He tore his eyes away from her. “Good night, grumpy,” he told McReidy.
“Go!” She straightened one armand pointed past him down the corridor. He took the hint. “And you’re just asbad,” she turned back to Lorraine, who had slipped off the lounge and suddenlydecided it was time for bed.
McReidy wasn’t angry with them –couldn’t be angry. If anything she was envious. Giacomo was not her type. But he was very definitely Lorraine’s.
* * *
John found the bar was thequietest place to get any work done early in the mornings. Anyone else who wasthere that early was also seeking its solitude. His quarters were cramped anddisturbing Dunlop or Gillespie meant he’d never get anything done. Asrespectful as they tried to be, voices and movement simply wrecked hisconcentration.
He felt trapped in his office. The thought that he could possibly spend twenty four hours a day in there wasnot appealing.
Humphries was sitting alone. Hisuntouched coffee was cold; he was building a house of dominoes. Occasionally,it would fall and he would start again. He was there when John arrived. Sincehe had finished his shift, Sogra informed John.
John played with his pen andwatched Humphries for a few minutes. The dominoes were a good half metre high,but there was no enthusiasm in the construction. That wasn’t Humphries’ usualbehaviour.
“Humphries?”
The helmsman jumped at the soundof John’s voice and looked over.
“Is something wrong?”
“No,” Humphries sulked.
“Shouldn’t you be getting somesleep?”
“Nobody can get any sleep the wayRed snores.” The dominoes tumbled. He cleared a space and started again.
John tossed the pen onto thetable. He stood up, moved to Humphries’ table, pulled up a chair and satdown. Something was bothering Humphries and it was obvious he wanted to talkabout it. He didn’t seem to be able to put it into words – into the rightwords.
“I know we’re supposed to be onour best behaviour and set a good example for the ambassadors. It’s hard whenwe seem to be getting in each other’s way all the time. Then there’s thosewomen –”
He deliberately avoided John’seyes, his concentration on lining up two dominoes.
“Everywhere you go, you run intothem. Pretending to be completely innocent and stirring up… They know damnwell what they’re doing to us.” His voice had a cutting edge to it thatovercame any embarrassment. “How’s a man supposed to handle it?”
“The best way you can,” Johnsympathised. Do whatever you like as long as there are no repercussions, waswhat he really wanted to say. Somehow that would sound more like aninvitation.
He knew he wasn’t going to bemuch help to Humphries. He would have to sort himself out – they all would.
“I’ll leave you to it.”
Humphries nodded and Johnreturned to his table.
The next time John checked hiswatch, it was time to head to the bridge. He wiped his hands down his face andchecked Humphries. The tower was a good two metres tall and he was standing ona chair to reach the top.
John stood up and gathered allhis gear, his footsteps echoing as he headed to the door.
“Sir?” Humphries called.
“Yes?” John hesitated at thedoor.
Humphries half turned to him. “Can I ask your permission to have my dominoes left alone?”
It was a strange request.
“Sure, why not.” At least itkept him occupied and out of trouble. Once on the bridge, the request wasturned into an order.
Humphries smiled as he heard theorder over the intercom. He stopped building for a minute, then continued in amore determined manner.
The bridge crew were curious toknow what was going on. John was not forthcoming with any answers. He didn’thave any to give, but that fact wasn’t something he felt necessary to share.
By the end of the day, therewasn’t a crewmember who didn’t know what was going on. Overcome by curiosity,John decided to return to the bar to find out exactly what Humphries wasbuilding.
He was unaware of exactly whereit started, but suddenly saw a chain of dominoes in the corridor leading to thebar. They were placed carefully on the floor along the left hand wall. Eachone standing on its end in such a position that if one toppled it would cause achain reaction that would knock over every other one. The chain led into thebar and back to the table where Humphries had been earlier. To where he stillwas!
John went straight to the barwhere he collared Soghra. “Has he been in here all day?”
“No,” Soghra answered. “He spentsome of it out there.” He pointed towards the door, indicating the corridor.
John frowned. That was not whathe had had in mind.
“You gave him permission.”
John didn’t need to be reminded. He wondered if he should put an end to it, then decided not to. After all, itwas harmless. Humphries would finish his chain, become bored, or possibly runout of dominoes, and send them all cascading with no more effort required thana gentle nudge. Then he would be responsible for picking them all up.
The chain grew longer andlonger. The order remained. It was consciously avoided. No one wanted to beresponsible for knocking it over. It was as though an invisible boundary hadbeen placed along the left hand wall of all the corridors.
It amused the Arans. They wouldspend hours at a time watching Humphries, chattering away like old friends. Ifhe thought they were teasing, he soon changed his mind.
Bela and her companions were notthe slightest bit interested. It only seemed to confirm their opinion aboutmales.
So what, Humphries shrugged. Hewas happy enough. As long as they didn’t knock it down. Their lack of interestin the first place was possibly the reason why they found it harder to avoidthan anyone else. John advised Humphries to keep the dominoes away from theambassadors’ quarters. There was no need to provoke complications.
* * *
McReidy began having nightmares. It started off as a dream, recurring every night. Each time was more vivid anddetailed than the previous. It worried her. It was more real than a dream, asthough she was actually witnessing the events portrayed: Manados had beentaken over by the Andromedans. She didn’t want to go to sleep, scared of thehorrors that her unconscious thought was
