'And I love you,' replied Dan, and he kissed her, and she felt how far away he really was.

'Oh, Dan, let's get married,' she said.

'Oh, sure. We're on an alien spaceship - God knows how many light years from Earth and you want to organize a wedding.'

'You know what I mean,' she said.

'It's no good rushing these things.'

'Dan, we've been living together for thirteen years! We can't ever rush anything now!'

'Let's get the hotel up and running, and then we can talk about it,' said Dan sensibly, 'You do like the rectory?'

'Of course I do. I'm crazy about it.'

'Except that it doesn't exist any more.'

'We'll get it rebuilt - Nigel got a great deal on selling off Top Ten Travel. We'll rebuild it - better than it was - and make it the best little hotel in the goddamned world'

'If we ever get back.'

'If we ever get back,' agreed Dan.

They looked round at the so-called 'Captain's Bridge' with its library, its video collection, its chess boards and cards tables, its jacuzzi, billiard tables, cinema complex and gym, and they wondered how the hell they were ever going to find out how to control something that didn't appear to have any controls in the first place.

'Lucy,' said Dan.

'Oh! Don't start again! He wasn't doing anything!'

'I wasn't talking about that,' replied Dan.

'Good!' retorted Lucy. One point scored.

'You know this video game that seems to be based on the Starship itself?'

'Uh-huh?' Lucy was staring out of the windows above the console of games.

'Well, it's sort of changing.'

'I know this is stupid...' said Lucy. 'But you don't suppose that computer game isn't a computer game?'

'You mean - might it be an actual display showing those things coming towards us?' By now, Dan was also looking out of the window. A squadron of small, clumsy-looking spacecraft were hurting towards the Starship. Dan checked. Their movements correlated exactly to the motion of the spacecraft on the video display,