“Oh?”
“Gill used to send me holos of you, before we lost touch. Even the Brain, here”-he jerked his head toward Calum-“occasionally mentioned you. When he bothered to write, that is!”
“You can’t be …”
“Johnny Greene, very much at your service, ma’am.”
Acorna took a deep breath of relief. “Of course! Gill has a holo of you in his office, but…”
The man in the holo looked much younger, his head thrown back in carefree laughter. This man’s features were the same, but now they were drawn in the lines of strain and watchfulness that seemed to mark everybody who had survived Nueva Fallona’s coup on the Haven.
“You could have told me,” she scolded Calum.
“Didn’t have time,” Calum defended himself. “Look, I didn’t know he was going to show up here.”
Markel looked about anxiously. “Where’d you stash Dr. Hoa?”
Acorna reached over and gently raised a corner of the cover to show the exhausted doctor sleeping, the tiniest of smiles in the corners of his mouth.
“Is that a relief!” Johnny exclaimed, when he saw the scientist. “I don’t know how you did it, Markel…”
“Very carefully,” the boy said, sitting with his arms resting casually on his knees, totally relaxed and very, very pleased with himself. “I got them out through the air vents. They fit diagonally through the openings once I took the grates out. Only this one”-he jerked his chin toward Calum—“needed a little encouragement.” He frowned as he took a closer look at Calum. “Say, how’d you stop the bleeding? I could’ve sworn you lost some skin back there!”
“Oh, it was A- ” Calum began, then stopped as Acorna gave him a warning shake of the head. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Markel, but he was being asked to assimilate a lot at one time. And if something went wrong … she refused even to consider that. There would be time enough to explain her unique healing capabilities when they got out of here-and they would! “~a fuss about nothing, as it turned out,” Calum substituted for what he’d been going to say. “I sure thought I was going to get scraped raw on the way out, though!”
“Markel,” Acorna said urgently, “can you get messages out as well as eavesdrop on their communications? We ought to alert the Shenjemi Federation about what’s happening to Rushima-and send to Maganos for help, too.”
“Might could,” Markel allowed. “Have to tap the main power lines to boost a message, though, and they just might notice the surge. Lemme check on who’s on shift now… .” He tapped his earphone back in place and listened for a moment. His eyes lit up like those of a much younger child planning some mischief.
“Ooooh, is Nueva furious!” he said. “She’s giving all of them what-for and threatening to space the next incompetent who manages to lose a prisoner. ‘They’”-Market thumbed his chest bone-“have got to be found. Oho!” And he sat bolt upright a moment, then relaxed again. But the sparkle was gone from his eyes. “Sengrat’s just pointed out that I was never accounted for in the original coup … and Ximena reminded him that I used to know ways about the ship in the tubes and stuff.” The way he emphasized her name warned Acorna that Ximena was, or had been, someone special to Markel. “They really are on Nueva’s side; they’re not just going along to save their own skins,” he said. “Even Ximena … I used to like her. I don’t understand people like that.”
“Neither do I,” Acorna told him.
“You’re a couple of charming innocents,” Johnny told them, ‘but I for one would like to know what they plan to do with this information and how Markel thinks he’s going to stall them-because I know what that look in your eyes means, kid,” he said, ruffling the top ofMarkel’s head.
“Nueva was just going to send someone through that bis tube, which would have been a fine game of hide-and-seek in this maze. We could’ve run the searchers ragged,” Markel reported. “Then Sengrat suggested they should use gas. He’s still underestimating me.” Even as he spoke, he was rooting through yet another hiding place and came out with one hand clasping breathing masks and the other emergency oxygen bottles.