Taurog

"O brave new world that has such people in it" ~William Shakespeare

Louie emerged from the Vidor into a warm, heavily-scented night. For a moment, a wave of inexplicable déjà vu passed over him before he realised why it all seemed so familiar. He smelt oil, heat, strange plants, dust and a not unpleasant whiff of sewage. It was the same sense of foreignness, of 'not home', that he'd once had stepping sleepily off a plane at the start of a holiday in Greece. Only the cicadas were missing.

The AI from his cabin had been assigned to take him to Mr Mynana's residence, and Louie followed it across the landing apron and towards a waiting vehicle. Their transport was an odd machine - it looked like an old-fashioned, open-topped coach attached to a three-wheeled motorbike instead of horses. There was an opening on one side of the carriage a foot or so off the ground, and Louie wondered how the AI was going to be able to get in. A Taurogian sitting astride the motorbike jumped off the seat and came over, using the same low-to-the-ground scuttle that Louie had seen on the station above Rosson.

"Need ramp?" it asked the AI.

"Yes."

The driver ran to the back of the coach and hauled out a hard, flat sheet from a sling set underneath, and attached it to the carriage. The AI led the way up with Louie following behind, carrying his few belongings wrapped in a spare length of cloth. A low padded couch circled the interior of the vehicle, and Louie picked a spot from which to watch their journey while the AI settled into the middle of the floor, bracing itself carefully. The Taurogian stowed the ramp again and then they were off.

Apart from a low, quiet hum, the vehicle was almost silent. The large, rather squashy wheels crunched lightly on the grit and sand of the unpaved road, and they drove at a sedate pace past sleeping houses and buildings of mellow, soft-edged stone. As they headed further into the town, the buildings grew larger, but retained the same basic architecture of domes and arches and low square doorways, all shrouded in shadow. Every now and then they passed an open area populated with closed-up stalls and clumps of spiky-looking trees and plants. There were few inhabitants about - the odd scurrying form of a Taurogian flitted past, and once Louie saw the back of a larger figure, wide and solid, making its way down a side-alley. They seemed to be the only vehicle on the road.

"How will Mr Mynana do this journey?" asked Louie.

"I am not authorised to discuss that," was the AI's only reply on the subject.

After about half an hour they turned into a narrow street with a high unbroken wall running along one side. They drew up in front of a tall closed gate, and the driver jumped down, ran over to it and pulled on a rope. Louie heard the faint sound of a bell and a few minutes later the gate was opened and they drove under an archway and pulled up in a flagged courtyard.

Light spilled out from a large open door and two Taurogians stood waiting for them. They chatted briefly with the driver in a language of chittering throaty squawks, and he climbed down and started fetching the ramp for the AI. Louie jumped out and looked around while he waited. Dark, musky shrubs grew in beds set against the walls, filling the air with a bittersweet scent. Apart from the open doorway, all was dark, and the sounds of the Taurogians arranging the ramp seemed very loud in the stillness.

Soon, the job was complete and the AI joined Louie and they made their way inside.

"I will see you to your rooms and then go back to the ship, if that is acceptable," said the machine.

"Sure."

A single male Taurogian led the way along a series of passages and cloisters, and past gardens filled with splashing and bubbling fountains and carefully pruned bushes and trees. The house appeared to be all on one level, but seemed very large, and Louie soon realised it would take him a few days to find his way around confidently. Eventually they reached a door, just wide enough for the AI, and they all went through.

The door led into a small private garden with a covered walkway running all the way around it. Off this walkway were a series of rooms, and the Taurogian began to show Louie over them.

"Sorry - is this all for me?" said Louie, slightly stunned as he looked round a bedroom that seemed to be the size of his house back on Earth.

"Is problem?" asked the creature.

"No - it just seems a lot of space for one person. I mean, it's great, but... I just wanted to check."

When the tour was finished, the AI made a perfunctory goodbye and left. The Taurogian went over to a small, narrow bed set in one corner of the walkway. "I sleep now - want thing, shout, wake up. Okay?"

"Oh... Okay," said Louie. He'd not really got used to having an AI servant, let alone a living one. The Taurogian's thin mattress looked about the size of one of the pillows on his own palatial bed, and Louie felt uncomfortable with the whole set up, but had no idea what he could or should do about it. He went into his room and lay down, not really sleepy, but worried that if he didn't go to bed then the Taurogian wouldn't be able to either. He tossed and turned for a good hour, wishing that the scale and shape of things could sometimes be a little more familiar, before finally drifting off.

When he awoke, daylight was showing around the edges of the door. He got out of bed and pulled on his outfit and went outside. The Taurogian was tending the garden, clipping a tall bushy shrub, and came scuttling over as soon as he saw Louie.

"Hi," said Louie.

"Want stuff?" asked the Taurogian by way of reply.

"Stuff?"

"Want something?"

"Oh... I don't think so."

The Taurogian turned away and went back to his gardening.

"Oh, thinking about it," said Louie, "you could tell me what time of day it is."

"Midday," replied the creature.

"I'm Louie."

"Midday, Louie," he said.

"No, I mean... well, what's your name?"

The Taurogian looked over at Louie cautiously, and seemed to consider before replying.

"Bolger," he said finally.

"Nice to meet you, Bolger," said Louie, stepping forward. He started to put his hand out, but thought better of it. Bolger, for his part, nodded and then went back to clipping the bush. It was a fairly small shrub, and if the Taurogian tried to make itself look busy much longer, there wouldn't be anything left of it. Louie had no idea if the alien was rude or just following some rule of etiquette, but, rather than push the issue, he retrieved his gencard from his room and went into the kitchen to make himself some breakfast.

To his surprise, Bolger followed him into the kitchen and stood to one side, watching him.

"Did you want something?" asked Louie.

"Watch you, make food next time."

"I like doing my own cooking."

Bolger shrugged and left the room. Louie hoped the bush would be alright, and then went back to getting his food ready - a bowl of honey flakes and fruit spawn. When it was done, he took it into the garden and he sat on the edge of a raised pool of water to eat it. A small fountain played in the centre. Bolger was nowhere in sight, for which Louie was grateful. It was a warm day and he looked up at the sky. It had an odd purple tinge to it, but the sun looked almost the same as Earth's.

