Tell me something. Where am I?’ ‘Nohaven, but then you know that.’ ‘I mean, outside that. Go bigger.’ ‘Appalia.’ ‘Bigger.’ ‘The Westlands . . . The Basin.’ ‘I’m afraid I still need the bigger picture here. What planet am I on?’ He grinned. She looked at him hard for a moment, her spoon lying on her plate, temporarily forgotten. ‘Earth,’ she said at last. ‘What is this, some kind of con? Are you making fun?’
