"So what can we do, legally?"

"Sue them, of course."

McGrath shook his head. "I'm not going to give the competition a chance to show the world what buffoons we've been."

"We've got to do something,' the lawyer insisted, "even if it's just a suit to protect our copyright."

McGrath fumed for a few moments. I'll talk to whoever's in charge there. I want to keep this as quiet as possible."

Programming piped up, "So what do we do about Moonbase now?"

"Edie Elgin's still up there?"

The news VP nodded.

"Then we run her reports, goddammit. We've got the only reporter on the scene at Moonbase. We play it for all it's worth!"

"But your agreement with Faure…?"

"Fuck him! You think the United Nations is more important than Global News Network?"

Ibrahim al-Rashid was not happy when his executive assistant—a lissome sloe-eyed Jamaican woman with a delightful lilt in her voice—informed him that another news broadcast was coming from Moonbase. Rashid watched Edie Elgin's report from Moonbase's farm in glum silence. His heart sank when she told the world that Moonbase could sustain itself indefinitely and did not need supplies from Earth.

Even before her report ended, Rashid's intercom chimed softly. He glanced at the phone screen: GEORGES FAURE, UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK.

With a sigh, Rashid muted the news report from Moonbase's farm and activated the phone. Faure's face, even on the small screen, looked bleak.

"You have seen this latest news broadcast from Moonbase?" Faure asked, without preamble.

"I was just watching it now."

"The situation deteriorates with each moment," Faure said. "Now the entire world knows that Moonbase has asked for independence."

"I thought Global News had agreed to the blackout," said Rashid.

"They did. But once Kiribati broke the blackout, Global and the other networks broke their agreements with me."

Rashid sank back in his chair. Kiribati. That means Tamara Bonai has betrayed me. And Joanna's out there whipping up the other directors against me.

"It was my belief," Faure almost snarled,'that the Kiribati Corporation was under your control."

"It was my belief, too. Apparently we were both wrong."

"Then something must be done to correct them!"

"What do you have in mind?"

Faure's image glowered out of the screen, like a little imp trying to look threatening. "I might ask of you the same question," he retorted.

I'll call the person responsible for this. I'll see to it that it doesn't happen again."

"Too late for that," Faure snapped. "Now that the cat is out of the sack, we will not be able to stuff it back inside again. All the news networks are besieging my public information office for permission to send reporters to Moonbase."

"You don't have to grant such permission," said Rashid.

"Certainly not! But this means that the news networks will carry any propaganda that Moonbase beams to Earth!"

Rashid thought about that for a moment, and reluctantly decided that Faure was right.