"Care for a coffee, Deputy Smith?"

"Thank you, Deputy Murdock. That would be great."

Face and BA looked at each other and then gave Murdock a glare that suggested the words "Deputy Peck" and "Deputy Baracus" had better not be spoken. Murdock grinned and went to the bar of The Great Red Spot, Galileo City's premiere, indeed only, café bar and restaurant. Hannibal turned back to the group.

Now he'd sworn in the team as deputies the sheriff's attitude had softened a little and he was filling them in on his problems locating Kyle's base.

"All we know is that it's somewhere on the dark side, but I've not been able to pinpoint it. The background radiation makes accurate scanning impossible." Face and BA paid close attention, but Hannibal found his mind wandering. Specifically, wandering over to where Amy sat talking to Doctor Sullivan.

Oh, pull yourself together, Colonel, he thought. We're here to work. If I saw Face getting distracted by a woman I'd have him out running laps.

"Must mess with communications too," BA said as Hannibal turned his attention back to the group.

"Yes." Ted paused as Murdock came back with coffees. "Yes, communications are a big problem. We have hard lines to the other settlements, and some of the isolated mines and bunkers have boosters that can punch a signal through in an emergency, though that uses up a lot of power. We've got a booster here in the city, in Frosty's workshop."

"Frosty?" Murdock said.

"Joy Frost, our engineer, she keeps all the equipment running. That used to just be maintenance really and radiation damage repair, but with this Kyle situation and the damage he's done, well, she's had a lot more work lately."

"That so?" Hannibal said, feeling cynical. "Benefits financially then?"

"She's paid by the insurance companies to make the repairs," Ted said, frowning. "What are you getting at?"

"Nothing," Hannibal said, "Just thinking out loud. I think one of us should maybe have a chat with Miss Frost. Is it Miss?"

"It's Captain," Ted said, still scowling about Hannibal's implication.

"Okay. Face." Who better to talk to a lady? "You'll pop in and chat to Captain Frost..." He glanced at his watch, getting late. "In the morning." He looked at Ted and smiled. "Well, we'll need some advice on communications and shielding for the ship too."

"Right. Can you excuse me a minute." Ted walked off, his shoulders high and tense.

"Get the feeling you just impugned the integrity of a friend of his, Colonel," Murdock said.

Hannibal shrugged. "Maybe. But that's a problem for a cop in a small town like this, he can be too close to people to be objective."

Matthew joined them then, grimacing as he spoke. "Hi, guys. I'm sorry about that whole council meeting thing. The politics in this place..." He shook his head.

"That guy Lambert seems pretty set on changing that gun law," Hannibal said. He glanced over at a corner table where Lambert sat with a fashionably dressed woman, wearing enough ice around her neck to chill the room. "He the local big shot?" Hannibal asked. "Rich?"

"Big shot, yeah, you could say that," Matthew said, nodding. "Owns the hotel, as well as three mines and the supply store."

"Three mines?" Hannibal frowned. "Been buying them up?" He saw Face glance at him, a look that said 'you thinking what I'm thinking?'

"Negotiating for a couple more," Matthew said.

"Uh huh. And the people he's negotiating with, they had any trouble from Kyle?"

Matthew glanced around and leaned closer, spoke quietly. "Well, of course people have considered that, but really, I don't think he can have anything to do with Kyle. I may not agree with him much, but he's a decent man. He's got two children."

So a wife with expensive taste and two kids, Hannibal thought.

"Besides he wants the guns to let people defend their property," Matthew continued.

"Which would be a good cover."

"Whoa, Hannibal," Murdock said. "You're really pouncing on the conclusions tonight, aren't you?"

"Thinking out loud," Hannibal said again. He looked at Matthew, his sincere expression, apparently not suspicious even of a man who seemed to be his wife's biggest rival on the council. So it's not only the sheriff that has a problem with objectivity, then.

He glanced around the welcoming room, with its soft lighting, twinkling glass and polished wood. Music played quietly in the background and patrons chatted and laughed. An evening here with the right person would be a very pleasant thing indeed, he thought.

"Right," Hannibal said, "I think we're done for the night, you guys can relax. Now, I, ah, just need to go ask Amy something," Before anyone could speak, he strode off, trying hard to think of something to ask Amy when he got there.

-o-O-o-

The hotel rooms had balconies, which, Face thought, was patently absurd. Why have balconies with no fresh air or view to enjoy? But balconies seemed to match up with the same sense of ambition that led to the residents calling this small underground settlement a city.

Leaning on the rail, Face looked out at the short streets of boxy prefab houses. Only a few of them showed lights, the time well after midnight now. Looking up he tried to imagine a star strewn sky above them and for a change missed the simulated sky of the Redmond City dome. Here there was only the roof of the cavern. A sky made of stone. He sighed and took a drag on a cigar he'd filched from Hannibal earlier. The colonel had been too pre-occupied to notice. A certain doctor keeping him busy, Face noticed.

"Hey, Face, you still up?"

