“And we could work together again. I need a strong superior officer to keep me on the right track, you know,” he said, reaching over and squeezing her knee.
“Hoo boy, you were serious about that whip-hand business, weren’t you?”
He was negotiator enough to know when to drop the subject and give her time to think about it, which she did as they slid into SpaceBase, the lights from the landing and departing shuttles spreading multicolored pools across the snow for the miles surrounding the base.
While a holiday air had prevailed at Kilcoole, it was definitely business even-more-than-usual at SpaceBase, where parka-clad soldiers scurried from the landing pads to a row of prefab warehouses that had not been there on Yana’s previous visit. In fact, other troops were still assembling three more of the structures, while heavy machinery moved crates into the existing buildings.
“What’s all this?” Yana asked. “Looks like an invasion.”
“Watch your mouth,” Torkel said, “if you want to be a positive influence for change. This is the expeditionary force I told you about. We’re using SpaceBase as a supply depot for this continent. My father will be coming down later to supervise the more technical aspects of the operation but basically, from here, we’ll launch probes and set up base camps close to the points we’ve identified from space as having the greatest potential for the resources we’re seeking.”
“Is this going on planetwide?”
“Not at the moment. Look, love, I can’t say any more unless you choose to renew your active-duty status and your security clearance, okay? So think about it. And, by the way, come in for a physical so I can shove your status-change papers through in a hurry. You look pretty good for someone with banjaxed lungs and a medical discharge.”
“It’s all this clean air and country living,” she said breezily.
“Great,” he said, with a touch of grimness. “But don’t be surprised if there are more traffic jams than usual around quaint and charming Kilcoole in the near future.”
He plowed into an infirmary parking place willy-nilly and was out of the snocle and around to open the door for her before she could undo her seat belt. Bunny’s snocle was already there, and she and Diego looked to be engrossed in urgent dialogue inside the vehicle.
“Can I meet Margolies without a security clearance?” Yana asked sweetly. “Just so 1 can reassure the populace as to Diego’s family situation?”
“Of course,” Torkel said. “I imagine he’ll be in visiting Metaxos.”
Bunny and Diego emerged, looking expectantly in their direction.
“We might as well form a welcoming committee,” Torkel said with an overly hearty grin at the kids. “Come on.”
Diego spotted Steve Margolies the moment they walked into the infirmary. He sprinted the length of the hall to embrace the older man, heedless of the presence of the medics, Torkel, Bunny, Yana, and even that of his father, lying on a hospital bed open-eyed and propped into an upright position with pillows. The room had only three other patients, and the ward on the opposite end of the corridor showed an unbroken line of empty beds.
Margolies, balding, bearded, and not quite portly, looked as glad to see Diego as the boy did him. “I came as quickly as I could, Diego,” he said.
“I knew you would, Steve. I knew it.”
Torkel stuck out his hand. “Torkel Fiske, Dr. Margolies. I had you sent for as soon as I learned of you from young Diego and this lady. This is Major Yanaba Maddock, currently retired and, uh-”
“Hi, I’m Bunny,” Bunny said, also soliciting a handshake. “I hope you and Diego and his dad can come and live with us in the village.”
“That’s very kind of you,” Margolies said, startled but amiable. “But right now I think Francisco needs the care he can get here.”
“Have you found quarters yet?” Torkel asked.
“No. I came straight here after inprocessing.”
“Well, then, look, Colonel Giancarlo and I are going to have to have a more extensive conversation with you later but I think right now the thing for me to do is to go make sure you are lodged at least in the same building with Diego. Yana, Bunny, I think we should leave this family alone, don’t you?”