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“Sir,” the woman replied, “the President has asked me to interface with CnC, in order to try to iron out some of the issues at hand. The U.S. and Verdant can’t afford at this time to allow misunderstandings and missteps to jeopardize our future, any more than it has already been hampered by the current ground-based weather problems.” Miss Fawkes took in Reya, Aaron and Calvin in turn, before looking back to Julian. “Frankly, he’d like to have me identify any areas where we can be more mutually beneficial… and that means having me learn more about Verdant’s operations. In turn, I am at your disposal to ask any questions about the U.S.’s situation, to make their positions clear to you.”

“Mm… I see,” Julian nodded non-committally. He indicated the others around him. “My Eo, Reya Luis… Coo Aaron Hardy.” She shook each of their hands in turn. “And our science advisor, Dr. Calvin Rios.”

“Hello, Dr. Rios,” she shook his hand. “I was a fan of your program. I was sorry to see it go off the air. Certainly not a reflection on you?”

“More of sponsors and ratings,” Calvin replied. “But it’s nice of you to say.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you… all of you. I hope my presence won’t be an imposition; I don’t want to interfere with your standard operations.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem, Miss Fawkes,” Julian said lightly. “We’ll be glad to steer you out of trouble if necessary.”

Her response to Julian’s comment was a bright smile, one that threatened to bring the room’s activity to another stop. “Please, call me Kris,” she said, and nodded to each of them. “Um… perhaps, sir, if I can just take things in as you-all work? I wouldn’t mind seeing how you do things here…”

“That will be fine,” Julian said. “Aaron, perhaps you should tell her about the report. Her boss is going to know about it soon, anyway. Dr. Rios, stay for a moment, then join me in my office. Excuse us,” he addressed to Kris. Then he led Reya aside, ostensibly to discuss the datapad she had in her hands.

Once they were out of earshot of their visitor, Reya said, “About as subtle as a brick, huh?”

Julian grinned and pointedly avoided looking back at Kris Fawkes, who was now speaking to Aaron and Calvin. “It’s okay. Her being here just lets us know how little Lambert has to go on. Get that ready to send, while I work up my comments.” Reya nodded and started back into the center of CnC, sparing more significant glances at some of the staffers to stop their staring at the visitor and get them back to work. Julian motioned to Calvin, and the two of them went into his office.

Kris noted their exit, and Aaron noted her notice. She turned back to him and smiled sympathetically. “I know how this all looks… it’s quite obvious the President wants me to fish for something that will help keep the trade lines going.”

Aaron returned her sympathetic look, and said, “Yes, well, you can’t blame him for trying to do right by his country.”

“Of course not,” Kris replied, picking up on Aaron’s receptiveness. “I mean, this is how politics works, doesn’t it?”

“It sure does…”

Inside Julian’s office, the Ceo indicated a chair for Calvin. Calvin sank gratefully into it as Julian moved behind his desk. “I can see you’re tired, Doctor. I’ll only keep you a minute.”

“Of course, sir,” Calvin replied, smiling lightly.

“I have something new I want you to look into. Not today, mind you… get some sleep, first. But starting tomorrow.” He opened a drawer, reached in, and held up a chip like the one he had handed Calvin the day before. “I received this from our peers at Tranquil yesterday. Apparently, they, in direct violation of U.N. treaty, have been actively pursuing R&D into defensive weaponry for the satellite.”

It took only a moment for Calvin’s eyes to clear. He straightened up in his chair and croaked in a small voice, “What?”

“Yes,” Julian nodded gravely. “Unfortunately, they haven’t gotten very far. But there is one area that they felt might have great promise… they just don’t have the expertise to crack it. But between you, Dr. Silver and the rest of her staff… Tranquil’s Ceo thought we might have a better chance.”

He leaned forward with the chip, and Calvin reached forward to take it. “Have you seen it? What is it?”

Julian nodded again. “Put simply… it’s a force field.”

Calvin dropped his head, looked at Julian through raised brows, and his voice dropped almost a full octave. “You’re kidding.”

