“So where am I going next?”
“We haven’t put you into orbit for the scenery.”
“Yeah? Then tell me why I’m up here.”
Because you’re not going back.”
The Operative looks at the man who sits upon that screen. It’s a face he’s never seen before. It’s a face he knows too well.
It’s his handler.
“Not going back to what?”
“That,” says the handler, gesturing at the window behind the Operative in which the Moon floats. “We’ve no need for you there anymore.”
“No need? We’re still combing through all of Nansen’s wreckage. Not to mention figuring out if Matthias was reporting to anyone else within SpaceCom.”
“It’s true,” says the man. “Questions remain. As it happens, we brought you up here to discuss some of them.”
“Lay it on me.”
“They involve you.”
“Really?”
“You know I never joke.”
“Has somebody been questioning my loyalty?” asks the Operative. “Is that what this is all about?”
“No one’s questioning your loyalty, Carson. What’s at issue among my colleagues is your judgment.”
“Go on.”
“There’s a point of view afoot that says it was madness to get Sarmax involved. That it was folly to pursue the south-pole connection. And that it was downright crazy to push Lynx so close to his breaking point. There’s a point of view that wonders just what kind of three-ring circus you were running.”
“I’ll tell you what kind of three-ring circus I was running,” says the Operative. “One that blew the Rain’s game on the Moon sky-high and did it way ahead of anybody else.”
“A fact I’ve pointed out more than once.”
“It’s nice to know you’re still on my side.”
“When I’m not, you’ll be the first to know. Was there anything to suggest that Sarmax’s romantic liaison with a member of the Rain compromised him?”
“There was nothing. He’s loyal. And finished with his decade-long sulk. We needed him back. He needed a reason to get involved again. Which this most definitely was.”
“And Lynx?”
“What about him?”
“He isn’t too happy with the way you handled things either.”
“You mean running Sarmax behind his back?”
“He’s not thrilled about that at all. But what’s got him really worked up is the broader structure of the mission.”
“He figured that out?”
“I’m afraid he did.”
“When?”
“Somewhere between when the shooting stopped and the debriefing. There were just too many loose ends for him not to guess. Like I just said, Carson: this was one of the most complex runs I’ve ever seen. And Lynx is as furious as I’ve ever seen him.”
“I can’t say I blame him,” says the Operative. “What razor wants to learn that his mech is actually running him? That his mech isn’t just a mech but is also a razor? Shit, that’d wreck my day. I can’t imagine what it must have done to Lynx’s.”
“He’ll get over it. But in the meantime he’s being kept away from you.”
“Permission to speak frankly?”
“Are you ever anything but?”
“You guys are blowing things out of proportion. We’ve had the mech-as-razor variation going for a while now. We’ve had it playing merry hell with anybody who thinks they know which end of a Praetorian pairing to attack first.”
“That’s not what everybody’s taken issue with.”
“Then what’s their problem?”
“The reversal pairing is primarily a defensive posture. But you turned the formula on its head. By using it to run Sarmax you almost let things get completely out of hand. You were flirting with disaster the whole way through.”
“But it worked.”
“It worked. Indeed. And for that reason I give it my assent.”
“Nothing succeeds like success?”
“Not around here it doesn’t. At the end of the day, they’re not going to be able to argue with results. But they’re going to want to keep a close eye on you from now on.”
“That sounds like micromanagement.”
“Call it what you want. Though I’m sure we won’t keep you on such a short leash as to make you useless.”
“And what about Lynx and Sarmax?”
“I think I can persuade everyone that there’s no sense in breaking up a winning team.”
“So the three of us will still be working together.”
“Absolutely. The Rain’s still out there. We need you to take the fight to them.”
“Where?”
“We’ve got something in mind in the Earth orbits.”
“You’ve got something in mind? Or do you mean the Rain do?”
“I mean both. The situation remains on knife-edge. Tonight you showed the ultimate resilience. But the Throne showed the ultimate restraint. It’s imperative you understand that, Carson. The president will not falter from his determination to reach accommodation with the East. He will not turn this cold war hot. He will destroy both the traitors who became the Rain and the traitors within SpaceCom who sought to bargain with them. He will recover all that he has lost. And you will help him to do all of this.”
“I could ask for nothing more,” replies the Operative.
Which is just as well. Because now everything’s folding into a single mind in the highlands of New Guinea. A mind that’s swung open into universe. Yet somewhere in that universe is a body that can barely contain that mind. And the woman who possesses both finally understands why her struggle’s only just beginning. Why absolute defeat merely sows the seeds of total victory. Why those she loved were taken from her twice. Why she’s heading back toward equator.
Where she’ll find a way off the bottom of this well.
And out into those mirrored heavens.
APPENDIX
Timeline of World History, A.D. 2035–2110
| 2035: | Global oil now long past peak. Global temperature continues to rise. Gas masks necessary in most urban hubs due to poor air quality. Flooding has begun on most coastlines. |
| 2037: | As world intensifies search for alternative fuel sources, Second Great Depression begins. Global economy goes into reverse. All major environmental treaties scrapped. |
| 2039: | Marshal Sergei Olenkov seizes power in Moscow; proclaims the restoration of Russian greatness. Purge of oligarchs begins. |
| 2041: | The Helios Project launched: Euro-financed project to establish giant satellites to beam solar-generated microwave power down to Earth to provide clean energy. |
| 2042: | Communists overthrown in China. Sixteen-year civil war begins. |
| 2043: | Formation of the Slavic Bloc; alliance includes Russia, Ukraine, Belorus. |
| 2045: | Six years after coming to power, Olenkov announces that Russia will seek to “bury the hatchet” with the European Union in general, and with Germany in particular. He declares that his only quarrel is with the “grasping, avaricious American money barons who have brought both environmental and economic catastrophe upon us,” and dedicates Russian power to purging Eurasia of U.S. influence. Russia begins massive armaments projects and full-scale “supermodernization” program, with a heavy emphasis on space-based systems and information technology. |