Titan (GAIA) Read Online Free Page B

run midway between the spokes, from the hub to the rim, radially. They pass through the reflecting panels, if that tells you anything.”
    “Not exactly. But if there’s any more of these things, maybe smaller ones, we should look for them. These cables are about—what did you say? Three kilometers around?”
    “More like five.”
    “Okay. So one that’s just a tiny thing—say about as big around as
Ringmaster
—might be invisible to us for a long time, especially if it’s as black as the rest of Themis. Gene’s going to be nosing around there in the SEM. I’d hate for him to hit one.”
    “I’ll get the computer on it,” Gaby said.
    Calvin began packing his equipment.
    “As disgustingly healthy as usual,” he said. “You people never give me a break. If I don’t try out that five-million-dollar hospital how am I going to make them believe they got their money’s worth?”
    “You want me to break somebody’s arm?” Cirocco suggested.
    “Nah. I already did that, back in medical school.”
    “Broke one, or fixed it?”
    Calvin laughed. “Appendix. Now
there’s
something I’d like to try. You don’t hardly get busted appendixes anymore.”
    “You mean you’ve never taken out an appendix? What do they teach you in medical school these days?”
    “That if you get the theory right, the fingers will follow. We’re too intellectual to get our hands dirty.” He laughed again, and Cirocco could feel the thin walls of her room shaking.
    “I wish I knew when he was serious,” Gaby said.
    “You want serious?” Calvin asked. “Here’s something you might never have thought of. Elective surgery. You folks have one of the best surgeons around—” He paused to allow the rude noises to die away. “One of the best surgeons there is. Does anyone take advantage of it? Not hardly. A nose job, now that’s going to cost you seven, eight thousand back home. Here you got it on the Blue Cross.”
    Cirocco drew herself up and gave him an icy glare.
    “You couldn’t be talking about
me
, could you?”
    Calvin held out a thumb and sighted along it to Cirocco’s face, squinting. “Of course, there’s other types of elective surgery. I’m pretty good at all of them. It was my hobby.” He moved his thumb lower. Cirocco aimed a kick at him and he ducked out the door.
    She was smiling when she sat down. Gaby was still there, the picture tucked under her arm. She perched on the tiny folding stool beside the cot.
    Cirocco raised one eyebrow.
    “Was there something else?”
    Gaby looked away. She opened her mouth to say something, didn’t manage to make a sound, then slapped her bare thigh with her palm.
    “No, I guess there wasn’t.” She started to get up, but didn’t.
    Cirocco looked at her thoughtfully, then reached up and turned the television sound off.
    “Does that help any?”
    Gaby shrugged. “Maybe. I would have asked you to turn it off anyway, if I could ever have started talking. I guess I figure it’s none of my business.”
    “But you felt you ought to say something.” Cirocco waited.
    “Yeah, okay. It’s your business how you run this ship. I want you to know I realize that.”
    “Go on. I can take criticism.”
    “You’ve been sleeping with Bill.”
    Cirocco laughed quietly. “I don’t ever
sleep
with him. The bed’s too small. But I get the idea.”
    Cirocco had hoped to put Gaby at ease, but apparently it hadn’t worked. Gaby stood and paced slowly, even though she could only go four steps before she reached the wall.
    “Captain, sex is no big thing to me.” She shrugged. “I don’t hate sex, but I’m not all that crazy about it, either. If I don’t have sex for a day or a year, I don’t even notice it. But most people aren’t like that. Especially men.”
    “I’m not like that, either.”
    “I know. That’s why I wondered how you … just what your feelings are toward Bill.”
    It was Cirocco’s turn to pace. It was even less satisfactory to her, since she was