Borzov returned to the rover. After waiting for several seconds he offered Dr. Brown a ride back to the base. The American shook his head without saying anything, hoisted his pack onto his back, and walked off in the direction of the helicopter and the elevator.
3
CREW CONFERENCE
Outside the meeting room in the training facility, Janos Tabori was sitting on an auditorium chair underneath an array of small but powerful portable lights. “The distance to the simulated biot was at the limit of the reach of the mechanical arm,” he explained to the tiny camera that Francesca Sabatini was holding. “Twice I tried to grab it and failed. Dr. Brown then decided to put the helicopter on manual and take it a little closer to the wall. We caught some wind…
The door from the conference room opened and a smiling, ruddy face appeared. “We’re all here waiting for you!” said General O’Toole pleasantly. “I think Borzov’s becoming a little impatient.”
Francesca switched off the lights and put her video camera back in the pocket of her flight suit. “All right, my Hungarian hero,” she said with a laugh, “we’d better stop for now. You know how our leader dislikes waiting.” She walked over and put her arms gently around the small man. She patted him on his bandaged shoulder. “But we’re really glad you’re all right.”
A handsome black man in his early forties had been sitting just out of the camera frame during the interview, taking notes on a flat, rectangular keyboard about a foot square. He followed Francesca and Janos into the conference room. “I want to do a feature this week on the new design concepts in the teleoperation of the arm and the glove,” Reggie Wilson whispered to Tabori as they sat down. “There are a bunch of my readers out there who find all this technical crap absolutely fascinating.”