“Cailetet couldn’t support you, so you turn to us,” I said. The words came out more accusing than I intended. “You need money.”

“Actually, we’re already in a development and applications phase,” Leander said. “Using a Tharsis Research grant, we’ve been designing motors for long-range spaceships, standard shuttles or liners refitted. In theory, we could use a few tons of propellant to cross the system in a few weeks, in comfort…”

Charles held out his hands as if pleading. “That’s hardly even a beginning. The implications of what we’ve learned are immense,” he said, still speaking as if only to me. “We may not know everything — ”

“We most certainly do not,” Leander said.

“But we’ve opened the door,” Charles finished. “We’re not telling you this to get funding. It’s my duty as a Martian to inform the leaders of the first true Martian government. Having done that, it is up to you to decide where we go, next.”

“All right, young man,” Ti Sandra said. She was not that much older than Charles or I, but her attitude did not seem out of place. “You give us the universe on a platter. Am I correct to say that?”

Leander started to speak, but Charles took over again, leaving the gray-haired scientist smiling crookedly and lifting his hands in agitation.

“We can arrange a demonstration,” Charles said. “Something small but convincing. We can arrange for vapor clouds in orbit to go off like big sparklers. No damage, not much dangerous radiation, but…”

“Earth might think something peculiar was happening,” Leander cautioned.

Ti Sandra released her shoulders and folded her hands in her lap. “We don’t need a big, obvious demonstration,” she said. “I’d like other scientists to look over your work. We choose the scientists. Then we think about the next step.”

“We think security is an important consideration,” Charles said, and his colleagues nodded emphatically.

“Oh, yes,” said Chinjia Park Amoy.

“Parts of our discovery are very subtle, and we happened to be a little lucky,” Charles said. “But much of what we know is familiar to scientists on Earth. It might not take them long to work from a few clues…”

“Won’t it be better if everybody knows?” Ti Sandra asked.

“I don’t think so,” Winkleman said, stepping forward. “Earth would use it to force the rest of the Triple to do what it wants.”

“Couldn’t we defend ourselves?”

“There is no defense, yet,” Charles said. “You’ll need to understand the details to understand why. As a weapon, the uses are truly frightening. Remote conversion of matter to mirror matter… No defense.”

“Where does all this energy come from?” Ti Sandra asked brightly, as if a new doubt gave her hope this was all a sham. “You’re saying you can violate basic physical laws?”

“No,” Leander said. “We just alter the books. Add here, subtract there. It balances.”

“Mr. Leander, what is your association?” Ti Sandra asked.

“I’m ex-Cailetet as well,” he said.

“You’ve all broken completely with Cailetet?”

The group nodded. “None of us trusts Achmed Crown Niger ,” Winkleman said.

“Do you need more money?” I asked.

“That’s up to the government,” Charles said. “To you.”

“Not at all,” I said. “We have no idea what you’ll need, or what — ”

My voice had started to break. Ti Sandra held my hand and squeezed it. “We need time to think. And documents to study. I believe other scientists should be called in to advise us. No demonstrations for the time being. And I’m certain my Vice President will agree with me, that you should all be seriously considering the practical applications of your discoveries, and preparing another report.”

“We have such a report, with detailed plans,” Leander said.

Ti Sandra shook her head firmly. “Not now, please. I shall have nightmares tonight as it is. We’ll get back to our duties, to our husbands… To our private thoughts. And,” she added, “to our prayers.”

Charles offered his hand, as did the others, and we all shook. “We’ll do nothing without the government’s agreement,” Winkleman said as he escorted us to the gate, and down the tunnel beyond.

“No,” Ti Sandra said. “You most certainly will not.”

Ti Sandra called me into her quarters, the chancellor’s suite, and offered me a cup of late-evening tea. Her face was gray as she poured. “I once had a dream,” she said. “A beautiful man approached me and dropped a bucket of gold into my lap. I should have been very happy.”

“And you weren’t?” I asked.

“I was terrified. I did not want the responsibility. I told him to take it back.” She drew herself up and stared at the chamber. Here, years before, Chancellor Connor had ordered the voiding of students, sparking our protest.

“You know Charles Franklin?” she asked.

“We were lovers, briefly,” I said.

Ti Sandra nodded appreciatively at the confidence. “I had four lovers before Paul. None of them showed much promise. Charles Franklin must have been something.“

“He was sweet and enthusiastic,” I said.

“But you did not love him.”

“I think I did,” I said, “but I was very confused.”

“And if you had lawbonded with him?”

“He asked,” I said.

“Oh?” Ti Sandra sat on the couch beside me and we sipped our tea in silence for a while. “Please tell me these scientists are making bad jokes.”

I did not answer.

“Madam Vice President,” she said, “life is becoming a bowl of shit.”

“Not cherries,” I said.

“Shit,” she repeated emphatically. “We are nothing but children, Casseia. We can’t possibly handle this much power.”

“Humans aren’t ready?”

She snorted. “I don’t speak for humanity. I speak for us — for simple Martians. I am terrified what Earth might do if they find out, and what we might do in return…”

“If they…”

“Yes,” she said before I finished.

“We should look on the bright side,” I said.

She ignored that with a toss of her hand and a shiver of her shoulders. “And over the years, Charles Franklin never told you? You wrote to him, asked him questions, no?”

“Once,” I said. “At my uncle’s urging. Charles told me he was working on something very important, and that… it would, it could cause us a lot of political trouble. What he actually said was that things were not going to get any easier. I thought he was exaggerating.”

“Should we speak privately with Charles Franklin, or with Stephen Leander?”

“I think Charles is the one in charge.”

“Is he wise, Casseia?”

I smiled and shook my head. “I don’t know. He wasn’t very wise when we were younger. But then, neither was I.”

“Cailetet’s involvement concerns me,” Ti Sandra said. “I would not put it past Achmed Crown Niger to know more than these scientists say he does. And if he knows, he will use the information. We have pushed him into a corner. He has gotten nowhere on Mars. He is trapped, politically and financially.”

“We don’t have guidelines for keeping government secrets,” I said. “Whom do we trust?”

“Trust! I don’t even trust myself.” Ti Sandra made a sad face. “God help us all.”

I lay beside Ilya that night, watching him sleep. He almost always slept soundly, like a child; I imagined his head filled with memories of the digs, thoughts of work yet to be done in the sulci… I envied him so much it brought tears of childish frustration to my eyes.

We had shared a glass of port and fresh cheese, both made by Erzul families and donated to the new government. He had joked about the infinite privileges of being at the center; I had not reacted, and he had asked why I was so somber. “Everything is going well,” he had said. “You deserve congratulations, all of you.”

I tried to smile. The effort was hardly convincing.

“Do you mind if I pry a little?” he asked, pushing closer to me on the bed.