‘What about you?’ asked Zak. ‘Are you emigrating?’
‘No,’ said Geremi, ‘I work here. I manage the Tech department onboard the ship.’
‘Oh. What does that do?’ asked Zak.
‘Looks after the computers,’ said Geremi. ‘There’s six people needed to run the computers on a ship like this. It’s amazing how often things go wrong.’
‘You’re allowed to bring your dog to work?’ asked Zak.
‘Well Zak, this isn’t so much my work, as my home,’ said Geremi sadly. ‘I’m from India originally, but I have no family left alive, and these journeys mean that I’m on the move most of the time. There’s not much point in me putting down roots. Thankfully, these kennels are an ideal place to leave Rocky, and I enjoy meeting the other pets and their owners.’
Zak counted the number of pets and judged that the place would be pretty quiet most of the time.
‘Do you spend all your spare time down here?’ he asked.
‘Not all, but most of it. If we’re busy and I have a long shift, Rocky gets left alone for too long. So I need to make it up to him. I see plenty of the rest of the ship during work hours.’
Rocky lifted his head up and licked Geremi’s hand, as if acknowledging the devotion of his owner.
‘Don’t you find this ship a bit mind bending after a while?’ asked Zak.
‘Not at all,’ said Geremi. ‘Once you get to know it, it’s great.’
‘Well I got lost on the way here,’ said Zak. ‘Every time I thought I was getting somewhere, I arrived at a swimming pool. How many are there for god’s sake?’ he cried. ‘What’s the point of a swimming pool on board a spaceship anyway?’
‘There’s only one pool, and it’s a marvellous feat of engineering,’ insisted Geremi with amusement. ‘It’s a complete loop round a hamster wheel. You can swim continuously without having to do lengths. Its very popular. I don’t go often enough.’
‘You won’t catch me using it,’ said Zak. ‘I ran once round the reception hall, and that tired me out. I don’t like swimming much anyway. We had a pool in our garden but it was always freezing.’
