Scover was nonplussed when, at the end of that journey, Affie asked to travel with the Vessel again. She’d tilted her birdlike blue head as she said, “I had thought you might wish to try one of the larger passenger transports, such as the Legacy Run, perhaps.”

The Legacy Run was the biggest, best thing going in terms of transports, trusted to only the finest captains, and Affie wavered for a second, but no longer. “I’ll stick with the Vessel if it’s okay with you.”

Scover didn’t like it, but she okayed it.

As they finalized preparations for their next takeoff, Affie came up with what she hoped was a tactful question. “Why do you think Scover assigned me here in the first place?”

“Because I’m safe for you,” Leox said.

“What does that mean?”

“It means that I have been born blessedly free of the passionate fevers that seize so many beings.” He leaned back in the pilot’s seat; apparently he’d modified it to serve as a recliner, when he wished. “I possess no desire to reproduce, nor—and more to the point—any desire to perform the actions of reproduction with no generative goal in mind.”

Affie worked through this. “You mean you…don’t have sex.” Her cheeks flushed hot; she wasn’t a child, but she wasn’t used to talking about this with grown people.

However, for Leox, she might as well have been discussing the weather. “I’ve tried it out. Not an unpleasant practice, to be sure. But in my case it’s not an imperative, for which I’ve always been grateful. Seems to free up the mind, insofar as I can judge the minds of other beings. Certainly frees up a whole lot of time. And I relish the knowledge that I am the ultimate fulfillment of my ancestral line, the point to which all their striving led.” After a pause he added, “Well, me and my sister. Until she has kids. In which case, the grand cycle turns anew.”

“But—our pilots are good people, not criminals or smugglers or—nobody would—”

Leox held up a hand. “Even good people bring their paramours aboard their ships from time to time, and in close quarters, no telling what a young person might see. But here it’s just me and Geode, and he won’t go into his next mating smelt for another, what, nine years or so?” Geode didn’t contradict him. “Like I said, here, you’re safe. You’re also on duty. So how about you get cracking and show me you can steer this boat out of atmosphere?”

For the first time, Affie flew a real ship. Their course wavered a little, but she managed it. Leox neither overpraised her nor criticized her, saying only, “You’ll know to check for atmospheric turbulence next time. Geode’s going to set courses from here.”