“Yeah, I know how it sounds.
Brane Boy
stuff,” Julian said, making reference to a popular entertainment program about a boy who, with his friends, used a pseudo-scientific device of his own making to travel to different realities, or “branes,” where they experienced incredible adventures every episode. “Nonetheless,” he continued, “they really think they’re on to something. It may be nothing we can use. But right now, we’re faced with pressure from a country that can crush us if they decide they can get away with it, and no way to put up even a token resistance.”

“Well, yes, but…” Calvin looked helplessly at the chip in his hand.

“Dr. Rios,” Julian said. “You weren’t asked to be Verdant’s Science Advisor because you’re so photogenic. You are a well-rounded scientific expert. I happen to think that your knowledge and insight is an excellent complement to Dr. Silver’s, who is very practical, but maybe not as imaginative as yourself. Between the two of you, I’m betting that if there’s anything useful in that data… you’ll find it. Or figure out for sure that it’s worthless. Either way, we’ll know.

“So,” Julian said, standing up, “go home, get some rest. And tomorrow, start examining that data. I am giving you access to all of Dr. Silver’s department.” Calvin stood up, still staring helplessly at the chip. “You two, figure it out.” Then Julian steered Calvin to the door, and on his way.

He stayed in his office long enough to compose some comments to accompany the report to the U.N., and sent those to the com station. That done, he stepped back out to CnC to see how things were going. He preferred to be seen in CnC, as opposed to sitting out of sight in his office, feeling it made him seem more approachable to his staffers, the way he preferred it. He tried to cultivate the same thing in Reya, and she seemed to have taken to his leadership style comfortably. Aaron Hardy had not developed the same habit, however, choosing to spend more time in his office than in CnC.

This made it all the more surprising, when Julian left his office, to find Aaron still in CnC, talking to Kris Fawkes. Mind you, he reflected, it was more than obvious why any man would want to talk to her for as long as possible… she was certainly beautiful, and with a cultivated personality. He was sure she would be great company…

He suddenly felt, rather than saw, that Reya was just behind him. He half-turned her way, to see that she was examining a datapad, and gave him a half-glance herself. “Message to Geneva is away,” she said matter-of-factly. Julian nodded, and silently regarded the staffers at CnC as they tended to their duties. Reya tossed another casual glance at him, taking note of the specific direction he was
not
looking. “I will say, that Fawkes is a beautiful woman.”

Despite himself, Julian smiled: He knew where this was going. “Hm?” he said, blatantly feigning distraction. “Oh… oh, yes, Miss Fawkes. Yes, she’s quite beautiful.”

“You seem to like what you see,” Reya commented casually.

Julian shrugged. “What’s not to like?”

They both noticed a moment when, as Aaron turned away to indicate something to Fawkes, she spared a considerate glance in their direction. At that distance, it was impossible to tell if she was paying particular attention to either of them, but something in her eye suggested she was inviting at least one of them over.

Reya could guess which. “She seems taken with you.”

“She
seems
taken with Aaron,” Julian pointed out.

“Julian—”

“No.”

Reya finally looked at him directly, and huffed in exasperation. “Julian, for God’s sake, what’s so wrong with the idea of going after a girl?” She pitched it quietly, so only he would hear, though anyone who might have been looking their way would have been able to guess what she’d said.

“What’s wrong?” Julian turned and looked at her directly, speaking in the same low tone. “Thirty years ago, I would have been a pushover. Twenty years ago, they would’ve had a good shot. Ten years ago, it would have been an uphill battle. Today… they can go bother someone else.”

Reya started to protest, but Julian chose that moment to move away, and she decided not to go after him. Julian’s attitude towards women never ceased to perplex her: At sixty-one, he was one of the most vital men that she had ever known; and yet, apparently since he’d become a widow going on twenty years ago now, he still actively shunned other women.

Reya, of course, had no trouble understanding loyalty—or mourning—in honor of a lost loved one, and she knew Julian had loved Mariel. But Julian had taken the concept to some extreme that she simply could not understand, to the point where he simply refused to even entertain the idea of allowing another woman into his life. It was not shyness, she knew: You didn’t become the Ceo of an orbital habitation satellite without having loads of confidence, self-command, intelligence, and an outgoing personality; and he was still handsome and healthy, altogether a great catch for any woman; but he sometimes acted as though he had developed a severe inferiority complex, that applied to nothing else in the world
except women
.

