Colman’s face creased into a frown. “Take the ship out with what?”
“I don’t know,” Jay said. “It’s a lot to go into now, but we’re certain they’ve got the capability. It’s really that urgent, Steve. When can you get over?”
“Oh, Christ Wearily, Colman brought a hand up to his brow. “Okay. Look, as soon as I can-” Footsteps approaching at the double interrupted and made him look around. It was Sergeant Armley, from the Orderly Room.
Armley stopped in front of Colman and beckoned Hanlon over. “Sirocco wants you both back right away,” he said breathlessly. “I’ll take over at the gate. There’s trouble
at the shuttle base. Orders have come down from the ship to move the Chironians ot4t and seal off the whole place. Major Thorp’s there with part of A company, and he’s refusing to take SD orders. We’ve been ordered to send two platoons. Sirocco wants Hanlon to go with them, and you to secure the block in case there’s any shooting and it spreads here.”
Colman groaned to himself. Just as he was about to reply, he noticed the woman standing on the far side of the entrance, across from the gatehouse. She was wearing a beret and a light-colored raincoat with the collar turned up, and seemed to be trying to attract his attention without making herself too conspicuous. “Oh, Jesus-” He looked at the two. “Look, I need a few minutes. Jay, stay right there.” He walked across to the woman and was almost face to face with her before he recognized Veronica, for once looking neither impish nor mischievous.
“I’ve just come down from the ship, Steve.” She drew him close to the gatepost.
“Aren’t the boarding gates being checked?” Colman murmured, surprised.
“Of course they are. It’s all a mess up there.”
“Then how-”
“I know Crayford and his wife. One of the crew got me through. That can wait. It’s about Celia.”
It wasn’t a moment to be keeping up pretenses. Colman’s frown deepened. “What about her? Is she okay?”
Veronica nodded her head quickly a couple of times. “She’s not hurt or anything like that, but she’s in a lot, of trouble. She’s gotten herself mixed up with Sterm, and she can’t make a move without being watched. She could be in real danger, Steve. She has to get away from there.”
Colman nodded but tossed up his hands. “Okay, but how can she?’
“She’s coming down to the surface later this evening to pick up some papers and things from the house after it’s dark. But she’ll be under escort. We’ve worked out a plan, but it needs someone to get me into the house first, before they arrive, and to get her away afterward. Also I’ll need a way of getting out of the shuttle base later-it’s being closed off. You’re the only person she’ll trust. Can you get away inside the next hour, say?”
Colman looked away in a daze. Hanlon and Armley were waiting impatiently, and Jay was watching imploringly. He thought furiously. Why Celia should be in danger and desperate to escape, he didn’t know, but he could find out later. If he said he had to get away for a few hours. Sirocco would cover for him, so that was okay. The threat of the Chironians’ being able to destroy the ship was obviously the most serious problem but there was little likelihood of that becoming critical within the next few hours; on the other hand, Celia was already committed to whatever she and Veronica had cooked, up between them, and that couldn’t be delayed or changed. So Celia would have to come first. Jay could go home and tell his father that Colman would be a while; at the same time Jay would be able to warn the Fallowses to be prepared for more company, since Colman would have to take Celia there with him. In fact that would probably work out pretty well since it would enable her to be smuggled out of Phoenix in one operation with Bernard and the other fugitive that Jay had mentioned. Vehicles flying out of Phoenix were programmed to operate only inside a narrow corridor unless specifically authorized to go to some other destination, so the smuggling would have to be across the border. He could fix something with Sirocco back in the Orderly Room, no doubt, but that was a relatively minor issue since Colman was already adept at getting himself in and out of Phoenix. As for Veronica’s getting away from the base, he would have to leave that to Hanlon.