Titan

30 May 2096: The third debate

From his seat in the rear of the jam-packed auditorium, Tavalera thought that Yolanda Negroponte looked like a blonde Amazon, standing tall and determined in the midst of the crowd. Eberly was at the lectern, trying to keep from scowling at her. Behind him sat Holly and Professor Wilmot.

Wilmot had thrown the debate open to questions from the floor immediately after the candidates’ brief opening statements. Holly hadn’t had a chance to show the graphs and imagery that Tavalera had helped her to put together. He didn’t even give her a chance to tell them about mining comets, Tavalera thought fretfully.

Several of Eberly’s flaks had asked about mining the rings in the face of the IAA’s order, received that morning, banning any commercial activity in Saturn’s rings until the presence of nanomachines there could be thoroughly investigated.

Eberly had insisted that he would start mining operations anyway, and negotiate with the “Earthbound bureaucrats” to permit mining and scientific studies at the same time. “They’re a billion kilometers away,” he’d said. “How dare they try to tell us what to do?”

That’s when Negroponte shot to her feet.

“There’s more involved here than a jurisdictional conflict with the IAA. Those nanomachines were put into the rings by somebody. An intelligent species. We don’t know when and we don’t know why.”

Eberly forced a condescending smile. “It was probably millions of years ago. Whoever seeded the rings with those machines is probably long gone, maybe extinct.”

“Do you know that for a fact?” Negroponte demanded. Before Eberly could reply she went on, “No, you don’t. No one does. But we know that the nanomachines put out surges of electromagnetic energy. That’s what caused the power outages we’ve had—”

“That problem has been fixed,” Eberly said quickly.

“But suppose those surges are actually signals?” Negroponte insisted. “Suppose those nanomachines are sending out a message to their creators, a message that says we are here, in Saturn’s vicinity?”

The crowded auditorium went absolutely silent.

“Suppose,” Negroponte added, “that whoever planted those nanomachines would be angry with anyone who disturbed them? What then?”

Eberly’s mouth twitched several times before he replied, “That’s … sheer speculation.”

“But do we dare take a chance? We’re facing some enormous unknowns here.”

Eberly tried to smile again. But Holly got up from her chair and asked Professor Wilmot, “May I respond to her question?” The pin mike clipped to her tunic amplified her voice so that the audience heard it clearly.

Wilmot also got to his feet. “If Mr. Eberly is finished,” he said.

Eberly backed away from the lectern, but remained standing.

Holly licked her lips as she gripped the lectern’s sides and said, “I know how we can get rich from selling water without touching the rings.”

The crowd stirred. Turning to Wilmot as she fished a palm-comp from her pocket, Holly said, “I have a few images to show.’ Kay?”

“Go right ahead,” said Wilmot.

Tavalera sat back and watched the imagery he had helped Holly to prepare flash onto the wall screen at the rear of the auditorium’s stage. Holly went through the presentation they had rehearsed in a methodical, orderly way: Use Goddard as a base of operations; locate comets sailing inward from the Kuiper Belt; mine them for their water; sell the water to the human settlements throughout the solar system.

“With the money we make from selling water,” she concluded, “we’ll be able to lift the zero-growth limit and expand our habitat, even build new ones when we have to. And we can do it without interfering with the nanobugs in the rings.”

“How do you know there aren’t nanomachines in the comets?” a man shouted. “Or living creatures?”

Tavalera knew that Holly was prepared for that one.

With an easy smile, she replied, “Astrobiologists have been studying comets for pretty near a century now. They’ve found organic chemicals in them, but no living organisms. And no nanomachines.”

“Yeah, but still—”

“If a comet bears life—or alien machines—we’ll leave it alone. There’s plenty of other comets to pick from.”

The questions slowly turned from hostile to friendly. Holly’s winning them over, Tavalera told himself. She’s doing it. She’s showing them how to get rich without hurting the rings.

For more than an hour the people in the audience fired questions at both candidates. Tavalera realized that more and more of the questions were addressed to Holly, fewer to Eberly.

When Wilmot finally called a halt and asked for final statements, the crowd got to its feet and applauded Holly. Eberly hung back like a wounded wolf, staring unbelievingly at what was happening. Negroponte charged forward toward the stage, followed by a dozen other women. They surged up onto the stage and lifted Holly onto their shoulders, then paraded her around the auditorium as everyone whooped and cheered while Wilmot and Eberly stood on the stage dumbfounded.

She’s done it, Tavalera told himself. She’s gonna win tomorrow’s election. She’ll never come back to Earth with me.