Automatically she memorized the turnings as he prodded her left or right, or straight ahead, and down the stairs. She wished she’d had a chance to see a layout of the SpaceBase complex. It was ingrained in her that she should never waste the opportunity to dekko a place, even if she might never need the info. Then she felt a series of concussive shocks through her paper-slippered feet, and she winced. That wasn’t from any hard landings-unless someone was being awfully careless with shuttle vehicles.
Her escort grabbed her arm, pulling her back a pace and jamming her right up against a door. The thumb indicated she was to enter. She pondered briefly about knocking, but when the thumb jerked threateningly again, she shrugged and opened the door.
A man of medium age, medium build, and medium coloring, with the unmedium insignia of a bird colonel on his collar, sat at a small desk, studying the small screen. To her surprise, he looked up the moment she entered, waved the marine out of the room, and beckoned for her to be seated on the only other piece of furniture in the nondescript office. He also turned off the screen.
“Major Maddock, I’m Colonel Foyumi Khan, that’s K-H-A-N,” he said with a trace of a smile.
“Psych?”
He nodded. “Routine reassignment testing,” he said in a manner designed to reassure-but somehow she wasn’t. “You appear to be in excellent physical shape considering your condition just six weeks ago. This planet seems to suit you.”
“It would be more accurate to state that I suit it.” –
His eyes widened just slightly. “Oh?” he asked encouragingly. “How do you construe that?”
“My improved health, of course,” Yana said, trying for innocence. This shrink was altogether too smooth. She was almost flattered that Intergal had assigned her an interrogator of his quality. “Great place for R and R.”
Through her feet she felt another of those distinct tremors. Khan noticed it, too, and he frowned slightly, glancing down, then back up at her. She returned his regard quizzically, though she had already decided that the quakes were not being caused by someone crashing a shuttle onto the landing field. Somewhere blasting was going on, and Petaybee was wincing away from Intergal’s latest assault on its mineral wealth. Damn Torkel! He hadn’t heard a word she had said.
“And you feel that this … ah … planet is totally responsible for your improved physical condition?”
“Well, breathing fresh air that hasn’t been recycled for who knows how long with what additives from however many stations it’s been serviced in is a good start when you’ve burned lungs. Then there’s regular hours, clean living, a natural diet free from technological additives, winter sports, and stress-free companionship. Those’re surefire prescriptions for renewed vitality.”
“I see. And this stress-free companionship? It means a lot to you?”
Yana shrugged. “I’m a company employee. I go where I’m told, do what I’m told, and when it’s pleasant duty with nice folk, I’m grateful.”
“Grateful enough to sell out the company to retain the nice folk?”
She chuckled then, noting the evenness of his return gaze, the blandness of his face. Behind those sat a very smart man.
“Why should I sell out a company which has provided me with what I need? Especially when I’m trying to convince the company that they’re about to throw the baby out and recycle the dirty bathwater.”
“The bathwater?”
“Colonel, I was sent out to see what I could learn. I learned something that Captain Fiske finds unacceptable. He’s evidently quite ready to take the word of the man he originally intended I would replace and a short-witted snocle driver with a beef against me. All because he’s run smack dab into something he can’t understand.”
“And you understand it?”
“No, not at all. But I do concede that it’s happened, along with my”- She chuckled. -“inexplicable return to health.”
“So you’re grateful to the planet for this?”
She could see him grappling with that notion and nodded. “The planet is more than Fiske is willing to accept.”
“But you do?”
“I do. And, if he’ll only credit an old shipmate with the sense to tighten bolts when she sees ‘em loose, he’d do himself, the company, and me a stupendous favor.”