Using lifters and repulsion pallets, they transferred those supplies that could be spared from Eden’s warehouses. There was a heated discussion concerning whether they should take any computer components at all, but even Eric argued in favor of taking the basics along. It was the insidious influence of the Colligatarch they had -to beware of, not the machinery itself, and the Colligatarch would not be able to reach them on Paradise.

It would take time to build on Paradise what had laboriously been constructed on Eden: bridges, roads, manufacturing facilities, and it would have to be done without the aid of regular resupply from Earth. That was the price they would have to pay for achieving real independence. None of the volunteers balked. They were ready to do the work necessary to cast off the last umbilical cord.

At least they wouldn’t be dependent on Earth for heating equipment, Eric assured them. From the information in the Syrax catalog he knew Paradise to be a world of gentle oceans and lush farmland, of mild temperatures and seasonal rains. He knew it was so because he could see it in his mind.

“It’s going to take time,” Madras commented as he, Lisa, and Jeeter stood before the Council. “You’ve twenty-five thousand volunteers, and you can’t pass them through the GATE in a couple of minutes. How are you going to hold it for the necessary time?”

“Transposition is practically instantaneous,” Eric reminded them. “We’ll send our Paradise receive unit through first, then start bringing over people and supplies. Once we gain control I’ll assume the GATE master’s station and his functions. We’ll bring through groups of fifty, hold them at the Terminus while I realign for Paradise, then transpose them again five at a time. Then back to Eden, Eden to Terminus, Terminus to Paradise, and so on.

“The GATE will transpose five people every thirty seconds. Allowing for realignment and recoordination, say it works out to five every minute. Working nonstop that’s three hundred people an hour, seven thousand two hundred per day. So if we can hold the Terminus for four days, we should be able to safely transpose every volunteer and all necessary supplies.”

“Four days,” another Council member muttered. “Working round the clock. I’ll chance it.” Councilman Symionowski was sixty-four years old and ailing, but he wanted to be among the first to make the journey.

“We’ve selected the team for the first assault,” Eric Went on. “If for some inexplicable reason the GATE is powered down, we’ll just have to wait, but the delay should be only momentary at most. Since the regular GATE crew isn’t aware two-way transfer is possible, we’ll have surprise on our side.

“I’ll be one of the first five through, together with Lisa and Jeeter Sa-Nos-Tee. The rest of the assault team will follow at thirty-second intervals. I don’t foresee any problems. The GATE crew is unarmed, and all security is located between the Departure Lounge and the rest of the city.

“Furthermore, the whole security setup is designed to keep unauthorized visitors from getting into GATE Station, not out of it. We ought to be able to lock ourselves in tight. We’re going to arrive through the exit.

“At first there should be confusion, then some kind of probe of our forces, then consideration of how to carefully dislodge us. GATE Station is horrendously expensive. The authorities will take great pains to insure it isn’t damaged. It’s going to take a decision at the highest level before local security can come after us in real strength, and by that time we should be done with the Station. Our best defense will be bureaucratic inertia.”

“I’m not sorry I’m staying here,” Madras told him. “This is my home now. But many of us feel differently.” Councilman Symionowski let out a grunt of assent. “I’m afraid I prefer palpable comfort to old dreams. Those of us who will remain behind will, of course, do everything we can to help.”

“Someday, somehow, we’ll let you know how we’ve fared,” Eric assured her. “Or our descendants will, anyhow. Paradise will be a colony of Eden, not of Earth.”

“Our assistance and our prayers will go with you,” she said solemnly.

Eric looked thankful. “We’re going to need both.”

XIX

Ironically, the weapons they would need for the assault on GATE Station were readily available on Eden. Their presence among the supplies the first colonists unpacked was further proof of the authorities’ duplicity, since no guns should have been needed on a “paradise world.” Now the well-used “sporting implements” would find new employment.

More than enough spare parts and backup components existed to build the receive terminal which would be transposed to Paradise. While Eric’s engineering team put it together, others began the task of assembling and caring for a third of the colony’s population, coaching those who’d never been through the GATE on how to act, assigning everyone from the eldest to the youngest a specific task, stacking and preparing supplies for rapid transposition.

As the weeks of careful preparation slid past, there were some who had second thoughts and decided to remain on Eden. Their places were taken by others who determined to take the chance after all. The total number of departees fluctuated but held relatively steady. Fortunately, the weather cooperated, and tent housing was sufficient to keep the crowd sheltered and warm.

Then there were no more morning briefings to be held, no more preparations to be made. Everyone knew what was expected of them. Under normal circumstances such an undertaking would have been impossible, but the 25,000 who’d opted to make the attempt were not a normal collection of citizens. They had been winnowed from Earth’s entire population. They were as extraordinary as their leader.

