MT. WASSER
“What’s the latest word on this flare?” Brennart asked.
Killifer pushed his little wheeled chair away slightly from the comm console. “No word. The flare hasn’t appeared yet”
The two men were alone in the comm cubicle. Brennart was on, his feet, towering over the seated Killifer. Every other member of the expedition was out digging, even the ostensible communications technician. Brennart knew the mission schedule was in a shambles but he would sort that out and get things going properly again as soon as this flare threat was over.
“What does Moonbase say about it?” he asked Killifer.
His aide made a sour face. “They say the flare ought to have popped by now. Could pop any minute. They just don’t know.”
“With that and five dollars I could buy a cup of coffee.”
“They also say,” Killifer added caustically, “that their regular astronomer is here in the boondocks with us, instead of at her instruments at the base.”
Brennart glowered. “That was Stavenger’s idea, bringing her along with us.”
Killifer said nothing, but his sardonic smile spoke volumes.
“We can’t just sit here and wait for a flare that might not even happen,” Brennart muttered.
Nodding, Killifer said, “Oh, by the way, Moonbase reported that Yamagata sent up a recce satellite six hours ago. It’s in a very eccentric polar orbit”
“With its longest dwell time right over us,” Brennart guessed.
“Right.”
“Damn! They’ll be sending a team down here to make a claim on the mountain before we can.”
“I don’t see how—”
“They could drop a kamikaze crew on the other side of the mountain and use hoppers to get up to the top,” Brennart growled angrily. “Stick a sheet of solar panels up there and claim first use. Then we’re screwed.”
“But aren’t they just as worried about the flare as we are?”
Brennart looked down at his aide with a withering expression. “You don’t know what kamikaze means, do you?”
“Something from history, isn’t it? Last century?”
“Right. History.”
Killifer sat on the uncomfortable little chair and craned his neck to look up at his boss. Brennart liked to be known for making decisions, but now he seemed hesitant, caught on the horns of a dilemma, hung up with uncertainty.
“If only we knew when the flare will erupt,” he muttered, kneading his right fist into the palm of his left hand.
“Or if it will erupt at all,” Killifer suggested.
Brennart whirled on him. “If? You think the whole thing might be a false alarm?”
“I don’t know. I’m not an astronomer.”
“The goddamned astronomer’s out here digging ditches instead of at her post with her instruments!”
Killifer shrugged. “Douggie wanted her along.”
“The flare should have erupted by now, if there’s going to be one,” Brennart thought out loud.
“Even if the flare does come, isn’t there a couple of hours before the radiation really gets serious?” Killifer knew the answer to his question.
“Yes, that’s right,” Brennart said.
“Enough time to get down off the mountain, using our hoppers?”
Brennart stopped his frustrated kneading and sat on the chair next to his aide. “We could jump up to the summit of Mt. Wasser, plant the flag and start the nanobugs working on the power tower, and get down again .before the radiation buildup even begins.'”
“Christ, that’s brilliant,” Killifer said.
I’m going to suit up,” Brennart said.
“You?”
“I can’t ask my people to do something that I’m not prepared to do myself. I take the same risks they do.”
“Yeah, but—”
“How many people will we need for a dash to the summit?”
Killifer swivelled his chair to the screen and tapped on the keyboard. “Mission plan calls for six.”
“Strip it down. How many do we actually need?”
Studying the list on his screen, Killifer said. Two to handle the nanobugs, one to pilot the hopper.”
“Martin and Greenberg are the nanotechs,” Brennart said.
Thinking swiftly, Killifer said, “Maybe we oughtta leave one of them here. No sense taking both of them up to the summit.”
“One person can’t physically handle the task,” Brennart objected.
“All you need is an extra pair of hands. A warm body will do. Either Greenberg or Martin can direct the warm body, and you haven’t risked both your nanotechs.”