her favor. She wanted to be included.
As Demba looked at Jamie her face relaxed and softened, as if she read Jamie's mind. "So much to say and too soon to say it. And now, too late. I have something I want you to keep for me."
She brought forth a silver pouch and handed it to Jamie. Jamie started to open it but the admiral held her hand to prevent it. She held her hand for a long moment.
"Don't look at it until you are in a private place. Don't show it to anyone. Keep it on your person at all times. It will protect you from certain things. If I don't return, it's yours."
"If you don't return?" Jamie queried with alarm.
"I've received an invitation much like the one Doctor Mnro received. I can't take the thing with me. It's too valuable and also prevents a transmat lock."
"Don't go!" Jamie was almost panicked by this news and afraid she had triggered it by intercepting the intruding admiral.
"I must. He has Sammy. He abducted him by transmat."
Jamie was overcharged with emotion once again. Feelings came easily and quickly in the presence of this dark woman. The admiral held Jamie's hands with the silver pouch within. She stared hard at Jamie's face. Then she released her. The admiral backed up, turned, walked away.
"Wait!"
Demba didn't wait. She walked rapidly. Jamie followed.
"I see it in your eyes!" Jamie declared. "You know me! It must be why you tolerate me! But I don't know you! And even Captain Direk seems to know me!"
"Direk?" Demba queried but did not stop.
"And maybe even Doctor Mnro seems to know me! I wish you could explain it to me!"
"It would complicate things for you," Demba said.
"It can't be much more complicated! I haven't stopped thinking about you and Sammy since I met you!"
Demba halted then and turned to face Jamie. Her eyes shone with tears. Tears! What admiral ever wept? Sammy was vital to Demba. Was Jamie also important to Demba? Why?
"How could you believe me," Demba said with tears also in her voice, "if I told you I was your mother?"
A transmat reference field seized her at that instant and processed her into nothingness.
Her entire body buzzing with shock from Demba's words, Jamie reported immediately by shiplink to Captain Horss, willing herself to maintain discipline. She forced the words into faint coherence, ignoring Horss's efforts to interrupt.
"We must do something, sir!" she demanded, ending her report.
"I'm aware of the situation," Horss replied gravely. "Do as the admiral ordered."
"Damn it, sir!"
"The admiral can take care of herself, Major, I promise you."
"But it's my job to protect her! And she says she's my mother!"
"Exactly why it's our job to protect you. I've never met anyone who needs protecting less than Admiral Demba. Carry on."
"Major Jones," a different voice in her head spoke.
"This is Jones. Who are you?"
"My name is Freddy. I'm the admiral's inorganic child, so to speak. I'm an AMI."
"Hello, Freddy. What do you want?" She barely realized what this person had said, just lumped his input into the growing list of people for whom Demba was more than just an admiral.
"I'm standing next to the captain and I overheard his conversation with you. I have some experience in rescue missions and I'm willing to help you."
"Thank you, Freddy, but you follow the captain's orders."
"I've rescued her before! I'll do whatever is necessary! I can't lose her! I need her! I'm her baby! Sammy is my brother!"
Jamie was astonished by the emotional outburst of the... AMI, did he say? She added him to the ranks of her mysteries-to-be-solved. Then she knew who else might help her. "Sorry, but I need to speak to another person now."
Jamie called Captain Direk on her shiplink. The words exploded from her. "The admiral and Sammy have been removed from the ship!"
"I know," Captain Direk replied calmly. "Did the admiral give you something?"
"Yes. How did-"
"Where are you?"
"Close to Docking Bay One."
"Go to exactly 95 Ring Zero and wait there."
As she reached 95 degrees on the deserted perimeter walkway Jamie heard a solid thump behind her, as though something heavy fell on the deck.
"Damn!"
She turned around to see Captain Direk and an admiral. The admiral had shouted the expletive as though he was shocked to suddenly appear. It did seem too sudden for a transmat but this oddity vanished under the avalanche of her concern for Demba and Sammy. She knew the admiral was Khalanov. Khalanov frowned, though not at Jamie. He recovered and seemed thoughtful.
"Why did we have to jump?" Khalanov asked.
Captain Direk ignored the question of his superior officer.
"Major Jones, this is Admiral Khalanov."
