My face must have telegraphed my mood, because he lurched to his feet and quickly added, "Now wait a minute, Maise. Don't get excited. You're not in command any more, so you don't have to stick to that authority line now. Oh sure, I know you're the Exec, but what the hell, Maise."
I stared at him for a moment, then said quietly, "Come on Kors. On your feet, too. Get that work done."
"Ha," said Korsakov, but he stood up.
Harding moved closer to me. "Confidentially, Maise," he said, "what do you really think?"
"About what?"
"You know—Frendon."
I shrugged. "What am I supposed to think?"
"You know as well as I do that he's a sickman."
"I told you not to use that nickname around me," I replied with annoyance. "Naturally you're going to mistrust them if you tie them up in your mind with a name like that."