“Consider it done.” Phule smiled, more confident now that Tiffany hadn’t been merely putting on an act for his benefit. “I’ll be sure he confers with you on what the final result should be, and you can make any adjustments you want.”
“Thanks, Captain,” she said. “I suppose it sounds silly, but-“
“Excuse me, Captain?”
They looked around to find Doc’s son standing in the doorway to the room.
Tiffany waved. “Hiya, kid! Welcome to the horror show.”
“Hello, Tiffany.”
“Hi, Junior,” Phule said. “Your father’s right down the hall. He was awake a little while ago when I talked to him.”
“I know, Captain,” the youth said. “I’ve already been to see him, thanks: You’re the one I was looking for.”
“Oh?” The commander glanced quickly at Tiffany. “I was just finishing here, if you’d like to step into the hall.”
“No, here is fine. In fact, I want Tiffany to hear this, too.”
“Okay. What’s on your mind?”
“Well … the others asked me to talk with you, since I was coming over anyway to visit Dad.” The youth seemed suddenly uneasy. “What it is, is … well, we all appreciate what you told us, about paying off our contracts and sending us back to Jewell, but-“
“What? Wait a minute!” Tiffany broke in. “You didn’t tell me anything about this, Captain.”
“It didn’t concern you,” the commander said tersely. “Not for a while, anyway. You were saying, Junior?”
“Well, sir,” the youth continued, squaring his shoulders, “we’d like you to reconsider your decision. We want to stay on until this thing is finished. As far as we’re concerned, nothing has changed from the original agreement.”