"I can let you call Faure yourself, or your government in Ottawa," Doug suggested. "Unfortunately, no one is returning our calls."

"I don't want to be stuck here forever!" another voice called out.

"It won't be forever," Doug said, with a grin. "It'll just seem that long."

"My son's birthday is next week."

Doug made a can't be helped shrug.

"How soon can I launch my survey satellite to the Farside?" asked Zoltan Kadar. He had pushed his way to the front row, Doug noticed.

"That's a good question," Doug replied, stalling for time to think. "We'll have to work it out with the logistics program, to see if your launch will use any supplies that we might want to hold onto, in case this siege goes on for a while."

"All I need is rocket propellant and some electricity," Kadar shot back.

His rocket would be propelled by powdered aluminum and liquid oxygen, both extracted from the regolith and both in plentiful supply, Doug knew.

"We'll see," he said to Kadar.

"What're Lev and Joanna doing?" a man's voice asked from the crowd.

They went Earthside to negotiate face-to-face with Faure and the rest of the U.N. leadership," Doug said.

"Have they met with Faure yet?"

"Not yet. They were detained at the Peacekeeper base in Corsica for a couple of days, but they're back in Savannah now. She should be meeting with Faure in a few days, at most, I guess."

"How is this thing going to be settled? Are we going to be an independent nation or will the U.N. take us over?"

"It won't be the U.N.," Doug said. "It's starting to look as if Yamagata is really behind this whole business. If we lose, then it'll be Yamagata Corporation that takes over Moonbase."

"You mean this whole thing is a fight between corporations?"

"No," Doug snapped. "That is not what I mean. This crisis is a fight between our right to live and work the way we want to, and a power grab by the U.N. and/or Yamagata Corporation. The question is: Do you want to keep on living and working the way you have been, or do you want to be shipped back Earthside without a job?"

Someone said, "But if Yamagata's going to take over the base-"

"They'll staff it with their own people," another voice countered. "Yamagata's not going to keep us, that's for sure."

"What the hell can we do?"

Jinny Anson turned her back to Doug, to face the crowd. I'll tell you what we can do. Fuck 'em! We don't have to ask the U.N. for independence. We are independent! We can live here indefinitely. And if we have to expand the farm or build more solar cells outside, we can do that! We don't need those fuckers! We're free!"

The crowd roared, but from Doug's vantage atop the table it seemed that almost half the people in The Cave were roaring in protest against Anson's outburst.