Midshipman Henry Gallant in Space

  * * *

  Gallant sat on the edge of Kelsey’s hospital bed as she erupted with laughter. She was clearly enjoying his recount of his run-in with some of the United Planets’ political leaders.

  “It wasn’t funny!” exclaimed Gallant. “Those senators roasted me from stem to stern.”

  “Oh, Henry, keep your perspective. You’ve been through worse hazing at the academy. Why can’t you see the humor in it?” said Kelsey, clearly enjoying her own private joke.

  “Am I really that transparent?” he asked. “Suppose you explain the humor to me. Please, I’d like to understand.”

  “You did your duty. You did nothing wrong. The senators have no legitimate case against you.” She sighed and placed her hand on his. “To politicians, perception trumps reality. They’re attempting to create a public perception favorable to themselves. They’re less concerned about what’s real. In the end, all they’ve accomplished is to put themselves out on a limb by condemning you for the vagaries of war. When you chase the Titans off the Jupiter frontier, they’ll sing your praise and pretend they never doubted you.”

  “Kelsey, do you always see the rainbows—never the rain?” said Gallant, joining Kelsey in laughter, at last.

  “Nonsense,” she replied. “Don’t you know that to a farmer, rain is even better than rainbows?”

  “I can’t win,” said Gallant, conceding any remnants of argument. “Anyway, my meeting with the SAI officer, Lieutenant McCall, went well. She confirmed your analysis that the Titans are telepathic.”

  Kelsey nodded thoughtfully.

  He hesitated and added, “She also told me I’m being assigned to Squadron 801 on Superb. Sam Wellman will be my astrogator.” Gallant’s voice trailed off on the word astrogator.

  “That’s great. Sam is a good man,” she said. “I wish I were going with you, but the doctors say I’ve a bit of physical therapy to complete, along with at least one more surgery.”

  He was going to tell her more about the neural interface exam results, but this didn’t seem the occasion to open that topic. There was an awkward silence of several minutes. Then, because they were no longer comfortable talking about more important things, they renewed their animated conversation by discussing the more mundane topics of the day. Finally, it was time for Gallant to leave.

  “Bye, Kelsey,” he said, dismissing a vague sense of loss.

  “Godspeed,” she said, knowing she wouldn’t be with him for his next battle. Then she added with a smile, “I’ll see you on Jupiter Station.”

  He simply nodded and left to report for duty aboard Superb.