Lifeline by Kevin J. Anderson Page A

the others might do when they learn of the orders against Orbitech 1? These are scientists, not military troops! Would you like to watch them all revolt? You would bear the brunt of their anger, I fear.” He raised an eyebrow, but Cagarin remained silent. “Give me time. It is too late for immediate vengeance. We will carry out the instructions, but when I say the time is right.”
    Cagarin thrust out his lips in a pouting expression. “I will remain awake with you.”
    Rurik made a condescending smile. “If that is the penance I must endure.… We are supposed to have two monitors anyway.”
    Now, at their end of the world party, six workers had gone to the zero-G command center at the hub of the Kibalchich’s torus. Inside, they had turned the largest external dish antenna toward Earth and begun making calls.
    One of the communications engineers tapped into the microwave transmission bands, and together they spent hours trying to call friends they had known. No one answered. They called numbers at random. They laughed and drank and tried again, but the joke had worn thin by the time they finally broke through to a still-functioning recording in French. No one had the slightest idea what it said.
    “Someone must still be alive! We know the War could not have been completely devastating.”
    Rurik answered tiredly, “The electromagnetic pulse from the detonations would be sufficient to destroy most communications substations. Perhaps the equipment is out of commission. But some will still be intact. Have faith.”
    They continued without success. None of the lines seemed to be working, or else no one felt like answering. “Just like the phone system back in Vladivostok!” one of the men muttered.
    They proposed a toast to their commander, but found they had run out of things to drink. Bumping and floating, they made their way to the lift platforms that would carry them back out to the main torus. Rurik moved to follow them.
    Turning back, he looked around the command center, where he spent so much of his time. A cylindrical holotank filled the center of the room, surrounding the station axis.
    Switching off the vision recorder, Rurik recorded a terse warning in the holotank. In a day or so, when the station was quiet and deserted, he would broadcast the message to the three other colonies on their own ConComm channels, then he would shut down the unit on this end.
    “We of the Kibalchich hereby sever all ties with other survivors on Earth’s space colonies. Do not attempt to contact us; we wish to remain isolated.”
    It sounded childish and silly to Rurik, but he knew Cagarin would approve. It would keep the other colonies away for a while, at least, and it would give him time alone.
    Plenty of time to do what he had to do.
    ***

Chapter 11
    CLAVIUS BASE—Day 10
    “All right, guys, this isn’t going to be like working on Orbitech 2. Don’t get cocky on me.” Clifford E. Clancy surveyed the five space-suited engineers crowded in the base airlock chamber.
    “Tomkins wants us to bring back everything that isn’t welded to the Miranda’s hull. That includes the power pile, if it isn’t too hot. We’ll be taking both six-pack rovers out, so we’ve got plenty of room. Any questions?”
    Clancy left his channels open, but waited only a beat. His people were never too shy to ask questions. They had worked well enough together on the massive Orbitech 2 construction project.
    “Okay, folks, let’s go sightseeing.” Clancy activated the airlock that opened out to the Moon’s stark surface. A faint hiss indicated that the last of the trapped air had out-gassed. Behind them, the mound that covered the base entrance looked like any other hillock in the lunar wasteland.
    Clancy much preferred the broad, shining girders and massive wheel of Orbitech 2, the most glorious man-made object in the solar system. By contrast, Clavius Base seemed a bunch of tunnels for ground squirrels to hide in.
    Clancy heard only