augmentations, gene therapy, temporary chemical boosters, and such.”

Bulco looked up at their host intently. “Chemical boosters?”

Their host nodded. “Performance enhancing drugs are quite common in some colonies, though one must take care not to overextend himself when using them. If you’d like, I have several interesting--”

“No thanks,” the Engineer said, a little too quickly in Lana’s opinion. “If there was one thing my mama taught me was ‘say no to drugs’.”

Alzigo shrugged. “As you wish.” A light blinked over his arm and a small monitor popped open. He looked down at it and his jaws parted slightly. “A ship is approaching the station.”

“From Earth?” Lana asked incredulously.

“No. It is a small Inthidlon scout vessel. It just dropped out from Null Tunnel. I’m directing them to docking bay two.”

“What would they be doing here?” Nori asked.

The tall alien rubbed his hands together. “I suspect the news of a newly Infused planet has attracted the attention of some enterprising individuals. It is about time my station got more visitors.”

Nori and Bulco exchanged worried looks.

“Are we expecting trouble?” the Navigator asked carefully. “Our ship is an Inthidlon freighter.”