that he was the person doing the snoring.
As he reached consciousness, the snoring stopped, but the chime remained. He slapped his hand down irritably to make the connection. "Yes?" he asked thickly.
Viktor's broad face filled half a window. A much younger, Oriental face filled the other. He felt like he ought to recognize the Oriental. Then his eyes lost focus; he still wasn't awake yet.
Viktor waved. "Conference call. You remember Chan Kam Yin?"
Lou blinked, scrunching his face around to try to get some blood flow. "Oh, yeah, Kam Yin, hi." He stretched his arms. "I'm still coming back to life. Sorry."
"Sleepyhead," Viktor chided him. "You need to exercise more."
"You come over here anytime, Viktor and we'll run a marathon and see who finishes first," Lou retorted. He leaned forward. "How're our Angels doing?"
Viktor nodded his head. "Pretty good. One broken leg, but they took a Destroyer apart and figured out how to use its gun."
"Great."
Viktor agreed. "They are doing very well, indeed. But we want them to do better. Kam Yin, could you explain for Lou your idea for reloading the second gun?"
Lou listened to the boy explain the problem in his halting English. Lou could feel a sense of impatience every time he thought about the Angels' plight while he sat here waiting for the explanation to rattle to a conclusion, knowing that Viktor had already heard this explanation and could get through the essentials ten times as fast. But he understood Viktor's purpose. And he supposed that teaching the younger generation was a never-ending task, a task that shouldn't be cut off, even with Shiva closing on them at meteoric speed.
Kam Yin finished, "How do we open the ammo case? Viktor says he can open the case with duodec more safely
As he reached consciousness, the snoring stopped, but the chime remained. He slapped his hand down irritably to make the connection. "Yes?" he asked thickly.
Viktor's broad face filled half a window. A much younger, Oriental face filled the other. He felt like he ought to recognize the Oriental. Then his eyes lost focus; he still wasn't awake yet.
Viktor waved. "Conference call. You remember Chan Kam Yin?"
Lou blinked, scrunching his face around to try to get some blood flow. "Oh, yeah, Kam Yin, hi." He stretched his arms. "I'm still coming back to life. Sorry."
"Sleepyhead," Viktor chided him. "You need to exercise more."
"You come over here anytime, Viktor and we'll run a marathon and see who finishes first," Lou retorted. He leaned forward. "How're our Angels doing?"
Viktor nodded his head. "Pretty good. One broken leg, but they took a Destroyer apart and figured out how to use its gun."
"Great."
Viktor agreed. "They are doing very well, indeed. But we want them to do better. Kam Yin, could you explain for Lou your idea for reloading the second gun?"
Lou listened to the boy explain the problem in his halting English. Lou could feel a sense of impatience every time he thought about the Angels' plight while he sat here waiting for the explanation to rattle to a conclusion, knowing that Viktor had already heard this explanation and could get through the essentials ten times as fast. But he understood Viktor's purpose. And he supposed that teaching the younger generation was a never-ending task, a task that shouldn't be cut off, even with Shiva closing on them at meteoric speed.
Kam Yin finished, "How do we open the ammo case? Viktor says he can open the case with duodec more safely