When he'd finished, he dumped the bowl back in the kitchen area. Bolger came in almost immediately and started clearing up.

"I can do that," said Louie.

Bolger looked at him. "Want job?"

"What? No, I just..."

"Job doing stuff for you. No doing stuff, no job - understand?"

"I'm just not used to having a servant - it's a bit weird."

Bolger looked at him as though trying to figure him out. "You need stuff, you ask, don't mind job, got it?"

"Got it," said Louie, and held out his hand. "Friends?"

"No," Bolger sighed. "Friends not job - job doing stuff."

"Alright then," said Louie, keeping his hand out. "Deal - shake on it."

Bolger looked at the outstretched hand uncertainly.

"Look," said Louie. "I'm telling you to do something. I'm telling you to shake my hand."

Bolger grunted, came over and held out his own hand. It was small, dry and leathery, with three long fingers and a narrow thumb, all with rather long nutty-brown nails. Louie took it and gave it a single formal shake and then let go.

"Now," he said. "Is Mr Mynana around?"

"I go see," said Bolger, and he scuttled off.

Louie couldn't decide if he felt pleased or embarrassed about how the exchange had gone. Bolger seemed determined to be treated as a servant, nothing more and nothing less, and if Louie wanted a more equal relationship, then he suspected he'd have a fight on his hands - and he wasn't even sure he'd be on the right side. There had been a chemistry teacher at school who behaved as though they were all in his class because they thought he was such a great guy, and it got very boring after a while - particularly as being a great guy didn't prevent him from handing out detentions. He even tried to treat these as a bit of a laugh - a practical joke among friends. They weren't.

Bolger soon returned. "Mr Mynana not disturb. This evening okay."

"Okay," said Louie. "I want to go to a clothes shop - can you take me?"

"Clothes shop? For you?"

"Yes... Oh, and I'll need some money. Can you organise that?"

"Need tailor and money for tailor?"

"Yes."

"Go see."

"I'll come with you," said Louie, before Bolger could run off again. "I just need to get my old clothes so they'll understand what I want."

He went back to his room and collected the grubby and torn remains, wrapped them into a bundle, and then rejoined Bolger.

"Okay - lead on."

Bolger took him back through the house. They passed a few more Taurogians who occasionally exchanged a word in what was presumably the local language with the servant. Eventually they arrived back at the front door where there was a small annex to one side.

"You wait - staff only, get money, order vehicle," said Bolger.

"Can we walk?" asked Louie.

"Walk, sure." And with that, Bolger disappeared inside. Louie heard the whisper of a conversation, none of it in conlang as far as he could tell, and then the servant came back out carrying a small pouch.

"Money," he said, handing it over.

Louie looked inside and took out a few coins of different amounts before dropping them back in and returning the purse to Bolger. "I've got nowhere to keep it - you carry it."

Bolger was wearing one of the harnesses hung with pockets that seemed common among the Taurogians, and he dropped the pouch into one of them and then led the way outside, through the main gate, and onto the street.

The road outside the house was quiet and almost deserted. There was no traffic, just a couple of Taurogians working on a wall, repairing some cracks. After a few minutes, Louie and Bolger reached the end and turned into the main road and slowly, as they made their way into town, the streets became busier and more populated. Stalls began to spring up alongside, full of strange looking fruit and other oddities, and the air was thick with different smells and sounds. Then they turned a corner and came upon one of the open areas Louie had passed in the dark, and the noise doubled. The place was packed with Taurogians buying, selling, eating and talking. The grandest shops were permanent stalls like those that Louie had seen shuttered up the night before, but now every available space between them had been filled with either a barrow or table or rug, all spread with wares.

"Is this where the tailor is?"

"No tailor here - Taurog market."

"Can I get one of those?" said Louie, pointing to Bolger's harness.

In response, Bolger led the way into the market and Louie followed. They made their way through the narrow lanes between the shopkeepers, with Bolger pausing every now and then to inspect the goods on display. Copper was the dominant material and had been fashioned into an extraordinary variety of forms, often of great delicacy and beauty, but there were other things as well. They finally stopped in front of a wooden stall on wheels that had a selection of the pouches and similar items laid out on top. Two Taurogians were in charge - a couple Louie guessed, since a child not much larger than a puppy was staring up at him from the shadows underneath.

Louie picked up one of the pouches. "Can I try this on?" he asked.

The shopkeepers glanced at each other, and one of them chittered something to Bolger.

"No conlang," he explained. "Put it on okay."

The pouch had been set up for a Taurogian, and Louie, who was much taller than them, struggled with the buckles and unfamiliar design. One of the shopkeepers came round and helped him. Soon, it was done.

Louie suspected that he looked ridiculous, but since he was already basically wearing a dress, he wasn't going to worry about it. Besides, he could probably walk around naked except for a top hat and he doubted anyone would think it odd.

"Ask them how much," he said to Bolger.

"How much you want?"

"I've no idea," said Louie. "You'll have to sort it out. Something reasonable."

Bolger and the shopkeepers chatted briefly before Bolger handed over some coins from the pouch, and then he and Louie made their way back out.

"You want carry money now?" asked Bolger, pointing at Louie's newly acquired pockets.

"No - you hang on to it. I'd only have to give it back to you every time we needed to buy something."

They made their way further into town. The buildings grew larger and taller, and the streets became more crowded and noticeably smellier. They hadn't gone far when Louie saw his first non-Taurogians - a quartet of three-legged, brown-shelled aliens loping along the other side of the road, each clutching a pearly round sphere in long, spindly pairs of arms. Louie looked back to watch them go, and Bolger had to intervene to stop him stepping into a meandering channel of polluted water that ran along a crude trench.

Up until now, all the buildings had been of the same basic design and made of the same honey-coloured, soft-edged stone. Here, the arches, domes and flat roofs were mixed with other materials and styles. Glass and metal, polished marble, plastics and wood - all shaped into a jumble of different forms.

In some ways, Louie had preferred the Taurogian market they had first visited, but there was no denying that it was exciting. Several more off-world visitors mingled with them in the crowded streets, including an elephantine form striding slowly along, upright on two thick legs and wearing a heavy green coat. Louie couldn't see its face from where they were, and wondered if it had a trunk.

