Despite the visit from Kyle's men, the Great Red Spot displayed a sign over its door that read 'Yes, we are open'. The team arrived for dinner to find the bar tidy and some hasty repairs in place, though clearly plenty of work remained.

"Thanks for the dinner invite," Hannibal said, as they joined Matthew and Caithlin and, to Hannibal's surprise, Maggie. A surprise but not one he would complain about. "Place seems livelier than last night." New faces he'd not seen yet filled the bar. Many of them cast curious glances at the team.

"Word's getting around about you guys," Matthew said. "I went on a supply delivery run in the bus today and I've brought a lot of folks back."

"Strangers are a novelty around here," Caithlin said. She appeared more relaxed than before, Hannibal thought, hoped the team's actions so far had contributed to that. She smiled. "Seeing a new face is the highest form of entertainment."

"Okay, I'll go get the drinks," Hannibal said. He noticed Maggie's glass was nearly empty. "Doctor, a refill for you too?"

"Thanks, Colonel," she said, smiling at him. "White wine please."

"White wine. And it's Hannibal. Or John if you prefer." He saw Face raise his eyebrows at that. Hannibal didn't invite many people to call him John.

At the bar Hannibal found Ted sitting on a high stool, in deep conversation with Alan behind the bar, their heads bent close. They broke off when Hannibal arrived and Alan started to fill the colonel's drinks order. Hannibal smiled at the sheriff, trying to thaw the ice between them.

"Evening, Sheriff. You joining us for dinner?"

"I don't think so, with this crowd I'll probably have to lend a hand." He smiled though, perhaps thawing a little. "Another night perhaps."

"Well you're very welcome." Hannibal took out a charge card as Alan pushed a tray of drinks across the bar to him.

"You can put that away, Colonel," Alan said. "Your money's no good here." Ted frowned, not apparently thawed out enough to approve of free drinks.

Hannibal approved though. "Thanks." Add one more bar to the list of places where they never had to buy a drink again. When he got back to the table, he found Amy had gone someplace and since she just happened to have been sitting next to Maggie... Hannibal took her seat.

Joy Frost showed up a few minutes later. BA had invited her to join them after she'd helped him adapt the Chicago's sensors and shields earlier. Matthew stared as she approached, walking rather carefully.

"Wow, Frosty, you own a skirt?"

She gave Matthew a glare, and brushed a hand over the purple skirt that ended well below her knees. "Of course I own a skirt, I'm a woman aren't I?" She sat down, crossing her legs.

"Are those high heels?"

Caithlin elbowed her husband in the ribs. "Matthew, you'll be shutting up and going to buy Joy a drink now."

"Oh," he looked confused. "Right."

Joy toyed with one of her dangling earrings and smiled at Face, who smiled back, and fiddled with his watch. Hannibal recognised a small look of alarm in his eyes. Chuckling, he turned to go on talking to Maggie.

-o-O-o-

Ted only joined them for dinner in the sense of waiting on them. Hannibal guessed many people did two jobs in this town. Caithlin was not only the Mayor, but also the schoolteacher, travelling around to the outlying settlements and mines, to check on the children's schoolwork.

Face and Murdock sat on either side of Joy at dinner, the three of them laughing a lot. Hannibal of course made sure to be seated next to Maggie. She looked pretty in the light from the candles that flickered in brass holders beside each place setting. He kept her glass of wine topped up.

"Oh, Ted," Joy said, as he showed up with the coffee at the end of the meal. "I was thinking about that idea I mentioned to you the other day. I know you're not keen, but now the team are here, I think we should follow up."

Ted frowned, as he passed her a cup of coffee. "I don't trust him, Joy. That's not changed." Matthew and Caithlin nodded their agreement.

"Don't trust who?" Hannibal asked.

"Seth Calvin," Joy said. "He lives on the dark side. Our main problem is getting any decent scans from the dark side, or tracking the movements of ships over there. I think Seth can do that."

