He said, “I didn’t want to disturb them. I brought these three only because they wanted to come.”

Niko’s voice rose in pitch and volume. “You can talk to them? How are we only now finding this out?”

“You never asked,” Lassite said. He picked the bag back up and petted it like a cat. “And they don’t talk, they just feel things.”

“Okay.” Niko took a breath. “One, are there any other priestly magic powers you have been hiding from us, like the ability to shit deliriterium or teleport into Q-space or anything like that?”

Lassite contemplated. “Beyond speaking Ladderan, I have acquired sixteen other dead languages. I cannot teleport but I could sense someone doing so. And of course you know that I have extensive knowledge of physiognomies other than my own species, which is useful in a variety of ways.” He paused again, tongue licking out into the air. “And seeing the future is useful, of course.” He sounded uncertain on that last.

Niko stared at him before she said, “All right. Two, do the ghosts need to be let out or fed, anything like that?”

“No.”

“Then they stay in the bag. What’s that last pack?” Niko’s brows knitted at its familiar dimensions. “Did you take that off my desk?”

“You were leaving it behind, but it looked as though you were doing so because you were trying to choose among things. I only glanced inside but it seemed as though you might want these possessions but left them behind for the sake of expediency.” His voice was soft and apologetic.

Dabry gave Niko a puzzled look that she ignored.

“Do I do badly, Captain Niko?” Lassite said. “I do not mean to have been presumptuous.”

“No, it’s all right,” she said slowly. “I’m glad to have those things. I simply thought I had said goodbye to them.” She took the bag from Lassite. “Thank you.”

He shuffled in place, embarrassed, and seemed grateful when she turned to Thorn and Talon. “You two, what did you think to bring?”

“Our battle armor,” Talon said instantly. “Two weeks of field rations and basic survival gear.”

“Well done,” Niko said, her voice warm and with an edge of throttled amusement. “No personal gear?”

“Our warball equipment,” Thorn said. “Just in case.”

“Do you think this ship is likely to have a warball court?” Niko inquired.

Thorn shrugged, while Talon said, “You never know.”

“Fair enough. Skid?”

Skidoo had brought as many containers as she could of the substance that basically acted as a liquid skin, preserving her from drying out in the less humid air that everyone else preferred. Niko was glad she had; the stuff was difficult and expensive to synthesize. She wasn’t convinced the Thing’s replicators would be up to the task. Sometimes you got inside the shiny possessions of the rich, their fancy dwellings or vehicles, and found out they were all surface.