This vessel was far more what he had always expected a spaceship to look like than Emerald Princess had been. He had little time to study it, though; he was hurried to a large, bare chamber, where he and some of the others were locked in, without any further explanation. For a moment after the heavy steel door slammed shut Pel stared at it, expecting something more to happen. When nothing did, he turned to consider his surroundings. A row of stained, bare mattresses lay along one of the long walls; at the far end were two small bathrooms, the doors standing open. There were no other furnishings, no windows, no other doors. In the room with him were Amy and Susan; the navigator of Emerald Princess; two passengers, one a young man, one a middle-aged woman; and of course, Rachel. “What happened?” Amy asked. “Who are those people? Where are we?” “Pirates, right?”
