Up Against It - M. J. Locke [119]
“A student? Yes, Dr. Okuyama informed me. I am Professor Xuan, from the university. My specialty is astrogeology.” He brushed palms with the other man. “Everyone else was tied up with emergency preparations, and I was ahead of schedule on my own tasks. So I volunteered.”
The other man seemed rather dismayed—for what reason, Xuan could not tell; perhaps a concern about wasting Xuan’s time? It seemed unlikely. “Of course. Thanks for taking the time.”
“Glad to help. Obviously it’s to all our benefit to clear as many of these sugar-rock claims as quickly as we can.”
“Indeed.” Mr. Mills gave him a tight-lipped smile.
“So, you are with Outpost Charter Bank, then?” Xuan asked, as he gathered his field equipment. Though Mr. Mills was impeccably dressed and groomed, he somehow looked as though he might be more comfortable in a Downsider boxing drome than behind a desk. Mr. Mills smiled. “I am in the employ of an attorney, Nathan Glease. He has a private arrangement with the university to assist them in processing sugar-rock claims.”
Glease. Xuan had just heard that name recently, but could not pinpoint where.
“Ah—” Mr. Mills said. “I’m getting word from my crew that we have the all-clear to blast off. Mr.—that is, Dr. No—”
“That’s professor. Professor Xuan.”
“Your equipment has been stowed. Come right this way.”
While Mr. Mills was speaking, Xuan spotted Sean Moriarty, who waved to him. “One moment. I’ll be right back.” He blithely ignored Mr. Mills’s grumbles that they might lose their place in the queue. That is one advantage to being a professor, he thought, and not a grad student. Which might explain why Mills preferred the latter.
“Well, I didn’t expect to see you out in this neck of the woods,” Moriarty remarked. Xuan knew him from a party or two he had attended with Jane. He had always liked the big, foul-mouthed Downsider. “Off on a rock-hunting trip?”
“Sugar-rock claim. Everyone else with the skills is tied up with Kukuyoshi, and I needed a bit of a break.” Xuan looked back at Mr. Mills, who was waiting near his shuttle. “I should go. My contact is worried about losing our place in the queue.”
“I’ll see to it you don’t. I just wanted to say … I’m sorry about what happened to Jane. She was a damn fine resource chief. She’ll be missed.”
“Thanks, Sean. Thanks.” He brushed Sean’s hand. “And you, good luck with all this—” Xuan waved a vague hand at the chaos around them.
“I’ll need it,” Moriarty said, with a pained grimace.
23
They set Xuan up in the pilot’s cabin. “High-class accommodations,” Xuan remarked in surprise. “Thank you.”
The pilot was no older than Hugh—not yet twenty. They make adults so young these days! Xuan thought. A wry smile twisted his lips.
The pilot seemed oddly nervous. “We aren’t really set up for passengers. And it’s a short trip, so I won’t be needing it. We should reach our destination in about three hours. Please strap in. Use the workstation, if you like. There’s plenty of entertainment options loaded in our system. Just follow the links. Snacks and drinks are in the cooler here.” He showed Xuan where it was and how to unlock it. “The head is here.” He pushed the button, and the null-gee toilet manifold and hoses folded out of the wall. He pushed the button again, and the head folded back in.
“Very good,” Xuan said. “Thanks.”
Generous of him, to allow Xuan the use of his cabin. Xuan buckled into the passenger couch and linked his waveface to the ship’s systems. The shuttle trembled and he was pressed into his couch. Liftoff. Then acceleration eased, and weightlessness came.
Xuan called Jane and left her a message, then tried to work for a while, but could not concentrate, and decided to check his equipment. He unstrapped himself, lofted over to the door, and tried to open it. The lever did not move when he cranked it. It took him a full second to realize that the door had been locked.
He clenched his fist to pound on it, to call out for assistance—it must be an error—but froze in midaction. Glease. Mr. Mills was