something was wrong. One side of his white environment suit was stained
red. And he seemed to be nursing a bandaged arm as he drifted up toward
the camera.
"_Stradstyve_," he began, "_Ya Yuri Andreevich Androv_. . . ."
The cosmonaut then proceeded to deliver a long-winded speech in Russian
that Nogami could not follow and the BBC had not yet translated. He
seemed to be growing angrier and angrier, and at one point he gave a
long disquisition about someone named Andrei Petrovich Androv. He was
obviously a Soviet test pilot. Who else could fly that creation? Given
the looks of the cockpit, it was a quantum advance in high technology.
Nogami leaned back, his match poised. The good part, the part in
English, was coming up. That's what Sir Cecil had said. The Russian
segment had been for broadcast in the Soviet Union, had the local spin.
The English part was for the world. And for Tanzan Mino.
Who was now in deep, deep trouble. Murder, fraud, a global conspiracy--
they all were there, and even more damning for the way the story had
come to light. The medium was the message.
About that time the cosmonaut who'd identified himself as Soviet Air
Force Major Yuri Andreevich Androv drifted to the side, permitting a
better view of the cockpit. That's when Nogami noticed two other
individuals. One appeared to be a woman--leave it to the Soviets, he
smiled, to know about good public relations--also wearing an environment
suit, her helmet momentarily turned away. The third appeared to be
male, also in an environment suit and flight helmet. Sir Cecil hadn't
bothered mentioning them, since Air Force Major Androv had done all the
talking.
Then the male cosmonaut in the center drifted up and began opening his
visor, some kind of curved glass that reflected the yellow sodium
lights in the ceiling. He grappled with it a moment, then in annoyance
just yanked it off and tossed it to drift across--
Nogami stared at the face. Mother of God!
He was laughing so hard he almost missed his Montecristo when he
finally whipped up his match. . . .
* * *