“But why would you need something else to rest your head upon,” the Thranx inquired, examining the pillow closely, “when this lounge is already too soft?”

“That’s because—” Alexis broke off the reply, suddenly conscious of what was happening. He moved quickly to the wall communicator, activated it, and talked without taking his gaze from the creature on his bed.

“Captain, Alexis here. I just went off duty. I’m in my cabin. I think perhaps there are some matters we have to clarify.”

Despite Taourit’s suspicions, Ryo was given the run of the ship. He was full of questions that he knew sometimes irritated his human hosts, who were concerned only with their own safe return. Though he was still learning about facial expression, a radical new concept to a being with an inflexible exoskeleton, he was convinced some of them looked at him in a less than friendly manner. That disturbed him, but he told himself firmly that it was only natural.

His first request for access to the Seeker’s computer bank was turned down. Only when the last, persistent Thranx ship finally faded from the screens did the captain relent. Ryo could find nothing harmful without special coding. The general files were more entertaining than dangerous and Ryo’s desire to learn more about his hosts seemed devoid of ulterior motive.

He was also able to study the crew at their stations. Of the twelve surviving members of the Seeker’s crew, at least four were openly, even enthusiastically friendly—Loo and Bonnie, the engineer named Alexis, and the ship’s environmental monitor. Another six, including Captain Elvirasanchez, were politely neutral. Only two remained overtly hostile, despite Sanchez’s orders for them to act courteous in Ryo’s presence.

Their hostility troubled him. After several unsuccessful attempts to win them over—one even became physically ill in his presence—he decided not to press the matter and simply avoided them whenever possible.

A study of human history revealed an antiarthropod bias exceeding the hereditary Thranx fear of mammals and other soft-bodies. In addition to groundless but very persistent phobias, actual events such as plague and the massive destruction of food supplies lent support to such a bias.

Small arthropods such as insects sometimes ate Thranx food, but not to the degree they had devastated human supplies throughout history. It was not surprising, then, that in unguarded moments even Loo and Bonnie looked at him with unconscious expressions of fear and disgust. It was hard for them to overcome a lifetime’s conditioning.

As it was for him. Their warm, smelly bodies pressed constantly around him and he had to struggle to suppress his own instinctive reactions.