"Didn't your Intelligence talk to the men who were with me?"
"Yes, of course. None of them would say more than you've said. They all wanted us to come here, but blind and unprepared. Well, Mister Donovan, we're going in!"
The floorplates shook under Wocha's tread. "You not talk to boss that way," he rumbled.
"Let be, Wocha," said Donovan. "It doesn't matter how she talks."
He looked ahead, and the old yearning came alive in him, the fear and the memory, but he had not thought that it would shiver with such a strange gladness.
And—who knew? A bargain—
Valduma, come back to me!
Jansky's gaze on him narrowed, but her voice was suddenly low and puzzled. "You're smiling," she whispered.
He turned from the viewscreen and his laugh was ragged. "Maybe I'm looking forward to this visit, Helena."
"My name," she said stiffly, "is Commander Jansky."