But just for a minute there—for longer than a minute—he felt the old desire again.
He doubted he’d call her before he left.
So she thought he was overly impulsive, eh? That wouldn’t hold him back. He’d still be the first to use teleportation.
Then he called Hatch Banner, who worked at a spaceship yard and from whom Ranglen got all his interstellar transport needs. Hatch was more paranoid than Ranglen and his stubbornness more difficult to deal with than Anne’s. But their shared memories of youth—the two men knew each other as children—sustained them through mutual troubles.
A sour voice grunted, “Yeah?” Hatch could be terse one minute but then endlessly talkative the next.
“Did I wake you?”
“Almost. I was in bed but hadn’t fallen asleep yet.”
“I’m thinking of a long trip away from H
