“I repeat: we don’t know that. Maybe some time long ago the A'jeii, or some other species we haven’t met yet, kidnapped a human or two and carted them around with them. For show, or for that unknown intimidation factor we were just speculating about. Unless the A'jeii or Vantolos or somebody on this ship is willing to discuss that possibility, we can’t know that something like that didn’t happen. It would sure go a long way toward explaining why the Mozehna reacted to your appearance the way you said they did. Or maybe we’re talking an extreme case of convergent evolution here. Maybe there’s a humanoid species in this part of the cosmos that closely resembles us but has nothing to do with terrestrial evolution.”

Dev considered. “If that was the case, I think Vantolos or Syrenii or someone would have told us as much. Because there was no reason not to. Unless,” he frowned, “they have a specific reason for keeping such knowledge from us.”

“We can speculate ’til the oratorical cows come home.” Reed raised himself up on one elbow. “Forget the A'jeii. Why don’t we try asking the ship? It provides food, drink, clothing, small weapons, and you got one of the automatons to answer some of your questions once before.”

Dev was embarrassed. “Too obvious, I suppose. I am often overlooking the obvious. Of course, we should ask the ship. Want me to do it?”

“No. It’s my cabin. It supplied me with a knife. Let’s see if it’ll supply me with information.”

Climbing off the bed, he walked over to the far wall: the one that was spotted with dark-centered, highly responsive pods. There was no need to address his query to any one of them in particular. Most if not all were designed to synthesize and supply commodities. For all the two men knew, it was not any of the pods that responded to requests but the wall itself.

“Ship. We have just visited the world called Mozehn.” Reed glanced over at an eager Dev, then continued. “My friend here accompanied a landing party that traveled down to its surface and returned. He has reason to believe that the Mozehna have previously encountered representatives of our species, or if not humans exactly, then other bipeds that look much like us. Can you confirm or deny this?”

“I can confirm it.” As always in response to their requests, the synthetic voice that emerged from somewhere within the wall was devoid of emotional modulation.

Dev exhaled sharply. Reed continued.

“Were the bipeds previously encountered by the Mozehna from Earth?”

“No.”

“Were they human, like myself and my friend? If so and they did not come from Earth, what world did they come from?”

“They were human. I do not know the name of the world they were from. They were not from your world.”