Back then, Bob was a young man in fairly decent shape with a full head of hair; now, he was fat, bald, and thirty years older. Jack himself had spent the majority of the past thirty years in cryostasis and looked practically the same.
         Bob continued, “So what brings you here, Jacky boy? I heard you been plying around the universe the last few decades.”
         “Oh, you know, Bob,” said Jack, “I’m space trucker at heart. Once you get in in ya, you can’t stop.”
         He pulled a pack of cigars out of his denim vest and tapped it on the table before pulling one out and lighting it with one of the bar’s complimentary matches.
         “But how about you, old friend.” he continued, “How’s your life been? What’d be in Phaethon reckoning? Fifteen? Sixteen years since I saw you last?”
         “Yeah, about that.” Bob paused the conversation to whistle at a passing waitress. “Hey, sugar. How ‘bout a drink over here? Tall margarita with a double shot of tequila.”
         The waitress sighed and nodded, and walked on.
         “You know, Jack,” Bob continued, “I’m never gonna get used to that. People going off to the stars... sleeping in cryostasis... coming back, years or decades later, and looking no older then when they left.”
         “Well, believe me.” said Jack, “It’s even stranger from the other perspective.”
         “Hmph. Yeah, I guess it would be.”
         “But, seriously, Bob. How you been hangin’? It’s been sixteen years for chrissakes.”
         Bob chuckled, “Oh, not much to say about me. Been married a few times, had a few kids I rarely see. You know, the usual sad story. Hah ha! But the business is doing good, Jack. I can say that much about myself.”
         “That’s good, Bob.” said Jack, puffing on his smoke, “Tell me about that.”
         “Well,” said Bob, “Lemme bum a smoke and I’ll tell you all about it.”
         Jack gave his friend one of his cigars and courteously lit it a match for him. Bob took a drag and continued.
         “So, I quit Astrocor not long after you flew off in that starship and started my own company; freighting parts for all the major players in the system: Astrocor, GPOS... even Omnistar from time to time... Ha! We used to fly all around this system. Pyroeis, Phainon, Caliban, Sycorax - everywhere! Those were the good ol’ days, Jack. It truly was the wild frontier back then! Ha ha! Back when this system was first startin’ out!”
         He paused and took another drag of his cigar.
         “Well, that was sixteen years and four marriages ago. These days I pretty much stay close to home. Try to make it planetside to see the grandkids as often as I can, you know. But the company’s doing fairly well. I have a shipyard on Aegle these days - ‘Fagle’s on Aegle’ we call it. Heh heh. We supply rockets and spacecraft components to whoever needs ‘em, contractors and the big companies alike. In fact, we’ve really seen a hike the last few years. Astrocor’s been buying out all the other parts suppliers and since they bought out GPOS last fall, we’ve been the only company that supplies old GPOS components. Heh heh, but I’m guessing that has something to do with why you called me?”
         Jack smiled and took a drink.
         “Maybe I just wanted to see my old friend. What’s wrong with that? But if you want to talk business, I’m all ears.”
         Bob chuckled, “Heh heh, that’s what I thought. But we got plenty of time to talk business, Jacky. First let’s hear about you. You been out among the stars the last two decades - you gotta have some stories to tell.”
         Jack smiled tentatively and took a long drag from his cigar.
         “Not much to say about me.” he said.
         Bob laughed. “Go on.” he said, “You’ve been out among the stars for sixteen years! I’ll be damned if you got nothing to tell.”
         “Alright.” Jack conceded, “I got a story to tell.” he took a long sip of from his cup of brandy and continued, “Where to start? Right. Well, right after I left Astrocor, like you said, I bought a brand new Terran-built starship. An Icaria Mark 10.”