Righto. I haven't gotten that far myself but it's been confirmed by several people that accepting Jaer into your party will corrupt all saves (for some reason) and you can't get him out of your party unless you go to Nulb or Hommlet. Could somebody look into this and provide a fix? update: I'll be receiving a save file containing the Earth node and you should be able to zoom up to the guy and get him into your party and see what's causing the crash. I'll upload the file once I get it. If you do decide to help out - remember to back up your Saves directory.
I've gotten Jaer before. On entry to Nulb or Homlett, the game crashes invariably, except for once, i was able to load an autosave upon entering Nulb. In that instance, i had Sargen, another NPC in the nodes, with me. Sargen just spewed his nonsense and ran off, but when i talked to Jaer, he just begged to be taken to Nulb or Homlett before i let him go, despite the fact that i WAS in Nulb. Also, he CAN be released from your party by talking to him.