As it turned out, nobody got any sleep straightaway. Wally went down to the hold and spent a few hours examining the portal stone before falling asleep slumped up against the wall. Guybrush followed the path of the slightly diffused laser through the ship: it had sliced through a further two walls before burning out against the ceiling. He got a welder and did a rough patching job, before retiring to his bedroom. And Elaine had the job of flying the ship. She spent some time getting herself fully acquainted with the controls: performing manoeuvers, activating the weaponry, changing the calibration of the computerised controls. After five hours she too had had enough. She set a course on autopilot and headed below for her bed.
So it was sixteen hours before everybody was up again. As they were slowly getting used to, everybody was in the rec room. Guybrush had an old sheet of paper on the table in front of him. Wally was chugging down a mineral-enhanced drink while Elaine ate a lump of cold foodpack.
"So where are we?" Guybrush asked.
"Just on the outer side of the asteroid belt," said Elaine. "I set a course roughly for Jupiter."
Guybrush nodded. "That's good. We'll be headed roughly in that direction."
"What's the plan?" asked Elaine.
"I need to see an old friend of mine," said Guybrush. "If we're going to get anywhere in this search of ours, we need info. This guy'll have it."
"Where's he based?"
"I don't know," said Guybrush. "But I can find out on Exus-1."
"Exus-1... that's-"
"The largest free trader settlement in the entire solar system," said Wally automatically. "Based on Ganymede, largest of the Jovian moons, which holds an additional six settlements. Population about a hundred and fifty. Comprised mainly of veteran space traders, those who've been out here more than a decade. Almost no criminal element. No pirates."
"Interesting," said Elaine, although she knew most of that already. "What stops the pirates from attacking them, if they're so rich?"
"Mainly weight of numbers," said Guybrush. "There's more traders than pirates, although that's been changing the last few years. And they're very vigilant in keeping the pirates at bay."
"What makes you think you'll get in there, then?"
"They don't mind freelancers," said Guybrush.
The conversation lapsed for a bit. Elaine found herself getting interested in the upcoming journey. They were headed to Exus-1! One of the oldest, and certainly the largest established settlement in the outer solar system. She was looking forward to seeing how things worked there.
The silence was broken by Guybrush. "What do you think happened to the Hermit?"
"Someone found him," said Wally immediately. "And I'm pretty sure they found him because of us. And the portal stones."
"What makes you say that?" asked Guybrush.
"I don't have much of an idea," said Wally. "Only that's it's too much of a coincidence."
"Whoever got in must have had a portal stone, you mean?" asked Guybrush.
This sounded extremely fanciful to Elaine. "Perhaps he put it there himself," she suggested. "You know what these hermits are like. They like their privacy. Maybe the fact that you two got to him earlier made him tighten his security."
"That's not like him," said Guybrush.
"He's not crazy," said Wally. "I just have this feeling that we don't know everything about the portal stones yet. But I need a spectrograph, an electron microscope, and a few other items to make an in-depth study."
"I was with you up until 'need'," said Guybrush.
"I'll make up a list," said Wally.
Elaine swallowed the last of the foodpack. "I'll make up another list for you. All the condiments we need to make this stuff taste remotely edible." She stood up. "Dibs on the shower."