Payton Shaw was just finishing his latest report to Colonel Hearne when a familiar voice called his name. Payton looked up to see Spruance Del Curtin leaning over the back of the sofa. “What brings you here?”
“I need a little help.” Sprue gave a quick look around, lowered his voice. “You’ve heard about the guy over at Schirrasburg who’s supposed to have caught the diablovirus?”
“Mostly because the whole settlement’s closed down and Colonel Hearne had to completely redo our flight roster to isolate the pilots who’d been there right before the guy turned up sick. Sure, we’re following strict quarantine procedures and pilots are no longer allowed to go inside the settlements they’re visiting, but there’s still a certain limited amount of contact.”
Sprue’s lips quirked up a little, not a full-out Smilin’ Al grin, but definitely mark him down as pleased with the situation. “So here’s the problem. There are a bunch of rumors going around now. Some of them say the guy’s recovered and may never have had the diablovirus in the first place. The rest are claiming he died but NASA’s covering it up to prevent panic, since nobody’s sure where he got it from.”
“That’s pretty heavy stuff, Sprue.” Payton considered just how deep he wanted to get into this mess. especially since he had no idea where Sprue had gotten his information. For all Payton knew, he’d gone and poked his nose into some place he shouldn’t again. “And you know the big boss really doesn’t want people passing rumors.”
“I know what Captain Waite’s said. We had a talk about it a while back.” Sprue sounded a little exasperated. “Anyway, I’m not passing rumors. I’m trying to find out whether there’s any substance to them. After all, isn’t the whole point of Shepardsport Pirate Radio trying to get the truth out so that people aren’t stuck having to sift through masses of contradictory rumors?”
“You really have a talent at putting me in a rough place, Sprue. I’m not going to promise anything, but I’ll see what I can find out.”