He kept himself casually busy, ignoring the girl.  A Med Ship man has resources of study and meditation with which to occupy himself during overdrive travel from one planet to another.  Calhoun made use of those resources.  He acted as if he were completely unconscious of the stowaway.  But Murgatroyd watched her with charmed attention.

Hours after her discovery, she said uneasily, “Please?”

Calhoun looked up.

“Yes?”

“I don’t know exactly how things stand.”

“You are a stowaway,” said Calhoun.  “Legally, I have the right to put you out the airlock.  It doesn’t seem necessary.  There’s a cabin.  When you’re sleepy, use it.  Murgatroyd and I can make out quite well out here.  When you’re hungry, you now know how to get something to eat.  When we land on Orede, you’ll probably go about whatever business you have there.  That’s all.”

She stared at him.

“But you don’t believe what I’ve told you!”

“No,” agreed Calhoun, but didn’t add to the statement.

“But—­I will tell you,” she offered.  “The police were after me.  I had to get away from Weald!  I had to!  I’d stolen—­”

He shook his head.

“No,” he said.  “If you were a thief, you’d say anything in the world except that you were a thief.  You’re not ready to tell the truth yet.  You don’t have to, so why tell me anything?  I suggest that you get some sleep.  Incidentally, there’s no lock on the cabin door because there’s only supposed to be one person on this ship at a time.  But you can brace a chair to fasten it somehow or other.  Good night.”

She rose slowly.  Twice her lips parted as if to speak again, but then she went into the other cabin and closed herself in.  There was the sound of a chair being wedged against the door.

Murgatroyd blinked at the place where she’d disappeared and then climbed up into Calhoun’s lap, with complete assurance of welcome.  He settled himself and was silent for moments.  Then he said, “Chee!”

“I believe you’re right,” said Calhoun.  “She doesn’t belong on Weald, or with the conditioning she’d have had, there’d be only one place she’d dread worse than Orede, which would be Dara.  But I doubt she’d be afraid to land even on Dara.”

Murgatroyd liked to be talked to.  He liked to pretend that he carried on a conversation, like humans.

“Chee-chee!” he said with conviction.

“Definitely,” agreed Calhoun.  “She’s not doing this for her personal advantage.  Whatever she thinks she’d doing, it’s more important to her than her own life.  Murgatroyd....”

“Chee?” said Murgatroyd in an inquiring tone.

“There are wild cattle on Orede,” said Calhoun.  “Herds and herds of them.  I have a suspicion that somebody’s been shooting them.  Lots of them.  Do you agree?  Don’t you think that a lot of cattle have been slaughtered on Orede lately?”