Up Against It Part 32

"You sure of that reading?" Mills said. "Jesse?"

"Everything seems on the level, sir," Jesse said, after a pause to run his own numbers. "The original claim was twelve thousandths of a gee, and according to the gravitometer readout, this one is around eighty-five percent of that. Not much room for ice in this rock."

"Above two thirds, it's a t.u.r.d," one of them said. The rest chuckled.

Mills said, "With all this big equipment, on a hundred-year-old, nearly pure nickel-iron rock? Seems strange."

"Not so strange," Xuan replied. "I've seen many such rocks. The owner stakes a claim and then dies, or leaves, and n.o.body else picks it up."

"Hmmm. Perhaps you should measure again, just to be sure."

"I can, if you like," Xuan said. "But it won't change the result." His heartbeat was loud in his ears.

A pause. "Fine. Wrap it up."

Xuan allowed himself a slow, deep breath.

Kam, Amaya, and Geoff did a straight-in, reverse-power descent, well over the horizon from the ship's line of sight, rather than the more fuel-efficient orbital flyby and gradual descent they normally used. Geoff thought these measures were a bit much; it was not all that unusual for there to be confusion about claims. It would be embarra.s.sing if the testers were just some guys from the university, and found out about the precautions Geoff, Kam, and Amaya were taking.

They had to be careful about dust. You kick up dust in a low-gee environment, it goes way up and takes days to settle back down. So they touched down a few kilometers from the mine entrance and rode their bikes slowly over the craggy, metal-ore terrain, avoiding craters and valleys where dust collected and always keeping the hill that was Ouroboros's main "mountain range" between them and the ship. They pa.s.sed the heat exchanger, a set of big iron pipes in a shallow trench, and the chemical plant, three distillation towers with surge tanks, heating units, and racks of pipes.

Soon they reached the hill that housed the mine entrance. Just over the ridge stood the ship-they could see its top fin. Joey Spud's earthmover, which he had named Cronus after some deity who had swallowed his children whole, towered above the ridge, its metal arms reaching hundreds of meters into the dark sky.

The heat vent they planned to use was a tin stovepipe that jutted several meters into the sky, starting about halfway up the rocky hillside. First they headed up the hill to scope out the activity at the ship. They lay down at the crest, crawled forward-an awkward process in their pressure suits-and peered down. Five people were milling around while a sixth poked at the ground with a stick. The five mill-arounders had weapons. That seemed ominous-but there were were pirates and claim jumpers out there. Geoff didn't want to jump to conclusions. pirates and claim jumpers out there. Geoff didn't want to jump to conclusions.

"They're still doing the setup," he said. He pointed. "The guy in the light blue suit, the one with the stick, that'd be Professor Xuan. That's a university-issue suit. First they'll take some gravitational measurements, and then they'll take soundings. They'll be a while."

Amaya crept farther over the hill's crest, and rolled over-ever so slowly-to check for the vent from that vantage point. Then she crept back to join them. "I think we'll be OK," she said. "The top of the pipe is below line-of-sight from where they are."

"Good. Let's do this. Kam, keep watch. Warn us if they head this way."

"Right." Kam got out his binoculars, and Geoff and Amaya leapt back down the hillside.

They worked quickly. Amaya hooked her pony up to the emergency line, and then they disconnected and lengthened her main air tubes with spare tubing and duct tape. Next Geoff brought the tubes up over her head so her pack could be lowered separately. They got the main tank hooked back up and tested, and then Geoff duct-taped the air tubes to the shoulders of her suit, so the lines couldn't be easily pulled out. He gave a couple of sharp tugs. "That should hold."

She removed the pony bottle and stuffed it into her utility kit. Then she clipped her kit to her suit. Geoff hooked the tether to her harness.

She looked up at the top of the stovepipe. Geoff knew she was thinking about what had happened to Carl, trapped outside with no air. Geoff said, "If you get in too tight a squeeze, give three sharp jerks on the tether, and I'll pull you out-with my bike if need be."

"I'll be fine," she said.

"Good. Hang on." Geoff ran her tether around a boulder, and secured the other end to his bike's handlebars. Then he took hold to brace her.

Kam radioed them. "They're setting up the equipment now. n.o.body's looking over this way. They must not have got us on radar, coming in."

"Maybe not."

"There could be more people inside, though. I thought I saw some movement through the c.o.c.kpit portal."

"All right. Thanks."

Kam said, "I know you'll ace it, Amaya."

She gave him the s.p.a.cer OK sign: left arm crooked with the glove touching helmet crown; right arm straight out and up at a forty-five-degree angle.

"Ready?" Geoff asked. In answer, Amaya gathered up half the slack in her tether and clipped it to one shoulder. Geoff handed her the main air tank. She gripped it in one hand and leapt up to the top of the stovepipe. As she arced over the pipe, she grabbed hold with her other hand. In a single motion, she swung atop the vent and landed in a crouch, balanced on the top edges of the pipe. Amaya gave another OK sign and flipped on her helmet light. She dropped her airtank into the vent and dove in after it.

