"We should be leaving for JFK ourselves," Landau said. Harriman gruffed, "Those bastards won't let us go. They've got us by the balls here."

"No," Colt said. "I told them that it'd be okay for you to return to Alpha and then to Selene. We were gonna have Alpha under our control by the time your shuttle got there. That was our plan."

Kinsman listened with only half his mind. The rest was racing through the possibilities. Can't let them dock at Alpha. But they'll probably try to force a docking. Or maybe they've got enough pressure suits to jump across and grab the emergency hatches. God, if there's much fighting up there they could destroy the whole station. Diane . . .

The phone screen flashed into a sparkle of colors. A voice—not Major Stodt's—said, "Direct link with Alpha is coming on, sir."

The screen cleared and a female communications techni- cian, looking faintly surprised, said, "Go ahead, JFK."

"This is Kinsman," he said, squaring the chair in front of the phone. "Who's in charge there?"

The girl blinked once. "Mr. Perry."

"Where's Leonov?"

"He returned to Selene yesterday, sir. I can patch you 557 through to him if—"

"No. Get Perry. Immediately."

"Right."

It took a few minutes. The other three men gathered tensely around Kinsman's chair. Finally Chris Perry's strong, youthful face appeared on the screen. The typical square- jawed adventure hero. Kinsman thought. I hope he's up to it. Perry was smiling broadly, but there were other people and a general hubbub in the background.

"We thought you'd be on your way here by now," he said happily. "Had a helluva party at midnight—our time, that is. But everybody's staying up to welcome the immigrants, and Diane Lawrence wants—"

"No time!" Kinsman snapped. "The flight from Florida is filled with soldiers, not immigrants."

"What?"

"It's a trick. A Trojan horse. We're still here at UN headquarters. That shuttle must not be allowed to dock. Understand? Under no circumstances."

"Yessir." Perry was completely sober. The laughing and chattering in the background had turned into absolute silence.

"Establish radio contact with them," Kinsman said. "Order them to retrofire and return Earthside immediately."

"Right. But what if they don't comply? They could try to force a docking. If there's any kind of heavy weapon play here—"

"I know." Kinsman's hands were clenched hard on the metal braces of his thighs. "That's why it's necessary to get them to turn around. If they don't comply—" He hesitated, squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, then commanded, "If they don't comply, use the ABM satellites. Warn them first, but use the lasers if they won't turn around."

Perry nodded, tight-lipped.

"Don't let them get close enough to the station to damage it," Kinsman said. "They may be carrying missiles, and they might try to use them if they can't board you."

'They will," Colt said from behind Kinsman's shoulder.

Perry looked grim. "Yessir. I'd better get on the horn to them right away."

He turned from the screen momentarily.