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May,’ he said. She smiled again. And he was pleased that she had done so. The smile changed her, a little.
    â€˜Let’s get you dressed then,’ she said.
    The next chamber was much larger than the one in which he had woken. The light was dimmer: a dull glow from the curving walls. There was a circle of inflated seating in themiddle of the room. There were two people there. They rose like ghosts as he approached.
    At first glance they were exactly like May, with limbs like long sticks and swollen faces that seemed to float above their dark overalls. They came and took his hand, first one, then the other, in a greeting that Paul thought old-fashioned but at least professional. One had dark skin and straight black hair cut to the shoulder. The other had very little hair; what there was of it was grey. Only when they spoke could he be sure that one was a woman and the other a man.
    He did not recognize their names at all: ‘Vandamme’ and ‘Lewis’. Names had not featured in his briefings. In that first meeting he saw them as
the dark one
and
the grey one
.
    They sat down on the inflated seats. May glided onto the seating beside the grey man, took his hand and curled up against him. She already knew everybody here. She was at ease with all of them. Paul did not know the others and they did not know him. May had said they were ‘jumping up and down’ to see him, but they were not. They sat upright, formal and stiff, and so did he. He waited for someone to begin.
    The man spoke to a point in the wall: ‘Record,’ he said. There was a faint click.
    â€˜Lewis speaking. This is a most significant day in the history of our station. We have been joined by Paul Munro,telemetry executive. It is hard to exaggerate just how eager we have been for his arrival and how much we have been looking forward to him waking up and being with us. For the first time in nine years we are back to full strength.
    â€˜Paul has completed his initial checks and appears to be in good health after his journey. He will undergo a short period of convalescence before assuming responsibility for all aspects of radio and laser communication between the station and Earth. At that point he will be able to begin investigating the irregularities in our signals that Earth has reported to us, to confirm the causes and propose solutions. Dr Vandamme and I will be released to concentrate fully on the duties originally assigned to us, but we will be available to support Paul whenever he needs our help. We will depend on him as he will on us. We wish him all success …
    â€˜Anything anyone wants to add? May? Van?’
    â€˜Just that we’re so thrilled he’s here,’ said May.
    â€˜Quite. Paul, would you like to say something?’
    Paul had stopped listening. The man’s speech had gone on far longer than any communication should.
    â€˜No,’ he said.
    â€˜No?’ repeated the man, surprised. ‘Surely …’
    â€˜Don’t press him, Lewis,’ said May. ‘He’s doing really well.’
    â€˜No? Very well then. End Record.’
    There was another faint click.
    â€˜It’s sometimes hard to think what to say when you know it’s going to be fired across four and a half billion kilometres of space for Earth to pore over,’ said the man wryly. ‘But you’ll get used to it. Shall we have some coffee? Is it all right for Paul to have coffee, May?’
    â€˜Well … a little one, maybe.’
    â€˜Coffee, Paul?’
    Coffee?
    What did it mean?
    â€˜It’s a stimulant,’ said the man, who must have read his face. ‘We drink it together as we talk. It’s a social ritual. It used to be very common on Earth. There are still parts of Earth where they do it, in fact.’
    â€˜I’ll make it!’ said May, bouncing up from where she sat.
    â€˜Let me,’ said the man.
    â€˜Don’t be silly.
You
want to talk to