‘Even if we managed to get past all the heavy security, all the way through the Lunar Array to the colonies,’ said Olivia, ‘we’ve no idea how bad things there are going to be, or how much turmoil there’ll be or how long it’s all going to last. Especially if the same people who’ve been trying to kill us here end up in charge there. But we can be safe on the Jupiter platform as long as we sever the wormhole link with Earth.’ She shrugged. ‘Besides, we don’t know what things might be like on Earth, or on the Moon, in fifty years or a hundred, or however long it takes for things to get better again – if they ever do. After all, who’s to say the Earth won’t become habitable again? But, even if it doesn’t, we still have a fighting chance at building something new out there.’

‘Those platforms aren’t set up to be self-sustaining,’ Mitchell pointed out. ‘They constantly depend on supplies from Earth.’

Jeff shook his head. ‘Maybe that was the case when you were still running security there, but things have changed a lot. The station’s grown enormously. I’m not pretending it’s going to be easy, or anywhere near it, but we learned a lot from building large-scale, self-enclosed habitats on Newton as well as the other colonies. We can do the same not just around Jupiter but out at Saturn as well. We have seed banks available, and the means to gene-alter anything we need to. That means we can farm oxygen and water from the Jovian moons and asteroids.’

Mitchell sat back. ‘What about the people already there – the station staff? Have you been in touch with them?’

‘I already talked to Jacob Morello this morning,’ said Jeff. ‘He was working in groundside admin when I was stationed on the platform, but he spends most of his time out there now, and he says they can use both of us. Besides, both me and Olivia know the station inside out, so we know what it’s capable of.’

‘And don’t forget the Inuvik–Jupiter gate is a lot more isolated than the one in Florida,’ said Olivia. ‘They won’t be dealing with the kind of mobs Florida’s been getting – not all the way up in Alaska.’

Mitchell gazed at Olivia, his pupils deep and blue and seemingly infinite. ‘What about me?’ he asked. ‘Are the Roses still going to take me on board, without you there to back me up?’

‘Of course they are,’ said Jeff. ‘We’ll all go to the space-port first, and help arrange everything. Besides, they’re expecting us. They confirmed they had room for three, so they’ll definitely have room for just one.’

‘And you’re both absolutely set on this?’ asked Mitchell, looking back and forth between the two of them.