Wales hadn't worried much about it, at first. He had his own job. Fitting the arriving millions into a crowded new planet, a new, hard way of life, was work enough. He was fourth in command at Resettlement Bureau, and that meant a job that never ended.
Even when the Secretary called him in to the new UN capital on Mars, he'd only expected a beef about resettlement progress. He hadn't expected what he got.
The Secretary, an ordinarily quiet, relaxed man, had been worn thin and gray and nervous by a load bigger than any man had ever carried before. He had wasted no time at all on amenities when Wales was shown in.
"You knew Kendrick personally?"
There was no need to use first names. Since five years before, there was only one Kendrick in the world who mattered.
"I knew him," Wales had said. "I went to school with both Lee and Martha Kendrick—his sister."
"Where is he?"
Wales had stared. "Back on Earth, at Westpenn Observatory. He said he'd be along soon."
The Secretary said, "He's not at the Observatory. He hasn't come to Mars yet, either. He's disappeared."
"But, why—"