Eli slowed his approach to Finn's hab, the familiar four-leaf clover of buildings greeted him. Powder blue with white accents, it stood out from the haze of yellow noxious smog below like blueberry among a pile of vomit. He hovered over the pad, his fore and aft engines hinged downward providing lift, maneuvering thrusters firing intermittently steering him in. A voice called out to him, as his landing gear touched down

"I hope you don't scorch that pad like the last time you were here! I spent three hours buffing those out, and I don't want to do it again."

A somber red android with stencilled white fractal patterns strode out, oblivious to the wisps of acidic gases flowing over the landing pad.

Eli answered, sarcastically, "Scorch marks? I don't remember any scorch marks, maybe your painter missed a few acid burns. Honestly I'm surprised this whole place isn't scarred by acid."

"You know I'm joking Eli, jack into the system and follow me. I have something to show you." Finn turned and strode back into the building. Inside Eli's Virtual Avatar appeared, projected from somewhere in the ceiling.

"You've upgraded the network recently, it feels roomier now. The projector is nice too, much easier than hopping from screen to screen." Eli commented, as his projection walked behind Finn.

"Thanks, I've had a recent influx of visitors over the data sphere and needed a more, personal way to meet with them."

"Aww I know you did it just for me, don't lie." Eli teased.

"Well it did make the decision easier, but no, it has to do with what I want to show you." Finn replied.

They continue strolling through the complex, chatting about what each had been doing the last several years. Finn was interested in what the Glint's homeworld was like and if Eli had found any interesting extremophile life forms. Eli questioned Finn about how Sol had been while he was away. Eventually they came to a lab sealed by airlock.

Finn motioned for Eli to wait. "I'll need to give you access from inside. One moment."

-Access to Bio-Terraforming lab Granted, 24 hour time limit only.-

"A time limit, must be something pretty serious for you Finn." Eli said, passing the lab's firewall.

"It is, do you remember that biologist that was working on the anti-aging cells? The Green Witch was her nickname I think, when you knew her. Well, I was able to buy her contract from Mars Guild Biology for a while you were away." Said Finn, his arms gesturing.

"She helped me crack the genes of several thermal vent bacteria from earth and I think I finally have a way to start a cascading reaction in Venus. I've made a few changes to a type of phytoplankton using the extremophile genes. It should, if everything goes right, be able to filter out the sulfur and bond it with an aggregate produced as a byproduct locking the sulfur in a formation similar to coral reef."

Eli started to wander about the lab as Finn explained his achievement. It boiled down to him having created an ecosystem of bacteria and small plankton dedicated to terraforming.

"-and with some time added we could see changes in the acidity as soon as a year fro-"

"Do you think you'd be able to alter them to terraform different planets?" Eli interrupted, peering at a bacterial culture. "Like, would it be able to take a methane atmosphere and terraform it or does it need to be a sulfur atmosphere?"

Finn paused, his fingers still counting years. "I hadn't thought of that, but yes they probably could with some work. It would be limited to atmospheres where I have examples of bacteria that can survive there."

"So in theory, this engineered ecosystem could potentially terraform any plant with an atmosphere?"

Finn's arms dropped to his side. "I never thought of that. I was mostly excited with how it was going to change Venus. If I can modify the system to work with different atmospheres it could open up other planets and solar systems to colonize!"

Finn quickly moved to a terminal, and started typing in a flurry. "I was going to show you all the different samples and how the trials had proven successful, but now I have so much more to do! It won't be as simple as changing a few genes to alter which element is used for energy generation. I'll need to make changes to the system depending on the element, but it'll work for a framework."

Finn rattled on as Eli watched him work. He didn't often get to see Finn so absorbed in a new idea like this. Occasionally, as Finn explained what he was doing, Eli would add something to the conversation that would prompt Finn to think of something to add or modify. They continued like this for several hours until Eli received an alert from Tensfeldt.

-Priority Contract for D.P. Surveyor Elijah from

Plutonian Guild of Astronomers

Please respond immediately-

-I think it's similar to the last contract from pluto, if you know what I mean. -

"Hey Finn, I've got to go, looks like I'm finally a high demand contract." Eli said, "It's been fun catching up with you."

"For sure, it's always nice when you visit. Take care and don't get sucked into a blackhole, that would be embarrassing." Finn said teasingly.

"That was my first jump. All gravity wells felt the same to me, I didn't know it was just a red giant! I thought I was going to die."

"I know, but who else knows about it, to tease you about it? Someone has to keep the bold explorer humble." He joked. "Stop by next time you're around."

"I'll do my best Finn, don't engineer a world eating jelly okay?" Eli fired back, as his projection faded.

On the pad as Eli lifted off, he burned a few scorch marks in the pad just so Finn wouldn't forget him. His white craft streaked away from Venus towards Earth, and the Lunar dockyards. As he flew, Eli read the contract forwarded to him by Tensfeldt, from Pluto. It was a list of seven systems they wanted him to visit, and scan using a new program that had been developed by them. Four of the systems supposedly had planets in the Goldilocks zone, and three had planets with thick atmospheres in potentially life creating circumstances.

It stipulated that he couldn't reproduce or copy the program, and would not be able to open it until he arrived at any of the systems. After he completed the scans of the system, he was required to return and verify he did not retain any copies of the program.He accepted the contract, and entered into a defrag cycle while he flew to the Moon.

He awoke, or regained consciousness above the moon. Checked the local time, and went to his personal hangar, saying hello to the port authority Jim he set down. Several large crates and canisters were waiting there, the Vesuvian guild mark of a MVS printed on each.

Those must be the upgrades the guild mentioned, and my order of insulating gel, he mused. Let's see, new lens for my main scope, a new IR filter, and ooh a updated assembler/refinery kit.

Each item he held above his bay in his main arms, as smaller internal ones opened the crates and moved them into his interior, then after a moment the old module would be put in the crate and sealed. The old ones would be put on market for auction. The gel canisters got socketed into the bay walls where they'd be used to then keep critical systems at the correct temperature, and act as a fire suppression device.

As he refitted himself, he browsed the news on the datasphere, starting with articles regarding the Glint and himself.

-First Contact established! Did the AI scare them off?-

-The Glint, a fiction made to promote the guild prerogative?-

-Why the Glint didn't want to meet. A seminar with lead scholars-

And so on, the majority of the articles were surprisingly introspective. People asking why the Glint hadn't wanted to meet us, and why they were the way they were. A few were conspiracy theories, and tabloids remarking on it being fake. He didn't read too long, but long enough to kill time while he adjusted the new systems.

Finally he was done, and left the hangar merely a day after he entered. The first thing he did was set a course to the permanent Alcubierre station, and buy a one use drive. He then set a jump for the closest of the seven systems he'd been hired to visit, a binary with two planets at different points in the Goldilocks spot, and activated the drive.