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Was Aaron Hardy the person to manipulate toward those ends? She doubted it. The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced he was a tool. But she had to find out who was using him, before she could move on, to reach those strings she needed to pull. That could take time… and she wasn’t sure how much time she had.

There was a different vibe when Kris walked into CnC (beyond the usual reactions that her arrival tended to create, that is): In one way, it was less tense, the novel pressures of the Yellowstone eruption now days behind them; but at the same time, there was a renewed tension caused by the continued flight restrictions, and the prospect of an extended period without regular flights. Kris could feel it the moment she walked in, could see it on the faces of the staffers. It was a clear apprehension over things to come.

And she was part of that apprehension. The Verdant staffers would look at her in terms of her role as U.S. government liaison, and would see the implied threat she posed. To them, she was nothing more than a spy, an interloper that ultimately intended to subvert them. And unfortunately, they were exactly right. So Kris had no intention of denying it… instead, she intended to play it openly,
yes, I work for Uncle Sam, sorry for the intrusion, so let’s make the best of it, shall we? At least I’m easy on the eyes
…

She saw Aaron across the room, speaking to a staffer in the logistics section. She got close enough to hear Aaron tell the staffer, “You let her know she does not have the luxury of time. She has her requested equipment, and we need results
now
…” before he noticed Kris, and his demeanor abruptly changed. To the staffer, he finished with, “Go. Get them on the stick.”

As the staffer moved away, Aaron turned to Kris and smiled expansively. Inwardly, she winced: Anyone who saw that smile of his would know exactly what she had done to earn it.
Might as well show them videos
… outwardly, she returned the smile, though slightly more subdued, hoping to telegraph to Aaron:
Propriety, modesty, privacy
…

“Good morning, Miss Fawkes,” Aaron greeted her. “Ah, I expect the President has had a chance to review our counter-report to Geneva by now.”

Clumsy, but quick on the uptake
, Kris thought.
Thank goodness.
“Yes, he has,” she replied, glad to be able to get right down to business. “And he has some questions, of course. There may be areas where he thinks there is still room for compromise. I’d appreciate the CnC’s help in getting the information he’s looking for.”

“Of course,” Aaron nodded, maintaining friendly formality as best he could. Truth be told, he was not good at it. He had the look of a teen who, if given the opportunity, would grab her and duck into the nearest broom closet when he thought no one was looking. Well, he had been her first choice… it was her own fault. Nevertheless, she gamely allowed him to steer her toward one of the open workstations, where he began to outline its many functions and methods of data access, as well as its ability to draw information from or send information to the central workstation.

“That can be useful,” he explained, “because the central station can offer a more detailed display of raw data, or graphs and 3-D projections. It can also combine the data from multiple workstations. You can get a lot from looking at the big picture, but sometimes, you need that serious detail to work out what’s really going on.”

“I see,” Kris encouraged him, and listened patiently as he explained the controls of the station. She further prompted him with some opening questions, and Aaron showed her how to call that information up, how to display it in front of her, and how to send the more detailed projections to the central station. After awhile, Kris was calling up her own data, and asking further questions only when she needed clarification on something.

Many of her questions intentionally touched on the issue of supplies and deliveries, in an attempt to gauge his reaction to the subject. Not so much his actual answers, but the way he gave them… that was what Kris was paying attention to. And the more he said on the subject, the more Kris was convinced that he did not expect it to be an issue, or at least, not for very long.

So, she eventually reached a point where part of her research included calling up delivery schedules for the necessities Verdant needed to survive. Taking the opportunity by the reins, she said: “The satellites’ supply problems never seem to go away. I’m sure it’s always number one on your list of things to address.”

“Almost always,” Aaron replied casually.

Kris looked at him. “What about now?” Aaron returned her glance, but before he could reply, she added, “I got the impression that one of your pressing projects might have had something to do with supplies.”

