A third of the way around the dome, Darla had positioned herself, arm slung over a rung. She was waiting for the others to reach their own designated data entry spots.
“Little Dee on local area net. Sign in?”
A crackle on her radio. “S-man.”
Another: “B-girl.”
Darla nodded. “Good to go?”
“Good to go.”
“Good to go.”
Celeste sat at their main table in bubble 37-C, surrounded by the equipment the Frost brothers had stolen or borrowed and moved into the dome. “Sir,” she said, “we have teams sweeping the bubbles. And the spaces between. It’s hard, because we have to be certain they aren’t slipping around behind us.”
“To what end?” Shotz asked. “No. They will try to escape through the aquifer. We put men in the spaces there.”
“Nonlethal force?” Celeste asked.
“For now.”
Scotty kept his eyes focused on the concrete-white curve of the dome in front of him.
Darla’s voice came to him clearly, almost as if she were right there with him. “We have to assume that these Moresnot pirates have their fingers into the entire system. So what we have to do is put the sensors off-line so that they won’t know the airlock doors are opening. There is the bare chance that they might realize what we’re doing.”
“Pirates, huh?” He chuckled. “Close enough. I don’t know how they would,” he said. “You actually explained it to me, and I still don’t understand.”
“You will,” Darla said. “There is a biopad right level with your nose. To disable it, punch in the following sequence: XXA19836.”
He punched the combination in. “Light went yellow.”
“I have yellow here,” Asako said.
“All right. You’re makin’ Mama very happy,” Darla said. “Along the side of the box there are two slits. Insert a knife into the bottom slit on the right side, until you make contact. The light should turn red.”
Scotty did as he was instructed, and once again Darla was proven right. Clever girl.
“I have red,” Asako said.
“Good.” Scotty heard the engineer take a deep breath.
“Now. On the door itself, you just punch in a few little letters and numbers for Darla. XX563.”
Scotty entered it, and the door began to buzz.
The door LCD displayed a message. Warning. You have disarmed safety shields on this pressure door. The outer door has been sealed, and cannot be opened until the safety mechanism has been reengaged.
The message was repeated in Japanese, German and Spanish.
“All right,” Darla said. “Now, unscrew the top of the keypad. It isn’t hard. When you have it unscrewed, you’ll see two switches governing the emergency explosive bolts. You’ll need to reverse the positions of those switches.”
“And then what?” Scotty asked.
“Get ready to rumble.”
Scotty did as he was asked. “What do I do now? The digital timer is counting down.”
“Get in the opposite corner,” she said.
Scotty hunched down in the farthest corner, breathing heavily.
Then-a moment of intense sound as the floor shook. Then… the curved door flew out into the lunar landscape.
“Here goes nothing,” Scotty said, and climbed out.
Asako felt as if she sat on the threshold of infinity, the stars and crystalline rock and crater formations. She felt overwhelmed with wonder and joy.
Scotty’s voice intruded. “Asako. Are you all right?”
“No,” she said. “So much better than that.”
“Stay frosty. Let’s do this.”
“Aye-aye, Captain.”
She rolled out into the blinding unfiltered sun. Her bubble’s canopy polarized. The treads locked onto the maintenance tracks. And swung out onto the dome.
As Scotty moved out, he kept his eyes down, his breathing harsh and hard.
“How are you doing there, big guy?” Darla asked.
“Good to go,” Scotty said. The words sounded flip, even to himself.
“All right, handsome,” Darla said. “This part is easy. Just climb straight up.”
Keeping his eyes down, Scotty began to climb up, listening to his breathing, struggling to remain calm. The side of the dome was stenciled with reference numbers. The numbers dropped as he climbed. Just to his left was the numeral 86.
“Keep climbing until you get to the number 51. Do you see it?”
“My lower pod camera can see it,” Asako said. “My arms can reach it. We’re still fine.”
“This is the only hard part. You have to move over to the secondary ladder. We don’t have a tool to make your foothold. So you’ll have to stretch out, grab hold and swing over. Can you do that? Asako, your pod can use the maintenance droid ladder. Type in 336-A, and it should move automatically.”
Scotty looked over to the side. He could see stars. He breathed heavily. Looked down. Far below him, lunar soil. He stretched out his arm, and grabbed at the ladder, missed… and as he swung back he swung onto his back, so that he was staring straight up into space.
“Christ,” he whispered. “The stars.”
28
1327 hours
Heinlein base’s nerve center was going berserk, their interlocking screens sectored into subimages as news agencies across the solar system descended upon them like locusts. In the midst of it all, Kendra fought to find an island of peace, from which she might think clearly.
“Kendra,” Foxworthy said. “We have the biotelemetry on the suits, and we’ve hacked into Asako’s bubble. Ah… your husband’s vitals are through the roof.”
“Oh, God. His agoraphobia. He’s outside.”
Was that a glint of perspiration on Xavier’s bald head? “What is the problem?”
“Three and a half years ago, Scotty was trapped in a cave-in. His suit ruptured. He almost died. He was staring up into the sky the entire time, and it kind of burned in. This is no good.”
“What can we do?”
She drummed her fingers on the desk. “Can you link us?”
“Outside the dome? We should be able to hit him with a line-of-sight. Get com on it now. I’ll handle this personally.”
“I think that’s best,” Kendra said. “These bastards didn’t do this alone. Talk to no one you don’t trust personall y. Trust your instincts.”
