Tea and Empathy

"War - she's a refugee,
I see her face, I see her looking back at me..."
--- U2, The Refugee

Chapter 1 - The Refugee

The darkness of night filled the Christa.

Actually, of course, the night was just as artificial as the day, merely a construct of the ship's programming, which dimmed the lights at certain times, and brightened them at others. As Thelma made her rounds, the faithful Gizbot trundling behind her, she might have reflected on the purpose of such an arrangement, and why, despite her many human-emulating qualities, the need for sleep was not part of her system maintenance requirements. She could even navigate the long corridors of the Christa without requiring any extra lighting that might disturb its slumbering inhabitants - which was why she found herself rather puzzled when she emerged from a jumptube into a brightly-lit ComPost.

"Oh, hi, Thelma," a wistful voice responded to her arrival.

She cocked her head at the unexpected encounter. "Why, hello, Radu," she responded in gentle bewilderment, staring at the young Andromedan who was huddled on the riser by his navigation station, wrapped in his blue bathrobe. "You are not using your allocated rest period?"

"What?" he answered, shaking his head. "No, I ... I just thought I'd come down and keep an eye on the ComPost. We're in unknown territory right now."

"I monitor the ship's sensors at all times, Radu," Thelma explained gently. "It is unnecessary for you to deprive yourself of time your species requires for mental and physical refurbishment."

"I'm not sleepy," Radu answered. Thelma's circuitry reviewed the words - straightforward enough, but there was an edge to his voice that made her pause, sensing there was an unspoken problem. And solving the crew's problems was part of her duties.

"When Bova cannot sleep, he goes to the Galley and eats," she suggested mildly.

"I'm not hungry either," Radu answered dully.

"And when Harlan cannot sleep, he goes to the Team Room and plays video games," Thelma continued. "And when Commander Goddard cannot sleep, he reads texts on military history and strategy."

"I'm fine, Thelma," Radu said, although Thelma sensed he'd flinched slightly at the mention of the Commander's choice of reading material. "Just ... leave me alone, please? I'll go back to bed in a little while."

"Certainly, Radu," Thelma said, smiling at him vaguely. She twisted two knobs on the Christa's helm and checked a monitor to see that the mysterious adjustment had achieved her goal. "Sweet dreams," she wished him, and departed by the jumptubes again.

Radu shook his head, watching her go. Thelma's world was so different from his. So simple, so straightforward, so worry-free, he thought. Not for the first time, he found himself envying her.

Sighing to himself, he pulled out his compupad, and tried reviewing his notes again. During his time on the Christa, he had managed to improve his marks somewhat - not that he was in any danger of being mistaken for an "A" student, but at least he was passing most of his courses. Several factors had helped him. The quiet of the Christa stressed his system less than the noise of the Starcademy. Miss Davenport and Commander Goddard, who now had only five students between them and more time for individual tutoring sessions, were able to give him hours of extra attention. And finally, his own Andromedan powers of concentration were developing. He'd discovered that if he doggedly memorized his notes, exercises and all examples he was shown, he had a fighting chance of passing whatever final test Davenport presented them with.

Unfortunately, he realized glumly, that system wasn't going to help him now. The Commander had decided that they needed a little more military focus to their training, and had, to Harlan's delight and Radu's horror, suddenly declared that a class in Advanced Military Strategy and Tactics would become compulsory.

Therefore, over the past two months, the students had slogged through one hard campaign after another. Rosie had accompanied Hannibal over the Alps with his elephants, Bova had mournfully watched the last defender die at Thermopylae, Harlan had galloped with the Light Brigade through the Napoleonic Wars, and they'd finished by reviewing the triumphs and tragedies of the Sol/Spung War. If all Radu had had to do was to memorize each bloody encounter and parrot it back, he wouldn't have been sitting alone in the ComPost, unable to close his eyes. Instead, though, the Commander had modified a Starcademy virtual reality program that could simulate actual battles, and had declared that the final mark in the course would depend on each student's success in leading simulated forces against a cyber-enemy.

"This test won't just measure what you've memorized," Goddard had said, unaware that he had just torpedoed his navigator's main academic talent. "It will measure your leadership ability, your quickness of wit, your creative skills. It'll tell me if you've got what it takes to be a real STARDOG."

"Great!" Harlan had grinned, on hearing the news. "It'll be like being tested on video games! The rest of you can stand aside - I'm going to get top marks in this one."

"Not necessarily," Suzee had retorted. "This isn't one of the mindless shoot-'em-ups you obsess over. It will take foresight, planning, intensive analytical skills, all of which I doubt you've developed."

Radu hadn't bothered listening to them arguing. A sense of doom was hanging over him. He felt as though he were an imposter, and Goddard's proposed test was waiting to rip off his disguise, revealing him as a complete fraud. Leadership ability, quickness of wit, creative skills ... these were things he knew he couldn't fake, nor could he force himself to master them by long hours of study and sheer determination.

So now, here he was on the night before the final evaluation was to start, sitting alone and sleepless in the ComPost. What will happen, he wondered, when they see that I can't do this? At least they can't throw me off the Christa - or can they? He shook his head. No, that's silly. Of course, they'll let me go home with them. They'll just flunk me, that's all. I won't be a cadet any more. The others will go on to become STARDOGS - even Suzee could, if she feels like it - and I'll travel along with them, a failure. All the way home.

To avoid the gloomy thoughts that were pressing in on him, he got up, moved to the helm, and turned on the view screen. It showed him a vast field of stars, most of them uncharted even in the Christa's database. At least, he tried to cheer himself, I can navigate us through this. I know the way home, even without a map. But then, any Andromedan can do that - it's no big deal.

