She imagined holding Andy again, his warm little fingers clutching hers in mutual security, and wished for Silver to hurry up and send her signal. She pictured Tony, medically imprisoned downside, and hoped in anguish Silver might delay, that by some miracle they might yet regain him at the last minute. She didn’t know whether to push or pull at the passing minutes, only that each one seemed to physically pelt her.

The airseal doors hissed, jolting her with anxiety. Was she discovered—? No, it was three quaddie girls, Emma, Patty, and Kara the infirmary aide. “Is it time?” Claire asked hoarsely. Kara shook her head.

“Why doesn’t it start, what’s keeping Silver…” Claire broke off. She could imagine all too many disastrous reasons for Silver’s delay.

“She’d better signal soon,” said Kara. “The hunt is up all over the Habitat for you. Mr. Wyzak, the Airsystems Maintenance supervisor, finally thought of looking behind the walls. They’re over in the docking bay section now. Everybody on his crew is having the most terrific outbreak of clumsiness,” a curved moon of a grin winked in her face, “but they’ll be working this way eventually.”

Emma gripped one of Kara’s lower arms. “In that case, is this really the best place for us to hide?”

“It’ll have to do, for now. I hope things break before Dr. Curry works all the way down his list, or it’s going to get awfully crowded in here,” said Kara.

“Is Dr. Curry recovered, then?” asked Claire, not certain if she wanted to hear a yes or a no. “Enough to do surgery? I’d hoped he’d be out longer.”

Kara giggled. “Not exactly. He’s kind of hanging there all squinty-eyed and puffy, just supervising while the nurse gives the injections. Or he would be, if they could find any of the girls to give injections to.”

“Injections?”

“Abortifacient,” Kara grimaced.

“Oh. A different list from mine, then.” So, that was why Emma and Patty looked pale, as from a narrow escape.

Kara sighed. “Yeah. Well, we’re all on one list or another, in the end, I guess.” She slipped back out.

Claire was cheered by the company of the other two quaddies, even though it represented a growing danger of discovery not only of themselves but of their plans. How much more could go wrong before the Habitat’s downsider staff started asking the right questions? Suppose the entire plot was discovered prematurely, following up the loose end she’d left? Should she have submitted docilely to Curry’s procedure, just to keep the secret a little, longer? Suppose “a little longer” was all it took to make the difference between success and disaster?

“Now what, I wonder?” said Emma in a thin voice.

“Just wait. Unless you brought something to do,” said Claire.

Emma shook her head. “Kara just grabbed me off about ten minutes ago. I didn’t think to bring anything.”

“She got me out of my sleep sack,” Patty confirmed. A yawn escaped her despite the tension. “I’m so tired, these days…”

Emma rubbed her abdomen absently with her lower palms in a circular motion familiar to Claire; so, the girls had already started childbirth training.

“I wonder how all this is going to go,” sighed Emma. “How it will turn out. Where we’ll all be in seven months…”

Hardly a figure chosen at random, Claire realized. “Away from Rodeo, anyway. Or dead.”

“If we’re dead, we won’t have a problem,” Patty said. “If not… Claire, how is labor? What’s it really like?” Her eyes were urgent, seeking reassurance from Claire’s expertise, as the sole initiate present in the maternal mysteries of the body.

Claire, understanding, responded, “It wasn’t exactly comfortable, but it’s nothing you can’t handle. Dr. Minchenko says we have it a lot better than downsider women. We have a more flexible pelvis with a wider arch, and our pelvic floor is more elastic, on account of not having to fight the gravitational forces. He says that was his own design idea, like eliminating the hymen—whatever that was. Something painful, I gather.”

“Ugh, poor things,” said Emma. “I wonder if their babies ever get sucked from their bodies by the gravity?”

“I never heard of such a thing,” said Claire doubtfully. “He did say they had trouble close to term with the weight of the baby cutting off circulation and squeezing their nerves and organs and things.” “I’m glad I wasn’t born a downsider,” said Emma. “At least not a female one. Think of the poor downsider mothers who have to worry about their helpers dropping their newborns.” She shuddered.

“It’s horrible, down there,” Claire confirmed fervently, remembering. “It’s worth risking anything, not to have to go there. Truly.”

“But we’ll be by ourselves, in seven months, that is,” said Patty. “You had help. You had Dr. Min-chenko. Emma and me—we’ll be all alone.”

“No, you won’t,” said Claire. “What a nasty thought. Kara will be there—I’ll come—we’ll all help.”

“Leo will be coming with us,” Emma offered, trying to sound optimistic. “He’s a downsider.”

“I’m not sure that’s exactly his field of expertise,” said Claire honestly, trying to picture Leo as a medtech. He didn’t care for hydraulic systems, he’d said. She went on more firmly, “Anyway, all the complicated stuff in Andy’s birth mostly had to do with data collecting, because I was one of the first, and they were working out the procedures, Dr. Minchenko said. Just having the baby wasn’t all that much. Dr. Minchenko didn’t do it—really, I didn’t do it, my body did. About all he did was hold the hand-vac. Messy, but straightforward.” If nothing goes wrong biologically, she thought, and had the last-minute wit not to say aloud.

Patty still looked unhappy. “Yes, but birth is only the beginning. Working for GalacTech kept us busy, but we’ve been working three times as hard since this escape-thing came up. And you’d have to be a dim bulb not to see it’s going to get harder later. There’s no end in sight. How are we going to handle it all and babies too? I’m not sure I think much of this freedom-stuff. Leo talks it up, but freedom for who? Not me. I had more free time working for the company.”

“You want to go report to Dr. Curry?” suggested Emma.

Patty shrugged uncomfortably. “No…”

“I don’t think by freedom he means free time,” said Claire thoughtfully. “More like survival. Like—like not having to work for people who have a right to shoot us if they want.” A twinge of harsh memory edged her voice, and she softened it self-consciously. “We’ll still have to work, but it will be for ourselves. And our children.”

“Mostly our children,” said Patty glumly. “That’s not all bad,” remarked Emma. Claire thought she caught a glimpse of the source of Patty’s pessimism. “And next time—if you want a next time—you can choose who will father your baby. There won’t be anybody around to tell you.” Patty brightened visibly. “That’s true…” Claire’s reassurances seemed effective; the talk drifted to less threatening channels for a while. Much later, the airseal doors parted, and Pramod stuck his head in.

“We got Silver’s signal,” he said simply. Claire sang out in joy; Patty and Emma hugged each other, whirling in air.

Pramod held out a cautionary hand. “Things haven’t started yet. You’ve got to stay in here a while longer.”

“No, why?” Emma cried.

“We’re waiting for a special supply shuttle from downside. When it docks is the new signal for things to start happening.”

Claire’s heart thumped. “Tony—did they get Tony aboard?”

Pramod shook his head, his dark eyes sharing her pain. “No, fuel rods. Leo’s really anxious about them. He’s afraid that without them we might not have enough power to boost the Habitat all the way out to the wormhole.”

“Oh—yes, of course.” Claire folded back into herself.

“Stay in here, hang on, and ignore any emergency klaxons you may hear,” said Pramod. His lower hands clenched together in a gesture of encouragement, and he withdrew.