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systems, in its obsessive quest for new Earths. The charts were glutted with
them.
A quaddie culture spreading out along the belt from their initial base, a
society of the quaddies, by the quaddies, for the quaddies. Burrowing into the
rocks for protection against radiation, and to seal in their precious air,
expanding, leapfrogging from rock to rock, to drill and build new homes.
Minerals all around, more than they could ever use. Whole hydroponics farms
for
Silver. A new world to build. A space world to make Morita Station look like a
toy.
Why, Leo s eyes widened with delight, it s an engineering problem after
all!
He hung limply in air, entranced; fortunately, the corridor was empty of
passers-by at the moment, or they would surely have thought him mad or
drugged.
The solution had been lying around him in pieces all this time, invisible
until he d changed. He grinned dementedly, possessed. He yielded himself up to
it without reservation. All. All. There was no limit to what one man might do,
if he gave all, and held back nothing.
Didn t hold back, didn t look back - for there would be no going back.
Literally, medically, that was the heart of it. Men adapted to free fell, it
was the going back that crippled them.
I am a quaddie, Leo whispered in wonder. He regarded his hands, clenched and
spread his fingers. Just a quaddie with legs. He wasn t going back.
As for that initial base - he was floating in it right now. It merely required
relocating. His cascading thought clicked over the connections too rapidly to
analyze. He didn t need to hijack a spaceship; he was in one. All it needed
was a bit of power.
And the power lay ready-to-hand in Rodeo orbit, being gratuitously wasted even
at this moment to shove mere bulk petrochemicals out of orbit. What might a
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petrochemical pod-bundle mass, compared to a chunk of the Cay Habitat? Leo
didn t know, but he knew he could find out. The numbers would be on his side,
anyway, whatever their precise magnitudes.
The cargo thrusters could handle the Habitat, if it were properly
reconfigured, and anything the thrusters could handle, one of the monster
cargo Superjumpers could manage too. It was all there, all - for the taking.
For the taking...
Chapter 8
It took an hour of stalking before Leo was able to catch Silver alone, in a
monitor blind spot in a corridor leading from the free fall gym.
Is there someplace we can talk in private? he asked her. I mean really
private.
Her wary glance around confirmed that she understood him perfectly. Still she
hesitated. Is it important?
Vital. Life or death for every quaddie. That important.
Well... wait a minute or two, then follow me.
He trailed her slowly and casually through the Habitat, a flash of shimmering
hair and blue jersey at this or that cross-
branching. Then, down one corridor, he suddenly lost her. Silver...?
Sh! she hissed at his ear. A wall panel hinged silently inward, and one of
her strong lower hands reached out to yank him in like a fish on a line.
It was dark and narrow behind the wall for only a moment, then airseal doors
parted with a whisper to reveal an odd-shaped chamber perhaps three meters
across. They slipped within.
What s this? asked Leo, stunned.
The Clubhouse. Anyway, we call it that. We built it in this little blind
pocket. You wouldn t notice it from Outside unless you were looking for it at
just the right angle. Tony and Pramod did the outside walls. Siggy ran the
ductwork in, others did the wiring... the airseals we built from spare parts.
Weren t they missed?
Her smile was not in the least innocent. Quaddies do the computer records
entry, too. The parts just sort of ceased to exist in inventory. A bunch of us
worked together on it - we just finished it about two months ago. I was sure
Dr. Yei and Mr. Van Atta would find out about it, when they were questioning
me, her smile faded to a frown in memory, but they never asked just the
right question. Now the only vids we have left are the ones that happened to
be stored in here, and Darla doesn t have the vid system up yet.
Leo followed her glance to a dead holovid set, obviously in process of repair,
fixed to the wall. There were other comforts:
lighting, handy straps, a wall cabinet that proved to be stuffed with little
bags of dried snacks abstracted from Nutrition, raisins, peanuts and the like.
Leo orbited the room slowly, nervously examining the workmanship. It was
tight. Was this place your idea?
Sort of. I couldn t have done it alone, though. You understand, it s strictly
against our rules for me to bring you in here,
Silver added somewhat truculently. So this better be good, Leo.
Silver, said Leo, it s your uniquely pragmatic approach to rules that makes
you the most valuable quaddie in the Habitat right now. I need you - your
daring, and all the other qualities that Dr. Yei would doubtless call
anti-social. I ve got a job to do that I can t do alone either. He took a
deep breath. How would you quaddies like to have your own asteroid belt?
What? her eyes widened.
Brucie-baby is trying to keep it under wraps, but the Cay Project has just
been scheduled for termination - and I mean that in the most sinister sense of
the word.
He detailed the anti-gravity rumor to her, all that he had yet heard, and Van
Atta s secret plans for the quaddies disposal.
With rising passion, he described his vision of escape. He didn t have to
explain anything twice.
How much time do we have left? she asked whitely, when he had finished.
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Not much. A few weeks at most. I have only six days until I m forced downside
by my gravity leave. I ve got to figure out some way to duck that, I m afraid
I might not be able to get back here. We - you quaddies - have to choose now.
And I can t do it for you. I can only help with some of the parts. If you
cannot rescue yourselves, you will be lost, guaranteed.
She blew out her breath in a silent whistle, looking troubled indeed. I
thought - watching Tony and Claire - they were doing it the wrong way. Tony
talked about finding work, but do you know, he didn t think to take a
work-suit with him? I didn t want to make the same mistakes. We aren t made to
travel alone, Leo. Maybe it s something that was built into us.
But can you bring in the others? Leo asked anxiously. In secret? Let me
tell you, the quickest end-scenario for this little revolution I can imagine
would be for some quaddie to panic and tell, trying to be good. This is a real
conspiracy, all rules off. I
sacrifice my job, risk legal prosecution, but you risk much more.
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