"This is your home?" Xiao Yan marveled as she looked around her.

"Uh… no. It's not." Remian grimaced.

Only when it was too late did Remian realize his mistake.

'Home' referred to the homeworld of the guy who made the formation, not Remian's homeworld. This was… this was…

"I had been wondering where the Black Ruins Civilization disappeared to. Now I know." Remian mused.

Indeed the truth was just too obvious to miss. They (still in the pod) were in a large black hall built in the exact style of those ruins. Unlike the ruins, this was filled with light and there were people visible through a long gla.s.s window above. One in particular was looking at them, a rather annoyed looking guy who kept staring at Remian with a frown, waiting expectantly, but not saying a word or making any move for the time being.

Cautiously, Remian opened the Pod and stepped out.

A voice came out over some speakers. "Slotho! Snuzi ramah keraso?���

It was the frowning guy, and he looked impatient.

"What?" Remian blinked.

"Oh? You are Corpo-man?" the man changed language. "Open doors! Full decon!"

"Huh?" Remian stared blankly. Lacking any better ideas, he tried to glean the man's intentions from his thoughts rather than his words.

Only then did he understand.

Every s.h.i.+p arriving would be scanned, as their were and the scanner had found a great deal of alien micro-organisms on Remian's Pod, many of whom were undesirable and even downright illegal to bring into this world. The Pod, himself and Xiao Yan all had to go through some decontamination process.

"I guess we have to get cleaned up." Remian understood, and sent the Pod a Psionic command. Main doors, ports, bays… everything opened up.

In moments, jets of hot steam filled the arrival chamber. Beams of different colored light swept through in rapid succession. One such light sweep made Remian feel like he'd been toasted. Another felt slightly electrifying. Others made him feel weird in ways he couldn't even express and did not have the time to fully sense. There was vibration sweeps and then a bare moment in which all the air in the room seemed to disappear and he had the sensation that he was going to be swept out into sheer nothingness for a millisecond before suddenly air flooded back into the room and he staggered sideways before regaining his balance.

"Waa!" Xiao Yan yelped.

"Relax! It's okay! It's okay." Remian a.s.sured her quickly. "We're fine."

But the man said, "Five hundred Cua!"

Remian's face fell. Clearly he was asking for payment. "Uh… I don't have any Cua…"

The man frowned impatiently. "Equivalent!"

So other currencies worked? Remian hesitantly took out a Black Spirit Crystal. "This?"

The man sniffed. "Five Black!"

Whew. At least that was recognized. Remian didn't know what he'd do if neither lir nor spirit crystals were recognized as currency here. Apparently, a Cua was of equal value to a Yellow Spirit Crystal.

The man rolled his eyes at Remian. "Corpo-man no Cua, only have Empire money. Lardi-nas!"

Oh? So the Corpo-faction guys didn't use crystals for money, they used Cua. It was a different faction, some Empire or the other, that used crystals as currency.

Regardless, both were galactically recognized…

Wait. What?!

Remian suddenly felt stunned. While on Xiao Yan's world, he merely felt like he'd entered a secret land of sorts, never really feeling the impact of what he'd done…

But now, he really felt it. In the arrival hall of a much older, much more advanced civilization and facing concepts like factions who were known across the entire galaxy, Remian finally felt it for real.

"I really did leave my entire world." He gulped.

***

Actually, the arrival room staff didn't know that much about the galaxy either. The Quarin (previously known in Remian's mind as the Black Ruin Civilization) were just one of the 41 nations among the Cla.s.s 6 human factions, and though they were an interstellar community, they were just a minor group in the bigger galaxy, nothing compared to the Orion Empire that used Spirit Crystals for currency, or the Blue Star Conglomorate, which often sent their Corporation Men (corpo-men) to Quarin worlds on business.

That much, the staff guy (named Sreso) knew because he was an Arrivals Keroa (the word was specific to the man's job scope which was a mix of greeter, janitor, and guard. Often it meant he was mainly there to scan arrivals, run decon, and make sure they paid their fees) and it wasn't his first time 'greeting' corpo-men. The Quarin received a lot of business from other factions, even other species, mainly for the sake of mana.