He sighed again, and stared out at the stars. He wondered if somewhere out in the shining clouds before him, Warlord Shank's flagship was travelling, with Elmira on board. He wished that Elmira were with him now. The others on board the Christa were his friends, the family he'd never had, but he'd developed a strange bond with Elmira. Somehow he felt if he could sit beside her and tell her all the doubts and fears that weighed on him in the night, she'd understand. Maybe she'd even be able to say the one right thing, the words that would ease his mind and let him rest.

I haven't heard from her in so long, he thought worriedly. Maybe something's wrong. Or has she forgotten all about me? Surely if she felt, well, the same way I do, she'd try to contact me more often. I know if I was able to reach her mind, I wouldn't wait until she was in danger. I'd want to talk to her all the time. Why doesn't she at least let me know that she's thinking about me?

Again he shook his head, taking himself to task for being unfair. Although he didn't understand Elmira's powers fully, he knew it must take tremendous strength, both mental and physical, to reach with her mind across the vastness of space to contact someone not even of her own race. It wasn't fair to expect her to do it casually, simply because he was worried about his schoolwork. And yet, he found it hard to shake the thought from his mind that maybe he'd heard the last words from her that he ever would.

That idea sent an almost unbearable pang of loneliness through him, and he struggled to think of something else. I wish I were like Harlan, he thought. Harlan had managed to treat the situation with Catalina and Suzee as if fate had given him the chance to have two girlfriends - the real one now on Yensid, and a temporary one on the Christa - while Radu felt that, between Elmira and Suzee, he had none at all.

I wonder what Suzee thinks about it all, he wondered. She seemed to divide her attention with exquisite care between the two boys, as though she had some sort of scale in which she measured it out, making sure that neither one got more than the other. Maybe, he mused, she was trying to be fair to both of them, to avoid stressing the fragile friendship he'd built with Harlan. Or did it simply amuse her to see them compete for her attention, more than it would to pick either of them as a real boyfriend? Or did she do it in order to keep both of them at a distance?

Radu finally rubbed his eyes, yawned and stood up. Worrying about his personal life was a change from worrying about the upcoming test, but it wasn't making make him feel any better. He decided he might as well go back to bed and try to get a few hours of sleep.

"Radu?" Thelma's voice came from directly behind him, making him jump.

"What?" he asked, in exasperation. She'd left the ComPost, hadn't she? And he hadn't heard her come back. So there was another question to worry about in the night - how did she manage to appear like that?

"Since you are awake anyway," she continued, as though unaware that her reappearance was in any way startling, "I thought you might want to take a look on the view screen at Sector 625. I've detected a problem in that area."

"Problem?" Radu said, frowning as he brought up the coordinates. "What sort of ...."

His voice trailed away as he saw what had appeared on the screen. For a moment, he hoped it was a nightmare, that he was actually asleep back in his own bed, but he knew it was real. He had to do something, or the people out there were going to die. But what? His mind seemed completely blank.

He stared at the screen as if frozen, his mind racing yet getting nowhere. Finally, one thought managed to penetrate the confusion, and he reached for the intercom. "Everyone to the bridge!" he shouted. "Now!" He just hoped that whoever it was could survive until help arrived.

The first one out the jumptubes was Harlan.

"This better be good," he grunted, still more asleep than awake. "What's up?"

Radu pointed to the view screen. "There's a ship out there under attack. I don't think they can hold out much longer!"

Harlan stared at the screen for a moment. "That's an Earth vessel!" he said in amazement. "A trader - they've got some defensive armaments, but not much. Who's the big ship firing on them?"

"I don't know," Radu said helplessly. "Does it matter?"

"I suppose not," Harlan said, grinning despite the seriousness of the situation. "They've obviously got lots of fire power. Not as much as a Killcruiser, but enough." He watched for another second or two, as the small ship twisted and turned frantically, trying to evade the larger vessel that was inexorably hunting them down.

"Sensors say that their shields are almost gone," Radu told Harlan. I'm going to see people killed in front of me, he thought, and there's nothing I can do to stop it. He felt physically ill at the prospect.

"Well, then, time we did something," Harlan muttered back. Before Radu realized what was happening, Harlan had thrown the Christa into her top subwarp speed, and was sending her hurtling towards the combatants.

In about thirty seconds, Harlan had guided the Christa into a position directly between the fleeing Earth vessel and the attacking ship. "Open a channel with the big guys, will you, Radu?" he asked over his shoulder.

Radu, after a brief debate with himself as to whether to obey or to seize Harlan and drag him to the sick bay for intensive psychological treatment, did so. It wasn't difficult - the attackers were already trying to contact them.

The screen filled with the picture of the large ship's captain. Not a pretty sight, really - it had rough, bumpy skin, protuberant eyes, and a large, wet-lipped mouth. Whatever the species was, they seemed to share an unpleasant resemblance to Earth toads.

Harlan appeared undisturbed by his opponent's appearance. "We are the Starship Christa," he announced, his voice proud and confident. "The ship you are pursuing is an Earth vessel, and is under our protection."

"What?" Radu asked, once more convinced that Harlan had lost it. The Christa was completely unarmed; they couldn't defend anyone.

Harlan gave Radu a look that said "Shut up," and faced the screen again.

The captain of the other ship stared at Harlan for a while - to Radu, it felt like an eternity. Finally, he spoke, his voice sounding hoarse and creaky despite the filters applied by the Christa's universal translators.

"We are the Bufonian frigate Rana. We have no quarrel with you, Christa," it said. "Leave this space and we will not harm you."

