"Okay, okay, you win." Kinsman threw up his hands in mock surrender. "You're on the right track, I know. I shouldn't push you. But the water factory's our key to survival. We need the extra capacity. If there's ever an accident and we lose what we have now—it's a long haul back to Earth. A long time to wait for a drink."
"You think I don't know? I'm pushing as hard as I can, Chet. It sure would be helpful to get more equipment from Earthside, though."
"That's out."
With an elaborate shrug, Waterman said, "All right, so we'll keep doing it the hard way." He hesitated, then added, "But I don't see what the big hassle is all about. The factory's already turning out more water than we use. You could even refill that precious swimming pool of yours with fresh water every month instead of recycling it."
Kinsman put on a grin. 'That pool is Selene's one luxury. And the factory was deliberately overdesigned to make sure we could accommodate extra people up here —such as retired engineers."
"With gimpy legs. Yeah, I know." Waterman fell silent for a moment. Then, "But do they know Earthside about how you're expanding the factory?"
A jolt of electricity flashed through Kinsman. Mildly, though, he replied, "Oh, sure. Of course they know."
"I mean, about your trying to double its capacity?"
Kinsman remained silent for a moment, then answered 275 evenly, "Self-sufficiency has always been our goal, Ernie. Water is the key to survival. Without water we couldn't even keep the grass under our feet alive."
"Yeah, but . . ."
"But what?"
Waterman spread his hands. "You've already got a big-enough capacity to take care of more people than we have on the American side of Selene. Doubling it means we could provide water for the Russians, too."
"Is that so terrible?" Kinsman asked.
Waterman said nothing, but his face darkened.
"I didn't design this place," Kinsman said. "Selene got put together when the Russians were cooperating with us on the space program. We've got to live with them next door. All right, so far we've gotten along fine, much better than Earthside. But if the shoe starts to pinch, don't you think ifd be better if we have control of enough water to take care of both sides? Then, if something should happen to their water supply, they'd have to ask us pretty please, wouldn't they?"
The cloud over the engineer's face vanished. He laughed. "I get it. Okay, you want double the capacity for the factory, you'll get double. Only stop breathing down my neck every day, will ya?"
Relieved, Kinsman said, "How about every other day?"
They laughed together as the engineer leaned on his canes and pulled himself erect.
Kinsman stood up beside him. "You know, Ernie, when I found out that you were an engineer and interested in the water factory, I almost got religion. Waterman: just the omen we needed for the factory."
"Religion," the engineer said, his voice suddenly low and serious. "That's what you get when you find you can walk again, when you can get out of your wheelchair and do something useful and be a man again." He tapped the metal braces beneath his trouser legs with a cane.
