“Oh, that’s all under control,” Zambendorf said breezily. “Just as soon as we—”
Thelma cut him off. “Karl, don’t go into all that right now. Gerry doesn’t know
about it yet. I haven’t had a chance to—”
“Know about what?” Massey demanded. A cold, creeping feeling deep down inside
somewhere told him that his worst fears were about to come true.
“You wouldn’t want to know about it,” Thelma told him. “Now, why don’t you
just—”
“I want to know about it. What’s going on? What is it that you haven’t had a
chance to tell me about yet? …”
“Tango Baker Two to Control, launch sequence completion confirmed and BQ
checking at zero-three-five. I have fourteen on beta-seven and a clear six-six.
Transferring to local.”
“Roger, Tango Baker Two. BQ vector confirmed and delta repeater reading green.
Orion Control standing down. Have a good trip.”
“Roger. Out.” Andy Schwartz, captain of the surface lander that had just begun
its descent from the Orion, checked his instruments once more and settled back
in his seat. Course was set on automatic to a reentry window that would bring
them down onto a shallow descent from seventy degrees east, direct into the
ground base at Padua, and trim was adjusted for the heavy-load cargo of
materials and machinery. No passengers were aboard this trip—apart from the two
Special Forces troopers who had missed their flight through an admin foul-up and
were hitching a ride down to rejoin their unit.
Most of the soldiers that Schwartz and his crew had flown to the surface lately
had been instructors being sent to train Paduans in weapons-handling. The “base”
at Padua was just a couple of pads and some landers parked at an isolated
location among some hills well away from the city, apparently because its
existence had not been revealed to the general Paduan population by their
leaders—not at all like the situation at Genoa. Not even the Paduan army had
been let in on the secret; the rank and file received their weaponry training
from a small, select corps of Paduan instructors who were the only ones who ever
actually met Terrans. Schwartz didn’t know what to make of it all.
“Have they shipped any girls down to Padua Base yet?” the copilot asked casually
from the seat next to him.
“No chance, Clancy.”
“Maybe you could use the break, Clancy,” Mike Glautzen, the flight engineer,
suggested from his station behind them. “I read somewhere that occasional
abstinence is good for your health.”
“Baker needs to try something that’s good for his health,” Hank Frazer muttered
as he tapped commands into a touchboard below the displays at the Communications
Officer’s position across the aisle from Glautzen.
“I read somewhere that too much health’s bad for you,” Baker said.
“Causes cancer, huh?” Schwartz murmured.
“Doesn’t too much of anything always cause something?”
“How about too much moderation?” Frazer said.
“It causes excess-deficiency,” Baker said. “That’s real bad.”
Glautzen sniggered. “Gonna have to get used to that for a while, Clancy. No
parties when we get to Padua—just work, man.”
Baker frowned down at his instrument for a second. “Say, I’ve had a great idea,
guys,” he said, turning his head to look back over the seat. “How about the
latest swingers’ with-it thing, straight from Southern California?”
“What’s that?” Glautzen asked.
“An inflatable-doll-swapping party! It’s all the rage with—” Baker broke off as
he saw the large, black soldier, clad in Special Forces camouflage combat
dress—one of the lander’s two illicit passengers— entering through the door at
the rear. “Hey, you’re not supposed to be up front here, pardner,” he warned.
“You’re supposed to stay back in your seat, belted down till we’re on the pad.”
“Get outta here, willya,” Schwartz said, glancing back. “If you wanna see the
flight deck, that’s fine—but not until after we touch down, okay?”
Joe Fellburg eased himself fully inside the door and leveled his machine
carbine. His teeth shone pearly white against his skin as he flashed an amiable
grin. A moment later Drew West, also wearing combat dress and holding a .45
automatic, entered behind him and moved away from the door to cover the crew
from a different angle. “Now let’s all be friendly and sensible about this,”