Douglas was thinking the same thing. He looked to Mickey. He took a breath. "Mickey … ?"
"What?"
"I'm thinking that, uh … maybe we should call for help."
"Douglas? Are you all right?"
"This is awfully rough. On Charles. On Bobby." He hung his head. "On me too. I almost didn't make it up the wall either. We can't keep taking chances like this–" He looked up, looked across at him. "How do you feel?"
"I'll go along with whatever you decide." And then he added, "I think the safety of you and your brothers comes first."
Alexei was looking down the other side of the wall. He was looking at his PITA. He wasn't looking at us. He said, "I understand your fears. But you are doing all right. Hardest part is past us now. Is all downhill from here. If you choose to go on."
Douglas ignored him. "How long do you think it would take them to get to us?" he asked Mickey.
Mickey shrugged. "We're close enough to Gagarin Station. They could have a boat out here in three hours. But we'd have to climb down to someplace level."
"Yeah, I already figured that out."
"Did you think about the marshals?" Alexei asked.
"What about them? They were waiting for us at Farpoint. We're beyond that now. Aren't we?"
Alexei shrugged.
"Aren't we–?" Douglas repeated.
"Possibly. Possibly not. Probablynot." He took a breath. "Most certainly, I think not. There are bounty marshals on Luna. It takes only a phone call from Farpoint to North Heinlein or Asimov or Armstrong or … Gagarin."
"Gagarin?"
Alexei shrugged. "Is possible." He took his hand out of his glove to scratch his chin. "Is certainly a logical place to start looking for me. Maybe not you. That's why we drop pods everywhere. So they have no way to know which where to start. Remember, they don't know that I am with you. They might figure it out, because I am not at Geosynchronous anymore. But they have no way to know for sure. So Gagarin could look like red herring. Is inconvenient to get there from north. Only one train line. They would have to take transport. They might not do that on a wild‑moose chase. Might check easier targets first. Whole point is to go where it is too inconvenient for marshals. That makes time to keep going, stay ahead of them."
I kept waiting for Douglas to turn to me, to ask me what I was thinking, but he stayed focused on Mickey.
And meanwhile, Alexei nattered on. "But let's play thought experiment game. Say we send signal. Everybody knows we're here. All over news instantly. No secrets on this rock. Rescue boat gets here in three hours. Maybe less, but don't cross fingers before they hatch. Fifteen, maybe thirty minutes to transfer us into boat and get up again. They are in no hurry. They will follow procedures. We take three hours back to Gagarin or wherever else they choose to take us. You figure it out. If Gagarin, that gives marshals six hours from time of distress call to intercept us. Anywhere else, even longer."
"Is six hours good or bad?" I asked.
"If marshals are serious about catching you, they can get to anywhere on Lunar surface within two hours. They have fast transport. Is not impossible. Depends on how many marshals, how desperate they are, how much confusion from big blue marble."
Douglas didn't say anything to that. Neither did Mickey.
"If you want to send distress call, Douglas, I will understand; but I promise, if marshals want you bad enough, then there will be marshals waiting for you. But if you send distress call, I will not wait with you. I will go on without you. We have broken many laws getting here. But they do not know for sure I am here, and I already have many alibis." He sighed. "This is part of why I put you into money‑surfing web. So if something bad happens and you get caught, all the money used to purchase six pods will look like your own. My hands are washed. Lawyers will argue that purchase of all six pods and evasive trajectories was intent to escape legal warrants waiting at Farpoint. They will tie you up in paper." He made a face. "So, no, I do not advise calling for help. It could get very ugly for you."
That almost sounded like blackmail. Like fat SenorDoctor Hidalgo, who'd almost threatened us too. Even behind his goggles, even bundled in his poncho, I could see that Douglas didn't like what Alexei was saying.
He turned back to Mickey. "Say we go back down to the crater floor. How long would that take? Fifteen minutes? Thirty? We could all get into the inflatable and wait for them, couldn't we?"
"Is better to go forward," said Alexei. "Better landing site on this side." No one paid him any attention.
"Is that what you want to do?" Mickey asked Douglas.
"What I want …and what I have to do are two different things. I have to think about Bobby and Charles first."
"Um‑?" I said.
Douglas shook his head, dismissing me. "No, Chigger. I have to make this decision for all of us."
"Well, that didn't take long."
He looked up sharply. "What didn't?"
"For you to break your promise."
"What promise? Oh–"
"Yeah. Thatpromise." To Mickey, I said, "That he wouldn't make any more decisions for all of us without talking to me."
"Chigger." Douglas put on his patient grown‑up voice. It was scary–because for a moment, he wasn't Douglas anymore. He was someone else."I'm really scared here. You nearly got killed. And I nearly didn't make it up either. We're not trained for this. I'm sorry. This was a mistake. I'm sorry for getting you into this. We should stop here–"
"You sound just like Dad," I said angrily. That was who he'd become."Remember when he told us he was leaving. How he wouldn't stop apologizing: 'What I want and what I have to do. We made a mistake. I'm sorry. I have to call it quits before it gets worse. Blah blah blah.' And remember how we all felt? We were so angry, because we wanted him to keep trying, just a little bit more–"
"This isn't the same."
"Yes, it is. It's quitting. Dad taught us how to be quitters. Real good."
"It's surviving."
"Yeah, Dad said that too."
"You have a better idea?"
"Yeah, I do. Let's keep going. We can quit anytime. We have to go down the mountain anyway. Let's go down and see how we feel when we get to the bottom."
Douglas looked to Mickey. Mickey shrugged. "He's right. We have to go down, no matter what. And we have enough air. We don't have to decide here. You want to think about it?"
Douglas looked at me. Even though his eyes were hidden by his dark goggles, I could see he was annoyed. He didn't like being backed into a corner. Not by me, not by Alexei, not by Mickey. But he was always logical, and that was his real strength. So finally, he nodded, and said softly, "All right, we'll wait."
Mickey put his hand on Douglas's bubble, as if to touch his shoulder. "Can you make it down? Or do you want me to take Bobby?"
Even though I couldn't see his expression, even though his body language was hidden by the poncho, I could see he was tired. I could hear it in his voice. "No, I'll take him. But when we get down, we need to rest–maybe even a nap?"
Mickey and Alexei exchanged a glance and nodded to each other.
"Turn heaters back on, please. Everyone take a little fresh air," Alexei said. "And we will start down the other side."
"Wait a minute–" I said. I could finally see clearly again. I stepped out into the sunlight, as close to the edge as I dared. I looked back down into the crater we'd just climbed out of. It was deeper than Barringer–and wider. But I wasn't afraid of it anymore. It was just scenery. It looked like a Bonestell.