They steadfastly maintained that most of the captains-particularly the newer ones-were not voicing their true feelings in the discussions, but rather attempting to curry favor with Tambu by saying what they thought he wanted to hear. While Tambu argued firmly that this was not the case, he had to admit to himself that he had no way of knowing for sure-and hearing Cowboy contradict himself made him wonder anew if he was deluding himself as to the sincerity of the captains’ statements.
An insistent chiming interrupted his thoughts, and he looked to his console. The priority call light flashed red, drawing a frown to his face.
There was supposed to be a ban on personal conferences for the duration of the meetings, sparing him the annoyance of captains “stumping” for support of their proposals. For a moment he considered ignoring the call, then he noticed it was coming from the Raven. Was there trouble among the captains? A duel?
With a sigh, he activated the viewscreen once more. To his surprise, however, it was Egor’s face, not Whitey’s that appeared on the display.
“What’s wrong, Egor?” Tambu asked, instantly regretting having spoken. If he had kept quiet, Egor never would have known that his call was answered.
“Nothing’s wrong,” Egor answered hastily. “Whitey let me use her gear to call you is all.”
“There are to be no personal conferences until the meetings are over,” Tambu growled. “If there is no emergency, then-“
“It’s not an emergency, but it’s important,” Egor interrupted. “I thought you’d want to talk it over with me first, but if you’re too busy, we’ll do it from the floor during the meeting.”