Piranha

Je

“You know, Ray, you can be a real jackass,” she said, grabbing the Zip disk as it popped out from its drive.

“What?” asked Rubeo.

“We’re not in Junior high.”

“Hmmmph,” said her boss. He touched his small gold earring nervously, but said nothing else as they walked to the elevator. The computer labs were housed in the same underground complex as the Megafortress project, a convenient arrangement when Je

“You’re not cycling, are you?” hissed Rubeo.

“Why not?”

“We’ll take my car.”

“No, I don’t think so.”

Rubeo said something under his breath.

“You shouldn’t talk to yourself, Ray.” Je

She parked her bike—there was no need to lock it at Dreamland—and went inside to the notoriously slow elevator as Rubeo appeared in the lobby doorway. Finished with its complicated security protocol, the elevator doors began to close. Under other circumstances, Je

Too damn bad, she thought to herself, letting them slam closed as she looked right at him.

Chief Master Sergeant Terrence “Ax” Gibbs met her in the hallway outside Dog’s office.

“Ma,am, pleasure to see you,” said Ax. “Colonel’s inside; I’m on my way to get him a little coffee. You want a little something?”

“Not really.”

He smiled. “A pineapple Danish maybe?”

“Well, you twisted my arm. Thanks, Chief.”

“You know, you really should call me Ax,” he said.

“I’ll try to remember.”

He smiled, bowed—actually, really, truly, bowed—then vanished through the door to the stairway.

Je

“I have to wait for Dr. Rubeo and Commander Delaford anyway,” said Je

“So you beat me,” said Rubeo, entering the office. He looked out of breath, as if he had taken the stairs, though that was unlikely. “Congratulations.”

“I didn’t know it was a race.”

“The colonel is off the phone,” said Sally.

“He expects us,” said Rubeo. “Is Delaford in there?”

Before the sergeant could say anything, Rubeo pushed inside with a brisk but short knock. Je

“We’re ready to deploy Piranha,” said Rubeo before he even sat down. “The new E-PROMs will be down within the hour. All we have to do is select a recovery site for them to default to.”

“Already?” said Colonel Bastian.

Rubeo touched his small gold earring. “Of course.”

Anyone else saying that might have smiled. The scientist was dead serious and even a little dismissive.

Je

“Some of the Navy people are drawing up plans for a makeshift warhead,” added Rubeo. “There are guidance issues, however.”

“I doubt it’ll be necessary.”

“Gives them something to do,” said Rubeo. “Otherwise, they tend to bother my people.”

That wasn’t true—the Navy people and the Dreamland scientists got along very well.

Ax opened the door, backing in with a tray of coffee and soda. Lieutenant Commander Delaford came in behind him, looking rumpled and tired. He’d left the computer lab about an hour before to take a nap.

“Don’t you ever knock?” Rubeo asked Ax.

“Hey, Doc, got you some of that green tea you like. Got some coffee for your Navy friend, needs it. Pepsi for you, ma’am. Diet, of course.”