here. Politics of settlement aside, it is tremendously important, especially after Mars turned out to be so barren.’
‘I certainly have no objection to that. Are we going to be shown the data?’
‘Of course.’ I managed to sound suitably shocked. ‘Actually, I was going to propose several joint expeditions. We did bring three long-duration science station vehicles with us that can be deployed on any of the lunar surfaces.’
Ricardo Savill Caesar tented his forefingers, and rested his chin on the point. ‘What kind of duration do these vehicles have?’
‘A couple of weeks without resupply. Basically they’re just large caravans we link up to a tractor unit. They’re fully mobile.’
‘And you envisage dispatching a mission to each moon?’
‘Yes. We’re also going to drop a number of probes into Jupiter to investigate its structural composition.’
‘Interesting. How far down do you believe they can reach?’
‘We want to examine the supercritical fluid level, the surface of it at least.’
He raised an eyebrow. ‘I shall be most impressed if your probe design is good enough to reach that level. The furthest we’ve ever reached is seven hundred kilometres down.’
‘Our engineers seem quite confident it can be reached. The family has always given solid-state science a high priority.’
‘A kind of technological machismo.’
‘I suppose so.’
‘Well, this is all very exciting. I’m very keen to offer you our fullest cooperation and assistance. My science team has been looking forward to your arrival for months. I don’t think they’ll be disappointed. Fresh angles are always so rewarding, I find.’
I showed him a satisfied nod. This stalemate was the outcome with the highest probability according to our council strategists. We’d established that our family was free to roam where it chose on any of the moons, but not to stay. Which meant the most popular, if somewhat whimsical, theory was unlikely. Several senior family councils had advanced the notion that the Caesars had discovered high-order life out here, and wanted to keep it for themselves. After all, since they found bacteria in the undersurface seas of both Ganymede and Europa, then more complex life was an ultra-remote possibility. Personally, I had always considered that just too far-fetched. More curiously, Ricardo Savill Caesar hadn’t objected to us probing Jupiter itself. The second most likely theory was that they’d found something of extraordinary value in its atmosphere. Again unlikely. There had been dozens of robot probes sent here in the decades before their flight. Which put me far enough down the list to start considering alien spaceships and survivors of Atlantis. Not an enjoyable prospect for any rational man. But as Ricardo Savill Caesar wasn’t giving anything away, my options were reducing. It was an annoying challenge. He knew that I knew the reason for the settlement claim had to be staring right at me. I simply couldn’t see it.
I told myself it didn’t matter. I never expected to catch it straight away, and we were due to stay at Jupiter for six months. There was plenty of time.
‘Then we’re all done bar the details,’ I said. ‘I’ll get my AI to link to your AI. I’m sure they can organize schedules and personnel rosters between them.’
He raised his cup in happy salute. ‘I’m sure they can. I’ll authorize a link to the
‘There is one other thing. A small matter.’
‘Oh?’
‘I’d like to see someone while I’m here. One of your deputies, in fact. It relates to an old investigation of mine. There are one or two points I need to clear up with her.’
‘Who are we talking about?’
‘Bethany Mary Caesar. I gather she’s on Io.’
‘Yes,’ he said cautiously. ‘She runs the science team there.’
His abrupt shift in attitude was fascinating. It was as though I’d suddenly won a point in our game of words and nuances. If only I could have worked out how I’d done that. All I’d said was her name. ‘You don’t object to me talking to her, do you?’
‘Not at all. If it isn’t confidential, what is this old investigation, exactly?’
‘A murder.’
‘Good Lady Mary. Really?’
‘As I say, it’s an old one. However, I have a new theory I’d like to run past her.’
The Io science outpost was nothing like New Milan. It consisted of two dozen cylindrical compartments resting on concrete cradles sunk deep into the carmine-coloured crust; they were all plugged into each other like some array of antique electronic components. For years they’d suffered from the exhalations of the volcano. Its furious sulphur emission clouds had gently drizzled down, staining their metallic-white casings with a thin film of dirty amber colloid which dribbled round the exterior to drip from the belly. But for all its functionalism, the Caesars had certainly chosen a location with a view. One of the compartments had an observation gallery, aligned so that its curving windows looked directly out at the distant sulphur volcano, which appeared as a dark conical silhouette rising out of the horizon.
I waited for Bethany Maria Caesar at one of the refectory tables in the gallery, staring straight out at the volcano through the gritty, smeared windows, hoping I would get to see an eruption. The only evidence of any seismic activity was the occasional tremor which ran through the compartment, barely enough to create a ripple in my teacup.
‘Hello, Edward, it’s been a long time.’
I would never have recognized her. This woman standing before me bore only the faintest resemblance to that beautiful, distraught girl I’d sat with through innumerable interviews eight decades ago. She looked, for want of a better word, old. Her face was lined with thick wrinkles that obscured the features I once knew; nor was there any more of that flowing blond hair — she’d had a crew cut so severe it barely qualified as stubble, and that was greyish. The tunic she wore was loose-fitting, but even that couldn’t disguise her stooped posture.
She put both hands on the table and lowered herself into a chair opposite me with a slight wheeze. ‘Quite a sight, aren’t I?’
‘What happened?’ I asked, appalled. No briefing file had mentioned any sort of accident or chronic illness.
‘Low gravity happened, Edward. I can see your face is all puffed up with fluid retention, so you already know a fraction of the suffering possible. Content yourself with that fraction. Low gravity affects some people worse than others, a lot worse. And after thirteen years constant exposure, I’m just about off the scale.’
‘Dear Mary! I don’t know what you Caesars want with Jupiter, but nothing is worth abusing yourself like this. Come home, back to Earth.’
Her smile alluded to a wisdom denied me. ‘This is my home. Jupiter is the frontier of humanity.’
‘How can you say that? It’s killing you.’
‘Life!’ The word was spat out. ‘Such a treacherous gift.’
‘A precious gift,’ I countered.
‘Ah yes. Poor old Justin. I was quite surprised when I saw you were the representative the Raleighs were sending. You caused me quite a little trip down memory lane.’
‘I won’t lie to you, you’re not my primary reason for being here.’
‘Ha. The great mystery of our time. What can those wicked Caesars want with Jupiter? Had any luck working it out yet?’
‘None at all. But we’ll get there in the end.’
‘I’m sure you will. Devote enough processing power to any problem, and ultimately it will be solved.’
‘That’s more like the Bethany I remember.’
‘I doubt it. This is experience talking. We have more AIs per head of population up here than anywhere on Earth. Every scrap of research data is analysed and tabulated — our knowledge base is expanding at a rate we can
