They’re here, he thought. But then he realized he wasn’t even sure who they were. The Djarik? The Aykari? More bounty hunters? He thought of the Orin huddled in the stone hut behind them. They knew this sound, an engine’s roar. They’ve probably seen ships like ours before.

Ships like ours.

The bright beam of the transport’s landing light shifted, and in the less luminous glow of Skits’s own spot lamp, Leo could finally get a good look at what was hovering over them. The ugly yellow paint, rusting over in spots. The protruding stabilizer fins. The scorch marks and cracks in the hull from one too many scraps with starfighters from both sides. Leo squinted against the swirl of dust as Boo waved with all four arms.

The Icarus found an open spot to land and moments later, Baz strolled down the landing ramp, pausing to scan the ground around the ship.

“Don’t worry, no worms,” Boo said. “Leo ate them already.”

The captain flashed Leo a questioning look. Leo shrugged. “We came as soon as the lightning cleared. Everybody okay here?”

Leo and Boo nodded, but Skits wasn’t content with a simple yes. “My god, Baz, you won’t believe what all you missed. We helped the little bat-eared people build a great big stone circle, which was incredibly boring. Then the ship rat almost got electrocuted, which was slightly more exciting. And then Nine and I decided that we are officially coupled, which obviously was the only good thing to come out of the day.”

Baz looked from Leo to the pair of robots, their extendable claws interlocked. “Yeah . . . we can talk about that last part later,” he said. “For now we need to get back to the station. Crayt says he has something to show us. Something big.”

“How big?” Leo asked.

“Let’s hope it’s save-a-planet size,” Baz replied.

Leo glanced back through the open door at the Orin all huddled together, looking out with uncertain eyes. Let’s hope, he thought.

Our understanding of this element, like our understanding of this universe, is only in its infancy. There is so much to be discovered, so much stored potential waiting to be unlocked, so much power waiting to be unleashed. We must commit ourselves fully to that discovery, to not simply follow the path that our Aykari mentors have laid out before us but to forge new paths of our own. To apply our capable intellects and vast imaginations to the problems that continue to plague our own precious planet, and also threaten to destabilize this equally precious Coalition of worlds that comprises our much larger home—this great galaxy we find ourselves only neighbors in, rather than rulers over. I believe that humanity is up to the challenge. I believe we are on the cusp of something great. And I believe that ventasium can—and will—provide the key.

—Dr. Calvin Fender, excerpt from TED Talk, March 2050