Eventually, they reached their destination - a big covered bazaar arranged over a series of galleries, with a large arena-like area in the centre, crowded and noisy. The place was an odd and rather messy mix of the old and new buildings that Louie had seen outside - parts of it looked ancient, but were intermingled with obvious additions. Lights dangled from the high roof, lifts had been grafted on to ease access between the different levels, and odd booths and consoles were scattered around without any apparent order. Four huge screens were attached to the walls, each constantly streaming either images, numbers or text.

Bolger led the way up to the first gallery and they walked round it to reach a tangle of shops on the other side. Louie had a good view of the main floor below and stared, fascinated at all the activity and noise, although the purpose of much of it left him mystified. There seemed to be almost as many aliens as Taurogians, and nearly everyone appeared to be busy, although it wasn't instantly clear what all of them were actually being busy about.

"What is this place?" he asked.

"Market," replied Bolger.

"So what's everyone buying down there? I mean, there are some shops, but..."

"Pay for information."

"What?" said Louie, slightly surprised. "Are you meant to be charging me for stuff like that?"

Bolger looked at him for a moment before giving a sudden grunt that Louie suspected might be his equivalent of a laugh. "Down there paying for information. Buying, selling, sending, getting."

"Oh, but..."

"Tailor," said Bolger, turning into the opening of a shop.

Once inside, the noise from the floor below dropped to a background buzz. A Taurogian came up to them and talked briefly with Bolger, who then turned to Louie. "Speak conlang, tell what want."

So Louie unwrapped his old clothes from the bundle and showed them to the tailor, who examined them carefully.

"Put them on, yes?" he said to Louie.

Feeling stupidly self-conscious, Louie took off his odd dress and climbed into his old clothes, while the tailor took measurements and notes. "Can you make new shoes for me as well?"

"Like those?" asked the tailor, pointing at Louie's trainers, which he'd left by his discarded dress.

"They don't have to be the same - just comfortable."

The tailor sketched them and carefully traced Louie's feet on a sheet of paper, as well as manipulating the toes, bones and muscles, making Louie giggle despite his best efforts to keep a straight face.

"Okay, shoes, okay clothes. Two, three days, yes?"

They all haggled for a while over price and how many outfits Louie would need, as well as examining samples of material. Eventually, they settled on two of everything, plus the tailor would make Louie a coat of a thick padded material, as well as a pair of shorts, and some sandals and boots. Half the money was paid up front, with the rest to follow when everything was ready. They were to come back in two days, unless the tailor sent a message to say otherwise.

Louie pulled off his old clothes, which he gave to the tailor, and climbed back into his poncho-dress and ragged shoes, then he and Bolger made their way outside to the street below and began to head back to Mr Mynana's.

They were passing along narrow lane when Louie heard a sudden noise above. The buildings in this quarter were odd, and at first Louie had thought that construction work was going on. Closer inspection had shown that the elaborate arrangement of bars and platforms was permanent, and it was from high in this structure that the noise had come.

Louie looked up, slightly blinded by the sun, but caught a flash of gold descending towards him. A moment later he was surrounded by a group of faces staring down at him, their owners hanging upside down from the struts and supports just above. Looking at them, Louie mostly felt shock. Their features - indeed their whole bodies - were remarkably human, although the differences were almost as disorientating as the similarities.

Their faces were rather lizard-like, but with large round eyes that looked at him with open curiosity and intelligence. One of them reached out with an unexpectedly long arm, and warm delicate fingers probed his face. Louie was too surprised to react, and Bolger seemed unconcerned.

The creature traced the outline of Louie's lips and then smiled at him, as though to confirm the resemblance between Louie's mouth and its own. Then his nose was tweaked and inspected, although that was where Louie's and the creature's features most noticeably diverged, since its nose consisted of just two small openings, flat against the face. Their skin was a dark orange, but their graceful and long-limbed bodies were partially covered in sleek golden hair that grew in feathery strips, following the contours of muscle and bone. They wore little clothing - a scrap of cloth at the waist seemed to be the extent of it - but were decorated all over with rings, bracelets and necklaces.

Louie found himself laughing delightedly and, in response, the creature that had been examining his face dropped to the ground, twisting as it fell, before landing lightly in front of him. Its knees, Louie noticed, bent backwards rather than forwards, giving it a rather bird-like stance.

"What are you?" asked Louie.

"Kima-kuruka," it said in response.

For a moment, Louie struggled to remember where he had heard the name before, and then he recalled that Yharbu, Captain Ygarla's mate, had initially thought he was one. Looking at the graceful, athletic forms that surrounded him, Louie couldn't help but feel flattered, absurd as it was. He wondered if the group were male or female or a mixture - although for all he knew, the distinction might not even exist.

Emboldened by the way his own features had been explored, he reached out and stroked the kima-kuruka's hair. As he did so, Louie noticed a diminutive, insect-like thing gripping onto a few strands and, in a moment of bravado, he plucked it off and presented it to the kima-kuruka. The kima-kuruka laughed, took it from him and popped it into his mouth and chewed once before swallowing. Louie must have looked rather surprised judging from the recipient's amused expression.

"Revenge - he eats me, I eat him," it said.

Above, the rest of the kima-kuruka hooted and chattered, evidently entertained by this exchange.

"And what are you, brother?" asked the kima-kuruka, taking Louie's hand in its own and examining the fingers.

"I'm human - I'm Louie."

"Louie," repeated the kima-kuruka. Then it dropped Louie's hand, flashed a quick smile and jumped upwards, grabbing a bar that seemed impossibly far above them, before swinging higher in a series of graceful and acrobatic leaps. The whole troop followed and in a few seconds had disappeared from view, high in the lattice-like structure.

"Oh," said Louie, somewhat lost for words. Bolger grunted and set off and Louie followed him, occasionally looking upward in the hope of catching another glimpse of the creatures.

"What planet are they from?" asked Louie as they walked.

"Kima-kuruka no planet."

"What?" said Louie. "I don't understand. How could they not come from a planet?"

"Was planet, no planet now. Lost kima-kuruka planet."

"They lost it?" said Louie. "How do you lose a planet?"

Bolger just shrugged, evidently not that interested, and Louie gave up trying to get any information on the subject from his defiantly grumpy companion, and instead concentrated on sight-seeing. Half an hour later, they arrived back at Mr Mynana's and went inside.

