With Garuth were Shilohin, the female scientist who had been with him when he made his call to Hunt at home, and another old friend of Hunt’s, Rodgar Jassilane, the Shapieron’s engineering chief. The Ganymeans welcomed him in their characteristic easygoing manner, but it was clear that they were relieved to see him after his mishap of getting separated from the others.
“We saw ZORAC’s replay of your arrival,” Garuth said as they shook hands.
“It seems that you’re managing to find your way around Shiban already,” Shilohin remarked. The expression on her face had to be the Ganymean equivalent of a smirk. Hunt began to suspect that he would be really tired of that particular topic before the day was out.
“How was your journey?” Jassilane inquired, shaking Hunt’s hand in turn.
“At least we didn’t lose our brakes and have to spend twenty-five million years slowing down,” Hunt replied, grinning. It was a reference to the problem that had caused the Shapieron’s long exile from the Solar System when it tried to return to Minerva. Relativistic time dilation, compounded by an effect of the vessel’s gravity drive, had reduced it to something in the order of twenty years ship’s time.
“What do you think of a Thurien starship?” Jassilane asked.
“Impressive—but a bit overwhelming,” Hunt confessed. “You know, Rod, when all’s said and done, I think I prefer your old ship on the parking lot back there at Geerbaine.”
“Me, too,” Jassilane agreed. “Technology that you grew up with is always more comfortable, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Definitely,” Hunt said.
“That’s why we never bothered adapting more of the sensor network in PAC to work with VISAR,” Garuth said. “We experimented with the small part that you know, but old-time Ganymeans like us don’t really take to it. The Thuriens can have virtual travel. We prefer to stick with ZORAC.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” Hunt said.
Garuth extended an arm to indicate the general surroundings, then singled out the passage by the security guard’s desk. “This is the part of PAC that I normally inhabit. The staff here simply call it the Ganymean offices. So now you know where to find us.”
“Where will we be working?” Hunt asked. “I assume that since we’re officially here as an UNSA scientific group, we’ll have some office space or something. It’s a bit of a messy situation, I know, but Gregg didn’t exactly give anybody a lot of notice.”
“Naturally,” Shilohin said. “We’ve found some space for you on one of the levels lower down, where we run some other work of our Own.”
“Maybe the best time to see it would be later,” Garuth suggested. “Del can take you to your quarters in the residential sector now to freshen up, and we can all meet for, lunch in, say He made a vague gesture.
“About an hour?” Hunt suggested.
“Fine,” Garuth agreed. “And then we’ll show you the lab area when you’re all together.”
The Ganymean planetary administration employed numerous scientists, both Jevlenese and Thurien, in connection with various aspects of its work, some of whom were based within PAC itself. The area that had been designated the “UNSA labs” was a segregated section approached through a single entrance, on a floor of offices, workshops, laboratories, and other workrooms in the lower part of the complex.
The general working area consisted of a large room with a wide lab bench taking up the center of the floor, smaller benches by two of the walls, and several desks with computer workstations. A graphics table took up part of the third wall, and alongside it was a generously equipped imaging and processing system. A short passage led to several smaller offices, and another door from the passage doubled back into a second laboratory situated alongside the main area. There was also a direct interconnecting door between the two. All in all the place was well fitted and furnished, with plenty of storage space and instrumentation.
“What do you think?” Garuth asked as the Terrans walked around like prospective buyers inspecting a house.
“It’s marvelous,” Hunt said. “How many of us did you expect? You could house half a Goddard department in this.”