of Mars hung a single spark, drifting slowly into place. Everybody was watching but Ellie, who sat apart, still working on her wargaming analysis of the Martians likely reaction to any signal.
Look at that damn thing, Alexei said, wondering. You arent supposed to be able to hover at areosynch over a pole!
Grendel said, Well, thats what you can do with an antimatter drive and a virtually unlimited supply of delta-vee...
Myra saw that these Spacers were instinctively more offended by the Liberators apparent defiance of the celestial mechanics that governed their lives than they were by the act of war.
Yuri glanced at a screen. Five more minutes and it will be in position.
Alexei said, Meanwhile they seem to be hitting all the elevators on Earth. Jacobs Ladder, Bandara, Modimo, Jianmu, Marahuaka, Yggdrasil...All snipped. A global coordinated assault. Whod have believed a bunch of hairy-assed Spacers could get it together to achieve that?
Yuri peered gloomily at his softscreen. But it doesnt do us a damn bit of good, does it? The wargamers conclusions do not look good. Were pretty fragile here; were built to withstand Martian weather, not a war. And here at the pole we dont even have anything to hit back with...Liberator doesnt even need to use its nukes against us. With power like that it could fly through the atmosphere and bomb us outwhy, it could just wipe us clean with its exhaust. The gamers suggest Liberator could eliminate a human presence on Mars entirely in twenty-four hours, or less.
Almost as efficiently as the Firstborn, then, Grendel said grimly. Makes you proud, doesnt it? Myra said, Look, my mother has her Thomas Edison signal all laid out. And if were going to send the say-so to light up, it needs to be before the Liberators bombs start falling. Yuri said, Ellie, for Christs sake, we need some answers on how those Martians are going to respond.
Ellie had been working for weeks on her projections of the Q-bombs response to Bisesas signal. She was always irritated at being distracted from her work, and her expression now was one Myra knew well from her days with Eugene. The analysis is incomplete
Were out of time, Yuri barked. Give us what youve got.
She stared at hI'm for one long second, defiant. Then she slapped her softscreen down on the table. It displayed logic trees, branching and bifurcating. Were guessing at this, guessing the motivation of an entirely alien culture. But given their opposition to the Firstborn in the past
Ellie. Just tell us.
The bottom line. It almost doesnt matter what the Martians do. Because if they act in any way against any Eyes extant in their time-slicesyoull recall weve hypothesized that all Eyes are interconnected, perhaps three-dimensional manifestations of a single higher-dimensional objectthey may even be the same Eyeand it would be trivial for them to span the gulf between our universe and Mirs
Yes, yes, Yuri snapped.
That will provoke a reaction in the Eye in the Pit. Our Eye. And that, almost certainlylook, you can see the convergence of the logic trees herewill cause the Q-bomb to react. It will surely be aware of
the forced operation of the only other bit of Firstborn technology in the solar system, and then And what? Come on, woman. How will the Q-bomb react? It will turn away from Earth, Ellie said. It will head for the activated Eye. Here. On Mars.
Grendel looked at her wildly. So Earth would be saved.
Oh, yes.
That, apparently, Myra thought, was a trivial conclusion of her logic to Ellie. But there was another corollary.
She asked, So what do we tell my mother to do? Grendel said, I think Wait. The new voice spoke from the air.
Myra looked up. Athena?
A local avatar, downloaded into the station systems. Athena is at Cyclops. Ellie, I have come to the same conclusion as you, concerning the actions of the Martians. And concerning the likely consequence for the Firstborn weapon. This is not a decision you should be forced to take alone, or I, or any individual. I have prepared a statement. It is timed to allow for lightspeed delays to reach Earth, Mars, Moon, and belt simultaneously. It is already on its way. Now you must communicate with the warship.
Yuri stared into the air. The Liberator? Why? It will take fifteen minutes before the announcement is received everywhere. I doubt you have that much time.
So we stall, said Alexei, and he grinned at Yuri. Come on, big man, you can do it. Say youll give them what