Free Galactic Axia Adventure 1: Escape to Destiny by Jim Laughter

slug of coffee, made a disgusted face, and set the cup down. Taking the top packet, he opened it and began to review the material inside.
    An hour later, the trooper resealed another packet and tossed it into his “out” basket. He had managed to get halfway through the stack. Pushing his chair back, he stood, stretched, and went in search of fresh coffee. He found a percolator singing its song in the break room where he rinsed the sludge out of his cup and refilled it with the brew someone had recently made.
    Returning to his desk, he sat down and pulled the blue-sealed packet from his in basket. He scanned the hand-written pages inside and then reread them carefully. Turning to a fresh page on his yellow tablet, he scratched several notes. A few minutes later he was satisfied that he had a grasp of the essentials noted on his tablet. He picked up the telephone on his desk and made several calls.
    ∞∞∞
    The weather turned warmer as spring crept into summer. Delmar settled into the cave and set himself up pretty well. Among the tools Mr. Hassel had brought him was fishing tackle, and the boy made good use of it. Early fruits were coming in, so he was able to supplement the supplies his benefactor brought to him.
    A routine of sorts had developed whereby the Hassels left him caches of supplies in different places for him to pick up. This minimized traffic to Delmar’s hiding spot by outsiders and kept Delmar’s exposure to a random and minimal level.
    The hikes in the woods by the Hassels were irregular enough not to arouse suspicion, and taking a pack along on such trips was easily acceptable. They had met a few other hikers on a few occasions, but without any problems. Robert or Agnes would just change routes and drop off the supplies later for Delmar to retrieve after dark.
    Delmar’s only serious problem was loneliness because they avoided contact with each other in case the Hassels were being followed. Robert suspected they had been followed once or twice early on when they heard the noise created by someone not wood-wise a distance behind them. By previous arrangement, they would not leave anything at the alternating drops if they suspected followers. Delmar would know to lay low a day and the drops would resume two days later.
    To ease the situation for the boy, Robert left an occasional book and Agnes would write letters. Return of the books and replies to the letters from “home” were avoided because it increased the risk of exposure. When it was all over, Robert knew the materials would be returned. In the meantime, the Hassels had to content themselves with the thought that no news is good news .
    ∞∞∞
    Empress Ane was working through the material on her desk when a silent form entered her office. She looked up in time to see the trooper empty his carry pouch into her red box and collect the packets from the green one that she had finished. Sighing, she reached for the next packet. She made a game of trying to empty the red box before the trooper showed up with more. She occasionally succeeded.
    She almost made it twice this morning but still had one or two packets left when he arrived. Ane suspected the trooper was peeking so he could get his timing just right but she couldn’t prove it.
    Opening the top packet, she found several pages of handwritten notes along with supplemental material gathered by one of her staff. She read the original petition and then picked up the packet itself and noted the blue seal under the return address. Setting these aside, Ane read the follow-up research, occasionally reviewing the original documents. She leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes, and tried to picture the situation in her mind. A hum filled the office.
    “Hello, Mary,” Ane said without opening her eyes.
    “Hello, boss lady,” Mary came back. “You look like you’re taking something much too seriously again.”
    “I am, Mary,” she replied. “This last packet bothers me some.”
    “Turn it