Early the next morning, Aquilla took a spacecab on a hop which would hopefully get him to the rendevous with Bakari on time. The plan was for Aquilla to join Bakari and his crew for the voyage to the Pit. 'I only hope', thought Aquilla, staring out of a porthole, 'that Jake and his crew reach the Pit on time, without their rust bucket breaking down, for once. And that they have managed to procur all the weapons.' He watched the Eden get smaller and smaller. Now the planet was the size of a golden pea. Aquilla's thoughts wandered to Aiko, and he began to find it was hard to stop thinking about the woman. He wondered if he would ever even see her again...