Mr Mynana

"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers" ~Tennessee Williams

The message was brief and to the point.

"It would appear that the ship is for the onward journey to Taurog," Cassita said to Louie. "Please collect your belongings and follow me."

"I thought we needed to be cleaned and tested first?"

"Indeed - I will take you to a decontamination facility directly. It should not take long - the processing of the ship will be time-consuming, but for you it should be relatively quick."

At Cassita's urging, Louie hurriedly gathered his few possessions and then followed the robot to the hold. The ship's legs had been raised, leaving the hull resting in a cradle, which was locked in place with an air-tight seal. Consequently, the ramp now led directly into a small cargo bay just below them.

Waiting for them was a crewman who had supervised the station's part in the docking process, so as Louie walked down the ramp he had his first face-to-face, in the flesh encounter with an actual alien. He did his best not to stare.

The creature was small, hairless, and physically rather rat-like, with a narrow pointed face and a hunched-over posture. It scurried towards Louie and Cassita fast and low on a pair of thin, short back legs. Its arms were relatively long and came into use as well, so that it was hard to tell whether it moved on two legs or four.

The creature reached them and glanced from one to the other.

"Who responsible for ship?" it asked, in a high-pitched rasp that Louie had to struggle to decipher.

"I am," replied Cassita. "It will require a full service and certification."

The alien was naked apart from a loose harness studded with tools and pockets. It pulled a rather clunky console from one of the pouches and tapped out some details.

"Arranged - want me oversee job? Small charge, good service."

"I will oversee the work myself," replied Cassita. "However I will need a foreman. Please wait - I will return shortly."

With that, Cassita led the way out of the bay and into a wide corridor. Louie moved carefully. He only weighed a third of what he would have on Earth, and it was easy to get into trouble. He was already nursing a sore wrist from where he had run into a wall after taking a corner too sharply, and had learnt that weighing less wasn't the same as having less mass.

Cassita, noticing his cautious movements, offered an appendage, and Louie gratefully took hold of it while he grew accustomed to this new state.

They passed several more of the rat-like aliens as they made their way along the corridor. The nakedness was a little disconcerting, but at least it made it easy to tell which were male and female. "Are these Taurogians?" asked Louie.

"Correct. They form the majority of station personnel." They stopped in front of a door. "Ah, we are here."

Cassita gestured for Louie to make his way inside, but then didn't follow him in.

"I will say goodbye, Louie Gage."

"What?"

"I must go and oversee the return of the ship to the charter company, and then I will no doubt be reassigned," explained the machine. "You will continue to Taurog on your own."

Louie was stunned. "Will I see you again?"

"I am not able to answer that question. I apologise - I had neglected to consider that this information might be distressing. Are you likely to faint?"

"Distressing?" said Louie, growing quite angry. "Cassita, you're the only person I know in a million light years or something - how do you expect me to feel? And, no, I'm not going to bloody faint."

"My employer has a direct interest in you, as well as an established contractual duty to fulfil - you will not be abandoned."

Louie felt the anger leave him. Cassita's news had been a shock, but he knew there was no point in blaming the machine or even being surprised. If he had to say goodbye, then he'd rather do it on good terms.

"Sorry Cassita. I didn't mean to shout at you - it's just that I'll miss you."

"And I will miss you, Louie." Cassita held out a metallic tentacle towards him, and Louie smiled and shook it.

"Goodbye Cassita. I hope we do meet again."

"Goodbye Louie."

Cassita then had a brief conversation with the Taurogian technician, who was waiting by a rather alarming looking machine, before turning back to Louie. "He will ensure that you are escorted to your new transport after the process is complete."

"I heard - thanks for sorting that."

Cassita turned and left without another word, and Louie gathered his thoughts before turning back to the technician. The creature asked for Louie's gencard, slotted it into a panel, and then led Louie over to the machine. It was essentially a more complex version of the decontamination unit back at the sanctuary, and Louie was submitted to an elaborate scanning cycle. The first time it was run, the Taurogian seemed to run into some kind of problem and had to restart it. On the next run, it went smoothly enough.

"Cleaning cycle now," said the creature.

"Can we skip the rinse and fast spin?" said Louie. And then, "Sorry, ignore that. Just a joke."

The Taurogian looked at Louie. "Like jokes?"

"Err, yes, I suppose so. Do you?"

"Only if funny."

The alien went back to tending the machine, leaving Louie smiling.

It called over to him just before hitting a switch. "Womp goes to doctor, 'head hurts', doctor says 'Not surprised - this shoe shop.'"

"What?"

The Taurogian said something else, but by then the machine had started up again and Louie couldn't hear anything over the noise. The process continued for over an hour. At one point, he was stabbed with another set of large needles, identical to the ones on Jormungand, and the angry wasps swarmed through his body again - thankfully for only a short period.

When it was over, the technician handed Louie's gencard back to him.

