CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Three weeks later Laura appeared at HESPER Unit and announced that this would be her last visit. She explained that something unexpected had turned up that would have to take precedence over her assignment at CUNY. It was a shame, she said, especially since she had just begin to get to know them all, but with Dyer and most of the staff due to leave for training with ISA anyway, maybe it was just as well. She hoped they’d all have a chance to pick up again where they had left off, maybe sometime next year. After making a round of the unit to say a personal farewell to each of the staff, she eventually found herself back in Dyer’s office to round things off.
“So where are you going?” Dyer asked her. “Is it so much of a secret that you can’t tell us?”
“You won’t believe it,” she warned him.
“Try me and see.”
“China, of all places. We’ve got a documentary being made there on a tight schedule . . . all about the emergence of the post-Communist culture. One of the people involved got sick suddenly and I was told to drop everything and get over there.”
“China, eh?” Dyer fought to keep a serious face. “Where exactly? Is there some way we can keep in touch?”
Laura shrugged helplessly. “As far as I know it’ll mean moving all over. All I can suggest is using Zeegram as a mailbox. They’ll be able to pass anything on.” Her voice softened as she smiled. “You know, that was a nice thought. What made you say that?”
“Why not?” Dyer said. “Friends should keep in touch. We’re friends, aren’t we?”
“I guess we are.” Laura sighed. “What have we had—a few nights out, some nice dinners and a lot of talking. We were just getting to know one another and then this happens. You’re off to ISA and I’m off to China. Sometimes I think we might get along fine given enough time. It’s not fair, you know. All good things have to come to an end, but this one never even got started.”
“That’s life,” Dyer offered with a shrug.
Laura regarded him quizzically for a few seconds, evidently expecting something further. When that failed to materialize she sat back in her chair and shook her head. “You really can be a callous bastard at times,” she said candidly.
Dyer made a face. “Why what have I done now?”
“Nothing! That’s the whole point! Look . . . For Pete’s sake . . . I’ve enjoyed going out together. It was fun. It meant something.”
“I enjoyed it too. What else do you want me to say?”
“Oh hell! I want you to say it’s a shame.”
“It’s a shame.”
Laura rested her chin on her fingers and studied him with a mixture of exasperation and open disbelief.
“Six months from now you’ll be on the Moon, I’ll be anywhere between Hong Kong and Outer Mongolia and that’s all you’ve got to say. Mightn’t it just occur to you to be bothered about that in some tiny way?”
“Not really,” Dyer told her. “For all we know China and the Moon could turn out to be the same place. Then what would there be to get bothered about?”
“What kind of crazy talk is that supposed to be? Ray, I don’t follow you. You’re talking in riddles again.”
Dyer toyed with a pen on his desk for a moment and then looked up.
“It was just another way of saying I figure we’ll bump into each other again somewhere before very long,” he replied.
“Oh. And what makes you so sure of that?”
“Call it a premonition,” he said.
“I thought you didn’t believe in that kind of thing.”
“I don’t, except when they’re mine,” he told her. “When I have them, they’re always right.” He tossed the pen down in front of him, looked up and winked. “You wait and see.”