ARGUMENT
Trudy sat dutifully in Professor Uhlrich’s office, with handsome Carter McClintock sitting across the table, smiling pleasantly at her.
He hasn’t called me since the night we spent together, Trudy thought. Maybe I disappointed him? Wasn’t hot enough in bed for him?
Professor Uhlrich’s voice broke into her self-recrimination. “How soon can you produce spectra of Sirius C’s atmosphere?”
Trudy snapped her attention to the professor. She heard the anxiety in his voice, saw the tension etching his lean, austere face. Those sightless eyes of his unnerved her; they seemed to be peering straight at her, penetrating her like X-rays.
“The spectrometer’s ready to be packed up and delivered to Mendeleev,” she replied. “I’ll have to go out there with a technician to install it on the telescope. Maybe two technicians.”
“Why do you have to go?” McClintock asked. “Can’t the technicians do the installation work, under your supervision? Remotely, from here at Farside?”
Trudy caught a note of apprehension in Carter’s voice.
“It’ll be a lot easier if I’m there,” she replied.
“What about the robots?” McClintock pressed. “Why can’t they—”
“Nonsense!” Professor Uhlrich snapped. “We cannot trust such valuable equipment to robots.”
“I don’t mind going to Mendeleev,” Trudy told them. It was a stretch of the truth, and she knew it. “It’d only be for a day or so. I can spend a night in the shelter. It’ll be okay.”
Carter looked decidedly uneasy, she thought. He’s worried about me! How sweet.
But the professor said, “How soon can you do the installation?”
“I could leave tomorrow.”
“Very well,” said Uhlrich. Turning to McClintock, he ordered, “Make the necessary arrangements for a hopper and tell Simpson to assign two of his best technicians.”
McClintock nodded unhappily.
“Is there anything else?” Trudy asked. “If not, I’ll get started on packing the spectrometer.”
“By all means,” said the professor.
She got up from her chair, flashed a warm smile at Carter, and left the professor’s office.
* * *
McClintock watched her go, then turned back to Uhlrich.
“Do you think it’s safe to let her go to Mendeleev?”
The professor frowned at him. “How can we get spectra from Sirius C unless she installs the spectrometer?”
“But if…” McClintock hesitated, sorting out his thoughts. “If Mendeleev is dangerous, if there’s a problem with the nanomachines…”
“Nonsense,” Uhlrich snapped.
“Simpson doesn’t think it’s nonsense.”
“Simpson is an engineer,” the professor replied. “They’re all overly cautious.”
“Perhaps.”
“Dr. Cardenas is due to arrive here this afternoon. Have you prepared quarters for her?”
McClintock resented being treated like a servant, but he thought, It’s just his way. He doesn’t mean anything by it. He’s just a wannabe aristocrat. Then he corrected himself: No, he’s a wannabe Nobel laureate.
And he wondered how insufferable Professor Uhlrich would become if he actually did get a Nobel.
* * *
That afternoon, when the lobber from Selene settled on Farside’s lone landing pad, McClintock waited at the airlock hatch to greet Dr. Cardenas.
The heavy steel hatch sighed open; a pair of technicians in sky-blue coveralls stepped through and walked right past him. For a moment McClintock worried that Cardenas wasn’t aboard the rocket, but then she strode into the tiny reception area, tall and graceful, blond curls and china blue eyes, looking radiant and youthful and altogether delightful.
She was not smiling, though. She looked quite serious, almost grim, in fact.
“It’s good of you to come,” McClintock said as he shook her hand. It felt warm and strong and he realized that she was a very desirable woman.
“You think you might have a problem,” she said. “Let’s find out what’s going on.”
“I’ll take you to Professor Uhlrich’s office,” McClintock said. “Your bag will be sent to your quarters.”
Cardenas nodded curtly, but said, “Let’s go to the lab where they examined the space suit that failed. Professor Uhlrich can meet us there.”
McClintock said, “Good idea,” grinning inwardly at the thought of rousting Uhlrich from his office and making him go to Cardenas, rather than the other way around.
Two Nobel candidates, he said to himself. There ought to be sparks flying.
* * *
Trudy was surprised when Grant Simpson popped into the storage area where she was packing up the spectrometer and its associated gear.
“You’re going to Mendeleev?” Grant asked, without preamble.
“Yes,” Trudy said. “Tomorrow morning.”
“Can’t you let the techs do the installation? You could monitor their work from here.”
Trudy felt her brows knit. First Carter and now Grant, she thought. All of a sudden everybody’s worried about me going to Mendeleev.
Tell the truth now, she said to herself. You don’t like the idea yourself: flying out there in the open, it’s kinda scary, admit it.
But to Grant she said, “What’s the big deal about me going to Mendeleev?”
Grant looked determined, almost grim. “It’s foolish to go out there if you don’t have to.”
Pointing to the crate that held the spectroscope, Trudy said, “I’m the only one who can put that rig on the telescope properly. That’s why I have to go.”
“You’re not indispensable,” Grant said.
“Indispensable? When did I say I was indispensable?”
“Just now. You’re not the only person here who could put that dingus on the ’scope.”
“Oh no?” Trudy felt her blood beginning to seethe. “Who else around here could do it?”
“I could.”
“You?”
“Me,” Grant said. “You’re staying here. You can direct me remotely. I’ll go out to the telescope and attach the equipment to it.”
She planted her fists on her hips and glared at him. “You don’t have the authority to keep me here.”
“Then I’ll get the Ulcer to give you a direct order. Is that what you want?”
Trudy stared into Grant’s dark, brooding eyes. He doesn’t look angry, she thought. He looks … worried, fearful.
More gently she asked, “What’s going on, Grant? Why don’t you want me to go out to Mendeleev?”
“There’s no need for you to go,” he said, lowering his voice a notch. “I’ll go. You direct me from here.”
“And if you louse up the installation, the professor will blame me.”
“No he won’t. I’ll take the responsibility. I’m used to working outside. I’ve got plenty of experience. You don’t.”
“Well, I’m not going to get any experience sitting in here while you go out and do my work for me,” she said.
“That’s the way it’s going to be, Trudy.”
“No it’s not! This is my responsibility and I’m going to do it, whether you like it or not!”
“Look, you went out there once and a man got killed. I don’t—”
“You’re blaming me for Winston?” Trudy screeched, her temper boiling now.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“The hell it wasn’t!”
“It’s dangerous out there, Trudy.”
“I’m going and you can’t stop me,” she said hotly.
“I’ll get Uhlrich to stop you.”
“The hell you will!”
“I don’t want you going out to Mendeleev,” Grant repeated stubbornly.
“Why not?”
Grant started to reply, but hesitated. “You’re not going,” he said, his voice low, hard, final. “That’s all there is to it. You’re not going.”