It felt odd to be sitting in a sidewalk café once again. Sarah never expected to be back in Lum after fleeing from it so quickly. She briefly thought about trying to contact Professor Dupont, but that might place suspicion on him. She took a sip of her tea.

"You wouldn't know that Syreal invaded with the way the Lumites are reacting." Mel commented as he added sugar to his tea. "You'd think they wouldn’t care for all the soldiers loitering around."

The ship's doctor was right. Several tables in this place were filled with Syrealians and the Lumites walking by acted as though they had always been there. Sarah certainly didn't feel comfortable around them but they seemed to be keeping an eye on them too. No doubt every soldier knew her face by now. But they never approached them, so that took away some of her worry.

The rest of the crew was gone either on errands or delivering the cargo, leaving her and Mel alone. She would've been fine with staying on the Echelon, but Dave insisted on her getting some air. Though as pale and nervous as Mel had been right after the inspection, she suspected the order had been more for his sake than hers.

There was a crash which drew everyone's attention. A waiter had tripped, sending his tray of no doubt hot drinks into the lap of a Syrealian soldier. The waiter apologized profusely while the soldier was yelling about how hot it was and that he needed something to wipe it up. Unfortunately, they couldn’t understand each other and it devolved into a shouting match which turned into the soldier grabbing the waiter's shoulders.

"Maybe you should step in before someone gets hurt." Mel suggested. " Or at least get the soldier to stand down. I know you said you don't speak Paradisan that well yet."

Sarah had wanted to keep the fact that she was fluent in Syrealian a secret for a while longer but she also didn't want the waiter to get pummeled over a miscommunication. She started to rise from her seat when someone in a charcoal coat followed by a fox beat her to it.

He said to the soldier. He switched to Paradisian and spoke to the waiter.

The soldier let go and the waiter rushed off. The café soon began to fill with noise once again and the relaxed atmosphere returned. The man who had settled things came over to their table.

"Well, I certainly didn't expect to see you back here again." He remarked as he moved his hat up a little, revealing himself to be none other than Juste the reporter. She thought he'd seemed familiar. The fox should have been a giveaway.

"Things got complicated." She replied. "But it's nice to see you again. I wasn't aware you could speak Syrealian."

"It comes in handy. Do you mind if I sit?" He indicated the empty chair. "Unless Dr. Whitmore objects."

Mel tensed in his chair."H-how do you know my n-name? W-we've never m-met!" Juste stepped back a bit.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. I'm Juste, a freelance reporter. After the Echelon crew created a stir, one of the papers I do frequent work for wanted me to write an article about, which means I did some research.”

“H-how much?” Mel shrank in his chair some. “E-everything?”

“Don’t worry, I only put in the most basic details just to give an idea of what the crew is like, Dr. Whitmore. I didn’t even mention your name.” He assured him. “I just called you the ship’s doctor. If it’s any consolation, I don’t do gossip pieces.”

Mel nodded and pushed the chair out for him a little bit. “Sorry, I’m just cautious around journalists.”

“Understandable.” Juste took his seat and LouLou jumped into his lap. He petted the fox and ordered some tea when the waiter came by. “How are you finding the radio, Sarah?”

“Good so far, but I haven’t had to do anything more complicated than landing procedures. It’s easier than learning Paradisian for me, apparently.”

The reporter chuckled a bit. “The Professor was telling me about that. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be able to catch on. Even I can see how Paradisian might be difficult for someone to learn.” The waiter came back with his tea and he thanked him. “Speaking of Professor Dupont, he’s no longer a professor and is under house arrest. But he’s all right. The Paradisian officials aren’t keen on prosecuting him to the fullest extent of the law like the Syrealians want."

Sarah had been afraid that something like that would happen. But she was glad he hadn't been taken in by the Syrealians. Their prisoners had a tendency to disappear. Juste sipped his tea before adding some sugar. LouLou snoozed peacefully in his lap.

"Did you come here just to tell us that?" Mel questioned. "Or were you here by coincidence?" Even though his stuttering was gone, his posture was still tense in the presence of the reporter’s.

“A little of both. I came down here hoping to find Captain Sherman. But when I saw Sarah here instead, I decided to give her an update.” He shifted a little, being careful not to disturb LouLou. “Since you are heading to Aleman, I was wondering if you could take me. I would happily pay, of course, and it only has to be one way.”

If they were going to Aleman, that was a new one to Sarah. Dave hadn’t said anything about going there nor had Heather.

“What makes you think we’re going there?” Mel took one last sip from his tea cup and set it down gently. His glasses had fogged up a bit from the steam. “I don’t know where we’re going next, honestly. Of course, I’m usually the last one to find out too. I guess as the ship’s doctor I don’t really need to know where we’re going all the time.”

“So you don’t know that Captain David Sherman has just taken a big job with probably the only Alemanian-owned company in Lum at the moment? I figured he would’ve called you about that right away.” Juste pulled out a notepad and handed it to Mel. “You see, ever since the Syrealians came, they’ve pretty much put a stop to all flights going to Aleman from Paradis and vise versa. That’s impacted the business of Heinz furniture quite a lot.”