"Mana!" Remian jumped.

That's right. The Quarin were experts when it came to mana. Their use of mana crystals and magic tools was at the very forefront of the Cla.s.s 6 human factions. Remembering the Black Ruins and the devices they'd found, Remian felt like he should have guessed as much.

"Go regi!" Sreso the staff guy pointed to the door, which now had a soft green light outlining it. In farewell, he said, "Always happy!"

Remian's eyes widened. He responded, "Because always happy means more sales!"

Suddenly he felt like he had a pretty good idea who the corpo-men were. Between that and the reference to mana, Remian abruptly felt like this world wasn't quite so alien after all.

***

Remian's first priority was trying to get back to his own world.

The second was to bring back as much mana as he possibly could! Remian thought about how badly his world needed mana. If he could bring back a lot of it, he could very quickly become extremely rich.

This was especially true since he had about 30,000 Black remaining. How much mana could 30k Black buy? But he had to be careful not to overspend. He still had to find a way home first, and there was no telling how much that cost.

But abruptly, Remian felt himself turning extremely heavy.

"Uwaah!" Xiao Yan fell to the ground, and looked like she was pinned down. Even the Pod started to creak.

"What… what's going on?" Remian gasped.

To that, Sreso's voice sounded out again. "You… are under arrest!"

"What? Why?" Remian protested.

"Scans report. That Pod was lost 349 years ago! You are not the rightful owner! By Quarin Law, that Pod was stolen!"

Remian gulped. "I found it in a s.h.i.+pwreck! And isn't it just an Escape Pod?"

There was some hesitation. "Quarin Law says… but Corpo-men Law…"

It was clear he was facing a rather complicated dillemma.

"Anyway! We must hold you and call Corpo-men!" Sreso decided. "You talk to Corpo-men when they arrive!"

***

Mindy slowly opened her eyes to see a dwindling campfire.

"You're awake?" Jans was there, looking bruised and battered, but alive.

"Ugh…" Mindy slowly stirred. "Where are we?"

"We're almost at the Rift." Jans pointed.

Slowly, Mindy looked around. They were camped right at the border of the woods and the dead lands, separated from the blackened ground only by a few trees and bushes. Ahead of them, hiding behind a few bushes, Wulfgar and Joshu were eyeing the Rift.

As for the camp itself, Tang Yin was asleep to one side, Denise was by the fire with Jans on another and Mindy was lying down at a third.

"Where's… everyone…?" Mindy asked thickly, trying to think through the throbbing pain in her left thigh.

"This is everyone." Jans told her slowly.

Mindy froze. "This…? Herman? The Recon group?"

Jans shook her head wordlessly.

"What about Remian?" Mindy asked.

"No sign of him."

Though she felt like crying, a dark bit of humor had Mindy ask, "The Spectres?"

To that, Jans pointed. "Over there."

Indeed, there they were. Five Tier-3 Spectres that looked remarkably familiar were lurking around the Rift, directly between them and their destination. "Are those the ones we tried to avoid earlier?"

"We tried to avoid them yesterday, yes."

Yesterday, huh? It was already a whole day ago. All things considered… "If that's all, we're not too badly off."

"Actually, that's not all. There's more on the way." Jans told her.

"Great." Mindy grimaced. "What are our chances of survival?"

"Pretty low." Jans admitted.

Mindy got to her feet. "Do you have anything to live for? Anyone?"

"I have a sister." Jans glanced over at Denise. "Joshu and I have been dating. Does that count?"

"It counts. So try to stay alive." Mindy ached all over, and ached inside, but she gripped the hilt of her sword tightly. "Even if it's hard. We have to try."

For a moment there, she felt like she was back at the Ravens Tavern in Fort Spoas, with Mandy whispering these very same words to her during the hard times.

"We have to try to stay alive." Mindy said looking at the Rift. "And we have to seal that thing up."