However, he was a captain, which made this a legitimate colony world recommendation. With a sigh, Tanaka checked his codewheel, punched in his code, and let Interstel know he would be handling it as his first assignment.

  Tanaka's first impression was that Andi was not a top-flight navigator, but barring an accidental flight through a flux, 'he' was adequate. They made good time to their destination, and soon were in orbit around a pleasant-looking planet with blue oceans and green continents.

  Just to see what they were capable of, he had one of his androids (Andee) run a surface scan and frowned.

  "Huh," Tanaka said, glancing at the readout over Andee's shoulder. The android couldn't coax the sensors into giving him a read-out of the atmosphere, nor of several other details a good science officer should be able to manage. Well, it was a good thing he was the usual science officer, and not one of these androids.

  It didn't matter overmuch. Tanaka wanted to get some idea of what the local flora and fauna was like and would be taking atmospheric samples to ensure there were no hazardous viral or other contaminants before he felt comfortable walking around on the surface without a terrain rover or an environment suit. At least the Android had a gravity reading, which was... well, barely within tolerance for a colony world, if he were honest -- a full two Gs. This would be a tough eval.

  "All right," he said, pointing. "Land us somewhere around there."

  Descent was quick, and there was a heavy "whump" as the ship made contact with the planet’s surface. Tanaka grimaced as he felt the heavy gravity's effects, but between the terrain rover and environment suits it would be safe even if the gravity was several times higher. It wasn't optimal for colonization, but it wouldn't disqualify the world, and he would be able to endure it with no ill effects, even if he was stuck on-planet for some time.

  "All right, everyone into the rover!" Tanaka ordered, unstrapping from his seat. The androids made their way down to the cargo bay straight away, but he had to stop and grab his suit's helmet on the way. That was why he was the last one to the rover, where four identical androids were waiting for him.

  As the rover collected the local air for study, the atmospheric readings puzzled Tanaka. Nitrogen and carbon dioxide were the atmosphere's primary components -- which was perfectly fine -- but the next most common gaseous element was argon. He expanded the list, but no matter how far down the list he went he didn't see oxygen.

  Surely no-one would recommend a colony world without making sure the planet had oxygen, right?

  They got to the nearest beach, and Tanaka asked one of the androids -- Ann D. -- to collect a water sample for study while he worked to calibrate the atmospheric sensors. He was so absorbed in trying to find out why he couldn't detect any oxygen that he wasn't paying any attention when 'she' returned, holding out the sample jar. Had he done so, he might have noticed that her hand was badly damaged as she held it.

  Not paying any attention, however, he reached to take the sample jar from her, not even noticing that there was still some liquid from the ocean still dripping off of the jar. Not until he put his hand around it did he notice anything amiss, as alarms went off on his suit warning him of a loss in suit integrity, and his hand started burning. Emergency repair foam sealed the leaks before the suit lost too much air pressure, but the damage to his hand wasn’t so easily fixed.

  "Shit!" he cried, dropping the jar. Fortunately, it didn't break, or he suspected the rover would have been in serious trouble as it ate holes into the floor.

  Whether the planet had oxygen or not, there was no way he was accepting a recommendation to colonize a world whose oceans were that toxic.

  "Seriously!?"

  Hiro rushed his way back to the ship, ordering Andi to take the ship up and fly them back to Starport, fast as they could go. Unfortunately, by the time he made it to the sickbay for treatment, the acid had burned its way through his environment suit's glove and was burning his hand.

  Andee, upon seeing the wound under the glove, turned to the medicine cabinet. A moment later, he came back with a self-adhesive bandage.

  "That's it?" Hiro asked incredulously. "That's all you're doing?"

  "This unit is programmed to apply bandages to small wounds," Andee said. "That is the limit of my medical knowledge."

  "...seriously?"

  After raiding the medicine cabinet for the chemicals needed to neutralize the acid (and only then allowing Andee to 'treat' the burn by protecting it with a bandage), Hiro made his way back to the ship's bridge. He turned to Ann D., who was still undergoing self-repairs from her own encounter with the acid.

  "I... don't suppose you're somehow a top-tier translator, are you?" he asked.

  "This unit is incapable of any form of translation," Ann D. replied.

  "Then... why didn't you say anything when I made you a comm officer? Translation is your primary duty!"

  Ann D's reply was prefaced by the whir of its internal computer system cooling itself down. "Query: Is this a rhetorical question? This unit is incapable of understanding the nuance of rhetorics."

  "Seriously!?"

  Back at Interstel headquarters, with his wounds all healed, Hiro started writing up his evaluation of the recommendation. He wasn't entirely sure where to start.

  "Clearly, you recommended this world intending to get the colony world evaluator killed. There was nothing to indicate the world was habitable, everything was a deadly hazard, and I nearly died..."

  He sighed, shaking his head. No, that was... well, how he actually felt, but he had been told the captains would be getting one warning. No matter how bad the recommendation was, he should do that.

  "Due to the lack of oxygen and a lack of water, this planet proved unsuitable for colonization. You have been fined 100 Mu. This is only a warning." Tanaka grinned slightly as he wrote the final sentence. "Your next fine will be heavy."

