When he was paid no attention, however, he sulked over to his box and lay down and was immediately asleep. "Sergeant" Atoms would have been a poor choice to stand guard duty—he had been known to sleep the clock around, silent and unmoving. Great boats had been lifted from the cradles above him and others put into their place, and Atoms had dreamed on and on. And on.
Rhiannon started to apologize again.
"That's perfectly all right, soldier," Karrin said smoothly. "Commendable attitude!" He led the way past the cradles toward the rear of the Bed. "You want to help win the war, don't you?"
"Yes, yes," Rhiannon groaned.
Karrin beamed his approval. "Well, now, you may be able to do just that, my boy! How would you like to be—"
"I was exploring Polaris, sir." Rhiannon's tones were suddenly vacant. "The people there got three hea—" and the latter part of the word remained unspoken, forgotten.
Karrin's smile wavered. They had halted by a freight entrance opening onto the green-carpeted rear grounds. He drew the big man closer to him and snapped his words like a whip.
"Now listen, Rhiannon! How would you like to hit space again—to get your silver Sun back—to be reinstated as a commander!"
That tore through Rhiannon's fog and he reacted. He straightened his seventy nine inches into the position of attention. "I'd like nothing better, sir," he said.
Karrin made a great show of inspecting their immediate surroundings for eavesdroppers.