“There’s a Terran embassy on Callisto, and they have a little bespoke distillery there. They claim the grounds of the embassy are technically Terran soil under the terms of the treaty between Earth and the Jovian Imperative, so: bourbon.” She put the nozzle to her lips, squeezed the bag, held the liquid in her mouth for a moment, and then swallowed. “Ah. It’s not the system’s best whiskey, and the whole ‘genuine bourbon’ thing is just a publicity gimmick, but it’s tasty enough. This batch was a gift from a diplomat we took on a speed run last year, and free liquor always tastes better.” She handed the bag over.

Elena had never been a great fan of whiskey, preferring cocktails, but she was happy to be drinking with Callie, and she took a small mouthful. The bourbon was sweet, with notes of caramel and vanilla, and burned pleasantly on the way down. “Mmm. Thanks.”

“My pleasure. Sorry we can’t sip it from a glass on a cozy couch somewhere. Maybe once we’re under thrust again we can come up with a reasonable facsimile.” She looked at the windows. “Want to watch the sunrise with me?” She tapped the viewport. “Should be a nice view, seeing the dwarf star appear over the planet as we move to the light side.”

They stood in silence, boots sealed to the deck, taking occasional sips from the whiskey as the planet slowly shifted in their view, revealing a widening slice of the red star on its far side.

Which, it became apparent, wasn’t a star at all.

Chapter Fourteen

“Are you seeing this?” Callie addressed her question to the ship at large.

“Uh, yeah,” Janice said. “Kind of hard to miss.”

“What?” Ashok said, and then a moment later, “Oh. Woah.”

“Do I even want to know?” Stephen said. “I’ve been cocooned in a hammock with my eyes closed.”

“The star… it looks like a ruby,” Elena said.

Callie had expected a red dwarf star, but instead they beheld a star-sized gem, gleaming, faceted, and softly glowing. “Any idea what we’re looking at here?”

“Dyson sphere,” the ship said.

“No, it’s not, because nobody’s ever managed to build one,” Janice said. “They tried to do it way out in Arcturus, but they went over budget and abandoned the project before they even really got started. Squatters live in the ruins of the construction office now.”

“Apparently they have better project management skills in this part of the universe,” Drake said.

Callie put her face close to the glass. The ruby sphere was beautiful and terrifying. “I thought the point of a Dyson sphere was to surround the star with solar collectors to harness all the energy? This one’s letting all the light out.”