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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2914842" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 316“Loki, there’s nothing here,” Shadow said flatly after the third sensor sweep of the sector they’d jumped to.    The ship didn’t respond to her this time, as a fairly heated argument had just ended and he was busy sulking and trying to find out what had gone wrong. After a few more minutes of silence and staring out at the empty space around them, Loki finally ‘spoke’ up. [It is um...possible they made a second jump...]    Shadow’s eyes narrowed but they stayed focused on the nothing beyond the viewport, “Its also possible they were never here in the first place.”    [They were here.] Loki snapped back.    “Fine. They were here...” she sighed and gave the small, orange-ish coloured sensor board another bored look, “But they aren’t here now. That’s the problem, Loki. If you know they were here, can’t you tell where they went?”    [Can’t you?! What about that link of yours?]    Shadow leaned back in her chair to look straight up at the ceiling, “Loki, you know as well as I do its practically useless at these distances.”    Loki could not shake his head, but he sure was able to present the feeling through the Force clearly. [But its better than me just guessing.]    Yes, the link she shared with Jyren never went away. If he got himself killed on one side of the galaxy with her on the other, she’d still be stuck with the same fate. It was the mental ‘verbal’ communication that became more and more difficult over greater distances. Not that it couldn’t be done, but the strain it caused on the mind could be quite dangerous. It was one of those things that Alraxian society taught against from a very, very early age...right up there with teaching the dangers of metal.    Which, truthfully, wasn’t dangerous to Shadow anymore. So...why not?    Shadow closed her eyes to push away the distractions around her and began to focus on the part of her mind where the link always was. She thought...thought at it. Or through it...or...or something. It wasn’t something she would ever have been able to put into words. It was just that she found where it was and could feel the distance between herself and her other half. He felt so far away...and it hurt. It was a strange pain. Physical but not. There was definitely a reason why it was encouraged that linked Alraxians always stayed relatively close to one another. Sure, short stints apart were fine, but the more time that passed the more the real hole could be felt...and despite the short amount of time Jyren had been gone, focusing straight on that brought the troubles about right away.    But of all of her people, Shadow was the one who could fight through it. She reached through all the pain and found him...light years away. She couldn’t feel his thoughts or his emotions or even anything beyond the fact that he was there...but that was all that mattered. The second that Shadow found him, she held onto it with all of her will and just pushed. There was no other word for it, and no tangible thoughts that she was actually sending through.    And then she lost her grip, and was thrown back to the moment in one jolting second. Her eyes opened and she let out a long sigh. For the first time in at least a year, her head hurt. After reaching up and rubbing her forehead gently, Shadow mumbled, “I found him.”    [And...?]    Her shoulders simply shrugged, “And I don’t know. I just found him.”    Loki waited a moment, not actually sure if they’d gotten any farther than they’d been a minute earlier. Finally, though, he decided the question was worth bringing up. [So...what do we do now?]    Leaning forward, Shadow looked out the viewport at the black, noticing that there were only a few small dots that were distant stars in view. So empty out here...an old thought snuck back into her mind. How had Max done this all alone? She had always been with someone...even if it was just Loki, that was still someone to talk to. But Max, and most of the other smugglers she’d known, spent long, long periods of time all on their own. Alone in the blackness with nothing but their own thoughts.    Maybe all those years ago, she could have done it, too. But now...now she wasn’t so sure. After getting used to always have someone around...she just didn’t know. It was the strangest thing to be afraid of, and not a thought that Shadow would have ever expected of herself, yet it was still there. But then something happened. Something that jolted her out of the odd, and depressing, thoughts and back into a more normal mind set.    [Miss me?]    Shadow couldn’t help a smile at hearing Jyren’s ‘voice’ in her mind. She had felt the link open up only a half second earlier, just before Loki spoke up to mention a ship had exited hyperspace not far from them. But instead of responding to Jyren right away, she spoke directly to Loki in her old business voice, “Dock with the freighter, Loki...its Jyren.”    As Loki acknowledged and started adjusting his heading to meet the newly arrived ship, Shadow said over the link. [Can you plot a jump to the gateway home on your own, or do you need help?]    [I’d like it a lot more if you were here to help.] there was more to the answer than just the words, and Shadow found herself nodding.    With the ship ahead growing slowly in the viewport, Shadow got to her feet and headed for the single airlock. [I know what you mean...I’ll be there in a minute.]</blockquote>

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