“Rembrandt … Armstrong!”
“Sir!”
“Here, sir!”
The two lieutenants materialized at his side.
“Form the company up, over there, while I take care of this. If it runs more than a couple minutes, move them out to the hotel. Get them away from these cameras.”
Turning back to the reporter as the junior officers started off, he forced a smile.
“I suppose I could spare a few minutes,” he said.
“Great!” the reporter beamed. “Hey, guys! Over here! Start shooting. Now!”
He leaned into the microphone, showing an impressive number of teeth.
“We’re here today with Willard Phule, or, as he’s known in the secretive Space Legion, Captain Jester. He and his famous elite force of Legionnaires have just arrived on Lorelei. Tell me, Captain, are you and your force here for business or pleasure?”
Of course, I have no way of telling how the interview upon our arrival was received by the viewers, as it went out on stellarwide broadcast and, as I’ve mentioned before, I am not omnipresent.
From subsequent events, however, I feel I am able to project with some accuracy how it was viewed in at least two locations: back on Haskin’s Planet and here on Lorelei.
“Hey, Jennie! Come here a sec! I think you’ll want to see this!” Annoyed at the interruption, Jennie Higgens glanced up from the notes she was reviewing for that night’s broadcast.
“What is it? I’m kinda busy here.”
“Your boyfriend’s being interviewed on interstellar, and Jake the Jerk’s got him.”
“Really?”
Jennie decided the notes could wait a little longer and joined the small cluster of newsroom staff crowding around the monitor bank. Due to the multiscreen nature of their business, they had the monitors set to display the broadcasts on flat screens to avoid the chaos of multiple projections.