Thomas was bored. He'd finished settling himself into his cabin and had just spent the morning exploring the communal wizard's laboratory with its four individual study cubicles, familiarising himself with everything they contained. The shelves and cupboards had been packed with every material component they could possibly need, including some for spells he was confident even Saturn didn't know, presumably in case they were away from home for longer than they expected.

     A quick search among the lower cupboards, right at the back, behind the stuff they would be using more regularly, confirmed his suspicions. Twenty spellbooks belonging to dead wizards, no doubt containing dozens of rare or little used spells to cover every possible contingency. Ready to be learned and memorised when needed. Saturn hadn't said anything about this to the others, but the Powers That Be must have considered the possibility that they might be stranded somewhere, unable to return to Tharia. They'd made sure they had everything they'd need to allow wizardry to survive in their new home.

     That was the only surprise, though. Apart from that, everything was as he'd expected, and now there was nothing left for him to do. Nothing seemed to be happening at the moment. So far as he could tell the ship was just floating in space while the bridge crew assessed their situation, so Thomas went in search of someone to talk to. The common room was the obvious place to start. There were bound to be some off duty soldiers who'd welcome the chance for a chat, but when he arrived the place was still as empty as it had been the first time he went there. Puzzled, Thomas tried to imagine where they could be. Surely they weren't all on duty, way out here in the middle of nowhere. What was there for them all to do?

     As he was about to leave, though, he saw that the place wasn't completely empty. Tassley Kimber had gone behind the bar in search of something to drink and she was talking to a man he hadn’t seen aboard the ship before, although he had a vague memory of having seen him in the valley a couple of times. One of the contract workers, he thought, but what was a contract worker doing aboard the Jules Verne?

     Why not just ask him? he thought, smiling internally. It would mean talking to Tassley as well, of course, but he was well used to her verbal sparring matches now and knew how to fend her off. Besides, if she was getting interested in this other man, perhaps that meant she’d stop chasing after him.

     Tassley saw him and waved him over, beaming with delight. “Tom!” she cried. “Look who I’ve found. This is the guy I was telling you about.” Thomas stared at her, uncomprehending. “You remember?” prompted the wizardess. “When you first came aboard? That conversation we had? About that conversation I overheard?”

     Thomas gave a start of realization and stared at the man she was with. “You mean this is…” he began.

     “Haskar Wenn, the anthropologist,” interrupted Tassley.

     Thomas nodded, understanding. They weren’t supposed to know there was a felisian on board.

     “He’s here to advise us about the strange civilisations we’re going to encounter," Tassley continued. "Tell us how to avoid accidentally starting a war by violating their most cherished customs.”

     “Pleased to meet you,” said Haskar, holding out his hand.

     Thomas took it, studying the man closely. He looked completely human, but then so had Naomi, the girl he’d known back in the war. He wondered where his former teammate was now. Probably back on their homeworld, he thought, unless she was still back on Tharia somewhere, still gathering information on human civilisation for her alien masters. He certainly hadn’t seen her in Lexandria valley, and neither had anyone else. Her description was known to every proctor, and there were artists sketches of her, drawn from Thomas’s description, posted in every building in the valley.

     “So, an anthropologist,” he said. “You must have travelled around a bit, then.”

     “I’ve dedicated my life to learning all about human civilisation,” replied Haskar, giving a secretive smile that made Thomas and Tassley smile in return. He thinks he’s got this great secret, thought the wizard with amusement. He thinks he can tell the complete truth about what he’s been doing and we’ll interpret it wrongly, not suspecting the truth.

     “I must have visited every major country in the world over the past twenty years or so," Haskar continued. "Comparing customs and lifestyles. Seeing what they have in common, how they differ. It’s a fascinating field, no end of new insights. I was going to go to Fu Nang next, but then I got an invitation to join this little expedition. I hadn’t realised my fame had spread so far.”

     “I think you might be surprised how far your fame has spread,” said Thomas. He regretted his words when he saw the look of surprise that appeared on the man’s face. I mustn’t give away that I know about him, he thought. Tassley’ll get in trouble for eavesdropping on the senior wizards. Indeed, the wizardess was giving him an alarmed look, and Thomas hurriedly changed the subject, asking her to pour him a drink.

     “Certainly, master,” she replied, relieved. “What'll it be?" She waved a slender, potion stained hand at the bottles lining the shelves.

"Nightwater? Paga? Lydian whisky?"

