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.Van Atta turned his head and grinned sardonically.“What’s the matter, Leo? Did Minchenko the medical mini-dictator order a little physiological revenge on you?”“Yeah, something like that.”he got it started at last, his legs flexing in an even rhythm.He had skipped too many sessions lately.“Have you talked to him since he came up?”“Yeah.” Van Atta’s legs drove against his machine, and angry whirring spurted from its gears.“Have you told him what’s going to be happening to the Project yet?”“Unfortunately, I had to.I’d hoped to put him off to the last, with the rest.Minchenko is probably the most arrogant of Cay’s Old Guard-he’s never made it a secret that he thought he should have succeeded Cay as Head of Project, instead of bringing in an outsider, namely me.If he hadn’t been slated for retirement in a year, I’d damn well have taken steps to get rid of him before this.”“Did he, ah-voice objections?”“You mean, did he yowl like a stuck pig? You bet he did.Carried on like I was personally responsible for inventing the damned artificial gravity.I don’t need this shit.” Van Atta’s treadmill moaned in counterpoint to his words.“If he’s been with the Project from the beginning, I guess the quaddies are practically his life’s work,” allowed Leo reasonably.“Mm.” Van Atta marched.“It doesn’t give him the right to go on strike in a snit, though.Even you had more sense, in the end.If he doesn’t show signs of a more cooperative attitude when he’s had a chance to calm down and think through how useless it is, it may be easier to extend Curry’s rotation and just send Minchenko back downside.”“Ah.” Leo cleared his throat.This didn’t exactly smell like the good opening he’d been hoping for.But there was so little time.“Did he talk to you about Tony?”“Tony!” Van Atta’s treadmill buzzed like a hornet for a moment.“If I never see that little geek again in my life it will be too soon.He’s been nothing but trouble, trouble and expense.”“I was rather hoping to get some more use out of him, myself,” said Leo carefully.“Even if he’s not medically ready to go back on regular Outside work shifts, I’ve got a lot of computer console work and supervisory tasks I could delegate to him, if he was here.If we could bring him up.”“Nonsense,” snapped Van Atta.“You could much more easily tap one of your other quaddie work gang leaders-Pramod, say-or pull any quaddie in the place.I don’t care who, that’s what I gave you the authorization for.We’re going to start moving the little freaks down in just two weeks.It makes no sense to bring up one Minchenko wouldn’t let out of the infirmary till then.And so I told him.” He glared at Leo.“I don’t want to hear one more word about Tony.”“Ah,” said Leo.Damn.Clearly, he should have taken Minchenko aside before he’d muddied the waters with Van Atta, Too late now.It wasn’t just the exercise that was making Van Atta red in the face.Leo wondered what all Minchenko had really said-doubtless pretty choice, it would have been a pleasure to hear.Too expensive a pleasure for the quaddies, though.Leo schooled his features to what he hoped would be read through his puffing and blowing as sympathy for Van Atta.“How’s the salvage planning going?” asked Van Atta after a while.“Almost complete.”“Oh, really?” Van Atta brightened.“Well, that’s something, at least.”“You’ll be amazed at how totally the Habitat can be recycled,” Leo promised with perfect truth.“So will the company brass.”“And fast?”“Just as soon as we get the go-ahead.I’ve got it laid out like a war game.” He closed his teeth on further double entendres.“You still planning the Grand Announcement to the rest of the staff at 1300 tomorrow?” Leo inquired casually.“In the main lecture module? I really want to be in on that, I have a few visual aids to present when you’re done.”“Naw,” said Van Atta.“What?” Leo gulped.He missed a step, and the springs slammed him painfully down on one knee on the treadmill, padded against just such clumsiness.He struggled back to his feet.“Did you hurt yourself?” said Van Atta.“You look funny.”“I’ll be all right in a minute,” He stood, leg muscles straining against the elastic pull, regaining his breath and equilibrium in the face of pain and panic.“I thought-that was how you were going to drop the shoe.Get everybody together, just go over the facts once.”“After Minchenko, I’m tired of arguing about it,” said Van Atta.“I’ve told Yei to do it.She can call them into her office in small groups, and hand out the individual and department evacuation schedules at the same time.Much more efficient.”And so Leo and Silver’s beautiful scheme for peacefully detaching the downsiders, hammered out through four secret planning sessions, was blown away on a breath.Wasted was the flattery, the oblique suggestion, that had gone into convincing Van Atta that it was his idea to gather, unusually, the entire Habitat downsider staff at once and make his announcement in a speech persuading them all they were being commended, not condemned.The shaped charges to cut the lecture module away from the Habitat at the touch of a button were all in place.The emergency breath masks to supply the nearly three hundred bodies with oxygen for the few hours necessary to push the module around the planet to the Transfer Station were carefully hidden within.The two pusher crews were drilled, their pushers fueled and ready.Fool he had been, to lay plans that depended on Van Atta following through on anything.Leo felt suddenly sick.It was going to have to be the second-choice plan, then, the emergency one they’d discussed and discarded as too risky, too potentially uncontrolled in its results.Numbly, he detached his springs and harness and hooked them back in their slots on the treadmill frame.“That wasn’t an hour,” said Van Atta.“I think I did something to my knee,” lied Leo.“I’m not surprised.Think I didn’t know you’ve been skipping exercise sessions? Just don’t try to sue GalacTech, ‘cause we can prove personal neglect.” Van Atta grinned and marched on virtuously.Leo paused.“By the way, did you know that Rodeo Warehousing just misshipped the Habitat a hundred tons of gasoline? And they’re charging it to us.”“What?”As Leo turned away he had the small vindictive satisfaction of hearing Van Atta’s treadmill stop and the snap of a too-hastily-detached harness rebounding to slap its wearer.“Ow!” Van Atta cried.Leo did not look back.Dr.Curry met Claire as she arrived for her appointment at the infirmary.“Oh, good, you’re just on time.”Claire glanced up and down the corridor, and her eyes searched the treatment room into which Dr.Curry shoo’d her.“Where’s Dr.Minchenko? I thought he’d be here.”Dr.Curry flushed faintly.“Dr.Minchenko is in his quarters.He won’t be coming on duty.”“But I wanted to talk to him.”Dr.Curry cleared his throat.“Did they tell you what your appointment was for?”“No.I supposed it was for more medication for my breasts.”“Ah, I see.”Claire waited a moment, but he did not expand further
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