It was an automated shot from the missile defense net, and they’d managed to jump back into space and call for help before they’d hit the ground, but rather than apologize and reprogram the lasersats to let parachutes pass, the government had instead made shooting at them official policy. That meant any trip a U.S. citizen took had to include a stopover in Canada on the way home, and it was getting harder to get back across the border. Trent had heard that you needed a visa nowadays even if you had a U.S. passport, and of course the government wasn’t handing out visas to interstellar travellers.

The waitress came by and took their order. Donna slipped one of the Alpha Centauri flyers into her menu when she gave it back, but she stuck the other one up between the salt and pepper shakers like a flag. “So when are we going to go?” she asked.

Free land! the flyer promised. Emigrate now.

“I don’t know,” Trent said. He wasn’t just being evasive, either. He honestly didn’t know, and there were a million reasons for his indecision, starling with the word “emigrate.” He didn’t like that word. It sounded funny, and not funny ha-ha. It made him think of people dressed in ragged clothes pulling carts full of chickens and pigs. It practically screamed “defeat.” The construction industry might have tanked, and the country might be going to hell in a hand-basket, but Trent wasn’t defeated.

“We’ve got a whole galaxy to choose from,” Donna said. “Shouldn’t we at least see if we can find someplace better than Rock Springs?”

Trent snorted. “Hell, we could probably find places better than Rock Springs a hundred miles up the road.”

“I’m serious.”

“All right.” He drummed his fingers on the table, wishing the waitress would get back with their beer, but she was nowhere in sight, so he said, “I certainly don’t have much love for the government, but this is still my country. And this is my town. I grew up here. Everybody I know is here. Half of ’em may be right-wing idiots who think it’s okay to tell everybody else how to run their lives and kill anybody who disagrees, but the other half are pretty decent folks. Hell, the city council damn near voted to defy the federal ban on hyperdrives. They were only one vote short. If we emigrate, we’ll be giving up on that half, too.”