"Okay - clean now."

"I think someone's meant to be taking me to a ship," said Louie.

"That me."

Louie collected his belongings, and the creature led him back along the original route. They left the main corridor a turn or two earlier, and entered a new docking bay. Now, instead of the practical ramp of the Lullaby, Louie was looking at an entrance cut into the side of a wide tube that had been extended from a ship's hull cradled above. Both the tube and the ship were made of a shining metal and, in the dimly lit interior of the shadowy bay, they glinted and sparkled like silverware by candlelight.

"Okay now?" asked the Taurogian.

"Yes, I suppose so. Thanks."

The Taurogian left, and Louie belatedly realised he hadn't asked the creature's name. Or, for that matter, to explain the joke about the Womp.

Louie walked over to the tube and stepped through the opening. A section of it rotated, covering the entrance, and he moved upwards as the cylinder was retracted back into the belly of the ship. When the movement stopped, the doorway opened again, and Louie walked out into a bright room to find himself facing a strange but rather elegant alien dressed in a pale grey outfit.

The creature was tall and rather serpentine, with a lean but muscular body. Powerful legs and arms ended in long hooked claws that looked like they might make formidable weapons, but would be fairly hopeless for anything complicated. Louie was just puzzling over this when he noticed another pair of arms, set half-way down its torso, that were much slimmer than the other limbs and ended in delicate, long-fingered hands.

The height and inherent strength, combined with the claws, might have made it a rather intimidating sight, but any impression of fearsomeness was rather undercut by the head, which bore a strong resemblance to a sea cow's, soft and wrinkled, with a huge blubbery nose that was almost a trunk. A pair of warm and inquisitive eyes, brown and friendly, were fixed on Louie. Taken as a whole, it was a startling but not particularly alarming presence. Louie wondered if he looked just as strange.

"Louie Gage?" It asked. "I am Captain Ygarla - welcome aboard the Vidor."

"Thank you very much," said Louie, in a voice that started with a slight squeak before regaining its normal tone. He hoped it hadn't been too obvious.

The captain indicated a wide corridor that led away and upwards from the entrance deck. "That leads to the guest lounge and quarters - your cabin is the first one on the right. There's a personal AI waiting for you, and it should be able to provide any more help you need."

Captain Ygarla began to head towards a different exit. "You'll excuse me if I don't come with you, but I know Mr Mynana wants to leave as soon as possible."

"Who's Mr Mynana?"

"The owner of this ship," said the captain, sounding surprised by the question. "He's travelling with us. I think he's currently occupied, but I'm sure you'll meet him soon."

And, with that, the captain left, leaving Louie to make his own way up the corridor. It had curved walls meeting overhead in an arch, the floor was carpeted, and discrete lights were set along the edges. The passage climbed upwards as it went, curving gently around to the right. At the end, Louie emerged into a wide, rather luxurious room.

Like the passage he had just emerged from, it was bright, but pleasantly so, as the lighting was concealed and seemed to fall naturally in the open space. Several doors were arranged around the walls, and the centre of the room was occupied by a white sphere, a couple of yards across, that hovered a few feet above the floor.

On the far wall, a large window looked out onto the station. He couldn't see the Lullaby, or indeed any other ships at all, and wondered what Cassita was doing now.

There were several ottomans arranged around the room - flat, backless sofas - and Louie sat down on one and found himself looking at the hovering sphere. He wondered if it was a piece of art or something. He stood back up and walked around it. As far as he could tell, it was definitely hovering, and wasn't attached to the ceiling or any of the walls. He crouched down and checked underneath, waving his hand in the space between the sphere and the floor. Nothing. He stood back up and cautiously touched it. It felt slightly warm - like plastic rather than metal or stone. He placed a hand on it and pushed a little, and the sphere moved away from him, but returned to its original position as soon as he let go. He was about to try pushing slightly harder when a deep and resonant voice spoke out.

"Stop that at once."

Louie gave a shout and nearly jumped out of his skin, at which point a rumbling chuckle rolled around the room. Louie peered at the sphere. "Was that you?"

"Indeed it was."

"I'm really sorry. I thought you were art or something."

"Ah - and we generally push works of art, do we? My, what an interesting planet you must come from," said the sphere.

A horrible suspicion came over Louie. "Are... are you Mynana? I mean Mr Mynana?"

"Indeed I am," intoned the sphere. "And you are Louie Gage."

"Yes," said Louie, doing his best not to sound too panic-stricken. "I really am very sorry... I mean you've done a lot for me, and... I pushed you... a bit..."

"Please think nothing of it. To be mistaken for a work of art is mildly preferable to some of the accusations I have endured - many of them completely without foundation in the opinion of a suitably bribed judge."

Louie wasn't sure whether he was expected to laugh, applaud or just carry on playing the stooge. He suspected Mr Mynana would like a bit of each.

