“I preach hard and I kill hard,” said Father William seriously. “God understands that I’ve got to eat hard, too. You can’t have a weakling doing the Lord’s work, not out here on the Frontier.”

“I believe you,” said Cain. “I just hope your heart and kidneys do, too.”

“The Lord is my shepherd,” said the preacher, attacking the cake in earnest. “I’ll make out just fine.”

Moonripple approached the table again.

“I’m sorry, Father William, but there really isn’t any ice cream left.”

“You’ll remember to get some by tomorrow, won’t you?” asked Father William with childlike urgency.

“I’ll try.”

“Good girl!” he said, returning his attention to the cake.

“Would you like me to take the potatoes away now, sir?”

He placed a huge hand over the container. “I’ll get to them, child, never fear.”

“Have you ever thought of becoming a chef for the navy?” asked Cain with a smile.

“Oh, no, sir,” replied Moonripple seriously. “I like my work just as it is.”

“Father William suggested that I ask why you came to Safe Harbor,” said Cain.

“I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “I’d heard about it, and it sounded like a nice place.”

“How long have you been here?”

She stared at the ceiling and moved her lips silently, totaling up the days and months.

“Two years next week, sir.”

“That’s a long time for you to spend in one place, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean, sir?”

“Orpheus says you’ve been to more than a hundred worlds.”

“He was a very nice man,” she said. “He put me into his song.”

“And he said you liked to travel all over the galaxy.”

“I do.”

“But you stopped here,” Cain pointed out.

“I like this world.”

“And you disliked all the others?”

She shrugged. “Some of them.”

“And the rest?”

“They were nice enough. I suppose. I just like this one better.”

“What’s so special about it?” asked Cain.

She looked puzzled. “Nothing.”

“Then why do you like it better?”

“I don’t know. The people are nice, and I like my job, and I have a nice place to live.”

“That’s enough,” said Father William.

“You told me to ask her.” replied Cain.

“There’s a difference between asking and badgering. Leave her alone now.”

Cain shrugged. “I’m sorry if I’ve upset you, Moonripple.”

“You haven’t, sir,” she replied. “You and Father William have both been very nice to me.”

An elderly man entered and walked over to a table next to the one Cain had left, and Moonripple went off to wait on him.

“Well, Sebastian,” said Father William, finishing the piece of cake on his plate and cutting the remaining two-thirds in half, “I guess you’ll be on your way, now that the man you came to see is dead.”

“I guess so,” said Cain.