“I’ve heard of this company and the owner.” Mel stated as he read over the notepad. “And it’s no surprise that Heather and Dave are jumping at this opportunity. If we can pull it off, it would probably net us quite a lot of money.” He handed it back to him.

Heinz Furniture Company? They had heard of that even in Liba. It was considered luxury furniture since it was imported, but in truth, it was a more old-fashioned style of furniture. But everyone agreed that it was well made and long-lasting. She didn’t know anyone who owned any, but she knew quite a few that had brands that were copies of the Heinz brand. She didn’t realize it was located in Lum, Paradis. She had always thought it came from somewhere in Aleman.

“Maybe Dave did call us, we just weren’t on the ship to receive the call.” Sarah pointed out. “Or maybe he did call the port office and no one bothered to tell us. I have my doubts that we’re Colonel Smirnov’s favorite people right now.”

Though they had been in Lum for a couple of days, she hadn’t seen any sign of the Colonel or Sergeant. They probably had plenty to keep them busy but she had expected inspections daily. Perhaps the Colonel was embarrassed that they couldn’t find anything to arrest them for.

“I don’t think he has favorite people. His own men just tolerate him from what I’ve heard. Except Segreant Ivanov seems to actually like him. I guess it’s the “loyal no matter what” Syrealian officer blood in him. ” Juste put his notepad back in his jacket after Mel handed it back to him. “I only know about this deal because I have a friend at the company who told me about it. I’ve been looking for a way to get into Aleman without having to go via Aboloan. That’s miles out of the way.”

“I’m sure Dave won’t turn you down. Though is that…” Mel pointed to LouLou. “Housebroken?”

“Yes, LouLou is. She can use a newspaper just like a dog.” He scratched underneath her chin. “I’ll keep her shut up in my room so she doesn’t get into anything. You know what they say about curiosity and foxes. I’ll have a leash for her too.”

“Good.” He then turned to Sarah a bit. “Maybe I can teach you a trick or two to help with your Paradisian and you could help me with my Alemanian. That’s turning out to be the language I can’t speak that well. So many guttural sounds…” He said an Alemanian word, though it sounded more like he was trying to hack up a hairball. “And I know it’s not supposed to sound like that.”

“It sounds like a fair trade, I suppose. But that’s if they say yes.” Sarah didn’t want to say yes for them, but she was excited over the prospect of having someone to help her with her Paradisian. She had been struggling with it since she left the university. “They might not want a reporter around. Why are you going to Aleman anyways?”

“Trade secret. Plus…” He looked around at the Syrealian soldiers and the meaning became clear. He didn’t want them to know. Mel and Sarah just nodded. They understood all too well.

After some more chatting and everyone finishing their tea, Dave, Heather, Ash, and Claire made an appearance. They all looked happy, even Claire who usually didn’t show much emotion other than rolling her eyes at someone’s perceived stupidity. So apparently, Juste’s source was more liable that just ordinary gossip. Dave slapped his hands against the table. Good thing all the cups were empty or the drinks would’ve been spilled.

“Pack your bags and put on some opera, because we’re heading to Aleman!” Dave exclaimed. He nearly dropped his cane in the excitement. “And this job is finally going to be the one that sends us soaring, I tell you!”

“Or put us out of business.” Heather remarked in the background. But despite her cynical remark, she was smiling plenty too. “But I don’t think that’s likely to happen barring the Echelon crashing.”

“In that case, we’ll probably be too dead to be poor.” Now that sounded like something Claire would say. Sarah noticed that only part of her arm was in a bandage now and she didn’t have it in the sling. She must’ve gone to a doctor. Then the mechanic noticed Juste. “Say, aren’t you that freelance reporter, Justin or something like that?”

“It’s Juste. You must be the mechanic.” He stood up from the seat, causing LouLou to tumble from his lap with a yip. “I was coming to see if I could join this little expedition. You see, I need to get to Aleman and I have limited options.”

Dave clapped a hand around his shoulder. “Sure, as long as you can pay us for that. And as a bonus, we won’t make you pay for your fox there. Meet us at the port as soon as you can with your stuff and money.”

Juste nodded and left some bills for his coffee. “I look forward to it.” He tipped his hat a little. “I guess I’ll see you later, Sarah. Looking forward to that Alemanian lesson.”

Sarah nodded. “And my Paradisian one.”

With a small wave, the reporter ran off with the fox behind him. Ash chuckled and playfully bumped Sarah with his elbow.

“Should I be worried about him and you?”

Sarah shook her head. “No, he’s one of the Professor’s friends and the one that told me about what Syreal was trying to do, so I know he’s trustworthy. Why? Do you not trust him?”

“No, it’s not that. Just…” He sighed a bit. “Never mind.”

The rest of the crew started laughing, leaving Sarah to wonder what joke she missed. That was a feeling she had a lot. Soon, they headed back to the port to get everything ready for their big break. Hopefully, the Alemans would actually let them in the country.