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.There was a sign next to the door as they approached, identifying the door asleading to Headquarters, Third MP Brigade.The lieutenant was reporting in tothe general, too, and got to the door slightly ahead of her, presenting his IDto the door which automatically checked his IR profile against the records onthe ID and in the database, and, finding a match, admitted them.Inside, there was a reception desk and signs that pointed to CID leading awayto the right, and Office of the Commanding General, to the left.Behind thedesk, the corporal's nametag identified her as Anders.Behind the corporal, on the back wall, was a large holoscreen of awaterfall on Earth, judging by the vegetation on the banks."Captain Makepeace and Lieutenant Pryce, Corporal.Anders, is it? We'rehere to report in and pay our respects to the CO.I believe he's expectingus." Cally returned the corporal's salute smoothly and waited."Yes, ma'am, I'll let him know you're here." The corporal picked up her PDAPage 120 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmland told it to get her the general."General Beed, sir?"Cally's enhanced hearing picked up both ends of the conversation easily, andshe listened in with a polite, still, waiting expression on her face."They here, Corporal? Thank God.About to drown in paperwork back here withouta decent secretary.Send them on back.""Yes, sir.End call." She set the PDA back down."You can go on back ma'am, sir." She inclined her head in the direction of thegeneral's office.Cally passed the corporal and made her way past several closed gray doors anddown the corridor to the general's office, Pryce trailing in her wake.Thelight on the panel under his nameplate indicated an unlocked door, so a waveof her hand in front of it and the door slid aside.She stepped in, and walkedto the front of the desk, coming to attention and saluting.With her eyesfocused six inches above thegeneral's head, she had to study him and the room with only her peripheralvision.Child's play.Beed was certainly handsome for an officer his age.The dark blond hair anddeep blue eyes were focused a bit below her face.But after the voyage out,she was becoming used to it.His handlebar mustache was perhaps a bitaffected, but he was trim, and muscular.For all their warmth and durability,silks weren't the type of fabric to conceal much.Without rejuv she would havetaken him for maybe thirty-four.With it, he had to be well into his secondcentury.Still young by Galactic standards.Not as hot as Pryce, but nohardship on the eyes, either.If he decided to chase her around the desk, atleast she wouldn't be fighting not to puke or anything.Bit of a weak chin,but it could have been worse."Captain, you're a sight for sore eyes." He swept a hand across in a gestureindicating the desk, which was stacked at least six inches deep in paper allthe way across, and that was only in the valleys between the piles.Callyrestrained herself from goggling with an effort."Welcome to Titan Base.Youroffice is just outside and to the left.You should be basically familiar withwhat we do now, and I've taken the liberty of having the corporal bring infile cabinets and folders and such.I have a few things to discuss with thelieutenant, but I think the best way to do that is for us to get out of theway while you take charge and organize some sort of filing system.I don'tcare how you handle it so long as you can explain it simply and we can bothfind any of this stuff at need.We should be gone at least a couple of hours,plenty of time for you to get me a desk surface I can see." He looked at herexpectantly."Yes, sir," she answered crisply."Great, honey.Take care of that, and you and I will be on our way to gettingalong just fine." He winked at her, of all things, and turned to thelieutenant."Lieutenant, I understand aides de camp for general officers areauthorized to wear two gold braid loops over the shoulder.A good officeralways pays precise attention to presenting himself with the right appearance,understood?""Yes, sir.No excuse, sir." If anything, his already perfect attentionposition got a little straighter."At ease.Let's get out of here and leave Sinda to it, then." He paused,looking her up and down slowly on the way out the door."Fine attention todetail, Captain Makepeace.Good job." Then they were gone.* * *Cally stared at the door as it slid closed behind them, fighting the impulseto laugh in disbelief.And I had been going over ploys to get the man out of his office and me freerein to run a search.She turned the personality overlay off and the AI up to eight on the PDA.Page 121 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"Something's about to kill us, isn't it, Captain?" it said."Listen to the surroundings, buckley.If someone other than me approacheswithin six meters of the door, beep once, medium volume.""Okay.Not that it'll do any good."She put the PDA down in the middle of the desk and snorted as a small stack ofpaper fell, scattering itself across the floor.She made quick work ofsearching the desk drawers.It was especially quick because there was nothingto find.A few legal pads and ball point pens that she dissected withoutfinding anything useful about them, then reassembled and replaced them.Thatdone, she put the PDA back in order and got to work sorting and organizing themountain of paper, which she would have needed to search through, anyway.In the end, she wasn't finished in the two hours it took Beed to get back tothe office
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