by Larry Niven
“I guess I’d seen a banner, but hadn’t clicked through to read about it. Dammit, what was I thinking?”
“Don’t beat yourself up… who could have known?”
“So Scotty’s Prince has been snatched on Luna.” A quarter-million miles away, Alex Griffin’s brows furrowed. “This was to put pressure on the King?”
“We can only guess at this point, but it would make sense. The kidnappers may have been paid by the insurgents, or people sympathetic to their cause.”
“That could answer their exit strategy. I’d wondered where they could get the nerve to think they’ll get away with this. But they can only do that if there’s a place to land, and if they can get off the Moon. Exactly who has jurisdiction?”
“The United Nations. Cowles Industries. Heinlein Explorations Limited. The lawyers are fighting over it, and as long as no one else is killed, we’ve been told to stand down.”
Inside the dome, the gamers sat in a circle, struggling to understand what had happened to them, and what their options might be.
“We’re not gettin’ any help from outside. Bet on that,” Darla said.
“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 th
e 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.”
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
The Naked Sky
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.”
Heinlein base’s Communications center was a confusion of voices and rushing bodies as Foxworthy ran in. He scanned the room. “Derek!”
“Yes, Chris?” the communications man answered.
“I need you to run a secure, scrambled line to the mining operation on Mare Australe,” she said. “You’ve got a cousin out there, right?”
“Yes. What’s this about?”
“I need you to run a maser line out there, highest priority,” Foxworthy said. “Get it on the Cowles corporate code.”
“When?”
“Five minutes ago,” Foxworthy said.
Derek knew that tone, and didn’t question. His fingers danced across the board.
At the mining operation, a c
all came through. A man there touched it into his PDA, and then ran down a pressurized hallway to another room.
He read the display. “We have a request for secure line-of-sight with Heinlein.”
“Just a minute,” their communications man said. “I have to retask the dish.”
And with a few tweaks, a microwave dish turned toward Heinlein.
“This is Australe base, what’s the sit?”
She leaned forward. “This is Kendra Griffin, Chief of Operations, Heinlein base. I need you to run secure line-of-sight to the gaming bubble. We have three walkers, and two of them should be visible to you.”
A pause. Then: “I… yes, we have them. Can patch you in in three, two, one…”
A crackle, and for a moment the air in front of them seemed gray and patchy. Then it cleared again. “We have a line.”
“Thank you! Scotty! Can you hear me?”
“Kendra?” His voice crackled with static. She felt weak with relief.
“Are you all right? We’ve patched into the Maintenance network. It should be shielded from the Earthers. What is the situation, sweetheart?”
He sighed. “I shouldn’t have come out here.”
Foxworthy turned back to her. “Kendra… his heartbeat is above one thirty. His respiration is spiking, and he could be hyperventilating.”
He was definitely panting. “I’ve got to get back inside. I have to…”
“Scotty,” Kendra said. “If you go back in there is no one to trigger that alarm. Which means that your people can’t cut through the wall. They’ll be trapped, recaptured.”
“I can’t,” he said. It was heartbreaking to hear that tone in his voice. It was filled with defeat, and shame.
“Scotty…” She had a different idea. “Darla, are you there?”
“Here, Kendra.” Darla’s voice.
“How close are you? To Scotty?”
“A hundred meters, around the curve of the dome. I’ve bypassed the safety.”
