'It's where we came out from,' she says carefully. 'It became a tyrannical place and my ancestors had to fight a war for their freedom. We won, and we stayed well clear, and Tirva is off-limits now. Nobody has been back there in a century.' To her knowledge. Of course space is so vast it would be possible for a determined ship to slip past the border patrol's notice, but Tayrey can't think of a reason why anyone would. Certainly not heading in the Tirvan direction.

'But tell me, what's your little backwater home called?' She's genuinely interested, because where home is for someone really matters. 'When I get home I'll tell my comrades, and you can know that spacers very far away know the name of this place, and not more famous others.'