When Nara had completed her negotiations, she handed Damm back the comm device. “Mitsuki’s agreed to all of it,” she said. “They’re making arrangements for the transport of you and your people, with the gear you requested.”
“Hear that?” Damm shouted to the others, “What’d I tell you! We’re getting the hell out of here!”
The mercies sent up a ragged cheer and started slapping one another on the back.
“It should take about two hours to get everything together,” Nara said. “How long can we live in here?”
Damm said, “Long enough.”
Chapter Seventeen
While Colonel Gabhart ran the software diagnostic on the missile’s guidance system, through his helmet visor he continued to monitor the approach of five more Shadow people. Ten minutes had passed since the perimeter’s distant sensors had picked up the intruders’ presence, and had marked their cautious advance from the foot of the surrounding cliffs to the edge of the sorry little hamlet. Armed with crude, twentieth-century weapons and wearing no protective armor, the little band was hardly a test for his seasoned crewexcept, perhaps, of their patience.
Which, under the pressure of the workload, was already starting to grow thin.
Before they could clear the missile and satellite for launch, the integrity of every mechanical and electrical system had to be checked, and every software program had to be error-proofed. There were no small mistakes here, only big ones. A screwup could mean an explosion on liftoff, or an inflight misfire of one of the three rocket stages, either of which would result in the satellite’s complete and total destruction.
A catastrophic failure, which would mean delay.
Though the missile could be replaced within hours, its payload was altogether another story. To assemble and test a second satellite could easily take a month, assuming the job could be done at all. Conditions back home were deteriorating at such an accelerating pace that there was no guarantee the necessary technicians would be able to survive long enough to build it. Or if they did, that there would be enough power available to reopen the passage.
The people of Earth had already surrendered much for this cause, enduring hardship and agonizing death. That they had done so willingly showed the depth of their desperation. Pushing the timetable forward even a few days meant that hundreds of millions more would never live long enough make the crossing. Furthermore, a postponement of any kind at this point would most likely spark a global bloodbath, and a bloodbath was something the CEOs of FIVE wanted to avoid at all costs. Not because they gave a damn one way or another how many billions of surplus humans died. They were afraid that the chaos of an all-out revolt might threaten their own escapes.
Gabhart caught himself thinking dark thoughts, wondering if the Global CEOs really intended to bring the multitudes along, or if, after extorting them dry to finance and power the operation, the chief executives wouldn’t close and lock the gate behind them.
As a rule, what FIVE extracted from humanity, it never shared in any meaningful way.
Past history aside, it was obvious to the colonel that only a certain number of people were necessary for the success of an Earth colony on Shadow World. If the Globals fulfilled even part of their grandiose promise and brought a tenth of Earth’s humanity across, they would be transferring the population time bomb to a new location.
Gabhart had nothing but respect for the way Captain Jurascik had stepped up. She’d volunteered to escort the prisoner back home, even though the chances of her getting another trip to Shadow World were iffy, at best, given the power supply situation and the long list of important wannagos. He wasn’t surprised by her action; he’d known for a long time that she was the toughest member of his team. He also knew if anyone could go fang and claw with upper-level management for a ride over and come out on top, it was Nara.
“How much closer are we going to let them get before we do something?” Ockerman said through the helmet-to-helmet comm link.
There was no mistaking the tension that crackled in the young captain’s voice. “We’ll take a break in a few minutes,” Gabhart announced as he cued up the gridwork overlay to check on the intruders’ progress. “Then you can”