"Ah, well. It wasn't aliens so much that time as it was something one of them built, but they got jerked rapidly through space with no real travel time in between. Some of it was accidental--whatever dumped us here might have been in the same vein."

Ratchet eyes Daryl's face, looking almost sympathetic for a moment.

"You're pretty much a regular guy from Earth, aren't you? Never met anybody from off-planet before today?"