Epilogue

Parqul-Tuz moved a claw over his air-chair’s steering sensor, causing it to rotate ninety degrees.

‘You see those?’

The Auroxilan extended one of his several stubby arms to point at a row of a dozen wagons standing near the brink of the vast salt quarry of which he was owner and boss.

The white-haired stranger nodded silently.

‘They’re full of salt-rock,’ continued Tuz. ‘The whole lot needs splitting down for processing.’

He looked back at the human.

‘The day-shift splitters signed off an hour ago. I’m short of somebody to work nights. The job’s yours if you start immediately. All the tools you’ll need are in the wagon with the tarpaulin over it.’

He fixed the man with a hard three-eyed stare.

‘I’ll pay fifty credits for every wagon-load you split. If you’re as strong as you say, you should get through a couple a night. Interested?’

The human eyed the row of wagons for a few moments before replying.

‘If you double the rate, I will do them all tonight.’

Tuz snorted incredulously. His flabby blue body began to shake with laughter.

‘All of them! Don’t be a fool! There isn’t a being in the galaxy who could split twelve wagons of salt-rock in a single eight-hour shift!’

But the human’s earnest expression didn’t falter. He was serious.

Tuz gave another snort. He sensed a chance to profit from the stranger’s foolishness.

‘Fine – double-pay if you manage all of them. But half-pay if you don’t. What do you say to that?’

The man paused briefly before nodding again.

‘You’ve got yourself a deal!’ roared Tuz. ‘And good luck with achieving the impossible!’

He turned his air-chair and glided away, still chortling to himself about the human’s ludicrous proposition.

Once alone, the man strode purposefully towards the first wagon.

‘Nothing is impossible,’ he murmured to himself, ‘if you put your mind to it  . . .’

Standing before the wagon, he closed his eyes. His brow furrowed and a look of intense concentration filled his face.

Four massive rocks on top of the first piled wagon began to rise slowly into the air. They floated up, then across, to hover impossibly over a part-filled crate of split rock. There was a series of loud cra-ack sounds and neat fractures suddenly appeared in each of the levitating rocks. Their fragments tumbled down into the crate.

The man immediately focused his concentration on the next layer of rocks. He had a hard night’s work ahead of him. But it was worth it. On the terms he had agreed, the pay would be enough to begin his journey back to Earth.

And he had to get back – whatever it took and whatever the risk. There was someone he was desperate to see.

Someone he would happily cross a galaxy for  . . .