A brilliant alien mind forgets one tiny detail, and the human named Ash—a reformed torturer and expert in memory—digs deep and finds the most amazing secret. "Shadow leaned forward slightly. On the bright road below, a pack of 31-3s was dancing along, voices like brass chimes rising through the wind. Ash recognized his neighbors. He threw a little stone at them, to be polite." Robert Reed has written quite a lot over the last thirty years. The Great Ship universe is his most popular, and "Night of Time" is one of its smaller, quieter stories.