In the end, they had decided it was best to wait a few more days for Andy and Bill to heal up a little more before taking the trip. While it gave Andrew a little more time to study the collar, despite his best efforts, he hadn’t made any further progress.


    “So where does this go?” Sean asked as they lined up in front of the gateway to Titan, the home of Glurm.


    “To the moon Titan, we have an acquaintance there, but more importantly it’s a much safer place to board Twonger’s ship from. I don’t want the agency attempting to track us,” Cal answered. He had also wanted to check in on Emily, hopefully Glurm had managed to make some progress with them.


    “The lives you all lead are somewhat insane, which is saying something considering my own life,” Sean said. He had a point, but Cal had long since accepted that.


    The idea of adjusting back to a mundane life after all of this scared him more than a continued fight. There was still so much to see in the universe and beyond that he had only just heard about. Not that he wouldn’t love to leave the fight behind. That part had exhausted him in a way he didn’t know how to express.


    Instead, he turned to Sean with a smile on his face and said, “Yep, but at least it keeps me entertained.” Immediately stepping through the opened gateway afterward.


    “Human,” Glurm said the moment Cal reappeared, the frog already standing in front of the gateway, waiting.


    “Frog,” Cal responded, scanning the area for Emily and spotting them swimming in the pond happily. Behind Cal, the other four arrived, Sean audibly gasping at the site of the new world.


    “How’s Emily doing?” Cal asked before anyone else could open their mouths.


    “Improving, but as I said, I don’t believe I’ll be able to entirely fix what was done to them. How goes your war against those that did such vile acts?” Glurm answered before asking his own question in return. His eyes turned to angry slits as he finished.


    “The war goes better. We have all our people back, as well as many newcomers that have been rescued. Sean here is one of them, and the main reason we are here intruding on your privacy yet again this loop,” Cal explained, wanting to try and keep on the Frog’s good side for as much of the loop as he could. His father still wanted to train here, and he had an idea of a possible field trip for the kids.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    “That device around his neck suppressing his natural mana flows, I assume, is the problem,” Glurm asked, eyeing it closely.


    “Yep, we’re just stopping by to take Twonger’s ship from here. Safer than risking them detecting us on Earth,” Cal answered.


    “Ah, well, I wish you luck. I’m almost starting to not hate your visits. Tell your father I expect him to return to his training soon,” Glurm said before leaping into the air and diving into the lake, eliciting a squealing laugh from Emily.


    “That was strange,” Sean said the moment Glurm was gone.


    “You get used to him, well, no you actually don’t, he’s kind of an ass, but he’s an insanely powerful ass that could easily kill us all if he wanted to,” Cal replied, wishing he had a way to convince the frog to join their fight.


    There was a flash of bright light as the world yet again vanished around Cal, this time replaced by the interior of Twonger’s ship. It wasn’t the first time he had been here, but his previous trip hadn’t included the alien. The others had never set foot in it.


    “Twonger, once we have downtime, I’m very much going to need you to let me examine this thing. Figuring out some of your engines would be amazing,” Andy said, looking around in awe. Had he been like this whenever he saw something new in the Under Library as well?


    “You’re free to poke around. Just make sure you take Bill. I trust him more, not to break anything. Remember, though, you screw anything up and blow us up. Cal is gonna be so pissed when we have to do this all again next loop,” Twonger said with a menacing smirk at the two.


    “Uh, Twonger, how serious are you?” Bill asked nervously.


    “Depends. I’m sure Cal won’t be happy if you blow us all up, but also, you aren’t about to manage that,” he replied.


    “Yeah, he’s just screwing with us, Bill. He wouldn’t actually let us poke around if that had a real chance of happening,” Andy replied, trying to calm down his friend.


    “How about you stay out of the engine bay until we’re back? I don’t need to spend a month limping along trying to find parts to fix something,” Twonger said, ending the conversation as he walked out of the room.


    “Other than Twonger and his brother, have we met any actual aliens from our own universe yet?” Cal asked, the thought suddenly hitting him. He supposed there were the mana spirits on the other planets, but the animals on Pluto were just from Earth.


    “If we don’t count the Gryalth or mana spirits, not really. You had that vision of the Martians, though, didn’t you?” Andy asked, reminding Cal of their first off-world trip.


    “You’re going to have to meet the squirrels one day. They just aren’t something you expect to find on Pluto, let alone Excalibur,” Cal said, laughing at the absurdity of that loop.


    “There are squirrels on Pluto?” Sean asked, looking confused.


    “Squirrels, a crab, Gryalth, lots of things, it turns out. Alright, let’s go find some seats and figure out if we get our own rooms on this trip,” Cal said, heading out of the room the same way Twonger had gone. In hindsight, he wished he had checked out the sleeping arrangements ahead of time. He really didn’t want to share a bed with anyone.


    “Why are there squirrels on Pluto?” Cal heard Sean ask, still sounding confused, before they all followed after him.