The Searcher had cleared the solar system at this point, but piloting Wilma's starfighter through the nearest stargate dropped them neatly back off at the closest point to Earth.
"If he's not on Earth, where else would we start looking?" Wilma worried.
"Let us, as Buck would say, cross that bridge when we come to it," Hawk advised. "I am fairly confident he went to Earth, given the trial. Too strong a connection there time wise. The question we're left with is where to look on Earth. There are still several possibilities."
"Yes, there are, but hopefully, I can narrow that down a little bit," Wilma said. "I have friends who can help us search the entry ports." Earth was looming up ahead, a blue marble in space, and she contacted New Chicago. Twenty minutes later, they had landed at the directorate complex. Hawk looked around a bit uneasily and drew within himself as she walked along the familiar hallways. His own trial was still too close for him to feel entirely comfortable this close to Earth's government. She knew that it was a testimony to his regard for Buck that he had come here with her.
Dr. Huer hadn't changed at all. He was sitting in his office talking to Dr. Theopolis when she entered. "Colonel!" He came to his feet and came around the table to grasp her hand. "I'm glad to see you again." He looked past her to Hawk. "You must be Hawk," he said, smoothly polite as ever, and extended a hand. Hawk shook it. "What brings you back to Earth? I thought the Searcher had left again."
"Yes, it has. We're looking for Buck." Her hopes were dropping a little. Buck clearly hadn't visited his old friend earlier today.
Dr. Huer frowned. "He didn't go with the ship?"
"He did, but he left again very early this morning. Asked the Admiral for a day or two off and simply vanished. He didn't say where he was going."
"I see." Dr. Huer sighed. "I know about the trial and what he's been through, of course. I was following it by holovision. I couldn't intervene, however; I hope Buck understood that."
"I'm sure he did." Wilma asked the question, though she was sure of the answer. "You haven't seen him today?"
"No, I haven't."
Theo gave a polite flash of his lights before entering the conversation. "I show no record of Captain Rogers landing in New Chicago today, either at the directorate complex or the central space port. I will broaden the request to all other major ports in North America, but it will take a little time. Not every port is run as efficiently as this one." His tone almost reminded Wilma slightly of Crighton for a moment.
"Thank you." She was controlling the conversation; Hawk hadn't said a word so far. "How are you, Theo?"
"I am very well, thank you. How is Twiki doing?"
"He's the same as ever. Do you have a new ambuquad assisting you?"
"Yes. He is working elsewhere at the moment, but I have Macron. He is much more reliable and steady than Twiki. Always where he should be, always follows orders. Completely..."
Theo hesitated, and Wilma filled in the blank with a smile. "Boring?"
"Quite," Dr. Huer admitted, and Theo flashed his lights in what passed for him as a smile.
"Buck didn't take Twiki with him when he left the ship?" Dr. Huer asked.
"No. He was totally alone."
Huer shook his head. "He doesn't need to be totally alone right now. Not after what he's been through the last few days. He needs to be reminded that he has people here for him, especially since he got reminded so strongly of everything and everyone he lost."
"Not just reminded of it but accused of causing it," Wilma added. "Hawk and I are worried about him."
"Yes, I am, too. For someone as loyal as Buck, being accused of treason must have hurt more than anything else they could have charged him with," Huer said.
His words abruptly triggered a memory from a few days ago for Wilma. Buck, in his cabin, totally shaken and as near giving up as she had ever seen him. Buck, saying that one thing hurt even worse than the treason charge. "Jim Anderson," she said.
Hawk hadn't heard that remark from Buck, but he followed her train of thought and entered the conversation for the first time. "That could be it. Buck said he was his best friend. Also his accuser on that first tape."
Huer came to attention. "So he was. Yes, that might lead to some possibilities." He turned to the round computer brain on the table. "Dr. Theophilus..."
"I am already calculating along those lines," Theo replied. The room was tensely silent for several seconds, and then he spoke. "Jim Anderson's home town was Phoenix, now the site of New Phoenix. Most of the time he worked with Buck, he would have lived in either Washington DC or Houston. Washington DC does not exist anymore; New Houston does." His lights flashed at a furious rate as another minute passed. "Captain Rogers landed a starfighter at the port of New Houston two hours ago."
"Thank you, Theo." Wilma turned for the door. Hawk was already halfway to it. Dr. Huer, watching, envied them their freedom from duty and wished them speed in finding Buck.