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Cass prudently decided not to relay those to Egan. Instead, he made some
comment, more to Pol than to Egan, about preferring an absence of gravity to
being pinned down by it.
You ll probably end up enjoying it like everybody else, Egan said. After
all, your bodies were shaped for Earth, not the belt&
A mild reverberation shook the walkway beneath them. Others noticed it, too,
and the surrounding hum of conversation died out. A distant, hollow boom
sounded from somewhere in the sky, actually the hub of the worldlet.
Cass frowned. Don t tell me Roderick is simulating thunderstorms for us,
too?
If you d ever heard real thunder, you d know better, Egan said. I don t
like this. The hub controls access to and from this place. That s where all
the suits and jetpacks are.
A second, closer explosion sent them sprawling. The silence around them turned
to screams. Cass found himself on the ground, and pushed himself to his hands
and knees. He glimpsed flames on the nearby horizon. He had seen fire once
before, when a heating system in a shelter built into an asteroid had
overheated. He and the other occupants of the shelter simply suited up, and
opened all the air locks to hard vacuum which quickly extinguished it. But New
Eden produced a continuous air supply, feeding the flames.
Cass, get up! said Egan, who lay beside his overturned chair. You ve got to
salvage one of the suits and jetpacks. It s your only chance.
Cass was still half-stunned. They may be burned up already&
You ve got to try! Lead the way for the others. Don t you see? All of us, in
one place, for the first time in the history of the belt-that was Roderick s
plan!
But you can t&
Never mind me. Go! He shoved Cass away with one of his powerful hands. Cass
found himself staggering, still unused to functioning in constant gravity. A
third blast seemed to erupt under his feet, and he felt himself flung into the
air.
The ringing was still in his ears an instant later, but all else around him
was silent. The bright flames had given way to the darkness of a carved-out
shelter within an asteroid. He and Pol regarded each other in amazement. And
Cass realized, for the first time, that their link was able to convey more
than mere thoughts between them.
Of course, the three Mars ships did come back. And so did others. Cass and Pol
tracked each one as it took up its position in a different part of the belt.
The command ship made a slow pass through the area where New Eden had been
constructed, its instruments making sure there was nothing left but debris.
Its creators had only had to construct it to last for a single day; within an
Earth-week, it would have become unstable and shaken itself to pieces, but any
occupants would have had time to evacuate it before that happened. So it was
made to self-destruct all at once, and take all its inhabitants with it.
All but one. Somehow, one of the belters had managed to get into a pressure
suit and, through some freakish piece of luck, must have been blasted clear.
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The newcomers quickly zeroed in on the distress signal from his suit. Judging
by its movement, its occupant was still alive. Colonel Noctis, Roderick s
handpicked commander of the occupation force, considered leaving the belter
where be was until his air ran out. On reflection, he decided the man might be
able to provide his officers with information about the belters operations,
so he had the survivor brought aboard.
The Marsmen from the original three ships had pinpointed the equipment, supply
caches, and working areas of the belters as best they could. Now they directed
the occupation forces to pick up where the belters had left off, with Earth
none the wiser-at least until the next supply ship showed up. But that was
almost an Earth-year away.
Meanwhile, Noctis had two guards bring the surviving belter to his stateroom.
The two Marsmen secured the man to an interrogation chair, complete with a
polygraph attachment on one arm. The man floated about an inch above the seat,
lacking the adhesive boots of his captors. He was secured only by the straps
on his arms and around his middle.
Noctis stood over the lone belter, fixing him with the intimidating stare he d
practiced frequently in front of a mirror and used any number of times with
other prisoners during Roderick s unification war back on Mars. If you d
prefer a quick death like that of your fellows, you will answer all my
questions completely and without hesitation.
The prisoner stared back for a moment, looked at the two guards on either side
of his seat, the colonel s aide who had just handed the officer what looked
like a tube of some liquid that could be water or wine, and the polygraph
operator who looked only at the styluses drawing their fine lines along a
piece of paper. Then he returned his gaze to Noctis and nodded.
Wise, said Noctis, sucking delicately at the refreshment in the tube. Were
any of you able to transmit any information to Earth about what happened?
The prisoner took a deep breath, then answered with a barely audible No.
Noctis glanced at the polygraph man, who nodded.
Good. That means they will know nothing so long as we keep transporting the
rocks on schedule-until we re ready to strike. Then the rocks will no longer
be guided to Earth s orbital factories, but against targets on Earth itself.
Yes, sir. Either they will become part of Roderick s unification movement, or
go the way of the dinosaurs, the aide said.
Noctis nodded, then turned back to the prisoner. Are there caches of oxygen,
food, suits, and devices for moving the asteroids in places our Marsmen would
not have seen, during their time out here?
The belt s full of them, murmured the man in the chair. Again, the operator
nodded.
You may have just bought yourself a reprieve, if you know where they are,
said Noctis. He turned to the aide. We can use those things, particularly the
explosive materials and those fusion rockets for moving the asteroids.
Although, once we occupy the key enclaves of Earth, there won t really be
anyone left to fight us.
Or to provide ships for us to prey on, sir, said the aide.
The prisoner turned toward the aide. It s your people manning the pirate
ships? he asked.
Who did you think it was? the aide replied. Did you really believe that
tale we ve been floating about pirates operating from some artificial
habitat?
I ll ask the questions, belter, Noctis said. Did you belters transmit
communications regularly between yourselves and Earth? The prisoner nodded.
Noctis pursed his lips. This may be another way you can prolong your life.
We ll need someone who can keep those communications flow-ing seamlessly, so
Earth doesn t suspect what s coming. Not that anyone is likely to suspect
anything, as closely guarded as this operation has been.
Only one security breach, in fact, said the aide. But at least Roderick s
daughter can t tell anyone, being under house arrest, as it were.
The prisoner looked up. Valda wasn t part of what you did? he asked.
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The colonel swung the back of his hand against the prisoner s face, with a
sharp crack. I said I would ask the questions. You, on the other hand, will
not demean the name of Roderick s daughter by mentioning it. She ll come to
realize the brilliance of her father s program, in time- the unification of
the solar system, humankind under a single directive, developing the resources
of our own planets and then reaching for the stars. Another question: are you
aware of any other survivors besides yourself?
And to the surprise of everyone else in the ship s cabin, the prisoner smiled.
Yes.
How many? Noctis demanded, after glancing at the polygraph operator for
confirmation.
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