A Forest of Stars - Kevin J. Anderson [75]
The production yard held a swarm of small ships and giant factories. Workers set charges on the larger comets to fracture them into significant chunks, which were then coated with self-heating furnace films that cooked the ices down into constituent gases. Siphons drew off the resulting steam.
“See? Who needs skymines?” Kellum said with forced optimism. “This isn’t just a show-off exercise. It really works.”
“You certainly rose to my challenge, Del Kellum, but don’t paint too rosy a picture for me,” Cesca said. “I’ve seen the numbers. It’s a long way from being efficient enough.”
“By damn, we don’t have any other choice. Any clan leader who can’t think outside the box should roll over and open his faceplate to the vacuum.” He shook his head. “With improved ekti reactors, we can meet our minimal requirements. Shizz, there might even be some left over to sell to the Big Goose. Otherwise, they’ll think we’re cheating them.”
Cesca rolled her eyes. “They think we’re cheating them no matter what. It’s the way their minds work.”
Though Roamers had always been outcasts, they had once carved a respectable niche for themselves by supplying ekti. Now, without that resource, she feared that one day desperate Roamers would have no choice but to fall back into the greater community of the Hansa. They might have to sign the Charter, attach themselves to the government they had struggled for so long to escape.
Or the desperate Hansa would hunt them down.
She didn’t like to be faced with a choice between survival and freedom.
But Cesca could think of nowhere to turn for aid. Who else was in their position? Roamers had worked many years for the Ildirans on leased skymines, but they had finally earned their independence. If they had no ekti to offer, the Mage-Imperator would have no use for the Roamers. Clan gatherings discussed the possibilities of alliances with weaker outlying Hansa colonies or with Theroc.
She lived each day now with a sick feeling of overwhelming responsibility, but she couldn’t ask the Roamer engineers and inventors to work any harder. They had already stretched their capabilities to the breaking point.
Outside, cometary rubble was fed into a moon-size chamber where it was flash-heated into volatile elements. Atomic separators bled off the hydrogen molecules, and cometary sludge drained out from reclamation ducts. The impurities held numerous heavy elements that were recycled for other purposes.
Cesca studied the activity as Kellum continued to fly her on a slow tour. It was her ostensible reason for being here, though she would rather have been down in the ring shipyards with Jess as he looked over the nebula skimmers. She wondered when they could arrange another romantic encounter…
Del Kellum docked to the largest comet evaporator chamber. The huge thin-walled structure rose up in black silhouette, eclipsing the sparkling lights of the industrial encampment. “We like to call this the cometary Hilton. Finest place this side of the Kuiper Belt.”
Cesca smiled. “As the Speaker for all clans, I am naturally accustomed to such…luxury.”
The bright lounge and rec room had standard plate-metal walls. Kellum proudly showed her his tank of sleek black-and-silver angelfish. “They breed well enough, even out here. I have similar tanks in many of my facilities, just a little reminder of home.”
“Fish in space? Couldn’t you take up gardening instead?”
“Not the same.” He slid a cup of clear liquid across the table. “Here, made from pure cometary water. First time it’s been processed since the beginning of the solar system. Every other drink you’ve had has been recycled through human bodies and reclamation systems a thousand times over. This is virgin water—hydrogen and oxygen, nothing else. Upscale markets consider it a real treat.”
Cesca looked down at the cup. “Does it taste any different?”
He shrugged. “Not to me.”
A worker hurried in carrying a transcribed message. “Speaker Peroni! This just came up from a transport vessel at the ring shipyards.” Seeing the