Battlestar Galactica 10 - The Long Patrol Page 11

  "That doesn't help," Robber said in her direction. "Don't give up until . . ."

  An unsettling thing happened.

  She lost some time.

  Not much, she thought. Perhaps only a few microns. But it scared the hell out of her.

  She'd been saying something at the sobbing woman, trying to cheer her up and get her to quiet down. Then, with no trace at all of the time in between, Robber was on her knees on the rec lounge floor.

  Assault had his powerful arm around her. "C'mon," he was urging, "don't give in."

  When she inhaled, her chest hurt. "Don't look so glum," she told him. "I'm a long way from expiring."

  Forger was chuckling to himself. "Ah, that's what's wrong," he muttered. "I should've seen that before."

  Robber started to ask, "Have you . . ."

  She went away again.

  But this time she didn't come back.

  Colonel Tigh allowed himself a thin smile. "Appears as though," he said, guardedly optimistic, "the worst is over."

  Beside him Commander Adama stood studying the scanner screen. "Only two Cylon attackers left," he said, gratified.

  "Make that one," said Tigh, pointing as a blip of light vanished from view. "Correction. None."

  Moving nearer his daughter, Commander Adama asked, "What's the situation with the rec lounge?"

  "The rescue crew," replied Athena, "is still a corridor away. Getting through the jammed doors is what's slowing them down."

  "Colonel," ordered the commander, "get the repair teams to work. We want the power in that area restored as quickly as possible."

  "At once," responded Tigh.

  "Perhaps we can get the aircirc system functioning in there in time to help," Adama said.

  "I don't know," said Athena, "what I'm going to tell poor Starbuck when he gets back."

  "You may have good news," said the commander.

  Starbuck's cigar was dead.

  He let it stay that way.

  Once his Viper was safely landed in the docking bay, he got out of the safety gear, popped the cockpit door and jumped clear.

  "Hey, Apollo," he called, "have you heard anything?"

  Apollo didn't answer until Starbuck caught up with him on the walkway. "They got themselves out of the rec lounge," he said, "and into a corridor where there was still air."

  "That's great."

  "A rescue crew met them there."

  "Terrific. Then I guess . . ." He paused, looking at Apollo. "But that's not a good news face you're wearing."

  "Well, old buddy . . ."

  Starbuck grabbed his friend's arm. "Don't hold anything back," he said. "Is something wrong with Robber . . . with Roberta?"

  Apollo gave a slow nod. "She's in the infirmary."

  "How serious?"

  "They don't know yet."

  "Okay." Starbuck clenched his fists, getting control of himself. "Okay. She's not dead, right?"

  "No."

  "Fine, then there's a chance," said Starbuck. "I'm going to see her now."

  "They may not let you into—"

  "Oh, yeah, they'll let me," Starbuck assured him. "Because the mood I'm in, I don't think anybody's going to risk trying to stop me."

  Whiteness all around her.

  Robber took a deep breath and air filled her lungs.

  "I'm alive, huh?" she said to nobody in particular.

  "That you are, very much so," said the white-clad young medic who was standing beside the white bed she found herself in.

  She poked at herself through the white coverlet. "Hey, somebody swiped my clothes."

  "Standard procedure," he explained.

  "Yeah, but I looked so damn nice in those things."

  "You'll get them back."

  "How soon?"

  "We don't expect you to be here long."

  "What's wrong with me?"

  "Nothing serious. Basically you passed out from lack of oxygen and—"

  "What about Forger?"

  "The fellow who opened the door?"

  "Good, he did it then?"

  "Yes, and everyone got out and to a place where the aircirc system wasn't on the fritz."

  Robber nodded to herself, pleased. "That's good news," she said. "But I'm unhappy about passing out. I hope the word on that doesn't get around."

  The young medic smiled. "Afraid it already has," he informed her. "Just about everyone knows about how you took charge of the situation, got the fellow to open the door, worked to keep the others calm."

  "Sure, I'm some kind of damned hero."

  "Well, that's my opinion," he said. "Oh, and I'm now going to violate the rules."

  "How?" She eyed him.

  "I'm going to allow you a visitor. For a short while anyway," he said. "Then I want you to rest. We have a few more tests to run later on."

  "Is this visitor who I think it is?"

  "Exactly," said the medic. "Who else but Starbuck could talk his way in here at a time like this?" Crossing to a white door, he opened it. "Come in, Lieutenant. And try to control your usual exuberance." He left the room.

  Starbuck made a very subdued entrance and came over to the bedside.

  "Hi," he said.

  "Hi," she said.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Starbuck studied himself in his bathroom mirror. "No wonder I'm the idol of millions," he remarked. "Adored throughout the universe and—"

  "Spare me," requested Apollo, who was slouched in a comfortable chair.

  "I merely state the truth."

  "Oh, I wasn't aware that any of what you've been babbling was the truth."

  "You have to make an effort to keep up with the latest news." The lieutenant gave his blond hair a final touch with the brush.

  "Well, even though it's painful to listen to this," said Apollo, "I am glad to see you're no longer sunk in gloom."

  "Nope, I am bubbling over with good feelings." He smoothed a sleeve, patted a crease in his trousers. "After all, we seem to have spooked the Cylons out of this neck of the universe."