The tether in Geoff's hands tightened suddenly, nearly pulling him off-balance. He braced his boots against a boulder and started giving out slack. He heard her breathing, heard the rustlings as she descended the vent.

"Amaya, talk to me."

"Past the vertical section," she radioed. "Sliding down the incline. Infamous bottleneck turn just ahead. About six meters. Hang on." A pause; rustling. She pinged his waveface, and in his heads-up he saw what she saw: a small tunnel receding into darkness. It narrowed to a funnel, just ahead. Along the pipe's inner edge was the power and radio conduit they had put in last year. She could not cut through it, as it was a live line and the shutoff switch was inside the mine. It had not been in her way before. Dangling in the center of their shared vision was Amaya's airtank, attached by its tubes to her helmet.

"How are your lines?"

"Holding up. No leaks." Another pause, as she moved downward. "OK, here's the bottleneck. Moment of truth." She shoved her utility kit through. Next she turned the tank lengthwise and shoved it through the narrowed opening. Geoff could see it resting on the tunnel floor just beyond.

"Testing the line. Two tugs." Her headlight danced around, and he felt the line pull twice against his grip. "You felt it?"

"I felt it. You're good."

Nothing happened for a moment, except her breathing. He watched her air lines swaying. "Take your time," he said. Another pause. "Amaya?" he asked. No reply.

"She all right?" Kam asked him, from up on the hill.

That's it, he thought. he thought. This isn't going to work. This isn't going to work. "Come on back, Amaya. I'm pulling you up." He tugged, but she resisted, wedging herself against his pull with her arms. "No! No. I've come this far, I'm going through. More slack. More. Motherf.u.c.king a.s.swipe "Come on back, Amaya. I'm pulling you up." He tugged, but she resisted, wedging herself against his pull with her arms. "No! No. I've come this far, I'm going through. More slack. More. Motherf.u.c.king a.s.swipe s.h.i.tberries s.h.i.tberries!"

With that, she forced her way into the opening. Geoff held his breath. Her hands flailed in front of his vision, trying to gain purchase on the sides of the tunnel beyond the bottleneck. More than a minute pa.s.sed, while her light jumped and jerked. This is insane, This is insane, he thought. he thought. We shouldn't have done this. We shouldn't have done this. But then the scene in his waveface shifted. But then the scene in his waveface shifted.

"I'm through!" she gasped. "I'm through. I've been reborn. Just like the birth ca.n.a.l, all over again." She lay on her back beyond the bottleneck, and her light reflected on the roof of the small tunnel. All three laughed in relief.

Amaya got out her tools and loosened the bolts that secured the maintenance panel to the mouth of the stovepipe. She took a crowbar from her kit, hooked it against the edge of the panel, and used it to brace herself against the air that rushed past her-forced the panel farther open, and tumbled into the main tunnel. Then she braced herself and slammed the bulkhead back into place. Geoff could tell she was leaning against the wall by the now-closed vent, waiting till the room repressurized. Finally she removed her helmet. "I'm in." Then- "Shhh!" she hissed. "Quiet."

She stood up, tucked her helmet under her arm, and adjusted her mini-cam, mounted at her right temple. Geoff caught a glimpse of what she saw: a sudden, shadowed movement across the intersection of this small chamber's mouth with the main pa.s.sage.

"One of the maintenance robots?"

"It was moving too fast. And the shape and color weren't right."

"Stand fast. Kam!" Geoff said, and looked up the hill. Kamal was still there, keeping watch. "Are they inside the mine?"

"No. They're crowded around the professor's instrument. The mine entrance is still sealed."

"Could someone have gone in before we got here?"

"They wouldn't be able to open the lock without the code," Kam said.

"Unless they hacked it," Geoff said. "Or cut through."

"I'm going to take a look," Amaya whispered. Brandishing her crowbar, she cautiously rounded the corner. "Bikkuri s.h.i.ta!" "Bikkuri s.h.i.ta!" she gasped. she gasped.

"What is it?"

"Nothing," she said in a disgusted tone. "It's your d.a.m.n skeletons."

Geoff saw: the gla.s.s skeletons had escaped containment. One cavorted here; another leapt there; a third tumbled through the air. As she approached the machine shop by the mine entrance, Geoff saw numerous others, scampering about. She whacked one with her crowbar, and it exploded. "Just like virtual golf," she said, and whacked another.

Two others crawled out of a large puddle at the base of the a.s.sembler fluid vat while Amaya worked. They seemed to be lasting longer than they had been at the much higher gee in Heavitown.

"The floor is coated with gla.s.s t.u.r.ds," she said. "Kuso! You and your stupid art project." You and your stupid art project."

"Yeah." He sighed. "Sorry."

She went over and squatted by the vat, and Geoff saw through her cam that the tank valve had a slow leak. He remembered crashing into it during his fight with Ian. Amaya patched the leak with duct tape from her utility bag. "That should do for now."

"If we're going to go talk to those people down there," Kam said, "we'd better do it now. They seem to be finished with their tests. They're wrapping things up."