"Can I ask you something?" said Louie, sitting down on one of the ottomans.

"Ask away - answers may or may not be forthcoming."

"Are you an inorganic intelligence?"

"I am not."

"And is that your real shape?"

"I am not usually so pedantic in my geometry," replied Mr Mynana. "However, the universe and I are currently having a slight disagreement. I felt it wise to ensure that our paths wouldn't cross until the issue was settled, and so have taken up temporary residence in here."

"You're trying to avoid bumping into the universe?"

"Essentially, yes. This unit is quantum-locked and off-limits to everything. Nothing can get in or out apart from a few vital services - and a few less critical ones, such as this conversation."

"And food?" asked Louie.

"Alas, not a mouthful. My main regret, I must confess."

There was a low chime, and Ygarla's voice was discretely relayed into the room, informing them that they would be taking off very shortly.

"Ah," said Mr Mynana. "We are departing. I had hoped to question you about your mysterious arrival on Jormungand. However it appears that conversation will have to wait. No matter - it will give me a chance to read Cassita's inevitably excellent and thorough report first. For now, you should go to your cabin - we will be accelerating at over 3 Gs for the next few hours in order to take advantage of an interesting confluence."

"Oh. Okay, thanks." Louie stood up and went over to what he hoped was the right door "This one?" he asked.

"Indeed. You should find an AI of only marginal irritation and an acceleration couch waiting for you," said Mr Mynana. "Now, hurry along Mr Gage."

Louie opened the door, but turned back before going in. "You can call me Louie if you want."

"I shall take the matter under consideration," said Mr Mynana. "And, of course, please don't hesitate to call me Mr Mynana at all times."

Louie smiled, went into his cabin and closed the door. Then he took his first look around and smiled some more. "Wow."

The room was larger and far more luxurious than his berth or indeed anything else back on the Lullaby. There was a big bed as well as a couple of seating areas, and a thick pale cream carpet that felt like a cloud beneath his feet - and moving across it towards him, on three wide bulbous wheels, was an AI.

Louie looked at it closely as it approached. It shared several features in common with Cassita and the caretaker - a similar set of lenses and attachments for a start, including another one of the mechanical tentacles. Even so, there were some noticeable differences - not least the three wheels. A lot more effort had gone into giving it a less workman-like appearance, and it was mostly covered with a series of very pale grey plates of glossy plastic, studded with neat openings for the eyes and appendages. Then it spoke.

"Welcome sir." Its voice reminded Louie of a newsreader on the television.

"Thank you."

"We shall be leaving shortly," it said, gliding to a halt in front of him. "You are likely to be incapacitated for an extended period - are there any facilities that you need before I show you the acceleration couch?"

"If you mean the toilet, yes please."

Louie followed the AI to a door on the far wall. Inside was a huge bathroom with - wonder of wonders - an actual bath in it. There was also a mirror - the first he'd seen since the accident and his arrival on Jormungand. Louie stared at the shaggy-haired figure in threadbare clothes and tattered shoes and struggled to recognise himself.

The toilet itself was in a separate area, and the AI waited discretely by the bath while Louie had a pee.

"Have I got time to have a bath?" called out Louie.

"No sir."

"You can call me Louie if you want."

"Thank you, Louie. I have no official designation other than my service tag of 1-9-39, but if you would like to assign one, I can respond to it."

Louie was tempted to suggest "Jeeves" or something, but that seemed a bit childish.

"Can I just call you 39?"

"Yes."

Louie finished using the toilet and came back out. He followed the AI back into the main room. The acceleration couch was apparently a temporary addition to the place - a thick pad of jelly-like material spread out on a clear area of the floor. Louie lay face up on it and sunk in a little before spreading his arms and legs slightly apart under the instruction of 39. The slick and pliant surface gripped his body firmly, and he was already starting to feel rather claustrophobic even in the light gravity of the station.

"What if I need to scratch? Or I need another pee?"

"I will offer any assistance required. It would be advisable not to urinate directly on the mat. Its integrity would be damaged by the water content."

"Oh... okay. Are we leaving soon?"

"I have already informed the captain that you are ready - we will be departing in a few moments."

The AI had barely finished speaking before they took off.

For the first few minutes of flight, the acceleration was light, but it quickly increased and Louie felt himself being pushed deeper and deeper into the pad. It wasn't exactly uncomfortable, but the strange material moulded around his body and locked him in place even more firmly than the acceleration alone would have done. Aside from that and a mild headache, he was fine - although he could have done without the weight on his stomach, and he was glad that he hadn't eaten anything too recently.

"Are you there, 39?"

"Yes Louie."

"Do you know how long this is going to last?"

"Around three hours," replied the AI. "Then a further day's travel at a more comfortable acceleration before we arrive on Taurog."

"Okay," sighed Louie. "I might try and sleep - could you turn the lights down a bit?"

"Yes Louie - do you want to be woken?"

