acquire it, legally, ethically, and honestly … or otherwise. Anticipating
future information needs was one of the team’s never-ending activities.
The atmosphere by the pool outside Zambendorf’s villa overlooking the Pacific
from the hills above Malibu was businesslike despite the setting as he,
Abaquaan, and Thelma discussed the latest status update forwarded from GSEC,
which among other things listed the people nominated so far to accompany the
Mars mission. “We’ll need background histories and profiles on as many of those
names as we can get,” Zambendorf said, propped on a sun-lounge by a table of
iced drinks and fruits. Thelma, wearing a beach-wrap over a bikini, sat taking
notes beneath a sunshade at another table littered with some of the books on
Mars, the history of planetary exploration, and NASO that she had been immersing
herself in for days. “Make a separate list of the scientists. Clarissa has some
useful contacts at most of the professional institutions—she can take care of
those.”
“Okay . . . Okay . . . That’s okay . . . And Clarissa to take care of the
scientists. I’ll talk to her about it when she gets back tomorrow,” Thelma
murmured, checking off the items on her pad. “What about the Europeans?”
“Umm . . .” Zambendorf thought for a few seconds. “You’d better leave them to
Otto and me.” He turned his head to look inquiringly at Abaquaan, who was
sitting sideways on another lounge and sipping from a can of beer while he
listened. Abaquaan nodded curtly in reply, seemingly preoccupied with something
else. “Yes, we’ll make some calls to Europe,” Zambendorf confirmed. “But get
Drew to talk to his newspaper friends about those political people who might be
going. We shouldn’t ignore sources like that.” He looked at Abaquaan again.
“Does that cover the main points. Otto?”
“Except Massey,” Abaquaan replied.
“Ah, yes,” Zambendorf agreed breezily. “A fine mess you’ve got us into, Otto.”
Abaquaan rolled his eyes upward in a silent plea for patience and ignored the
gibe. He had first expressed concern when the name Gerold J. Massey, nominated
by NASO as an “Observational Psychologist,” appeared on the schedule. It implied
that somebody at NASO had decided things had gone too far and was wheeling up
the siege howitzers. Zambendorf went on, “However, you’ve got us into similar
fixes before, and we have always pulled through. The first thing we need to do
is make sure he’s really there for the reasons you think he is.”
Abaquaan threw up his hands. “To make sure? . . . Karl, we know why Massey’s
there all right! One, he’s a stage conjuror. Two, he’s a debunker who takes
contracts against psi-operators. Three, he’s worked for NASO before—remember the
headhunters from Long Beach who thought they could sell NASO that psychometric
testing crap? Four, Vernon Price is on the list too, and he works as Massey’s
partner—I mean, hell, Karl, how much more do you want? He’s going there to plant
a bomb with your name written across it in big letters.”
“It sounds highly probable. But let’s not make the mistake of overreacting to
speculation as if it were fact. In addition you have to admit: Five, the main
purpose of the mission has to do with psychological research. Six, he is a
psychologist. And seven, NASO has commissioned him to conduct purely scientific
studies before. So the nomination could be perfectly legitimate.”
Abaquaan got up and paced over to the poolside to stand staring down at the
water. “What difference does it make?” he asked, turning back after a short
pause. “If you’re there and he’s there, he’s not gonna miss out on the
opportunity anyhow. Whether NASO is officially sending him as a nut-watcher or
unofficially as something else is beside the point—if he can make trouble, he’ll
make trouble.”
“True, but how much will he be in a position to make?” Zambendorf replied,
waving his cigar. “Will he be acting individually, or will he be actively aided
by people inside NASO and the resources at their disposal? If it’s just him and
Price, we could probably afford to take our chances; but if it’s them plus NASO,
we’d be well advised to use as much help from GSEC as we can get. You see my