There was a strange noise in his ear. He finally turned his head, realizing it was Cortez saying something, although he didn’t understand a word of it. The sad truth was that Anthony was just a little above his comfort zone all the time, although he said the right things to his superiors, and got acceptable performance out of his crew. He didn’t really care about them all that much, so long as they didn’t do anything bad enough to raise his commander’s ire. He’d been hoping that he could somehow explain the magenta bubble, possibly advancing his career. Now that Kate was gone—where, he couldn’t even begin to imagine—he was wondering if he would even have a career tomorrow. A good commander didn’t lose a crewman on the beach, or anywhere else.