Luis’s rocket club friends lived all over the sprawling city of Chennai, but the autos weren’t running and manual vehicles were hard to come by, so he borrowed some bicycles from nearby friends. Ammanuel had never ridden one, but they were a quick study. Welga insisted they go with her brother. She didn’t need protection while at home with Nithya, and she didn’t trust people on the streets with the stellas still down.

The club members’ reactions upon learning their purpose were mixed. Two of them refused to help. One, a pregnant woman, didn’t want any risk. The second, a father of three children, felt the same. A third member, an elderly physicist who’d lived through the pandemic years, supported their cause but couldn’t do much. Without pills to help her, the woman’s body didn’t have enough strength to move, much less help assemble a rocket.

The remaining nine were enthused and promised to have the equipment ready on time. They had a cargo rocket from a launch that they’d scrubbed when the stellas first went down. Their second step, after securing fuel, was to let the station know about their intended launch. The temporary stellas run by the Indian government didn’t block communications to Eko-Yi.

“We especially need fresh food, old electronics, and a trash removal,” station comm said. “What would you like us to send back?”

The club member who operated the satellite radio looked over her shoulder at them.

Luis shrugged. “We usually ask for microgravity biomaterial, but with all the kitchens and labs down, what’s the point?”

“No charge,” the club member said into the radio. “We only want to help.”

“We’re grateful. It’s getting hard now, three weeks into the embargo. We’ve had a little help from the other stations, but they can’t spare much.”

Welga almost felt guilty at hearing that. No supply or passenger rockets had left for Eko-Yi since the US accused it of harboring Machinehood operatives, but neither had India or China promised that it would prevent a launch. The people from Luis’s club weren’t trained, battle-hardened Raiders, but this team was every inch as brave as her old squad. Welga hoped to hell that she didn’t bring the same fate upon them. If the US government got wind of this launch, they would try to stop it, and they might be willing to use deadly force. The club would find out soon whether the Indian government would defend them or not.

NITHYA