“Guy has a talent for making friends. Yeah. There’s probably a dozen candidates.”
“Why do you say that?”
Psych question. He thought, Because he’s a fuck-up. Because he has this way of getting himself in trouble and slapping the hand that helps him. But that led to more questions; and screwed Dekker worse than he was with this guy, to whom he owed nothing yet. He said, finally, “Say I didn’t really know him that well.”
“He listed you as next-of-kin.”
“It was a joke. The guy’s foil of them, tot of laughs.”
“We don’t rule out suicide.”
Dekker? he thought. Dekker? Suicide? The idea was more than unlikely. It upset him. And he didn’t figure that, either why they could think mat—if they knew Dekker, which they might not; or how Dekker could come to that—here, in this place that swallowed people down without a word.
“You don’t agree?”
He shrugged. “It’s not him. It’s just not him.”
You didn’t come from where Dekker came from—didn’t survive what he’d survived—and check out like that—in a damn sim. Something wasn’t right, not with the questions, not with Dekker lying in there thinking he was back in the Belt, not with this whole max-classified operation that took a will to live like Dekker’s and put him in that bed, in that condition.
Dekker had looked at him like he was what he’d been waiting for, and said, to his threat of killing him barehanded, That’s all right...
Every time you got near the guy mere was a disaster, Dekker attracted disasters, you could feel it, and, God of all the helldeck preachers, he wanted on that shuttle tonight. Do this effin’ job, get Dekker to figure out where he was, and when he was, make him talk to the psychs, and get out of here while there was still a chance of making that interview—and getting out of this mess.
“I’ll talk to him,” he said.
“You’re sure you’re all right about that?”
Another psych quiz. Correct answer: “A long trip with no information, run in here straight from the mast, I was a little shaken up myself.” He tossed off the rest of the coffee, got up and pitched the cup into the bin. “I’m fine to talk to him. What do you want out of him?”
“His health,”
“Yeah, well, he’ll pull it out. Knock him down and he bounces.”
“Don’t stress him, lieutenant. 1 really don’t advise another confrontation. He’s been concussed. We want to keep mat blood pressure under control.”
That was about worth a laugh. Dek was already stressed. Dek was in an out-of-control ship in a ‘driver zone with his partner lost. He said soberly, “I’ve no intention of upsetting him.”
The doctor opened the door, the doctor walked him back to Dekker’s room and signaled an orderly for a word aside in the hallway.
Ben walked on in, pulled a chair over and sat down by Dekker’s bed. Dekker’s eyes tracked his entry, stayed tracked as he sat down, he wasn’t sure how focused. Dekker had been a real pretty-boy, a year ago, fancy dresser, rab hair, shaved up the sides. Still looked to be a rab job, give or take the bandage around the head; but the eyes were shadowed, one was bruised, the chin had a cut, lip was cut—not so long back. The hollow-cheeked, waxen look—did you get that from a bashing-about in a simulator a few days ago?
“You look like hell, Dekker-me-lad.”
“Yeah,” Dekker said. “You’re looking all right.”
“So what happened?”
Dekker didn’t answer right off. He looked to be thinking about it. Then his chin began to tremble and Ben felt a second’s disgusted panic: dammit, he didn’t want to deal with a guy on a crying jag—but Dekker said faintly, shakily, “Ben, you’ll want to hit me, but I really need to know—I really seriously need to know what time it is.”
“What time it is?” God. “So what’ll you give me for it?”
“Ben, —“
“No, hell, I want you to give me something for it. I want you to tell me what the hell you’re doing in here. I want to know what happened to you.”
Dekker gave a shake of his head and looked upset. “Tell me the time.”
Ben looked at his watch. “All right, it’s 1545, June 19th—“
“What year?”
“2324. That satisfy you?”
Dekker just stared at him, finally blinked once.
“Look, Dekker, nice to see you, but you really screwed everything up. I got orders waiting for me back at the base, I got a transfer that, excuse me, means my whole career, and if you’ll just fuckin’ cooperate with them I can still catch a shuttle in a few hours and get my transfer back to Sol where I can stay with my program. —Dek, come on, d’ you sincerely understand you’re screwing up my life? Do me a favor.”
“What?”
“Tell the doctors what happened to you. Hear me? I want you to answer their questions and tell them what they want to hear and I don’t, dammit, 1 want to be on that shuttle. You want me to call them in here so they can listen to you explain and I can get out of here?”
Dekker shook his head.
“Dekker, dammit, don’t be like that. You’re a pain in the ass, you know that? I got to get back!”
“Then go. Go on. It’s all right.”
“It’s not the hell all right. I can’t get out of here until you tell them what they want to know! Come on. It’s June 19th. 2324. Argentina’s won the World Cup. Bird’s dead. Cory’s dead. We came out here on a friggin’ big ship neither of us is supposed to talk about and Gennie Vanderbill is top of the series. Do you remember what put you here?”
“I can’t remember. I don’t remember—“
“Because you climbed into a friggin’ flight simulator tranked to the eyeballs—does that jar anything loose?”
A blank stare, a shake of the head.
Ben ran a hand over his head. “God.”
“It’s just gone, Ben. Sometimes I think it’s the ship again. Sometimes it’s not. You’re here. But I thought you were before. What are they saying about the sim?”
“Dekker, —“ He gave a glance to the door, but the doctor-types were conferring outside. He said, in a low voice: “You’re not hooked on those damn pills again, are you?”
Dekker shook his head. Scared. Lost. Eyes shifted about. Came back to him.
“Ben, —I’m sorry. Please tell me the time again.”
He didn’t hit Dekker. He leaned forward and took Dekker’s hand hard in his despite the restraints and said, very quietly, “It’s June 19th. Now you tell me the year, Dek. I want the year. Right now. And you better not be wrong.”
Dekker looked seriously worried. A hesitation. A tremor of the lips. “2324.”
“Good. You got it memorized. Now there’s going to be a test every few minutes, hear me? I want you to remember that number. This is Sol Two. You had a little accident a few days back. The doctors want to know, mat’s not so hard to hold on to, is it?”
“I can’t remember. I can’t remember, Ben, it’s just gone...”
“Shit.” He had a headache. He looked at Dekker’s pale, bruised, trusting face and wanted ever so much to beat him senseless. Instead he squeezed Dekker’s hand. “Dek, boy, listen. I got a serious chance at Stockholm, you understand me? Nice lab job. I’m going to lose it if you don’t come through. I really need you to think about that simulator.”
Dekker looked upset. “I’m trying. I’m trying, Ben. I really am—“
Something was beeping. Machine up there on the shelf. Doctors were in the door. Higgins said, “Lt. Pollard. He’s getting tired. Better leave it. —Ens. Dekker, I’m Dr. Higgins, do you remember me?”
Dekker looked at him, and said faintly, “Ben?”
“You do remember him,” Ben said. “Hear me? Or I’ll break your neck!”
“Don’t go.”
“He’ll be back tomorrow.”