Whenever she dwelt on it, she was continually reminded of the evening when she, Julian, and a number of Verdant higher-ups had attended a dinner in honor of a retiring executive. There had been drinks, loosening everyone up, and there had been single men and women…
lots
of women… many of whom were attached to the arms of people twice their age, and others looking like they were still trying to get set up with theirs. Reya had noticed one very attractive woman who’d spent some time trying to catch Julian’s eye from afar. Julian had been polite, but standoffish, making no moves that might have been interpreted as an invitation by the woman.

Reya had eventually picked up on this, and in a low voice, engaged her boss. “Look at that girl over there,” she’d said half-lightly, a leer in her eye that liquor helped to foster. “I bet you’d have a great time in the dark with her.”

Julian had looked at his lieutenant with a knowing smile on his face.
He had noticed her!
She’d thought. Equally lightly, he’d commented, “Assuming she’d want to have sex with me?”

“Sure.”

Without a change in expression, Julian stated, “She wouldn’t.” And just like that, had turned back to his drink, and a moment later, engaged another gentleman in conversation on his opposite side.

Even now, Julian was already across the room and deep in conversation with a staffer at one of the weather stations… no doubt checking up on the prospects for
El Capitan
… just like at the dinner, ducking the subject. Reya spared him a last uncomprehending glance, before turning her attention back to Kris Fawkes and Aaron Hardy, who seemed to have hit it off together. She hadn’t seen whether Fawkes had noted Julian’s reaction, but Reya would have bet a week’s salary that she had. And she now seemed fully focused on Aaron.

Unlike Julian, Aaron pursued women, albeit a bit clumsily... he was certainly better with numbers than he was with people. But as far as Reya knew, he didn’t have much luck with women. His looks were a bit plain, his demeanor lacked polish, his physique was just on the soft side, and he was wishy-washy as hell when approaching a prospective conquest.
Comedy relief
. And incidentally, not very funny. He was just—as another woman might have put it—
not quite
what they were looking for.

So seeing Aaron in earnest conversation with Fawkes told Reya a lot more about the woman’s
modus opperandi
than about the man’s ability to charm the opposite sex. She obviously knew how to push Aaron’s buttons. Specifically, the big red one over his heart with the bright LED letters that read:
“Please take me home.”

And at that same moment, almost as if the two women were somehow on the same mental frequency, Fawkes shot another glance at Reya. Their eyes locked, and in that instant they both knew they understood each other perfectly. And the look Fawkes gave Reya suggested that whatever she was doing, was going exactly according to plan.

Reya smiled back. She knew that they had nothing to hide from the U. S.... the facts were the facts. There was nothing Aaron might give away or compromise, and nothing he might endanger... save, maybe, himself. So, at worst (Reya had heard her father say this once, years ago, and the phrase still tickled her) Kris Fawkes had managed to hook onto a caboose with no engine attached.

Well
, she mused, still smiling openly at Fawkes,
at least one of these guys’ll get a chance to jump that…

“I say again,
El Capitan
, slow to one quarter!” Hunter Reilly barked into his com. “Cut your mains to allow inspection!”

The
El Capitan
seemed to hover on its end in space, as it rose into orbit to rendezvous with Verdant. A thin ribbon, not much more than a thread, seemed to trail behind it, looking like an impossibly-stretched rubber band poised to snap the freighter back out of orbit. Hunter and Goldie in Wasps three and four were in position below and behind it, one on port, one on starboard, on a parallel course.

“And I say again,”
came the voice over Hunter’s com,
“not until we’ve established stable orbit. Our on-boards have evaluated the leak, and it poses no threat to our ignition system.”

“That is
not your call
, Captain, and you
know
it,” Hunter stated. “Regulations state that all flight-damaged ships must be visually inspected by satellite security before docking.”

“We know that!”
the voice snapped.
“But we’re still twenty minutes out, and we just need three more minutes to hit our orbital window. If we cut engines now, we’ll de-orbit, and won’t have enough fuel to recover or land safely.”