jumped without a jump drive

[rockeye_stonetoe]

Nick, in a full environment suit like any sensible person would wear in untamed wilderness, is overseeing a small swarm of robots harvesting various useful plantlife from the uninhabited parts of a sparsely settled planet, when something suddenly comes tearing through the undergrowth towards him and it's not showing up on scanners-

He raises his hand-phaser, notices it has a mirror for a face and hesitates a little too long. And then he is in a clearing, cut off from his ship and 'bots, with all available sources of data telling him he just went through a jump.

What.

Comments

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"It's a tradition in my homeland to give a gift of silver for significant achievements, happy occasions, and farewells. You were the first person I met from this world, and you helped me onto my feet. Please accept this coin as a gift."

He holds out a perfectly circular shiny silver coin with an intricate etched pattern of swirls that is not in common use anywhere in the country.

[segreant]

"Thank you."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

He gives a little bow. "Fare well in all your days."

He takes the train to his industrial complex, musing. The world is changing, because of him. Rapid change will start a revolution. Violence, maybe. But he kept the technologies he shared as safe as he could. They'll just have to deal with the rest.

He finalizes a series of ownership transfers, giving control of various industries to the best and brightest of his employees.

He boards his private jumpship and blasts into the upper atmosphere.

There is a brilliantly bright flash of light, and Nick is gone from the world.