Chapter 13Astrid touched my chest. Herfingerstapped my heart. But this wasn’t an act of affection. Long ago,some military strategist thought it might be useful to reviseprimitive methods of communication. At times, he reasoned, theymightcome in handy even during the space ages of faster-than-lightcommunication. Astrid tapped out the old-fashioned Morse code. Iwinked I had received the message and we kept walking. In severalminutes we were near the passageway. I flicked the mic.
“Ladies, gentleman, I need to check afew things on the shuttle. I will be back in a couple of minutes.Carry on.”
We walked into the passageway andexited into the shuttle. We stepped into the pilot’s small chamber.I turned to Astrid.
“So why did you request a privatemeeting?”
“I wanted to get away from Lynneorn.S
