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When Parnell got up next morning, Zelde Woke, too-a little short of sleep but
not missing it. First she lay there, relaxing; then she heard the shower
start, and got up and joined him there. He shook water out of his eyes, off
his face, and grinned at her.
Standing close beside him, under the spray, she said, "Feeling good this
morning, are you, Ragir?"
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He handed her the soap; she began lathering. He said, "Yes. For a change, I
am. The pressure-the
\iBonaparte\i landing-for once it's building me up instead of wearing me down.
I don't know why."
For a moment the spray hit her face and she couldn't talk. Then, away from it,
she said, "Maybe you turned the corner."
"Maybe." He kissed her. He tasted soapy, and from the face he made as they
moved apart, so did she.
Then he moved the control-water came cold and hard-she pushed her head into
the main force of it to rinse her scalp well. Almost too soon, he cut the flow
entirely.
She looked at him. He said, "Aren't you done?"
She felt her hair. "Yeah, I guess." Then they toweled dry, dressed and went to
the galley. \iRight now, it's business.\i
They joined Lera Tzane at breakfast. Waiting for his meal, Parnell said, "As
soon as possible, after the
\iBonaparte\i lands, I'm visiting there. As my senior available officer, 146
Lera, you'll come along. Captain Haiglund's very strong on protocol. So be
ready."
She turned her head sharply, to look at him. Her hair, worn loose today, fell
forward across one cheek;
she pushed it back. "No!" When he didn't speak, she said, "I don't want to see
Peralta any more than I
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have to. Not at all, if possible."
Parnell reached to touch her hand. "Easy, Lera. What-"
She interrupted. "I have the watch, anyway. So technically I'm \inot\i
available. Parnell-" She turned her hand palm up, to grasp his. "I could never
hide anything from that man. What if I still can't?"
Ahead of Parnell, Zelde said, "He had a handle on you-that it? None of my
business, what kind. But-"
To Parnell, now: "If she feels like that, maybe she's right, and shouldn't
go."
"Maybe. But I think, Lera, under the circumstances it might be \imy\i
business. What sort of hold
Jimar had on you, I mean."
Tzane squeezed his hand, then let go. "It's nothing much, in the telling. He's
always been quite a man for women, you know. On that trip he was living with a
Chief rating, Hilaire Gowdy-but that didn't keep him away from others. Well-I
was one of them, and totally infatuated. When he ignored me for someone else,
I pretended not to notice-several of us learned how to do that, I'm afraid.
And eventually he dropped me."
Her hand clenched. "But still-any time he noticed me at all, I'd tell him
anything he asked. Just on the chance, you see, that it might help me with
him." She shrugged. "It never did, of course. And at trip's end I had the good
sense to request transfer offship-and the luck to get it."
Zelde frowned. "And you think you still might-Lera, how long ago was all
this?"
"Planets' time? I have no idea. About eight years bio, for me. For Jimar,
probably less-I had two years groundside between my second ship and this one,
and I think he's been on continuous space duty except for normal stopovers.
But-"
Parnell cut in. "You were right, Zelde. If Lera feels uncertain, she shouldn't
go. So you get ready, instead."
"Me?" She thought about it. Well, why not? "Any reason to dude up special?"
\r147
\r"What? Oh, no-don't bother with a cover disguise. There's no point in
complicating things any further."
Near mid-morning the \iBonaparte\i landed. On screen Zelde saw the great
hulk-balancing, it looked,
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came down. "That's ionization," said Par-nell, "off the drive nodes." The blue
glare reached ground, and dust erupted to hide the final touching. A dull
thump came; the \iGreat
Khan\i shook a little. Then the dust thinned and blew away; the other ship sat
quietly, close to midway between the \iKhan\i and the port's Admin building.
Leaning over the comm-panel, Parnell searched ship-ground frequencies and
found the \iBonaparte\i talking with the commandant's office. Listening, he
nodded. "All very formal, very official-that's
Haiglund, all right." When the exchange was done, he hit his own "Send"
switch. "The \iGreat Khan\i calling the \iBonaparte.\i Captain Parnell
requests Captain Haiglund's permission to come aboard and pay respects." He
repeated the message once, then waited.
After a moment, a voice came. "Acknowledged, Captain. Please hold?"
"Right."
About two minutes-then another voice, deeper. "Captain Haiglund here. Request
granted, Captain
Parnell. Will you and your ranking officer do me the honor of joining us for
lunch? We sit at noon sharp, but report a half hour early, if you will."
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"Surely, sir. We'll be honored."
"Confirmed, then. Haiglund out."
Cutting the circuit, Parnell grinned like a wolf. "Good. That bottles Peralta
up, for now. Zelde, we have nearly an hour to spare. Anything particular that
you need to do before we go?"
"What kind of clothes, Ragir?"
"The outfit Turk tailored for you-it's the nearest you've got, to a dress
uniform-is it in shape to wear?"
"Sure. But it's not really official-won't this book-soldier Haiglund get his
tail in a knot?"
"You're a shipboard promotion, remember? And you could hardly wear poor old
Terihew's leavings;
you're a head the taller and only about half as wide!"
"All right; I'll wear it."
"Fine. Now-anything else on your schedule?"
148
She caught the look in his eye, and hated to disappoint him. "But-1 ought to
look through my fake record again-be sure I have it all down pat. Don't you
think?"
For an instant his half-grin and raised eyebrow gave him a lopsided look.
Then: "Afraid you're right.
Well-it's just that I hate to waste feeling so good."
"Then \istay\i feeling good. We won't be there all day."
Walking with Parnell across the port, Zelde knew she looked fine. She'd filled
out some, since Earth-
not to match her height, maybe, but enough to show off Turk's job of
tailoring. She had a haircut only a few days old, and a little spray on it so
that under lights it shone. She was used to the one lone earring now; the
mirror told her she held her head straight without having to think about it.
She'd brought a clipboard, for taking notes if she needed to. Her free hand
clasped Parnell's, swinging back and forth in rhythm as they walked. Today he [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]