>I'm using the SQLEXEC() command to create a cursor with data culled from a remote database. When I execute the SQLEXEC() command to pull the data into a cursor, the cursor keeps loading into work area 1, even if I have previously issued a 'select 5' or something like that, and even if there's already a table open in area 1.

You shouldn't EVER reference a work area by number or letter only by table or cursor alias.