Part 23 (2/2)

He risked a glance over his shoulder to try to gauge her expression. He might as well have saved himself the effort; her face was an unreadable mask. ”What about later, at the Inst.i.tute?” she demanded.

”It was a little late to start making noise then,” he said, turning back to the computer. ”I'd already let you go once. The safest thing to do was answer your questions and get you out of there before anyone recognized you.”

”Especially while you were with me?”

”That, too.”

”Uh-huh. So, of course, when you needed transport to Angelma.s.s, the Gazelle was the first s.h.i.+p you thought of.”

Kosta swallowed a curse. ”Not that it's any of your business, but the Gazelle was the fifteenth hunters.h.i.+p I tried. Most of them wouldn't even hear me out before giving me the toss.” He hesitated; but she deserved this. ”I figured that any people soft-headed enough to hire you might be willing to give me a ride.”

”You're too kind,” she said calmly. ”Tell me about Balmoral.”

He blinked. ”What?”

”Balmoral,” she repeated. ”The place where you grew up, remember?”

”I didn't grow up on Balmoral,” Kosta corrected, feeling a thin layer of sweat squeezing out from his neck pores. If she was going to start quizzing him on his fict.i.tious background... ”I grew up in a small town called Palitaine on Lorelei. I just went to college on Balmoral.”

”Ah,” she said. She didn't seem at all bothered by her mistake. If it had, in fact, been a mistake. ”So tell me about college on Balmoral.”

”What do you want to know?”

”Everything,” she said... and there was no mistaking the hard edge to her voice. ”The landscape, the climate, the university, the people you met there. Everything.”

And if I make a mistake... Taking a deep breath, Kosta gathered his thoughts and plunged in.

It took him nearly twenty minutes to fix the scrubber, talking almost nonstop the whole time. Chandris occasionally interrupted with questions, but for the most part she just stood there and listened. And, no doubt, kept a sharp eye on his repair work.

He was putting the cover back on, and trying to describe mountain peaks he'd only seen in pictures, when relief finally came. ”Chandris?” Ornina's voice called over the intercom. ”We're going to be hitting the catapult in a few minutes. Do you want to come up and give me a hand?”

”I'll be there in a minute,” Chandris told her. ”I'm just watching Kosta finish up here.”

”Okay. Thanks, Jereko-you've saved Hanan a messy job.”

”No problem,” Kosta called.

The intercom clicked off. ”I guess I'll see you later,” Chandris said, turning toward the door.

”Leaving me here all alone?” he asked pointedly. ”I must have pa.s.sed the test.”

Slowly, deliberately, she turned back. ”You already called it, Kosta,” she said. ”I don't trust you. There's too much about you that doesn't fit. You're too smart-too well educated, anyway-to be an ordinary scorer. But you're not a typical blank-tower science-type, either.”

His first instinct was to deny it. But looking into those eyes... ”All I want from you and the Daviees is transport to Angelma.s.s,” he told her quietly. ”Nothing more.”

For a long moment she gazed at him, her face still giving away nothing. ”We'll see,” she said at last. She turned back to the door. Hesitated. ”You were right, by the way,” she said over her shoulder. ”I checked the Gazelle's records last night. For the past six months it's taken an average of just over three days to capture each angel, even though Gabriel's pay scale still figures on an average of four.”

It took a second for Kosta to catch on to what she was talking about. ”Interesting,” he murmured. ”Could some of that be more advanced equipment?”

She shook her head, her back still toward him. ”They haven't gotten anything really new in over a year. Actually, it's worse-a lot of their old stuff is overdue for replacement. I just thought you'd like to know.” She glided through the door and was gone.

Kosta stared after her, an unpleasant s.h.i.+ver running up his back. So it wasn't just his imagination coupled with some kind of rogue statistical construct. Angelma.s.s really was emitting more angels.

A week ago he would have been quietly excited by the confirmation. Now, with Hanan's theories echoing in the back of his mind...

”Friz,” he growled, annoyed with himself. He was a scientist, and so far this was a purely scientific problem. The implications, if any, would be up to other people to worry about.

Dropping lightly to his knees in the decreasing gravity, he began collecting his tools together. And tried to shake off the vague fears.

CHAPTER 21.

The rotational gravity had all but vanished by the time Chandris reached the control cabin. To her mild surprise she found that Ornina was alone, seated in Hanan's usual chair at the main command board. ”Where's Hanan?” she asked, glancing around as she maneuvered herself toward her chair.

”No-up here, please,” Ornina told her, indicating her own usual backup command seat. ”We got a

red light on one of the maneuvering-jet fuel pumps; Hanan's gone back to take a look.”Chandris nodded grimly. Just one more sign of how fast the Gazelle was falling apart. ”Do we have any spares?” she asked.

Ornina looked at her in mock surprise. ”You mean you haven't gotten around to memorizing our

inventory list yet?”

”I've been busy,” Chandris said with her best imitation of wounded pride. ”I'm only down to the M's-haven't reached 'pump' yet.”

Ornina smiled. ”Actually, we do have a spare aboard if we need it. Whether he could actually get it mounted before we reach Angelma.s.s is another question entirely.”

Chandris pursed her lips. ”Well, if it comes to that, Kosta could probably be pressed into service.”

”Capable?”

She shrugged. ”He knows his way around a wrench, anyway.”

The intercom pinged. ”Ornina?” Hanan's voice came. ”Can you shut down power on the AA-57-C circuit for me? I need to get back into the coupling area and would just as soon not get singed.”

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