“Oh, yes … I forgot about her … I mean, him.”
Leoh put the call through. Geri Dulaq’s face appeared on the screen, impassive.
“How is he?” Hector blurted,
“It was too much for him,” she said bleakly. “He is dead. The doctors have tried to revive him, but….”
“No.” Leoh groaned.
“I’m … sony,” Hector said. “I’ll be right down there. Stay where you are.”
The Star Watchman dashed out of the office as Geri broke the phone connection. Leoh stared at the blank screen for a few minutes, then leaned far back in the couch and closed his eyes. He was suddenly exhausted, physically and emotionally. He fell asleep, and dreamed of men dead and dying. Sometimes it was Odal killing them, and sometimes it was Leoh himself.
Hector’s nerve-shattering whistling woke him up. It was deep night outside.
“What are you so happy about?” Leoh groused as Hector popped into the office.
“Happy? Me?”
“You were whistling ”
Hector shrugged. “I always whistle, sir. Doesn’t mean I’m happy.”
“All right.” Leoh rubbed his eyes”How did the girl take her father’s death?”
“Pretty hard. She cried a lot. It … well, it shook us both up.”
Leoh looked at the younger man. “Does she blame … me?”
“You? Why, no, sir. Why should she? Odal, Kanus .. . the Kerak Worlds. But not you.”
The Professor sighed, relieved. “Very well. Now then, |* we have much work to do, and iittle time to do it in.”
“What do you want me to do?” Hector asked.
“Phone the Star Watch Commander….”
“My commanding officer, all the way back at Perseus Alpha VI? That’s a hundred light-years from here.”