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ampoules of liquid for all of them.
Elvox watched Nestor closely. The women were musicians from her entourage, and their manner with her was informal, relaxed. The way her lander crew acted, the whole affair might have been a family outing. Elvox wondered how she kept discipline. But it wasn’t his concern. The drink was relaxing him, but he couldn’t shake a kind of awe at being in Nestor’s presence.
Some of her women were very attractive. He hadn’t seen so many women in one place for a month or more. The USC ship in orbit was crewed by both men and women, but on this mission the proportions had been hastily mixed, and before that, Elvox had served on an all-male ship. Most of the women on the main ship were married or career-minded. Here, things seemed much looser. Not that he was a Lothario under any circumstances. Still the old, familiar pressures were building, and he tried to push them aside. The drink wasn’t helping.
It hardly seemed possible for Nestor to be scheming all the time. Perhaps she was letting her guard down. He decided to play along, make the best of an awkward situation. If Nestor was offering her hospitality out of some ulterior motive, perhaps he could turn the tables on her. It wouldn’t be an unpleasant job.
While Kawashita talked with the pilot, Nestor took Elvox aside. “I’ve given up my own cabin,” she said. “I’ll be sleeping in a small cubicle usually reserved for Kiril.” She indicated the pilot. “He’ll sleep on the bridge. I don’t recommend you sleep in the cargo bay. My friends are always on the lookout for fresh provisions. I doubt you’d get any sleep.”
“Doesn’t sound too unpleasant,” Elvox said.
“Yes, but you don’t know my crew. Beyond that, space is pretty limited. I’m giving Yoshio complete privacy for a while, and as you can see, there’s not much room here for more than one.”
“I can sleep in a corridor,” Elvox suggested. Was she joking with him, about the crew? He had heard stories —
“The best idea might be for you to share my cubicle. There’s room enough for two, and I don’t want to be accused of shirking my social obligations to United Stars.”
He felt as if he were dreaming. Nestor and her family were celebrities, to say the least. Some maintained they were sacred monsters, necessary in society but hardly respectable. Still, she seemed reasonably decent. She was also attractive when not bent on business. The totality was not undesirable. He didn’t know what to say, however, so he just nodded.
“Good,” Nestor said. “This’ll give Yoshio a chance to get used to the modern facilities.”
The utilities on her lander were fancier than those on the main USC ship. Kawashita, considering his position and status, would probably never have to make do with less. Elvox watched Nestor from behind as she gave her pilot instructions for the morning.
Outside, the storm was letting loose with alarming fury.
“What held it all back so long?” Nestor asked. Elvox tried to get a view through a rain- and slush-spattered port.
“Landers aren’t made to withstand hurricanes,” the pilot said.
“Maybe they were just being humanitarians,” Elvox suggested. “They just wanted Yoshio rescued.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.What did they leave behind that controlled this until we landed? Is there a weather machine someplace? Or were we just lucky to be in time for the waterworks?”
They were almost shouting to overcome the noise outside. “We can investigate when things clear up,” Elvox said. “Right now, I’m a little afraid to go to sleep.”
“It’s my job to worry about it,” the pilot said.
“Kiril, don’t forget Loytnant Elvox is a lander captain, too,” Nestor said.
“Of course. But I think our ships are tough enough. Everybody go to sleep. I’ll yell if we get blown apart.”
“Very reassuring,” Kawashita said. He looked up from a technical manual on the lander’s primary operating systems. His tapas was