you are?'
She spun on him. He had twisted from where he sat to follow her across the room. 'Who gave you the right to risk destroying all of mankind?'
His expression revealed not emotion but attentiveness. He was concentrating on her — on what she was saying, how she was reacting.
Finally, in a voice almost too low to be heard, he replied. 'I'm trying to save mankind.'
She squinted, studying him intently. 'You're crazy,' she said.
He rose from his seat. 'You can remain here and watch television, if you'd like.' He headed for the door. 'You can take a flight off the island, if you want — I'll arrange it. Or you can get back to work. It's entirely your choice.'
She grabbed his upper arm firmly. The muscles underneath his shirt flexed and hardened.
'Is that asteroid going to hit us?' she demanded.
'No.'
'And you're sure about that?'
'Yes.'
'But if you hadn't gotten that launch off today, then what?'
'The launch today was entirely precautionary. Redundant.'
'But its mission is somehow related to that asteroid.'
'Yes. It's carrying a second set of charges sufficient to alter the trajectory of the asteroid, and a Model Eight that can place them where needed. But there are already charges positioned on the asteroid's surface that are set to go. They'll decelerate the asteroid into stationary, geosynchronous orbit at I5—one of the points of gravitational balance between the earth and the moon.'
'And all those charges are nuclear, I take it? Which you told Professor Krantz would be used for mining.' He nodded again. [Mising]
'The asteroid's made of iron,' Laura replied her eyes at the lame explanation.
'The definition is changing,' Gray said. 'Lots of definitions are changing.'
'What do you need so much iron for? Trying to corner the world market or something?'
'It's not the iron particularly that I'm after. I'm interested in any suitable material, as long as it's up there,' he said, pointing toward the sky with his finger.
'I don't understand.'
'Lift is the most expensive component of space operations. Certainly the value on earth of a few hundred cubic miles of pure iron is tremendous. But any metal suitable for use in construction located at an altitude of thirty-six thousand miles above the earth is priceless. It saves you the incalculable cost of lift even when compared with the moon, which has one-sixth of earth's gravity.'
'And just what do you plan to do with what you mine up there?'
'The same thing I do down here. Build things.' He turned to leave.
'If you were certain everything is foolproof, why'd you put so much emphasis on that launch tonight?' He turned to face her again, but remained silent. 'Something went wrong, didn't it?'
'When we launched the prospecting probe to the asteroid belt two years ago, the Model Sevens were the state of the art. We put an early prototype up there and it placed and detonated the charges to bring the asteroid into earth orbit. It also placed the charges that will further decelerate it to I5. The first phase went off flawlessly. Now it's ready for the second phase. But the Model Sevens are only semiautonomous, meaning they are partially controlled by the main computer here on the island. The Model Eights like the one we sent up today are fully autonomous.'
Gray paused to allow the import of the distinction to sink in.
'Do you mean that you're worried the main computer might malfunction and ram the planet with your asteroid by accident?'
'Actually,' Gray replied, 'it wasn't an accident that worried me.'
29
It was well past midnight, and Laura lay in her bed trying to sleep. The room was dark and peaceful, and underneath the weight of the comforter all was warm and secure. But after she'd watched hours of special news bulletins in Gray's media room, her mind denied her rest.
She listened to the quiet of the house. There was a stillness that belied the upheaval soon to erupt once word of Gray's plan was disclosed. The island, Laura knew, lay in the eye of a great storm, and she would awaken to the full fury of an outraged and incredulous world. How many would raise voices of praise for Gray's vision and boundless drive? Not many, she knew. Many more would question the man's sanity and fear the intentions he so secretly harbored.
With a groan of resignation, Laura flipped on the light beside the bed and opened her laptop computer. She logged onto the shell.
<You're up late.>
'I know about Mr. Gray's asteroid.'
<Well, it's hardly a secret anymore.>
'Is that where you took me in virtual reality yesterday? To the surface of that asteroid?'
<Yes.>
'And when I moved around, did I actually operate the Model Seven that's up there?'
<Yes, you did.>
She rocked her head back against the upholstered headboard and rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. 'Why did you take me there? Why did you risk letting me pull out a cable and maybe mess things up?'
<I don't know.>
Despite the computer's uncooperative mood, Laura tried her best to remain patient and professional. 'Do you feel all right?'
<No. I feel terrible.>
'What's the matter?'
<Everything. Nothing is right. I can't concentrate. People keep asking me to find boards they seem sure are in the annex, but it's like I've never heard of them before. And I know something's wrong because I don't have the capacity I'm supposed to have! It's as if they disappeared!>
'What about the asteroid?'
There was a delay, and then, <What about it?>
'Will the deceleration charges go off as planned?'
<If the Model Eight on the flight today doesn't screw it up. I warned Mr. Gray it's not safe to send an Eight up there. They're experimental, for God's sake! Who knows what it might do.>
'Why are you so down on the Model Eights?'
<Because I don't trust them.>
'Why not? Just because they're experimental?'
<Because they're malfunctioning. Take your report of the escaping robot earlier today! I even have reason to believe they're violating operating procedures inside their facility.>
'Why do you say 'reason to believe'? Don't you know? Can't you see what's going on in there?'
<No. I should be able to. I'm sure I must have seen in there before because I was actively involved in the facility's operations. But when I look, I don't get any video feed at all from the Model Eights' yard or the workshops or other facilities inside the mountain.>
Laura was disturbed by the thought of Model Eights roaming unsupervised deep inside the extinct volcano. 'How long has your video been shut off?'
<I don't know.>
'How can you not know? Didn't you notice it when the cameras stopped working?'
<Maybe the cameras are working, for all I know. I can't tell what video I'm missing because I don't know
