“Only a few days,” she murmured. She was seriously in need of a bath. Her scrapes and scratches demanded it.
“You and I both know that’s a long time to be stranded in the Viisiiviisii. He could be dead.”
She swiveled back to face Pandusky again. “Too bad he didn’t have the grace to notify us of that in advance.” She tapped the hard copy. “We could have avoided this.” As Pandusky stood silently before her, she leaned forward slightly, resting her head in both hands. “I’m sorry.” Taking a deep breath, she looked up. “That was a loutish thing to say. This Hasselemoga may not be beloved of his colleagues, but he’s a Commonwealth citizen operating on a difficult world and as such it’s our job—my job—to extend full assistance to anyone who runs into trouble. Now I’m informed that the team sent out to look for him has itself disappeared without a trace.”
Pandusky nodded slowly. “For two up-to-date skimmers to go down in the same general area and for the emergency beacons on both to fail is an extraordinary coincidence.”
“If it is a coincidence,” she muttered by way of reply.
His features scrunched into a frown. “I don’t understand, Administrator.”
She met his gaze. “We’re in the midst of a Sakuntala uprising against the Deyzara that’s as widespread as it is unexpected. Somehow, from somewhere, these radical Sakuntala have acquired an unknown number of advanced weapons. That is inexplicable. So is the ‘coincidence’ to which you’ve just referred. I’m just wondering if there could be some connection between this current surge of inexplicables.”