The little personnel printout with TEMESVAR ELLISON in block capitals across its top went skittering over the surface of the desk, tossed by Lombok's nimble little fingers.  Tupelov's big, soft, nail-bitten ones fumbled it up on the second try.

"His biomother," Lombok announced, in laconic explanation.  "Genetic pattern fits too.well to leave any real doubt.  And she was on Alpine at the right time."

"So?" One glance at each side and Tupelov had read the printout, which outlined Elly Temesvar's service career from enrollment to the time ofher resignation approximately eleven years ago.  "Doesn't ring any... oh.  Wait.  This is the girl who was with Marcus, on the second sighting of the Taj.  When he went right through part of it trying to shake off a berserker.  So she's also Michel's -"

Breaking off in mid-sentence, the Secretary looked at the printout again, executing with unconscious perfection an actor's double-take.

"Exactly," put in Lombok.  "It looks like Frank Marcus is almost certainly his father.  I'll do a genetic pattern study on that too, to make sure."

Tupelov signed agreement.  "But very quietly.  Do it yourself.  Marcus... hasn't seen this yet, of course."

"Of course not.  No reason to think that he has any suspicion of the relationship.  Or that Michel has either."

"The dates all mesh... so she got pregnant on that mission.  But it says nothing here about her bwing pregnant when they returned to base - no reason why it should, I suppose - or about pregnancy being a reason when she resigned a few months later.  It just quotes her as saying she had, quote, 'lost interest in her career,' unquote.  Well, after six months alone with Marcus I can understand anyone quitting."

"If you'll note," said Lombok, "Alpine was the first place they put in at, on their way back to their origianal base, CORESEC.  It would seem she just had the pregnancy terminated at the first place she reasonably could, and never mentioned it to the service doctors."

"Yeah... yeah... I want to think about this.  We'll keep it very quiet for now."

"Agreed."

"But you're standing there looking at me, Angelo, as if you want permission to do something."

"I think I ought to go see just what Elly Temesvar is up to now.  Talk to her.  Maybe even bring her to Moonbase, if I can, on some pretext."

"Why?"

"What she is will have some bearing on what Michel is, and will become.  And it strikes me that from her service record alone we just don't know very much about her."

"We know her present address?"