by DRK
Nina McCleer carried a large book under her arm, walking in solitude in the Morning Garden under the early sun at the Governor's House. To the casual observer, she appeared to be out for an early morning stroll, ready to read poetry from one of the library's rare items. She refused to hide in the suite all day long, pining away to know the truth of George's fate. She saw no point in letting herself fall apart, in case he was found and returned to her alive. She didn't want him to see her broken and despairing. And if Xavier's story turned out to be the truth, that her husband indeed had died under tons of rock from a cave-in, she knew he would never want her to bereave herself to death.
She brought the volume along, not to read, but because she hid in between its pages the secret communicator that George had brought along on their trip. Nina kept it on hand at all times, to be ready to answer when Verify Ops called from Earth to let her know the date they would be sending their representative to explore the matter of George's disappearance. She wanted to meet him at the rocket port upon his arrival, to explain to him things as she saw them.
Naturally, Nina hid all this from Xavier. Why let him know what's coming and prepare him to hide evidence?
The sudden appearance of the governor, along with his niece and Osmo, in the very same garden while she considered all this, caught her completely off-guard. She hugged the book tightly, to muffle the sound of the transmission if the people of Earth should decide to call back now while the others were here to hear.
Xavier found her presence there equally unanticipated, but delightful. "Nina! How good to see you up and about!"
Sheila and Osmo greeted Mrs. McCleer as well, and asked, with genuine concern, how she was doing.
"I... am holding on, I guess," she told them. She sighed and steadied herself against a bench she was about to sit upon. "But I- I guess, though, I don't feel as well as I at first thought I would. If you all will please pardon me, I- I feel faint. I think I will go inside to lie down for awhile."
"Of course. Of course. It is understandable. Please take care of yourself," said Xavier. Inside his heart, he wished he could win her trust again, like in the old days. He sighed. One can be a great man, and yet it is still no guarantee of a life absent of great disappointment.
When she left, Sheila shook her head sadly. "Uncle, she is crushed. It is very hard for Mrs. McCleer. She loved- loves him so much. I heard it in her voice, that day of the accident. We were talking just before you came with the awful news."
Xavier replied, "All we can do is hope that in time she will recover, that it will not hurt her then as much as surely it does now."
The governor abruptly changed the subject. "I appreciate your coming at this early hour, Osmo."
"No problem," Osmo assured him. "When my training starts, which will be shortly, per Sec. Ldr. Clyden, I imagine the hours will be long and hard. I think then I will be up very early, and not get to rest until very late. Might as well get used to it. As my father used to try to tell me, a little discipline is good for a person."
Gov. Bright chuckled good-naturedly. "Of course, of course. The reason I asked Sheila to bring you this morning is because my regular report to Earth is scheduled in a few minutes. I wanted to inform your father of your decision to take a job with the Security Agency, and I thought it appropriate for you to tell him yourself. It might mean a lot to him, to see his boy growing into a man."
"A fine idea, Gov. Bright," complimented Osmo. "I also want to show him the photos we took of the memorial. He will like that, seeing how well-maintained the caretakers keep the park, probably just like he remembers it from the last time he was here."
"I am glad you noticed our meticulous care. As I said before, your mother deserves the highest honor."
Sheila asked Osmo, "So, then, if you plan to show your dad your photos, you must have remembered where you lost your camera?"
"I didn't exactly find it yet, but I think it fell behind or under the sofa in the rec hall when I set it upon the back of the sofa after viewing the pictures."
Xavier checked his watch. "You'd better hurry and fetch it. I connect with Earth in five minutes."
"Okay, I'm there," said Osmo, turning and charging into the mansion through a nearby door and dashing down the hall toward the rec hall.
Meanwhile, Nina already sat on that sofa in the rec hall. She had only reached there, and not her suite, when Verify Ops radioed her. "Mrs. McCleer, are you there? Mrs. McCleer?"
She sat with her book on the sofa after having ascertained that nobody was in the hallway beyond the rec hall, including no robots. Opening the book, she took out the comm-unit and pressed the proper buttons to make it two-way. Whispering, she affirmed hearing the speaker.
The voice told her, "Our representative shall be arriving two days from now. Please be so kind as to meet him at the rocketport."
"Will do," she answered- Oh! She heard footsteps coming along the corridor outside the rec hall. She shoved the comm square back into the book and rushed out of there with the book from the back exit. She didn't realize the comm-unit fell from the pages inside the book.
Osmo just missed seeing her leave as he entered.
He easily located his digi-cam and picked it up, just where he said, on the floor behind the sofa. Then he noticed, there on the floor by the sofa, a strange black square device. Puzzled, he picked it up and looked at it. As he did so, a voice squeaked out, "Can you repeat, Mrs. McCleer? We did not copy that. The investigator will be there two days from now. You are to meet him at the rocketport. You can pretend he is a friend of yours come to help you through your difficult time. He will get to the bottom of Gov. Bright's doings, whether good or bad."
Shocked, Osmo stared at the comm-unit. What's this? What's this? What was that voice talking about? Mrs.McCleer apparently, with this secret communications device, plotted with Earth against the governor! No! She seemed so nice! Maybe, Osmo reasoned within himself, the loss of her husband was too much for her mind. But where did she get this device?
He didn't think it right for her to betray her host, and, he had to admit, he didn't know what the wise governor would deem the best way to treat the matter. He also didn't want to get her in trouble reporting the matter to the governor. She already suffered so much. If Gov. Bright sent her back to Earth while she was still in this mourning phase, and obviously so confused, if he sent her away from here before they could reach her husband's body and she could have a proper funeral for him or take the body back with her to Earth, then it might be too much for her already in her state of mental turmoil, and who knows if she would ever recover.
What to do? Osmo didn't know what this was all about, or what was the best way to deal with it-
When he heard advancing voices and footsteps in the outside corridor- those of Gov. Bright and Sheila- his impulsive side took over. Without thinking anymore, he took the square device and pushed it behind the heavy bookshelf setting tight against the wall. There! Now nobody could get the strange thing, whatever it was, because first one had to empty all the books from the shelf before ever trying to move the heavy bookshelf. Maybe Osmo could move it without taking off the books, but it was a cinch Mrs. McCleer would not be strong enough for such a task. Now Mrs. McCleer wouldn't find the secret communicator and be able to plot against Sheila's uncle, and at the same time Gov. Bright would be none the wiser. Now, no one would be hurt. And, wedged in between the wall and the shelf, no one could hear the muffled voice calling from Earth. Problem solved!
He quickly got it hid and Gov. Bright opened the door. "Hurry, Osmo time's almost up. We want to be punctual with Earth."
"Got it!" He held up his camera for them to see and then he hurried out the door to join them.
When Nina returned later looking for the comm-link, she shrugged. "If it isn't here, then where could it be? Anyway, two days from now, it won't matter, when the rep from Earth finally arrives and figures out what really happened in the mines."
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