Moonrise

SPACE STATION MASTERSON

Like most of the major complexes in permanent Earth orbit, Masterson was a combination of several purposes: part manufacturing facility, part scientific research laboratory, part observation platform, part maintenance and repair center, and part transfer station for people and cargo heading onward to Moonbase.

Orbiting some two hundred fifty miles above the Earth, at first glance Masterson looked like a disco

Spacesuited figures bustled from module to module, some of them jetting along in solo maneuvering units, others riding the bare-bones shuttlecraft that the station perso

Ji

Not so bad for an old lady, she told herself. Just don’t make any sudden moves.

There was a lunar transfer vehicle floating out there next to the repair sheds, she saw. It wasn’t the regular LTV, which wasn’t due back from its run to Moonbase for another thirty-six hours. As far as Ji

“Are you ready for the inspection tour, Ms. Anson?”

Ji

Turning toward the earnest young man who was to be her guide through the chemical processing plant, Ji

“Let’s get it done, son,” she said.

He pushed off the handgrip projecting from the bulkhead and floated through the hatch. Ji

The kid gri

As far as Masterson Corporation was concerned, Ji

There had been a rumor that some day they would start using nanomachines to build the Clippers out of pure diamond, but Ji

Unofficially, Ji

“What’s that LTV out there doing?” she asked as casually as she could.

The youngster turned lazily as he floated along the access tube so he could look back at her. “Special job,” he answered. “Rumble is that there are some big gasbags coming up from Sava

“How many?” Ji

“Du

Ji

It was startlingly easy to talk her way onto the special LTV. Most of the crew at the station knew her; most of the senior crew, at least. There was plenty of spare capacity aboard the nearly-empty LTV, and an extra body visiting Moonbase for a couple of days wouldn’t raise too many eyebrows — especially when the body was a former base director.

Ji

I’ll say hello to Greg Masterson when I get there, she told herself. See his eyes pop.

There were only two other passengers in the LTV’s perso

Silly safety regulation, Ji

It was impossible to eat, sleep and go to the bathroom over the thirty-six-hour length of their flight without saying anything to the other passengers. When Ji

“Please, stay in your seat,” Ji

With an effort to maintain his dignity even while seated, Zimmerman introduced Professor Kristine Cardenas to Ji

Soon the three of them were talking together the way passengers on a trip will, strangers yet shipmates. Ji

She also learned that their real reason for allowing Joa

“Perhaps we should pool our resources,” Zimmerman said. He was obviously uncomfortable in zero gee; Cardenas looked a little green, too. Ji

“What do you mean?” Ji

Zimmerman started to gesture with his hands, then thought better of it. “You know the Stavenger woman much better than I or even Kristine. You could help us to convince her to allow us to remain at Moonbase indefinitely.”