"How come?" BA asked. "Isn't he affected by the same radiation problems as the rest of you?"

"Yes, but he's got some really non-standard equipment over there, scanning wise. Real powerful, state of the art stuff."

"What for?" Hannibal asked, frowning, suspicious at once. "What does he need that for?"

Joy shrugged. "He says it's a hobby of his." Ted snorted, obviously unconvinced.

"Is this guy a miner too?" Amy asked.

"No." Joy shook her head. "He took cash only for his resettlement payoff after the war, no mining claim. He doesn't mine. He paints."

Hannibal raised his eyebrows. "Paints? An artist?" Weird place for an artist.

"So will he help?" Face said.

"Well, that's the thing." Joy looked awkward, looked at Face and then Hannibal. "Seth's not very sociable. He's pretty much a recluse and just doesn't want to get involved in, well, anything. He never comes into town and he doesn't like visitors."

"Last time I tried to visit him, he wouldn't even let me in," Ted said. "The only people he will see are Joy and the doc." He nodded at Maggie. "Maggie visits him every couple of weeks."

"Why? Is he sick?"

"I'm sorry, John," Maggie said. "You know I can't talk about a patient's details."

"Ah, no, sorry." Hannibal turned back to Joy. "He lets you in though, Joy?"

"Yeah. I take him supplies and, you know, just make sure he's still human."

"Still human?" Murdock perked up, distracted from trying to fold his napkin into the shape of a bird. "Why, what else would he be?"

Joy smiled weakly. "I just meant that he's not, you know, grown a beard down to his knees and stopped cutting his fingernails."

"Okay," Hannibal said, "So, will you ask him for the data he can get from his scanners?"

She looked down, fiddling with her coffee cup.

"No." She grimaced and looked back at him. "Sorry, Colonel, I mean I could ask, but I don't want to. He doesn't like people asking him for favours and he takes offence very easily. It took me months to get him to trust me. I don't want to risk destroying that. I'm sorry."

Hannibal nodded slowly. Okay, he could appreciate her candour, even if her refusal frustrated him.

"So how about if we go up there and ask him?"

"Not if you show up mob handed." Joy shook her head. "That would just tick him off. Maybe one of you could talk his way in." She smiled. "If you just happen to have the right incentive."

-o-O-o-

"Murdock." Hannibal heard panic in Face's voice, as he helped Joy on with her jacket. "Why don't you walk with us?" Face flashed Murdock a look that said, 'do as I ask or die.'

"Sure, Face," Murdock said. Joy looked somewhat disappointed, at having a chaperone, but cheered up again as they got outside and she took both their arms.

"These heels are killing me, so you boys will have to keep me on my feet."

"That's right," Murdock said, grinning. "Blame the heels. Couldn't be the gin."

"Murdock!" Face protested, while Joy laughed. They walked off down the street.

Hannibal turned to Maggie who had stepped out with a shawl over her shoulders, followed by Amy and BA. Matthew and Caithlin came out last and waved goodbye, before walking off hand in hand.

"Walk you home, doctor?" Hannibal offered Maggie his arm.

"Thank you, John." She smiled, taking his arm.

"See you guys back at the hotel," Hannibal said to Amy and BA.

"Sure, Hannibal," Amy said, a little smile on her face. BA gave a smirk and offered Amy his arm.

"Why thank you, BA," Amy said and BA giggled as she took his arm and they followed Face, Murdock and Joy up the street.

Hannibal gave them a 'wait till I catch up with you later' look and set off walking with Maggie in the opposite direction.

"You guys have made a big impression around here," Maggie said.

"Face has made a big impression on Captain Frost, that's for sure."

Maggie laughed. "Very big. I popped into her workshop this afternoon and she couldn't talk about anything else."

"I'll have to tell him that." Hannibal chuckled. Perhaps Face needed to learn about what an older woman had to offer. He spent too much of his time with air headed young things. A man needed a woman who could challenge him intellectually. He glanced down at Maggie. If she happened to be in great shape that was of course a bonus.

