Braddock, looking nauseated again now that the effect of the pill had worn off, had exited the copter. With an effort, he tried to assume some of his usual assistance duties, his expression carefully neutral. “Do you suggest that we use this place as a base headquarters?”
The pilot scratched his head, pushing his cap forward over his forehead. “Well, this place is as good as any on this continent. It ranks as a depot, not that it has all the amenities SpaceBase offered. Mostly it’s a drop point to collect recruits and to return soldiers from these parts who are demobbing. I haven’t done a lot of flying around here except to Bogota, to tell you the truth, and Sierra Padre. The warm rivers make the ground swampy in the summer and create powerful turbulence the rest of the year, and you don’t go far before you get into the mountains. Sierra Padre is a little bigger, a little more comfortable, and the place a lot of southern folks call home. Of course, you understand, lots of people aren’t settled real permanent but move from hunting camps to fish camps and back again, according to the season.”
“Thank you, Captain Greene,” Matthew said. ”In that case, we have no time to lose in reaching Sierra Padre before we run out of daylight. Let us climb back aboard and continue on.”
Braddock did not quite stifle a groan, and Matthew gave him a reproving glare. Really, he had thought his chief assistant was made of sterner stuff.
“Well, sir, I got to tell you,” Johnny Greene said. “This is going to get me in trouble back at headquarters. I’ve got another mission to fly soon’s I get back.”
“May I remind you that I am your mission right now Captain, and my business has the highest possible priority.”
“Yes, sir, so let’s get going right now and I’ll tuck you in at Sierra Padre before I take off again.”
“I was expecting you to stay and act as our transport during this vital research mission, sir.”
“My orders were just to fly you here, sir, and return north for my next mission. Tell you what, though. It shouldn’t take very long. Why don’t you gents settle in at Sierra Padre, get the lay of the land in the snocle, talk to a few folks, and I’ll be back in a few days to collect you?”
“I’d prefer you to be more specific than that, Captain.”
“Yeah, me too, sir. But everything’s pretty unsettled right now. You’ve got a portable comm unit with you, haven’t you?”
“Braddock does. Naturally.”
“Then if you don’t see me by the time you’re ready to go on to one of the other villages, you just ring up to the station and they’ll give me a holler or dispatch someone else.”
“In case of emergency, I will go to that extreme inconvenience, Captain Greene. However, it is your responsibility and your sole responsibility to see that I have transport to my next destination within three days. If I am at all discommoded by your absence, you will find yourself busted back to flying paper aircraft. Do I make myself clear?”
“Oh, yes, sir, I know how foolish it would be to get crossways of an important man like yourself, sir,” Greene said with not quite enough humility to suit Matthew.
Braddock suddenly came to life. “Wait a moment. Greene? What is your first name?”
“Why. it’s Johnny, dear heart. What’s yours?” Greene replied, batting his eyelashes in a way that was mocking and impertinent in the extreme.
“Sir, Braddock said, turning to Matthew. “Wasn’t there a Captain John Greene piloting the copter carrying Dr. Fiske when he crashed in the volcanic blast area?”
Matthew was relieved. His judgment in bringing Braddock was vindicated. The boy might whine and puke, but his mind was unaffected by his physical discomforts. Matthew himself should have referenced the name but had been too preoccupied in gathering new data.
Before he could formulate the questions he wanted to ask, the captain went on.
“Yes, sir, that’s me, and to tell you the truth, Dr. Fiske sort of loaned me to you as a courtesy. Normally I’m attached to his exclusive service.”