Axelrod waxed on, thinking out loud. This was not prepared material, carefully scripted to keep their spirits up. “Hell, maybe they’ll come begging for that methane of yours. They get more lift than we do out of a pound of liquid, right? Two, three times as much, the engineers tell me. They might not need nearly as much as you guys do to get back here. So they’d bargain for some.”
“He’s just winging it,” Raoul said. “All his people, they haven’t found out a thing.”
“Not yet,” Julia said. “But they could.”
“So what I’m saying here is, tell them zip, nada, zero. Wait for word from us, from me particularly.” Axelrod blinked. “I know you guys are hanging on by your fingernails there. Stay with me on this. We can wangle somethin’ out, I’m sure of it.”
“Sure about a lot, isn’t he?” Marc mocked.
Axelrod straightened and stared into the camera. “Julia, you’re the crucial one here. Your message about the vent life, that went over real well in the media. Real well. We’re playing you as scientist hero, see. Protecting Earth by studying this thing, before we ever even think of bringing it back. The vent—hey, let’s come up with a better word for it, huh? ‘Vent life’—that doesn’t have a ring to it, seems to me.”
There were some more sign-off phrases, his energy running down, and then he was gone.
Nobody said anything. Julia mused, “Do you think the spin doctors would like my ‘Marsmat’?”
Viktor said, “Still like ‘Marshroom’ better.”
The others laughed dutifully at that, then became quiet again.
“He’s so damn sure he can cut some deal,” Raoul said sourly.
“He means for a share of the Mars Prize,” Marc said.
“Means for all of us,” Viktor said loyally.
“Maybe he can get two berths back,” Julia said.
Raoul scowled. “Cold equations time here, folks. There is only so much room in that cramped little ship. Want to spend half a year crawling all over those three?”
“And vice versa,” Marc said.
“Not that you’d mind,” Raoul said.
“Huh? What’s that mean?”
“You and that Claudine have taken every chance you could get to go off and rub up against each other,” Raoul said tightly.
“What the hell?” Marc demanded.
“It’s pretty damn obvious.”
“We knew each other in training. Went out a couple times, is all.”
“You’d love to fly back with them,” Raoul said hotly.
“Well, who wouldn’t?” Marc shot back.
Raoul said sharply, “And you do know where the vent is, right?”
Marc leaped up. “You think I’d—”
Raoul glowered. “You’ve got motivation, is all I’m saying.”
Marc’s hands twitched. “Geeze! I’d never—”
“Of course he would not,” Viktor said mildly. “Sit down, Marc.”
“He accused me of—”
“He spoke too quickly,” Viktor said rapidly. A cool, steady look at Raoul. “I am sure he is sorry he did.”
“Look, I didn’t mean you’d really do that.” Raoul looked down at his mug. “Axy said we should think through possibilities, right? Well, that’s one that will occur to Chen, too.”
This seemed a weak comeback to Julia, but Viktor nodded. “He could try to pull us apart.”
Raoul muttered darkly into his mug, “Thing is, I’ve had to watch my son grow up on the goddamned vid. When he walked for the first time, I saw a tape a day later, ’cause we were out on a rove. His second birthday is coming up!”
Julia said awkwardly, “We know, it has been hard.”
Raoul looked her square in the eye. “And what do I have to offer Chen? Nothing but helping get water from the pingos. If they need help at all.”
“He does not decide,” Viktor said patiently.
Julia’s throat felt tight, as though she were holding something in. She had never been able to talk to Raoul about his separation from Katherine, even though she was the unofficial Empathy Officer here. Apparently he had not been able to talk about it to anyone else, either. “We’ll all decide together, really.”
Viktor said, “No, I will. For us.”
“Can’t say as I like that,” Raoul said. He slurped from his mug, as if to underline his point.