"Uh-uh," Harlan answered, oozing self-confidence. "You leave, and we won't harm you." As an incentive, he added, "The Christa is the most powerful ship in the UPP fleet. We've destroyed Spung Killcruisers in our time. We could easily destroy you."

There was another pause, while the captain mulled over Harlan's words. Finally, a look of annoyance, or disgust, or possibly fear, passed over its features - since Radu had never seen its race before, he couldn't tell just what the expression meant. "All right," it answered Harlan. "If you want these...." he used a word that the Christa didn't translate, either because it was not in her databases, or because she simply preferred not to use that sort of language, "then you can have them. We will withdraw. Rana out." The viewscreen went blank, then the stars appeared again.

"Yes!" Harlan yelled, throwing his arms into the air as if he'd just hit a home run. "One more victory for...."

"Mr. Band?" a cold voice asked from behind him. Turning, he saw Commander Goddard, who had emerged from the jumptubes about halfway through Harlan's conversation with the Bufonian commander. "I think we need to have a little talk."

Fortunately for Harlan's sake, the communications console chose that time to crackle into life. "Starship Christa?" a male voice asked. "Are you there?"

Harlan started to answer, but Goddard raised a hand and he fell silent. "This is Commander Goddard, of the Christa," he announced. "Any casualties?"

"No, thanks to you," the voice replied gratefully. "This is Captain Hill, of the trading vessel Lotus. We were badly damaged during the fight, however. Can you bring us on board and allow us to make repairs?"

"Certainly," Goddard said with a smile. "Glad to be of service to a fellow Earther. Power your engines down, and our tractor beam will bring you on board. Goddard out."

The smile disappeared as he turned and looked at Harlan. "You could have gotten us all killed, Mr. Band. If that Bufonian had decided to call your bluff...."

"Yeah, well, he didn't," Harlan answered unrepentantly. "We won."

"This time," Goddard growled.

A few minutes later, the entire crew was gathered near the airlock to the landing bay. Suzee was watching the gauges that indicated when the space inside was fully repressurized.

"All right," she finally announced. "It's safe. Thelma, you can open the door now."

"No," Thelma replied pleasantly, after a moment's reflection. "I can't."

"What?" Goddard asked, gritting his teeth. Space battles, students pulling stupid stunts, and now this - this was definitely what an ancient Earth poet had once called "a hard day's night".

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "I cannot open the airlock door." She smiled as if she'd said something extremely helpful.

"Suzee?" Goddard inquired. "What's the problem?"

"Beats me," she said, stifling a yawn and blinking in fatigue. "Maybe something's stuck somewhere. I'll try manual override." She flipped back a panel beside the main controls, and pressed a sequence of two crystals and a lever. Nothing happened.

"Sorry, Commander," she said, her face flushing slightly with embarrassment. "Just give me a minute."

"Never mind, Suzee," he said. He didn't feel like waiting an hour while Suzee tried to rewire half the Christa just to open a door. "If high-tech doesn't work, we'll try old-fashioned muscle-power instead. Radu, we could use your assistance."

"Sure, Commander," he agreed, glad for the chance to do something useful. He walked up to the airlock, and ran his fingers over the door, searching for purchase. When he found it, he set his hands, and pulled with all his strength. For a moment, he feared it wouldn't be enough, but then, to his relief, he felt the door start to give, then slide back into its slot. Finally, he was able to wrench it open all the way.

"Good job," Goddard said absently. "Suzee, I want you to do a diagnostic and get that door repaired as soon as possible. Rosie, come with me, just in case someone's injured." He stepped through the door and into the bay.

As Goddard and Rosie entered, they saw a battered Earth vessel before them. The hatch on the craft was already sliding open, and a tall, heavyset human male, about forty years old, was stepping out.

"Hello!" he said warmly. "You must be our rescuers." He stuck out a hand towards Goddard. "Brian Hill, late of the STARDOGS, now working for Elantilis Trading Company."

"Commander Seth Goddard, UPP," Goddard answered warmly, as he seized the stranger's hand and shook it. It was as pleasant as it was unexpected to come across an Earther and fellow STARDOG, even a retired one. "This is my medical officer, Rosie Ianni. Is anyone hurt?"

"Hurt? No, I'm fine, as you can see," Hill chuckled. At least, to Rosie's relief, he didn't make any comment about her being too young to be a real doctor.

"Are you the only one on board?" she asked shyly. She didn't want to sound rude, but she thought he'd implied there was someone else with him.

"... Only one?" he said, apparently having to think about it for a moment. "No, my assistant's on board, as well." He turned towards his ship and raised his voice to a bellow. "Tiye, get out here, and let the doctor know if you're all right!"

Goddard and Rosie watched in bemusement as his assistant emerged from the hatch. She looked young, certainly no older than Harlan, with long dark hair framing a pale face. Luminous golden eyes stared back at Rosie.

"All right, sir?" she asked, her voice soft. "No, I'm not hurt - I just bumped my head a little when we took that last hit. You needn't worry about me."

"Good," Hill said, apparently taking her at her word and turning away to question Goddard about the Christa and how she had happened to be in the right place at the right time. Rosie, however, noticed a thin trickle of blood seeping down from the girl's scalp.

"Here," she offered, "let me take you to our MedLab. I think I should look you over." She looks like she could go into shock at any time, Rosie thought.

"N-no, not yet," the girl said, turning her head towards Hill. "Do you need me for anything, sir?" she asked.

"What?" he asked, slightly annoyed at the interruption. "Good heavens, Tiye, you're dripping blood all over these people's ship. Take care of it at once."

Being thus given permission, Tiye reached out a trembling hand and allowed Rosie to lead her to MedLab.

