Casina and her friends were left alone in the reception area, a small room just off the stel, or mess hall, as it was called on Earth. Sipping hot merida, they conversed quietly, each of them lost in his or her own thoughts.

“I…had no idea,” Casina said at length, shaking her head. They all knew to what she was referring. “I mean...I had read that the Kaanig had powers, but I guess it just never occurred to me exactly what that meant.”

Jim Tompkins put down his cup and sat back in his seat.

“It was…quite spectacular,” he said. “To think that a man could have such abilities.”

“He...