“That’s—”

“No contact! You work in your own lab, alone. Enforce this, Carl Osborn, or I shall speak to Earth of this!” Malenkov pulled through quickly and slammed the hatch after himself. The others looked at each other.

“You know he’s right,” Virginia said angrily.

“Like hell I do. Thanks for stepping in like that,” Saul said to Carl. “I’d forgotten what the line of succession was. Organization charts aren’t my kind of thing.”

Carl shrugged. “I just knew damned well that nobody’d set it up so Malenkov came next.”

Saul chuckled, and Carl smiled on the surface, though underneath he was in turmoil. He wondered whether he had in fact done the smart thing. He didn’t know enough about medicine, of course. He had simply followed his instincts. Years in space had taught him that that wasn’t usually a good idea.

What would the Commander think? He still wasn’t used to the idea yet. I never wanted to be in charge.

Virginia took Saul’s arm, chiding him about being up and about when he should be in bed. Carl felt a sudden pang of jealousy.

“Hey, he’s quarantined now, you know.”

Virginia frowned at him, but Saul nodded. “Carl’s right. I’ll crawl home by myself.”

If I hadn’t opened my mouth, he thought, Saul would be on his way out of our lives right now.

Maybe it hadn’t been so bright to speak up, after all.

On the other hand, Saul didn’t look like he’d last that much longer, anyway. And if they slotted him when he was near death, the fellow wouldn’t be coming back real soon, either.

He blinked as this thought surfaced. What are my real motives here?

It hurt even if he moved his eyes…

Throbbing aches, a muggy dullness filling his head, a dry rasp in his throat. I haven’t been hung over like this since I was twenty. That wild wine-tasting in L.A…

He sat up in total blackness, feeling the rustle of crisp sheets, and it all came back.

The Hawaiian woman, Kewani Langsthan, had come up with a big bottle of fiery coconut brandy to help Carl, Jim Vidor, and Ustinov violate Malenkov’s rule against gatherings, and drink to Captain Cruz’s memory. Whoever heard of Hawaiians holding an Irish wake?

He realized dimly that he had deliberately, stolidly gone about getting drunk. And even as he did, he knew it couldn’t blot out that awful despair, only daub it over.

Sometimes the only way to pay tribute to the dead was by a rousing, gut-busting ceremony of demented excess. About half the crew had reached the same conclusion.

But something else had happened … He tried to remember, failed.

Okay, fine. It was my off-duty time and I used it as I deemed appropriate, as the regs say. I just don’t have much talent for big-time carousing. Now I pay the price.

As if in reply, a lancing ache ran through his stuffy head. He reached out for the light and instead touched a soft thigh.

Oh yes. All at once she had seemed maddeningly attractive, witty, sympathetic …

“Umm?” Lani murmured. “Carl?”

He tried to speak, had to clear his throat. He swallowed painfully and croaked, “Ah, yeah. G’ morning.”

She switched on a dim nightlight, throwing their shadows against the walls of her snug little room. “You… look awful.”

He tried a grin. It felt like a crack had split his face. “Better than I feel.”

Lani’s broad, frowning face seemed none the worse for wear. “Can I get you something?”

“No, I’ll just sweat it out.”

“I have some B-complex and Soberall. They can dampen the effects.”

“Well… okay, let’s see what science can do. He knew the line sounded hollow, but he felt instinctively that he should keep things light. He could only dimly recall how he’d ended up here, what was said. My subconscious has gotten me into trouble again, he thought ruefully.

She flipped the covers aside and glided nude across the room, lithe and unembarrassed. Lani fished in a medical compartment and returned with five pills and a bag of water. He took his time swallowing, trying to figure out how to handle this.

He remembered being suddenly angry with Virginia —that’s what had started it. He’d had some of the deadly mai-tais Langsthan had brewed up and the Saul Lintz came on a screen nearby, just tuning in to see what was going on. Yeah, that must had done it. I’d been making sense until then, but ol’ smug Saul looked skyward and gave us that indulgent look of his and I got damned mad. At him, at Virginia …

“Better?” Lani asked quietly.

“Uh. Marginal.” He lay back on the sheets, dimly aware that he was naked.

She hung in the air over the bed, folded into lotus position, slowly descending. “You should get more sleep.”

“Uh, I…What time is it?”

She smiled slightly, as if she guessed his intentions. “It’s nearly ten.”

“Oh…I’m on watch soon.”

“You have to return to the living first.”

“I’ll… be okay.” Actually, he felt even worse. He couldn’t think straight. He had never been in a situation where he honestly didn’t know whether they had made love or not. Damned unlikely. I’ve never been much good with a skinful in me.

“You’re wondering,” Lani said, the faint smile playing on her lips.

“Ah… yeah.” She was always one move ahead of him.

“Let’s say your motives were pure.”

“Huh?”

“We talked for a long time and you said you wanted to see my wallworld.”

“Your…”

She uncurled and tapped a command plate on the bedpad. The room immediately leaped into being around them.

“Ow!”

“Oh, sorry. I’ll tune down the light.”

It was the crystal cavern. She had gone back there, carefully shot the many angles, captured the myriad facets. Brilliance refracted and glinted everywhere. Miraculously, she had managed to assemble views without any reflection of herself or her equipment, so the shining cavern was a vision no one could ever see in person. It was better than reality. Then she had arranged her room so that furniture and appliances occupied dark areas of the cavern, enhancing the effect.

“It’s great. Everybody else uses Earth scenes.”

She shrugged. “I can get that National Geographic tourist stuff anytime.”

Even through his logy blur he was impressed. And slowly he remembered their conversation, how she had seemed witty, warm, bristling with ideas. He had never noticed that before, never given her a chance, really…

“So I came to see it…”

She nodded, eyebrows arched in amusement. “And passed out.”

“Oh.”

“I thought you might not appreciate having people see you being hauled unconscious through the tunnels, back to your bunk.”

“I guess not.”

She blinked, bit at her lip, and then said carefully, “I… liked the way we talked last night, Carl. We’ve never really had a chance to say very much to each other. Not since the first weeks.”

“Yeah,” he said uncomfortably. “Been busy.”

She said firmly, “I know you won’t let go of Virginia right away.”

“Let go? I haven’t got her.”

“Let go of the hope, then.”

He nodded sourly. “Right.”

“Not immediately, I know that.”

He looked at Lani as if seeing her for the first time. She was different than he had thought. Maybe…

But Virginia…

“There’s no rush,” she said, seeming to know exactly what he thought. All my emotions must be written across my face, he realized uneasily.

“I… Maybe you’re right. I’m so damned confused.”

She leaned forward and kissed him daintily on the lips. “Don’t be. Just do the work and leave little things like love and life for later.”

He had to smile. “You’re making this a lot easier for me than I deserve.”

“I want to.”

“I…”

She put a silencing finger to his lips. “Shush. You don’t have to be civil, not with a hangover like that.”