Asteroid Wars - The Precipice Part 43

"They are probably highly-tunneled by nature."

Dan stroked his chin, trying to think, trying to decide. If he's right, it'd be better than dunking ourselves in a pool of liquid hydrogen for hours on end. If Fuchs is right. If we can burrow into the asteroid and use it for a storm shelter. If he's wrong, we're all dead.

Pancho spoke up. "I say we go for the asteroid, boss."

Dan looked into her steady light brown eyes. Is she saying this because she knows I won't make it otherwise? Is she willing to take the chance with her own life because it's the only chance we've got to save mine?

"I agree," Amanda said. "The asteroid is the better choice."

He turned back to Fuchs. "Lars, are you absolutely certain of all this?"

"Absolutely," Fuchs replied, without an instant's hesitation.

"Okay," Dan said, feeling uneasy about it. "Change course for- which one is it?"

"Asteroid 32-114," Fuchs and Amanda answered in unison.

"Point and shoot," Dan said.

Dan tried to sleep while Starpower 1 Starpower 1 raced to the chondritic asteroid, but his dreams were troubled with faces and visions from the past and a vague, looming sense of dread. He awoke feeling more tired than when he'd crawled into his bunk. raced to the chondritic asteroid, but his dreams were troubled with faces and visions from the past and a vague, looming sense of dread. He awoke feeling more tired than when he'd crawled into his bunk.

He felt stiff and sore, as if every muscle in his body were strained. Tension, he told himself. But that sardonic voice in his mind retorted, Age. You're getting to be an old man.

He nodded to his image in the lav mirror. If I live through this I'm going to start rejuve therapy.

Then he realized what he'd said: if I if I live through this. live through this.

He put on a fresh set of coveralls and grabbed a mug of coffee on his way to the bridge. Amanda was in the command chair, with Fuchs sitting at her right.

"Pancho's sleeping," Amanda said before Dan could ask. "We'll be making rendezvous with 114 in..." she glanced at one of the screens,"... seventy-three minutes. I'll wake her in half an hour."

"Can we see the rock yet?" Dan asked, peering into the black emptiness beyond the windows.

"Telescopic view," said Amanda, touching a viewscreen.

A lumpy, roundish shape appeared on the screen. To Dan it looked like a partially-deflated beach ball, dark gray, almost black.

"We're getting excellent data on it," Fuchs said. "Ma.s.s and density are confirmed."

"It's porous, as you thought?"

"Yes, it has to be."

"It's certainly no beauty," Amanda said.

"I don't know about that," replied Dan. "It looks pretty good to me. In fact, I think I'll call it Haven."

"Haven," she echoed.

Dan nodded. "Our haven from the storm." Silently he added, if those numbers for its density mean what Fuchs says they do.

SELENE.

The worst part of being alone in the temporary shelter was the waiting. There was nothing to do in the tempo except pace its length-an even dozen strides for Kris Cardenas-or watch the commercial video broadcasts that the shelter's antenna pulled in from the relay satellites.

Maddening. And there was the high-tech sarcophagus in the middle of the floor with the frozen woman inside its gleaming stainless steel cylinder. Not much company.

When the hatch in the floor suddenly squeaked open, Cardenas jumped with surprise so hard she nearly banged her head on the shelter's curving roof. For an instant she didn't care who was coming through the hatch; even an a.s.sa.s.sin would be a welcome relief from the boredom of the past night and day.

But she puffed out a big sigh of relief when she saw George Ambrose's brick-red mane rising through the open hatch. George climbed through and grinned at her.

"Dan says I should take you to Stavenger." Cardenas nodded. "Yes. Fine."

Doug Stavenger was not happy to see her. He sat behind his desk and eyed her with raw disappointment showing in his expression. Cardenas sat in the cus.h.i.+oned chair before the desk like an accused criminal being interrogated. George stood by the office door, beefy arms folded across his chest.

"You seeded Randolph's s.h.i.+p with gobblers?" he said, his voice hollow with shocked disbelief.

"Specifically tailored to take apart copper compounds," Cardenas admitted, feeling shaky inside. "Nothing more."

"Isn't that enough?"

"It was meant to cripple the s.h.i.+p's radiation s.h.i.+eld," she said defensively. "Once they found out about it they'd abort their mission and return here."

"But they didn't find out about it until they were deep in the Belt," Stavenger said.

George added, "And now they're sailing into a f.o.o.kin' radiation storm without a s.h.i.+eld."

"This could become a murder," Stavenger said. "Four murders."

Cardenas bit her lip and nodded.

"And Humphries was behind this scheme," Stavenger said. It was a statement, not a question.

"He wanted Randolph's mission to fail."

"Why?"

"Ask him."

"He's a major investor in the project. Why would he want it to fail?"

"Ask him," she repeated.

"I intend to," said Stavenger. "He's already on his way here."

As if on cue, Stavenger's phone chimed. "Mr. Humphries here to see you," said the phone's synthesized voice.

"Send him in," Stavenger said, touching the stud on the rim of his desk that opened the door.

George stood aside, clearly glowering through his beard as Humphries walked in. Humphries looked at Cardenas, half turned in her chair, then at Stavenger. With a slight shrug he took the other chair in front of the desk.