When Louie went to his apartments, there was a letter waiting for him. It was pinned to the door - a heavy envelope with 'Mr Louie Gage' written on it in an ornate but legible conlang script.

Louie took it inside and went to his room to read it, but very quickly had other things on his mind. The place had been ransacked. The bed had been pulled apart, every drawer lay on the floor, and his few personal possessions were scattered everywhere. He called Bolger in to look at the mess.

"This bad," said the servant, who then rushed out to check the other rooms before returning to report that they too had been wrecked.

Louie opened the letter, wondering if it might offer some explanation. Inside was a single sheet of stiff card with print on one side and handwriting on the other. He read the printed side first - the message was brief, and most of the card was either blank or occupied by the details of date, time and address.

You are cordially invited to a reception to be held in honour of the arrival of Mr Mynana

So, thought Louie, a birthday party, and presumably nothing to do with whatever had happened to his rooms. He turned the card over and read the other side.

My Dear Mr Gage,

I gather you have gone clothes shopping - how very droll of you.

I hope you will be able to attend my little gathering tomorrow night - I feel it only fair to warn you that it will be impossibly dull.

Mr Mynana

"I'd better go and see Mr Mynana and tell him what's happened," said Louie. "Can you start tidying up?"

Bolger nodded, and Louie made his way back to the front door where he went up to the nearest Taurogian.

"I need to see Mr Mynana - it's urgent."

He was told to wait for a few minutes - more like half an hour as it turned out - and was then taken along a series of corridors. Eventually, they arrived at a fairly small door set into the side of a short passage.

"Back door," said his guide. "Mr Mynana there." And then he shuffled off.

Louie knocked - there was no handle - and a few seconds later, the door was opened by an AI - a legless ball hanging from the ceiling by a brace.

"Oh, hello - I'm here to see Mr Mynana," said Louie.

"Follow me please," said the machine, and led the way down a narrow hall.

It was quite dim in the corridor, but Louie was fairly sure that the AI was following some kind of track laid into the ceiling - something that was confirmed when they stepped out of the hallway into a more brightly lit area. There was a new track here, also in the ceiling, and the AI extended a second brace in order to switch from one to the other. It then continued to glide forward, and Louie followed.

"Are the rails just for moving around on, or do you get power from them as well?" he asked, reminded of the tube in London.

"Just for moving," said the machine. "All power is autonomous."

They carried on for a short distance past walls decorated with strange art-works, as well as display cases containing further curiosities, and then the AI led Louie into a large room - several rooms really, and probably even more that were out of site - and there, in the middle, hovered Mr Mynana.

"Ah, Mr Gage," he said. "You wished to see me - are your rooms not satisfactory?"

"My rooms were great... I mean they are great," said Louie. "But someone's been in them while I was out and messed everything up. I think they must have been looking for something to steal."

"Are you certain?"

"Definitely," said Louie. "Well, not about the stealing, but even I couldn't make that much mess."

"This is unacceptable," said Mr Mynana, in an outraged tone. "An investigation will be made at once. There is no surveillance inside your apartments, of course, but the corridor outside will be monitored. I will have the recordings checked."

The AI suddenly left the room - presumably to carry out the work.

"I cannot apologise enough," said Mr Mynana. "Such an act is an affront to both of us."

"They don't seem to have done any damage," said Louie. "Just made a mess - what would they have been looking for? I've hardly got anything."

"When the culprit is caught, that will be one of the first things we shall find out. However, let us extract a little benefit from this unfortunate occurrence. We are due, I think, for a little chat."

"About getting home?" asked Louie, settling onto an ottoman.

"Precisely," replied Mr Mynana. "Now, the full funds available to you won't be known for some time, but they should be sufficient to assist in your quest."

"What do you think of my chances?" asked Louie. "Do you think I can find Earth?"

"In all honesty, no," replied Mr Mynana. "I will be frank - given that no one has ever come across your species, your system is almost certainly in another galaxy, and unless we can identify which one, and from approximately which star, then you will never get home."

Louie took a deep breath but didn't speak.

"I imagine this is a rather unwelcome observation," said Mr Mynana. "I genuinely wish I had better news for you."

Louie shrugged. "It's okay - I've been sort of getting the message for some time now I suppose... what about those rumours you mentioned - the ones about space travel? I mean, maybe there is a connection, and..."

"I would advise you not to place too much credence on such gossip. I have reason to believe that they were spread purely to lower the price of cronium - a remarkably successful strategy I might add."

"Why would anyone want to do that?" asked Louie.

"Any one of several reasons comes to mind - not least the possibility that someone wished to harm my interests," said Mr Mynana. "Whatever the motive, I doubt that the truth will help you in your quest."

Mr Mynana fell silent and Louie found his purpose twisting and shifting in him. What did he want? If home was not a simple journey away, then what next?

In the end, of course, he didn't think he had a choice. "I can't give up - at least not yet," he said. "You said something about astrophysicists?"

"Indeed," replied Mr Mynana. "A Professor Mar will be arriving in few days from the station above Rosson."

"You think they can help?"

"The professor's expertise is only matched by a quite remarkable lack of charm," said Mr Mynana. "And now that that is settled, I'm afraid I must ask you to leave me. I have some arrangements to make with regard to tomorrow's reception. Do you think you can amuse yourself until then?"

"Sure - is it alright if I explore the house?"

"By all means - explore away. However, if you could avoid pushing random objects about, I'd be very grateful."

Louie laughed. "I promise."

The AI returned just then, and reported that there was no sign of anyone entering Louie's rooms.

"Whoever it was must have climbed in from outside," said his host. "Hopefully it was just a common thief. A most unlucky one if so - he managed to find the one place in my residence that contained little of value. I will inform the police and arrange for the walls to be monitored to prevent any reoccurrence."

And with that, Louie was dismissed.

The AI showed him to the door where he had entered, and Louie made his own way back to his rooms, managing to only get lost twice on the way. Bolger had finished tidying up and was waiting for him in the garden.

"Want food?"

"Yes - wait... can you get me some things for drawing?" said Louie. "I just need white paper and something black to draw on it with."

"You want draw stuff?" replied Bolger, sounding incredulous.

"Yes, Bolger. I want draw stuff."

"Now or food first?"

"Food - come on."

