Allen Steele - Near-Space 04 by Labyrinth of Night

Author:Labyrinth of Night [Night, Labyrinth of]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-01-30T15:50:11+00:00

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“Anyway, that’s part of the reason why the company sent me.” Nash tapped his fingertips on the table, then laced his hands together. “I served under L’Enfant and I was aboard the Boston when the Takada Maru was sunk, so they figure that I can tell whether the man has gone over the edge again.”

Miho Sasaki gazed at him with remote impassivity. “So you think he was … over the edge, as you say, when he fired the torpedoes?”

Nash wasn’t hesitant in his reply. “Completely. That ship wasn’t on a ramming course. He was a trigger-happy paranoid then and I think he’s a trigger-happy paranoid now.” He spread his hands apart. “At least, that’s my supposition.”

“Then why didn’t you say anything to the board of inquiry?” Her eyes narrowed as she peered across the table at him. “You didn’t, did you?”

He sighed and looked away. “Miho, an enlisted man doesn’t go running to a high-level board of inquiry, claiming that his captain has gone nuts, when all he did was stand on deck. It just … isn’t done.”

Her face was as stolid as the rocky landscape passing beneath them. “Nonetheless, doesn’t your failure to bear witness make you as culpable as … ?”

Nash suddenly felt his temper beginning to boil over. “Jesus, lady!” he snapped. “You don’t know what the hell you’re—!”

There was a soft cough from somewhere over his shoulder; Nash turned around and saw Boggs standing in the passageway, looking both amused and irritated. In the heat of the argument, neither of them had heard him come up from the gondola.

“‘Cuse me,” Boggs said, “but we’ve got a couple of standing rules on the Akron, and one of ‘em is that if you need to have a fight, at least close the hatch so that the rest of us don’t have to listen to you.” He cocked his head toward the galley next to him. “The other rule is that you first remove any sharp instruments. We run a clean ship here, and I don’t like having to mop up somebody’s blood.”

Nash’s abrupt flare-up died as suddenly as it had risen. It was hard to tell whether or not Boggs was being ironic. “Sorry, W. J.,” he murmured. He glanced over at Sasaki, who was avoiding looking at either of them, hiding her face with her hand, obviously embarrassed. “And it wasn’t a fight,” he added. “Just a disagreement …”

“Over ancient history,” Miho said, sotto voce. She glanced at Nash. “And personal ethics.”

Nash refrained from retorting to the dig. Boggs stretched his arms behind his neck and yawned. “Well, personally, I couldn’t give a shit if it was over who’s faster, the Coyote or the Road Runner. I came back here to let you guys know we just received a radio message from Cydonia.”

Both of them instantly forgot their disagreement; Nash turned around in his seat, and Sasaki impulsively rose from the table. “What’s the story?” Nash asked.

“Slight change of flight plan,” Boggs said. “They’ve asked us to make our first landing at the D&M Pyramid instead of at the base camp.

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