"So, will she be all right?" Harlan asked Rosie. The other students were sitting in the Galley, making an early breakfast.

"Oh, yes," Rosie answered. "I put a couple of stitches in her scalp to hold the tissue, then I...."

"Later, please, Rosie?" Suzee asked, making a face. "I'm eating."

"Sure," Rosie agreed. "Anyway, I told her to rest for a few hours before getting up again."

"Any chance of us getting that medical advice?" Bova wondered, yawning. "I'm ready for a good night's sleep, and it's scarcely morning."

"No, you are not going back to bed," Miss Davenport announced, having entered the Galley just in time to catch Bova's remark. "We are in hostile territory, and our main job today will be to get out of this area before those creatures return with reinforcements. As soon as you have eaten, we will prepare for a hyperjump. Then, we will have a briefing session with Captain Hill at oh ten hundred hours regarding the situation."

"Hey, our Strategy and Tactics test was supposed to start today," Harlan pointed out.

"That has been postponed for one day, due to unforeseen events," Davenport said. "Surely anyone who understands military matters would realize that avoiding capture or destruction by the enemy is more important than administrative matters."

"Great," Harlan grumbled into his cold cereal. "The first time I've ever looked forward to a test, and it's postponed."

Radu, who was eating quietly, felt a wave of relief. Complete disaster, it appeared, was still a day away.

The hyperjump went well, and no sign of further Bufonian forces were detected on the other end. Therefore, the meeting with Captain Hill was able to proceed as scheduled. Everyone crowded into the briefing room to find out who their new passengers were.

"As I told you earlier, I'm an ex-STARDOG, working in interplanetary trade now," Hill began. "I've been with Elantilis for the past four years, doing a deep space trading run. I'm on my way back now."

Goddard frowned. "What brings you out this far?" he asked.

Hill smiled slightly, then looked over to his assistant. He'd insisted that Tiye be present at the meeting, and she had complied, even though Rosie thought she really needed more rest. She nodded back to him, almost imperceptibly.

"Well, I wouldn't tell everyone what we're doing," he said, "but Tiye says we can trust you. We're trading for eleutherium."

"Eleutherium?" Miss Davenport asked, rather startled. The compound was necessary to make certain alloys essential to constructing a starship's engine, but it was incredibly rare, and therefore incredibly expensive. "Were you successful?"

Hill grinned at her. "Beyond our wildest dreams," he said. "The stuff's much more common in this quadrant than in ours, and the races out this way have such different technology that they don't have too much use for it. We've got at least half our cargo holds full - enough to make us very rich when we get home. Unfortunately, a Bufonian pirate put two and two together, and decided that if we could make money on the stuff, so could he. If you hadn't shown up, he would have blown us into bits, then scavenged the eleutherium out of the wreckage."

"What do you trade for it?" Bova asked.

"Oh, this and that," Hill answered. "The rest of our cargo is pretty varied - some gold and precious stones, jewelry, fancy foodstuffs, even cultural things like music, trideo recordings of Earth plays, stuff like that. You'd be surprised what people value out here. That's where Tiye comes in handy." He glanced over at the young girl, who had been sitting silently with her eyes down.

"How?" Bova continued. When curious, he could be hard to put off.

"She's an empath," Hill said casually.

"A what?" Goddard interjected. "You mean, like a telepath?"

"You want to explain, Tiye?" Hill asked her. "I never get the details right."

"I'm not really telepathic," the girl explained, flushing as though she'd been accused of misrepresentation. "I can't read anyone's thoughts directly. However, I can sense their emotions, their feelings, even if I can't read their minds."

"Yes, well, however she does it, she's a trader's best friend." Hill said, leaning back in his chair. "I've about doubled my profits ever since I hired her. You see, when I contact an unknown race, I've no idea what they want, what they value. When I try to trade with them, I don't know what to offer them, or what to ask in return. Half the time, I used to end up accidentally offending them - intercultural sensitivity was never my strong suite, I guess. Anyway, with Tiye here, she can tell me who's interested in diamonds, who's more interested in genuine Earth chocolate, who's going to be mad about Beethoven. She can keep me from putting my foot in it with the local customs. She can even tell me who's trustworthy, and who's looking to rip me off." He smiled at them. "You guys passed, by the way."

"Really?" Davenport asked, looking at the girl curiously. "Is this a special talent of yours, or...."

"I'm a Parulan," she replied, shaking her head. "We all had it."

"Had it?" asked Harlan, raising an eyebrow.

"I-it's a long story," she faltered.

"Yes, and we've much more important things to discuss," Hill added. "What sort of ship is this, Goddard? I've never seen anything like it. Can it really destroy a Spung Killcruiser?"

Goddard tried to explain, while Harlan kept interjecting stories of their battles with the Spung, and Suzee kept correcting technical details about the Christa. Everyone, it seemed, was eager to talk to their new acquaintance - after all, it had been some time since they'd had anyone new on board, and the fact that he was an Earther, with a STARDOG background, made it all the more enjoyable.

The only one who didn't have much to say was Radu. He was a little hesitant about drawing attention to himself; he wasn't sure how an ex-STARDOG would react to an Andromedan on board. Instead, he sat at the edge of the group, listening, but not speaking.

As he sat there, his eyes fell upon Tiye. She was as silent as he was; he noticed that unless asked a direct question, she rarely spoke. Idly, he wondered what sort of race the Parulans were. She clearly wasn't Andromedan, yet there were certain physical similarities - the slender build, the soft voice, the long dark hair. Actually, to Andromedan eyes she was extremely pretty, but there was a strange air of sadness that seemed to surround her, as she sat quietly with her eyes cast down.

