A desperate call

Yesterday, Rome's mindreading-assisted interrogation of the would-be assassin Dan Steele yielded no actionable intel. That did not slow down MINIMCOM's hurtling toward Earth, but for Rome it wasn't sufficient. Having no clue where to start, Rome comes up with a plan that might speed up the results:

     Even though MINIMCOM had rebuilt the cartilage in Rei’s nose there was still a lot of swelling and blood pooled beneath his orbital sockets, giving him a bad case of ‘raccoon eyes’. Rei, Rome and Bonnie sat in the cockpit, watching the virtual instruments as they came upon the Earth. When they were about one-half light-year out, Rome instructed MINIMCOM to drop out of null-space.
     “Why?” Rei asked. “We have to get there as fast as we can.”
     “I want to call to Aason,” Rome said. “We are close enough that he should be able to hear me.”
     The shushing sound in the background died down and suddenly, the cockpit windshield was filled with a brilliant field of stars. Ahead of them was the yellow-white of the Sun and presumably the blue dot off to the right was the Earth.
     Rome closed her eyes and used her PPT transceivers to send a message. “Aason?” she called out. She listened carefully but heard no reply. Worried, she said her child’s name even louder. She waited but again there was no response.
     “Anything?” Rei asked.
     “No,” Rome answered sadly. “We may have to get closer.” She looked up at the front console. “All right, MINIMCOM,” she said. “Take us there as fast as you can.”
     “As you wish,” replied the starship. Once again the unearthly shushing sound of the null-fold drive permeated the cockpit and the windshield turned blacker-than-black.
     It was only a few minutes later that the virtual instruments finally showed they were within the orbit of the Moon. Once again, MINIMCOM dropped out of null-space. The Earth lay ahead of them like a puffy white-flecked blue marble.
     “Aason!” Rome called again worriedly but once again there was no response.
     “He does not answer me!” Rome said, tears welling up in her eyes.
     “Maybe he can’t,” Rei said.
     “What does that mean?” Rome asked, panic seeping into her voice.
     “I don’t know. Maybe they put a T-suppressor on him.”
     Rome shook her head slowly. Rei turned his head toward the grille. “MINIMCOM can you drop us in right over Ursay’s farm?”

At last they have arrived. The first thing they have to do is find Junior to get the lay of the land. It turns out to be harder than you think!