"One in a billion."

Jack kept repeating the mantra in his head.

"One in a billion."

That was the number the Omni-Corps liked to cite whenever someone stepped onto one trans-mat pad and then simply… never stepped off the other.

"Safer than a car," he repeated as he slogged through the snow, his mining overalls doing at least a passable job of keeping out the cold as he brushed aside a tree branch. "Safer than a plane. Or a starship. Safest form of transport in the Star League."

He slammed his fist into a nearby tree, exo-empowered strength shattering it into little more than scattered bark and kindling.

"Yeah, well I never heard of a car ride stranding some prick in another dimension!" He roared, his voice echoing through the seemingly endless forest around him.

Then he kept marching. He'd seen the fire off in the distance. And given all the snow around, he sincerely doubted it was natural. Which left the unnatural.

Which meant people.

He hoped.

Because even if the trans-mat had screwed up, he doubted it had dumped him too far off the central finite curve. The fact that the air was breathable and that he could recognize the trees around him as oak told him that much.

And if the dimension he was in had trees native to Earth, chances are it would have animals too. Of which humans would hopefully be no exception.

"Because I'll be damned if I spend the rest of my days talking to goddamn squirrels."

No, if there were humans on this mudball, he was going to find them. One way or another.