I tracked his signal to Tharo. In less than five minutes, I caught up to him. I entered the planet hurriedly without an avatar.

Rutha was on the market, talking to a merchant. As  I got closer I heard that he was selling his spaceship to the merchant for less than half its worth. I took out my gun. Rutha's face whitened when he saw me.

"First of all, you do not sell ships on Tharo. You sell them on Lukra.", I began ranting.

He nodded.

"Secondly, and WAAY more importantly. If you are going to steal from a criminal, cover your tracks. This is not some kind of simulation. In real life, you just die.", I waved my gun at him as if I was going to shoot him.

He nodded again, looking on the ground ashamed. 

"I should shoot you for how stupid you are.", I said angrily.

He started tearing up.

"NO! YOU DO NOT CRY!", I yelled. I walked up to him and slapped him.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

He was still sobbing but stopped as I raised my hand, threatening to slap him again.

"We are going home, NOW.", I said.

"No.", he said quietly but determined and without sobbing.

"What do you mean?"

He shrugged.

"Young man. You are coming home NOW.", I took his hand, but he broke free.

"I don't want to go to some unknown planet to join some people I don't know. I want to live in Tharo."

I gasped disapprovingly. "There is nothing here for you. Believe me, you do not want to be one of the many poor Tharoan people that live and die here tragically young."

"But I won't. And even if I do. It will be for a reason."

"Oh, so you're going to change the world now, is it that? Well, do you really think that you, a tiny speck in the grand scheme of things, do you think you can change things? Just come home. We'll pick out a nice life for you. Something safe. You can go anywhere you want to."

He did not move. "I am going to focus on education. Online courses are incredibly cheap and with this much gold, I can build a school for sure. All the textbooks say that education can help develop an economy."

So stubborn, so stupid. I took out my techdevice. "Fine, but you are definitely not keeping the gold. I transferred you the money for that little spaceship. I will sell it on Lukra myself. I have also sent you the contact details of some people you might want to be in touch with about building here in Tharo. Do not throw money around like you are rich. Even in Tharo, people can find you."

His face lightened up in excitement. I felt no excitement, just dread.

"Thank you so much!", he hugged me.

I gave him a few moments before I pushed him away. "I am taking the gold with me. Don't ever steal from someone that you can't match again." 

I briefly considered shooting his arm or leg to make sure he learned his lesson.

He nodded innocently.

"Do not contact me unless it is an emergency.", I turned around and left to transport the gold inside the small ship back to the Hubris. Not even one last look. Back home, I replayed some of the memories I had collected over the past 2 years. Then I stopped them. The endless universe right before me. The sight of it made me feel so insignificant.

I was not going to sell this small ship any time soon. He would probably come back. Kids run away some times. It's normal. Isn't it?