He thought about. "Not really. I guess if I'm still out in eight hours time, you could give me a nudge."

The AI turned down the lights and Louie closed his eyes and tried to sleep. It took a while, but eventually he drifted off. When the acceleration dropped a couple of hours later, he mumbled a little and turned on his side, but carried on sleeping.

He didn't stir until the AI gently shook him.

"Have I slept that long?"

"I was instructed to wake you, Louie," explained the AI. "Mr Mynana said that you might want to join him in the lounge."

"Have I got time for a bath?" said Louie, getting up.

"He indicated that there was some urgency."

Louie was beginning to doubt that he was ever going to be allowed to soak in hot water again. He followed the AI out of the cabin, wondering what was in store for him.

Mr Mynana did not appear to have moved, although the lights in the room had been dimmed.

"Ah - Mr Gage. You are just in time."

"What for?" asked Louie, still slightly groggy from sleep.

"Our course is about to intersect the journey of another set of travellers," explained Mr Mynana. "The captain has ensured that we are in an ideal position to observe."

Curious, Louie walked over to the window and looked out. Brecher, a small but fierce and fiery presence, lay some distance ahead and off to one side. In front was only open space.

"Where should I look?"

"Straight forward - we should be matching course with them very soon."

Louie peered out. For a few minutes he saw nothing, and he was about to ask if something had gone wrong. Suddenly, there they were - a trio of huge shapes growing larger by the second. As they drew closer and more details emerged, Louie watched open-mouthed in amazement.

Each of the three objects had a main section - a mile-long irregular mass that looked something like a sea-slug, gnarled and nutty. However, what caught and held Louie's eyes were the sails. Membranous and undulating, they were supported by delicate, needle-thin spars that shifted and flexed. The sails were translucent, and the sunlight showed through in a intricate pattern of whorls and patches that moved and changed like a kaleidoscope

"What... what are they? I mean, those aren't ships, are they?"

"Indeed, Mr Gage, they are not ships. They are called Seekers - although honesty compels me to say that no one has the faintest idea whether the name is an appropriate one or not."

"And they're alive?"

"Most certainly - although that, Mr Gage, is almost the only thing we know about them."

Louie watched the three creatures as they made their graceful progress. "Where are they going?"

"For the moment, nowhere. They've been orbiting Brecher for a few years now, and will probably stay for a few more. After that? Well, that would be one of those things we don't know about them."

"Are they intelligent?"

"And that would be another." sighed Mr Mynana in a tone that seemed to imply amusement rather than frustration. "We know they're alive, that they absorb and use sunlight, and that they apparently travel between systems at sub-light speeds, but that is all."

"Sub-light?" said a rather stunned Louie. "But that must take them forever."

"They have been observed travelling at a thousand miles a second. On that basis, it would take them about two hundred thousand years to cross the galaxy."

"And they do that?"

"Needless to say, there have been no direct observations - naturalists are so impatient," remarked Mr Mynana. "However, they are very widely dispersed, so - yes - as far as we can tell, they do that. Of course, we have no idea whether an individual seeker survives the entire journey, or whether it is the result of countless generations living, spawning and dying over the millennia."

"Are there lots of them?"

"Another unknown - on average, most systems will receive a visit every few thousand years or so, which would indicate that there are at least a hundred billion of them. Pure guess-work though."

Mr Mynana fell silent, and Louie looked out into the blackness, trying to grasp the extraordinary scale of what he was seeing. You needed to be careful out here. Sometimes you could fool yourself into thinking that none of the rules had really changed and everything was still sort-of the same. Then you bumped into something like this and the sensation was a little like vertigo, a terrible tipping forward into a void.

"Our courses diverge now, I'm afraid," said Mr Mynana, breaking the spell.

Louie could see that his host was right. The Vidor was taking a fairly shallow course around Brecher towards Taurog, but the three creatures were starting to turn towards the sun in an ever-steepening curve. They were huge, but even so, they soon shrunk to pinpricks in the darkness and then vanished from sight.

Louie draw breath again. "Thank you - that was amazing."

"The pleasure was mine, Mr Gage. Now, I believe we woke you prematurely..."

"No, I'm fine," said Louie. "Wide awake. I wouldn't mind going for a bath, though."

"Bathe away - we have nearly two days until we reach our destination".

Twenty minutes later, Louie had decided that heaven largely consisted of acres of hot water with him in the middle of it all, just lying there, saying 'heaven' to himself every now and then. He stayed in the bath for over an hour, occasionally adding more hot.

Later, letting himself dry naturally in the warmth of the cabin, and trying to avoid dripping too much on the carpet, Louie thought about washing his clothes. As usual, they could certainly use it, but they were increasingly threadbare and falling apart, and washing did nothing to help.

He called to the AI who had silently parked itself in a corner of the room. "39, are there any clothes on board that might fit me?"

