He shook his head and left the Control Tower wearily.
"What's eating him?" asked the relief.
"He's just sent Blue Three into the Uranus quadrant," replied Reilly.
The relief gave a low whistle and turned to look out over the earthlit moonscape. "Too bad."
Hartnett caught the Commander's eye as he worked at the control board.
"Sorry to crowd you like this, Mr. Scott," he said.
"It's nothing at all, sir. It's a pleasure to have you aboard." Even as he said it, Scott realized how stupid it must sound. Of course it crowded him to have Hartnett aboard and it annoyed him being the second ranking officer on his own ship.
Commodore Hartnett smiled at the Commander's words. There was hardly anything else he could say, poor devil. Rank has its privileges, he thought. But he said: "Glad you feel that way," and fell silent watching Scott and the Quartermaster guide the ship through the first stages of acceleration.
Scott felt he should say something more, but he wasn't at all sure just what. Finally he said, "We've only an hour or so more of acceleration, sir. If there's anything you want tied down in your cabin, you'd best notify Mr. Ward. The Darkside has no gravitators."