Free V - The Original Miniseries by Kenneth Johnson

clearly. "Thank you . . . " He fumbled to explain. "English ... not well to me. Learned Arabic ... for going there."
She nodded sympathetically. "And they screwed up and sent you to L.A.?" "Yes," agreed William, remembering his entire miserable morning. "Screwed," he repeated, wondering what the new word meant. He felt fairly sure it was a colloquialism. He'd have to ask someone.
    "Well, L.A.'s not so bad. Beats Fresno, lemme tell you. What's your name?" "Ah-" he began, then remembered. "William."
    "Well, hi. I'm Harmy." She smiled. "That's short for Harmony ... can you believe it? I work here." She shifted the tray she was carrying, which was littered with empty paper cups and plates. "Food service, y'know." She scanned the card he held out. "Cryo-Cryogenics Transfer Unit. Well, c'mon, Willy. Let's go find it."
    William tried to match her expression to show his gratitude. Smiling wasn't as hard as it looked. They wended their way through the maze of pipes and holding tanks, each with attendants and gauges, until they looked upward at a series of catwalks spanning a huge pressure unit.
William recognized Steven as one of the men standing at the foot of the massive installation. The officer was shouting, "No, the pressure's still not balanced! Must be the inner seal that's bad. Someone will have to go inside."
     
Harmy called out, "Is this the Cryogenics Transfer Unit?" Steven looked over at her. "Yes-" Then his eyes fixed on William, who remembered guiltily that he was very late, and he snapped, "William! Where were you?"
     
He looked over at Harmy, who smiled encouragingly. "Uh ... I was lost." Steven shook his head, but obviously held back from any further remarks in the presence of the humans. "Well, get up there." He pointed to the catwalk overhead. "You'll be working with that man."
    William looked upward, to see a dark face he remembered, wearing a disgusted expression he knew, looking back at him. The man wearing a hardhat and business suit supplied, "Caleb Taylor is one of our best men. Caleb, meet William."
William was not surprised when Taylor did not speak. He couldn't think of anything to say either.
    JULIET PARRISH LOOKED UP TO SEE RUDOLPH METZ ENTER THE door of the laboratory, with Ruth only a pace behind him, looking upset. Juliet guessed quickly what the problem was. "Don't tell me they've canceled again!"
    Doctor Metz nodded. "Yes. We've been asked to be patient. Their scientists have been too busy setting up the processing at the plants to finish their introductory presentations for us. I just spoke to Vasily Andropov, who was chosen for the Soviet team, and he told me in confidence that their team's visit has been postponed too!"
Juliet was profoundly disappointed, making no attempt to hide it. "But this is the second time! When did they say they'd be able to do it?"
    Ruth shook her head disgustedly. "They didn't. 'A week or two' was the only thing we could get out of the Visitor who delivered the message. His name was Martin, and he seemed genuinely sorry, but he said Diana had personally given the order to postpone."
    "Damn!" Juliet stared morosely at one of the rat cages. "Everybody else is going up there! Did you hear that they're even giving kids special visits to the Mother Ships if they join up with this youth organization they're sponsoring? They call it the Visitor Friends."
    Doctor Metz nodded heavily. "I heard Kristine Walsh's broadcast earlier. Still, we mustn't be too disappointed. We must remember that the Visitors' primary reason for being here is the production of their chemical. Giving seminars for us is merely a courtesy."
Juliet made a face. "Not the way I heard it that first night. They were going to share `all the fruits of their knowledge' in exchange for our help with processing their chemical."
     
"You're right," Ruth said. "I remember those were their exact words." All three scientists turned as Benjamin Taylor poked his head in the door. "Doctor Metz ... glad I've found you.