Chon's voice finally reached us.
"I'm leaving you and Johnny on this planet, Mike," he said.
An Indigo brought us in our morning supply of fruit.
Ellik kicked the Indigo. "It's overripe, blockhead. Amum, amum."
The Indigo backed out, bowing, eyes very round.
Ellik felt me looking at him.
"Well, I don't like kicking the oaf, but that's all he's been conditioned to understand as a sign of disapproval."
"Sure," I said.
Ellik passed through the scimitar of gray shadow into the sunlight that washed lines and years out of his face. He braced a hand against the doorframe and craned his head back. It stopped and steadied.