“It really is you. I can’t tell you how I felt when I heard about
Bremport, and then heard that you were there that day. I wanted to execute the terrorists personally.”
“I know the feeling,” she said dryly.
“You’re looking wonderful. Better, really, than the last time I saw you.”
“Really? It’s amazing what a little toxic gas can do for a girl’s complexion. I did lose quite a lot of weight and I haven’t gained much back, trying to-” She started to say, “trying to figure out how not to burn my food,” but he was already interrupting, leaning forward and looking deeply into her eyes.
“No, it’s not that. You’re more relaxed-less locked up inside yourself. I guess it must have been that we met each other so soon after your husband’s death …”
“Or so soon after your divorce,” she reminded him. He had been going through the female crew members at an astonishing rate by the time she had left for another unit. He had never come on to her before, though, but always treated her as a senior officer, with respect and what friendliness she had been able to allow. Still, if he thought she was less locked-up now, she had either become much better at hiding her feelings or she must have been more of a mess than she realized back then. “What brings you here, Tor-kel?” she asked, to get the conversation back on firmer ground.
“Oh, I’m sort of troubleshooting,” he said. “Nobody’s sure exactly what’s going on. Minerals we can spot from space but can’t locate on the surface, teams disappearing, unauthorized life-forms cropping up. The company asked me to evaluate the situation. I thought maybe you might be on the same mission, and we’d be working together again?”
“Well, I am in a way, but more covertly,” she said. “I’m living in the village.”
“Among the locals? That’s pretty rough. How badly were you injured at Bremport?”
“I got a discharge, but I’m recovering,” she said, and realized that it was the truth. The pains in her chest no longer plagued her and the cough was much less frequent, thanks to Clodagh’s syrup. “Anyway, Torkel, I’m glad I ran into you. Giancarlo is a little unreasonable.”
“I’ve noticed he was pretty heavy-handed dealing with that native woman.”
“How’s she doing, by the way?”
“She and the others are probably going to be sent offworld to be interrogated further. Nothing anybody says really adds up, Yana. Fifty teams have been sent down here in the past ten years, and this is only the second time that we’ve had any survivors at all.”
“How is the boy?” Yana asked quickly.
“He’s scared. Alone on a hostile world …”
“Torkel, I think Giancarlo’s been filling you full of shit about the natives here. They’re nice people, and they know a few things the company could learn to its benefit.”
“Sure they do. That’s what this is all about,” he said with a wry lift of one side of his mouth. “And I’m not surprised to hear you have a high opinion of them. I’m sure you bring out the best in them. Even the ips know a good thing when they see it.” He held her hand in both of his and kissed it, which both pleased and slightly alarmed her. If Intergal had a Prince Charming equivalent, it was Torkel Fiske, but she had never expected him to come after her, even in passing.
She patted his hands with her spare one, pressing her advantage. “No, they’re very caring people. They’re not only worried about Petaybeans who are being held, they’re also very concerned about the boy. His father, too, of course. Has anyone gotten ahold of his father’s partner?”
“Partner?”
“Yes, it’s on the computer. A Steven Margolies, Metaxos’s assistant.”
“Yana, you’re brilliant as ever. I didn’t know anything about this. I’ll have the man sent for at once. Metaxos is no good in the condition he’s in now. The boy, now, he might help us if we keep him on-site and with Margolies, a man intimately familiar with Metaxos’s work. That’s a good rationale for relocating the whole family unit to Petaybee.”