“Oh? That’s funny.”
“Funny?” the captain snapped.
“I mean odd.”
“I quite agree. Do not enter the computer area again.”
Hector shrugged. “Okay. You’re the captain.”
The young Star Watchman turned and walked away, leaving the captain seething with frustration He had not saluted; he had not waited until dismissed by the superior officer; he just slouched off like … like a civilian! And now he was whistling! Aboard ship! The captain sank back into his chair. That computer programer was only the first casualty, he suddenly realized. Romis had better act quickly. It is only a matter of time before this Watchman drives us all insane.
The bridge. Hector found, connected to a series of technical stations, such as the navigation section (idle now that the ship was parked in orbit), the communications center (well guarded) and—most interesting of ail— the observation center.
Here Hector found a fair-sized compartment crammed with viewscreens showing almost every section of the ship’s interior, and also looking outside in various directions around the ship. Since they were orbiting Kerak’s capital planet, most of the exterior views were turned on the ground below.
Hector soon struck up an acquaintance with the men on duty. Despite the Star Watch emblem on his coveralls, they seemed to accept him as a fellow-sufferer in the military system, rather than a potential enemy.
‘That’s the capital city,” one of them pointed out.
Hector nodded, impressed. “Is that where they have the dueling machine?”
“You mean the one at the Ministry of Intelligence? That’s over on the other side of the planet. I’ll show it to you when we swing over that way.”