And with that introduction of hers, the lot of them greeted him as if he were an old,long-lost friend of theirs. Strange how they seemed to be waiting for her approval,thought Silver. Before he knows it, several Equinid's are surrounding him and chatting up a storm about how famous he has become.
When Silver looks back to find where Dawn is, he sees her exiting the building with an odd looking android. Excusing himself from the crowd,he makes his way over to her before she leaves and inquires as to where she is going. She answers,"I have been told that the schooner is in bad shape and will need to be rebuilt-" The android cuts in and says,"Several hazardous areas of faulty wiring were discovered as well as a small gash in the solar outlet.
Workers will have to pretty much scrap it and start over." Dawn resumes,"Yes,well,I am just thankful we could make it to a port in time to have it taken care of. It may take the workers several days to fix and by that time I will be wanting to leave." Then addressing Silver she states," I believe you will need a new vessel as well. For the workers have sent word that they are surprised that your little craft even functioned as well as it did. If you'd like, I could have Bosco" she motions toward the android "here show you around the yard." She means the place where they store the working ships that are ready to sail. Silver would like to leave as well...he never really had a desire to stay in one place for too long. He replies,"All right." Then when he sees her start to head out again he admonishes her to be careful. To his surprise,she laughs and whispers to Bosco," I think I scared him when I started to set coordinates and take control of the steering." Bosco whispers something back to which they both get a kick out of. Silver,tired of the flippant way she talks of that subject,waves his hand away and walks back to the Equinids. They start in on their exuberant conversations and when Silver comments on that,they reply,"It is not often that we have a reformed pirate in our midst." Silver stiffens at that and asks where they had heard that. One elderly gent answers,"I heard it with my own ears from a young chap who seemed to admire you.' Silver instantly thinks of that boy that turned into a fine young man during the trip to the "loot of a thousand worlds". Silver smiled at that recollection. He had taught that boy important lessons for life-and in turn Jim had taught Silver something equally important. It was the thing that turned Silver's life around...although he still had to hide from the authorities for past crimes he he could truthfully say that he had not gone back to pirating since he said farewell to Jim.
The elderly Equinid has been talking while Silver was reminiscing... "...it's not too often I hear about a sensational true story like with how widespread the crimes if one were to stop,they may eventually go right back to it again." Silver,not knowing if this person is referring to Jim or himself,remains silent. For Jim had confided in him that he got into some minor trouble with the law. But the horse-like alien then stood up feebly and walked over to where Silver was standing. The room became very still. Then he said," I was a former Navy commander and I know first-hand what you were,Silver. You've certainly come a long ways from the ruthless person I used to know."