She started to salute. They had no time for military custom.
"What's this about?" Khalanov asked Jamie.
Jamie answered and watched the alarm rise in Khalanov's face. He cared for Demba, genuinely cared for her! Another admiral of a different breed!
"This is bad!" Khalanov swore. "This is very bad! Why does he not want Demba in command of the mission?"
"The item Admiral Demba gave you?" Captain Direk asked Jamie.
She tightly clenched it in her hand, all of her emotion concentrated in her fingers. She opened her hand and showed the silver pouch to him. He didn't react, but Khalanov did.
"She gave you that?"
"You know what it is, sir?"
"You do not know?"
"I know it weighs nothing at all."
"Guard the admiral," Captain Direk ordered her.
"Yes, sir. What will you do?"
"I'm about to lose a secret to the enemy. This may precipitate some action on their part. I'll ask Captain Horss to ready the ship for immediate departure. Admiral Khalanov will have engineering duties to perform on the bridge. Stay with him until the drive envelope cuts off transmat probing."
Captain Direk took several steps backward and faded into nothingness.
2-08 1980CE - The Proposal
Milly woke up too early and couldn't get back to sleep. All she could think about was Sam and the experiment. It was already more than a week past when she expected him to return from out West, and he hadn't called. She couldn't imagine anything good had happened. It was her nature to expect the worst, and it was strangling her to keep picturing Sam as having failed. Perhaps he was already back on campus and avoiding telling her the bad news. But Sam was no coward and no liar. Milly was sure he would not delay telling her the outcome of the experiment, good or bad. But she could never set herself up for a big disappointment. Her mind stewed itself in gloomy imaginings as she pried herself out of bed and did battle with the wheelchair and the bathroom.
"Sam!"
She spotted his suitcase by the bookshelf and him sleeping on the sofa. He had a key to her apartment. He must have let himself in, coming here straight from the airport. Why didn't he wake her? What was wrong?
He stirred. Milly rolled in as close as she could and nudged Sam until he was fully awake and aware of her. He seemed to begin to smile but stopped and regarded her thoughtfully. The room was still dark and Milly couldn't be sure of what she saw in his Asian face.
"Good morning!" she greeted, almost in pain from stifling her curiosity.
/
"Good morning." Sam almost sprained his mouth stopping a smile. He sat up and stretched and yawned. He placed a hand on each thigh and studied Miss Poker Face. He had hoped she would be all over him, wanting to know how the experiment went, but she remained true to her character. Milly would never get openly enthusiastic about anything, would never give anyone a hint of what cards she was holding in the Great Poker Game of Life. Sam contented himself with what he could imagine from the circumstantial evidence. She was still in The Game, still watching his eyes to see how firm his bet was. There had to be some connection between them, e
ven if it was only intellectual. He had learned to keep his eyes down, his hopes modest, his bets small. But now he knew he had a chance against her genius for probabilities. "Late flight," he said. "Let me use your bathroom."
/
Milly didn't see any defeat in Sam's face or in how he carried himself, walking to the bathroom. Her heart soared, making her hit herself in the chest to quell the emotion. She clasped her hands in prayer despite herself, but only after Sam closed the bathroom door. By the time he returned, she had squeezed her emotions into a tight container and willed herself to respond calmly to anything Sam said. That was rendered impossible by the next thing he said.
"We should get married," Sam said, matter-of-factly.
It was pure luck Sam had said it as he stepped behind her and took the handles of her wheelchair. He never saw the shock followed by joy on her face. By the time he could see her face again she hoped it reflected a somewhat humorous surprise - but no rejection!
"That's the last thing I could have imagined you would say, Sam." She responded as soon as she thought she could speak calmly. He had wheeled her to the kitchen table and sat down across the corner of it from her.
Sam looked confident to Milly, yet he was a man who continually expressed doubt about everything he did. She briefly considered challenging his state of mind, probing for his doubt, but she was too conscious of what his proposal meant to her, and too interested in what the proposal might imply about the result of his experiment.
/
"Is that a no?" Sam asked. It didn't seem so to him but he could never tell with Milly.
/
"Why should we get married, Sam?" Milly asked it seriously, not wanting to appear too eager to say yes.
"Because you and I could be together for a