"Francis, we need to get the colonists back on the ship," Rosemary blurted without further preamble. "Now that we're not leaking anymore, we should be able to do that."
The sliding door of the captain's translucent-walled office was open, so Lamont and Rosemary let themselves in without announcement, cups in hand. Carter was sitting behind his desk, examining a piece of paper that had been drawn from a folder that lay open in front of him. It occurred to Lamont that he could count on one hand the number of times he had actually seen Francis using his office this way in the past year of travel. Typically the captain was either perched on the command bench in front of the main console or pacing in its vicinity.
"If I join your club," Lamont asked as Francis was looking up at them over the printout, "do I get a secret decoder ring?"
"Excuse me?" Francis asked, evidently confused.
As he was formulating a response, Lamont glanced at Rosemary. The medic's icy expression indicated that if he continued to treat the subject with such levity, there would be hell to pay later. "Nevermind," he mumbled, tugging at his collar as Rosemary took a seat. "What are you, um, looking at?"
"A fresh batch of progress reports from Santana," Francis answered with evident boredom, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Her attention to detail is…almost superhuman."
Lamont chuckled, sitting in the chair beside Rosemary's and placing his half-empty cup on the desk. "What's the gist?"
"The structural damage to the hull is fully repaired now," the captain replied in a monotone. "It took a while to track down all the microfractures, but we're a hundred percent sealed again. Is that what you two came here to talk about?"
"In a sense, yes," Rosemary answered. "Speaking for myself, that is. I don't know about Monty."
"You go ahead," Lamont said.
Francis returned the paper to the folder and turned his attention to Rosemary. Lamont couldn't be sure, but he got the impression that the captain welcomed this particular interruption from his routine chore.
"Francis, we need to get the colonists back on the ship," Rosemary blurted without further preamble. "Now that we're not leaking anymore, we should be able to do that."
"Just a moment," Carter entreated. He was clearly taken aback by her abrupt announcement. "Is this coming from Doctor Faust, or you?"
"Does it matter?" Rosemary asked, reddening.
Francis glanced at Lamont, who was watching the exchange with keen interest. "Perhaps if you could explain your reasoning," he finally offered.
"My reasoning is simple," Rosemary said. "We've established that something about the tower has an enervating effect on the people we've sent over there. We're giving them vitamins and supplements now, but for all we know that's like putting plaster on a pipe leak—it may not really solve the problem."
"I'll grant that," the captain agreed. "There is a lot we don't know. But the situation is temporary. In a few weeks, if repairs go as predicted—"
"A few weeks!" Rosemary blanched. "Francis, we just got our first physical evidence of the tower's other occupants, and what was it? Human bones. Hundreds of them."