The AI came over and looked at him. "There is no appropriate clothing on board."

"How about just a sheet of material? Something I can cut up a bit?"

The AI said that it would see what it could find and left the cabin. It returned ten minutes later with several bits of cloth, and Louie examined them. Some were too thick or too course or delicate, but there was one piece of dark brown cotton-like fabric that he thought should do. With the AI's help, he cut a slit in the middle of it and slipped it over his head like a poncho. Then they cut a long strip from a thicker bit of material, and Louie belted his new outfit at the waist and took a look in the mirror. It wasn't quite a dress, but it was close. For a moment he wondered what Ray would say if he could see Louie now, and then he remembered. He hated it when his mind tricked him like that, and let sorrow sneak in like a thief.

"Can you show me where the galley is?"

The AI led Louie out of the cabin, and towards one of the other rooms. Mr Mynana was still floating in the centre, but, as his host didn't say anything, Louie decided not to disturb him. He didn't think Mr Mynana could fit through any of the doorways apart from the main corridor, so presumably this was where he stayed for the whole journey, and it only seemed fair to give him some privacy.

The facilities in the galley were a lot more elaborate than any Louie had come across before, but with the AI's help he quickly prepared a serving of soup and meat gum, with some honey flakes for pudding. He found a tray and took the food back to the main room and quietly sat looking out of the window while he ate. Mr Mynana remained silent, and Louie finished his food undisturbed by anything except his own thoughts. Afterwards, he took himself off to bed, promising himself that he would be happier when he next woke up.

He slept for five or six hours, and on the whole felt better for it, if still a little sombre. When he came out of his cabin, the captain and Mr Mynana were talking together.

"Ah, Mr Gage," said his host. "You have met Captain Ygarla already, of course."

"Only for a minute really," replied Louie. "Hello again, Captain."

"Hello again, Mr Gage."

"Our captain has offered to show you over the Vidor, if you are interested," said Mr Mynana.

Louie jumped at the chance and the tour soon began. The captain led the way, sometimes walking on two legs, sometimes dropping to all four, with the more delicate pair of arms folded away and unused. Louie wondered what sort of lives such creatures normally led. He could imagine them grazing on some vast prairie, but that wouldn't really explain the rather hook-like hands and feet.

They headed back to the area where Louie had first come on board. They moved away from the passenger areas, and the ship became far less sleek and much less luxurious. It was in better condition than the Lullaby, but in the end the Vidor was a machine that had a job to do and it showed. He was taken first to the bridge, and inside was another crewman - the only other crewman as it turned out - who was the same species as the captain.

"This is my mate."

"Nice to meet you," said Louie. He noted that the mate wore no clothes, and wondered if the captain's outfit was its own choice, Mr Mynana's, or just demanded by rank. Still, it would help him tell the two apart, although he'd already spotted a small u-shaped scar or burn on the side of Ygarla's face that should help, even if the clothing turned out to be an unreliable guide.

The bridge was surprisingly small - smaller than on the Lullaby - and there was a mild smell of vinegar. Louie took a surreptitious sniff and confirmed that it came from the two aliens. It was okay - it made him feel like he was in a chip shop.

"Where are you both from?"

"Stothart - quite a way from here," replied the captain, as it began to show Louie over the navigation system. It had a much slicker interface than the rather basic model back on the Lullaby, with much better feedback. The captain took it offline and let Louie try out entering and plotting courses.

"What do you get from the main engines?"

"The gravitons? Well the dial goes up to five million, but I don't like to push it past four-fifty."

"Nice," said Louie. "How fast have you gone?"

"I had them running for two months once, so about one-fifty billion miles a second... those big numbers, sometimes they seem to stare right back at you, don't they?"

Louie laughed. "I thought it was just me."

"I think we all get it - all of us out here."

After the bridge, they went down to the engine rooms. There was the same smell of oil, the same endless noise and patchy heat as on the Lullaby. The generators and graviton drives were huge. "Wow," said Louie.

"I know," said the captain. "Normally a ship this size would have something more compact, but then most ships this size are a bit more modest when it comes to thrust."

"Is that why the bridge is so small?"

The captain laughed. "You noticed?

"Well..." said Louie, slightly embarrassed.

"We're used to the place - and we spend a lot of time in dock anyway."

"On Stothart?"

"Stothart? No, we haven't been back there for a long time," sighed the captain. "A few more years of this and we'll have had enough. We'll go home, start a family... well, that's the plan, anyway."

Louie had a moment of confusion before he realised that he'd misunderstood the captain earlier on. "Oh. Sorry. When you said 'mate' before, I thought you meant like a ship's mate. So she's your wife?"

"Boyfriend actually, but yes."

Louie grinned. "I'm really putting my foot in it here."

The captain laughed and took him back to the bridge and reintroduced Louie properly to her partner. He was called Yharbu, and, although not quite as talkative as the captain, he was friendly and inquisitive.

