"I assure you, Monsieur Rashid, that Madame Brudnoy is not being brought back to Earth as a prisoner. She will be brought to New York to discuss the Moonbase situation with me, personally. She will be accorded every courtesy."

Rashid nodded once, barely. His eyes looked bleak. "My board of directors has instructed me to tell you that we expect Mrs Brudnoy to have full freedom of movement and association. She will want to go to her home in Savannah, of course-"

"Of course," said Faure, trying to smile.

"And she will not want to have Peacekeeper or United Nations personnel escorting her."

Faure did not reply.

"Mrs Brudnoy is quite capable of getting herself to New York for her meeting with you. She is in no way a prisoner or a hostage."

Studying Rashid's face as the man spoke, Faure realized that the chairman of Masterson Corporation's board was no more pleased with this situation than he was.

"Monsieur Rashid," Faure said, relaxing slightly as he jiggled the silver spheres in his right hand, "let us be candid with one another."

"By all means."

"Madame Brudnoy represents the illegal and immoral rebels of Moonbase who are defying international law. A Peacekeeper officer has been killed by them, you know."

"I was told he was killed in an accident he himself caused," Rashid replied warily.

"I am sure that is what you were told," said Faure. "However, the inescapable fact is that he was killed because Moonbase is resisting international law."

Rashid nodded gravely.

Faure resumed, "I am perfectly willing to treat Madame Brudnoy as an ambassador plenipotentiary, and accord her diplomatic immunity."

"Good," said Rashid, tonelessly.

"But technically, she is a criminal. Just as all the leaders of Moonbase are."

Rashid hesitated, passed a hand across his neatly trimmed beard. Then he asked, "If that is your attitude, then to what avail are the negotiations going to be?"

"None," Faure said, feeling cheerful for the first time since Lieutenant Hansen had reported the failure of the Peacekeepers' mission. "None whatsoever."

"I see," said Rashid slowly. It seemed to Faure that he did not look displeased at all.

TOUCHDOWN PLUS 12 HOURS 26 MINUTES

In the old days, when he'd been just a teenager, Doug had liked to come out to the rocket port and watch the ships arriving or departing in the eerie silence of the Moon. He would climb up the narrow ladder to the observation bubble, a tiny dome of clear plastic, and get a worm's eye view of landings and liftoffs.

The old rocket port was a set of storage chambers now. The new port was not much bigger, and had been dug into the floor of Alphonsus more than a kilometer from the flank of Mount Yeager, where the main plaza was going to be built.

Doug drove on the spring-wheeled crawler down the long tunnel to the port, his mother and Lev Brudnoy seated behind him, the reporter at his side.