A shadow moved over the pit; workmen paused and looked up as the mile-wide Spline ship drifted haughtily past the early stars. There was a Spline ship looming over every human city now, a constant reminder of the power of the Qax -- the ships' owners and our overlords.

The shadow moved on and the wrecking machines worked their way further into the ship's corpse. Finally, after three centuries of Occupation, the Qax had shut down human space travel. The only way any human would leave the Solar System in the future was in the alien belly of a Spline. I began to think about finding a bar.

"Like watching the death of a living thing, isn't it?"

I turned. An elegant stranger had joined me at the pit's guard rail. Gray eyes glittered over an aquiline nose, and the voice was rich as velvet.

"Yeah," I said, and shrugged. "Also the death of my career."

"I know."

"Huh?"

"You're Jim Bolder." The breeze stirred his ash-tinged hair and he smiled paternally. "You used to be a pilot. You flew these things."

"I am a pilot. I don't know you. Do I?" I studied him warily; he looked too good to be true. Did he represent a creditor?

He spread callus-free palms in a soothing gesture. "Take it easy," he said. "I don't want anything from you."

"Then how do you know my name?"

"I'm here to make you an offer."

I turned to walk away. "What offer?"

"You'll fly again."

I froze.

"My name's Lipsey," he said. "My... clients need a good pilot."

"Your clients? Who?"

He glanced about the deserted apron. "The Qax," he said quietly.

"Forget it."

He exhaled sadly. "Your reaction's predictable. But they're not monsters, you know--"

"Who are you, Lipsey?"

"I... was... a diplomat. I worked with a man called Jasoft Parz. I helped negotiate our treaty with the Qax. Now I try to do business with them."

I stared at him, electrified.

The Qax, during the long Occupation, had withdrawn Anti-Senescence technology. Death, illness, had returned to our worlds.

If he remembered Jasoft Parz, Lipsey must be centuries old. Unlike the rest of Occupied mankind, Lipsey was AS-preserved.

He saw the look on my face.

"I know it's hard to sympathize, but I believe we have to be pragmatic. They're just like us, you see. Looking out for number one, scrabbling for Xeelee artifacts--"

I jammed my hands in my pockets and turned away once more. "Maybe, but I don't have to fly one of their damn Spline ships for them."

"You don't fly a Spline ship. Such strong opinions, and you don't even know that? Spline ships fly themselves."

"Then what's the ship? Squeem?"

"Xeelee," he said softly. "They want you to fly a Xeelee ship." He smiled again, knowing he'd hooked me for sure.

"I don't believe you," I said.