"Their Dead Captain, hey?" The Trid inspected the body of the deceased Enterprise Commander."I like the uniform. It's hard to find anything with epaulets in my size. I can always cut a hole in the back for my other arm. And look! They strapped a Mudcat Ceremonial Mandolin to his belt. I'll add that to my collection of ancient Earth instruments." Billy removed the items."Now drag him to the kitchen and blow him out the trash chute, Cartoosh."

The Trid inspected the mandolin. Most of the ceremonial instruments were re-creations, fabricated of Reso-resin, a material nearly identical to wood. But this was different; it was made of real wood, rosewood if his guess was right. The Mudcat insignia inlaid on the pick-guard seemed to be made of organic material. The Trid had only heard stories of it, but it appeared to be Mother-of-Pearl, stuff that was composed of the armor of sea creatures from the oceans of the Earth. He strummed it, and the instrument spoke to him. It spoke of the dim past, of green mountain ridges cloaked in mist, of rain pattering on green leaves, of tall pine trees creaking and sighing in wind. He strummed again, and it spoke of great stones warm in the heat of a single sun, Old Sol of the Terran system. It spoke of the Terran moon, not as a dead lump of captive rock, but as a being filled with magic and possibility. Slowly, a tune began to appear from his casual fingerings, a tune that it seemed the Trid had heard before, long before. It seemed that it had had a name, but he could not recall it, and so he dubbed it Terran Moon. At last, he put down the mandolin.

"Captain," said Cartoosh,"we have entered the region of Neezy, in the Crab Bottom, as they call it. The Enterprise is still targeted for a landing at Tern." Billy considered for a moment, then said "Before we reach Tern's outer atmosphere, put the StarShagger in orbit mode. We had better watch what they are doing from a distance until I know what their motives are."