“I decide for best of mission,” Viktor said.
Raoul studied Viktor and from his expression Julia judged that he had evidently decided not to challenge Viktor directly, at least not now. Raoul said carefully, “It seems to me that my chances are best if we just draw straws.”
“Judgment is always better than gambling,” Viktor said.
“Especially with lives,” Julia said loyally. She felt warm, as if she were getting angry herself. Or maybe, she thought ruefully, it was just thwarted self-righteousness. She, after all, had already turned down the slot Raoul was whining about. Viktor sat up straighter, a visible sign that he wanted to move the discussion forward. “We should discuss methane.”
Marc tilted his head. “You mean Axy’s idea?”
“No, the methane we need to get back on next orbital opportunity, two years from now.”
“It’s a lot,” Raoul said, shaking his head. His guttural tone told Julia that he was not satisfied at having his drawing-straws proposal brushed aside.
He was so obviously in pain. It was an impossible situation for each of them, but Raoul was taking it much harder than the others. Machismo is exacting another toll.
“Delta vee is nearly twice our max rating, in present ERV.” Viktor pressed a command into his slate and it sent his display to the flatscreen. They all studied the details for a long moment: the required rendezvous speeds, expenditures, trajectory times—all for a family of return trajectories in the flight window. “So is nearly four times original fuel requirement.”
Raoul said in a flat, factual voice, free of emotion, “They’ll have to send us an ERV with lots bigger tanks. Plus plenty of hydrogen.”
“Unless we do different scheme,” Viktor said. “Use water for hydrogen, keep oxygen separated. Be ready with fuel when ERV lands.”
“How?” Marc asked, then snapped his fingers. “Sure! We use the pingos, melt ’em for water.”
“Before,” Viktor said, “was impossible. Did not have hoses, circulation chambers, storage. Now Airbus comes. Must have such things.”
Marc said, “Claudine was saying she had worked for days setting it up. They’ve got plenty of heat with that nuke, so they run a simple heat cycle through the reactor.”
Raoul said, “Their reactor’s big, but we have one hundred forty kilowatts available here. Three nuke heaters that give mostly electricity, but I could modify them. Build up a chamber out of spare parts, if we have to—”
“So we could have fuel ready when the ERV arrives?” Julia asked. “Could we use it right away, not have to wait for the ERV to make methane out of Martian CO2?”
“Might make some difference in our choice of trajectories,” Viktor said.
“Let’s propose it to Earthside!” Marc said happily.
“Requires some thought,” Raoul said carefully. “But I don’t think it can help much.”
“Why not?” Marc was surprised.
“Because there’s no good window, right after the ERV touches down. Sure, there’s a window a few months from now, to lift from Earth. But there’s no easy, low-cost way back, once it gets here.”
Viktor nodded. “So as I have calculated. But Earthside may be able—”
“That’s a pipe dream,” Raoul said with sudden anger. “You’re feeding us false hope here.”
Viktor’s face stiffened. “I explore all possibilities.”
“You want to talk methane,” Raoul said hotly, “I’d say we take care of what we got. That ERV over there has plenty enough methane to fly the Airbus nuke back to Earth. They’d be fools not to try for it.”
Julia’s heart sank. Not this again.
Marc blinked. “Try—steal it?”
“Axy was right. If they can’t bargain for it, why not just take it?” Raoul demanded. “Let the lawyers fight over it afterward, when they’re already on their way Earthside.”
Marc said thoughtfully, “Yeah, it’s really NASA’s, isn’t it? Axy, he cut a deal, but it’s got so many extra clauses and stuff in it—”
“We would not let them,” Viktor said sternly.
“Suppose they just fly their nuke over here and take it?” Raoul shot back.
“They’re not going to try,” Julia said in what she hoped was a reasonable voice, though her face felt hot.
“I wonder,” Raoul said suggestively. “I mean, they could show up, force us to cut a deal.”
“For what?” Julia asked.
“For the extra berth, say?” Raoul said archly.
“What a mind! A conspiracy theory nightmare,” Julia said.
Viktor said slowly, coolly, “I have thought about it, since boss suggested this problem. We do not need to protect methane.”
“How about Axy’s idea?” Raoul said hotly. “That maybe they need some parts or something? They could come over at night, take it.”
“I do not think threat is there,” Viktor insisted stolidly.
“You don’t see a problem anywhere, do you?” Raoul said loudly, waving his right hand in a half-clenched fist. “You just wanna be in charge, like, like some goddamn emperor—”