They went into the kitchen and Louie activated his gencard. Bolger inspected the main display. "This it?" he said. "Seven recipes?"

"Yes."

"What want?"

Louie selected a meal, gave serving instructions, and then went out to the garden to wait. He leant back against the edge of the fountain and watched the stars appear in the darkening sky. It wasn't long before Bolger appeared with a tray.

"I get stuff now," he said, after passing over the food.

Louie ate, and wondered what to draw. He was out of practice, as his original sheets of paper - and indeed the pen - had run out during his stay on Jormungand. Besides, even at his best, most of his drawings had been crude and barely competent. He was happiest drawing views - the vistas and long perspectives seemed to come more naturally to him than the cramped details of machines, objects and buildings. He thought about the problem until Bolger returned, carrying a dark wooden case the size of a hardback book, as well as a large stack of assorted sheets of parchment and paper.

Louie finished the last few mouthfuls of his meal and waited while Bolger cleared the tray. Then he sat cross-legged on the ground and opened the box while the servant watched.

Inside were a delicate series of compartments filled with implements. There were slender rods of charcoal, along with a slim holder to slide them into; there was an inkwell made of copper with an engraved stopper, as well as brushes and nibs.

"Bolger, this is perfect - thanks," said Louie, enthusiastically, as he examined the contents. "Where did it come from?"

Bolger shrugged. "Office."

Louie now examined the paper and parchment. There were several thicknesses and textures, and the colour varied from pure white to a deep, rich cream. Louie ran his fingers over the grain of each - some were smooth and glossy, and others were rough and warm. He felt a deep urge to start drawing straight away - not to draw anything in particular, but just to see how the different paper and drawing materials behaved together. He sighed and closed the box, before turning to Bolger again.

"Can you arrange transport for tomorrow morning?" he asked.

"Where you go?" said Bolger.

"I want to get out of town," said Louie. "Somewhere with a view."

"For drawing?"

"For drawing," confirmed Louie "You'll need to come with me - I don't want to get lost or anything."

"You want carriage?" asked Bolger.

"Do you think I can drive one of those vehicles you use to pull them?"

"Maybe," replied Bolger. "Not hard. Go, stop, left, right. You big, but okay."

"Great - so you'll sort it out?"

Bolger gave an almost imperceptible nod and headed off again, leaving Louie to tidy up the drawing tools. He carried them carefully into his room and, when everything was neatly packed away, he undressed and got into bed. On a whim, he got up and fetched the drawings he'd done on Jormungand and flicked through them. As he thought, the drawings of the base and the AI were crude - not much better than those by a talented eight-year old. However, the landscapes were definitely better. They weren't brilliant or anything, but they were competent and carried with them a sense of the plains and hills around the refinery. Louie smiled, looking forward to the morning, put them on a chest by the side of his bed, and then settled down to sleep.

When he woke the next day, he got dressed and made his way out to the garden. The sun was just coming up and wasn't yet showing over the walls of the house. Its low beams shone against the higher walls and were visibly slipping down them as it rose. It must have rained in the night, although Louie hadn't heard it, and the grass was slick. There was an odd tang in the air - not unpleasant, but sharp and slightly medicinal.

Bolger came out of the kitchen carrying a pack that was rather too large for him.

"What have you got in there?" Louie asked.

"Food. Water."

Louie was feeling mischievous. "Hang on - I'll go and get my drawing stuff. You can carry that too." He went to his room and grabbed the box and the paper before returning. "Here you go."

Bolger took the box in his left hand, and used the arm to hold the paper against his side. He then took hold of the pack with the other hand. He just about managed it, but it looked like a fragile arrangement.

Louie laughed. "Give me the pack - you can carry the drawing stuff." Before Bolger could argue he pulled the bag off him and headed for the door.

The house was silent as they made their way through it to the main entrance. A single Taurogian was on guard, and he slid back a thick bolt as they approached, and pulled it open. Outside in the courtyard were two of the three-wheeled motorbikes.

While the guard unlocked the gates to the street, Bolger took Louie through their operation. They seemed fairly simple. Starting them seemed to be the trickiest part, but all Louie had to worry about was braking, pushing a lever to move, and turning the handlebars to steer. And finding somewhere to put his legs.

If he just left them dangling, they would drag along the ground, but the struts were designed for a Taurogian and were far too high, unless he drove with his knees next to his ears.

Bolger said something to the guard, who went and retrieved a basket of tools. They moved the struts down as low as they could go, and Louie climbed on. His knees were still a little higher than he'd have liked, but it would work. The drawing materials were placed in a pannier on the back of Bolger's bike and they set off.

The machines were quite relaxing to drive. Their top speed was only about five miles an hour, and the soft, bulbous tyres took the potholes and ruts in the unpaved road in a kind of lurching, rocking stumble. It was a bit like riding a well-behaved donkey, Louie thought.

They were heading east and had hit the outskirts of Mahin when a Taurogian ran out of a side-street and began calling to them. Following Bolger's lead, Louie slowed to a stop, and the newcomer and Bolger had a rushed conversation in the native language. Louie was left in the dark as to what they were talking about, but it seemed rather intense. At one point they broke off and both of them looked at Louie before continuing. The exchange didn't last long after that. Bolger let fly with a last burst of chatter and the other Taurogian then scuttled away.

"Is everything okay?" asked Louie.

"Fine. Go now," said Bolger, moving off again.

Louie followed, and the rest of their journey was without interruption. They reached the edge of town a short while later and began to drive through open countryside. There were wide fields along either side off the road. In most grew a low, dark-green plant with a thick stem, but where the land was uncultivated, groves of tall bushes gathered. Up ahead were some gentle hills, and their route seemed to be straight towards them.

They turned off the main road onto a narrower track, and began to climb the hills in a series of gentle turns and twists, the engines of the bikes straining as the gradient increased, until finally they reached the top. Bolger turned off the road and stopped, and Louie pulled up beside him.

The hills fell away from them on three sides giving them a wide view of the surrounding land. To the west was Mahin. The sun was higher now, and the honeyed stone of the buildings was brightening and losing its lustre in the process, but the surrounding vista made up for it.

