Page 106 (1/2)

“Very well Bring theh said, then killed the connection

It see the Sol system’s surrender, but he was open for a pleasant surprise According to his tacticalthe asteroid belt now Their projections placed the earliest expected surrender point at the Mars crossing

Singh needed a distraction to pull hi and introspection Whatever Adently, it was bound to be interesting

The petty officer as ushered into his office half an hour later was a tall woman with pale hair that had been turned dark by sweat She was breathing heavily, and her uniform was damp

“Sir,” she said, then held out a small black wafer to him

“You look terrible, sailor,” Singh replied, taking the chip “Are you all right?”

“The Marines are using all the carts for patrol duty, so …”

“Did you actually run this over all the way fro fro through the da the suit and running down the long spiraling ramp that went from the center of rotation down to the drum floor And after that a kilometer-and-a-half run across the drum to reach his office complex

“Yes, sir,” the petty officer said, starting to get her breathing under control

“I’ll be sendingeffort, sailor Take a moment to clean up, and we’ll round up a cart to drive you back”

“Thank you, sir,” she said, then gave him a sharp salute and left

Part of the self-pity trap that Singh had realized it would be easy to fall into was the terrible sense of being utterly alone in his job He needed more interactions with his fellow Laconians With his ship, and the sailors under his co alone That hundreds of like-minded and dedicated professionals shared the dreah made a mental note to spend more time on the Storm

He rolled his monitor out onto the desktop and dropped the small black chip on it “Transfer all files and wipe,” he said, then when the ment, snapped the little black chip in two and dropped it in the recycler

Adh found he was a little excited Trejo was a reater responsibility than his own, and one who handled it with dedication and grace He was ato do, and did it without hesitation If Singh wanted to spend more time with the Laconian sailors like himself, he wanted to be Ade

Trejo’s face blurred into motion, and his expression beca’s happened, and we have no idea what it is or what to do about it We need some help”