Jakob Zimmer made calming motions in her direction. “Let’s not jump to conclusions, especially unpleasant ones. It may be that the first option is in order. That our captor/hosts are simply looking for a place to ‘hide out’ for a while. Somewhere off the beaten interstellar track where they hope the rightful owners of this craft will not be able to find them. Assuming that prospect to be the correct one, there is no reason for them to ‘dump’ us there, or anywhere else. It’s not as if we’re using up all their food and water.” He turned his attention to Dev. “Given the size of this ship, at least insofar as what we were able to see of it from Earth’s surface, doesn’t it strike you that it was designed—or is capable of holding a far larger crew contingent than what we have encountered thus far?”

Finding himself once again on the speculative spot, Dev paused a moment before replying. “It is true we can count the number of A'jeii, Olone, and Kaijank we have seen and that the total is not large. That doesn’t mean there are not more beavering away elsewhere on the ship. But given the high number of mechanicals we have encountered in proportion to the number of aliens, I think your guess is a reasonable one, Jakob. It matches up with what Tilenyii told us about how such starships are run: that they are guided and driven by devices much more than they are by organics. I have no idea what the bulk of this vessel’s unseen volume is designed for. Maybe it has something to do with the ship’s means of propulsion. Maybe it is empty space intended to hold cargo. Maybe it is some kind of interstellar cruise ship and was taken between passenger loadings, narak, who knows?”

“Why didn’t you ask it?” Reed wanted to know. “The mechanical who replied to your questions?”

Growing testy, Dev glared at the bigger man. “I cannot imagine why I didn’t ask everything that needed to be asked. Maybe because it wrapped me up in a metal tentacle and moved me to one side like I was a piece of cotton, when it could just as easily have cut me in half.”

“Easy now.” If Zimmer had had access to a smoke-worthy pipe, he would have been puffing on it energetically. “We’re all under a lot of stress. There’s so much we don’t know and that we have yet to come to terms with in our new lives.”

“If we’re allowed to have new lives,” Reed muttered. He was angry, but at Fate, not Devali Mukherjee. “We’re at the mercy of a pack of alien midgets plus a bunch of bald thugs and a handful of gabby squid. Prospects aren’t good.”