Up Against It - M. J. Locke [62]
“I don’t see how delays would help us. We need ice fast.”
“It helps. Let me show you.” Aaron brought up a shared virtual display, called up a view of the solar system, and traced a quick sketch. “This is us, this is Ilion, and this is the moon. The ice is headed for the moon from Ilion, here. So the ice is quad to us, trailing, and the moon is nearly in opposition. Their most fuel-efficient route is to brake into a lower orbit and use Mars for a slingshot maneuver to rendezvous with Earthspace here.” He gestured. “Their quickest route is to accelerate into a lower orbit, sweep past the sun, and meet Earthspace on the far side, here.”
“Ah! So as soon as the shipment launches out of the mitts,” Jane said, “either they’ll be headed away from our position, or accelerating past us so quickly they won’t have an easy way to turn around and come back.”
“Correct. Whichever route they take, they’ll be steadily building up momentum on the wrong vector, and will have that much less incentive to help us. Or you might say, a better excuse not to. I’ve seen this sort of thing kill deals before.”
“And delays might give us a bargaining tool. If they play nice with us the PM can offer to use his clout to expedite things at Ilion.”
“Exactly.”
She thought for a moment. “Things are really tight already, Aaron. We’ll be sweating those last few days as it is.”
“Yes … but bear in mind, by investing those two or three days, we are actually increasing our chances of getting the ice, under our own terms.”
“It’s risky.”
“Yes. Too risky?”
She thought it over. “Not under the circumstances. Make the calls—before the cameras go live.”
“Naturally.”
“We can’t afford a delay of more than three days. Even that is pushing it. Have your contacts hold the shipment as long as two days, but absolutely no longer. Can do?”
“Can do.”
“And keep me apprised.”
“Very good.”
“Anything else?”
“Let’s see … we’ve checked out several more sugar-rock claims.”
“How much?”
“A few dozen more tons.”
“Every little bit helps.”
“Well, yes. But bringing them in is posing a challenge. Most are old mining claims off the treeways. We don’t have much in the way of portable disassembly technology, and we only have a handful of tugs to bring them in with. We may not see much benefit from these claims in the end.”
“Keep working on it. By the way, I appreciate your taking on the ice harvesting effort. Sean’s up to his eyeballs trying to get the warehouse bug distribution and energy systems back into repair.”
“I don’t mind. With Pearce providing security, my own people’s assembly and distribution efforts are proceeding smoothly. Thus far.”
“Very good. Thanks.”
He lofted himself to the door. As he started to propel himself through the doorway, Jane said, “Aaron, wait!” She was thinking about her Voice.
He stopped himself at the doorjamb.
She wanted to ask him, Do you believe in God? I mean, really? Even after hearing the Voice, which felt realer than she did, she couldn’t say she did.
She knew Aaron was Christian—he always requested the requisite holidays off. That could be more for his family’s sake than his faith. But she suspected that he was a believer. She had seen him in the break room, once, with his hands clasped, eyes closed, lips moving silently.
She thought better of it. “Never mind. Send Sean in, would you?”
“By all means. “ He hesitated, and smiled. “I’ve been meaning to say, once this crisis is behind us, it’s our turn to have you and Xuan over for dinner.”
Jane returned his smile. She had always liked Aaron. No one worked harder, smarter, or with more integrity and dedication than he did. “Sounds great.”
As a courtesy to Sean, who hadn’t fully adapted to microgee, Jane lofted herself to her desk. He groped his way over and pulled himself into in the saddle opposite her workstation. She settled onto her own saddle, slipped her feet into the stirrups underneath the desk, and grabbed hold with her toes.
“What