Part 24 (1/2)
”Sage, you don't have to say anything else,” the admiral said sadly. ”I accept full responsibility. It is all a misunderstanding on my part.”
”Are you calling me a liar?” Sage shrieked. ”You filthy-minded pile of nuts and bolts?” Now Rodrick felt a new concern. Sage Bryson had pa.s.sed a very thorough psychological screening back on Earth, but a lot of time and a lot of miles were behind them, and the danger, the strain-well, he'd been pleased that there hadn't been more adverse effects among the scientists and colonists. Sage's reaction was not the reaction of a well-adjusted woman.
”Miss Bryson, the admiral had the idea that you had agreed to marry him,” he said gently. ”Did you do anything to encourage that idea?”
She was very calm. She pulled herself together. She laughed. ”I cannot be held responsible if Grace Monroe has allowed her creature to overload its capacity.”
”No, of course not, ” the admiral said.
Sage laughed again. She looked at the admiral, and there were tears in her eyes. ”I thought you were my friend. ”
The admiral started to speak, but he caught a motion of Rodrick's hand telling him to remain silent.
”I thought, surely, that I could be myself with you,” Sage said. ”All my life I've had to hide any friendly feelings I might have had for you men, because after one little smile, one innocent touch on my part, you become slavering animals.” Her voice had begun to rise slightly. ”You, you're not even a man, but, oooh, she did a good job on you, didn't she, planting into even a bionic brain the same filth and animal desires.
And now you reward my friends.h.i.+p by telling the captain lies.”
She whirled to face Rodrick. ”I haven't told you all of it,” she said, eyes flaring, lips making large, exaggerated movements as if each word was pain. ”I suppose he has told you I willingly undressed, exposed my body to him.” Her laugh now was high, on the verge of hysteria. ”I guess youmen had a great, big old belly laugh out of that. At last Sage has let her guard down. At last a man has seen Sage's body, and has touched itall over . I'll bet you laughed and laughed at that, didn't you, you sons of b.i.t.c.hes, you filthy, mother-” Her voice rose, and the obscenities poured out, a sewer puking vileness.
”But you didn't get Sage, did you, you ball-less wonder, you animated junk pile, you-”
She fell silent. She lowered her head, and, somehow, seemed to be very much younger. Her hand went to her mouth, and she covered her full lips with thumb and forefinger. ”I'm so very tired. I think I will have to rest now.”
She walked as if sleepwalking, smiling shyly, shoulders hunched, to slide down the wall and sit in the corner of the office on the carpet. ”I don't want to play that game anymore,” she said, in a soft, high-pitched, little girl's voice. ”It's nasty, and I won't play. Leave me alone, Uncle Freddie. You're hurting me. I am tired.” She leaned her head back and closed her eyes.
”Admiral, get a medical team up here on the double,” Rodrick ordered. The admiral reached for the communicator as Rodrick came around his desk. ”No, use a communicator outside,” Rodrick said. The admiral left on the run. Rodrick stood over Sage, looking down. Her eyes were closed.
”Sage?”
”Tired,” she whispered.
”Sage, get up. Come and sit in the chair. Dr. Miller is coming. She'll see that you get some rest.” He reached down and took her hands, thinking to help her to her feet, into a more dignified position in a chair. As he touched her, she went rigid and her eyes flew open.
”Get your hands off me,” she screamed, neck straining, hands jerking away, then flying to narrowly miss scratching Rodrick's face. ”Don't touch me, you filthy-” The obscenities were still coming from her in a hysterical scream when two members of the medical staff rushed in, the admiral behind them. The doctors took in the situation at a glance, saw the set of Sage's face, the wide, staring eyes, and the grating, throat-injuring scream of words. Sage fought fiercely, but soon a tranquilizing mister was slapped against her thigh, and within seconds she quieted, closed her eyes, and was limp as she was lifted onto a stretcher.
”Admiral,” Rodrick called, as the admiral started to follow the medical team. ”I don't think you'll be needed.”
The admiral's face was twisted in pain. Rodrick, touched, put his arm around the admiral's shoulder. ”I think she'll be all right.”
”It's my fault,” the admiral said softly. ”I should have realized-”
”Son,” Rodrick said, surprising himself, for he was not thinking of the admiral as a robot, ”the seeds of that outburst, of her mental anguish, were planted a long time before she ever met you. Don't blame yourself.”
”Captain, permission to be absent from duty for a while?”
Rodrick nodded. ”You're not going to do anything foolish... ?” He felt foolish himself, worrying about a robot performing irrational actions.
”No, I just want to do some thinking,” the admiral said. ”With your permission, I'll check out a crawler and camping equipment and spend a few days in the Renfro Mountains.”
”Permission granted.”
When the admiral was gone, Rodrick called Grace on the communicator and told her of the scene in his office and of granting permission to the admiral to go off by himself.
”What has that woman done to him?” Grace asked, in quick, protective anger, then, just as quickly, ”No, I don't mean that. The poor woman is sick.”
”Maybe the admiral should see a psychiatrist when he gets back, too,” Rodrick said.
”How long did he say?”
”A few days.”
”He'll be back in three days,” Grace said. ”He won't miss my wedding.”
Rodrick felt a quick little sadness. People had the most ingenious talents for messing themselves up.
Poor Sage. Somewhere back in her childhood, it had all begun, but she'd repressed it all these years. He wondered who Uncle Freddie was, and what he had done to cause her to say, as a little girl, ”I'm tired ofplaying that game.”
But what was.h.i.+s excuse? In three days he was getting married to a woman he didn't love.
One thing for sure, he promised himself, as he went back to a cold cup of coffee, made a face, poured it out, and drew another. Regardless of what he felt, he would never give pain to Jackie. She would never know that he didn't love her. He didn't like seeing anyone in pain.
The admiral was finished with his packing when Baby came running smoothly past the vehicle park.
Baby was carrying three healthy, whooping teenagers-Clay, Cindy, and Tina-without a sign of strain.
She was still only a youngster herself, but she stood six feet tall on four-foot-high legs, and her entire body and tail length was reaching twelve feet.
”Whoa, Baby,” Clay Girard yelped. Baby came to a stop, and the three youngsters piled off to surround the admiral.
”Where are you going?” Clay asked.
”North,” the admiral said.
”What's the expedition?” Clay asked, always on the lookout for an interesting mission to try to get in on.
”Rest and relaxation,” the admiral answered.
”All alone?” Tina Sells asked.
”Yes.”
”Hey,” Clay said, ”I've been wanting to get up into the mountains to try for trout up there.”
The admiral smiled. He couldn't help but feel a bit better in the presence of such youthful good spirits.
”Give me a day or so, Clay, and then I'll call and let you know how things look in the way of trout streams.”
”Locate a good one, Admiral,” Cindy said, ”and we'll get Dad to bring us up to have a real fish fry.”