''Should have done this last night,'' Abby muttered.
''Tommy kind of had first call on your services.''
''Must have been powerfully busy to forget what happens when you leave this rig on too long. And letting you sleeps in your makeup. Only sluts do that.''
''Last night, I was a slut. Remember?''
''Young lady, you must learn to switch your roles faster.''
''Like you do?'' Kris slipped that one in fast.
''Don't know what you're talking about,'' Abby said and gave the suit a vicious yank.
''Eeks,'' Kris yelped, and glanced down. Nope, no hair at all. Kris let some time pass. Abby went back to gentle pulls that almost didn't hurt. ''I made myself three promises last night,'' Kris said softly.
''What might those be?''
''First, get Tommy back to the Navy where he belongs; then, find out if Wardhaven is quite as civilized as I've been told.''
''That's two,'' Abby said, looking up from where she was working the body stocking down Kris's thigh.
''Find out who Abby really is.''
Abby chuckled under her breath and concentrated on easing Kris out of her armor. ''You find out who that woman is, and you tell me. I've been wondering about her most of my life.''
''I'm going to find out who you are.''
Her maid settled cross-legged on the floor and let out a sigh but kept gently tugging at the stocking. ''You know who you are, Miss Longknife?''
''No, but I'm learning.''
''Why not let Abby worry about Abby, and you worry about Kris?''
''Because I don't like all the hats you keep pulling out of rabbits.''
''Any of those hats not what you needed at the moment?''
''I admit they've all come in handy.''
''Then why look a gift hat in the mouth?''
''Paranoia runs deep in my family.''
''Right,'' Abby said, making one last tug that brought the stocking off Kris's feet. ''I forgot about that survival trait. What say we compromise?''
''How?''
''I'll keep saving you. You keep paying me.''
''You girls decent?'' Jack called from the living room. ''Breakfast is here.''
''I'm starved,'' Abby said, bringing Kris a plush white robe.
''Can't argue there,'' Kris said, cinching the robe tight.
Jack was standing beside a serving cart heaped with griddle cakes, eggs in several manifestations, and three different kinds of meat: bacon, sausages, and fried fish. He was going over the ensemble with the three bug hunting gizmos. ''Seven bugs. Good Lord, don't they have any patience around here? Or fumigators? Shall I squish ‘em?''
''Seven,'' Kris said, giving Abby a questioning glance. ''From only five interested parties?''
Abby rolled her eyes at the ceiling.
''Eight,'' Jack answered, stooping to examine something on the wheel of one cart. ''I think we've got a new model this morning. Could be a new player or just a better try from one of the old, familiar crew. Again, do I squish them?''
''Why bother?'' Kris said, grabbing a plate. ''Dorothy is ready to click her ruby slippers together and go home to Kansas. Nelly, book us passage on the next ship out of here headed for anywhere near U. S. space.''
''Kris, I can't.''
''Why not?'' Kris said as heads peeked out from Abby's room, both Tommy and Penny.
''All ships on approach or waiting to dock at High Turantic are now boosting for the nearest jump point. All docked ships' departures are delayed indefinitely. We are under quarantine.''
Tommy hobbled into the room, Penny an arm around him for balance… or possession?
Kris sighed. ''And why are we suddenly under quarantine?''
The screen in the living room came to life. Suddenly breakfast was being shared with people in blue moon suits and others in regular clothes—dying horribly. A map appeared in a separate window highlighting Bremen, a small town some five hundred kilometers north of Heidelburg. ''Last night,'' Nelly said as the news flashed before them, ''an outbreak of anaerobic Ebola virus was reported in Bremen, a small town on North Continent. Following Society of Humanity regulations, the authorities on Turantic quarantined the town. However, since air traffic from the nearby town of Coors had continued unabated during the virus's incubation period, the full planet must be quarantined.''
Kris studied the map, her lips tightening into a deepening frown. ''Anyone else see something wrong with this picture?''
''You have to quarantine anaerobic Ebola,'' Tommy said. ''It spreads like wildfire.''
''Yes, but we've never had any kind of an Ebola outbreak on Turantic before,'' Penny said in puzzlement.
''There are reports in minor media formats,'' Nelly said. ''Suspicions, really, that this outbreak was not an accident or natural event.''
Jack whispered something to his wrist unit. An information cell opened beside the map of Bremen. The town was a mining site, offering few amenities. The agent shook his head. ''This has the smell of a planned event. That town is too far into the temperate zone to get the virus from an imported pharmaceutical species. It's the end of the road as far as trade is concerned. A town with nothing more than a clinic for the copper and lead miners shouldn't have a sample of the virus for accidental release.''
Kris stepped closer to the screen. ''Nelly, what are the metal reserves for the mines around Bremen?''
Nelly added them to the cell about the town. ''Pretty close to petering out,'' Kris said with no surprise. She left unsaid that a town like Bremen, surrounded by played-out mines, was not much of a resource to lose if you had to have a town suddenly wiped out by plague. Paranoia, thy name is Kristine. She sighed.
''There is a problem here,'' Jack said.
''A problem.'' Kris snorted, turning back to the cooling breakfast.
''They are quarantining Turantic under Society of Humanity regulations,'' Jack said matter-of-factly, picking up a plate. ''The quarantine will have to stay in place until bureaucrats from the Agency for Disease Control do the required inspections and give Turantic a clean bill of health.''
''There is no Society anymore,'' Tommy said, joining them.
''And no Agency for Disease Control with general recognition in human space, so whose bureaucrats will raise the quarantine?'' Penny asked.
Tommy looked pale, weak, and in general like he'd lost a wrestling match with a cement truck. His plate, however, quickly gained a pile of food.
''Uh, Tommy,'' Kris said, ''you should probably know. There are two or three bugs live in this room. Some people seem to be very interested in our conversations.''
Tommy glanced around the room with a glare that should have fused any offending bug if it had any conscience at all, but he seemed to suddenly lose interest in anything else when he spotted a chair, collapsed into it, and began stuffing his face.
Penny quickly filled a plate half as full as Tommy's. ''So, who will cancel the quarantine that will allow you to leave?'' she said as she sat beside him.
Kris found every eye in the room suddenly focused on her. ''How should I know?'' she snapped, settling for a bran muffin, marmalade, and a slab of ham. ''As Grampa Ray is saying more and more these days, ‘That's an interesting problem. Wonder how it will solve itself?' ''
Jack passed close to Kris as he moved to fill his plate. ''Did I just hear the clink of a bear trap closing on…'' he said softly near Kris's ear.
''No! That couldn't be…'' Kris said but bit her tongue as she remembered other ears were listening. She scowled at Jack, shaking her head forcefully. The Secret Service Agent just raised both his eyebrows and went on filling his plate.
''You don't mean,'' Penny started, then seemed to think better of her words. She pointed her fork at Kris, then at Tom, then made a circle that took in the room… and the entire planet.
Kris shook her head violently. There had to be some limits to her paranoia.
Beside her, Jack and Abby nodded with the absoluteness of ancient sages.