"I think we can stop worrying. With Toro and the family on guard in Olongapo, and Inday and Marco and more family watching our backs in Subic city, and us sitting in a closed resort in San Antonio, I think we're pretty secure. Now I can get my mind back to the important stuff!"
Susan was grinning. "'Jaymo'?"
Frank nodded. "For some reason, many Filipinos pick up a nickname, usually before they can walk. 'Jaymo' is actually Jerrod Montero Fernandez. But I doubt he would even answer to 'Jerrod' anymore."
Frank's 'bachelor pad' had two bedrooms, but he had turned one into an office, whose most prominent feature was a large computer with three monitors. "I can actually use it as three workstations," he told Susan, "or spread an image over all three monitors." After reminding her not to check her e-mail, Frank connected to a proxy server in Mexico, and then another in the U.S. before connecting to several news sites.
It seemed that the U.S. was overplaying its hand. More and more editorialists and bloggers were repeating the question Brazil had asked in the UN General Assembly: Why? Why was the most powerful nation on Earth devoting so much effort and energy to the pursuit of one man? As one blogger put it, "Frank Weatherly is no Osama Bin Laden. He did not attack the United States; in fact, he tried very hard to avoid involving them in his project. He didn't kill over 3,000 Americans. He hasn't killed anyone. Man's Hope International has released all of their purchase records, and it is obvious that Mr. Weatherly did not violate the U.S. technology transfer laws, the only legal charge the U.S. has filed against him. What is the U.S. government hiding? What does Frank Weatherly know that the U.S. fears he will disclose?
"The U.S. Ambassador to the UN says that the U.S. wishes only to 'pursue justice and protect the people of the United States.' But where is the 'justice' in these ridiculous charges? How does Frank Weatherly threaten the people of the United States?"
The President of the United States declared that "Private citizens simply cannot be permitted to threaten the people of the United States and the world by possessing nuclear reactors!"
It was Dolf who had responded to that charge. In his first broadcast following the President's speech, he responded that power companies privately owned nearly every nuclear power plant in the US. The President tried to clarify his remark, saying that he meant 'unsupervised' private reactors. But it was too little, too late.
While Frank had been fleeing to safety, Dolf had been fighting.
What the U.S. government seemed to have overlooked was the unparalleled communications afforded by the spacecraft. Their signal blanketed half the world, and Frank's prearranged repeaters covered the other half. China and several other nations had seized and destroyed the repeaters within their borders, but those in surrounding countries continued to transmit. And Dolf's schedule of daily broadcasts permitted him to respond to attacks almost as soon as they were made public. Every time the U.S. made an exaggerated charge, Dolf was there to counter it. Whenever they pursued an action, he was quick to respond.
When the U.S. filed charges against the entire crew in the International Court of Justice, Dolf responded quickly and viciously. "We deny that this so-called 'Court of International Justice', created by a body that simply voted itself the power to do so, has any jurisdiction in this case. Man's Hope's reactor was not activated until after we had left Earth orbit, and inserted into a deep-space orbit. This so-called 'Court', may insist it has jurisdiction over actions taken in Earth orbit, but it cannot possibly have jurisdiction over actions taken in interplanetary space. At least, not until the United Nations can dream up a plausible-sounding legal pretext permitting them to do so.
"As for the charge that we violated international treaties banning nuclear power in space, I submit that treaties bind only the governments that sign them. Man's Hope International, Frank Weatherly, and this crew are not a government, and are not sponsored by any government. We are a multinational organization, and we do not recognize that those treaties bind us.
"Finally, to the charges of endangering the people of the Earth in the event of an accident on liftoff, I submit that the few kilos of slightly-enriched uranium we carried would not have been sufficient to be detectable by Geiger counter on Earth.
"As with every other act of the United States government of late, this one leads one to ask why? What is the real reason for embarking on a vendetta to prevent the most successful space venture so far in human history? We are days from matching orbits with a comet, and actually boarding it. It is an exciting time. We should be as focused on that moment, as was the world in 1969, when man landed on the moon. Instead, we are forced to deal with nonsense dreamed up by overpaid, underworked bureaucrats. And to the Head Bureaucrat, I invite all Americans to join me in asking: Mr. President, what in the world are you doing?"
Frank waited until he was securely ensconced in the closed resort to call the Man's Hope International transmitter.
He asked them to wait until just after the ship came above the horizon, and then to pass along to Man's Hope a request that they temporarily suspend retransmission of signals from Earth.
As soon as Dolf responded, "Done," Frank asked to be connected to the transmitter, and announced his presence.
"Frank!" Dolf shouted. "Graças a Deus! Are you all right?
Frank flushed with pleasure at Dolf's obvious excitement and caring. "I'm fine, Dolf. I just had to run for cover. That's why I asked you not to rebroadcast my voice. We have some serious talking to do, but don't forget that the whole world can hear your end, including the U.S."
"Damned right we do!" came David's voice. "Frank, you old bastard, find yourself and hole and climb in, and pull the hole in after you. I think we've got them on the run!"
Frank shrugged. "To hell with them. What about the mission? What's happened with Yoshi?"
"Okay," said David, "Here's the brief. We're two days from intercept. Yoshi is still tied down in his acceleration couch, but Raoul decided to cut back on the sedatives, so he's conscious most of the time. Perfectly rational, too, as long as you don't mention you-know-what."
Frank nodded, though; of course, David couldn't see it. "How's your orbit? Has anyone tried to interfere with Alcântara Control?"
"No," came the reply in Dolf's voice. "No interference there. Our Brazilian friends are doing their very best, and we love them. As for the orbital data, everything seems to check. We think we can actually see the comet on the long-range radar, but we can't be sure until perhaps tomorrow."
"Okay," Frank replied. "I'd suggest you forget about this court nonsense on Earth, and use your next two days to build up anticipation for the rendezvous. Remember, the whole reason for the exercise is to give space travel a boost. You've been doing a fantastic job. Just don't lose sight of NASA's big error in covering the moon landings: don't let them drag and get boring."
"No problem, Frank," Dolf replied, "We're not trying to give them 24-hour coverage like NASA did. I do about fifteen minutes every day. Not enough time for boredom to set in. But once we get set up on the comet, it will get boring. That's when I'm going to want an exclusive interview with the infamous international fugitive, Frank Weatherly."
Frank tried to grin, to make his voice cheerful. He wasn't successful. "You'll get it. Good luck, guys, and I'll be listening. I can't talk to you very often this way; they can eventually track me down. So, I guess the bad guys have finally sidelined me. I'm depending you guys. But I'll be listening, and I'll keep in touch. We won't let them beat us!"
Dolf and David exchanged looks after Frank disconnected. Dolf shook his head. "He didn't sound good."