"Well us single ladies around here don't have a lot of choice." She sighed. "All the best men are married or otherwise spoken for. The rest... well, the local definition of having high standards is insisting the guy has all his own teeth."

Hannibal laughed, making sure she could see he had all of his own teeth.

"Well I could see how Face would be quite an attraction then."

She looked up at him. "Not only Face."

Hannibal kept a cheesy grin off his face with some difficulty. They walked on for a few minutes.

"Tell me about this Calvin guy," Hannibal said, getting his mind back on the job. "Not the medical stuff you can't tell me about that, I know, but anything that might be useful to Murdock when he goes knocking." They'd chosen Murdock to fly up and see Calvin, since Joy said she thought Murdock just might appeal to him.

Maggie frowned, bit her lip. "It's hard to say, Hannibal. He doesn't talk much."

"What about the war? What did he do in the war?"

"He definitely doesn't talk about that." She shook her head. "Some people think he was in intelligence work, but no one knows for certain. He's quite... odd, Hannibal. Murdock should be careful."

"Think he's got weapons?" Hannibal asked. "Could that be why he wouldn't let the sheriff in?"

"I've not seen anything, but I wouldn't be at all surprised."

Hannibal brooded as they walked on, wondered if maybe he should send Face along too. But Murdock could handle himself, and while Calvin only might have a weapon, Murdock certainly would. Also, if the guy was as touchy as Joy implied they needed to tread carefully. He glanced at Maggie, who had a faraway look in her eyes.

"You were in the war, as a medic, right?"

She nodded, not speaking. Was that why she'd come out here? Hannibal wondered, to get as far away from Venus as she could? Many people around here had done that.

"And you're with Caithlin and the sheriff on the gun issue?"

She looked up at him, a touch of defiance on her face.

"If I never have to deal with another gunshot wound again that suits me just fine, Colonel."

"People can still hurt each other without guns," Hannibal said. "Taking guns away doesn't make people saints."

"No. But someone can hurt a lot of people a lot faster with a gun than they can with anything else."

Hannibal opened his mouth to argue some more, but then closed it again. An intellectually challenging woman might be good, he thought, but this wasn't going to get him a goodnight kiss.

"So I guess you travel around a lot, seeing your patients," Hannibal said. "You're the only doctor?"

She nodded. "I've got a nurse and we had a midwife until she moved back to Earth. We're advertising for a new one." She smiled. "Delivering babies is the best part of my job. Just so different from... well you know what I mean. And I'd never delivered one until I came out here! Well, not as the primary, in charge I mean."

"Did you deliver Matthew and Caithlin's daughter?" Hannibal asked. Babies and their delivery did exactly enthral him. But the way Maggie glowed as she talked about them certainly did. He let her talk on about the babies she'd delivered in her time here. About seeing new life arriving instead of dealing with the effects of attempts to destroy life.

"I've got two babies due next month," she said, turning to face him as they arrived at her door, unhooking her arm from his.

"Really," Hannibal smiled at her turn of phrase, looking down at her. "You're not showing yet."

"John!" She laughed and laid a hand on his arm. "Thanks for seeing me home. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Difficult to avoid anybody in a place this size." Whoops, no, he thought. Stupid answer. "How about we try and get lunch together? Depending what we end up doing tomorrow of course." If BA had finished adapting the sensors and shields, they could head over to the dark side and start scanning. "My schedule can be unpredictable."

"Mine too. But if I can, then thanks, John, I'll meet you for lunch."

She stretched up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. He wanted to pull her into his arms, but restrained himself. She was challenging, he thought, but there was something else there too. He sensed a fragility that she hid away and he didn't want to scare her off by being too insistent. So he settled for the peck on the cheek and prepared for a long campaign.

"Goodnight, John."

She went inside and Hannibal walked back to the hotel, his step lighter than the lower gravity alone could account for.