  At the moment, he wanted nothing more than to fine Ware so heavily he had to leave Interstel.

  He sent the evaluation off, then stood up. He had a swindler from Personnel to find.

  Tracking down the personnel guy who had convinced Tanaka to take on an all-android crew wasn't going anywhere. Someone named Xenon had blamed someone else called Borno, but he wasn't sure that was right. As best as he could tell, both were Interstel employees -- or at least they had access to the Interstel message boards -- but beyond that he couldn't even confirm either one had anything to do with personnel... or any other department, for that matter.

  He was still trying to get access to the personnel department's duty roster when he found himself grabbed and slammed up against a wall.

  "What's the big idea!?" a steaming mad Captain Rodney Ware demanded. "I send you a colony recommendation for a perfectly good world, and you fine me for it?"

  Tanaka was just about on his last nerve, but succeeded in reining in his temper for the moment. "Your 'perfectly good world' had no oxygen, and the oceans were so caustic it ate through my encounter suit and injured a member of my crew. Of course, I fined you! It wasn't even a real fine, anyway -- just a warning."

  "It could still have been terraformed, couldn't it?" Ware snapped, dropping him onto the ground. "The world looked great! Idyllic! Now, don't fine me again!"

  Tanaka would have told him that Interstel didn't have the tech or the resources to do that kind of terraforming, but by the time he'd stood himself up and dusted himself off, Ware was already gone.

  Tanaka sighed, straightening his uniform. "Seriously?"

  Deciding that replacing the Andies could wait for a while, Tanaka resolved to get out of the station as quickly as possible. He needed to give Ware a little time to cool off, so went to the message boards to find the first colony world recommendation he could that had nothing to do with his former classmate.

  Ware had made at least twenty recommendations since he saw that last one, but there was a single entry that wasn't attributed to him. Apparently, it wasn't attributed to anyone, as there was no name attached -- there should be one in the log buoy around the planet, however. He quickly snapped it up, and almost sprinted to the space dock to get on his ship.

  Had he been in little less of a hurry, he might have noticed the date on the recommendation was earlier than any of Ware's recommendations, even the one he'd already serviced. In fact, it came several weeks before the first Interstel exploration expedition had left. Unfortunately, he failed to notice anything, and thus was wholly unprepared for the mystery he was about to stumble into.

  Hiro Tanaka had thought that Ware's world recommendation was careless, but it wasn't outright fraud. When the ISS Albatross arrived at the co-ordinates 131 by 105, however, he couldn't explain the recommendation he'd received in any other way.

  Someone had recommended a planet that wasn't there.

  "Seriously?" he snapped. An odd feeling washed over him. The androids were incompetent, so... "Andi, report -- how certain are you of our co-ordinates?"

  "Confirming. One hundred percent certainty," Andi replied. The androids weren't all that useful, but they could be relied on to be honest, so Hiro felt confident they were at the correct location.

  "Then--"

  Before he could finish that thought, an alarm klaxon sounded. "Encounter!" Andi called out. He might have been an emotionless android, but the anxiety was clear to Tanaka's ears. They were a scout ship with no shields, no armor, and no weapons. If this was a hostile, they would have no choice but to run.

  There was only one contact on the radar, thankfully. Acting as the science officer, Hiro targeted a scan of the contact, and the result was... surprising.

  From the silhouette, it looked like another Arth-based spacecraft. An advanced model of the Intrepid class, which was... odd, to say the least, given that none of those ships were supposed to be in service, yet. But there it was. And, from the readings, it was heavily damaged. And it wasn't moving.

  With some trepidation, Hiro kicked himself out of the navigation station and floated his way over to the comms. Maybe his supposed 'comm' officer could handle this, if there were actual Interstel personnel who spoke Arthling on that ship, but he didn't want to take any chances on the introduction.

  "Attention unknown vessel. This is the ISS Albatross. Come in," he called. The standard Interstel protocols dictating what words were to be used when hailing another ship were still held up in committee, so Hiro was free to use his own words, but right now he was wishing he had that guidance. "Are you in need of assistance?"

  "Reply coming in," Ann D. noted. "Broadcasting now."

  A familiar voice crackled out of the speakers. "...trieve our black box and return it to Interstel. I wish.... Repeating: ISS Intrepid issuing emergency distress call. By the time anyone gets this, we're likely already dead, but it is critical that the information we have be returned to Interstel, ASAP. To anyone who can hear us: Please, retrieve our black box and return it to Interstel. I wish.... Repeating: ISS Intrepid issuing emergency distress call..."

  "Max?" Hiro whispered. How could Max Zarfleen be dead? That... wait, how could the Intrepid even be out here? She was still being built. When leaving Starport, Hiro had passed by the drydock where they were still installing the mounts for her engines. Nothing about this situation made any sense -- not the least of which was the idea that Hiro's Academy buddy, Max Zarfleen, might be dead.

  There was only one way to get answers, though, and that was to do what the distress call requested. Hiro glanced at Ann D. "Let me guess -- no-one ever bothered programming you with the protocol for remote retrieval of a black box?"

  "Correct," Ann D.'s electric monotone replied.

