"Fine. Take as long as you want, maybe get a tour of the ship." She paused, thinking. "Yes . . . under the circumstances, I think I'd better change your primary duty." She turned to DeLayne. "Captain Odeon has been studying your Empire as well as possible from comm intercepts and what's left of our Founders' records. If you're willing to loan him books or have some of your people talk to him, I'd like to make those studies his top priority. He can then brief me on whatever he considers important." DeLayne nodded. "Comm intercepts and fragmentary records won't give you very good information, especially since your Founders obviously weren't at all fond of the Empire--I'll be glad to help him learn as much as he wants." He turned to Odeon, grinning. "Come on, Captain--we'll go by Sickbay for the blood samples, then I'll give you a ship tour and introduce you to teaching tapes. Can you read Imperial English?" Odeon looked up at the ship's name as he followed DeLayne up the gangplank, then shook his head ruefully. "If that's a sample, no--I can recognize most of the letters, but they don't make sense." "Easy enough to remedy." DeLayne saluted the armed guard at the hatch. "Permission to come aboard, sir? Myself and one of our hosts." The woman returned his salute. "Granted, sir. Are you permitting him aboard armed?" "Yes. And no one's to leave this estate--definitely not the compound--unarmed. I'll make that--" "Captain?" Odeon interrupted. "Yes?" "If I were you, I'd have them armed any time they leave the ship. And I'd have Miss Conley sent one of those blasters as soon as possible." DeLayne frowned. "The Brotherhood's that dangerous?" "Probably not here at the Lodge, as Colonel Cortin said--but we don't know how they'll react to the Empire's presence, and I don't think we should take any chances." "Neither do I. Okay, I'll make the announcement and put it in the standing orders." DeLayne turned to the guard. "No one's to leave the ship without a sidearm, Corporal; pass that on to your relief. I'll make the all-hands announcement as soon as I show Captain Odeon to Sickbay." "Aye, sir." Odeon wasn't sure what he'd expected the ship's interior to be like--similar to an airplane, maybe. Once they got past the airlock and a series of large lockers, though, what he saw could have been the inside of a large, modern building. If he hadn't just watched it land, he wouldn't have believed himself inside a vehicle. "Your guard's uniform was black--a Marine?" "Right. SecuDiv--sorry, Security Division; I doubt you know our abbreviations--like all the ones assigned to Columbus." DeLayne smiled at his guest. "I'd better warn you, Captain--my medical people will probably want more from you than a blood sample. I don't know how your people feel about doctors, but don't let Drulet intimidate you into more than you're comfortable with."