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Annie took the initiative when they came in. "When do we get to go home,
Sturgis?"
He smiled enigmatically. "I've been thinking about what you said."
"Or are you going to put us on bread and water to save food for your troops?"
"And about your attitude."
"What attitude is that?" Philippe said.
"Especially your attitude, Ms. Pohaku." He turned an icy gaze on her. "Rather
... what shall we say, disloyal? I think you have the idea that this discovery
belongs to the whole world." He chuckled unconvincingly. "Not to the people
who made it."
"So...?" Annie challenged.
"You're wrong, you know." He looked from Annie to Carter without changing his
expression. "Your government is very interested in this apparatus. That's what
you should remember."
"During the long cold nights in our cells?" Annie returned his icy smile.
Sturgis took no notice. "I say 'your government' advisedly. Remember, it was
the American and Russian people who paid to set all this up. That should
interest you, Carter. American mostly. Taxpayers. We have a right to get a
return on the investment."
"You mean, you have the right?You and your friends? A right to controltruth,
dribble it out to the masses as you see fit...."
"You're becoming tiresome, Ms. Pohaku. I'm not a chief. I just try to be a
good Indian."
"But, of course, that isn't why you called us here," Carter egged him on.
"In my role of a good Indian, I have been monitoring communications from the
outside. I have to say, you were right. I'm beginning to get queries from your
various people about your whereabouts. Not you,
Mr. Brach; from the dossier we've got on you, I'd say you're an oddball lone
cuss, anyway. Nobody seems to care if you're down here at the pole or out in
the field for afew weeks. By the way, that
Stonehenge thing you did craziest bunch of shit I ever heard of. I just
wanted to tell you."
Philippe said nothing, but watched Sturgis expressionlessly.
"Course, you artists are used to hearing that all the time," Sturgis
continued. "Right? I understand that the more the public complains, the
happier you are. I just wanted to cheer you up." He was smiling cheerily
again, but it was the face of a true believer. He looked pleased with himself.
"As for you two" he turned to Annie and Carter "you're a different story.
We've been into your e-mail files. A few messages accumulating, but nothing
significant. Still, we can't have you just dropping out of sight with no
explanation. But these earthquakes give us a perfect card to play, and we're
going to play it. We'll explain to them. Ms. Pohaku naturally wants to stay
here and cover the unfolding seismic story. And Mr. Jahns is concerned about
structural integrity of the station. We're already responding to your request
for an assessment of the buildings. The pressure seals are now being studied,
one at a time, and Elena will give you a more specific report later today.
"On top of all that, we're going to say we've rigged up a field trip to the
pole to improve the seismic detectors, and you guys elected to go along. Two
weeks. Ms. Annie Pohaku will be getting her story and
Carter Jahns will be getting emergency information about the seismic risks
down here." He chuckled again. "There's enough gossip about you two already,
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according to our people in Mars City. When you say you're going off into the
field together, everybody will wink and shut up for a while.
"Course, I don't really care what you do. You can really go out in the field
if you want, long as people back in Mars City think you're doing your, um,
duty.
Comprende?
I've got a cover letter from Elena, authorizing your presence on the field
trip.
"What I want from each of you, now, is some sort of personal message we can
send from you back to your people, telling them to be cool. 'Stafford not
here. Unable to confirm story about hopper from Polar
Base, but am following leads. Have signed onto polar field trip to get more
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