Lifeline

He bumped the radio around the different bands, but found no sound of danger, no other cries of alarm. Everyone seemed unaware of the Kibalchich’s plans, and no one else could have understood Ramis’s warning in Tagalog. He heard only the banter between the colonies over ConComm—news about the ascent of the Phoenix and the imminent arrival of the Filipino sail-creatures. He thought about Orbitech 1: innocent victims. They didn’t even know what was coming. Once again, Luis Sandovaal would save them all.

He stared at Orbitech 1 and the Kibalchich for some time. What he was about to do had worked for his forefathers, many years ago, when they had placed their own feeble longboats between those of two warring nations. He was taking a chance that it would still work now.

Sandovaal punched a new set of directives into the flight computer. Light coursed its way through kilometers of optical fiber, taking the message to sensors in the other nineteen sail-creatures in the mosaic. Sandovaal began to sense the slow, lumbering rotation as the sail-creatures turned away from the irritating shocks. Over several minutes, the sails would reorient themselves, forcing the armada to drift five kilometers below their intended rendezvous point.

Directly into the line of fire.

After three days, the yo-yo vessel seemed hot, claustrophobic, cramped. Outside the thick ports, Orbitech 1 shone like a bright star, unwavering without atmospheric distortion, and growing closer by the second. The counter-rotating wheels on either side of the colony blinked with various service and guidance lights in a well-timed sequence.

The image burned in Duncan McLaris’s mind—so much like what he had seen when fleeing the colony more than two months before, stealing the Miranda and taking Jessie with him. The memory brought a heavy feeling to his stomach, but he pulled in a deep breath of stale air, focusing on an inner strength he had found over the past couple of months. In less than an hour he would be on board, back where he had started. He didn’t know whether to think of it as home or not, but it was a place where he could face his fears and move his life forward again. He tore his gaze away from the port.

Clifford Clancy hummed to himself, checking over the Phoenix’s diagnostics. McLaris forced himself to watch the construction engineer as the man prepared for the final maneuver that would slow them to a halt. At times, Clancy’s optimism and enthusiasm grated on him; now, though, it gave him strength.

Clancy shot a glance over his shoulder and grinned. “Ready for the big splash?”

McLaris frowned. “Excuse me?”

“Big splash. We’ll be going down in history either way, Duncan. If those reconditioned rockets fire enough to bring us to a stop, we’ve established a way to get from the Moon to L-5. If they don’t,” he said, shrugging, “we’ll take out Orbitech 1 like a cannonball. We’re going over thirty five hundred miles an hour, which is enough to ruin everybody’s day.” He grinned. “Kind of exciting, isn’t it?”

McLaris tried to keep a calm expression on his face. “Most fun I’ve had in years.”

He knew it would get even worse when he finally faced Brahms again.

Chapter 58

ORBITECH 1—Day 72

The hallways were free of people, as Brahms marched with his escort to the docking bay. The watchers had been thorough for the last few days. The usual graffiti and petty vandalism confirmed a general aura of unrest, but Brahms had set up maintenance teams to be even more rigorous in cleaning up any sign that all was not well on Orbitech 1. He had to put up a good show for Duncan McLaris’s return.

He suspected McLaris’s arrival had something to do with the growing restlessness of the people. Plenty of other colonists probably felt as he did, still angry at the man who had stolen the Miranda. No wonder people were getting worked up, letting off steam. But Brahms had insisted that the watchers maintain order. A sweep of the halls ahead of him removed any chance of an incident.

However, another mood seemed to bubble through the colony over the past few days—one that pleased him. A good director kept in touch with the attitudes of his people, and now he sensed a feeling of enlightenment, of hope. The joining of the colonies again, the sleepfreeze chambers, the Phoenix, and even a second expedition from the Filipinos, seemed to show the people on Orbitech 1 that things were indeed getting better. They had reached the light at the end of the tunnel. They had a future again.

Brahms had seen them through. Despite the enormous decisions weighing on him, he had led them safely through a time of great crisis. He felt his face flush as he smiled.

A yell made its way through the corridor, reverberating in the unusual emptiness. “McLaris is coming back!” One of the watchers peeled off to track down the woman.