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station.”
        “The shadow-people I trust. I’d like to know more about this ship, though. Do we have time to think about your, hrrm...request?” Ik asked.
        “We’ll talk in the morning,” said Jeaves.
        They approached what looked like a hanging bead curtain, with waves of heat shimmer rippling up its strands. Was this the same transport device they had come through during their walk-around tour of the station this morning? Bandicut hesitated, but when Jeaves ushered them through, he let the curtain part around him. He felt a slight warming and stepped, followed by the others, into a now-familiar forest clearing. In the center of the clearing stood the lodge. The building, with gray stone walls, wooden beams, and a shingle roof, reminded Bandicut of Earth. Wood smoke issued from a wide, brick chimney. Last night, bringing them here, Jeaves had explained that he’d designed the look of the lodge himself, trying his best to make it comfortable. But, he’d admitted, he had more knowledge of human architecture than of Thespi, Karellian, or Hraachee’an. He’d gotten the exterior right, anyway, Bandicut thought.
        Antares, Li-Jared, and Ik entered through a heavy wooden door. Bandicut paused for a last word with Napoleon and Copernicus, who would spend the night reconnoitering the area. “See what you can find out, all right?”
        “Wilco,” said Napoleon.
        “And be careful.” Finally, Bandicut followed the others inside. The interior seemed to owe more to human medieval fantasy than to anything Bandicut had ever encountered on Earth itself. The main common room was a broad, dimly lit, low-ceilinged area, with flames cracking from a log in a huge fireplace set in the far wall. Wisps of smoke hung in the air above a cluster of benches, sofas, and low tables near the fire. This was where they’d dined last night and this morning. It already felt a little like home.
        Ik and Li-Jared had made their way to the fireside sofas, with Antares right behind them. Soon they were all sitting before the log fire, with plates piled with food, and a variety of drinks: a mug of ale for Bandicut and another for Ik, who wanted to see what Bandicut’s favorite beverage tasted like. Antares had a reddish nectar in a tall glass, and Li-Jared held a milkshake-like concoction. One or two of the living haloes floated in and out of the darkened room, not speaking to them but making a kind of music that sounded like a blend of steel drum and harp.
        Bandicut took a deep draft of ale, pleased by its rich malt flavor and hoppy aftertaste. He lowered the mug with a sigh, grateful to contemplate something simple for a while. “What do you think?” he asked Ik.
        “Most bracing,” Ik pronounced, stroking the two thumbs of his left hand together along his hard-surfaced lips. “If this is a sample of your Earth drinks, I believe I approve.” With that, he turned his attention to the dinner on his plate.
        The food was a respectable reproduction of Hraachee’an food bars, whole-grain bread rolls, cheese, and apples; and various fruits and other samplings of Hraachee’an, Karellian, and Thespi foods. They ate quietly for a time, before Antares broke the silence, wondering aloud what the others had thought of the haloes’ presentation. Li-Jared sputtered for a moment, but Ik answered first. “Truthfully,” he said, “I find it hard to fathom this business of living stars.”
        Li-Jared blinked, the bright blue and gold of his eyes going dark, then blazing again. “Well, remember, Ik, your people had only just ventured into space when your sun exploded—”
        “I hadn’t forgotten,” Ik said, his deep-set eyes narrowing, giving him an even more skeletal appearance than usual.
        Li-Jared drummed his fingers in exasperation. “I just meant that you had not had time to become intimately acquainted with your own star, or others. Would you have known  it if