“Don’t worry, Elvira knows what to do. She’ll hold this dive and veer back to Space Plus range at the first sign of a probe. Though if what you say is true, that’s unlikely to happen.”

“I think we will be all right. The additional screening equipment your people installed should give us the electronic appearance of a tiny meteor temporarily drawn into low orbit. Inside five pd’s of Hivehom or Warm Nursery we would soon be detected, but there are many dead zones above Willow-wane. I believe the Seeker will be able to orbit undetected long enough to allow us to ferry our material to the surface.”

The door admit chimed and Ryo called, “Enter, please.” It slid aside and a gust of cold air from the corridor beyond momentarily chilled him. Bonnie moved her arms gratefully in the brief breeze.

A small human walked into the room. Ryo studied it with his usual fascination. Humans knew no larval stage, did not experience the terror and wonder and glory of metamorphosis. Like many mammals, they were born into the shape they would have for their whole life.

They did not have the benefit of an extended learning period in which to rest and absorb knowledge. Instead they were thrust immediately into a highly competitive adult environment. Though no psychtech, Ryo believed this unhappy arrangement had much to do with the species’ paranoia and belligerence.

The larva—no, he corrected himself, the male child—was named Matthew. He stopped next to Bonnie, lifted his hand instinctively. She took it in her own.

“Is that where we’re going, Ms. Thorpe?” Ryo noted that though he held his other hand in his mouth he was not using his mandibles to clean the fingers. The habit, he’d been told, had a psychological rather than practical purpose.

“Yes, that’s where we’re going, Matthew. Isn’t it pretty?” She bent over to put her face at his level. Both regarded the viewscreen.

“It looks kinda like home,” he said.

“Most inhabitable planets look alike.”

“What’s ‘inhabitibitible’ mean?”

“Inhabitable,” she corrected him. “It means we can usually live there.”

“It looks like a lime sundae. How long will we be there?”

“Not so very long.”

Matthew thought a moment, squinted at the screen. “When will I see Mommy and Daddy again?”

Bonnie hesitated, then smiled maternally. “After school is finished. They know you’re away, you know.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Do you like this school so far?”

“Oh, yeah!” Sudden excitement suffused his face. “There’s lots of neat things to do and tapes to study and neat food and friends! I like it a lot better than my old school. And it’s on a starship, too.” He screwed his face into a thoughtful frown. “Too many girls, though.”

Bonnie smiled.