Starfire by Charles Sheffield Page B

thought that she had gone too far. Finally he nodded. She saw the set of his mouth, and decided that she had probably made a mistake. He would not fight now—apparently she still, for no reason that she understood, was in a controlling position. But Colombo's assistant, Goldy Jensen, must have learned her own grudge holding from a master. It was going to be tough on Maddy if she ever had to depend on the director of Sky City for charity.
    "You may use my office if you so wish." Colombo had himself under control. "Also, there are several rooms available on this level. Whichever you prefer."
    "We don't want to disturb you. We'll move."
    She gestured to John. He followed her out. As soon as they were through the outer office and beyond the hearing of Goldy Jensen, he said, "Ms. Wheatstone, I've heard of the Argos Group, but I don't know anybody in it. How come you picked me?"
    It was an excellent question. Unfortunately, Maddy didn't have a good idea of the answer. She stalled, saying, "I'd rather you called me Maddy. After all, we're going to be working together."
    "Fine. But why me?"
    "Let me answer your question with a question. Do you think you are the best engineer on Sky City?"
    He hesitated. "I don't know."
    "Well, do you know of a better one?"
    "No." He seemed highly uncomfortable, refusing to meet her eye. It could mean that he was lying, but Maddy didn't think so. More likely, he was the kind of person made thoroughly uncomfortable by compliments. She found that rather sweet.
    "What you say matches what we've heard," she said, "that you're the very best. That's why we want you."
    It didn't answer his question, but he didn't ask again. Instead he scowled at her in a puzzled way and said, "If you think I'm the best, it seems strange to switch me from what I'm doing to the Aten asteroid work."
    "You don't think you can handle that?"
    "No! I know I can. It's more like—well, this is going to sound like boasting, and I hate boasting. But the Aten asteroid transfer and mining aren't all that difficult. I'd be willing to trust the job to any of my senior assistants. What I'm doing here is far harder, and far more urgent."
    He was raising a question that Maddy was not equipped to handle. Was he right—was there more going on than she knew about? Gordy Rolfe might again be playing his own game.
    Fortunately, John Hyslop didn't press the point. He went on, "You know, Dr. Colombo isn't the way you think he is."
    It was an odd non sequitur. Maddy asked, "And what way do I think he is?"
    "You think he's all empty talk. But he used to be an engineer, and a good one."
    "He doesn't seem to care for that sort of thing now."
    "No. But sometimes, when you think he's not been listening and has no idea what you are talking about, he comes up with a key insight for an engineering problem or he puts his finger on a fatal design flaw. It's a terrible waste, doing what he does all day long."
    Maddy had the urge to tell him that it took a good man to defend a boss who would surely never defend him. She wanted to see if a compliment would again produce that boyish look of discomfort. However, before she could speak he put out a hand to steady himself against the wall of the corridor, grunted, and gave a prodigious yawn. Then he blinked at her and said, "I'm sorry, Ms. Wheatstone. We can't have our meeting now."
    "Call me Maddy." She frowned. "Are you all right?"
    "No." His words became breathless. "Not all right. I've been awake and at work for over forty hours. I either have to lie down or throw up. I'm approaching the end of a second Neirling boost, and I'm going to crash. Soon. Give me twelve hours. Then we can talk."
    Maddy took his arm in hers. "You should have told me sooner. Of course you must have sleep. If you're on a second boost, you absolutely need sleep." And not only you. The prospect of twelve hours of rest rose ahead of her like a prospect of paradise. "Come on, let's get you to where you can lie down in peace. We'll have