"What? So soon? They can't have finished their soundings yet. Let me see!" Geoff bounded up to where Kam was in two big leaps. Kam made room for him-he bellied up to the ridge and took a look through Kam's binocs. Sure enough, they were folding up the equipment.

Kam was looking at him. "Geoff..."

"What?"

"We could just... you know..."

"What?"

"Let them leave."

Geoff said, "Kam, either they are legit, in which case they need to know sooner rather than later that this claim is taken. Or they aren't, which would mean Professor Xuan is in deep s.h.i.t, and we have to help him."

"So why not call the police?"

"We will, if they're secretly criminals. But Moriarty himself said all the paperwork's in order. The police are as swamped as they were yesterday, and they are still going to treat us like a bunch of punks. Like they always do. Unless we have some kind of hard proof. To get that, we need Professor Xuan."

Kam sighed.

"Amaya," Geoff said, "I'm giving you access to my view. Stand by. If there's trouble, we'll alert you, and you know what to do."

"Have several spud guns loaded and primed in the lock," she said. "Open the mine entrance only on your signal. Be prepared to shut the door behind you the instant you enter. If it comes to that."

"Right."

"In fact..." she chuckled. "I have an idea, something extra special, to go along with it."

"What kind of idea?"

"You'll see... if it turns out we need it. I'll need a few minutes to prep," she said. "Stand by. I'll signal you when I'm ready."

It was getting late and Jane was exhausted. She called Sean to take him up on the offer of a place to stay.

"Very good," he said. "Just head right over. I'm working late tonight, but I'll let Lisa know you're coming."

On the way up there, she stopped at Charles and Rowan's place to pick up Xuan's and her belongings. They lived only a level up from Deirdre and Sal, so Jane decided to stop by her friends' place while she was nearby.

Dee entered the room, tying her robe. Jane already knew, but she asked, "Is Sal...?"

"Gone." Dee shrugged. "Don't know where he is. Don't care. I've kicked him out. I'm done."

Jane sat down across from her. "So. How can I help?"

Dee sat, too, and gave her a penetrating look. "From what I'm hearing, you have enough to deal with right now, Jane. Don't worry about me. Frankly, I'm relieved. Trying to make that marriage work, it was killing me. Just killing me. I love him, you know? We've been through a lot together. He's not a perfect husband, but I never doubted his love for me. But he's a terrible father. He's... just... too broken. And n.o.body hits my boys. n.o.body n.o.body." Her fist balled and a muscle jumped in her jaw.

Jane said, "Sean told me what happened."

"So, I have to get my finances in order, and I have to mourn my son. My Carl." She pressed a fist against her mouth, and Jane watched her struggle against her grief. "But I'll be all right. Eventually." She leaned back with a sigh. "Truth to tell, I feel relieved it's over."

"Dee..." Jane said slowly. She had had a thought. She had already given away one of her berths on the Sisyphus, Sisyphus, and she wasn't about to use the other without Xuan. Dee's family was from the moon. "Ever wanted to return home?" and she wasn't about to use the other without Xuan. Dee's family was from the moon. "Ever wanted to return home?"

She explained her situation. Dee looked thoughtful. "That's incredibly generous of you, Jane. But Wednesday? its awfully sudden..."

"I'm sure I can wrangle a ticket for you to use whenever it's convenient. Just let me know and I will sign it over to you."

"I'll think it over. Thank you, Jane. You've been a good friend."

They made their good-byes and Jane left. Despite Carl's death, despite everything, she realized she felt better about Dee and her situation than she had in a very long time.

Next Jane headed over to Sean and Lisa's place in Design Plaza, near the city's administrative offices. The neighborhood was only a couple of levels below the Hub. Lisa greeted her at the door, floating barefoot in her robe, smelling of perfumed lotion. Her long, wavy hair, black shot through with white, was damp and bobbed about her face.

"I'm sorry to get in so late," Jane said, but Lisa wouldn't hear any apology. She showed her the spare room and bathroom. Extra towel rolls and soaps hung in the air, still settling from Lisa's preparations. Lisa offered to make her cocoa while she unpacked.

"I'll be fine. Don't let me disturb your evening routine."

"Will Xuan be arriving tonight?" Lisa asked.

"He should be. But I'll be glad to let him in. You go on to bed."

"All right, then. Help yourself to anything in the kitchen."

Once she had bathed and dressed in her pajamas, Jane nestled in the hammock and took a look at Masahiro's latest set of e-mails. He had found numerous bootleg videos of the Uraniaville location. As he had warned her, several of them had crude avatars or other changes inserted into them. But it didn't matter. Because six of them, created by different people in different parts of the world, showed that Nathan Glease and Andrew Mills had encountered Ivan Kovak in the plaza near the kiosk.

As Ivan walked away from the kiosk with the groceries and the little girl, Glease and Mills had approached him from behind. He turned, and at first seemed calm, but after Glease spoke, Kovak maneuvered his daughter behind him. He drew himself up taller, thrust out his chest, and spoke, jabbing a finger at Glease. Glease said something else, with a glance at Mills, who loomed over Kovak imposingly; Kovak said something brief, scooped up the child, and stalked away.