They arrived back at the Yellow Emperor’s palace. Riojme still had tears in her eyes even now, hours later. The Emperor greeted them warmly and invited them back to the meeting room: “Word has come in that the Black Emperor’s capital has been destroyed along with one of their three fusion reactors. They are blaming it on a fault in the old reactor. Their physicists will have a hard time explaining what happened since our reactors aren’t capable of such accidents, even intentionally. The Red Emperor is foolish and cowardly he will not offer us a threat. It will take the Black Kingdom many, many years to rebuild. On behalf of my people, I thank you. I am planning a big celebration in your honor. I would like you stay with us and let us get to know each other better. I’m sure that there is much we can learn from each other even if it doesn’t mean sharing technology.”
Riojme suddenly looked startled. A communication, Jake thought. Riojme spoke up. “We are grateful to you for your hospitality but I have just received a message from Jang. She tells us that the Aye would like us to return to our planet since our mission here is done.” Riojme looked genuinely surprised. She turned to Jake: “I don’t understand. I thought Jang and Ming would be returning here now that things are safe. How can our mission be complete?”
Jake was pleased. “I wonder if we can go home to the 21st century now,” he thought to himself. “Maybe Riojme and I can settle down and start our own family. Assuming, of course, that the Aye is willing to give us some money to get started with. That $50k was really nice for my parents…” It didn’t occur to Jake to think that Riojme might very much prefer to live in the 23rd century.
In any case, they said their good-byes to the Yellow Emperor and told him that they didn’t know when they could return. He told them that they were welcome anytime and that he would be indebted to them forever.
