"I was here when you were."
"I want to speak to your ship's captain."
"All right. I'll drive you over."
The stoker nodded, and they walked over to his vehicle together. They drove away, toward the Jek ship.
"All right, let's get back to work," another Jek said to MacReidie and myself, and we went back to unloading cargo.
The stoker came back to our ship that night, without his duffelbag. He found me and said:
"I'm signing off the ship. Going with the Jeks."
MacReidie was with me. He said loudly: "What do you mean, you're going with the Jeks?"
"I signed on their ship," the stoker said. "Stoking. They've got a micro-nuclear drive. It's been a while since I worked with one, but I think I'll make out all right, even with the screwball way they've got it set up."