They call this world 'Abraxas', ( he begins once they're safely among the bookshelves, the lamp lights throwing their shadows across the floor.

Leonard readily sketches out what he knows of the place, the factions and their conflicts, their beliefs about the Singularity and its purpose that divide them. What he knew from before, what he can remember even as he struggles with it, the memories hazy. All those meticulously kept notebooks from the winter are surely long gone by now, unless by some miracle any of the courtiers or old arrivals kept them.

He pauses then, studying Jim with undisguised wonder. )

I can't believe you're here. I was here for- for three and a half months last time. Never saw a soul from the Fleet, or the Federation.