“That’s our working theory. We figure your ship ran into a group of Liars. Maybe even a band that’s never encountered humans before, and weren’t sure what to make of you. We’ve never documented any violent clashes or attacks, but sometimes… incidents happen. Some of the Liars enjoy making adjustments and improvements, even when no one asked them to. Many of them have a spirit of… experimentation.” Callie thought about Drake and Janice, but mentioning their experience as the sole survivors of a shipwreck “rescued” by a group of Liars wouldn’t be very comforting to Elena right now.

“Why would they alter our ship, though?”

“Maybe they thought it was broken, or lost, or just needed aesthetic improvements. Who knows?”

Elena sat forward, eyes shining. “But they wouldn’t have hurt my crew? My colleagues might still be alive out there, somewhere?”

“I have no idea, Elena. Something happened to your crew. Maybe you’ll get your memories back, and you can figure out where to go from there.”

“If they’re still alive, I have to find them. Can I – would it be possible – to backtrack? Does the Anjou have a record of where it’s been?”

“Ah. Yes. But it doesn’t make a lot of sense. It looks like you traveled about fifty light years in under thirty seconds.”

Elena slumped. “That’s obviously impossible.”

“Well… yes and no. It is possible to travel that far, or even farther, that quickly. But your ship couldn’t have done it. The Liars opened the galaxy to us, but the Anjou doesn’t have that kind of tech.”

“The Liars gave you new propulsion technology?” Elena leaned forward, clearly deciding to focus on something other than the fate of her crew. “That Tanzer drive you mentioned? The Anjou could get up to about ten percent of light speed, but it took time to accelerate, and we used explosive nuclear reactions for propulsion. But the kind of speeds you’re talking about, don’t they violate the laws of physics?”

“It’s not about speed. Our ships are faster than yours, and most are powered by Tanzer drives – they’re basically magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters, but they use a ridiculously efficient propellant the Liars developed… and I see your eyes glazing over.”

Elena winced. “I’d blame my cognitive impairments, but in truth, physics and engineering were never my specialties. As long as our family car drove itself reliably, I never thought much about what was happening under the hood.”