shorter than Stoner, but solidly built. The one beside him, at the door, hulked like a football lineman. Professional football. They were both conservatively dressed in gray business suits. Both had taut, clean-shaven faces.
“Naval Intelligence,” said the man by the window. He fished a wallet from his inside jacket pocket and dangled it over the desk. It held an official-looking identification card.
“Will you come with us, please?”
“What do you mean? Where…?”
“Please, Dr. Stoner. It’s very important.”
The big agent by the door gripped Stoner’s arm around the biceps. Lightly but firmly. The smaller man came around the desk and the three of them started down the hallway in step.
Jo Camerata stood by Stoner’s office door, gaping at them. The expression on her face was not shock or even anger. It was guilt.
----
…Jansky had unexpectedly recorded radio waves from the Galaxy while investigating…crackles and noises that interfere with radio communication. Jansky’s discovery in 1932 marked the first successful observation in radio astronomy. It is indeed strange that it took so long to recognize that radio waves were reaching us from celestial sources.
J. S. HEY
The Evolution of Radio Astronomy
Science History Publications
1973
----
CHAPTER 3
In Moscow it was nearly 11 P.M. A gentle snow was sifting out of the heavy, leaden sky, covering the oldest monuments and newest apartment blocks alike with a fine white powder. By dawn, old men and women would be at their posts along every street, methodically sweeping the snow off the sidewalks for the lumbering mechanical plows to scoop up.
Kirill Markov glanced at the clock on the bed stand.
“That tickles,” said the girl.
He looked down at her. For a moment he could not recall her name. It was hard to make out her face in the darkness, but the golden luster of her long sweeping hair caught the faint light of the streetlamp outside the window. Nadia, he remembered at last. Sad, a part of his mind reflected, that when you pursue a woman you can think of nothing else, but once you’ve got her she becomes so forgettable.
Woman! he snorted to himself. She’s only a girl.
“You’re tickling me!”
Markov saw that his beard was the culprit and, moving his chin in a tiny circle, ran the end of the whiskers around the nipple of her right breast.
She giggled and clutched him around the neck.
“Can you do it again?” she asked.
“In English,” Markov said to her in a gentle whisper. “Our bargain was that all our lovemaking will be done in English. It is the best way to learn a foreign language.”
She pressed her lips together and frowned with concentration. Her face is really quite ordinary, Markov thought. Vapid, even.
Still frowning, she said slowly in English, “Are you able to fork me another time?” Her accent was atrocious.
Suppressing a laugh, Markov said, “Fuck…not fork.”
She nodded. “Are you able to fuck me another time?”
“That word is considered to be in bad taste by the English and the Americans. Not so by the Australians.”
“Fork?”
“No. Fuck. They usually employ a euphemism for the word.”
“Euphemism?”
Markov’s eyes rolled heavenward. She’ll never pass the exams, no matter whose bed she flops into. As he explained in Russian the meaning of the word, he mentally added, Unless she can fuck the computer.
“Now I understand,” Nadia said in English.
“Good,” he said.
“Well, can you?”
“Can I what?”
“You know…”
“Ah!” Realizing that her mind had not deviated from its carnal goal, he replied, “Make love to you once again? Gladly! With white-hot passion. But not now. It is time for you to get back to your dormitory.”
In Russian she bleated, “Must I? It’s so cozy and warm here.” Her fingers traced lines down his shoulder and back.
“It won’t be cozy much longer. My wife will be returning very soon.”
“Oh, her!”
Markov sat up on the bed. The room