[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
it'll do you some good."
Erika moved her hand up as if to brush back her hair, but stopped when
her glove hit her helmet. "That's why I wanted to talk with you."
Jason felt warm inside that under all this pressure Erika wanted to be
close to him, that she could talk to him. They had spent a great deal of time
together at Sim-Mars. Why did she insist on being alone all the time? She was
so intelligent, attractive, but tough -- her South Carolina accent and her
demure attitude sometimes made her appear soft and helpless, but Jason knew
better. Being around Erika made his breath quicken.
Compared to her, Margaret was the Wicked Witch of the West. He wondered
what his wife, his ex-wife-to-be, was telling young Lacy and Lawrence. Since
Jason couldn't be there to show them love on his own, the children had no
choice but to listen to her anger and her bitterness. Margaret had obtained an
unnecessary legal separation. Just how much more separated could they be, with
her on Earth and him quarantined on the Moon? Or maybe Margaret just wanted to
keep the legal work nice and tidy so she wouldn't have any complications about
seeing her friend "Perry."
He stopped his mind from wandering into more self-pity. Right now Erika
was more concerned with her old mentor. "Is something wrong with Dr. Parvu?"
he asked.
She hesitated, seeming to swallow away tension. "I can't raise him,
Jase. He refuses to answer any calls."
"Did you try an emergency override?"
"His communications link isn't even up. It's like he turned it off, or
maybe something happened to it." She paused. "They're having riots back on
Earth, you know."
"He's kind of out of the way for any mob to bother him."
She pulled her helmet back, breaking audio contact. All Jason could
hear now was his own breathing. A moment later he could hear the pounding of
blood in his ear.
He pulled her toward him, touching helmets again. "Hey, I'm sorry for
even suggesting that. Only a joke. It's just that sometimes people get tired
of interacting with the outside world. Sometimes they shut themselves off from
it if they're really under pressure. Other people go and take walks alone on
the Moon. Like someone I know, for example."
She snorted. "Yuk, yuk."
"Come on. Let's get inside. They're going to get a new IR scan of the
crater." He tugged at her arm. "After that, I'll help you raise Parvu."
* * * *
They were alone in the ready room as they hung up their gear, going
through the meticulous motions of detaching all the suit-component interlinks,
"dismounting" from the main body core. Air whooshed around them, trying to
remove lunar dust that might have escaped the electrostatic curtain. As they
left for the main corridor, Jason glanced up at the SAFETY FIRST sign that
glowed above the inflatable airlock. He shook his head -- the quiet reminder
seemed ironic with everything that had happened.
Making their way to the control center, Jason felt clammy in the
moonbase's air conditioning. His powder-blue jumpsuit was sweaty. When they
stepped into the central dome, Chu nodded to them. He said nothing about the
sabotaged shuttle. Chu turned his attention back to the holotank and said,
"We've got an estimated TOA of three point six minutes for the next javelin."
It took a full two seconds for the reply to come back from Earth,
confirming the javelin's journey to the Daedalus crater. "Rog, Columbus. This
flyby will serve as a benchmark and doublecheck to see if anything's happened
since deploying the safeguard ring. Have you initiated your diagnostics?"
Chu swung his gaze around the control center. Two of the crew manning
the seismographs, radiation detectors, and rest of the monitoring equipment
gave a thumbs up. Chu said, "All diagnostics seem to be working."
Seconds passed. Albert Fukumitsu, the Earthbound Mission Control
supervisor, responded on the audio-only channel. "Very well, Columbus. We read
you in at two minutes. Please switch to the javelin's IR display."
Chu stood stiffly. Jason could see how much he resented having
Earthbound Mission Control directing his every action. _What ever happened to
the Agency's all-important local command philosophy?_ he thought. _That's what
happens when the bean-counters get control._
The holotank blinked, then displayed the image of the lunar surface
speeding underneath the javelin's trajectory. The long tungsten projectile was
still relatively high above the Moon's surface, broadcasting images up to the
L-2 relay station where they were bounced toward Earth. Soon, the IR images
would arrive in a super-high-resolution mode, enabling detailed playback as
the javelin passed over the alien artifact.
Chu sidled up to Jason and Erika, speaking in a low tone outside the
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]