Titan

17 April 2096: Morning

“This changes nothing,” Eberly said, sitting tensely in his desk chair.

Eduoard Urbain, seated before the desk, smiled thinly. “Au contraire. I believe it changes everything.”

“They can’t stop us from mining the rings. And remember, you gave your approval. I have your signature.”

“That was blackmail and you know it,” said Urbain. “I can renounce my endorsement now that Wunderly has proved the rings bear indigenous life.”

“What of it?” Eberly snapped. “We can still mine the rings if we choose to.”

“Not unless the IAA allows it. And with the universities recommending a total ban on mining, the IAA will forbid it.”

Eberly steepled his fingers in front of his face, letting silence fall. He knew bluff was an important part of politics, but he also knew that one had to be prepared to back up a bluff with action, if necessary.

“I don’t care what the ICU or the IAA or any Earthbound gang of bureaucrats say. We will mine the rings. With or without their approval.”

“They will stop you.”

“How? They have no jurisdiction here.”

“The IAA has jurisdiction throughout the solar system,” Urbain countered. “Selene and the other lunar settlements, the asteroid miners, all the research stations on Mars, Jupiter and Venus, even the Yamagata solar power project at Mercury acknowledges the IAA’s authority.”

“Ah,” said Eberly, pointing his index finger like a pistol. 4acknowledge the IAA’s authority. They have agreed to it. We haven’t.”

“Not officially, perhaps, but that is merely a matter of form.”

Eberly leaned forward in his chair, excitement rising in him. Yes, he said to himself. I could do it. They would follow me. I could get the people of this habitat to follow where I lead and respect me for my courageous leadership.

Misunderstanding his silence, Urbain went on, “So you see, the IAA must—”

“To hell with the IAA!” Eberly snapped. “I’m going to put it to a vote. Make a ballot referendum out of it. The people will vote to refute the IAA. They’ll vote for total independence of every vestige of domination by Earth.”

Urbain paled. “Then the IAA would have no recourse but to send troops here to enforce their ruling.”

“Really? Do you think they’d risk a war?”

“You would fight them? With what?”

“With every weapon we can build or borrow,” Eberly said, already envisioning himself leading his people, rallying his troops. “And remember, this habitat is a lot sturdier than the spacecraft the IAA would send. We could hurt them a lot more than they could hurt us.”

“You are mad,” Urbain whispered.

Eberly laughed at him. “It won’t come to actual fighting, I’m sure. Those Earthworms will try to negotiate with us first. And I’ll let them. I’ll spend months engaged in discussions and meetings with the IAA’s bureaucrats. I’ll talk and they’ll talk, for months and months and months.”

“But in the end—”

“And while we are engaged in those oh-so-earnest negotiations, we’ll start mining the rings. I’ll present the Earthworms with a fait accompli. We’ll mine the rings and they’ll do nothing to stop us.”

“But you’ll be killing an alien life-form!” Urbain pleaded. “That is against everything we stand for! Everything we believe in!”

“Everything you scientists believe in, perhaps. But I imagine that even some of the scientists on your staff wouldn’t protest against getting rich from mining the rings. People believe in their own well-being, first and foremost.”

“No,” Urbain said weakly. “That is not so.”

“Isn’t it?” Eberly smiled his warmest. “I’ll leave a large section of the rings free from mining operations. I’ll put Dr. Wunderly in charge of preserving and protecting her precious little ice bugs. There’s no reason why the people of this community can’t get rich without completely destroying the ice creatures.”

Urbain sat there in front of Eberly’s desk, speechless.

Wunderly had thought she was too keyed up to sleep, but she zonked out the minute her head finally hit her pillow. And awoke bright and eager, full of energy.

This is the first day of the rest of your life, she told her smiling image in the lavatory mirror. You’re going to be a famous woman, Nadia. Time to start looking the part.

As she dressed she told the phone on her night table to make an appointment with Kris Cardenas as early this morning as possible. Within seconds the phone confirmed that Dr. Cardenas would see her anytime before noon, in her laboratory.

Glancing at the digital clock readout on the phone’s screen, Wunderly realized it was already well past nine. You’ve overslept, she berated herself. Then she grinned. So what? I’m entitled.

Negroponte woke late, also. Habib was still sound asleep beside her, snoring softly.

Nadia was right, the biologist told herself, as she slipped out of her bed. Don’t send him signals and wait for him to interpret them. Be direct. Be honest.

And most of all, she thought, get to him before anyone else does. Especially Nadia.

She was toweling off after her shower when she heard Habib’s voice from the bedroom. “I … I have to go.”

“Come in,” Negroponte said, sliding back the lavatory door. “I’m decent,” she added with a wolfish grin, as she tucked the towel around her.

Habib was already partially dressed. He was sitting on the edge of the thoroughly rumpled bed, pulling on his suede loafers.

“No, not that,” he said, looking a little red-faced. “I have to go back to my place. I have a meeting with Timoshenko at ten and I have to shower and change and—”

She sat on the bed beside him. “You’re embarrassed?”

“No!” he said. Then, “Well, yes, slightly.”

“No need to be. You were very good.”

“You were wonderful.”

“You could phone your ten o’clock and cancel the meeting.”

“Oh no, I couldn’t do that. It’s important.”

She smiled and patted his thigh. “I understand.”

Habib practically ran from her apartment. Negroponte got up from the bed and went back into the lavatory, disconcerted by how alone she felt.

Cardenas didn’t know how to break the news to Wunderly, so she stalled for time to think of a way.

“You’re going back to Earth, Nadia?” she asked.

Wunderly was grinning happily as she stood before Cardenas’s workbench in the nano lab. Tavalera was nowhere in sight; the lab was empty except for the two of them.

Nodding, she answered, “I’ll be going back with the team of scientists who’re coming out here. I’m going to be famous, Kris.”

“You deserve it,” Cardenas said. “You’ve worked very hard for it.”

Wunderly’s smile faded a bit. “I can’t go back with nanomachines inside me. They won’t allow anybody—”

“I know,” Cardenas said. “The flatlanders are scared shitless of nanotechnology.”

Her expression growing even more serious, Wunderly said, “So you’ll have to flush the bugs out of me before I can go back.”

Biting her lip, Cardenas decided the best way was to be direct and quick, like sticking someone with a needle.

“Nadia, you don’t have any nanomachines inside you. You never did.”

Wunderly seemed to hold her breath.

“You did it all on your own, Nadia,” Cardenas went on. “You lost all that weight on your own.”

Wunderly’s smile returned, bigger than ever. “You faked it! You never injected me with nanobugs!”

“That’s right.”

“I did it by myself!”

“Diet and exercise,” said Cardenas. “Works every time.”

Flinging her arms around Cardenas’s neck, Wunderly exclaimed, “Kris, you’re marvelous! You—I mean—this is the best present anyone’s ever given to me!”

“I lied to you,” Cardenas said softly.

“You gave me a magic potion. Just like a fairy godmother.”

Cardenas nodded. “And you did all the work.”

“I did it by myself.” Wunderly seemed genuinely thrilled by the news.

“You certainly did.”

“So I can keep on doing it, taking care of myself, watching my weight.”

“And looking better and better.”

“Kris, I love you!”

Cardenas smiled back at her. “Just make sure you look good at the Nobel ceremonies.”