"So what are you then, Louie?" Yharbu asked. "I thought you were kima-kuruka at first, but you're not, are you?"

Louie had no idea what a kima-kuruka was, and wondered how similar to him one would be.

"No, I'm human - I'm from a planet called Earth."

"I don't think I've heard of it," said Yharbu, and looked at his partner.

"Nor me," said the captain.

"I'm not sure anyone has out here," explained Louie. "It's complicated - I just sort of appeared on Jormungand. Basically I'm on my own and I'm lost and I'm trying to get home."

"Ain't we all," said Ygarla, scratching idly at her scar. "Ain't we all."

Yharbu was looking curiously at Louie. "What do you mean by 'appeared'? You came on a ship, right?"

So Louie did his best to explain about his odd arrival - a tale that seemed to perplex and fascinate the two Stoths in equal measure. When he was done, Ygarla looked at her partner. "What do you think?"

Yharbu gave a very human-like shrug. "I think it's the weirdest thing I've ever heard... are you serious about this?"

Louie just nodded.

"Well, if you can teach anyone else to pull off that trick, I guess we'll be out of a job," said the captain.

Yharbu just laughed. "Oh, come on - imagine being able to go anywhere you want in an instant. I mean there are places out there I can only dream about."

"Well, I wouldn't worry," said Louie. "It was just a stupid accident. We don't even have proper space travel on my planet."

After that they chatted more generally, and Louie took the opportunity to find out more about them. The Stoths came from a jungle planet where they spent a lot of their time travelling in the forests, either along the ground or through the trees. This explained the six limbs. The four main ones were used for climbing, while the more delicate third pair were left free for carrying children or baggage.

"So how long have you been working for Mr Mynana?" asked Louie.

"Couple of years now," said Ygarla. "It's a pretty straight-forward job."

"Just ferrying Mr Mynana around?"

"Well, we get to do a bit more than that," said Yharbu, defensively. "I mean, some of the stuff..."

"He's exaggerating," interrupted Ygarla, sharply. "It's basically like you said - ferrying Mr Mynana around. It's a bit boring, but it's safe and well paid."

Suddenly it all felt a little uncomfortable, and Louie wondered if he ought to apologise. He hadn't meant to imply their job was dull. He didn't even think it was dull - they flew spaceships for a living, which was about as far from boring as Louie could imagine. Besides, he wasn't entirely sure that the chill in the air was entirely down to him. He got the distinct impression that Ygarla was cross with Yharbu about something.

They talked on for a little while, but the atmosphere never really recovered, and Louie soon made his way back to the guest quarters.

Mynana hovered in the lounge as normal, but the lights were dimmed and Louie took this as a sign not to disturb him. In his room, he waved away the attentions of the AI and lay on his bed. He wasn't really tired - he didn't really know what he felt. It would have been easy to spend most of the time just feeling gloomy about his lost home, but too much of what was going on offered elation and excitement as a competing emotion. Rather than sit around moping, he decided to go to the kitchens and carry on with his cooking experiments. He soon became focused on the task, and even had some moderate success at creating something like chocolate - although in all honesty he had to admit that it tasted more of a rather sweet, slightly slimy chalk than anything else and was basically inedible.

"Judging from all that rinsing and spitting," said the voice of Mr Mynana from behind him, "I gather that my current abstention from food is less of a burden than usual."

Louie looked round. The galley opened directly onto the lounge, and he had left the door open. The lights had been turned up, and he walked over to the entrance. Mr Mynana waited there as impassively as ever.

"I hope I didn't wake you up or anything," said Louie.

"Not at all - how did you enjoy your tour of the ship?"

"It was great," replied Louie. "Thanks."

He came further into the room and sat down on one of the ottomans facing Mr Mynana. He noticed a smudge of grease on his new outfit that he must have picked up in the engine room, and he was careful not to get it on the upholstery. He checked himself over for any other patches of oil or dirt.

"Is something the matter?" asked his host.

"I've got a little greasy, I'm afraid."

"Engine grease is one of the constants of the universe - do not concern yourself."

"It seems weird," said Louie.

"What does?"

"All the dirt - the oil and mess."

"Are engines on your planet immaculate and shinning?"

"No, pretty much the same, I suppose," said Louie. "But they're just ordinary engines. They don't do all this quantum stuff."

"All engines do 'this quantum stuff' as you put it, whether you know it or not" said Mr Mynana. "And the battlefield that stands between the world of the quanta and our own is invariably messy. That is not grease upon your person, Mr Gage, it is blood - blood from the endless fight to steal power from a miserly and begrudging universe."

Once again, Louie wasn't sure how seriously to take Mr Mynana's pronouncements, or indeed how seriously Mr Mynana took them himself, and he decided to drop the subject rather than risk looking especially foolish.

