The Season of Passage by The Season of Passage

Author:The Season of Passage
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2010-07-03T10:45:29.086000+00:00

'Do you believe him?'

'Of course not.'

'Ask,' Tom insisted. 'You're her fiancé. He knows that. Quick!'

'Hey, Dean!' they called. He and Tom were in the second row, in the center. Ramsey heard him, the whole room did, and another hush swept across the crowd as Ramsey paused at the exit and turned.

'Yes, Mr Hayes?' he said without the benefit of his mike.

Terry tried to smile, and didn't quite make it. 'I was just wondering, you know, if Lauren is all right. I mean, I heard what you said, but she's my fiancée and I'd really like to know. We could keep it off the record.'

Ramsey did not simply look as if he had been losing sleep with the rest of them. He looked as if he could have had a terminal disease - a tumor that swelled every time he told a lie. But Terry could see it hurt Ramsey even more to tell the truth. What the man did was tell him nothing at all.

'When we re-establish contact, Terry,' Ramsey said, 'we'll let you know.'

Ramsey left. The reporters began to disperse. Tom Brenner ushered Terry out of the press room and down a long hall that led seemingly nowhere. Tom talked a mile a minute.

'Have you ever seen such an inept snow job? Here the whole world's watching the greatest exploration in human history and NASA drops the curtain just when things get exciting. And that bullshit about national security. First the crew is dying of thirst, and now it's "not critical." Never mind that they're sleeping in the middle of the day, because they've been out all night exploring. If you ask me, they've found a couple of Russians and they don't know what to do with them.' He paused. 'Hey, Terry, I'm sorry. You shouldn't have to listen to my mouth at a time like this. I'm sure Lauren's all right. NASA's probably still in contact with the Hawk. They probably just concocted the whole story.'

'Why would they do that?' Terry asked.

'Why did they go to Mars in the first place? Hell if I know. They probably just don't want to upset how good things are going with the Russians. When you get right down to it, that's all that matters to these people. Ramsey was lying through his teeth.'

Terry nodded. 'I hope you're right.' He veered toward a door that would take him into the front lobby, where Kathy Johnson was waiting.

'Hey, where are you going?' Tom asked. 'We've got to get a story into the office by ten. The boss dislikes our coverage as it is. You especially have to be careful, Terry. He still hates the fact that Lauren got engaged to you after she wouldn't even go out with him.'

'I need to tell a friend what Ramsey said,' Terry said. 'Tell the boss to go fuck himself if he complains about me.'

'Yeah, I told him that for you yesterday. But you know he's a Christian. He didn't understood how he was supposed to do it.

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