Titan

"Engine," Calvin said. Cirocco glanced at him, got a glimpse of his brown eyes before he turned back to his work.

"That was my thought. A real big fusion ramscoop. The machinery is in the hub, electromagnetic field generators to fu

Gaby shrugged. "Makes sense. But what about docking?" "Well, leaving the thing would be easy enough. just drop out a hole in the bottom and get escape velocity for free, plus some to fool around with. But there ought to he some sort of dingus that would telescope out to the center of rotation when the engine isn't ru

She turned to face the camera. "Send me what you can about hydrogen ramscoop engines," she said. "See if you can give me some idea of what to look for if Themis has one".

"You'll have to take your shirt off," Calvin said.

Cirocco reached up and switched off the camera, leaving the sound on. Calvin thumped her back and listened to the results while Cirocco and Gaby continued to study the picture of Themis. They came up with no new insights until Gaby brought UP the matter of the cables.

"As far as 1 can tell, they form a circle about midway between the hub and the rim. They support the top edges of the reflecting panels, sort of like the rigging on a sailing ship."

"What about these?" Cirocco asked, indicating the area between two of the spokes. "Any idea what they're for?"

"Nope. There's six of them, and they run midway between the spokes from the hub to the rim, radially. They pass through the reflects 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 1 don't try out that five-million-dollar hospital how am 1 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 1 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 any- one 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 he 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 case, 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 bigger than Gaby and could only take three steps.

"Gaby, human interactions in confined environments is a well-researched field. They've tried all-male ships. Even all- female once. They've tried it with all-married crews, and with all singles. They've had rules forbidding sex, and they've had no rules at all. None of them worked well People will get on each other's nerves, and they're going to have sex. That's why I don't tell anybody what to do in private."

"I'm not trying to say that you -"

"Just a minute. I said all that so you'd know I'm not unaware of potential problems. I should bear about specific ones."

She waited.

"It's Gene," Gaby said. "I've been making it with both Gene and Calvin. Like 1 say, it's no big thing for me. I know Calvin's got this thing for me. I'm used to that. At home, Id just cool him off. Here, I fuck with him to keep him happy. It makes very little difference to me either way.

"But I'm fucking Gene because he.... he has this.... this pressure. You know?" She had bailed her hands into fists. Now she opened them and looked to Cirocco for understanding.

"I've had some experience with it, yes." Cirocco kept her voice even.

"All right, he doesn't satisfy you. He told me that. It bothered him. That kind of intensity scares me, maybe because I don't understand it. I've been seeing him to try to ease his tension."

Cirocco pursed her lips.

"Let me get this straight. Are you asking me to take him off your hands?"

"No, no, I'm not asking you anything. I told you, I'm just making you aware of the problem, if you weren't already. What you do about it is up to you."

Cirocco nodded. "All right. I'm glad you told me. But he's going to have to live with this. He's stable, well-adjusted, a bit of a dominating personality, but he's got it well under control or he wouldn't he here."

Gaby nodded. "Whatever you think best."

"One more thing. It's no part of your duty to keep anyone fully satisfied. Any burden you feel in that direction is self- assumed."

"I understand that."

"Just so you do. I'd hate to think you thought I expected it of you. Or that you expected it of me." She searched the other woman's eyes until Gaby looked away, then reached over and patted her knee.

"Besides, it'll take care of itself. We're all going to be too busy to think much about screwing."