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you?” he asked Gilbert.
    Before Gilbert could answer, Hal said, “Forgive my friend’s bluntness, but we’re looking for a friend named Jon. Have you seen him?”
    “Well, now you’ll have to pardon my bluntness,” said Gilbert. “I think we all know why you’re here and Jon’s no friend of yours. In fact, I’m pretty sure you want to do some very unfriendly things to him.”
    “I’m sorry, who are you?” asked Hal.
    “Oh, I’m just a guy that got stuck here and I’m now in the middle of this mess between you and Jon.”
    “I can help you get out of the middle,” said Hal.
    “Thanks, but no,” said Gilbert. “I’m afraid I don’t know you well enough to let you screw me.”
    “So it’s like that, is it?”
    “No other way.”
    “Well, soon we’ll be out of this room, then what?”
    “I’ll be gone.”
    Hal looked over at Stace, who shook his head no. “I don’t think so,” said Hal.
    “We’ll see,” said Gilbert, flooding their section of the room with sleeping gas.
    “You’ll need to do better than that,” said Hal, unaffected.
    “Okay,” said Gilbert. On Gilbert’s signal, Ellie tried multiple methods of incapacitating their unwanted guests. The fourth attempt, a neural disruptor, did the trick.
    “These guys are well supplemented,” said Ellie after scanning them. “Lots of implants, most geared to keeping them alive. I almost overloaded their systems with the ND. We can use it once, maybe twice more before it kills them.”
    “I don’t want to kill anyone.”
    “Softy.”
    “Hey, it’s bad karma.”
    “You’re kidding, right? These guys have probably done so much bad in their lives that karma is just waiting for someone like you to even it up.”
    “Forget it. Stick with the plan.”
    “Roger that.”
    A few hours later, Hal and crew opened their eyes. They didn’t like what they saw.
    “Where are we?” asked Hal.
    “I don’t know,” said Stace. “This location wasn’t in any of the information I downloaded.”
    “I think we’re outside,” said Bret, stating the obvious.
    They were, in fact, outside, but in a small glass dome surrounded by the planet’s lethal atmosphere. The sole function of this dome was to communicate to the occupants that they had done something wrong and were now in a time-out.
    “Can you get us out of here?” Hal asked.
    “No way,” said Stace. “This place is off the grid. We’re stuck here.”
    “Hello, gentlemen.” Gilbert’s voice filled the room.
    “Still here, are you?” asked Hal. “I didn’t think you’d be able to leave.”
    “Let’s talk about you. How do you like your new accommodations?” Gilbert asked. “Great view, huh? I have no problem leaving you there while I figure this all out. Though if anything happens to me or say I just forget about you guys, you could be stuck out there for a while.”
    “Enough already, I know the drill, you want to make some kind of deal.”
    “Smart boy,” said Gilbert. “The room you’re in is actually a full teleport station. Since the teleports are down, I moved you there on a transport and I’m not that inclined to move you back in. What I am inclined to do is open up a communications channel that will allow you to bring the teleports online. You can then either return back here to the main building or go where ever you want. I, of course, will use that opportunity to leave for parts unknown. Or I could open a window for you.”
    Hal looked at Stace. Stace shrugged. “Deal.”
    “Stand by, I need a few minutes to finalize things at my end.” Gilbert closed the communications channel to the dome.
    “Okay, Ellie, as soon as the teleports come online, send me to the coordinates Jon left.”
    “Righty-O, chief. I still have a few tricks that will slow them down so you’ve got a few hours before they’re out of here. Too bad you’re their only lead, they’ve got no choice but to go after you.”
    “Yeah, seems I’m lucky like