Mahin had been warm, hot even, and Louie hadn't expected so much greenery. He had assumed that they had been surrounded by a dry land of bare earth and dust, but instead it was criss-crossed with a network of rivers and canals, with narrow channels of irrigation feeding outwards. And wherever the water flowed, ripe strips of farmland, rich and verdant, glowed like emeralds. Elsewhere, on the rippling hills where the water couldn't reach, wildness still had hold, adding its own textures to the landscape.

"Wow, Bolger," said an awestruck Louie. "Thanks - this is great."

As he scanned the landscape to the east, he saw a low jumble of what at first he thought were huge stones. The area surrounding them was less densely farmed - almost barren by comparison with the rest. The sun made it hard to see them clearly, and it took a few minutes before Louie realised that they weren't natural.

"Bolger, is that a city?" he said, turning to the servant.

Bolger was looking back towards the town and didn't appear to have heard him. Louie followed his gaze, but could see nothing - just the road with a little traffic on it, all heading away from them and into Mahin.

"What is it?" he asked.

Bolger seemed to finally hear him and turned around, but offered no explanation, just a shrug and a grunt. Louie put it aside and pointed at the ruins. "What's that?"

"Old city," said Bolger.

"What happened to it?"

"Ruined long time," said Bolger. "Draw now?"

Louie considered asking further questions, but thought it was probably pointless. Bolger was already looking back at the town, which meant that Louie would be battling against the servant's apparent distraction as well as his customary brusqueness. Instead, he went and retrieved his materials from the bike and settled down to draw.

He faced the ruined city and began to sketch the horizon and the meandering water-ways. He had just started to work on adding in the outline of the ruins when the sound of one of the bikes starting made him jump.

Bolger was frantically trying to turn his bike back onto the road, obviously keen to get away before Louie could stop him, but the soft earth of the roadside was preventing him from moving quickly enough and Louie leapt up and reached him before he had any chance of making it.

"What the hell are you doing?" Louie asked, his slow-growing irritation finally bubbling over into something like anger.

"Going. Quit."

Louie stood in front of him. For a moment, it looked like Bolger would just keep moving, but then he seemed to slump in the saddle, defeated, and reached forward and turned off the engine.

"What do you mean you're quitting?" shouted Louie. "Fine. Quit, but at least tell me what I've done wrong, because I've got no idea."

"Not you."

"Well what then?"

Bolger looked hard at Louie and seemed both desperate and angry. Then he spoke, just a single word, spat out like a bullet. "Child."

"You're quitting because I'm a child?" said Louie, wondering how Bolger knew. "Because I'm not important enough or something?"

Bolger gave a short harsh bark before replying. "Not you. Son. Hurt."

"Your son?" said Louie.

"Hurt last night. Burnt."

"Is that what that conversation in the street was about?"

Bolger nodded.

"Is he alright?"

Bolger shrugged. He seemed defeated by the confession, as though he'd owned up to some crime. Louie sighed and went back to his abandoned drawing materials and began to gather them up. "You could have just told me, you know," he said, as he packed them away in the pannier. "Can you start my bike?"

"We go?" said Bolger.

"Well your son isn't coming here, is he?"

"We go to son?"

"No," said Louie. "We're going to see the man in the moon - of course we're going to your son."

Bolger paused for a moment before dismounting. Louie climbed on his own bike, while the servant kicked it into life. Bolger was halfway to his own machine when he turned back. "Thank you, Louie Gage."

"You don't have to thank me - I just wish you'd told me in town," said Louie. "If I was hurt, my mum and dad... well, anyway, I wish you'd said something earlier."

They set off back down the hill, leaning on the brakes to stop the vehicles running away from them, and bounced and lurched their way into the outskirts of Mahin. Soon Bolger turned off the main road into a series of winding alleys. The houses were crammed closely together, with narrow stairways and terraces joining each to its neighbour as well as the street, but it seemed nice enough and cleaner than the busier thoroughfares in the centre of town. Soon they pulled up in a small yard and Bolger led the way up a set of wooden steps, carrying the pannier from the back of the bike. There was no banister, and the steps themselves were just planks thrust into slots in the walls, so Louie took care to stay away from the open edge. They reached a small wooden platform at the top with a low doorway.

Louie had to duck to pass through it and, once inside, found he would still have to stoop a little if he was to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling, as well as having to weave around the various objects hanging from it. They seemed to be in a kitchen, but there wasn't much time to look around as Bolger hurried through to another room and Louie followed.

The room and doorway were tiny for someone of Louie's comparative bulk, so, rather than enter, he crouched down on his haunches and peered in. There was a small bed below a minuscule window, and in it was a young Taurogian - the son, Louie guessed. He had no way of knowing how old the child was, but he looked barely half the size of Bolger. Tending the child was another Taurogian - Bolger's wife, he assumed - who had jumped up in surprise and was now staring at Louie in open astonishment. Bolger began to examine his child, and Louie winced at the bright-red burn that covered one arm and part of the shoulder and chest.

A thin wail started up. At first Louie thought it was the son, but then realised that there was a small cot in the room - more of a box really - that contained an even smaller Taurogian. A baby, or at least very young.

Louie felt suddenly embarrassed by his intrusion, plus he was distracting the other adult Taurogian, who Bolger was now trying to talk to, so he went back into the kitchen, sat on a bench, rested his chin on his knees and looked around. The kitchen was plain and tidy - there was a small wood-burning stove and a counter with some cubby-holes underneath it, a few shelves and a low narrow table, and on the walls... Louie got up to take a closer look. On neatly cut sheets of parchment were a whole series of drawings. Most were quick sketches, but a few were lovingly detailed, and all of them were remarkable. In one, a market trader haggled with a customer, another showed a child being nursed by its mother while a second child played at the mother's feet. One wall was devoted to a series of drawings of the ruined city that Louie had seen from the hills, including a detail of a broken facade that had obviously been drawn amongst the ruins themselves. Louie was entranced.

He was examining a sketch of a street with a lonely figure making its way down one side of it when he was interrupted by a grunt from behind. Bolger was standing in the doorway to the bedroom.

"Oh, sorry," said Louie. "How's your son?"

Bolger shook his head. "Bad burn, pain."

"Should we get a doctor?"

Bolger looked at him and was about to say something, but then seemed to think better of it. He went over to one of the shelves, took a coin from a small pot and handed it over to the other Taurogian, who then scuttled out of the house. Louie watched her go and then turned back to Bolger.

