Mark stood up, calmly enough. Sheffield turned his chair to face the audience and motioned him down again.
Sheffield decided there was no use in trying to imitate the courtroom dramas he had watched on the sub-ether. Pompous questions on name and condition of past life would get nowhere. Better to be direct.
So he said, “Mark, did you know what would happen when you told the crew about the first expedition?”
“Yes, Dr. Sheffield.”
“Why did you do it then?”
“Because it was important that we all get away from Junior without losing a minute. Telling the crew the truth was the fastest way of getting us off the planet.”
Sheffield could feel the bad impression that answer made on the audience, but he could only follow his instinct. That, and his psychologist’s decision that only special knowledge could make Mark or any Mnemonic so calm in the face of adversity. After all, special knowledge was their business.
He said, “Why was it important to leave Junior, Mark?”
Mark didn’t flinch. He looked straight at the watching scientists. “Because I know what killed the first expedition, and it was only a question of time before it killed us. In fact, it may be too late already. We may be dying now. We may, every one of us, be dead men.”
Sheffield let the murmur from the audience well up and subside. Even the captain seemed shocked into T-wedge immobility while Cimon’s smile grew quite faint.