Sandra

“Sandra, can you get me a secondary line? I need to speak to the Director, if he’s there.”

“Of course sir, shall I call his office directly?”

“If you can get through,” Lawrence says, shaking his head. This was supposed to be a quiet weekend at home with Julia, the first in ages. Obviously the fire hadn’t gotten the message.

“Commander, are you still there?”

Lawrence jumps, nearly dropping the radiophone. “Yes, go ahead.”

“Two of your ships are requesting clearance to land; the last jump brought it only a mile away from the base docks. Is this urgent or can I send them on to the next dock?”

“What ships?”

“Mora and Pleetes?”

“Oh, yes, right,” Lawrence says, flipping through the log book. “Mora is there to pick up some prisoners, Pleetes is her guard.”

“From Ghater?”

“Below the Institution, yes.”

There’s a pause on the other end of the line, papers shuffle and someone swears. “Well, they can land, we have more empty docks than full, but I don’t think they’re going to be able to get anywhere near Ghater.”

“The fire?”

“Yeah, oh, wait, never mind. Back when the fires first started, a satellite entrance was built. Its part of the hospital’s evacuation plan, it’s marked on the blueprints.”

“Where’s the access?”

“On base, but it looks like it hasn’t been used in at least thirty years, so I don’t know if it’s still operational. The fire never jumped this far before, and the Institution just reopened fourteen years ago, in the Sampson Lull.”

“Not much seismic activity in your area though, is there?”

“Only when your boys are in town, Lawrence.”

“Funny.”

“This is a prison ship, though? Because Ghater’s triple max, and I don’t think anyone’s ever actually left it before. Hmm, they have their own catacombs, it looks like, below the access tunnel.”

“Mora’s our best,” Lawrence says, “She handles all the transfers between Cordy and Devenet. And Pleetes is her permanent guard.”

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A return to 2007 Additions.