"Okay," said Morello, once Jake and Li Yang were seated, "Now you tell me what you want. No lies, no beating around the bush. Just lay it down on the fucking table. I'm sick of people giving me the runaround twenty times a day."
"We want people," Jake said. "We need more colonists. We're doing really well, and we need people."
Li Yang threw Jake a sharp glance. 'Really well' were not the words he'd have used to describe their progress in the New World. This did not go unnoticed by Morello.
Terence Morello was the manager of a big hotel. Being observant was very high up on the list of skills desired in hotel managers. They had to tell at a glance which guests would cause trouble, and who among the hotel staff were stealing stuff from the hotel. A good hotel manager had to be good at solving puzzles like that.
Morello said:
"Your partner—Bruce, isn't it?—Bruce doesn't seem to share the belief that you're doing very well."
Li Yang said quickly:
