"Hey!" Mendoza pulled back the door of the confessional. Her eyes were glowing with happiness. I gave her a stern look and continued the Act of Contrition with my somewhat disconcerted penitent, so Mendoza went out to stride up and down in front of the church in her impatience.
"Don't you know better than to interrupt me when I'm administering a sacrament?" I snapped when I was finally able to come out to her. "Some Spaniard you are!"
"So report me to the Holy Office. Joseph, this is important. One of my specimens read out with an F-M Class One rating."
"And?" I put my hands in my sleeves and frowned at her, refusing to come out of the role of offended friar.
"Favorable Mutation, Joseph, don't you know what that means? It's a Mission grape with a difference. It's got Saccharomyces with style and Botrytis in rare bloom. Do you know what happens when a fi! eld operative discovers an F-M Class One, Joseph?"
"You get a prize," I guessed.
"Si senor!" She did a little dance down the steps and stared up at me in blazing jubilation. I hadn't seen her this happy since 1554. "I get a Discovery Bonus! Six months of access to a lab for my own personal research projects, with the very finest equipment available! Oh joy, oh rapture. So I need you to help me."
"What do you need?"
"The Company wants the parent plant I took the specimen from, the whole thing, root and branch. It's a big vine, must have been planted years ago, so I need you to get me some Indians to dig it up and bring it back here in a carreta. Six months at a Sciences Base, can you imagine?"
"Where did you get the specimen?" I inquired.
She barely thought about it. "Two kilometers south-southeast. Just some Indian family back in the hills, Joseph!, with a hut in a clearing and a garden. Kasmali, that was what they called themselves. You know the family? I suppose we'll have to pay them something for it. You'll have to arrange that for me, okay?"
I sighed. Once again the kindly padre was going to explain to the Indian why it was necessary to give up yet another of his belongings. Not my favorite role, all things considered.
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