"You didn't really finish your story," Bill was saying. "There's the matter of getting back down after your conversation with God."
"We jumped," Cirocco said, sipping her coffee.
"You .... it
She and Bill and Gaby were in one "corner" of the round room, their chairs drawn together, while the Unity's officers buzzed at each other around the television set. Bin looked good. He walked with a crutch and his leg apparently hurt when he stood
on it, but he was in high spirits. The Unity's doctor said she could operate on him as soon as he was aboard, and thought he would he nearly as mobile as before.
"Why not?" Cirocco asked, with a faint smile. "We brought those chutes all the way up as a safety measure, but why not use them?" His mouth was still open. She laughed, relenting, putting her hand on his shoulder. "All right, we thought about it a long time before we jumped. But it really wasn't dangerous. Gaea held the top and bottom valves open for us and called Whistlestop. We did it free-fall for the first 400 kilometers, then landed on his back." She held out her cup while an officer poured more coffee, then turned back to Bill.
"I've talked enough. What about you? How did things go?"
"Nothing so interesting, I'm afraid. I spent my time in therapy with Calvin, and picked up a little Titanide."
"How old was she?"
"How...he language, you idiot," he laughed. "I learned how to sing goo-goo and wa-wa and Bill hungry. I had a great time. Then I decided to get off my ass and do something since you wouldn't take me along. I started talking to the Titanides about something I knew a little about, which was electronics. I learned about coppervines and batteryworms and IC nuts, and before long I had a receiver and transmitter."
He grinned at the look on Cirocco's face. "Then it wasn't .... "
He shrugged. "Depends on how you look at it. You kept thinking in terms of a radio that would reach Earth. I can't build that. What I have isn't very strong-I can only talk to Unity when it's above, and the signal only has to punch through the roof. But even if I'd built it before you left, you probably would have gone, wouldn't you? Unity wasn't here yet, so the radio would have been useless."
"I suppose I would have. I had other things to do."
"I heard." He grimaced. "That gave me the worst moments of the trip," he confessed. "I'd started to like the Titanides, and then out of nowhere they all get this dreamy look and hurry out into the grassland. I thought it was another angel attack, but none of them came back. All I ever found was a big hole in the ground."
"I noticed a few when we came in," Gaby said.
"They've been drifting back," Bill said. "They don't remember us."
Cirocco's mind had been wandering. She was not concerned about the Titanides. She knew they would be all right, and now they would not have to suffer in the fighting. But it was sad to know Hornpipe would no longer remember her.
She had been watching the Unity people, wondering why no one came over to talk. She knew she did not smell very good, but didn't think that was the reason. With some surprise, she realized they were afraid of her. The thought made her grin.
She realized Bill had been talking to her. "I'm sorry, what was that?"
"Gaby says you haven't told the whole story yet. She says there's something more, and that I should hear it."
"Oh, that," Cirocco said, glaring at Gaby. But it had to come out soon, anyway.
"Gaea, uh ... she offered me a job, Bill."
"A job? "' He raised his eyebrows, smiled tentatively.
"A 'Wizard,' she called it. She tends to the romantic. You'd probably like her; she likes science fiction, too."
"Just what did the job entail?"
Cirocco spread her hands. "General troubleshooting nature unspecified. Whenever she had a problem I'd go there and see what I could do. There are-literally-some unruly lands down here. She could promise me limited immunity, a sort of conditional passport based on the fact that the regional brains would remember what she did to Oceanus and not dare to harm me while I traveled through them."
"That's all? Sounds like a chancy proposition."
"It is. She offered to educate me, to fill my head with a tremendous amount of lore in the same way I was taught to sing Titanide. I'd have her support and backing. Nothing magic, but I'd be able to cause the ground to open up and swallow my enemies."
"That I can believe."
"I took the job, Bill."
"I thought so."
He looked down at his hands, seemed very tired when he looked up again.
"You're really something else, you know?" He said it with a trace of bitterness, but was taking the news better than Cirocco had expected. "It sounds like the kind of job that would appeal to you. The left hand of God." He shook his head. "Damn, this is really a hell of a place. You may not like it, you know. I was just starting to, when all the Titanides disappeared. That shook me, Rocky. It really seemed like someone had just put away his toys because he was tired of the game. How do you know you won't be one of her toys? You've been your own boss; do you think you still will be?"
"I honestly don't know. I just couldn't face going back to Earth, back to a desk job and the lecture tour. You've seen over- the-hill astronauts. I could land a job on the board of directors of some big corporation." She laughed, and Bill smiled slightly.
"That's what I'm going to do," he said. "But I'm hoping for the research department. Leaving space doesn't scare me. You know I'll be going back, don't you?"
Cirocco nodded. "I knew it when I saw your nice new uniform. "
He chuckled, but there was little mirth in it. They looked at each other for a time, then Cirocco reached out and took his hand. He smiled with one corner of his mouth, leaned over and kissed her lightly on the cheek.
"Good luck," he said.
"You too, Bill."
Across the room, Streikov cleared his throat.
"Captain bones, Captain Svensen would like to talk to you now."
"Yes, Wally?"
"Rocky, we've sent your report on to Earth. It will take some analysis, so there won't be a definite decision for a few days. But we up here have added our recommendation to yours, and I don't think there will be any problem. I expect to upgrade the base camp to a cultural mission and United Nations Embassy. I'd offer you the job of ambassador, but we brought someone along in case our negotiations were successful. Besides, I expect you're anxious to get back."
Gaby and Cirocco laughed, and Bill joined in soon after.
"Sorry, Wally. I'm not anxious to go back. I'm not going back. And I couldn't take the job even if you offered it."
"Why not?"
"Conflict of interest."
She had known it would not he that simple, and it was not. She formally resigned her commission, explained her reasons to Captain Svensen, then listened patiently as he told her, in increasingly peremptory terms, just why she had to go back, and for good measure, why Calvin had to return as well.
"The doctor says he can be treated. Bill's memory can be restored, Gaby's phobia can probably be cured."
"I'm sure Calvin can be cured, but he's happy where he is. Gaby's already been cured. But what do you plan to do for April?"
"I was hoping you could help coax her to come back to us be- fore you came aboard. I'm surest,
"You don't know what you're talking about. I'm not going back, and that's all there is to be said. It's been nice talking to you." She turned on her heel and strode from the room. No one tried to stop her.
She and Gaby made their preparations in a field a short distance from the base camp, then stood side by side, waiting. it was taking longer than she had expected. She began to get nervous, glancing at Calvin's battered watch.
Strelkov came racing out the door, shouting orders to a group of men busy erecting a shed for the crawlers. He stopped suddenly, caught flat-footed when he realized Cirocco was not far away, waiting for him. He motioned the men to stay put, and came toward the two women.
"I'm sorry, Captain, but Commander Svensen says I have to place you under arrest." He seemed genuinely apologetic, but his hand was close to his side-arm. "Will you come with me, please? "
"Look over there, Sergei." She pointed over his shoulder. He started to turn, then drew his weapon in sudden suspicion. He backed away and to one side until he could steal a glance to the west.