  "For a while, anyway."

  "And that means the colony on Proteus is going to have a chance to get going."

  "True."

  "And in the days since the attack on the Galactica she's been repaired and refurbished," he said, "and everything is shipshape once more."

  "And Robber was released from the infirmary."

  "That, too," said Starbuck. "But let's remember to call her Roberta."

  "Roberta." Apollo watched him in silence for a moment. "You're dining on the Rising Star tonight?"

  "I am. Hence all this duding up of myself."

  "Can you afford that, good buddy?"

  "Interesting that you should ask. Because I have been able to borrow just sufficient funds to finance an evening of—"

  "Did you take some kind of commission on that Ambrosa that Assault and the others brought here with them from Proteus?"

  Shaking his head, Starbuck pressed a hand to his chest. "I didn't take part in any of the negotiations betwixt Assault and our quartermasters," he said. "Of course, if I hadn't pointed out to Assault that their Ambrosa was so darn valuable, why, they might've left it piled up on the Proteus docks. Right?"

  "So you did collect something?"

  Starbuck spread his hands wide. "I was given, chum, what is known as an honorarium."

  "That's one name for it."

  "A nice polite one."

  Apollo stretched up out of the chair, shaking his head but grinning. "Well, I hope you don't choke on your dinner this evening."

  "Listen, I got interrupted the last time I tried this," Starbuck told him, "and sent out on patrol. This time I plan to get all the way through the darn meal."

  Robber asked, "Well?"

  Starbuck circled the young woman, rubbing thoughtfully on his chin. "It's my considered opinion," he said, "that you look absolutely terrific."

  "Hey, I don't want flattery and—"

  "A Starbuck never flatters," the lieutenant informe
d her. "You really do look just fine."

  "Ever since they turned me loose from that damn infirmary, I've been sort of uneasy," she said. "Passing out like that . . . well, hell, it shook my confidence. I keep thinking maybe I'm an invalid."

  "To me you seem to be in what is known in medical circles as crackerjack shape."

  "And my clothes are okay?"

  "When I escort you to dinner at the Rising Star, envy will be the emotion all other guys'll feel. The ladies will be visited with jealousy."

  "Sure," she said. "The thing I'm worried about . . . this is the first time I . . . you know, that I've been out in public, so to speak. Except for that party the other night."

  "And that didn't end up so well." Starbuck crossed to the door. "Even though you proved to be the heroine of the evening."

  "C'mon, quit kidding me."

  "You know, that's my burden in life," he complained as he opened the door. "I keep telling folks nothing but the truth and they keep accusing me of kidding or boasting."

  Smiling, she took his arm. "I guess I'm just not used to somebody like you."

  "How could you be? There's nobody else like me in the whole darn universe."

  The grey-haired waiter smiled broadly. "One is overjoyed to see you again, Lieutenant," he said, bowing impressively. "And more is delighted at having this opportunity to meet, even in one's humble professional capacity, this admirable young lady. For even here the news of her courageous deed has penetrat—"

  "It was Forger opened the damn door," put in Robber. "All I did was tell the nitwit to—"

  "Since you're so buoyed up," Starbuck mentioned to the waiter, "you should be able to arrange a private dining room for us."

  "You really desire one, sir?" The waiter blinked. "One was of the opinion that, in the light of what took place on the last memorable occasion that you honored us with your—"

  "Nevertheless, I'm in the mood to do everything in style tonight," said Starbuck. "So lead on."

  "Very well, sir," said the waiter, not moving from the spot where he'd first greeted them. "One does have one room available. However . . ."

  Starbuck started to reach into his pocket for a coin. "Maybe this'll—"

  "No, no, one isn't angling for an honorarium, sir," the waiter assured him with a quick shake of his head. "One merely wished you to be aware of certain facts, so that there wouldn't be a repetition of what occurred before."

  Starbuck frowned. "You don't mean . . .?"

  "Yes, one does. The other young ladies," said the waiter. "The very two you were dining with, or ought one to say attempting to dine with, on that fateful eve. They happen—even as we speak—to be occupying the dining cubicle next to the one you desire."

  "Cassiopeia?"

  "The same, sir."

  "Athena?"

  "As well."

  "Having dinner?"

  "Together, sir."

  "That's odd."

  "One couldn't help overhearing a portion of their conversation," the waiter told him. "They seem to be drawn together . . . um . . . by a mutual . . . um . . . how shall one phrase this? . . . By a shared antipathy for you, Lieutenant."

  Starbuck scratched his head. "Roberta, I hope you won't think me a coward," he said to the young woman. "But I don't think we ought to dine in the vicinity of these two ladies."

  "I can understand that," she said.

  The waiter lowered his voice. "Might one recommend the cafe on the next level, sir? Not as posh, nor as well-staffed, as we are. But it provides many a shadowy corner and intimate nook. It also has the advantage, one hastens to add, of being nowhere near the two young ladies in question."

  "That's a terrific suggestion." Taking Robber's hand, Starbuck led her toward the nearest exit from the Rising Star. She asked, "Are you going to explain all this to me sometime?"

  "This very night," he promised. "And probably at great length."

  Table of Contents

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE