reconcile him to his new life. Even the initially hostile Vince and Linda come to look to him for leadership and approval. It all comes crashing down when Fletcher's spirit stick, a valuable gift from the hisa leader Satin (from Downbelow Station), is stolen. Suspicion and distrust grow on both sides. When Chad provokes another fight with Fletcher, Jeremy finally confesses that he was responsible. To safeguard the artifact from resentful relatives, he had hidden it in his hotel room at their last stop, only to have it stolen. The merchanter Champlain is a suspect; Champlain is also believed to be one of those secretly supplying the Mazianni. Meanwhile, Captain Neihart has vastly more important issues to deal with. At every port of call, he forges agreements with merchanters, Union officials and stationmasters to try to bring about a transition to peacetime, legitimate trade, and at the same time shut down the smugglers and the black market from which the Mazianni obtain supplies. When they find Champlain docked at their next stop, Jeremy drags Fletcher to shady curio shops, hoping to find the spirit stick. He succeeds, but as the senior captains are locked in vital negotiations, Fletcher is instructed to keep his charges in their hotel room and wait. However, the impatient twelve-year-old Jeremy goes back and tries to shoplift it, only to be caught. Fletcher attempts to rescue Jeremy and is captured as well. As they are being led away at gunpoint to be quietly disposed of, Fletcher manages to engineer their escape. The resulting investigation pressures the corrupt, reluctant stationmaster into agreeing to Captain Neihart's proposals. Fletcher wins the approval of his family, and he accepts Finity's End as his home. Characters Human James Robert Neihart senior – senior captain of Finity's End James Robert Neihart junior (known as 'JR', to distinguish him from James Robert senior) – leader of the senior-juniors of Finity's End, later promoted to junior captain Jeremy Neihart – junior-junior Fletcher Robert Neihart – planetary science student at Pell; reluctant crewmember of Finity's End Hisa (on Pell) Melody – Fletcher's hisa surrogate mother Patch – Fletcher's hisa surrogate father Satin – an aged leader of the hisa (also appears in Downbelow Station) Classification On her website, Cherryh writes that she has twice seen this novel misclassified by hasty reviewers as a young adult novel, presumably because the protagonists are young. She rejects this