There it was, the first part of the story that she was here to tell. It contained its own veiled warning. For the past decade, Sky City had dominated all space activities connected with the shield. Colombo’s position and influence depended upon keeping it that way. Competition to Sky City’s monopoly would hit Bruno Colombo in his most vulnerable place.

As Maddy prepared to deliver the second part of her message she felt doubts of her own. Would any single individual, John Hyslop or anyone else, be able to make a difference to the whole schedule? Gordy Rolfe insisted that Hyslop could and would, but Maddy was not so sure.

She had been keeping one eye on Colombo for a possible outburst. When he remained totally calm, Maddy’s suspicions grew. Colombo was so unruffled because he had known of the whole agenda for this meeting in advance. All her instincts said setup.

“I feel sure it will not be necessary to look anywhere but Sky City,” Bruno Colombo said quietly. “We will cooperate with you in every way and respond to your every request. If there is ever a shred of difficulty, you will have direct personal access to me. I can promise our maximum effort in returning the whole program to schedule. As for the project to bring a third asteroid to suitable Earth orbit, I propose that the program manager for that work be John Hyslop. There is no better person to lead such a project in the whole solar system.”

Setup, sure and certain. The whole thing smacked of Gordy Rolfe’s fine Italian hand. Maddy was listening to Colombo, but she had been watching John Hyslop’s face. Colombo’s sudden proposal for Hyslop’s reassignment had clearly come as a shock. The engineer was sitting speechless, eyebrows raised and mouth open like a startled frog.

“I know nothing of Mr. Hyslop’s background,” Maddy said. See, Dr. Colombo, I can lie as well as you. “However, I have every confidence in your judgment of him. When would the transfer take place?”

“I assume that time is of the essence.” Bruno Colombo frowned. “Therefore, I see no reason for delay. Reassignment can happen immediately.”

“No!” Hyslop came back to life. “Director, that’s totally impossible.”

“Why?”

“Because things can’t just be dropped when I’m right in the middle of them.”

John Hyslop’s rush of words and incredulous look told Maddy a lot. Bruno Colombo might think he was the god of Sky City, but there was an awful lot going on here that he didn’t know about.

“I’m deep into a dozen projects,” Hyslop continued, “here and out on the shield. We must have continuity — at the very least, I have to summarize the things that only I know about.”

“Hyslop, you have filed numerous reports attesting to the competence of your chief assistant. Are you denying the truth of those?”

“You mean Lauren Stansfield? Of course not. She’s exceptionally able and knowledgeable. She understands all the systems of Sky City as well as anyone. But she’s mainly an inside worker, not an open-space specialist.”

“Where is she now?”

“At the moment she happens to be out on the shield. But that’s unusual. She doesn’t have nearly as good a grasp of shield engineering as, say Will Davis.”

“So we will divide your old responsibilities. Lauren Stansfield will handle problems of Sky City engineering, and Will Davis will deal with outside activities relating to the shield. I assume that you are confident of Davis’s abilities?”

“Certainly. He’s first-rate. But — well — it’s not really that easy.”

Maddy could see how the argument was going. John Hyslop didn’t have a chance against Bruno Colombo. It had little to do with seniority, and nothing to do with who was right. She would bet that John never won an argument with Colombo. The director had a more assertive personality.

And Maddy? Maybe. It was just as well that there had been no argument. But Maddy was increasingly sure she deserved no credit for that. Everything had been greased before she ever set foot on Sky City.

“I agree, you need to tie up what you’ve been doing.” She interrupted Colombo, who was now demanding to know why the full status of each project had not been given in weekly progress reports. “We are hoping for fast action, too, but we don’t want to jeopardize ongoing work. We don’t want to make anyone have to admit he acted too quickly, and without adequate thought.” Yes, Director, that could mean you. “How long will you need, Mr. Hyslop, before you are ready to make the transfer?”

“I can coordinate everything with Lauren Stansfield and Will Davis and be ready to go in a week.”

“A whole week!” Bruno Colombo spoke to John Hyslop, but he was looking at Maddy. “Really, that sounds ridiculously long.”

“It’s acceptable.” Maddy was sure of it, someone had been applying heat to Bruno Colombo. She turned to the director. “So we agree. One week it is, then the official transfer. But I need Mr. Hyslop to make a brief trip to Earth beforehand, for general introductions. That should be done as soon as possible.” Maddy winced inside, knowing that she had just committed herself to another shuttle trip and no sleep. “We also need a planning session here to discuss overall schedules. Where can we hold such a meeting?”

The director waved a hand around the office. “Right here. We can continue where we are.”

“Not unless you are ready to give up your office.” Maddy was pushing deliberately, curious to see just how much ground Colombo was willing to give. “I need a private session, just me and John Hyslop. We have to get to know each other, and there are sensitive matters of Argos Group activities that cannot involve you.”

Bruno Colombo’s face reddened, and for a moment Maddy thought that she had gone too far. Finally he nodded. She saw the set of his mouth, and decided that she had probably made a mistake. He would not fight now — apparently she still, for no reason that she understood, was in a controlling position. But Colombo’s assistant, Goldy Jensen, must have learned her own grudge holding from a master. It was going to be tough on Maddy if she ever had to depend on the director of Sky City for charity.

“You may use my office if you so wish.” Colombo had himself under control. “Also, there are several rooms available on this level. Whichever you prefer.”

“We don’t want to disturb you. We’ll move.”

She gestured to John. He followed her out. As soon as they were through the outer office and beyond the hearing of Goldy Jensen, he said, “Ms. Wheatstone, I’ve heard of the Argos Group, but I don’t know anybody in it. How come you picked me?”

It was an excellent question. Unfortunately, Maddy didn’t have a good idea of the answer. She stalled, saying, “I’d rather you called me Maddy. After all, we’re going to be working together.”

“Fine. But why me?”

“Let me answer your question with a question. Do you think you are the best engineer on Sky City?”

He hesitated. “I don’t know.”

“Well, do you know of a better one?”

“No.” He seemed highly uncomfortable, refusing to meet her eye. It could mean that he was lying, but Maddy didn’t think so. More likely, he was the kind of person made thoroughly uncomfortable by compliments. She found that rather sweet.

“What you say matches what we’ve heard,” she said, . “that you’re the very best. That’s why we want you.”

It didn’t answer his question, but he didn’t ask again. Instead he scowled at her in a puzzled way and said, “If you think I’m the best, it seems strange to switch me from what I’m doing to the Aten asteroid work.”

“You don’t think you can handle that?”

“No! I know I can. It’s more like — well, this is going to sound like boasting, and I hate boasting. But the Aten asteroid transfer and mining aren’t all that difficult. I’d be willing to trust the job to any of my senior assistants. What I’m doing here is far harder, and far more urgent.”