     "Just a black ale, please," he replied, not wanting to risk anything too strong, and the wizardess sniggered in contempt. Well, he felt no need to impress women who were only impressed by hard drinkers. Tassley opened a bottle and poured the drink, then passed the glass across, keeping her hand on it. Only letting it go when Thomas made no move to take it. Only when the danger of 'accidental' hand contact was gone did Thomas take the drink.

     "Let's get one thing straight," he said, taking a sip. "Nothing is going to happen between you and me. I love Lenny, and I intend to remain faithful to her, so you might as well give up these silly games."

     Tassley stared in indignant outrage. "You think I'm interested in you? I'd rather sleep with a..."

     "Please!" interrupted Thomas wearily. "No more games. I like you, I really do, and I'd like to be friends with you. Just friends, but friends nevertheless. We can do that, can't we?"

     "You flatter yourself if you think anything else was ever possible," the woman replied, her eyes spitting fire at him. "If you want to be friends, though, I suppose I could lower myself. It's not as if there's anyone else to talk to around here." She cast her green eyes around the empty room.

     "Yes, where is everyone?" asked Thomas, following her gaze as he took another sip of his drink. "I expected this to be the most popular room in the ship, but we've been in space almost a full day now and I think we're the only people who've been in here."

     "They're all busy," said Haskar with a smirk. "I saw the Captain a little while ago and he did not look happy. Things aren't going the way they hoped it would."

     "Well, I can't imagine what the problem could be. Last I heard we'd arrived at the portal and were preparing to go through it. Maybe they've learned there's something unpleasant on the other side."

     "We haven't arrived at the portal," said Tassley unhappily. "We're still looking for it."

     She gave a quick outline of the problem as she understood it, and as she spoke Thomas's eyes widened with astonishment while Haskar turned his head away, as if to keep them from seeing the expression on his face.

     Thomas stared at Tassley in astonishment when she'd finished talking. "But how hard can it be to find one object all alone in the middle of empty space?"

     "It's the size of the empty space," replied Tassley. "Like trying to find one black grain of sand in a desert of yellow grains. We didn't know. We just had no idea..."

     Thomas resisted an urge to look at the felisian, who was still looking away from them as if he'd found something on the wall that fascinated him. Thomas could imagine what the expression on his face would be, though. Smug amusement. They'd tried to sabotage the building of the Ship of Space and failed, but now the ship was rendered impotent by its ability to solve the very first challenge it was facing.

     Thomas kept his gaze fixed on Tassley, therefore. “Maybe the felisians can help us. They found it easily enough…”

     "Using equipment we do not possess," replied Tassley. “Equipment left behind by the Masters."

     "Maybe they could lend us the equipment. That was the nature of the agreement they reached with the University, wasn't it? That they would help us find the portal."

     "They made that agreement when they thought we'd find the portal with their help or without it,” said Haskar. “They needed our goodwill to protect their world, but if we can't find their world, they don't need our goodwill."

     Thomas bristled at the gloating tone of the man’s voice. "We're not interested in y.. their world," he pointed out. "We want to find the Shipbuilders. Somewhere out there is, or was, a civilisation far more dangerous to the felisians than we will ever be. It's in their own interests to help us find it."

     "I heard they've been exploring the Worlds of the Sheaf for years, and never found any trace of the civilisation you describe. If it ever existed, it's long perished."

     “Worlds of the Sheaf?”

     “I heard one of the wizards call it that," said Haskar. "The Sheaf. A group of universes bound together by this portal, like a bundle of grain stalks bound together after harvest. Or like a stack of papers.”

     "Well, what if the shipbuilder civilisation hasn’t perished? Have they explored all the Worlds of the Sheaf? How do they know they're not still out there somewhere, just waiting to invade and colonise the felisian world and ours?"

     "If that's true, what could we do about it? If they're so powerful, how would we stop them?"

     "I don't know, that's why we have to find them! To find out! Look, there have been felisian agents spying out our world for years, maybe decades. They have to know that Belthar and the University are basically good guys, that we wouldn’t betray them. We only want to defend ourselves.”

     “I’ve studied all the peoples of this world, not just the Beltharans and the University,” replied Haskar, though. “There are humans who would betray the felisians in a moment, for whatever small profit they could get out of it. The felisians have to be careful, and I understand their position. One of the things you have to learn, to be an anthropologist, is to see things from the other person’s point of view.”

     "I suppose," replied Thomas, who suddenly looked terribly sad. "Very well, then. We'll just have to do the best we can to find it for ourselves."

     He left the common room, leaving his drink almost untouched on the bar, and after giving the felisian a long, searching look, Tassley followed him.