For a while, Mr Mynana questioned Louie about his arrival. It didn't take long. Cassita, as predicted, had furnished Mr Mynana with a thorough report, and all that remained was for Louie to clarify and confirm one or two details to Mr Mynana's satisfaction. It was certainly a quicker interrogation than the one Louie had undergone with the Stoths.

Besides, there were other things he needed to talk about with his host. Money was the first item. How much did he have? How much did he need to pay for his rescue? Mr Mynana was mostly reassuring. Until a full survey had been conducted, the value of Louie's share was unknown, but Mr Mynana was happy to extend credit.

"Are you sure?" said Louie. "It's just that Cassita said you were a bit broke."

"How very indiscrete of it," drawled Mr Mynana.

"Well, maybe not 'broke', but..."

"The returns on my various cronium interests have been disappointing," said Mr Mynana. "Low production, falling prices - even some thefts. However, while my immediate liquidity may have been affected, I can assure you that I am far from 'broke', as you so charmingly put it."

"Thefts?" said Louie, the word catching his attention like a piece of glass in the sunlight.

"Thankfully in the past," replied Mr Mynana. "It would seem that greater police interest has scared off the perpetrators. Others were affected, but I did seem to suffer more than most."

"Did you lose a lot of money?"

"Your directness is most audacious, and I'm sure often appreciated by your family and close friends. Profits were affected, but insurance largely covered the essential costs - is your rather morbid curiosity regarding my finances now satisfied?"

"Sorry," said Louie. "I didn't mean to be nosey, it's just..."

"No apology is necessary," said Mr Mynana, in a tone that implied otherwise. "And I'm sure your lack of tact can be ascribed to the isolation on Jormungand and your unfamiliarity with conlang."

Less reassuring was the response to Louie's next question - how was he going to get home? Mr Mynana initially avoided answering directly, but Louie persisted and eventually his host had to admit that he had no idea.

"However," Mr Mynana said, "the more information you can provide, the better our chances of helping you."

"What sort of information?"

"It varies - your chemistry alone should provide a few clues. Beyond that, it's hard to say - any information you can give regarding your local cosmology would help. I should add that there are aspects of your arrival that may offer other avenues of investigation."

"So what should I do now?" asked Louie, feeling more hopeful.

"You need access to cosmologists - I have some working for me already. You need a safe place to live - I can give you that. And you are rich, so you need help to make sure you aren't robbed or swindled."

Louie thought about his options. He quite liked Mr Mynana and it was hard to think of any real alternative for now.

"Okay," he said. "But I want to know how much money I've got and what's going on. I don't want to be suddenly told it's all run out and I've got to fight in an arena or something."

Mr Mynana gave a rumbling chuckle. "No arenas - I promise."

After that, Louie and Mr Mynana just talked - mostly about Earth. Mr Mynana seemed genuinely keen to know about the kind of life Louie had lived, so he talked about his family and friends, about home and school, and daily life.

"Don't you want to know about Earth politics and countries and stuff?" said Louie, worried that he must be boring his host.

"Do you know much about Earth politics and countries and stuff?" asked Mr Mynana.

"Not really," confessed Louie. "I mean, a bit, but..."

"I am sure you know more than you think - however, a member of my staff could handle that interview, and a neatly distilled report at the end of it would be all I required. Your daily life, on the other hand, is something you have intimate knowledge of, and requires neither the filling in of gaps, the removal of irrelevance or the correction of error."

"I suppose so," said Louie.

"Besides," said his host, "there are many parallels between our respective tales, and I am now too old to recall my own. Memories that once seemed sturdy have rusted and crumbled, leaving little behind but sharp edges and unsure footing."

"How has your story been like mine?" asked Louie, intrigued by the idea.

Mr Mynana sighed theatrically. "Do you think you're the first person to find themselves lost and alone among strangers? Hmm... you seem to have brought out the melancholic in me. So be it. You have also made me talkative, which is much more serious."

"Talking is bad?"

Mr Mynana was quiet for a moment before speaking. "Information can be a valuable coin out here, and the rarer and more useful the information, the more valuable the coin - do you understand this?"

"Yes," replied Louie. "I think so."

"However, like anything of value, this coin can attract unwanted attention - especially as the information may be a threat to someone as much as it might represent an opportunity to someone else. For example, I would recommend discretion when it comes to discussing your odd arrival in our poor benighted galaxy."

"Why?"

Mr Mynana paused before answering, and even then sounded rather reluctant. "There have been a series of rumours that could be construed as connected."

"Rumours? About what?" said Louie,

"About interstellar space travel - more specifically, that a method of transportation exists that would make cronium redundant. This rumour, I might add, is largely responsible for the fall in the price of cronium."

"And if everyone found out that I'd suddenly appeared on Jormungand, they might think it was connected?"

"Possibly," said Mr Mynana. "In any event, I would be grateful if you would be discrete. I really don't need the price of cronium to drop any further."

