Across the long table, the people looked at one another, and for a long moment no one spoke — none of them had expected the captain to suddenly toss out that question, and they weren’t even sure what he meant.
After a while, Nina seemed to catch on.
She thought seriously for a bit, then murmured, “Maybe… a very safe place? I can’t really picture it… I guess the best place would be Prand before the sun went wrong. Of course, it'd be better if it were more spacious. The city-states are just so crowded, and after sailing I feel it even more. The world is so vast, and yet the places where people can stand are so few…”
“Yes, there must be wide habitable belts, much safer than now,” Duncan smiled, then looked at Shirley, who sat beside Nina. “And you? What do you hope the New World will be like?”
Shirley had half a biscuit in her mouth and mumbled indistinctly, “I didn’t think that far. As long as there’s enough to eat and wear — and if possible, cheaper water and power bills.”