"Is your wife fetching a doctor?"

"Not wife," said Bolger. "Neighbour. Old woman."

"Ah," said Louie. "I thought..."

"Go back now."

"Back?"

"To Mynana's," said Bolger, looking both determined and defeated.

"What? No, look... what about your son?"

"Come back later, after party."

"But that's hours away," said Louie. "Who will look after him until then?"

"Sleep maybe. Rest."

"And what about the baby?"

Bolger groaned and sank onto the bench. "Forgot about baby, stupid, stupid, stupid."

"Look, can we slow down a bit," said Louie. "Where's... their mother? Is she working too?" he asked. He hoped he wasn't intruding on a divorce or something.

"Wife dead," said Bolger.

"Oh... sorry, I didn't mean... well, is there someone else who can help? And shouldn't you get a doctor?"

Suddenly, Bolger lost his temper, although whether at Louie or the situation it was hard to say. There was a clay bowl on the table and he snatched it up and hurled it at a wall. The sound of it breaking seemed very loud. The baby in the next room, who had fallen silent after its earlier complaint, now began to wail again. It was an ugly and rasping noise to Louie's ears, but then, he thought, when were crying babies ever alright to listen to?

"Doctor money," shouted Bolger. "Everything money, not enough money, stay here, lose job, less money."

"But I've got money."

Bolger twisted away and hissed.

"Look," said Louie. "I'm sure there are a hundred different reasons you don't want to take it from me, but this is an emergency."

"What for?"

"Well, for your son, for the doctor," said Louie, confused. "I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean."

"What give money for?" said Bolger. "What want?"

"I really don't want anything," said Louie. "I just want to help."

"No," said Bolger firmly. "Not just help, say what for."

Louie considered arguing, but suspected that it would be pointless. He felt out of his depth, powerless and frustrated. He looked away, desperately trying to think of something, when his gaze caught the drawing of the mother and the two children. It had come loose when Bolger had thrown the bowl and had drifted down to settle among the pieces of broken pottery.

"Bolger, who drew all these pictures?"

Bolger shrugged and briefly indicated himself.

"But they're great - why don't you sell them?"

Bolger gave a small barking laugh. "All draw on Taurog. No writing, so Taurogians draw. Worth nothing, no one want. Get more money for spit."

"Well I want them - will you sell some to me?"

"For fair price?" said Bolger.

"For a fair price."

"Fair price is nothing."

Louie groaned. "Okay then, for an unfair price."

"No unfair price, only fair price. Don't want sell for fair price."

Louie felt like screaming. "How much would it cost me to punch you in the face?"

Bolger looked at him warily. "Punch in face not for sale."

"I was joking... I think."

Louie closed his eyes and massaged his temples. He was getting a headache. There was a stone sink with a hand-pump, but he had no idea if untreated Taurogian water would be safe, so he went over to where Bolger had left the panniers to fetch his flask. As he took it out, he saw the drawing materials and had another idea.

"Could you teach me to draw?" he asked. "Could I pay you for that?"

"Teach? You draw already."

Louie laughed and took a long drink of water. He closed the flask, put it back, and took out the sheaf of papers. His own drawings from Jormungand were mixed in among the new sheets, and he laid these out on the table for Bolger to see. The Taurogian looked at them for a while and then picked up a sketch of the caretaker. The only thing you could say in its favour was that it had the right number of limbs.

"What this?"

"It's an AI," said Louie, wishing that Bolger could at least have chosen one of the landscapes.

Bolger tried turning the picture on its side and then upside down before giving up the battle to make sense of it. "Eyes not work right?" he asked, looking quizzically at Louie.

"My eyes are fine - I'm just not very good at drawing."

Now it was Bolger's turn to laugh. "You terrible."

Louie pointed at a view from the edge of the cliff. "Well, that one's alright."

"Okay."

"Thanks," said Louie. "It's probably my best."

"No," said Bolger. "Picture not okay - very bad. Okay is okay teach you."

"Really?"

There then followed a period of extended and, in Louie's opinion, rather pointless haggling, but eventually they agreed a price. Bolger still had Louie's purse and, once the money had been handed over, the Taurogian set off to find a doctor and someone to look after everyone while he was at work.

The baby was still crying, and Louie could also hear the whimpers of Bolger's son in the next room. He hadn't thought to ask if there was anything he should do while waiting, but it soon became impossible to just sit there and ignore the sounds of distress. He crouched down and went in.

The son had his eyes closed, but was shivering and moving fitfully. Louie had no idea what you were meant to do for bad burns, even if the victim was human, so he turned his attention to the baby. He wondered if it was hungry. Presumably, as the mother was dead, there was something in the house it could eat, but Louie had no idea what. He certainly couldn't risk shoving random items into its mouth - he might end up giving it the local equivalent of bleach or something.

Instead, after a few minutes thought, he picked it up from the crude cot and carried it back to the kitchen and out onto the platform overlooking the yard and street. He just hoped that Bolger wouldn't be angry or do anything weird like eat it or something. That had happened once with some pet mice after Louie had accidently disturbed their babies, and he'd had guilty nightmares for weeks.

He wondered how old the baby was and how long ago Bolger's wife had died. He sat down on the platform and leant back against the wall, rocking it gently in his arms. After a few minutes, the crying faded to a whimper and then even that stopped. It was, Louie reluctantly admitted, the ugliest baby he had ever seen - a girl as far as he could tell. She was bald, pink and very wrinkled, without even the large eyes that made human ones look sort of sweet. Still, she seemed happy enough now and was staring up at him with open curiosity. Louie waved his fingers in her face and sang some nursery rhymes.

Time passed, and he was halfway through singing "Three Blind Mice" when he recognised Bolger, accompanied by another Taurogian carrying a bag, coming up the street towards him. It came as something of a surprise to realise that he had learnt to tell individual Taurogians apart, and he felt rather pleased with himself.

Louie waved and went back inside, and a few minutes later Bolger and the other Taurogian came in.

"Doctor," said Bolger, by way of introduction. Louie waited in the kitchen with the baby, as yet uneaten, while the others went through into the bedroom. They were there sometime, but eventually emerged. The doctor had a short conversation with Bolger and then left.

"Is your son going to be okay?" asked Louie.