  Shaking his head, Hiro grabbed the comm panel's manual and started looking up the protocol himself. He was supposed to have returned the manuals after his first shakedown cruise, but until he replaced his androids with a competent crew, he'd be using these extensively.

  It wasn't long before his ship was receiving a data dump that included a lot of telemetry, some maps and charts, and a ship's log. Figuring it was the quickest way to determine just what was going on, he put the ship’s log on the screen to read.

  "Captain's log, Stardate 14-05-4620. 16:22.06. Why didn't Interstel provide me with a more experienced crew? I would assume that testing a prototype of a new ship class such as the Intrepid would rate a high personnel priority. My crew are rookies, as I am, just out of the Academy with no advanced training at all...."

  When he was done reading the log, Hiro let himself drift in the gravity-free environment of the bridge while he thought. There was quite a bit to unpack. First, assuming this black box was authentic, time travel must be possible -- the very idea was both intriguing and terrifying, given the possibilities it presented. Second, Max Zarfleen, his classmate and friend in the Academy, was going to die. Or had died. Or... well, might have died? Was there a chance to avert this possible... future? Future past? Past? Perhaps that would be a question for Professor Dahglesh, once this was all settled.

  Or perhaps that was a question Zarfleen, himself, had asked their former philosophy professor, during their meeting in this possible future he'd written about. A future that, he hoped, Zarfleen might be able to avoid. He certainly wouldn't do this exact same thing, once he read this... maybe he would call it a "clue book" to the future.

  Hiro sighed, making a copy of the black box for his personal use, thinking about showing it all to Dahglesh to ask those questions. But first, he had to get this to Interstel, and get things going to keep this tragedy from happening. This was above his pay grade, but surely, they would know what to do.

  Chaos was the only word to describe the Interstel offices, once Hiro returned the black box to Starport. He, and the black box, were promptly whisked away to the Interstel offices in Pelinoriat, where scientists throughout the organization were now congregating. The crosstalk all became a white noise, but now and then he heard a few elements of it.

  To begin with, Zarfleen had recorded some insights into the nature of endurium. If his theories were true, the continued use of the element for starflight would be unethical, but currently there was no reliable substitute. Well, not one Interstel knew of a source for -- there was something called "shyneum," which the species of the Delta Quadrant built their economies around, but where and how to get it was still a mystery. And just getting set up to look for it would take decades.

  The first step would be to establish a Human presence in the Delta Quadrant. Pieces of a new Starport were already under construction, but they would need to be shipped out and assembled on site. Moving out equipment like that could not be done with the same speed as most starships, and that sort of equipment couldn’t be sent out cheaply or un-escorted. Cash was a concern, but so was speed -- one single shipment would be far faster and cheaper than sending the station out, then the ships it was to support, then the crews to keep it all running. That meant the Starport, the construction crew, and several other ships’ crews would all have to undergo cryo-sleep, as it would take almost twenty years to send them all out there in one shipment.

  The entire Delta Quadrant mission was being re-tasked. Originally, the plan was for a much slower deployment, which would have taken almost a century to do what they were planning to complete in twenty. Captain Phloon de Lux had been called in, and was now being briefed to recruit a crew especially for the new assignment. He would be put in command of the first of three Intrepid class ships being shipped out with the new Starport. The ISS Victory, which was the first of the two Intrepid-class prototypes (Zarfleen's own Intrepid was supposed to have been first, but construction had been delayed for several months), was a top-of-the-line exploration-rated ship with all the upgrades, and would be his command. The other two Intrepid class ships were the ISS Butterfish -- which was complete, but lacked many of the expected upgrades -- and another, unnamed ship still under construction. All three would now be tasked with finding a source of some alternative to endurium -- perhaps this rumored shyneum they had heard of.

  What everyone refused to discuss, however, was what Hiro thought should have been the most important thing -- how to keep Zarfleen alive. They now had a complete record of his travels, so surely some way to save his life could be found, yes?

  Evidently not. One scientist mentioned the mere possibility of a paradox, and suddenly any talk of letting Zarfleen know anything was forbidden. The scientists admitted they had no idea if there really would be a paradox resulting from him getting this knowledge. They also admitted that they had no idea what would happen if such a paradox occurred. Would Zarfleen, the Intrepid, and the knowledge presented by the black box just disappear from existence? Maybe. The reasoning didn't seem to make any sense to Hiro, and his Academy training was in fields that should have allowed him to follow it, but that was what some of these scientists decided. So, the reasoning was, to keep Zarfleen safe, they had to hide the contents of the black box from him. Except, in hiding it from him, the chances were that everything would happen exactly like the black box said, and Zarfleen would die anyway, so... what was the point of that?

  And those scientists were who Terrence Willwater, Interstel's director, was listening to. After several hours of debate, the black box -- now known officially as "Project Flying Dutchman" (and informally, thanks to Hiro, as "the Cluebook") -- had been classified. It was distributed among several people (Hiro and Captain Phloon de Lux among them) with a memo explaining the rationale for hiding this from Zarfleen.

  "'May the Rock of Truth shine brightly on you all,' my arse," Hiro muttered under his breath.

  "Sorry?"