She stormed out and left himthere.
The next time John saw Kat, hethrew her a special smile. One that told her he was glad he had kissed her,and that it had gone no further. She blushed a little, as though she thoughteveryone around her knew about it. She couldn’t have been further from thetruth.
He didn’t blame her for McReidy’soutburst – she probably didn’t even know about it. As far as he was concerned,his relationship with Kat was unchanged. But he now had a healthier respectfor a woman’s powers.
* * *
John and McReidy didn’t see eachother for the next few days. It was to both their advantages. Neither of themwas in a particularly good mood to face the other.
McReidy was busy with theambassadors. They were now behaving. It hadn’t been easy getting them totolerate each other. At times, she had been barely able to keep her temper.
She had been kept from the bridgeby her work, and avoided John at all costs. She was now becoming reluctant toreturn. She even missed the next poker game in case he was there. She knewshe was being ridiculous and that she had better do something about it. It wasuseless to think that he might.
Next morning, she found some freetime and made her way to the bridge. John wasn’t in his chair.
“Where is he?”
They all knew who she meant. Gillespie pointed to John’s office.
“Thanks.”
She assumed John was in a goodmood. Gillespie would have warned her otherwise.
“Come in,” John called in answerto the beep. He didn’t look up from his work. His desk was covered in papersand he was writing furiously.
“Sir?”
The pen froze in his hand at thesound of her voice. He looked up slowly.
“Yes.” His voice was as blank ashis face.
“About the other night,” shebegan nervously.
He didn’t say anything, just satback in his chair. He wasn’t going to make it easy for her; he also wasn’tgoing to put up with a repeat performance.
“I’m sorry for what I said. Iwas out of line. It’s just that… Kat got home early. In tears. And shewouldn’t talk to us, and we knew…” She broke off explaining. There was reallyno excuse for her behaviour. “I’m sorry.”
John hadn’t moved; he remainedsilent. She tried read him but his eyes were expressionless. He wasn’t goingto forgive her that easily.
She turned to leave. The pendropped to the desk. It could have been a brick for all the noise it made inthe tense silence of the room.
“I haven’t dismissed you yet.”
McReidy stopped and turned back. That was one particular formality he never worried about. She braced herselffor the expected verbal onslaught.
“I’m disappointed in you,McReidy.” He spoke quietly; the hurt clear in his words. He held her eyeswith his in a way that was impossible for her to break away from. “I thoughtyou had a higher opinion of me than that. I’d never hurt Kat, intentionally orotherwise. That goes for the rest of you girls for that matter.”
She would have preferred it if hehad yelled at her. She didn’t know how to handle it this way. What she hadfirst taken as anger, she now realised had gone much deeper. There was nothingto say or do that would take away the hurt she had caused in him.
“You better get back to work,” hetold her, his voice still soft. He blanketed his emotions, picked up his penand resumed working.
McReidy was visibly upset whenshe stepped back onto the bridge. Her hands were in clenched fists at hersides and she was trembling. “I’m going to kill him,” she told whoever waslistening.
Gillespie spun aroundimmediately. “Did he yell at you again?”
“No.”
“I see.”
She caught his eyes – caught alltheir concerned looks.
“I’m okay,” she raised a hand toemphasise her words, “I’m just going to kill him.”
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Chapter twentyfour
Each day as Bismarck movedthrough more familiar territory, the communication channels became busier. There were military and domestic ships, some from Earth, most were alien. Johnwanted to know who they were and where they were. He had no intention ofassuming they were all friendly and being caught off guard. They were stillweeks away from the jump gate and he wasn’t going to relax until his passengerswere off.
He kept the cartographers busyplotting ships. It was almost a relief to know where they were – Independence,Kirov, Yorktown; they were like old friends. Tirpitz and Dreadnought headingout towards the border to join the patrol fleet. Betelians, Antarians,Meropians: the Centauri’s had finally taken a stand. The Andromedans had beenhalted. Each new encounter brought more casualties. But now it was eveningup. The Andromedans were losing as many ships as they took out.
John had no idea where the borderwas. It had shifted so much in the past few months. He believed they werestill behind it. That meant Andromedans were in front of them. It was saferto believe that than to assume they had left them behind.
Security and communications wereflat out. Kirov and Yorktown found themselves in a battle – they were bestavoided. A civilian supply ship suddenly went missing, a listening post wasknocked out. It wasn’t too hard to get an idea of what was happening.
The direct route home was throughthe Rokari Nebula. A supernova remnant that was still expanding with a pulsarat its core that was known to mess with Earth systems. It could fuzz orduplicate sensor readings and turn communication signals into a blur of static,and spewed enough radiation to kill anything that got too close or stayed theretoo long.
Its pulsar stood out like alighthouse beam long before it came into visual range.
“Course change?” Giacomo asked.
“From here,” McReidy advised,“it’s about four or five days to go around it.”
One side of John’s face screwedup. “Take us as close as we can get without interference. I really don’t wantto take any more time than we need to.”
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