Hello. Is there anybody out there?

Only me, your friendly Federation officer. CB isn't joining us tonight, and I can't remember whether Taiellin and/or AnneA are, so this might be our chance to shine.

How's things with your father, OSP?

Stars do not go 'woohoo'. try to have some sense of ... starting!

OH, no, they're going to be vapourised!

What are all those fish doing there? If they're not aboard, they must be magic spacefish. If they are, the Raza is carrying a lot of pointless cargo.

I bet they are not

No one was bothered about the fish when I was worried about them...

I was being sarcastic. or possibly ironic. Can you have ironic sarcasm? Or does that end up being sardonic?

Whatever it is, I can't work up any amount of worry about the crew. It doesn't feel dangerous.

Yes, but you always worry about fish.

How many fish worrying events have we had?

I can see it in your eyes.

How come they're still using plasters - sorry, 'band-aids' in the far future?

Those fish. They remind me of that Star Trek episode where there are so many people on a planet, they are continually milling about.

I just wish they'd put the lights on occasionally. I mean, yes, it's supposed to be about Dark Matter, but that doesn't mean they have to live like this.

Brownian motion.

Is that what all fish are doing - milling?

That sounds vaguely disgusting.

It's a fundamental thingy of nature: look it up. Random motion of particles in a medium eg. molecules in a gas...people on a crowded planet.

I looked it up. Doesn't apply in a case of massive over population.

This partnership heist isn't exactly going to plan, is it?