"Karel is mostly harmless," Tom replied. "He runs a station that used to belong to a smuggler lord, he runs it now. Has a pretty nice deal with the local authorities: they let him run the station on his own terms, in return if a genuinely nasty criminal tries to use the station as a hiding place, while he won't actively attempt to arrest the person, he won't oppose the authorities coming after them."<br/><br/>"You have to consider one thing Ix," he said quietly enough Enigma wouldn't hear. "When she was disconnected from the Aphra, I think something...changed within her. Her biological side has regained some degree of control. She may be incapable of showing it but I think she's scared." He sighed. "I can't make you stay down there with her, but will you at least consider it?"