There were still plenty of bugs to be worked out of McGuire, but now I could see our way clear to getting both Thurston and Baedecker off our backs for a while.
At that point, Brentwood stuck his head in the door. "What's going on?" he asked in his soft voice.
"We're going on to Phobos, Brentwood," I said. "Go on back to your room and stay there." He withdrew his head. I looked at Videnski. "Go lock him in, Ted. He gives me a pain in the neck."
I got the first laugh I'd heard in forty-eight hours.