“I guess I’ve still got to learn the ropes,” Kyle offered. “Sorry. Maybe I can buy you a drink sometime and you can tell me what else I shouldn’t ask. There is a lounge someplace, isn’t there?”

“There’s a crew lounge,” John told him. “But you wouldn’t want to go there. The Kreel’n are all very nice, to your face, but get a few of them together—especially with some spirits in them—and you’ll learn what they’re really like, quickly enough. Not a pleasant time, that, not at all.”

“And if a couple of human guys wanted to get a drink, pass the time, where would they do that?” Kyle could barely believe he was asking the question. He’d planned to be the solitary traveler, the mystery man, keeping to himself and letting no one get close to him. But now, with just two days of solitude under his belt, he was already trying to force a connection with the first human who’d spoken more than two words to him. He was, he knew, generally a sociable person, who had made friends at bases, space stations, and taverns across the galaxies, so the enforced solitude was hard.

John Abbott looked at the ceiling as if giving considerable thought to the question. “Well, there would be your quarters. And then there would be my quarters. And that’s about it. You wouldn’t want to drink too much anywhere else on this blasted ship because you’d have the damndest time finding your way back to where you were supposed to be. And—as with the crew lounge—you wouldn’t want to be wandering about without the fullest use of your faculties. You don’t know who, or what, you might encounter.”

Kyle could hardly believe what he was hearing. “Are you saying we’re not safe on this ship, John?”

John gave him a big wink. “Oh, you’re safe enough, I’d guess. S’K’lee has no doubt given orders to keep your hide in one piece. But there are those on the crew who hate humans, make no mistake about that, and if you should cross one of them at a time and place when he thought he could get away with it, then I wouldn’t want to swear to anything.”

Having said that, he stepped away from the doorway, moving with the surprising, almost dainty grace that some large men master as a way of dealing with their bulk. “Come on in, Kyle Barrow, and let’s get acquainted. My replicator can whip up some twelve-year-old scotch just as unconvincingly as yours can, I’m sure.”

Kyle followed him into the room, which was at least twice the size of his own quarters, but equally impersonal. Most of the extra room was just floor space, as if John Abbott might want to host large parties from time to time. He did have three chairs and a table, though, with a computer stationed at one end of it. He went to the wall-mounted replicator. “Name your poison, Kyle.”

“That scotch you mentioned sounds fine,” Kyle said. Even in here, the oily smell of the corridor hung on. “A little touch of home. You’ll have to draw me a map back to my bunk, though.”

John Abbott laughed, a booming sound that echoed in the big space. “Coming right up,” he said. “As far as the map, well, don’t worry, I’ll make sure you get home in one piece. Home being a relative term, of course.”

A minute later he brought two glasses over to the table and bade Kyle sit down. He followed suit, again impressing Kyle with his almost balletic grace. After a sip from his own drink, he leaned forward conspiratorially. “Can we talk frankly, Kyle? Because if we can’t, it’s going to be a damnably long voyage, that’s for sure.”

“Of course,” Kyle said, knowing even as he did so that he’d have to watch his step. He didn’t want to give away too much to a stranger, even one who seemed as friendly and unthreatening as this.

“Don’t trust anyone on this vessel,” he said. “S’K’lee let you on because you paid her price, but she’d sell you out to the first buyer who could top it. She’s already got your credits, so there’s no percentage in taking your side from now on. I don’t think she’d put you in harm’s way, as I said before, unless there was something in it for her. But you have only bought a ticket, not any kind of loyalty.”

“It sounds like you know her pretty well,” Kyle observed. “If she’s so bad, why have you flown with her for so long?”

“Because I know what to expect with her,” John replied. “I don’t expect more than a berth on a fast ship that’s largely ignored by the rest of the universe, and I get exactly what I expect. She knows I mean her no harm, and I try not to be too much trouble. I watch my step and I keep out of the way. I’d advise you to do the same.”

“Still, it seems like a hard way to live.”

“Isn’t it what you wanted when you booked passage?” John asked, and Kyle realized the man was right. “If you had wanted companionship, you’d have gone on a tourist flight. If you wanted efficiency, a man such as yourself, I’d guess you’ve got Starfleet connections and you could have hitched a ride on one of their boats. No, you came for the quiet, for the privacy. And you’ll get it. I’m just trying to warn you, it comes with a price that isn’t paid in credits. You don’t want to trust anyone with your secret, whatever it is—no, don’t deny it, Kyle Barrow, I know you’ve got one. Well, that’s good. You can’t trust anyone with your secret on this ship, because here, just as much as anywhere else, your secret is safe with no one but yourself.”

“I take it you have a secret too,” Kyle said. “Since you’re on board with me.”

“I said everybody has a secret. That includes me, of course. I’m not telling you mine, no matter how long we’re on this bucket of bolts together.”

“I’m not asking.”

“See that you don’t.” John’s voice was serious now, almost grim, Kyle thought. He was surprised at the turn the conversation had taken so quickly. This wasn’t a casual get-acquainted chat anymore, but had become a life-and-death discussion when he wasn’t looking. “Let me tell you something else, too, Kyle—it is Kyle, isn’t it?”

Kyle nodded. “Yes, of course.”

“I thought as much. Next time you pick a name, don’t use your real one.”

“I didn’t mean it was—” Kyle began, but John cut him off.

“I know, but I also know that it is,” he said. “Don’t fret, I don’t know who you really are and I don’t care, believe me. But I know what you were thinking when you chose it. ‘If I use my real first name, then I won’t have to worry about not answering when someone calls me by it. As long as I change my last name I’ll be safe.’ But the fact is, you’ve just given them—whoever ‘they’ are, whoever you’re on this ship hiding from—half of your identity. If your real first name is Kyle then you should call yourself Met’ridunk or Bob, something completely different. Trust me, for the first few weeks you’ll be so hyperconscious that you’ll answer to anything, and by the time you’re comfortable with it, it will have become habit. Go as far away from your real name as possible. I hope you did a better job with Barrow.”

“I think so,” Kyle said. He hadn’t even touched his scotch yet. He thought he’d been doing pretty well, but John Abbott—or whoever he was, since that clearly wasn’t his real name either—was making him feel like the rankest of amateurs.

“Well, you can remain Kyle Barrow for the duration of your time on the Morning Star,and have plenty of time to come up with a name for the next place,” John said. “If you’re willing to accept help, I can even scare up some convincing identification for whatever name you select. Of course, then I’d know your next name. If it were me, I wouldn’t trust me for a second. But the offer’s there, if you’d like the assistance.”

“Thanks, I think,” Kyle said. “I’ll consider it.”

“Good man. I’d pass on it too,” John reiterated. “Next thing, did you tell S’K’lee where you’re getting off?”

“I don’t even know myself yet.”

“That’s fine, that’s good. If you do tell her anything, be sure you don’t actually get off there. If you pick a spot and we actually go there, then you’ve got to stay on, even if it means renegotiating your fare. If you pick a spot that we might be headed for, you’ve got to find a way off before we stop there. If you’re careful enough, you could be gone for days before she even knows it. It’s harder with cargo, do you have any cargo on board? Don’t tell me what it is.”