"A week might be soon enough," said the Commissioner. "It also might not."
"I know it," said Quillan. "But the Aurora does look a little bit obvious, doesn't she?"
"Yes," Holati Tate admitted. "Just a little bit."
19
By lunchtime, Trigger was acting almost cordial again. "I've got the Precol job lined up," she reported to Holati Tate. "I'll handle it like I used to, whenever I can. When I can't, the kids will shift in automatically." The kids were the five assistants among whom her duties had been divided in her absence.
"Major Quillan called me up to Mantelish's lab around ten," she went on. "They wanted to see Repulsive, so I took him up there. Then it turned out Mantelish wanted to take Repulsive along on a field trip this afternoon."
Holati looked startled. "He can't do that, and he knows it!" He reached for the desk transmitter.
"Don't bother, Commissioner. I told Mantelish I'd been put in charge of Repulsive, and that he'd lose an arm if he tried to walk out of the lab with him."
Holati cleared his throat. "I see! How did Mantelish react?"
"Oh, he huffed a bit. Like he does. Then he calmed down and agreed he could get by without Repulsive out there. So we stood by while he measured and weighed the thing, and so on. After that he got friendly and said you'd asked him to fill me in on current plasmoid theory."