Marguerite’s thigh quivered, from tension certainly. She shouldn’t feel more than a faint warmth… at least in theory.

Saul looked back to make sure Keoki had not read anything untoward in the patient’s vital signs. But the big Hawaiian watched the tank placidly, showing no sign of concern. He hummed softly, placidly, rocking in his spacer’s crouch.

That was when Saul saw Colonel Suleiman Ould-Harrad slip into the treatment room.

Oh, heaven help us. Now what is it?

The spacer officer sought through the dimness until his gaze finally lighted on Saul. Saul’s initial resentment evaporated as he saw Ould-Harrad’s expression—his lined face a mask of exhaustion mixed with open dread.

“I’ll be right back, Marguerite.”

“Take your time, Saul. I am not going anywhere.”

He touched her shoulder for encouragement. “Watch her carefully, Keoki.”

“Sure thing, Doctor.”

Saul passed through a disinfectant haze in the decon airlock and removed his helmet as the outer door cycled open. The acting expedition leader waited, absently rubbing the back of one hand with the other.

‘Colonel Ould-Harrad? How may I help you?”

“There is something that I…” Ould-Harrad shook his head and suddenly looked away. “I know you have no reason to wish to help me, Lintz. I would understand if you told me to go straight to hell.”

Saul shrugged. “Jerusalem est perdita.” Jerusalem is lost. “The past hardly matters now. We’re all in this mess together. Why don’t you tell me what ails you, Colonel? If you want to keep it quiet, we can arrange treatment outside of sick call…”

He trailed off as Ould-Harrad shook his head vigorously.

“You misunderstand me, Doctor. I need your advice in a non-medical area… a matter of most grave urgency.”

Saul blinked.

“Is it something new?”

The tall Mauritanian bit his lip. “There are so few left with level heads, anymore. My people are collectivists, and so I cannot deal with emergencies as Captain Cruz did. I need consensus. I must seek advice.”

Saul shook his head. “I still don’t understand.”

Ould-Harrad seemed not to hear him. His gaze was distant. “Earth is too far away, too confused in its instructions. I need a committee to help me decide how to deal with a dire emergency, Dr. Lintz. I am asking you if you are willing to please be a member.

“Of course. I’ll help any way I can. But what is all this about?”

“There has been a mutiny,” Ould-Harrad told him concisely, his lower lip trembling with emotion. “A band of fanatics has taken over the Edmund Halley. They seized Ensign Kearns when he discovered their plans and—”

The man hid his eyes. “They threw him out of the ship naked, onto the snow! They… they are demanding sleep slots and tritium, or they will blow up all the supplies in the polar warehouse tents.”

Saul stared. “But what do they think they can accomplish?”

The African spacer blinked, he shook himself, and at last met Saul’s eyes.

“They have computed a carom shot past Jupiter. The mutineers actually believe that they can steal the Edmund and make it all the way back to Earth alive.

“In the process, of course, they seem hardly to care if they doom the rest of us to certain death.”

She sped through Tunnel E, pulling a gray wool sweater over her jumpsuit. It was cold.

Too damned cold, even for her. All the mission crew were “warms”—people who had minimal vascular-seizure response. Virginia’s capillaries did not greatly contract when cooled, which meant she felt comfortable when most ordinary people—“freezers” —would be jittery with chill. The major disadvantage was that “warms” lost heat faster and needed more food. The flip side of that was freedom from fat— “warms” seldom needed to diet.

But now Carl had set the air temperature so low that even the “warms” were chilly. Virginia didn’t know if that really suppressed the algae growth, but it certainly depressed her.

She came into the warmer core bay of Central with relief. The big monitoring screens brimmed with shifting patterns of yellow-green. She read them at a glance—the Bio people were holding their own against the gunk, and the purple forms had eased off. Good. Not that they were the main problem any longer.

Saul was conferring with Ould-Harrad. The big man towered over Saul’s wiry frame, hands on hips, head shaking slowly in solemn disagreement. Saul’s mouth was twisted into a grim, bloodless curve she had never seen before. She snagged a handhold. swerved nimbly, and coasted to a stop beside them.

“I ran the simulation you asked for,” she blurted.

“Good, good.” Saul seemed grateful to turn away from Ould-Harrad. “And?”

“I can disable most of their controls if I can get three mechs aboard Edmund. Then I’ll need five minutes to use them.”

Saul brightened. “Excellent! They’ll be paying attention to loading the sleep slots they demanded, being sure we aren’t slipping them inadequate supplies and so on. Preparations for the Newburn rescue weren’t complete when Ensign Kearns discovered their intentions. So they need more gear before they can leave.”

“Those bastards!” Virginia spat out. “Pushing poor Kearns out the lock—murder! If the mission mainframe hadn’t already been transferred Halleyside, I could get into their control systems and vac them all!”

Saul nodded. “Ferocious, but apt. Alas, they’re on manual controls, hard to override. Still, consider—they haven’t got enough food and air aboard for the entire return flight. They’ve got to be damned sure we give them enough slots to make it back. There are fourteen of them, they say. Now, if we can find a way to distract them, to give Virginia an opening—”

“No,” Ould-Harrad said flatly. “There is little chance of approaching for more than a few moments with mechs. You heard Linbarger.”

“They’ve got to allow mechs close to Edmund when we deliver those sleep slots,” she answered.

Ould-Harrad frowned. “They will watch the machines closely. Surely they will not miscount the number returning to Halley and let three remain.”

Virginia shook her head. “I can do it while they’re loading the sleep slots into the receiving bay. The cables we’ll cut are near that lock.”

Ould-Harrad pursed his lips. “Your numerical simulation—it was complete? You yourself attempted to guide the mechs to the cables and then destroy them?”

“Well… no, I don’t know the Edmund’s systems that well. I let JonVon do it. I’ve been upgrading his mech control and—”

“Then we cannot be sure, you see?” His eyebrows lifted into semicircles above dark eyes, the irises swimming in whites which showed a fine tracery of red veins. “JonVon is not practiced in the direct handling of mechs. Simulations are always easier than real operations. I.”

“Carl could do it,” she said rapidly. “Get him here, have him try my simulation.”

Ould-Harrad’s mouth puckered into an expression of polite disbelief. Then he sighed, nodded, and began speaking spacer quick-talk into a throat mike.

Virginia turned to Saul. “How much time?”

“They’ve given us two hours.”

“That’s crazy! They can’t expect us—”

“They know we can move the spare sleep slots if we start right away.”

“But that appeal to `fellow normals’ offering free passage Earthside. If anyone responds, Linbarger’ll have to wait for them to board.”

Saul smiled wanly, his eyes seeming to remember desperate situations long ago. “A fevered mind thinks all the world can turn on a dime. Besides, they are calling every one of us, ah, normals on thee comm. To demand that we go with them, drop everything, leave immediately—providing we are well, of course.”

“They called you?”

“Oh yes. I was among the first—a doctor, and therefore valuable. They have no shame. I wondered why they demanded to see me on camera—until they abruptly broke off, and I realized.” He chuckled and wiped his nose with a ratty handkerchief.