“Andy,” she said softly, “this disaster of the Starlight is only the tip of the iceberg. The war is spreading out of the Belt. It’s coming here, whether we like it or not.”
“Good. Then we can cover it.”
She felt her jaw drop with surprise, her brows hike up.
“I’m not being cynical,” he quickly explained. “We can’t get news coverage from the Belt.”
“If it’s the expense, maybe I could—”
Shaking his head vigorously, Wajir said, “It’s not the money. The Belt’s controlled by the corporations. Astro and HSS have it sewn up between them.”
“There are independents.”
“Yeah, but the war’s between Astro and HSS and neither one of them wants news reporters snooping around. They won’t talk to us here and they won’t ferry us out to the Belt.”
“Then I’ll go,” Edith heard herself say.
Wajir looked genuinely shocked. “You?”
“I used to be a reporter, back in the Stone Age,” she said, smiling for the first time.
“They won’t take you, Edie.”
“I’ll fly out on an independent ship,” she said lightly. “I’ll go to Chrysalis and interview the rock rats there.”
He pursed his lips, rubbed at his nose, looked up at the ceiling. “The big boys won’t like it.”
“You mean the big corporations?”
Wajir nodded.
“I don’t really care whether they like it or not. I’ll go out on an independent ship. Maybe Sam Gunn will give me a ride on one of his vessels.”
“If he’s got any left,” Wajir muttered. “This war is bankrupting him.”
“Again? He’s always going bankrupt.”
“Seriously, Edie,” he said, “this could be dangerous.”
“Nobody’s going to hurt Douglas Stavenger’s wife. There are some advantages to being married to a powerful man.”
“Maybe,” Wajir admitted. “Maybe. But I don’t like this. I think you’re making a mistake.”
Damned if it isn’t the same guy who came to see me in my office, Pancho thought as she looked at the holographic image of the handsome Nairobi executive. She was in the office of the Astro base’s director, which he had lent her for the duration of her visit to the south polar facility. Leaning back in the creaking, stiffly unfamiliar chair, Pancho saw the man’s name spelled out beneath his smiling, pleased image: Daniel Jomo Tsavo.
“Ms. Lane,” he said, looking pleasantly surprised, “what an unexpected pleasure.”
He was just as good-looking as she remembered him, but now instead of wearing a conservative business suit he was in well-worn coveralls, with the edge of a palmcomp peeping out from his breast pocket. He gets his hands dirty, Pancho thought, liking him all the more for it.
“You’re the head of the Nairobi base?” Pancho asked him.
His smile turned brighter. “After my visit with you, my superiors assigned me to managing the construction of our facilities here.”
“I didn’t know,” said Pancho.
“I suppose they thought it was cheaper to keep me here than fly me back home,” he said, self-deprecatingly.
“So you’ve been down here at the south pole all this time.”
“Yes, that’s true. I had no idea you had come to the Mountains of Eternal Light,” Tsavo said.
“Came down to check out how my people are doing here,” she lied easily, “and thought maybe I could take a peek at how you’re getting along.”
“By all means! It would be an honor to have you visit our humble facility, Ms. Lane.”
She arched a brow at him. “Don’t you think you can call me Pancho by now?”
He chuckled and looked away from her, seemingly embarrassed. ‘Yes, I suppose so … Pancho.”
“Good! When can I come over, Daniel?”
For a moment he looked almost alarmed, but he quickly recovered. “Urn, our facilities are not very luxurious, Pancho. We weren’t expecting illustrious visitors for some time, you see, and—”
“Can it, Danny boy! I can sleep on nails, if I have to. When can I come over?”
“Give me a day to tidy up a bit. Twenty-four hours. I’ll send a hopper for you.”
“Great,” said Pancho, recognizing that twenty-four hours would give him time to check with whoever his bosses were and decide how to handle this unexpected visit.
“By the way,” she added, “are you folks still interested in a strategic partnership with Astro Corporation?”