"Pat, I've got a responsibility to the people I work for. I've spent
the last ten years keeping characters like Harry Thorsten from taking
over this System. It's a rough job, and it's a dirty one. I can't help
that. I don't like it. Pat, it's got to be this way."
She wouldn't talk to me. She wouldn't listen. I walked out of her
cabin, locking the door behind me.
Locking a door and forgetting what's on the other side are two
different things.
I went up to the control room and set a course for Titan. Maybe once we
got out there, I'd be able to convince her.
It was a lousy hope. I didn't even understand her--she was like
something I'd never seen before. How could she be like she was? How,
goddam it, _how_?