Mumbling incoherently, Kelly got up and left.

Kinsman immediately turned to the computer display screen and started going through the files of all the military personnel in Moonbase, especially the ninety-dayers. He knew most of them, had selected them from previous tours of duty. Wonder how many I've rejected over the years? The unthinking martinets. The clumsy ones who would kill them- selves up here. The stupid ones who'd kill others with their mistakes. The idiots who can't live in close contact with people of other races, other nationalities. The soft ones who'd never have the guts to ... to ...

"To commit treason," he said aloud. "Face it. Treason. Like Washington and Jefferson. Like Benedict Arnold. It depends on who wins; that's the difference between treason and patriotism."

Out of the one hundred twenty-two military personnel among the ninety-dayers Kinsman identified forty whom he knew would be reliable. Forty men and women who would be willing to follow him, who would see a free Selene not as a threat to America but as the only way out of a deadly negative-sum game.

The highest-ranking officer on the list, next to Pat Kelly, was a captain. "Christopher Perry," Kinsman muttered, looking over the Captain's personnel file. The picture in it showed a clear-eyed, square-faced blond youth. Pleasant expression; almost innocent. Kinsman remembered a long conversation with him during his previous tour of lunar duty; how he was fed up with flying helicopters on riot control over Washington. "Yeah. He's one of us."

The door buzzer sounded. Looking up from the display screen, Kinsman called, "Come in."

The door slid back and Frank Colt stepped into the office.

"I was just thinking about you, Frank."

The black man kept his face expressionless. "What's going on around here?"

"Sit down, buddy. Relax."

Colt ignored the couch and pulled a chair from the wall. 407

"Kelly says you've got a mock alert going. You suddenly getting security conscious?"

"Yep. That's what it is. I'm security conscious."

Colt did not look convinced at all. "Why you keeping the ninety-dayers out of it?"

"Because Murdock wants us to have enough people available to help out with the manned stations," Kinsman answered smoothly. "Can't send the permanent Luniks, can I?"

"You could in a pinch. Only one section of the stations are at Earth gee."

"Yeah, but the ninety-dayers would be better for orbital duty. Not us soft, decrepit medical cases."

Colt frowned.

"What's wrong, Frank? I thought you'd be delighted that I'm taking Murdock's hysterics so seriously."

"How come I wasn't notified? I'm the deputy command- er and I—"

"The emergency procedures program hasn't been up- dated since you arrived, I guess. You found out anyway, didn't you?"

"Because I bumped into Pat Kelly in the fuckin' corridor and he looked scared as shit!"

"So you didn't find out through official channels," Kins- man said. "But you did get the word."

"What are you pulling, Chet?"

"When I pull something," Kinsman responded, "you'll be the first to know. I'll even go through regular channels."