McVane was leaning curiously out the engine room door, his loose jacket flapping in the pulsing of warm air.
"A gurrl, eh?" He shook his graying head. "That's a bad business, Lodar." His pale blue eyes blinked owlishly.
"Don't get ideas," Lodar snapped. "It wasn't my doing."
"Nah?" McVane teetered solemnly as he leaned forward. "What's your name, girlie?"
"Ellenor." She stared at the engineer.
McVane blinked. He scratched his whiskery chin. "Well, Ellenor, ye can have my cabin for the while," he offered.
"Come on, up you go!" Her dark eyes were bright with anger, but she climbed to the upper deck without further trouble.
They locked her in McVane's cabin.
"Funny, Mac giving up his room for her," Ray remarked as they headed forward to the control room.
"Because he's a no-good drunk?" Lodar sneered. "While some of us could be little gentlemen?" His face turned somber. "McVane is goofy. Had a wife and two kids. They were on that spaceship, Jeena, that was lost a few years back. If I didn't let him drink he wouldn't be worth jetting!"