Suddenly, as if she had sensed his interest in her, she looked up and smiled. He blushed, and looked away quickly in embarrassment - he hadn't meant to stare at her. When he looked back, her eyes were down again, as she quietly listened to Hill, who was now regaling the crew with stories of his adventures among the remarkable Sphyrapicus people, who had gladly given up their eleutherium in exchange for canned lima beans.

Despite the disruption in the night, there was still a fair amount of work to get done during the day. Goddard, Suzee and Bova worked with Hill repairing the damaged Lotus. Harlan flew the Christa, while Rosie, with assistance from Miss Goddard, monitored for any more signs of the Bufonian pirates. Radu, having set the navigational coordinates, was sent back into the storage area to see if there were any spare parts available for use in repairing the Lotus.

Actually, he would have much preferred staying on the bridge. Alone, rummaging through crates and bins, he found himself once more thinking about the upcoming Strategy and Tactics evaluation, and his certain failure at it. It occurred to him that he had never realized before how much he really wanted to become a STARDOG. If he failed, he'd end up being sent back to the Andromedan Space Ark, while Harlan, Bova, Rosie, Catalina and maybe even Suzee would continue their careers with the UPP; he'd lose the only friends he'd ever made.

He was so absorbed in these gloomy predictions that he didn't even hear the steps behind him, until a soft voice said, quite close to him, "Umm, Mr. ... Radu?"

Startled, he turned, expecting to see Thelma. Instead, he was surprised to find Tiye, watching him with her golden eyes.

"Yes?" he asked, rather breathlessly.

"Commander Goddard sent me to see if you'd found any replacement VanderWaals sensors," she asked shyly.

"No," he replied, shaking his head. "Sorry."

She smiled. "There's no need to be sorry. We'll make do. Your young engineer is very talented."

"Suzee?" he asked. "Oh, sure, she'll figure out how to fix your ship. She always comes up with something."

"I'm sure," she answered, and turned to leave. As she reached the door, though, she turned around. "I know it's not my place to ask," she began hesitantly, "but what are you so worried about?"

"Worried?" he asked, staring at her wide-eyed.

"Yes," she said, "I could feel it half-way down the hall. I'm an empath, remember?"

"Oh, right," he said, looking away. It was rather embarrassing to think that she could tell so clearly what he was feeling.

Tiye looked at him for a moment, then walked up and sat on a crate beside him. "You can tell me to go away, if you like," she began, "but we Parulans are good listeners."

"It's nothing, really," he said with a shrug. "It's just ... there's this test I have to start tomorrow for Commander Goddard. And I'm going to fail it."

"I see," she said. "And it's really important to you?"

"Yes, of course," he burst out. "I can't fail now. I mean, my people will be disgraced if I return without becoming a STARDOG. I'll have to go back and face them, knowing I've let them down. And ... and I'll probably never see my friends here ever again."

"I can see why it's so important to you," she agreed, nodding slightly. "But why are you so sure you're going to fail?"

"Because this test is supposed to measure originality, and quickness of wit, and all the things I can't do, that I can't make myself do," he said, throwing up his hands in frustration. "It's like this morning - I saw you in trouble, and I couldn't think what to do. Harlan knew - he figured out what to do in a few seconds. All I could do was call for help."

"Well," Tiye said, "sometimes asking for help is the best solution." She slid gracefully down off the crate, then faced Radu. "Here - it's not much, but maybe this will help you."

"What?" he asked, as she pulled something from a pocket.

"We picked up a few of these when we were on Coriacas 2," she said. Lifting her hand, she showed him a bracelet made of an oblong chunk of silvery metal held by twisted black wires. "They're supposed to be magic."

He looked at it in bewilderment. "Magic?" he asked, puzzled.

"It doesn't look like much now, I know," she said, "but watch." Out of her other pocket, she drew a small clear orb, like a tiny marble, and pressed it into a socket on the front of the silver bezel. Slowly, light suffused the orb, until it sparkled like a star on a clear night.

"Wow," Radu said, staring at it. He couldn't think of much else to say.

"They're supposed to be lucky," she said, handing it to him. "Who knows? If you wear it, maybe it will help you pass the test. I know my luck has changed ever since I started wearing one."

"I can't - I mean, I have no money, Tiye," he tried to explain. "Andromedans aren't much good as trading customers - we don't usually own things individually."

"I'm not selling this to you," she said with a soft laugh. "I'm giving it to you as a present. Although perhaps," she looked around nervously, "if you wear it, could you tuck it up under your sleeve like this? And don't tell the others about it?" She clasped it around his wrist and pulled his sleeve down over it. "I can't give one to everyone - Captain Hill doesn't like me to give the merchandise away."

"Sure, whatever you want," he agreed. "But ... but I've nothing to give you in return."

"You don't have to give me anything," she said, a wry smile on her lips. "You helped save our lives, that's gift enough. Besides," she continued, as that haunting look of sadness crossed her face, "I wanted to ask you a favour."

"What?" he asked, wondering if somehow he'd committed himself to something he shouldn't have.

"Are you going to be working on your test all day tomorrow," she asked, "or are you going to have regular classes as well?"

"The test was originally scheduled for the afternoon," he explained. "We'll have, let's see, Hyperdrive Engineering and History tomorrow morning."

"Wonderful," she said, the expression on her face lightening. "Could you please ask your teacher for me if I can sit in? Captain Hill won't need me tomorrow for much - I'm no good at fixing the ship."

"Sure," he agreed, but was unable to resist asking, in amazement, "You want to go to class? I don't understand."

"I haven't gone to school for five years," she said. The shadow passed over her face once again. "It would mean a lot to me, Radu. Sitting in a classroom again would make me feel almost as if I were ... home."

