“Yes. I say so.” I repeated firmly. “It’s important to me, Nunzio, and I can’t think of anyone I’d trust more to check things out for me.”
“Okay, Boss,” he said, thawing a little. “I’ll get right on it.”
I wanted to give him a bit more encouragement, but just then we arrived at the door to my quarters.
“I’ll wait out here, Boss, and make sure nobody else comes in for a while,” Nunzio said with a faint smile as he stepped back.
This surprised me a little, as the crew usually followed me into my room without missing a step or a syllable of conversation. Then I noticed that the others of our group had also halted short of the door and were watching me with a smile.
I couldn’t figure what was going on. I mean, so Bunny was waiting inside. So what? It was just Bunny.
Nevertheless I took my cue, nodding at them vaguely as I opened the door.
“SKEEVE!!”
I barely turned around from shutting the door when Bunny charged across the room, slamming into me with a huge hug that took my breath away . . . literally.
“I was so worried about you!” she said, her voice muffled by my chest.
“Ahh . . . ack!”
That last comment was mine. Actually, it wasn’t so much a comment as a noise I made while trying to force some air into my lungs. This proved easier said than done . . . and it wasn’t all that easy to say!
“Why didn’t you come by the office on your way back from Perv?” Bunny demanded, squeezing even harder and shaking me slightly. “I was going out of my mind, thinking about you all alone in that terrible dimension …”