The squads of men and women, grouped by fives, assembled in the barn, those in front checking their weapons a last time. The realigned GATE didn’t look any different. It still generated the same sounds, the same tenebrous darkness beneath the metal arches. Only the direction had been reversed. Some hailed Eric a genius. He demurred, insisting he was no more than an efficient sponge.

If his math was wrong, not to mention the work of the engineering team, they might step through to limbo. It would be a quick death, and fail-safe instrumentation in the barn should detect such a failure. That would be the end of the grand experiment. The 25,000 would mutter awhile, then return to their shuttered homes. Eric gripped his stun rifle tightly. It must not happen that way. It must not happen to Lisa or to any of his newfound friends. There were too many depending on him for it to fail.

But it would take more than good intentions to convey them safely across the void.

Jeeter stood close behind him. “There has to be a first step, Eric,” he said gently. “Let’s get on with it. I want what my parents and grandparents were promised. Let’s go slay the lie.”

Eric nodded, signaled to the technicians manning the remodeled equipment, made a final check of his watch. Then he stepped through.

It was dark in GATE Station. Telltales glowed brightly on deserted consoles, showing that everything was still properly powered up, but there was no sign of a night watch. For a terrible instant Eric thought the LED’s were stars and that they’d emerged somewhere infinitely far out in empty space. Then the outlines of the consoles came into focus and he relaxed.

They’d timed it perfectly. A wall clock showed that it was just after midnight, GATE Station time. Since there was no transposition in progress, the area had been secured for the night. They would not need to use their weapons.

Morning might prove otherwise.

Moving to his right, he sat down at the main console and began familiarizing himself with the controls, a task made easier by his eidetic memory. His well-drilled companions hurried to take up their preassigned positions around him. A few lingered briefly at the ports, staring at the Earth orb rotating below. Third-and fourth-generation Edenites, they had never seen it before.

Jeeter urged them on.

Eric did not glance toward that green world. It was not his home, never had been. It did not pull at him. Home was a world named Paradise, which he had yet to set eyes upon.

The takeover was anticlimactic. Several members of the team rushed to secure the airlock door from the inside. This was done mechanically, bypassing the electric locks so that no alarm might be raised at Security Central.

By pressing close to the acrylic of a port, an observer could see the lights of the floating city. The two hotels were alive with light, and a shuttle was just departing, its huge delta-winged shape turning like a top in slow motion as it oriented itself for the drop to the surface.

“It’s beautiful,” said a young woman staring at the planet below. “I never thought it could be this beautiful.”

“Want to stay?” Lisa asked her. “That’s part of the arrangement. Anyone who wants to can stay here.”

She turned to face the main console. “No. I want a new life, not an old one.”

“You’re going to get it,” Eric promised her.

Other technicians were assuming their assigned positions, inspecting strange instrumentation. Eric had sketched much of it from memory. Now the weeks of study on Eden were going to pay off.

The Terminus was filling up with Edenites. The airlock had been secured, there was still no sign of alarm, and the crew was in place. It was time to locate Paradise.

The computer mainframe readily accepted the new co-ordinates. Techs carefully positioned the hastily transposed receive station and shoved it into darkness at Eric’s command. It would travel only to a place where it could operate. It would not materialize beneath a thousand feet of ocean or a thousand feet up in the air, but would make the minute final adjustments itself.

Eventually a telltale flashed incandescent green on the GATE master’s board. The receive terminal had successfully established itself and was standing by. Muted applause rose from the tech crew as the tension was released. A destination had been gained and Eric’s promise at least partly fulfilled.

“It’s time,” he told the first cluster of anxious volunteers. The man in front nodded, stepped into the waiting circle with his four companions. Hugs and handshakes were exchanged. “Ready,” Eric said calmly. A thousand years ago he’d listened to another man seated in the same chair utter that same word, so rich with promise yet fraught with peril.

“Ready,” the five echoed.

“Step through.”

They were gone. Seconds ticked away, the first of millions. Lisa’s fingers dug into his shoulder, and this time the cheers from the tech people were unrestrained.

The Paradise Express was rolling.

Then it was time to readjust the GATE again, and greet the next batch of fifty from Eden. There was time only for a few handshakes and kisses before they followed the first contact team through.

The excitement gave way to determination as the process settled into a routine. Fifty from Eden together with supplies, fifty to Paradise, back to Eden, thence to Paradise.

It was early morning, eight o’clock Station time, when the first city tech appeared before the airlock. The word was passed back from the guards who’d been assigned to keep watch.

“There’s two of them out there, Eric,” said Jeeter. “They can’t figure out why they can’t get in.”