I paused a moment and looked around the room.My comment affected them in different ways. Larath, as always, hada look of encouragement about him. It was that look that he used tokeep himself from ever showing any emotion. The captain and Zalithboth regarded me with knowing pride on their faces. It was as ifthey looked at me and saw younger versions of themselves. CommanderJones maintained a completely unreadable posture and face. The bigsurprise was Dr. Rannor. He had an odd look on his face; it was asad look, but more than that. It was as if he was looking into thefuture and what he saw depressed him. He must have known somethingthat he had not shared, but what could it be, and why hide it?
“If there is no further information, orquestions, I have a team to prepare to run without its leader foran unknown length of time.” I paused here to see if anyone hadanything to say. Since this was my meeting, protocol demanded thatI be the one to wrap it up. “Okay then. This meeting isadjourned.”
As everyone started to clear out, the captaingrasped my shoulder from behind and said, “Vydor, wait a moment. Iwould like to talk to you in private.”
He waited for everyone to leave, and thengestured for me to sit across from him. He paused for what seemedlike years. Then in an uncharacteristic, fatherly tone, he startedto speak.
“Vydor, you are a fine officer and a valuablemember of my team here. Since you came on board you have gone wellbeyond the call of duty in everything you have done. You haveworked very hard to prove yourself worthy of the tremendous honorof your position here. I will admit I had to be talked into lettingyou on to my team. You were not my first choice; in fact, you werenot even on my list of possibilities. However, since you came onboard, I have watched you. I have watched how you work with yourteams, and how they view you. I have read every report produced byanyone under your direct influence, and I have kept on top ofeverything you have done from the beginning. You have certainlyshown yourself to be worthy of the great chance you got when youwere offered this position.
“Now that you are leaving us for a while, Iwould like to give you a bit of advice on what to do with yourteams before you go. In your desire to prove yourself, you areoverworking your teams a little. Before you assign a replacement,go over your rules and regulations and add a little moreflexibility and leniency. People tend to work better when they havesome room to maneuver.
“When you do select your replacement, don’tpick the best man for the job; instead choose the one whoseleadership style most closely resembles yours. This will reduce theamount of retraining you will have to do on your return.”
The captain paused here a minute, as hedecided what to say next. I knew him well enough to be silent whilehe worked it out. “Vydor, I must say I am a bit concerned that yourpride may be driving you to take this mission. You lack experienceand really do not know what it is like to face death. You will beleading a very dangerous mission, and every member of that team’slife will be in your hands. I want them all back safely. Do nottake any foolish risks just to prove yourself to us. Returningalive with all of your team will be enough.”
“Captain, I have faced death.” I paused togather myself. “I have faced him in a very intimate way. In ourfirst round, he won. We brought every weapon and tool that theEmpire could muster against him, and lost. Now I am locked in astand-off with him. I can see him down the corridor of time. Hestands ready to do battle again, patiently waiting, knowing thatthe clock always runs in his favor. While I may not have a hugeamount of combat experience, I am all too familiar with death.”
“You are referring to your father, and thedisease you are destined to get. Good, I am glad you realize that.A healthy respect for death is a good thing to have on a missionlike this. Do not look so surprised; I make it my business to knowmy staff. Your family line is plagued with Betalian’s Syndrome.Every male in your family has died from it. In fact, I also knowthat you are the last of your bloodline.”
I was continually surprised by the captain’sability to learn things he was not authorized to know. Personalmedical histories like mine were not intended to be generallyknown, in order to prevent discrimination in assignments. But hewas completely right. It was just a matter of time before I too gotsick like my father.
“Vydor, before you leave pay Dr. Rannor avisit. No, I am not worried about your health, but about his. Yousee, he is the reason you are here.”
To say that remark surprised me would be anunderstatement. I knew that High Command had sent orders ahead tosecure me this position, but it never occurred to me that theship’s doctor would even know my name, never mind be the reason formy acceptance.
“As you know, High Command sends outrecommendations for crew replacements whenever positions open up inthe fleet. What you may not yet have learned is that most of thetime, most captains ignore them and choose whoever they think best.High Command makes its decisions based on records, while captainsmake their decisions based on their personal knowledge of theofficers. When your recommendation came down the line I intended toreject it, but Dr. Rannor piped up in your defense.
“He was very convincing, singing your praisesand telling me that there was no one better in all the Empire forthis position. I was amazed by this, as he has never done anythinglike that before or since. Based solely on his recommendation, Iaccepted your assignment to my staff. I thought that you wouldn’tlast more than a few days and I could appease him and then be ridof you. But to my surprise, you turned out to be all that he saidyou were. You lack only experience, something you’re about to get abig dose of.
“I am worried that if something should happento you on this mission, he will take it hard and blame himself. Soplease stop by his office as soon as you can and see what you cando about that.”
With that, the captain left the room.
Chapter Seven
I just sat there for a while, I do not knowhow long. This new information from the captain must relate in someway to the puzzle of the Magi. In my mind I could see many threadsall tangled together. There had to be a way to untangle them andweave them into a tapestry that would explain everything. I wassure it was just a matter of time before I loosened enough threadsto see the outline of the pattern, and could start to weave themproperly.
When I got up and left the room, the honorguard was still dutifully at their post. Since I had called themeeting, they could not leave until I dismissed them. Oncedismissed, they secured the room and walked off in perfectlockstep. Their dedication to perfection was amazing. With all thatwas going on, it was heartening to see them so calmly going abouttheir duties. Most of the ship was plagued by the fear weapon, yetthese two were seemingly unaffected by it. I set this thread asideto be considered later. There was too much I needed to do now toget ready for my mission.
I headed to the common mess hall wherecrewmen of all ranks mingled off-duty over food and refreshments. Ifound a dark table in the corner and covered it with my work todiscourage anyone from approaching me. The rule changes did nottake long. I had already considered some adjustments, so it wasmore a matter of drawing up the official documents and placing theorders. Before I left I would have to schedule a department-widemeeting to announce these changes.
Instead of moving on to review my officers’records, I found myself once more focused on the tapestry of thepuzzle. It seemed to call me in; I could not let it go. It hadtaken a while to get to a point where I could start working withthe threads of information, but now that I had something to workwith, my confidence of success was much greater.