TWENTY-FOUR HOURS WERE NOT ENOUGH, BUT THE Sentinels would only push back their departure time on an hour-by-hour basis.

Preparations for the Sentinels' campaign had people working around the clock.  The first lists of personnel assigned to the Sentinels appeared only two hours after the end of the council meeting.

Anyone on the list had the option of applying for a deferment; fewer then twenty percent did so.

Lang was one of those who knew his name wouldn't appear on the list.  Despite his vast curiosity about the things that lay ahead for the liberators, he knew he could not go along.

At his request, Janice Em interrupted her labors as a computer operator and gofer for the Council Advisory Staff, and joined him in his office.  He was alone sipping tea, when she got there.  She refused the offer of some orange mandarin, but accepted a chair.

Janice felt an undercurrent - not fear, but a reaction to Lang that she could never pin down.  She knew he had been her friend for a long time, and that she trusted him implicitly.  Still, she always felt things crowding on the edge of her consciousness, things she couldn't name, when he looked at her like this.  After a little small talk Lang put down his cup and saucer and leaned very close to her.  Janice wanted to move away, or telll Dr. Lang to, but found that she couldn't speak, and somehow hated the unfairness of it...

"Janice," he said evenly.  "Retinal scan."

The part of her that was the conscious Janice Em slipped away, even as her eyes took on an inner glow that grew quite bright for a moment, then faded.

When it was gone, her eyes and face had lost all animation, and her skin its color and tautness.  "ID confirmed, Dr. Lang.  Your request."

Lang blinked a bit from the dazzle of her ID scan.  "Janice, I have arranged for you to be selected to accompany the Sentinels' mission.  You will accept the assignment."

"Yes, Doctor."

"Bring back all relevant data, with particular attention to Protoculture, the Flower of Life, Zor, the Invid Regis and Regent, and the nature and activities of the Robotech Masters."

"Of course, sir."

Lang rubbed his eyes.  What  else?  "Oh yes: I am also extremely interested in matters pertaining to the life-form, being, or mythical figure known as 'Haydon.'  Gather all pertinent data."

"I will, Dr. Lang."