Sankov’s white eyebrows bent low over his eyes. “Well?”
“Unless you can find another source of water besides the planet Earth.”
Sankov shook his head. “Don’t seem likely, does it?”
“Not very.”
“And except for that, seems to you there’s no chance?”
“None at all.”
Digby said that and left, and Sankov stared for a long time at nothing before he punched a combination of the local communiline.
After a while, Ted Long looked out at him.
Sankov said, “You were right, son. There’s nothing they can do. Even the ones that mean well see no way out. How did you know?”
“Commissioner,” said Long, “when you’ve read all you can about the Time of Troubles, particularly about the twentieth century, nothing political can come as a real surprise.”