Alex wanted to leave the moment he finished reading the files. Jack was out there, trap inside a monster, but without knowing where, Alex was at a loss on how to proceed.

    He moped around for a couple of days, then went back to work, to have something else to think about. He told his coworkers he'd had a relapse.

    His work didn't go well. his mind kept drifting to Jack, and Tristan. And he didn't sleep well. The nightmares woke him. Too often he found himself trying to figure out how to find Jack, and then he'd realize he'd let the system he was coercing gather its mind and push him out.

    His performance dropped markedly, but his supervisor didn't bring it up. He was recuperating after all, they couldn't expect him to be in top shape.

    On top of that, he had to resist using the system to search for Tristan. With all that computing power, and what he'd taught himself when looking for the files, he could scour through ships' manifests. Tristan had to have boarded one of the passenger ships to leave Deleron Four.

    But he didn't. As much as he wanted to, he'd given his word. And to do something like that without authorization was a crime. He'd given into temptation once, he didn't want to fall to that again.

    So he focused on his work, and went home.

    He put the weight he'd lost during his incarceration back on, and more. He knew he should do something about it, other than buying new pants. But eating was the only thing that brought him comfort these days. He knew it was crazy, but he felt like he was accomplishing something when he prepared his meals and ate them, instead of feeling like he was wasting his time.

    He went through that for two week, when he finally had enough. He had to go out there and look for Tristan. It no longer mattered to Alex if he had no idea where the Samalian was, he had to start searching, to not do so meant he was giving up on Jack.

    He started packing, looking for people to take what he couldn't bring, which was most of his things. He'd have to travel light since he didn't know where he'd go. At least, until he remembered the Defender. He hadn't forgotten about it, it was in his room, on his dresser, but he hadn't thought about it since unboxing it and placing it there.

    He realized he hadn't looked into Tristan --Jack's-- people, where he was from, how his society was built. he'd been so focus on finding him Alex hadn't considered that knowing more about Samalians in general might allow him to understand Tristan better, maybe figure out where he'd go.

    That information was easy to find, the open network had a listing of all the planets ever visited, it was just a question of digging through the near infinite amount of information. Alex  was good at that.

    There wasn't much on Samalia, mostly due to it being a remote planet, at what was considered the edge of civilized space. It was part of the trade network, but barely did any trade, it's goods being mostly agricultural. The entry about their culture spoke of a multiple deity system. They didn't have their own space travel capabilities, but did have a small space station to accommodate the few ships that went there.

    He came across a treatises on Samalian beliefs that went into more details. Unlike the general information, this was by someone who had spent time there. He spoke of them worshiping a golden sphere, representing the sun, with historical figures at the periphery of their belief system.

    As he read related topics, scrolled through the document, one caught his eye by having Samalian and Deleron Four together. he brought it up, it might be about Tristan's attack, it could contain more information.

    It turned out to be an advertising for a merchant specializing in alien items, from Zifrons to Werdurns, and including Samalian items. It noted that he was very knowledgeable about everything he sold. Maybe the merchant could provide Alex with more pertinent information.

    He was situated on the other side of the planet, and while Emerill had given him leave to come and go as he needed while he dealt with this, Alex waited for the weekend. He did it both because he wanted to respect the company he worked for, and because he knew he'd need the money to pay for the trip to Samalia. he'd realized that unless some information surfaced to change his mind, that was where he would start his search.

    The store was in the trading district of Licaden, the fourth largest city on the planet, and it was called Ourfiranon's Emporium. The store was small, and made to feel even smaller by all the items crowding the floor and walls. They looked bizarre to Alex who for all his interest in aliens, had never looked into their cultures before.

    The proprietor was Zifron, insect like, triangular head with mandibles near his mouth. the alien's carapace was a sickly green, which he didn't think was normal. the few Zifron he'd met at Alienation had had brown carapace. As with those, Alex couldn't tell the gender.

    "Greetings human. I am Ourfiranon, this is my emporium. What do you wish to buy?" The alien spoke very well, much better than the one he'd approached at the bar. Alex could barely make out the clicking his mandibles caused.

    "I'm not looking to buy anything," Alex said, placing the Defender statue on the counter. "Your ad said you know a lot about other species object. What can you tell me about this?"

    Ourfiranon leaned in and studied it. "Samalian," he said. 

    "Yes. It's called a Defender. Can you tell me anything about it? about Samalians in general?"

    "Defender is the one who protects." He picked it up, and Alex worried that it would be too heavy for the alien's spindly arms. "Samalian are primitive. They think all is connected. They think the center controls the whole." He carefully placed it back on the counter. "I give you a thousand credit for it."

    Alex stared at him. "Excused me?" 

    "Two thousand."

    "Look, I'm not looking to sell it. I'm just looking for information on Samalians. Do they travel to space often?"

    "Five thousand," the alien said, ignoring his question.

    Alex couldn't believe it. "It isn't for sale. And even if it was, it isn't worth that. It's a reproduction."

    "False. It is real, original." 

    "You're wrong."

    The Zifron turned the statue over and indicated the uneven underside. "You see where it was cut from," he searched for a word, "church where it resided." He pressed its face against it. "No artificial element in the stone. Weight is that of stone, not composite."

    "Then maybe they used real stone to make the fake, I don't know."

    "Why? Need machines to work stone. Fabricator is easy and looks same to ones like you."

    "The Samalian who gave this to me said it was a reproduction."

    "Person lie." Ourfiranon put the statue back on the counter and Alex grabbed it.

    "Why do you even want to buy it? you're not Samalian."

    "I sell, I buy. People like alien artifact. They pay well for real artifact."

    "I don't care, I'm not selling it. All I want is information. I can pay for that."

    "I pay you seven thousand." 

    "No."

    The alien nodded and he told Alex stories about the Defender, and the other Forces the Samalians believed guided them. Stories he had gathered over years of travels and speaking with those who claimed to have experienced those stories themselves. Alex recorded them. He had no idea if they would help, but he found them captivating.

    When Ourfiranon was done, Alex paid him for his time and went home, where he listened to the stories again, and one caught his attention. A story about the Defender, how promises made over him were enforced.

    With that, not only did he know where he was going, but he knew that once he found Tristan, he had a way to force him to let Jack out. He'd made a promise, and Alex was going to see to it it was kept.