"And lovely bureaucrats crawling out of every file cabinet," Chung said grimly. "No, thank you. We'll fight any such attempt to the last lawyer. We've got a good basis, too, in our charter. If the suit is tried on Ceres, as I believe it has to be, we'll get a sympathetic court as well."
"Unless they ring in an Earthside judge," Avis warned.
"Yeah, that's possible. Also, they could spring proceedings on us without notice. We've got to find out in advance, so we can prepare. Any chance of pumping some of those officers?"
"'Fraid not," Avis said. "The few who'd be in the know are safely back on shipboard."
"We could invite 'em here individually," said Blades. "As a matter of fact, I already have a date with Lieutenant Ziska."
"What?" Avis' mouth fell open.
"Yep," Blades said complacently. "End of the next watch, so she can observe the Pallas arriving. I'm to fetch her on a scooter." He blew a fat smoke ring. "Look, Jimmy, can you keep everybody off the porch for a while then? Starlight, privacy, soft music on the piccolo—who knows what I might find out?"
"You won't get anything from her," Avis spat. "No secrets or, or anything."
"Still, I look forward to making the attempt. C'mon, pal, pass the word. I'll do as much for you sometime."
"Times like that never seem to come for me," Chung groaned.