"So all your talk of cooperation is a sham," Joanna said.

"Not so! I welcome your cooperation. And you will cooperate with me—once I have Moonbase."

Joanna bit back the reply she wanted to make. Instead, she took a deep breath to calm herself.

Yamagata interpreted her silence exactly. "I know that very little of this pleases you. But I hope you can understand why I must act so."

"I can understand," Joanna replied, "without agreeing."

Yamagata dipped his chin slightly. "Now that you understand, please tell your son that resistance is futile. If Moonbase resists the Peacekeepers again, the results will be very bad for all of us."

"What do you mean?"

With an unhappy sigh, Yamagata answered, "If your son tries to fight the Peacekeepers, forces will be set in motion that not even I can control."

"Forces?" Lev asked. "What forces?"

"You think that I control Faure. I thought so too, once. But he has the backing of fanatics, madmen who send out assassins and terrorists to accomplish their ends. Faure has turned into a monster," Yamagata said bitterly, "a Frankenstein that I helped to create."

"You're talking about the nanoluddites," Joanna said.

"The nanoluddites. Fanatics who are so frightened of nano-technology that they will destroy Moonbase if you try to resist the Peacekeepers."

"How could they destroy Moonbase?" Joanna challenged.

"If your son tries to fight against the Peacekeepers, Moon-base will be wiped out," Yamagata replied. "All its people will be killed. And there is nothing that any of us can do to stop it. It is too late to stop it. The forces are already in motion. That is why I urgently plead with you to allow us to take control of Moonbase. Cooperate with me, or Moonbase will be utterly annihilated."

DAY FORTY-THREE

Doug's helmet earphones chirped.

"Doug, this is Jinny.' Her voice sounded weak, faint. "Latest imagery from Kadar's bird shows Gordette's tractor parked outside tempo six."

"Parked?"

"Didn't move all through the satellite's pass overhead," Anson said. "That's only five minutes or so, granted, but it sure looks like he's either inside the tempo or out there on foot."

Pushing the volume control on his wrist keyboard, Doug thought aloud, "Maybe his tractor broke down? Dust. Electrical malfunction."

"Maybe," Anson said. He could barely make out the word.

"Okay, thanks. We're heading that way. Call you when we get there."

"Hell you will. You'll be over the horizon even for the antennas up on Yeager."

They were passing the crater's central peaks, Doug saw, where the astronomical center was located. Jinny's transmission was already starting to break up.

"Okay, then," he said into his helmet mike. "I'll call you when we're coming back."

"I'm sending a security team out after you," Anson said, a faint whisper being drowned in crackles and hisses.

"No!" he snapped. "No need for that."

"Can't hear you, boss," Anson said through the growing interference. "You're breaking up too much."