"It's okay. I'll sit this one out," Creek said.
Gracie shrugged and looked over to Evelyn, who was framing the picture "Go ahead, honey," he said.
Evelyn Gracie thought Hiroki and his nice young fiancee were simply being shy, and also a little silly. She pressed a button on the back of the camera to flip the framing choice from Normal to Panoramic, bringing the stubborn couples' profiles just into frame. She snapped the picture and handed it back to her husband. "Thank you, dear," he said.
"You said 'regiment,'" said Grower, to Gracie, as the waiters handed down the main course of vatted prime rib. "Were you in cavalry?"
"Better," Gracie said "Ranger. 75th Regiment, 2nd Battalion. Fort Benning, Georgia. The 75th has been around since the 1900s, which is a hell of a bit of continuity. I'm not the only member of the 75th here—I know a couple of guys from the 1st and 3rd Battalions are here, too. But they're making me take all the pictures. You were cavalry, right?"
"3rd Armored, Tiger Squadron, Crazy Horse Troop," Crower said. "Out of Tennessee."
"A fine state," Gracie allowed. "What about you, Lopez?"
"46th Infantry, 146th Forward Support Battalion," Lopez said. "The Wolf Pack. Michigan."
"3rd Batallion, 7th Marines," Leff said. "California. The Cutting Edge."
"What about you, Hiroki?"
Creek looked up from his food. "12th Infantry. 6th Battalion."
There was dead silence at the table for several seconds. "Holy Christ, man," Gracie said, finally.
"Yeah," Creek said. He sliced off some prime rib and put it in his mouth.
"How many of you got out of there?" Lopez asked.
Creek swallowed. "From 6th Battalion?" Lopez nodded. "Twenty-six."
"From full battalion strength," Leff said. "The whole thousand soldiers."
"That's right," Creek said.
"Jesus," Leff said.
"Yeah," Creek said.
"I heard one of your guys got the Medal of Honor," Gracie said. "Held off the rebels for two days and saved his squad."
"He held off the rebels," Creek said. "He didn't get the Medal of Honor."
"Why the hell not?" Gracie said.
"He didn't save his entire squad," Creek said.
"He must have been pissed not to get it," Crower said.
"He was more upset about not saving the man he lost," Creek said.
"Did you know the guy?" Lopez asked. "Who was he?"
"Harry Creek," Creek said. "I knew him."
"Where is he now?" Lopez asked.
"He became a shepherd," Creek said.
Grade laughed. "You're not serious," he said.
"Actually, I am," Creek said.
"And is he any good at it?" Grade asked.
"I don't know," Creek said, and glanced over at Robin. "You'd have to ask the sheep."
Creek disappeared after dinner; Robin went looking for him after a couple of hours and found him on the Promenade Deck, staring out into space. "Hey," she said.
Creek turned to look at her and then turned back to look out at the stars. "Sorry about ducking out," he said. "Dinner dredged up a few things."
"Were they true?" Robin said. "The things you said about your battalion. About the Medal of Honor."
Creek nodded. "They're true. My battalion was right where the Chagfun rebels had massed their main troops. We got hit before we knew what was happening. My squad managed to break out and head for cover but we were ambushed."
"But you fought them off," Robin said. "You saved your squad."
"I saved most of my squad," Creek said. "My best friend died. He'd gotten excited and went after a squad of rebels, and our squad followed him into an ambush. We fought it back but took heavy casualties. The rest of the 6th was already wiped out or fighting for their lives so we were on our own for two days. At the end of it Brian was dead. I carried his body off the plain, but that's all I could do for him."
"I'm sorry, Harry," Robin said.
"It's all right," Creek said. "I just wish I had been able to save him."
"One of the things I'm learning about you is that you have an overdeveloped sense of personal obligation," Robin said. "I mean, I like it. It's kept me alive over the last couple of days. But it makes me worry about you."
"You're worried about me," Creek said.
"Don't mock me," Robin warned. "I may be half-sheep but you know I can throw a punch."
"I'm not mocking you," Creek said. "I appreciate it. And you're only twenty percent sheep."
"Details," Robin said.
Behind them someone cleared his throat. Creek turned and saw Ned Leff standing there. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he said. "I saw you here and I thought I'd come over."
"We're just looking at the stars," Creek said.
"Waiting for the jump?" Leff said. "We'll be jumping into n-space in a few minutes. It's usually quite a sight."
"Now that you mention it, yes," Creek said. "That's exactly what we were doing. How can I help you, Ned?"
"I was hoping I could impose on your good will," Leff said. "You know there's going to be a memorial ceremony on the Pajmhi plain, and one of the things we're planning is to have one member of each service arm lay a wreath on a memorial we're bringing. Thing is, the vet we had representing the Army missed the cruise. Got into a crack-up on the way to the spaceport. Wrecked his car and broke a leg. He's all right, but he had to get his leg fixed before anything else. So we're down one serviceman. I was hoping I could get you to replace him."
"Thanks," Creek said. "But I don't really—"
Leff held up a hand. "I get the feeling you're a modest man, and I can understand that," he said. "But I think it would be especially inspiring for the other vets to see a member of the 6th up there, laying a wreath."
"I don't even have my dress uniform," Creek said. "My luggage got shipped to Bermuda."
"You let me worry about that," Leff said. "Just tell me you'll do it."
"When is the ceremony?" Creek said.
"We stop at Caledonia Colony tomorrow, and after that Brjnn, and then we do our stop at Chagfun," Leff said. "So a week from now. More than enough time for you to prepare, if that's what you're thinking about."
"A week would be perfect," Creek said. A week would be after the time the Nidu coronation ceremony was supposed to go off; Creek had no doubt that by that time Ben Javna would have resumed contact or otherwise tracked him down- Either he and Robin would already be off the Neverland, or he could risk standing at a podium with a wreath.
"Great," Leff said, and shook Creek's hand. "When I see you at dinner tomorrow I'll have more details for you. Until then, have a great night." He looked down at his watch. "And look at that—we're done just in time for you to watch the jump. I won't intrude any further. Enjoy it." He left.
"He seems pretty excited about the jump," Robin said, after Leff walked off.
"You've never seen one?" Creek said.
"I've never been off Earth before," Robin said. "This is all new to me. Why?"
"Well, just watch and see," Creek said.
Robin looked out at the stars. "What am I looking for?"
Every star in the sky suddenly twitched and smeared, as if each had been a sphere of iridescent and incandescent paint suddenly pressed into two dimensions by a universally large pane of glass. The light from each flattened sphere swirled with the light of the others, dancing prismatically and producing unexpected streaks of color until the whole sky settled into flat gray that nevertheless seemed to seethe and threaten to erupt with another show of pigment and flash.
"Oh. Wow," Robin said.
"That's what everybody says," Creek said.
"There's a reason for that," Robin said.
"Well, not everybody," Creek said. "Some species don't have color perception like we do. Some races of the CC don't even see."
"That's a shame," Robin said. "They're missing out. Sometimes it's good to be human."