"What's this all about?" he asked casually as he sat down. "What's going on?"

"It's about attempted murder," Stavenger said.

"Murder?"

"Four people are caught in a solar storm out in the Belt without a working radiation s.h.i.+eld."

"Dan Randolph, you mean." Humphries almost smiled. "That's just like him, barging ahead like a bull in a china shop."

Stavenger bristled. "You didn't get Dr. Cardenas here to seed Randolph's s.h.i.+p with gobblers?"

"Gobblers?"

"Nanomachines. Disa.s.semblers."

Humphries glanced at Cardenas, then said to Stavenger, "I asked Dr.

Cardenas if there was any way that Randolph's s.h.i.+p could be... er; disabled slightly. Just enough to get him to turn back and abort his flight to the Belt." disabled slightly. Just enough to get him to turn back and abort his flight to the Belt."

Cardenas started to reply, but Stavenger said heatedly, "If they die - if any one of them dies-I'll have you arraigned for premeditated murder."

Humphries actually smiled at Stavenger. "That's so far-fetched it's ludicrous."

"Is it?"

"I had Randolph's s.h.i.+p sabotaged so he would abort his flight and come back to Selene. I admit to that. Any sane man would have turned around and headed for home as soon as he found the sabotage. But not Randolph! He pushed on anyway, knowing that his radiation s.h.i.+eld was damaged. That's his decision, not mine. If there's a a crime in this, it's Randolph committing suicide and taking his crew with him." crime in this, it's Randolph committing suicide and taking his crew with him."

Stavenger barely held on to his composure. His fists clenched, he asked through gritted teeth, "And just why did you want to sabotage his s.h.i.+p?"

"So the stock in Astro Corporation would drop, why else? It was a business decision."

"Business."

"Yes, business. I want Astro; the lower its stock, the easier for me to buy it up. Dr. Cardenas here wanted her grandchildren. I offered to get her together with them in exchange for a pinch of nanomachines."

"Gobblers," Stavenger said.

"They weren't programmed to harm anyone," Cardenas protested. "They were specifically set to attack the copper compound of the superconductor, nothing more."

"My father was killed by gobblers," Stavenger said, his voice as cold and sharp as an icepick. "Murdered."

"That's ancient history," Humphries scoffed. "Please don't bring your family baggage into this."

Visibly restraining himself, Stavenger stared at Humphries for a long, silent moment. Electricity crackled through the office. George decided that if Stavenger came around the desk and started beating up on Humphries, he would keep the door closed and prevent anyone from coming to the b.a.s.t.a.r.d's aid.

At last Stavenger seemed to win his inner struggle. He took a shuddering breath, then said in a low, seething voice, "I'm turning this matter over to Selene's legal department. Neither of you will be allowed to leave Selene until their investigation is finished."

"You're going to put us on trial?" Cardenas asked.

"If it were up to me," Stavenger said, "I'd put the two of you into leaky s.p.a.cesuits and drive you out into the middle of Mare Nubium Mare Nubium and leave you there." and leave you there."

Humphries laughed. "I'm glad you're not a judge. And, by the way, Selene has no capital punishment, does it?"

"Not yet," Stavenger growled. "But if we get a few more people like you here, we'll probably change our laws on that point."

Humphries got to his feet. "You can threaten all you like, but I don't think your courts will take this as personally as you are."

With that, he strode to the door. George stepped aside and let him open it for himself. He noticed that there was a thin sheen of perspiration on Humphries's upper lip as he left the office.

The instant the door closed again, Cardenas broke into sobs. Half doubled over in her chair, she buried her face in her hands.

Stavenger's icy composure melted. "Kris... how could you do it? How could you let him..." He stopped and shook his head.

Without looking up at him, Cardenas said in a tear-choked voice, "I was angry, Doug. Angrier than you can know. Angrier than I myself knew."

"Angry? At Randolph?"

"No. At them. them. The crazies who let this greenhouse cliff ruin the world. The fanatics who've exiled us, who won't let me come to Earth to see my children, my grandchildren. And they won't come here, not even for a visit. I wanted to punish them, get even with them." The crazies who let this greenhouse cliff ruin the world. The fanatics who've exiled us, who won't let me come to Earth to see my children, my grandchildren. And they won't come here, not even for a visit. I wanted to punish them, get even with them."

"By killing Randolph?"

"Dan's trying to help them," she said, looking up at him at last, her face streaked with tears. "I don't want want them helped! They made this mess. They shut me out of their lives. Let them stew in their own juices! They deserve whatever they get." them helped! They made this mess. They shut me out of their lives. Let them stew in their own juices! They deserve whatever they get."

Stavenger shook his head, bewildered. He handed Cardenas a tissue and she dabbed at her reddened eyes.

"I'm going to recommend that you be placed under house arrest, Kris. You'll be able to go anywhere in Selene except the nanotech lab."

She nodded wordlessly.

"And Humphries?" George asked, still standing by the door.

"Same thing, I suppose. But he's right, the smug slimebag. We don't have capital punishment; we don't even have a jail here in Selene."

"House arrest for him would be a lark," George said.

Stavenger looked disgusted. But then his chin came up and his eyes brightened. "Unless we take it out on his wallet."

"Huh?"