“Without warning Randolph?”
“It’s too late to warn Dan by now,” she said. “You know that.”
Humphries spread his hands. “Really, the best option for you is to return to Earth. You’ll be in very comfortable quarters and I’ll personally guarantee that your daughters and grandchildren will be brought to you.”
“The way I was brought here?”
“You haven’t been harmed, have you? You’ve been treated with great care.”
“I’m still a prisoner.”
It seemed to George that Humphries was working hard to control his temper. “But if you’ll only do what I ask,” he said, tightly, “you can return to Earth and be with your family. What more could you ask for?”
“I don’t want to go to Earth!” Cardenas burst. “I won’t be a part of your scheme!”
“You haven’t even heard what my… scheme, as you put it, is.”
“I don’t care. I don’t want to hear it.”
“But it will stop the greenhouse warming. It will save the Earth.”
“Nothing can save the Earth and you know it.”
He hung his head for a moment, as if trying to find the right words. At last he looked up at her again. “You can save the Earth, Dr. Cardenas. That’s the real reason why I brought you here. I need you to run the operation. I need the absolute best person there is. That person is you. No one else could make it work.”
“Whatever it is, I won’t do it,” Cardenas said flatly.
“Not even to save the Earth?”
She gave him a withering look. “What makes you think I want to save the Earth?”
“Not even to save your grandchildren?” He said it with a smile.
Cardenas gasped when she realized what he meant. “You’re threatening my family?”
He put on an innocent air. “Did I make a threat?”
“You’re despicable!”
Humphries slowly got to his feet, like a man weary of dealing with an obstinate child. “Dr. Cardenas,” he said slowly, “your options are few. Please hear me out.”
“I won’t say a word to anyone.”
“I’m not talking about that now.”
She started to reply, then thought better of it.
“At least listen to what I have to say.”
She stared at him.
“Think of your grandchildren back there on Earth,” Humphries coaxed. “Their future is in your hands.”
Still without saying a word, Cardenas slowly sat on the sofa, facing Humphries.
“That’s better,” he said smiling. “We’re both reasonable people. I’m sure we can work this out.”
George walked softly toward them, listening intently.
STARPOWER 1
Sitting in her command chair on the bridge, Pancho asked, “How do we know the bugs ain’t chewin’ away at us now?” Dan had never before seen Pancho look morose. Her long, lantern-jawed face was deadly serious now; her usual cocky grin had vanished. “They were eating copper,” Dan replied. “We got rid of the wire sample. The bugs went out the hatch with it.”
“You hope.”
“Fervently,” said Dan.
“Well, the ship’s wiring doesn’t use any copper,” Pancho said hopefully.
“It’s all fiber optic. I know.”
“There’s plenty of copper here and there, though,” Pancho went on. “Maybe only trace amounts, but if we got nanobugs eatin’ copper, they could knock out half the microprocessors on board.”
“That’s great,” Dan groused.
“The MHD channel!” she blurted. “It’s got a superconducting magnet wrapped around it!”
“Holy Christ!”
“If that goes, the magnet’ll dump all its energy—”
“It’ll explode?”
“Like a frickin’ bomb,” Pancho said.
“Great. Just perfect,” Dan muttered. “And there’s not a double-damned thing we can do about it, is there?”
She shook her head. “Just hope it hasn’t been infected.” Dan felt shaky inside. He had to swallow before he could speak. “Not much we can do if it has been.”
“Could be worse,” Pancho said, with false jollity. “If we had bugs that ate carbon, they’d be chewin’ on us.”
Dan saw no humor in that. “Where’s Amanda?” he asked, pointing to the empty co-pilot’s chair. “Shouldn’t she be on duty up here?”
“She’s back with Lars.”
“In the sensor bay?”
“Yup. He’s tryin’ to jury-rig the electron microscope to get nanometer resolution.”
“So he can see nanobugs?”
“If there’re any to be seen, right.”