Lanier touched her breast, his heart hammering. He gently rubbed the knuckles and backs of his fingers along the line between her hips and stomach. "I've never needed anyone more in my life," he said.

Carrolson ascended the ladder up the middle of the aisle. Farley and Lanier had dressed and seated themselves opposite each other. "Ten minutes and we'll be there," Carrolson said, deadpan. She looked at Farley and then turned her head toward Lanier, her eyes lingering for a moment on Farley's face. "It seems like the same sort of wall as the last one, but this one rises even higher above the level of the atmosphere with a narrower clearance—no more than a hundred meters—around the singularity. We should run the same tests we did before, though."

"Agreed," Farley said.

"Garry—" Carrolson began, regarding him intently.

"What?"

"Never mind." She descended the ladder and returned to the cockpit.

"Jesus, I'm embarrassed," Lanier muttered.

"Why, because you're human?" Farley asked.

"I have responsibilities," he said.

"There isn't a person on the Stone who doesn't," she said. "And there was an awful lot of hamky-pamky going on while I was there."

Despite himself, he chuckled. "That's 'hanky-panky.'"

"Whatever. Don't tell me you didn't notice?"

He shook his head. "No, I honestly didn't. The boss is the last to know."

"Only if the boss has his eyes shut. I doubt Hoffman is letting such things escape her."

"All right, so I'm a. . . I don't know. I'm not a prude, but I'm maybe a bit innocent."

"Not innocent at all," Farley said, reaching across to touch his arm. "And don't worry. You're still the boss."

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Vielgorsky had difficulty keeping his calm. He sweated profusely and smelled bad. His voice was hoarse. Mirsky almost felt sorry for him.

The black entranceway to the third chamber library opened impressively, and Pogodin and Pritikin urged the captive through with a few well-placed jabs of their AKVs. Mirsky followed at a more leisurely pace.

"This is where you've been wasting your time," Vielgorsky cried over his shoulder.

"You've never been here?" Mirsky asked, pretending surprise. "At the very least I would have thought you'd be curious."

"It's useless," Vielgorsky said. "It's filled with American propaganda. Why waste my time?"

Mirsky laughed out loud, more in anger than humor. "You poor son of a bitch," he said. "The people who built this starship were no more American than you or I." They halted before the ranks of chairs and chromium teardrops.

"If you kill me, Belozersky and Yazykov are fully capable of carrying on," Vielgorsky said.

"I'm not going to kill you," Mirsky said. "We need each other. I want you to sit down."

Vielgorsky stood his ground, shivering like a cold dog.

"The chairs won't eat you," Pogodin said, prodding him again.

"You cannot brainwash me," Vielgorsky blustered.

"No, but maybe I can educate you. Sit."