Trent’s job, for one thing. He was a construction worker, but the only houses being built these days were on planets orbiting Alpha Centauri and Tau Ceti and places farther out. There was plenty of work to be had if he wanted it, but he’d never been excited about commuting, especially when it involved a multi-light-year jump and a parachute landing. And now commuting was impossible anyway, because the federal government had made it illegal to possess a hyperdrive engine. That didn’t slop anyone, of course, but it cut down on casual trips, and it killed the one other source of income that Trent could have done: retrofitting other people’s vehicles for space. Even though it wasn’t illegal to seal up a truck, at least not yet, most people didn’t want to make themselves targets for the police, and the ones who were willing to risk it were also generally capable of doing it themselves.

The only decent prospect for work was the new civic center, which had been in the planning stages for over a year and was up for a final yea-or-nay vote at the next city council meeting, but with so many people bailing out of town, Trent didn’t expect the council to go ahead with it.

Donna Still had her job at the Mall, but it was only three days a week, and they couldn’t live on just that. They could relocate, but neither one of them were quite ready to let go of their home town. They’d made one trip out to a sun-like star about fifteen light-years away in Cetus, found some friendly aliens, and gone fishing with them, but that was just a weekend lark before the government had cracked down on such things. They’d had no intention of staying. But if Trent couldn’t find work on Earth…

The bank’s parking lot was deserted. It would normally be quiet this time of day, but there weren’t any cars on the street, either. It seemed like half the people in town had headed for the stars in the five months since Allen had made it possible, and the rest of them weren’t getting out much.