'It makes perfect sense,' Tayrey assures her. 'There are gaps, you can't fit them, you're going to wonder. Speculate. That's natural. I'd be unsettled as anything too. I hope it clears, soon as it can.'

Her suggestion for presenting herself as an amnesiac colonist makes Tayrey smile, though. 'Out in my sector, sure, we'd just say you were from the old frontier. A lot of unusual things happen out there these days.' Hardly surprising, now that it's no longer fashionable and the delight of would-be investors. 'For the real frontier effect, if anyone dares ask you for identification? Tell them that you know your Charter rights and you won't stand for pushy Tradeliners thinking they run the whole sector. You don't carry it and nobody can make you!'

Her words are half-teasing, but if Tayrey's mocking anyone, it's the hypothetical overbearing Tradeliner, not the Charter-reliant colonist.