Part 63 (1/2)

Kosta smiled. ”Another time, thanks.”

”You young people,” Hanan said, mock sorrowfully. ”Missing out on all the good things of life.”

”Oh, be quiet, Hanan,” Ornina chided as the hug broke up.

”Story of my life,” Hanan said, mock-sorrowfully. ”That was a brilliant a.n.a.lysis, by the way, Jereko.

I'm with Mr. Pirbazari-I'm not sure I buy a single word of it. But it was brilliant nevertheless.”

”You were wrong about one thing, though,” Chandris said. ”The angels do affect danger-type fear, at least a little. When Trilling attacked us, I was a lot calmer than I should have been.””Come to think of it, so was I,” Kosta agreed, frowning as he thought back over that incident. The adrenaline had been pumping, all right, but his mind had still been clear to function. Unnaturally clear. ”Out at Angelma.s.s, too. You're right, it does have an effect there.”

”Maybe why the High Senate has always seemed so calm in the face of Pax threats,” Hanan

rumbled. ”Even though they never seemed to be doing anything.”

”They were, though,” Kosta said. ”That net-and-catapult setup of theirs is a terrific defense. They got that in place, then just refused to keep worrying about it.”

”I wonder how the Pax got through,” Chandris said.

”I don't know,” Kosta said. ”I imagine we'll find out once they've pulled their s.h.i.+ps out and we can talk to Lorelei again.”

”What will you do now, Jereko?” Ornina asked. ”Do you need a place to stay?”

”No, I should be fine,” Kosta said. ”I've still got my room at the Inst.i.tute.”

”At least for another week or two,” Hanan said.

”Oh, longer than that,” Kosta a.s.sured him. ”Mr. Pirbazari's dire predictions aside, the Inst.i.tute isn't

going out of business any time soon. Maybe not at all. Even if they agree to dump the angels back in, we'll certainly want to keep a few out to study.”

”Will that be safe?” Ornina asked.

”I'm sure it will,” Kosta a.s.sured her. ”After all, it took an imbalance of several thousand anti-angels to make Angelma.s.s what it is. A few or even a few dozen shouldn't be a problem.”

”The question is, what will you do?” Chandris asked, looking at Hanan and Ornina. ”What do you mean 'you'?” Hanan countered. ”Don't you mean 'we'?”

”You are staying with us, aren't you?” Ornina added.

”Well...” Chandris flashed a look at Kosta. ”I'd like to, sure. But if there isn't any work, how can you afford to keep me on?”