“Sheldon. Yeah, I suppose that’s poetic justice. You know what he said to me yesterday after we got back? He just fixed me with that smartass smile of his and said: You’re having a ball, aren’t you? He was right, too, the bastard. It felt so right flying the starship. We did it on a wing and a prayer. And we won! It’s like everything I’ve done since Ulysses was an interlude; I’ve been marking time for three centuries.”
“And now you’re doing what you were born to do.”
“Damn right.”
She looked down at her body, then his. Her expression became coy. “There’s a question a lot of us on the project have speculated about. You don’t have to answer.”
“What?”
“All those months on Ulysses. It was a mixed crew. You were all young and fit. The whole voyage was in freefall.”
“Oh. Sorry. That’s classified government information.”
“Classified, huh?”
“Yes. But let me just say this: the longer you spend continuously in freefall, the more immune you get to motion sickness. Even vigorous motion.”
“Really? A long time acclimatizing.”
He gave her an evil grin. “Worth every minute of the wait.”
“It better be,” she muttered. “I’ve really got to take that shower now. I’m supposed to be on duty in another ten minutes.”
“Take the day off. Tell them the boss said it was okay.”
Anna scrambled off the bed. “Uh?”
“That door.” He pointed. There hadn’t been much time to show her around the apartment last night. Clothes were coming off before the door shut.
“Thanks.” Another giggle, and she headed for the bathroom. “At least you don’t have to ask what my name is.”
“Certainly don’t: Mary.”
One of his slippers flew across the room and hit him on the leg. “Ow!” The door closed. As the sound of the shower began, Wilson put his hands behind his head and stared happily up at the ceiling. Given that yesterday he’d nearly been killed, this really wasn’t a bad way to start a brand-new morning.
Not even the sight of the badly damaged complex brought down his mood. As he approached along the heavily guarded highway, thin trails of dark smoke were still leaking up into the sky from the ruined power plant. The missing circular administration tower was still a shock. Debris was piled high where the big atrium used to be, and most of the windows on the remaining two towers were either cracked or missing. Firebots picked their way delicately over the fragments of glass and concrete that sprawled out from the base, occasionally spraying out a jet of white foam. Medical salvage crews were working alongside the firebots, sending smaller remote sensors down into the rubble. They were seeking out bodies to remove their memorycell inserts ready for re-life.
Emergency vehicles had taken over the parking lot, so Wilson parked on an unused piece of lawn and got out. Oscar was standing watching the work parties in a group of several office staff and a squad of uniformed CST security guards.
“Morning, Captain,” he said, and saluted. Everyone around him abruptly straightened up.
“Morning,” Wilson replied. He didn’t bother with returning the salute, outside genuine military circles there was little point. “Where do we stand?” Before he’d left last night, he’d discussed the immediate problems with Oscar and left his deputy to it.
“The starship is okay, all critical onboard equipment is stable and holding. There were enough backup and redundant systems lying around down here to reestablish most of the umbilical feeds overnight. We’re going to keep her like that until we can secure her inside an assembly platform again. The malmetal manufacturer hopes to deliver a viable globe to us in another four days. Once that’s in place, we can perform a more detailed examination.”
“Good.” Wilson nodded at the sagging ruin of the closest assessment hall. “And the complex?”
“That’s going to take a bit longer. Security wants to verify the place safe first, make sure the terrorists didn’t leave any nasty little booby traps behind. Once that’s done we can clear the site and start the rebuild. With the Second Chance so far along her schedule, we won’t need the full suite of facilities down here again, so a lot of the work will just be patch-up operations. CST’s civil engineering division is preparing a bunch of appropriate equipment as we speak; as soon as we give them the go-ahead, they’ll move straight in.”
“Sounds like you’ve done a good job, Oscar, thank you.”
“Least I could do. Wish I’d been here yesterday.”
“Believe me, you don’t. I suppose security is eager to implement a whole new set of procedures?”
“Oh, yeah. We’re going to have to make some decisions about that and review our new assembly program today. I put off the biggies until you got in.”
“Right. I’ll get on it. Do I have an office?”
“I took over chemical systems building three for senior staff. Oh, and there’s some security people who want to see you now.”
“They can wait.”
Oscar gave him an uncomfortable look. “It might be a good idea to get it done and over with. Mr. Sheldon suggested it.”
“Did he now?”
