“None,” Scotty agreed.
With one slender forefinger, Angelique drew a line in the layer of thin, fine lunar dust. “If we go back, we fall right into their hands. But we’re boxed in here. To keep going, we’d have to knock a hole in the wall. No way that won’t make noise. They’ll see and hear, and catch us.”
The others were quiet for a time, then Mickey cleared his throat. “Then we have to give up. If we can’t go forward, the only thing that makes sense-”
“No!” Maud’s face had reddened with anger. She looked as if she wanted to slap him. “What? Do you trust these people? Do you think they’re just going to say ‘righty-oh’? Not punish us for trying to get away? If you believe that, you’re just an old fool.”
“Maud!” Mickey chirped in protest.
She crossed her arms. “I’m not talking to you.”
“People. People.” Angelique as peacemaker. “Darla was about to say something, and I think it would be smart for us to listen.”
“Look,” Darla said. “If we can’t get into the next bubble without noise, then we have to make some noise. Too much noise is as good as none at all.”
“A distraction?”
“Got me an idea,” Darla said. “While we were putting this dome together, we had an emergency alarm system set up in case of dome breach, release of toxic gases. Gremlins. Whatever. It’s the most hellacious racket you ever heard. I heard one go off over at Tycho once, and it like to split my skull.”
“Can we access it? Something like that might cause enough chaos.”
“Not from the inside. They seem to have overridden most of the systems. But there’s a parallel system on the exterior of the dome. With the right tools, one person could do it.” She gnawed at her lower lip. “But I have an idea. It would take three people to pull it off. I know where we can find two suits, and we’ll need another.”
Wayne clucked. “Then what are we talking about? We can’t. If there is no way, what difference does it make?”
“Once again, you forget that I am here.” Asako’s mechanical voice took them by surprise. “You talk as if I am not here. I am the reason you need to cross that breach. I am the reason that you cannot just disappear into the spaces between the bubbles-”
“Asako,” Scotty said. “Even if we could, we can’t just escape through the aquifer. You heard Kendra: It’s sabotaged. Booby-trapped. Whatever. You want to blow us up?”
“At least we’d have options,” her pod’s speaker rasped. “This is what I am saying to you: You have to let me help.”
“Help? How?”
“My pod is rated for vacuum. My treads should be able to lock on to the service ladders.”
Only silence greeted her.
Then Darla broke it. “You saw mechs working on the outside of the dome. Standard utility tracks-your pod should work just fine. Fine. But Asako… it’s just too risky.”
The bubble-girl laughed. “Risk. You speak of risk? Darla, thank you for caring, but I have nothing in my life except this.” Her frail hands gestured weakly. “No family save gamers. Have you any idea how my heart would break if I caused damage to my family? If you did not escape because you were trying to protect me? You must let me try to help.”
The gamers glanced at each other. One at a time, they nodded grimly. Then Ali said, “I will go as well. None of you would be in danger, if it weren’t for me-”
“No,” Darla said. “Ali. Ain’t no joy down that road, pumpkin. The only ones to blame are the pirates. They started this whole fandango. Listen, you got no training for this. Scotty and I do. Asako has the bubble, so we can’t tell her no. But no one else has to take this risk.”
“Can this actually work?” Scotty asked.
“Yes,” Asako said. “It can.”
The pirates of Neutral Moresnot had made their own plans and preparations.
“Shotz,” Celeste said. “We have the pool sealed. We have their communication blocked. No one on the outside of this dome knows that they have gotten away from us.”
Shotz ran his fingers absently through his long blond hair. “What are you saying?”
Celeste’s hard face softened, became almost shy. “I’m saying that in a very real way, it doesn’t matter. That conditions on the ground in Kikaya are dependent not on the reality of the situation, but its appearance. If the King abdicates, we still have our landing zone.”
Shotz seemed to roll the idea around in his mind, as if savoring its taste. “Then… we need only have sufficient hostages to get to the shuttle…”
She nodded. “And once we’re off the surface, it is a diplomatic matter. We were always in the hands of our employers there. Either we can trust them…”
“Or our emergency procedures go into effect,” he said, finishing her thought for her.
She nodded. “Unless Motabu wants to spend the rest of a short life looking over his shoulder, he will ensure our passage to L5, and from there to Earth. We were satisfied that they had the leverage before. Perhaps we need not fear now.”
Shotz scratched his scarred throat. “Excellent,” he finally said. “We proceed.”
The links between the bubbles were mostly structural, but partially practical for human entrance and egress. Sharmela and Wayne bustled Asako and her pod along the walkways between one bubble and another, being as quiet and cautious as possible. With great stealth, they made it to the northern external maintenance door.
Sharmela sighed. “If only we all had suits…”
“We could just walk away,” Wayne said. “And if pigs had wings, we’d have flying barbecue. But they don’t, and we don’t, so don’t drive yourself crazy.”
Sharmela looked at the track used by the automated maintenance mechs. “Will the treads fit?”
Asako responded by locking her pod into position. She raised a stick-thin arm, made a “thumbs-up” sign and smiled.
It was the warmest smile Wayne had seen from her so far. “Why are you so damned happy about this?”
She sighed. “I’ve been sick longer than I ever remember being well. Imagination has been my only escape. I wanted to be an adventuress, to save kingdoms and right wrongs.”
“You never wanted to be the one rescued?”
She managed a marginal shake of her head. “I’ve always been the victim. Always the rescuee. And now, for the very first time, I get to be the rescuer. Don’t you dare even consider taking this away from me.”
“All right. All right,” Wayne said. “You’ve got it.”
There were gear lockers and dressing rooms all over the dome, especially near the airlocks. Darla had promised two suits, and here they were, near the west-most dressing room on level C. The gear was not customized, and Darla’s was a little too tight through the middle, while Scotty felt cramped all over. It would have to do.
She gave Scotty a once-over, and he did the same for her, soberly checking each other’s equipment. “When you get outside, stick to the marked maintenance routes. Don’t get fancy.”
Scotty clucked. “Yes, Mommy.”
He tried to sound cavalier, but his heart was thundering in his chest, and he was hyperventilating.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” Scotty said. “I’m fine. Let’s do this.”
It had been years since Scotty had stepped into vacuum. He’d never quite gotten used to it, never was able to totally forget that a half inch of pressure suit was all that kept his blood from boiling. Once, it had been exciting. Then it had become terrifying. What would it be now?
He looked out the lock’s window at the naked stars. Immediately, they began to blur. He gulped air and lowered his head. “Breathe,” he gasped. “Breathe, you bastard.”
