Farside by Ben Bova Page B

like to get settled and perhaps freshen up a bit first.”
    “I see.”
    She was a handsome woman, McClintock realized all over again as they strode along the corridor. Almost his own height, slim waisted and long legged. Her gold-glowing coverall was modest enough, buttoned at the throat, wrists, and ankles. It wasn’t tight, exactly, but somehow it displayed the supple body inside it quite provocatively. Admiring those cheekbones and almond eyes and those pouty lips, McClintock thought she could easily have been a fashion model. Or a vid star. With a toss of her head she swung her long straight hair off her shoulder. It fell halfway down her back.
    Yes, he said to himself, it’s no wonder that Father went off the deep end over her.
    “I’m afraid the accommodations here are rather spartan,” McClintock said apologetically.
    “I’ll only be here overnight,” she said. Her voice was low, warmly melodious. Inviting? McClintock asked himself. She can be damnably seductive when she wants to be.
    He showed her the room that had been assigned to her. She took it in with a single brief glance.
    Turning back to McClintock, she said, “I presume my bag will be brought here.”
    “Of course.”
    “All right then. I want to see Professor Uhlrich now.”
    “Of course,” McClintock repeated.
    *   *   *
    The meeting fascinated McClintock. Uhlrich was stiffly formal with her, never budging from behind his desk. McClintock thought the professor used the desk as a barricade, to protect himself. Even when he stood he kept his fingertips in contact with the desk’s gleaming surface. For her part, Halleck sat gracefully on a chair halfway down the adjoining table, swiveling it to face the professor. She never allowed herself to get close enough to shake hands with him.
    After politely holding her chair for her, McClintock took the seat next to her, one place farther away from Uhlrich.
    “It’s good to see you again, Mrs. Halleck,” said Uhlrich, with all the sincerity of a headwaiter.
    “I’m delighted to be here,” she replied, equally hollow.
    Brushing a fingertip along his trim silver beard, Uhlrich said, “I was very sorry to learn of your husband’s death.”
    She made a sigh. “He was very old, very frail. It was something of a blessing.”
    McClintock recalled that she had inherited a massive fortune from the man she had jilted his father for. A blessing indeed, he thought.
    Uhlrich called, “Computer: orientation slideshow, please.”
    Images of the three craters where the telescopes would be sited sprang up on the wall screen opposite the chairs where Halleck and McClintock were sitting.
    Uhlrich began, “As you know—”
    “Yes, I do know,” Halleck interrupted. “You can spare me the orientation, Professor. What I’d like is a progress report.”
    “Progress report?” Uhlrich asked stiffly.
    “I understand your first mirror was damaged before you could get it to its site.”
    His face paling visibly, Uhlrich admitted, “Yes, that is true.”
    “So what are you doing about it?”
    McClintock saw a blue vein in the professor’s forehead begin to throb. This is going to be a lovely meeting, he told himself. Just perfectly lovely.

 
    DINNER
    To McClintock’s pleasant surprise, Halleck’s meeting with Uhlrich was mercifully brief. The professor sputtered a bit but finally admitted to Halleck that he was looking into the possibility of using nanotechnology to make the interferometer’s mirrors. Halleck nodded as if she’d known that all along, then got up from her chair.
    Surprised, Uhlrich said, “But you haven’t told me how your own project is proceeding.”
    “Oh, we’re on schedule,” she replied airily.
    Uhlrich got to his feet, looking surprised, confused. “On schedule? What schedule? When do you expect—”
    “The schedule was published when we began the project. You must have seen it. It’s available on our net site, if you need to refresh your memory.”
    And with that,