"Well," said Jacen, "that was certainly exciting. For the ten seconds when I actually was aware of what was really going on."
"Yeah," said Jax. "So, where to next?"
"I have business on Deneb IV," said Talgan. "Your uncle will provide me transporation there."
"That's quite a ways away," said Jax. "Don't we have any more business anywhere near this sector?"
"Oh, aye," said Sean. "Tha' we do, sure. But sometimes you just have ta do things in a certain order. We've got quite th' summer planned, ya know. We'll be doin' a lot more than we usually do in such a short time period. Oh, it's all the sort of thing we usually do, but sort of condensed, for your benefit. Tryin' ta pack a lot in, show ya a real good time, lads. -Well, tha', an' it just happens much of what we've got to do is happenin' on a time table beyond our control. But not quite all of it. Still, we've been able ta set some things up such that one thing leads to another. It'd be nice if one thing could lead to something just a couple o' light years away, but it jus' don't always work like tha'. We'll be back hereabouts later. Now, y'll hafta settle in for a couple weeks o' readin' till we get ta Deneb."
And they did.
Finally, they got there. Jax and Jacen had tried to get to know Talgan during the voyage, but without a great deal of success. It can be rather hard to get to know a Klingon in such a short time. But they got to Deneb, and everyone got off the ship.
"Uncle Sean," asked Jax, "are we ever gonna get to know what Tal's doing here?"
"Now lads, we must keep some secrets, mustn't we? If he wanted you ta know, he'd a told ya. Listen, though, we all of us have a great many contacts around the galaxy. Maybe he's gotta talk to someone. None of our business. Listen, we're takin' off again tomorrow, early. We'll stay in a hotel tonight, won't tha' be nice? An' before tha', we'll do a little sight-seein'. This is a somewhat popular vacation spot, y'know."
"What sort of sights?" asked Jacen.
"Well," said Christie,, "this is Deneb, after all. One thing we really must try ta see is a Denebian Slime Devil, eh, Sean?"
"Oh, aye, Christie, tha' we must."
Jax, Jacen, Sean, Christie, Benton, and Jithro spent most of the afternoon wandering through swamps, while Tuk procured hotel accomodations for them, and played a little dom-jat in the lounge.
"It's getting dark," said Jax after several hours. "Oughtn't we to get back someplace warm and dry soon?"
"Ah," said Christie, "but Jax, lad, we haen't seen any devils yet. Don' ya wanna see a devil up close an' personal?"
"Sure," said Jax. "But I hope it's soon."
"Over here!" called Jacen, almost on cue. Jax and Christie ran in his direction, while Benton and Jithro approached from another direction.
"Ah, good eye," said Christie, looking where her nephew was pointing.
"Tha's what I said," said Sean. "He spotted it before I did, an' I've done this before, y'know."
"Why's it hiding under that stump?" asked Jax. "Aren't they supposed to attack humans?"
"They're competent predators," said Sean. "They understand odds, more or less. If there were just one or two of us out here, it might attack, unless it wasn't terribly hungry. With the six of us together, it probably would prefer to avoid conflict."
"Well," said Jax, "now that we've seen it, isn't it about time to get to the hotel?"
"Jax," said Christie, "you really don't sound as if you've been enjoying this much."
"Oh, I enjoyed it alright for the first hour or so. Then I started getting rather bored. I think for the last few hours to have been worthwhile, I'd have to see it more closely than this. An attack would probably be an improvement."
"Well," said Sean, "maybe next time. But now, you're right, Tuk'll be waitin' fer us. He's probably already beaten ary Starfleet in th' inn. He mus' be getting bored."
"You four go on ahead," said Benton. "I think Jithro and I would like to take a few pictures. We'll catch up soon."
So they did.
They left the next morning, and Jax and Jacen found they were going to have another long trip before stopping anywhere. Nearly a week. They were heading for Jithro's homeworld, Sauria.