Eric shook hands with him, stiffly, and he thought for a moment the man did not know the gesture. "Ah yes, handshaking," Lindquist laughed. "We simply show empty palms now, you know. But then, you don't know. I rather imagine you'll have a lot to learn." Eric nodded, asked Lindquist if he might be shown about the ship. There was a lot he had to see, to check, to change if change were needed. "Relax, my friend," Lindquist told him. "I'd--ah, like to suggest that we postpone your tour until you've met with our Council this afternoon. I'd very much like to suggest that." Eric shrugged, said: "You know more about this than I do, Mr. Lindquist. We'll wait for your Council meeting." * * * * * "Thus, Mr. Taine," said Captain Larkin, hours later, "tradition has it that you become a king. King Lazarus Seven--with six Lazaruses before you. The first one, the histories say, was a joke. But it's stuck ever since. The people like this idea of a king who comes to them every twenty five years--and they've dubbed him with the name Lazarus, well, because if he didn't come back from the dead, he came back from something a lot like it." Eric nodded. "What happened to Alan Bridges?" "Who?" This was Lindquist. "Alan Bridges, the man before me--your Lazarus Six." Captain Larkin cleared his throat. "He's dead, Mr. Taine." "Dead? He'd only be in his fifties now--" "I know. Sad. It was disease, hit him soon after he came to us. Lazarus Six had a very short reign. Didn't he, Mr. Lindquist?" "He certainly did," Lindquist agreed. "Let's hope that Lazarus Seven is here to step down for Eight--and to watch Nine come in, fifty years from now!" Cheers filled the room and Eric smiled briefly. That reminded him of Clair's note. Clair-- "So," said Captain Larkin, "you'll be crowned tomorrow. After that, your people will see you, King Lazarus Seven on his throne. Don't disappoint us, Mr. Taine. Their tradition means a lot to them." "It should," Eric said. "The planners made it that way. With nothing but space outside, and the confining walls of the ship, they needed something to bind them together." "Yes, that's true. But the people, as you'll see, have come up with some of their own traditions over the years." Captain Larkin ran a hand through his graying hair. "Like your kinghood, for example. You'll see, Mr. Taine--or should it be Lazarus now, eh?" He laughed. "If you'd like," Eric said. He did not relish the idea particularly, but then, it was their show. Still, he had everything to check--from astrogation to ethics--and he would not want to be delayed by pomp and ceremony. Well, there was time enough for that. Now he felt weary--and that made him chuckle, because he had just concluded a hundred-seventy-five year nap.