"Of course I'll ask," he assured her. "And don't worry - Miss Davenport would love to have the entire galaxy in class if she could manage to fit them in somehow. She'll be thrilled to have a new student."

"Thank you, Radu," she said in a near whisper. "Now, I'll have to tell Captain Hill that we'll need to find a substitute for the VanderWaals sensors. He'll be annoyed if I'm not back soon. Goodbye."

"I - I'll bring them up if I find any," Radu called after her. Then he sat down on a crate and pulled up his sleeve to look again at the glowing sphere on the silver bracelet. "Magic...." he mused, inspecting it dubiously. "Maybe that's what I need."

After a thorough examination of the Lotus, even the optimistic Captain Hill realized she wasn't going anywhere in a hurry. In a way, though, it didn't seem to worry anyone too much - the crew of the Christa was as glad to have visitors as their visitors were to have reached a safe haven. Over supper that night, Hill told some wild and wonderful stories of his escapades during the Spung War. They were, perhaps, such good stories as to be a little suspect as to truthfulness, but were told with such outgoing good spirits that no one really cared. Tiye was, as seemed to be her custom, silent unless spoken to, but her quiet grace only added to the general pleasantness of the meal. They ate well and talked a long time afterwards. Finally, the Christa's crew, nearly falling down from their exhausting day, dragged themselves off to bed.

Captain Hill had been given a stateroom of his own, while Rosie had made up a bed for Tiye in the MedLab, since she was still somewhat concerned about the girl's injury. Before she could rest, though, Hill summoned Tiye to his room.

"Well," he asked, sitting back in an armchair as she entered, "what do you think of them?"

"They're good people, sir," she answered. "Honest folk. We're safe here, for the time being."

"So, tell me about them," he urged. "Details, Tiye."

She stood in a position reminiscent of a STARDOG cadet giving a report at attention. Hill didn't ask her to sit down.

"The Commander is intelligent, straightforward, but has a sense of humour that he sometimes tries to hide," she began. "He really enjoyed talking with you tonight. He sometimes feels rather confined here with only a teacher and students for company."

"Understandable," Hill grinned. "Must be stressful for him."

"He's handling it well," Tiye responded. "His biggest worry seems to be the responsibility of looking after, well, the non-military needs of such a young crew."

"What about the teacher?" Hill continued. "She's on the edge, I can tell. This sort of life can't be good for her."

"I'm not sure," Tiye countered. "I think that that's her natural state. In some way, even, I think that her experiences on board this ship have been a stabilizing influence. I sensed a certain satisfaction in her about having survived everything this far. She's surprised herself by her ability to cope."

"Hmmph," Hill grunted. He didn't like it when Tiye disagreed with him, but he'd learned not to discount her sensations about people. His trading success, sometimes even his life, had depended on those impressions from time to time. "What about that poor little Uranusian kid? It always bothers me to see kids like that, so down about everything. Makes me want to try to make them smile, somehow."

"Bova?" she said, a look of amusement crossing her face. "In some ways, he's the happiest one on board. He's got lots to complain about - it keeps him pleasantly occupied."

"Rosie, the Mercurian?" Hill continued.

"Cheerful, like most Mercurians," Tiye said, frowning thoughtfully, "but perhaps the strain is weighing more on her than on Bova. She feels it's her responsibility to make everyone happy, to make everything right, and she often fears she can't do it."

"The Earth kid, Harlan?" Hill asked. "Met his father a couple of times, he was a good soldier. Shame what happened to him."

"Yes, and Harlan feels it, still," Tiye said. "I noticed something very turbulent, very powerful, whenever you talked about the war. He's still not come to terms with that loss, I think."

Hill scratched his head thoughtfully in silence for a while. "And the other girl ... the smart one? What about her?"

"She's ... difficult," Tiye answered, more slowly than before. "Very guarded in her feelings - so much that I found it hard to get a handle on her. Perhaps it's her race, or maybe it's just her way. I sense, though, there's some strong emotions underneath, even if she keeps them hidden."

"And then, of course, the Andromedan," Hill concluded, with a slight grimace.

"You don't like him," Tiye said. It was half a comment, half a question.

"Nothing against the boy himself," Hill said, "but I can't stand the race. They're two-faced little weasels - one minute they're slaughtering STARDOGS for the Spung, next minute they're all buddy-buddy with us. You can't trust them."

"I think you could trust this one," Tiye responded. "I didn't sense he had any ulterior motives." She smiled gently. "Right now, he's mostly worried about his schoolwork. He's convinced that some upcoming test will be the make-or-break event of his life." She shifted slightly as she stood. "I ... ah, I gave him one of the bracelets, sir. I told him it would bring him luck."

Hill stared at her for a moment, then started to laugh. "Ah, Tiye, my Tiye. You certainly don't let any grass grow under your feet, do you?"

"Sir?" she asked, puzzled. She looked around as if expecting vegetation to start sprouting from the Christa's deck.

"An Earth expression, never mind," he said, waving her question away. "Anyway, I've never had any time for Andromedans. Just remember, on top of everything, they're lousy customers - they have this holier-than thou attitude about possessions not being important. You'd have a hard time selling one of them an escape pod if the ship was about to blow up." He snorted in disgust.  "They'd turn it down if they couldn't share it with all the other Andromedans."

He looked up to see a stricken look on Tiye's face. "Sorry, kid," he apologized gruffly. "Just a figure of speech. Didn't mean to dredge up any old memories." She smiled back at him, but it took an effort. "Your head still hurt?" he asked, and she nodded. "Thought so - you're still a little pale. Now, get to bed. We've got plenty of work to do tomorrow."