Aaron replied, but after a noticeable pause, which Kris attached significance to… he was measuring his response, making sure he did not say too much. “Yes, we have a research project in the works, down in the science section. We’re looking into some new freight delivery systems.”

“New?” Kris did not have to feign confusion, and she let it show. “You can fly supplies in freighters… and you can put them on guided rockets. What else is there?”

“That’s what we’re exploring,” Aaron said. “It’s all very experimental, though.”

“Oh. So this isn’t what you were talking to that other technician about,” Kris said. To Aaron’s reaction, she added, “You seemed to be telling him to get some results from something.”

“Oh,” Aaron nodded quickly. “Actually, same project. But they’re lagging behind. With everything else going on, I may have to postpone the project if they can’t give us some coherent results soon.”

This, Kris could tell, was an outright lie. Whatever the project was, he had no intention of postponing anything. “What kind of results?”

Aaron shrugged, his eyes blinked… he was looking for a way to tell her something that wouldn’t tell her anything. “Some equations that need to be confirmed,” he responded finally. He seemed about to add something, probably as empty as his first reply, when a staffer appeared at his side. After a brief exchange, Aaron turned back to Kris. “Please excuse me,” he said, and his relief was evident. “Some business I need to take care of elsewhere. I’ll leave you to your research, and I hope to see you later.”

Aaron left with the staffer. Kris watched him go with veiled disappointment at not being able to get more out of him, but she recovered quickly: It was a testament to her ability to work a crowd, that she was soon eliciting help from the other nearby staffers, not monopolizing their time by any means, but all the same receiving as much assistance as she needed. And using the central workstation turned out to be useful in another way: Her occasional forays to the center of the room, knowingly putting herself on display while she coquettishly examined a projection she had created, didn’t hurt to guarantee she had more than enough men around to help her if she asked.

She set three research nodes in action before her, two of which, there for the benefit of her many onlookers, were related to her studies for the President, and intended to draw the most attention. The third, displayed as an innocuous table in the near corner, was a trace of research being carried out in the science section related to supplies and deliveries. She looked for names, dates, resources, anything that might be connected to such a search, but in fact, she wasn’t sure she’d know what she was looking for if it came up out of the workstation and bit her. There was an automation study that had the theoretical mathematics department busy. There were numerous equipment requisitions—Kris had heard Aaron mention equipment, but without specifics—though they seemed to be for everything under the sun
except
something that might conceivably carry freight. She registered the fact that most of the entries she encountered listed Dr. Jacqueline Silver as its research head, but then, so did most of the research projects in the science section that she could see. That made sense, as Dr. Silver was the head of the department, and obviously wanted research projects kept under her close supervision. But for the life of her, Kris couldn’t see anything in there. She finally made a copy of the data on a private chip, with the intention of having someone at the Presidential compound examine it later.

So intent was she on copying and concealing her chip that she almost didn’t notice someone appear alongside her. She looked up, perhaps too quickly, to find Julian Lenz standing next to her.

Julian reacted to her surprise. “Oh, sorry… didn’t mean to startle you.”

Kris responded by smiling and shaking her head. “Oh, that’s all right! I didn’t realize how absorbed I’d gotten in all this data.”

Julian glanced over the open documents filling the workstation, and smiled. “You should get out more.” Kris chuckled lightly, just an exhalation through her nose, really, but it conveyed the desired effect. Julian was pleased to see that his joke had gone over. He leaned closer to see her data. “Looking for anything in particular?”

“Some areas where there might be room for negotiation between your offices and ours,” Kris told him.

“Ah,” Julian nodded and glanced away, but he did not give her the impression of being bothered by her assignment, or her admission. After a moment’s pause, he added: “Having any luck?”

Kris stopped and looked up at the Ceo. That was probably the last thing she expected to hear him say… well, maybe second-to-last, after, “Sure, here’s one you missed.” Was he that confident in their situation? Or just underestimating her ability to find anything?

Julian finally looked down at Kris and smiled. “I realize this is a bit awkward,” he said kindly. “However, we really are all on the same side. Believe me, Verdant wants the United States to thrive as much as we want to thrive. We all have to work together.”

