encased. Her lungs dragged at stale air. Suit Fivefor Gods sake
Something slammed into her helmet, rattling her head like a walnut kernel in its shell. Her visor just popped off, and air washed over her face. The air smelled of burned oil and ozone, but it was rich in oxygen and she dragged at it gratefully.
Grove hovered over her. He held up a hammer and chisel. Sorry about that, he said. Needs must, eh? But I rather fear Ive damaged your suit of armor. Though he had aged, he had the same clipped Noel Coward accent she remembered from her last time on Mir, more than thirty years in the past.
She felt inordinately glad to see him. Be my guest, she said. All right, Suit, youve had your fun. Youve been breached, so planetary protection is out the window, wherever we are. Now will you let me go?
The suit didnt speak. It hesitated for a few seconds, silent, as if sulking. Then with a popping of seals it opened up, along her torso, legs and arms. She lay in the suit, in her tight thermal underwear, and the colder air washed over her. I feel like a lobster in a cracked shell.
Let us help you. It was the boy who looked like Abdikadir. He and Grove reached down, got their arms under Bisesa, and lifted her out of the suit.
PART 3 REUNIONS 29: ALEXEI
It was an hour since Bisesa had vanished into the Eye.
Myra, bereft and confused, sought out Alexei in his storeroom cabin. He was curled up on his bunk, facing the plastic-coated ice wall.
So tell me about Athena.
Without turning, he said, Well, Athena singled you out. She seems to think youre worth preserving.
Myra pursed her lips. Shes the real leader of this conspiracy of yours, isnt she? This underground group of Boy Scouts, trying to figure out the Martian Eye.
He shrugged, his back still turned. We Spacers are a divided lot. The Martians dont think of themselves as Spacers at all. Athena is different from all of us, and shes a lot smarter. Shes someone we can unite around, at least.
Let me get it straight, she said. Athena is the shield AI.
A copy of her. The original AI was destroyed in the final stages of the sunstorm. Before the storm, this copy was squirted to the stars. Somewhere out there, that broadcast copy was picked up, activated, and transmitted back here.
This was the story she had picked up from the others. You do realize how many impossible things have to be true for that to have happened?
Nobody outside Cyclops knows the details.
Cyclops. The big planet-finder telescope station.
Right. Of course the echo could have been picked up anywhere in the solar system, but as far as we know its only on Cyclops that shes been activated. Shes stayed locked up in the hardened data store on Cyclops. Her choice. As far as Hanse Critchfield can tell, she managed to download a subagent into your ident tattoo. Nobody knows how. It self-destructed after she gave you that message. I guess she has her electronic eye on you, Myra.
That was not a comforting thought. So now my mother has gone through the Eye. What next? We wait. For what? I guess, for whatever comes of your mothers mission to Mir. And for Athena.
How long?
I don't know, Myra. We have time. Its still more than eighteen months until the Q-bomb is supposed to reach Earth.
Look, weve done what we could. We delivered your mother to the Eye, and pow, that pretty much short-circuited all the weirdness in the solar system. No offense. Now weve come to a kind of a lull. So, take it easy. Youve been through a lotwe both have. The traveling alone was punishment enough. And as for that shit down in the Pit with the EyeI cant begin to imagine how that must have felt for you.
Myra sat awkwardly on the single chair in the room, and pulled at her fingers. Its not just a lull. This is a kind of terminus, for me. You needed me to get my mother here, to Mars. Fine, I did that. But now Ive crashed into a wall.
He rolled over and faced her. I'm sorry you feel like that. I think youre being too hard on yourself. Youre a good person. Ive seen that. You love your mother, and you support her, even when it hurts you. Thats a pretty good place to be. Anyhow, he said, I'm not one to