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FOR THE EMPEROR:

ZORN E. BALGEE, CAPTAIN, I.F.

Captain of the Starfury!

At first, he thought the yellow plastic sheet must be some kind of joke, but there was really nothing humorous or even clever in the wording. It looked like every other Personnel hardcopy he'd ever seen. Read like them, too—totally impersonal and worded for easy interpretation by the most backward of simians.

Was it real? He fretted about it until mid-evening, then marched into the message center and fired off a KA'PPA to the Bureau of Fleet Personnel in Avalon:

FROM:

W. A. BRIM, LT. CMDR, I.F.

ATALANTA, HADOR-HAELIC

TO:

BU FLEET PERSONNEL;

ADMIRALTY, AVALON

SUBJECT: DUTY ASSIGNMENT

REQUEST RETRANSMIT DUTY ASSIGNMENT

ORDERS

IFPC42746T-12C GROUP 198BA 189/55008

2398XCV-99-D0349CDC/573248. BELIEVE

PERSONAL COPY

ARRIVED GARBLED OR INCOMPLETE.

WILF ANSOR BRIM, LT. CMDR, I.F.

Less than a metacycle later, he picked up a second blue and gold envelope. With trembling fingers, he lipped it open and withdrew another yellow scrap of plastic: PERSONNEL ACTION MEMORANDUM

IMPERIAL FLEET

IFPC42746T-12C GROUP 198BA 189/55008

2398XCV-99-D0349CDC/573248 PERSONAL COPY 2

UNCLASSIFIED

FROM:

BU FLEET PERSONNEL;

ADMIRALTY, AVALON

TO:

W. A. BRIM, LT. CMDR, I.F.

ATALANTA, HADOR-HAELIC

SUBJECT: DUTY ASSIGNMENT

(1) YOU ARE DETACHED PRESENT DUTY AS OF 189/55008.

(2) PROCEED MOST EXPEDITIOUS TRANSPORT SHERRINGTON YARDS, BROMWICH, RHODOR. REPORT I.F.S. STARFURY (K 5054) AS COMMANDING OFFICER.

(3) SUBMIT TRAVEL EXPENSE VOUCHERS DIRECT ADMIRALTY C/O H. DRUMMOND, REAR ADMIRAL, I.F.

FOR THE EMPEROR:

ZORN E. BALGEE, CAPTAIN, I.F.

The news traveled rapidly. Next morning, his message queue was inundated with messages of congratulations, including an ecstatic one from Anna Romanoff, still a day out from Atalanta aboard S.S. Gertjens Enterprise. He also heard from Nik Ursis and Dr. Borodov, from Regula Collingswood and Erat Plutron, from Baxter Calhoun, from Lieutenant Commander Glendora Wellington, from Aram of Nahshon, and from an old shipmate named Utrillo Barbousse—though the latter message came through a little used communications channel with no address of origin attached.

Later that day, Romanoff rushed into his office direct from Atalanta's sprawling civilian terminal.

Dressed in pink coveralls and high heeled boots, she carried two fragile goblets and a large bottle of sparkling Logish Meem. So far as Brim was concerned, she was the greatest sight in the known Universe—even without meem.

"So congratulations are in order, eh?" she asked, handing him the bottle and setting the goblets carefully on the desk. "Regula KA'PPAed me as soon as she heard about it. Now, I want to hear firsthand."

Brim felt his face redden. "No big deal, Anna," he said bashfully, struggling to quietly uncork the old-fashioned bottle under a large red handkerchief. "New ship—new job. That's all." Moments later, the stopper came free with a hardy pop.

Romanoff brushed back a lock of her hair and perched on the corner of his desk. "I did read correctly about a position as the commanding officer, didn't I?" she asked with a knowing grin.

Brim nodded, carefully filling each goblet so the foaming meem wouldn't run all over his desk.

"I guess I wasn't surprised," she said, "—you were the only possible choice for Sherrington's new Starfury."

"Me?" Brim asked.

"Universe!" Romanoff groaned, rolling her eyes toward the ceiling. "Even I know all about that.

Not only do you have more experience with Starfury prototypes than anybody else in the Fleet, but you have also earned yourself something of a reputation as a Helmsman in the last few years." Then she frowned. "Besides that, Wilf Brim," she said with a serious look in her eyes,

"Onrad's said on a number of occasions that you've come a long way in the last few years. You're ready for a shot at command."

"I wonder," he said, sipping his meem spontaneously, "am I really?"

She peered at him thoughtfully. "I suppose that depends," she said, looking him directly in the eye.

"Is Starfury what you want?"

Brim stared down at his goblet for a moment. "As a ship?"

"As a Skipper," she said.

"I think I've wanted to be her skipper so badly, I couldn't admit it to myself for fear somebody else got it...."

For a moment she got a faraway look in her eye. "You have come a long way," she whispered,

"—even in the few years I've known you, lover."

"What was that?" Brim asked.

"Nothing," she said with a little smile. "Sometimes, love makes me mumble. That's all." She poured more bubbly into their goblets.

Brim grinned as the fine old meem started to his head. "How in xaxt did you get this stuff into this office building?"

Romanoff grinned. "Oh, that wasn't much trouble," she said. "I called old Bosporus Gallsworthy from the front desk and simply told him what I was going to do."

"I'll bet he had a few choice comments about that." Brim commented with a grin.

"Not really," Romanoff said. "Since you don't work for him anymore, he claimed there wasn't much he could do."

"You mean that's all there was to it?" Brim asked.

"Except that we should get rid of it as quickly as possible. Otherwise, he'd be down to help."

Brim's eyes widened. "Gallsworthy's coming here now?"

"No." Romanoff said with a grin. "I told him we could handle it ourselves."

"In that case," Brim chuckled, "fill this goblet again. We've got a lot of meem to put away."

All too soon, Romanoff was on her way, leaving a tantalizing scent of perfume in her wake with the promise of a special celebration the moment he got back to his apartment. Afterward, Brim sipped slowly at a hot mug of cvceese' and stared at the scrap of yellow plastic that was still tucked into a corner of his desk. He did want Starfury. After years of challenge and excitement on the race circuit, his job as Diagnostic Helmsman seemed routine now—although he quickly reminded himself how glad he had once been to secure it.