“In order to all live together,” Kris stated. “You’re right, of course: We’d all do better to be less adversarial in our negotiations.”

“Discussions,” Julian stated. “I believe we’re still in the ‘discussions’ stage.”

Kris was taken slightly aback by Julian’s correction, and despite herself, her smile faded. “Of course. Excuse me.”

Julian shook his head. “No… excuse me. After what I just said, I didn’t mean to be so blunt.” He scratched his neck self-consciously, and shrugged. “Fact is, I’d welcome any areas where we can find useful common ground. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure immigration quotas won’t be that ground.”

“Yes,” Kris said, thinking furiously over what to say. “Maybe we have to consider that subject the… the opening serve of the match.” She immediately reconsidered. “No…”

“Because that would imply a fault,” Julian finished for her.

“Then… the opening gambit of our first hand,” Kris suggested.

“Better,” Julian nodded after a moment. “Win or lose, we still have the rest of the game ahead of us.”

“Exactly.” Kris smiled at his response, and Julian found himself smiling back. She had a way about her, an aura of confidence, which was hard not to acknowledge, or respond to. Julian had the distinct feeling that he would enjoy anything that would coax that smile from her, and especially if it was directed at
him
—

At that moment, Julian realized that he had been lingering on her face for a split-second longer than propriety allowed. He blinked and looked a few degrees aside, not wanting to be too obvious about the fact that he was purposely averting his gaze from her.

Kris saw his delayed reaction, and immediately suspected she had made a connection… but the shift of his eyes suggested he was either dismissing it, or being shy about it… she was not sure. She decided to prod him with a single word: “What?”

Julian glanced back at her, his eyes forthright but still unreadable, and he smiled slightly. “Nothing… you just reminded me of someone I used to know.”

Kris studied him closely…
this man is so hard to read.
“Who?”

“I’ll tell you some other time,” Julian replied, casually, as if it was merely something he didn’t want to discuss in the openness of the CnC. Kris was relatively sure he was dodging the subject, but before she could push her advantage, he turned and stepped away. She watched him go for a moment, considering the difficulty she’d experienced in trying to read him, and whether there was a significance to that… before taking notice of other staffers noticing her watching him… and she dropped her eyes back to her displays.

Julian moved casually to one of the weather workstations and examined a GOAA projection map. In fact, he was barely looking at it… he just needed the excuse to distance himself from Kris Fawkes. She was working for the United States government for the sole purpose of finding a way to take the upper hand with Verdant… despite his casual banter with her, he knew that. And more, she was an entrancing woman, and she had already proven her willingness to use her wiles on Aaron Hardy. Julian was simply not interested in being her next professional conquest.

“Hmm. Still raining in Kilimanjaro.”

Julian turned. He hadn’t seen Reya come up beside him… well, actually, she had come up from behind him. Inwardly, he sighed. He knew what was coming. “Yes, but it will probably let up tomorrow.”

“That Miss Fawkes seems friendly towards you,” Reya said innocently.

Julian nodded. “She’s very professional. Easy to work with.”

“You should pump her.”

Julian’s head spun around so fast, he felt his neck crack.

Reya looked up at him mock-innocently. “For information.” She smiled briefly, exaggeratingly, then said, “What?”

“Smart ass,” Julian finally said, looking back down at the display. But he could not keep the smile from his face.

Reya watched him as he continued to pretend to read the display, barely suppressing her own mirth. Finally, she gathered enough composure to say, “What are you thinking about now?”

“Making you walk the next orbit,” Julian said.

Across the room, Kris wondered what the Ceo and his Eo were laughing at.

Her attention soon shifted, however, to a commotion on the other side of the room. Various of the staffers at their workstations had become agitated. Julian and Reya picked up on the commotion in a few moments, and headed over to that side of CnC, their smiles slowly dissolving from their faces as they neared the workstations.