"Mr. Radu!" Miss Davenport raised her voice slightly. "Are you listening?"

Radu looked up, blushing furiously. "Yes, I-I was Miss Davenport. I was just explaining to Tiye how the proton transfer mechanism in the hyperdrive works."

Miss Davenport sighed to herself. She'd feared that this was what would happen if she let a new student in for a day; all the other students would be distracted by the newcomer. However, she'd not had the heart to turn down the girl who had actually wanted to come to class. She hoped that the others might be inspired by such an unusual attitude, although she knew the hope was a faint one.

Still, she thought, maybe she could turn the student's distraction into an advantage of sorts. "That's enough engineering for today, students," she announced. "We'll finish up with our history lesson before lunch. Remember, after lunch, you will spend three hours in the Advanced Strategy and Tactics test."

"Don't worry, I remember," Harlan grinned.

Radu nodded his agreement. His mouth had gone dry at the reminder, but at least he didn't feel quite so panicked as he had the day before. Maybe, he thought, it helped having Tiye in the classroom that morning. She knew little about hyperdrive physics, and had, now and then, asked him for explanations of what Miss Davenport was talking about. To his surprise, he had managed to give her whispered explanations that had made a certain amount of sense; at least Tiye had nodded in understanding.

"All right, class," Miss Davenport began, "we shall start this lesson by looking at the overall history of the area through which we are travelling. Can anyone tell me what we know about it?"

"Nothing at all," Bova said gloomily. "This is pretty well uncharted territory. It's not covered in any UPP database; even the Christa doesn't have anything on it. We've seen signs of Spung, so they're probably lurking somewhere around here, but we don't know where."

"This will probably be the shortest history lesson we've ever had," Suzee said, tossing her head, as though astonished by the uselessness of the exercise.

"Come now, class, you aren't using your heads," Davenport chided. "You're overlooking a wonderful resource that we have right here in this class." She turned to her new student. "Tiye, didn't you mention last night that your home planet was located in this quadrant?"

Tiye looked up, an unreadable expression on her face. "Why ... why yes, Parula 5 is in this quadrant, but ... it's Spung territory now. You couldn't go there."

"Probably they're tracking us right now," Bova said, dolefully. "We're likely flying right into them...."

"No," Tiye hastened to reassure them, an unexpectedly bitter tone creeping into her soft voice. "I wouldn't go near them - not even for Captain Hill. They don't bother much with this part of the quadrant. Not rich enough in spoils and slaves, I suppose."

"Perhaps, Tiye," Miss Davenport asked gently, "you could give us some background of the history of this quadrant. If the Spung are involved, it may be critical for us to know what we're facing."

Tiye paused for a second, her eyes down. "A-all right," she faltered, "I'll tell you what I know. It's not much, but if it can keep you out of the clutches of the Spung, it's worth it."

"My homeworld," she began, "was a small planet, fifth in the Parula system. There really isn't a lot of interesting history to tell you before the Spung arrived. We were all empathic, and empaths don't have wars, or dictatorships, or inquisitions. It's hard to hurt other people when their pain becomes yours. So, we lived quietly, trading with some of the nearer planets for the few things we couldn't provide ourselves, but not really worrying much about the universe beyond. Until the Spung arrived."

She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes for a moment. "I was fourteen in your Earth years when they invaded. It was so fast - we had nothing prepared with which to defend ourselves. They started destroying cities - whole countries. In the last few days, panic was unstoppable. We decided the only hope was flight. Every shuttle, every freighter, anything that could make it outside the atmosphere was commandeered as an escape vessel. Some of our neighboring planets were strong enough to withstand the Spung - if we could reach them, at least some of our population would be saved."

"I remember...." she said, her voice so low even Radu had to listen closely, "I remember the day I left. People were fighting, clawing at each other, for places on the ships. I'd never seen our people fighting before, and it frightened me, in a way, more than the thought of the Spung. Somehow, my parents had found a place for me on one of the ships. Nothing fancy, just standing room, barely, in the hold of an old ore freighter, with no food or water for a four-day trip, but it was a way out. They pushed me onto it quickly, before I realized that they weren't coming themselves. As the door closed, they called out to me, saying that they'd be coming on one of the next ships - that I'd see them soon after I got to safety."

"And did you?" Rosie asked, her eyes wide with horror.

"No," Tiye said, tossing her hair back over her shoulder with an unconvincing show of carelessness. "The ship I was on was one of the last to make it out. The Spung were there within hours."

There was a brief silence, so quiet that Radu could hear the hum of the Christa's machinery through her patterned walls. Finally, Tiye took up her tale again.

"I ended up in a refugee camp on an allied planet that the Spung hadn't reached. At first, we told ourselves it was temporary; that our allies would band together and throw the Spung off our planet. They told us that they would help us. But - the Spung were strong, and there weren't, perhaps, enough Parulans left to worry about. Even the aid for the refugees fell off in time; we got no more food or medicines. I guess we'd overstayed our welcome. So, bit by bit, we wandered off, looking for a way - something, anything - to earn a living. Mostly, we went alone. I guess there was so much pain inside each one of us, that we couldn't bear to be around other Parulans, and feel the same pain inside them. It was just too much."

"And ... and how long have you been on your own?" asked Miss Davenport, trying to maintain a professional tone, and failing miserably.

"Five years," Tiye said. She followed it with an attempted smile that was more painful to watch than if she'd burst into tears. "But I was lucky. Two years ago I met Captain Hill, and he took me on as his assistant."

"Still," Davenport argued, "a young girl such as yourself shouldn't be fending for herself. You should be in school, not running around trading trinkets for eleutherium, being fired upon by pirates and goodness knows what else."