"Think so," said Bolger. "Got medicine, nurse coming." He looked at the baby in Louie's arms. "She okay?"

"Yes - I hope you don't mind. She was crying a lot and I was worried about her bothering your son."

"Not mind."

"Is she hungry? I mean, would you like me to feed her or anything?"

Bolger laughed and fetched an odd looking root from a cubby-hole. He bit off a chunk and began chewing it and then held out his arms for the baby. Louie handed her over and Bolger bent over and let some of the chewed root - now reduced to a soggy mush - dribble from his mouth into the infant's, who was straining upwards for it.

"Oh, right," said Louie, laughing. "I guess I won't be doing that anytime soon."

The baby, once fed, soon fell fast asleep, and Bolger took it back to the bedroom and then returned.

"How did your son get burnt?" asked Louie.

Bolger pointed at the stove. "Cooking. Too small. Pot tip up."

Bolger filled Louie in on some of the details while they waited for the nurse. With his wife dead, his son had had to take responsibility for both his own care and the baby's while Bolger was at work. Normally, Bolger would come home in the evenings to cook, but since Louie's arrival that hadn't been possible.

"I'm really sorry," said Louie, horrified to find that he'd inadvertently contributed to the incident.

Bolger waved the apology away. "Not fault."

"How long ago did your wife die?"

"Two months," said Bolger. He pointed to his stomach. "Go bad here. Thing grow. Had little money saved, spent it, still died."

Louie didn't know what to say.

Soon, the nurse arrived. As far as Louie could tell, she seemed a bit put out that she would have to look after a baby as well as a patient, but the matter was soon settled. Louie collected up his drawings, and the pair of them went back to the bikes.

"You could give me the drawing lessons here," said Louie. "I mean, if that's alright?"

Bolger looked at him without speaking and then suddenly went back up the stairs. He returned a moment later carrying a piece of paper. It was the drawing of the mother and the baby and child. "For you."

"Is this your wife?"

Bolger nodded and then began to busy himself with starting up the bikes. Louie wished that he'd been given a less personal drawing, but then he supposed that that was the point. He placed it carefully in the pannier and they set off back to Mr Mynana's.

On the way, they passed a small huddle of stalls and Louie realised that he hadn't thought to buy a birthday present for his host. He glanced at the goods on display as they drove by, not expecting to see anything appropriate, when something caught his eye. Grinning, he pulled the bike over and Bolger followed suit.

After a few minutes haggling, they were on their way again with Louie's purchase.

The rest of the ride was uneventful and there were still a few hours to go until the party. Bolger took his clothes to be cleaned and Louie asked for some paper to wrap Mr Mynana's present up. This was apparently an unfamiliar concept on Taurog, so he settled for using a bit of the nicest parchment.

While he worked, he thought about the situation with Bolger and his family. Was it like this for a lot of Taurogians? The whole place seemed weird - he'd arrived in a spaceship, but for the most part there hardly seemed to be any technology at all. Bolger's home hadn't even had electricity. There were Mr Mynana's AIs, the nutrimats and a few other marvels, but apart from that he could have been on Earth two hundred years ago or something.

He wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but Bolger seemed to be getting a very bad deal. When Louie had been ill, there had never seemed to be a problem with one of his parents staying away from work. And what about the business of Bolger suddenly not being able to get home because of Louie's arrival? And with no wife and a baby and young son?

On the other hand, he wasn't sure what he could do about it, or even whether he should do anything at all. He didn't want to get Bolger in trouble or stir things up, and the Taurogian didn't make it very easy to help - for all Louie knew he might have refused earlier offers of assistance, in which case... Louie sighed and went to have a bath.

After, while he dried himself he wondered if there wasn't another solution to the problem. From everything he had been told, it was going to be a long time before he had any chance of getting home, in which case he might as well settle on Taurog as anywhere else. Mr Mynana would probably let him stay here for as long as he wanted, but it would be nice to have somewhere of his own. And if he had his own house, wouldn't he need at least one servant?

Well, it could wait for the moment. After he had spent some time with Mr Mynana's cosmologist, he would have a better idea of what sort of plans he should make. There was no rush, no rush at all.

With nothing else to do, Louie spent some time exploring his apartments, which he hadn't yet had much chance to do. The main item of interest was a basic information terminal in a small study. It was simple to use and Louie soon accessed the account that Mr Mynana had arranged for him. He noted that there had already been a few deductions made for the cost of his rescue as well as various minor expenses. If nothing else, it gave Louie a chance to roughly work out the relative value of the currency.

Bolger came back not long after with the clean clothes.

"Mr Mynana want you."

Louie dressed, set off, and was soon back with his host, who was hovering as inscrutably as ever.

"Ah, Mr Gage, have you had an enjoyable and productive day?"

"Fine, thanks," said Louie. "I did some drawing - apparently I'm even more rubbish than I thought."

"Hmm, you seem to have found a very harsh critic. Who could it be, I wonder?" said Mr Mynana. "Well, let us put that aside - we haven't a great deal of time before guests start arriving, and I did think it important that we have a little talk."

"What about?" asked Louie, relieved to be changing the subject. He got the feeling that Mr Mynana knew more about his day than he was letting on.

"I am concerned that the choice of your apartments for yesterday's outrage may not have been accidental. In any event, a measure of caution this evening might be wise."

"What do you mean?"

"There seems to be a growing and inordinate amount of interest in you - you have been discrete regarding your unusual method of arrival, I hope?"

"I think so," said Louie. "I haven't talked about it with anyone apart from you and..."

"Good, good," said Mr Mynana. "Then it is almost certainly a coincidence. In any event, I am trying to find out more, but until I do I would suggest that you keep a low profile."

"Do you want me to stay away from the party?" asked Louie, rather relieved to have an excuse.

"I had considered that option, but if someone is already curious about you then that might only fuel their suspicions."

"So what do I do?"

"Be honest - up to a point. Reticent, but not too mysterious," said Mr Mynana airily. "I generally find that the most convincing lies are those that are wrapped in a self-evident truth."

At that moment, there was a gentle chime from somewhere nearby.

"Ah, the hour of revels approaches, and I still have a hundred and one things to make other people do. So, be off with you, Mr Gage - I would suggest a discrete, late arrival. Wait in your rooms until I send word."

And with that, Louie was dismissed.