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Stranger.
    “Do you want her to?” asked the Stranger gently. Edward nodded with relief.
    “Okay, Saskia,” said the Stranger. “Are you interested?”
    “What about me?” said Maurice.
    “You can advise,” snapped Saskia. “Go on, Stranger.”
    The Stranger didn’t answer straight away. When he did, there was a note of amusement in its voice.
    “Well, I don’t know if you will already be too late, so for that reason I will offer this information to you free of charge. About four weeks ago, before your timely rescue, and while I believed I was still floating towards my doom, I picked up a signal requesting a trade. Someone wants to be transported to Earth.”
    “To Earth?” said Saskia and Maurice, at the same time.
    “Why would anyone want to go there?” said Maurice. “It’s swamped with Dark Plants. If they don’t wipe your mind, they tie you up in BVBs and strangle you. They say the Watcher is losing its grip completely.”
    Edward realized he was holding his breath. What did he know about Dark Plants? Only that you mustn’t look at them; it made them grow faster. Only that they spread BVBs: unbreakable nooses that irresistibly tightened around anything within range. Only that everyone was frightened of them. They originated from the edge of the galaxy, that’s what they said. The Watcher had found them out there and tried to run away from them, but somehow they had followed it home, and now they had begun to grow on Earth.
    Why on earth would anyone want to go to Earth?
    “I don’t know why this person wants to go to Earth,” said the Stranger. “All I know is a request was made for trade. Perhaps you could follow it up? If there is significant risk involved, that will naturally weigh in your favor with the FE software.”
    “Hold on,” said Saskia suspiciously. “If you picked up their signal, why didn’t you ask them to save you?”
    “That is my own business,” said the Stranger. “Would you like me to send you the location of the signal?”
    Saskia said nothing. She looked at Maurice. “What do you think?” she asked.
    “I don’t know. Stranger, is it safe, do you think?”
    The Stranger gave a loud laugh. “You ask the most expensive question of all! You couldn’t afford to pay me for that answer, even if I could give it!” He gave a sigh. “But I think it is a fair job. You would do well to at least investigate it.”
    Saskia and Maurice held each other’s gaze. In the kitchen, Edward found his voice.
    “I think we should go,” he said. “I think we should trust the Stranger.”
    Saskia turned to him, but for once, her face wasn’t angry. She just looked tired.
    “You think we should trust him. Very well. Maurice, what do you think?”
    Maurice shrugged. “What else are we going to do?” he asked.
    Saskia looked down at the soft black carpet on the floor.
    “Okay, Stranger. You did a nice job on the ship, if nothing else, and I’m sorry for not trusting you. Yes, please, we’d like to have a look at the job.”
    “I’ve just sent the details to Maurice,” said the Stranger. “Well, until we meet again!”
    “Good-bye,” said Saskia in an empty voice.
    The viewing field shrank to nothing.
     
    “Hello, Eva Rye . This is the Free Enterprise. Glad to hear from you.”
    Saskia looked at the ship that now floated in the viewing field. It didn’t look right.
    “Is that an alien ship?” asked Edward.
    “There are no such things as aliens,” said Maurice, “you must know that. Those are only stories.”
    “What about the Stranger?”
    “The Stranger was a robot. He was built in that shape in order to do his job properly.”
    “Built by aliens,” said Edward stubbornly.
    Maurice was irritable. He was missing Armstrong, Edward guessed. He had changed out of his padded combat jacket and into a grey T-shirt and long grey pants. He gave Edward a long stare.
    “I told you, there are no aliens. Besides, look at those markings on the side. They’re written in