Face looked to the balcony on his left to see Amy stepping onto it. She was still dressed. Face himself wore only shorts, and a T-shirt that belonged to Murdock and had the words 'It's a Texas thing. You wouldn't understand' emblazoned on the front.

Face mustered a low power version of the Smile.

"Hey, Amy. Can't sleep. You too?"

"Oh, I was just writing up some stuff about the meeting." She stretched, reaching her arms high over her head and standing on her tip toes. Her shirt popped out of the waistband of her skirt and Face smirked.

"I was right."

"What?"

"You have an innie, Murdock owes me twenty bucks, he bet on an outie."

"Face!" Amy exclaimed, smoothing her shirt back down over her stomach, covering her belly button. She shook her head, spoke more quietly. "You could have just asked me."

"That's no fun."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Men! You guys actually bet on stuff like that?"

"Sure." He grinned at her. "Confirmation of your bra size won me fifty."

"You'd better be kidding!" She scowled and looked ready to climb over to his balcony and extract the fifty in blood. Face backtracked hastily.

"Did I say bra? I meant shoes."

Amy made a 'pfft' sound, obviously not convinced. She yawned.

"You should get some sleep," Face said. He winked. "Want me to come tuck you into bed?"

"Sure, then Hannibal will put you to bed with a shovel." She didn't leave the balcony though. "So, you'll be going to bed too then?"

"In a minute."

"Okay." She still didn't leave. "You mind some company?"

"I never mind female company." An automatic response, he knew, but sincere, felt glad to have someone to talk to, to keep him from brooding too much.

"Face, what's bothering you?" Amy said. Face sighed. Oh well, there goes the not brooding.

"What makes you think there's anything bothering me?"

She came over and sat on the rail that separated the two balconies.

"You had a pretty strong reaction when you found out about Kyle."

Face sighed and turned away from her. Damned observant reporter.

"Face?" Face leaned forward on his elbows, still puffing on the cigar. "Okay." Amy said after a moment. "Well I'll leave you to it."

He turned to look at Amy. As she put a hand on the French door back to her room, he spoke.

"Off the record?"

She looked back at him. "Of course." She came back to the balcony rail and he came over to lean against it.

"Back on Venus, before I hooked up with the team, I was leading a patrol through a forest. The place was insane. Full of bugs the size of your head. Rain that never stopped. Trees that grew fast enough to watch." He shook his head. "Insane." His cigar had burned down to its end now. He crushed the butt out in an ashtray on the balcony rail. "We ran into another patrol, but I thought there was something wrong about them. We were meant to be the only ones in the area. Anyway I was right. The guy in charge introduced himself as Major Kyle. Then he shot me."

"Shot you?" Amy gasped.

Face nodded. "Me and the rest of my squad. He'd been arrested a month before, not that many people knew. The Corp covered up the details, about some of the things he'd done to enemy prisoners. But he'd escaped. He'd got himself a little band of buddies together, all scum like him, deserters, criminals, and they broke out of the stockade. Killed a few MPs on the way."

Amy laid a hand gently on Face's shoulder. "Why did they attack your squad?"

"For our weapons. They took every rifle, handgun and knife we had, and anything else they liked the look of. The worst thing though..." He shook his head. "They smashed the radio. Didn't even take it, just smashed it. Three of us survived, and they didn't even bother wasting ammo to finish us, just left us to die. And without the radio we couldn't call for medevac. There was no need for him to do that." Face's voice rose, strained and higher than normal. "They'd have been long gone from the area by the time anybody got to us. So we had to walk out, me and the two other guys still alive."

He stopped and went quiet, looking up at the stone sky. Amy didn't speak. She still had a hand on his shoulder and now leant against him, her chin resting against her hand. The heat of her body against his felt good. Chased away the chill of the memories.

"One of them, Adams died on the way. We had to leave him, like we left the rest. The other one, Sergeant Card, he was carrying me by the time we got picked up. He died the next day. If we'd had the radio, all three of us would have made it."

He turned to look at Amy and she sat back, leaning against the wall.

"So, that answer your question?"

She nodded. "Yes, but it gives me another one. Have you come here for revenge?"

Face gazed out over the town again for a moment. "Maybe." Had he? He'd thought about it many times over the years, what he'd do with the opportunity. Now he may very well get that opportunity and realised he'd never actually made the decision. He laughed and the laugh tasted bitter in his mouth. "If he gives me the right excuse... Well, we'll see what happens."

He straightened up and stretched. Now he felt he could sleep. Turning to Amy, he smiled. "Thanks, Amy, goodnight now." He moved to the door to his room.

"Face, why off the record?" She asked when he turned back to her. "If I published that in one my stories, well it would make people more sympathetic to you guys."

"I don't want sympathy," Face said, his tone harsh for a moment and he bit his lip at once, regretting it. "Sorry, Amy. But sympathy is not what I'm looking for in life."

"What are you looking for, Templeton Peck?"

He smiled back at her. Sorry, kid, he thought, you've had your daily ration of revelation from Templeton Peck.

"Amy, when I figure that out, I promise you'll get the exclusive."