Louie considered telling Mr Mynana about his conversation with Yharbu and Ygarla, but was afraid of looking foolish or causing trouble for the two Stoths, and he put the thought aside. "So I should be careful about who I speak to and what I tell them?"

"Precisely. Ideally you want to know exactly what someone is going to do with any piece of information before you give it to them."

"Sounds hard," said Louie.

"Oh, it's fairly easy as long as you stick to dealing with scoundrels," replied Mr Mynana. "It's the heroes and the honourable you have to watch out for - you never know which way they might jump. And neither do they in my experience."

Louie laughed. "You sound like one of my teachers at school."

"Ah, have you talked about this person?" asked Mr Mynana.

"I don't think so - he was my French teacher."

"And what was he like?"

So Louie described a funny but rather gloomy man who'd seemed to like him, despite the fact that he was one of the worst pupils in the class. Given how hopeless at languages Louie had been, it struck him as funny that he was talking about all this in an alien tongue.

Later, Louie made himself some food and asked Mr Mynana if he could turn the lights down to give a better view through the window, and then he sat, looking outwards while he ate.

"You like being out here - among the stars and darkness," said Mr Mynana. "Not many do. Most are either bored or terrified by it."

"And you?" asked Louie.

"I vary in my opinion. Now, in a few hours we will arrive at Taurog - you should rest."

"I'll do my best," said Louie, and made his way back to his cabin.

He lay there in the dark, looking up at the ceiling, not knowing what he felt or what the next day would bring. "May you live in interesting times," he said to himself, remembering something the French teacher had told him, and smiled and closed his eyes and soon fell asleep.

When he woke, they were only two hours from arrival at the shunt. He spent thirty minutes of it having a bath, and then made his way to the galley. The lounge was well lit and Mr Mynana wished him good morning as he passed.

"It is morning?"

"Strictly speaking, no pattern of day or night has been set during this voyage - there did not seem any reason to do so. I am indifferent to such things and you would barely have had a chance to adjust before a new routine would have been thrust upon you, so to speak."

"Well, what time is it on Taurog?" asked Louie.

"It's a planet," said Mr Mynana. "The choice is yours."

"Oh, sorry... that was stupid."

Mr Mynana gave one of his periodic rumbles of laughter. "However, I keep some apartments in one of the main towns. There, I believe, it is currently evening. We shall be arriving in the middle of the night."

"What's the town called?" said Louie.

"Mahin," said Mr Mynana. "A fairly primitive place for the most part, although you'll find it rather frantic after such an extended period of solitude. The citizens are mostly Taurogians of course, but there is a sizeable contingent of off-world traders and other travellers."

"Sounds fun," said Louie.

"Ah, youth. I never know whether to be charmed or appalled by such uninformed optimism. I'm sure you'll have an interesting time if nothing else."

"And you?"

"I?"

"Will you enjoy it?" asked Louie.

"I shall find it a sort of nightmare," said Mr Mynana, lugubriously. "Now, go and have something to eat - it won't be long until we arrive at the momenta-shunt."

Louie continued on his way to the galley, excited by the prospect of an alien town, if a little nervous. Still, he would be under Mr Mynana's protection and, unless he was very mistaken, that would count for something.

After he had eaten, he joined Mr Mynana in the lounge, and they watched together as the last few million miles were consumed. As before, there was no chance of actually seeing the shunt before they arrived. Suddenly, they were inside it, floating in the centre of the strange, inverted world.

"Are we docking here?" asked Louie.

"We are not," said Mr Mynana. "A further three hours travel will get us to Taurog, and that will be quite enough moving about for this year."

"This year?"

"I intend to settle in Mahin for a time - apart from anything else, it's near Jormungand, and I am interested to see how much cronium you have managed to stumble upon. A large find might have a significant impact on the market, and I would rather be ahead of the curve, so to speak."

They watched the surface of the station rotate around them as the ship orientated itself, steadied and then moved swiftly forward into one of the tunnels. Louie watched carefully, trying to catch the moment when the shunt did its work. He doubted he'd be able to. Although they were only making the short hop to Taurog, they would still be boosted to around a third of a million miles an hour. Louie had no idea whether you got to see anything at that speed or not, but it didn't seem likely. Then they were suddenly out in space again and the shunt was nowhere in sight.

Now they had three hours of steady deceleration. Taurog was already a visible - a small sphere of mottled greens and browns. No blue.

"Don't they have any seas?"

"Some of the green areas will be oceans - I believe copper is responsible for the colouration," said Mr Mynana.

Three hours later and the planet hung in front of them, vast and stately. They chased the dark-side as it turned, descending in a graceful curve. Soon, a smattering of lights rushed towards them and Louie caught a brief glimpse of a small city - a checkerboard of shadows and illumination. They rushed towards a brightly lit area and swung down elegantly and without a single bump onto a landing field.

They had arrived.