UNDER SIEGE
“Where will they strike next?” Professor Uhlrich asked, his voice trembling slightly.
Grant shook his head. “We’ve sealed the leak in the airlock hatch. The mirror lab is habitable again.”
“For how long?”
The Ulcer looked shaken as he sat behind his desk. His face was pale, his hair slightly disheveled. He’s scared, Grant realized. He has a right to be.
Carter McClintock, sitting across the table from Grant, seemed more composed. “I imagine we should evacuate the facility.”
“Evacuate Farside?” Uhlrich gasped.
“It would seem to be the prudent thing to do,” McClintock said. “If there are nanomachines randomly attacking the place, we should get out. We’ve already had one death—”
“Three,” Grant corrected. “The two pilots of the lobber, remember.”
“Oh, yes, of course. Three deaths.”
“Three murders,” Uhlrich muttered.
“Let’s get the hell out of here before anyone else is killed,” McClintock said, with some fervor.
“And go where?” Grant asked.
“Selene, of course.”
With a shake of his head, Grant said, “Do you think Selene will take in a hundred people who might be infected with destructive nanomachines?”
McClintock blinked at him. “They’d have to! They couldn’t refuse us.”
“They already have,” Grant said, feeling weary, alone, with no one to turn to, no one to help him.
“What do you mean?” Uhlrich demanded.
“Selene’s flight control people have told our flight control people that they will not accept any flights from Farside until we’ve solved our nanobug problem. Not Anita Halleck, not even Edie Elgin, and she’s Douglas Stavenger’s wife, for chrissakes.”
“No flights at all?” McClintock whined.
“None,” said Grant. “No VIPs, no refugees, nobody. No flights from Farside will be permitted to land at Selene.”
“We’re trapped here?” McClintock’s voice rose a notch higher.
“We’re quarantined.”
Uhlrich ran a hand through his silvery hair. “Then what are we to do? Simply sit here and let these devices destroy us all?”
The professor’s phone buzzed. Tracing his fingertips along his desktop tactile screen, the professor muttered, “Anita Halleck is calling.”
Before Grant could say anything, Uhlrich told the phone, “Answer.”
Halleck’s sculpted face appeared on the wall screen. Grant saw that she looked unhappy, nettled.
“Professor Uhlrich,” she said, her voice firm, her tone insistent, “your staff refuses to allow me to return to Selene.”
Uhlrich stared blankly at the screen. Grant answered, “All flights have been stopped, Mrs. Halleck.”
“Mr. Simpson?”
Uhlrich touched a pad on his phone keyboard and the camera view switched to wide focus, taking in Grant and McClintock as well as himself.
“Right,” Grant answered. “With this nanobug problem, Selene’s ordered a stand-down on all flights.”
Her expression hardening, Halleck challenged, “Do you mean to keep me a prisoner here?”
With a wan smile, Grant replied, “Mrs. Halleck, we’re under a quarantine. I’m afraid we’re all prisoners here as long as we’re under siege from these rogue nanos.”
“That’s not acceptable, Mr. Simpson.”
“Acceptable or not, that’s the way it is. Even if we let you take off, Selene wouldn’t allow a flight from Farside to land at their spaceport, anyway. Not until we’ve figured out what’s causing this nanobug problem and fixed it.”
Just a trace of alarm flashed across Halleck’s face. “You can’t keep me a prisoner here! Do you have any idea of who you’re talking to?”
“It’s not me, ma’am. Nobody leaves Farside,” Grant said flatly. “You can call Selene if you want to. I’m sure they’ll confirm that they won’t accept any flights from here.”
“That’s nonsense! If my rocket takes off from here and approaches Selene, they’d have to allow me to land. They’d be killing me, otherwise!”
“That’s why we’re not permitting you to leave Farside, ma’am.”
“You’re not permitting me! Since when are you in charge? Professor Uhlrich, I demand that you allow me to leave!”
Uhlrich sat behind his desk, speechless.
“Anita,” said McClintock, “I’m afraid that Simpson is correct. It’s in your own best interest to remain here, temp—”
“My best interest?” Halleck snapped. “Since when have you ever had my best interest at heart, Carter?”
“Now, Anita…”
“Professor Uhlrich, I insist that you call Selene. Get to their governing council, to Douglas Stavenger, somebody! Make them understand that I’m not to be kept a prisoner here at Farside. I have important work to do!”
Her image suddenly winked out. The wall screen went blank.
“She hung up,” McClintock said.
“Or the bugs have hit the comm system,” Grant muttered.