“It wouldn’t take you long to go through my sins,” Craig whispered. “I’ve been a good boy, just rough on the edges that you might help me with.” The naive - or cold, he couldn’t tell which - high priestess was going to need more work, he realised, and left their conversation to let his intentions simmer with her.

Craig finished the dinner and excused himself from the table. The core people, including Shen, made him uncomfortable. Their presence reminded him that he could never become like one of them. “I’ll take it to him,” he said, taking a plate of leftover food and feigning ignorance, asked, “Where is the engine room?”