"Maybe," Tiye answered gently, "but we must learn to cope with what life gives us. That's what Captain Hill always tells me."

"Well," Davenport said, turning the other students, who were uncharacteristically silent, "think of this when you start your Strategy and Tactics evaluation this afternoon. It is a harsh world, and we must rely on our own abilities to prevent more of such tragedies from occurring."

Radu started. He'd completely forgotten about the test while listening to Tiye's story, and now he felt ashamed of himself. What were his worries about school, he thought, compared to the nightmare she'd gone through? "Miss Davenport," he suggested, "maybe I should take Tiye to the Galley and get her some lunch or something." He reached out to take Tiye's arm, and felt her shivering.

"Yes, thank you, I'd appreciate it if you'd do that," Miss Davenport said. She pulled out a handkerchief and blew her nose violently. "Drat," she muttered. "I think my allergies are acting up."

Radu helped Tiye down to the Galley. She was still trembling, and was obviously fighting back tears. He guided her to a seat, and turned to the food wheel, hoping that it could provide something that a Parulan would find appetizing.

Before he could program it, though, she lifted her face to him, her eyes red and swollen. "Radu," she said, "I'm so sorry."

"Sorry?" he asked, staring at her in bewilderment. "What are you sorry about?"

"I messed up your class," she said. "I - I didn't mean to.... I just couldn't help it."

"Please, don't worry about it," he told her. "We all understand. I'm just sorry we put you through it. Miss Davenport wouldn't have asked you to talk to us, if she'd known."

"Still," she said, "I feel like such a snivelling little idiot. Especially around you."

"Why around me?" Radu asked, taken aback. He wondered if he'd done something unintentional to hurt her.

"Well," she tried to explain, "you're Andromedan."

"What does being Andromedan have to do with it?" he asked.

She sighed. "Even before I met Captain Hill, I'd heard of the Andromedans. How they took every horrible thing the Spung could do to them, and yet defeated them in the end. I remember thinking what strong people Andromedans must be - they didn't turn on each other like animals when things got bad, they didn't end up as beggars on their neighbors' doorsteps...."

"Don't!" he reached out and laid his hand on her arm. "You didn't do anything wrong - your people didn't deserve what happened to them, any more than mine did. They both just tried to survive, that's all."

"I guess," she agreed bleakly, staring at the surface of the table before her. "But sometimes, I wonder ... if that really justifies everything."

Radu had coaxed the food wheel to produce a Parulan meal for Tiye, and was trying to persuade her to eat a few mouthfuls, when Captain Hill entered the Galley.

"There you are, Tiye," he said, flopping down on a chair beside her. The repairs had been more difficult that morning than he'd expected, without Suzee to help, and he was in a bad mood. "Hope you've enjoyed your easy morning - I've got a stack of work for you. Goddard won't be helping me this afternoon - he's running his test. Now, get me some coffee." Tiye put down her fork and started to rise, but it wasn't fast enough for her employer. "I said now, Tiye," he snapped, "not sometime tomorrow. Don't just sit there gawping like an idiot."

Radu stared at him in disbelief. Even if Tiye had not been so visibly distraught, Hill's tone would have been unacceptably harsh. He laid a hand on her shoulder, and told her, "No, don't get up, I'll make it for him." Rising, he went to the food wheel, and dialed up a tube of dried coffee. After placing it in a cup and adding hot water to it he returned, placing the steaming beverage carefully in front of the grumpy human.

Hill picked it up and eyed it suspiciously. "There's no milk in it," he announced, with an air of triumph at having found something to complain about. "Tiye, make me a decent one." Tiye, her face pale, pushed away her food and got up from the table.

Radu felt a deep surge of irritation. The human was one of the rudest sentient beings he'd ever come across - how Tiye endured him, he couldn't understand. "I would have gotten you some milk if you'd asked," he told Hill, trying to keep his voice from betraying his anger.

"It's her job," Hill snapped, as Tiye, her hands shaking, put the cup back down in front of him. A few drops sloshed over the rim. "Oh, good work," he told her sarcastically, then picked up the cup and handed it back to her. "Now, get me a full one. And don't spill it this time."

Radu took a deep breath. "Captain Hill," he said firmly, "Tiye is your assistant. She is not your slave. She isn't feeling well, and you shouldn't treat her so rudely."

Hill swivelled around to Radu, his jaw working in anger. "Do I understand," he snarled, "that an Andromedan is trying to teach me manners?"

"Radu," Tiye implored at the same time, "please don't...."

He turned to her. "You don't have to accept being treated like this," he said. "No job is worth it."

"You don't understand," she whispered, pushing past him to put the second cup of coffee before Hill. Hill took a noisy slurp, as if to prove that she'd given him what he'd asked for, then looked again at Radu. "See here, Andromedan...." he began, when to Radu's relief, the Galley door slid open, and Commander Goddard entered, followed a moment later by Miss Davenport and the rest of the crew.

The animosity quickly drained from Hill's face, and he turned to Goddard with his usual genial grin. But even as he chatted with the others, his eye would sometimes stray back to Radu, who was still hovering protectively near Tiye. Oh, yes, he thought to himself, you're brave enough now, Andromedan. But in a little while, I'll have you singing a different tune. That, I'll enjoy watching - I'll enjoy it very much. In fact, he found such pleasant anticipation in the thought that his bad mood left him completely by the end of lunch, and his charm and humour captivated everyone. Except, of course, Radu, whose attention was fixed on Tiye as she picked listlessly at her food, her very motions tired and spiritless.

~End of Part 1~

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