“Be quiet,” urged the monster in a quiet, familiar voice. “I don’t think we’ve set off any alarms yet. There may not be any to set off. After all, there’s nowhere for you to escape to, is there?”

Slowly his sleepy mind cleared, recognized the fragmented shape of Bonnie standing over him. He lifted his head and looked past her. Several other human silhouettes stood in his burrow. Others were outlined by the light of the distant corridor, visible through the open entryway.

“What’s wrong?” he muttered. “What’s the trouble?” He was still too sleep-drenched to think in Terrangio.

Bonnie’s Low Thranx answered him. “Some of us retain fragments of civilization.” Her tone was bitter. “We owe allegiance to standards not incorporated in official manuals.”

“I believe I understand what you are saying.” He slid off the lounge and fumbled for his neck pouch and vest.

“What I am saying is that a good friend is not a candidate for the butcher block.”

“It’s not at all like that,” Ryo protested. “As a question of scientific expansion of knowledge—”

“As a question of scientific expansion of knowledge,” she interrupted in Terrangio, “it sucks. Have you got all your things?”

He closed the last snap on his neck pouch. “I think so.”

“Then let’s go.” She started for the doorway. He followed automatically, still drowsy and increasingly bewildered.

“Where are we going? This is not a planet. You cannot hide me on this station for more than a short time.”

“We have no intention of trying to hide you on the station.”

They were out in the corridor. Ryo dimmed his perception to compensate for the bright human lighting.-Loo was waiting for them, and Elvirasanchez. With them were the cocontroller Taourit, the engineer Alexis, and someone Ryo didn’t recognize as a member of the Seeker’s crew. Six in all. Greetings were exchanged quietly and in haste.

“We’re all committed to this,” Sanchez informed him solemnly. “You risked your life for something you believed in, believed in enough to risk condemnation from your entire people. Well, there are a few of us who are capable of equally strong beliefs.”

“The shortsighted will always be among us,” Ryo replied philosophically. “Those who try to reach out with their minds are more often restrained from behind than from ahead.”

“I know.” The captain gestured around her. “These are the only ones who agreed.”

“Will the others not betray you?”

Sanchez smiled. “They’re convinced we’re all talk and no action.” She looked past him. “I think you know Dr. Bhadravati.”

Ryo turned, was surprised to find the young scientist who had questioned him so many times. He had considered him the least friendly of the three and confessed his astonishment at seeing him now.