Nippon One was the only other lunar base still active. Its reason for existence, aside from scientific studies, was to extract helium-three from the Moon’s regolith and ship it to the nuclear fusion power plants that were springing up throughout Japan, China, and the Pacific Rim nations. Fusion power was not welcomed in Europe or North America, where anti-nuclear fears not only persisted, but were actively fanned by the nanoluddites.
The Europeans had closed down their base at Grimaldi when the nanotech treaty had gone into effect for the Euro-Russian consortium that managed the base. They still sent occasional maintenance crews to repair and refurbish the scientific gear that ran automated at Grimaldi, but even those visitors rode on Masterson LTVs or Yamagata’s.
‘Are you going to shut down Nippon One?’ Doug asked, half-dismayed that he had to be so direct with his Japanese friend.
‘That is not in my instructions,’ Takai replied.
Damn! thought Doug. He’s not just being roundabout; he’s being actually evasive.
‘Toshi, I really need to know what Yamagata plans to do.’
For several moments Takai said nothing. He simply walked along the virtual crater floor and avoided looking at Doug.
‘What do you plan to do?’ Takai countered. ‘Surely you don’t expect to fight the Peacekeepers.’
‘We’ve declared our independence,’ Doug said. ‘Legally, the Peacekeepers have no right to bother us.’
‘Only if the UN accepts your independence.’
Doug nodded.
‘They won’t,’ Takai predicted. ‘You know they won’t.’
‘I’m not so sure. Time is on our side. If we can hold on and prevent the Peacekeepers from taking over the base, we could eventually get world opinion on our side and-‘
‘Time is on your side until the Peacekeepers land,’ Takai pointed out.
‘But if we can keep them from taking Moonbase,’ Doug said earnestly, ‘then we can get through this. All we have to do is show the world that we can survive, that we can hang in there and take care of ourselves. Sooner or later they’ll recognize the fact that we are independent.’
Takai shook his head. ‘You’re dreaming, Doug.’
‘No,’ Doug insisted. ‘It’s like the situation in the American Civil War. All the Confederacy had to do was keep itself intact, not let the Union conquer it. In time, the nations of Europe would recognize it as a separate nation.’
‘But that didn’t happen, did it?’ Takai asked gently.
‘We can make it happen here.’
‘No, Doug. That isn’t going to be allowed to happen, believe me.’
Doug hesitated, digesting not only Takai’s words, but their tone. He knows more than he’s willing to tell me, Doug realized.
‘Don’t you think Japan would recognize our independence if we drove off the Peacekeepers?’
‘No, I don’t.’
‘Is Yamagata against us? I need to know, Toshi. Lives depend on it.’
Takai said nothing.
‘Well?’ Doug demanded.
The pained expression on Takai’s face showed the tension he was feeling. ‘My instructions are to continue as usual. We will operate Nippon One as we normally do, despite your present . . . difficulties.’
They both knew that Nippon One carefully refrained from using nanotechnology. Instead of using nanomachines to extract helium-three from the ground, they used cumbersome bulldozers and old-fashioned mass spectrometers to separate the isotope from the other lunar ores. It kept the cost of helium-three at least ten times higher than it would have been if nanomachines had been employed to ferret out the helium-three nuclei, individually.
But Nippon One bought its water from Moonbase. Shut down Moonbase and the Japanese base dies, too.
‘I don’t understand how that can be,’ Doug said.
‘Those are my instructions.’
Walking beside his virtual friend in silence, Doug thought, He wants to tell me what’s going on, but he can’t. His loyalty to Yamagata is preventing him from telling me the whole truth.
‘We’ve already declared our independence, you know,’ Doug said.
‘Yes, you told me. I doubt that it’ll do you any good.’
‘What was Tokyo’s reaction to that?’
‘No reaction. The first I heard of it was just now, when you told me.’
‘Your corporate superiors didn’t tell you about it?’
‘Not one word.’
‘We beamed the information to Yamagata headquarters and to every news agency on Earth.’