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"Nor me," said Rafe. We looked at Bryan. Bryan was too busy looking at Sal to answer.
"Okay, so maybe he can't," I said.
"Good bet," Rafe offered.
"What's our next move?" Dean asked.
"Anything happening in the hangar we should know about?" I said.
"The new Orion is almost completed. Anderson's pressin' for another one to be done in 'alf the time. Puttin' the pressure on Cathcart. Makin' our lives a livin' 'ell."
"No different from anywhere else at RATS, then," Rafe said.
"Heard 'em arguing about it," Dean went on. "Cathcart told him if he cut any more corners, there'd be nothin' left of the bloody module to fly in. He suggested we start lookin' for the missin' ones again. Anderson weren't 'aving any of that. Said there was no need to waste time chasin' our tails when we could just manufacture new ones. Git doesn't know the first thing about makin' an MPCV fly through Time."
Everyone offered consoling sounds of disgust at Anderson's blindness,
"It's rather ironic that Anderson wants to spend money on making new Orions," I said, "which has to be more expensive than trying to find the old ones, and yet he wants to commercialise RATS."
"How the hell do you commercialise RATS?" Dean demanded.
"That's the question, isn't it?" Rafe offered. "And that'll be what Jack is working on."
"I'm glad Jack's alright," Sally said, speaking for the first time since that emphatic 'No!' "But I wonder how Amanda is?"
"No word in Dispatch," Rafe offered. "Anderson won't even let anyone talk about her or Jack in there."
"How's Margaret doing?" I asked.
"Crumbling under the pressure," Rafe said. "Not sure how much longer she can hold out."
"We don't have that many dispatchers," Bryan pointed out.
"Yeah, but we've got a fair few Interns not able to fly 'cause we're short on Orions," Rafe countered.
"You think he'd use the Interns for Dispatch?" Bryan asked.
"He sure as hell isn't going to hire anyone else," Rafe muttered. "He's always banging on about how much staff we've got to his comrades. Muttering about the superfluous number of costly hangers-on. As if Mrs Mwangi doesn't earn her keep or something."
"There'll be cost cuts next, staff losses," Bryan commented in the careless way someone whose job is secure would comment. Surgeons would be the last to go, for sure.
"How do we stop that?" Sally asked.
"Make sure everyone looks really, really busy doin' important, can't possibly stop what I'm doin' jobs," Dean offered.
"Good point," Rafe said. "Let's spread the word. If people want to keep their places at RATS, they'd better make it look like their jobs are vital and they're the only expert at it."
"That's going to cause competition," I said. I could just imagine everyone trying to one-up everyone else. Hell, Harding and Pratt were already doing it.
"Not ideal, I'll grant you," Rafe agreed. "But better than the alternative and it might just confuse matters for Anderson for a while. Give Jack time to come up with something."
"I hope he doesn't take long," Dean muttered. "Not sure how many times I can tighten the same bolt."
"You've got nothin' to worry about," Bryan said. "Anderson wants new Orions. Just get onto the team makin' 'em and start workin' your ass off."
"What about me?" Sally said. "I'm a Novitiate. We'll be the first to go."
"Not if I can help it," Bryan vowed. Sally blushed slightly, looking anywhere but at him.
