Chapter 6. Earth, Buenos Aires, Day 300, 3015 Old Style
Egon stood by the rail, staring at the sky.
"Why so down?"
Egon did not move. "You know, you have a certain walk. I knew it was you."
"I have to go now. Jak and I have been put on alert. We'll be on the Prinz, and there are rumours of some kind of trouble in the Capricornus sector."
"Then you'll be up there. Do you see the Summer Triangle in the eastern sky? Follow the imaginary line from Vega through Altair to the arrowhead-shaped Capricornus in the sky. That's where you'll be."
"Goodby, Egon."
Egon continued to look at the asterism in the sky. He could hear the footsteps fade away.
A few minutes later a hand pressed on his shoulder. "What you looking at, Eggo?"
"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."
"Julius Caesar?"
"Yes -- written a long time ago by Shakespeare. How did you know?"
"Don't you remember the play? You looked funny in a toga."
"Zinaida will be on the Prinz. They'll be leaving soon. Trouble on the fringes or something . . ."
"Forget about her."
"I can't, Opie. I'm worried. I want to be with her out there ."
"She has Jak Le Roux. He plays a mean game of streaming rugby, you know."
"Isn't the game illegal?"
"What game isn't? You would be no match for Jak Le Roux. Move on, Eggo. There's a billion other fish in the sea."
"You have to help me, Opie."
"Help you what?"
"You know . . . help me get on board the Prinz."
"Impossible. You can't get within a parsec of a StarFleet ship without a half dozen klaxons going off."
"Nothing is impossible. There must be a way."
"Not in a million years."
"Doesn't your father work with the Star Line shipping company?"
"Yeah. And he's about to retire. So what?
"Then that's the answer."
"What answer?"
"I heard from a reliable source that the Prinz. will be escorting the Star Line's resupply convoy to Mu Arae. They might be in need of an astronavigator."
"I can't confirm or deny that. Father warned me about discussing his work."
"Say what? You're the reliable source who told me in the first place."
"Indeed I did, didn't I? I'll have to be more careful in the future. Loose lips sink ships."
"Indeed they do. Now are you going to help me or not?"
"You really like Zinaida, don't you?"
"A lot more than I'm liking you right now."
"Let me think about it, Eggo."
"There's not much time and you're a slow thinker."
"I'm quicker than you, when it comes to streaming rugby."
"This is bigger then that. All I know is that I need to be there. Don't ask me why . . ."
"I get it. But in a hundred convoys, the Star Line has never lost a ship."
Egon looked his friend in the eye. "Then let's keep the record that way."
ns 15.158.61.48da2
