“Happy birthday, Greg,” Joanna said. She embraced her son and felt his arms fold around her briefly. I’m sorry I couldn’t come in person.”

“That’s okay,” he replied, trying to smile. “VR’s the next best thing.”

“How are you?” she asked.

“Fine. The operation here is going very well. They’re even talking about setting up an amusement park to draw in tourists.”

Joanna shook her head. “That’s a good way for them to lose money.”

Greg laughed. “The more they blow, the more dependent they’ll be on us. I’m already working out better terms for our contract renewal.”

“I’m very proud of what you’ve accomplished here,” Joanna said.

“Thanks, Mom.”

Neither of them spoke of what stood between them. Greg had gone through years of intensive therapy after his maniacal rage had led him to murder. For years Joanna had watched him every day, trusting him only as far as she could see him, protecting him against the pain and pressures of the world beyond the walls of their home.

Only gradually, when it became clear that the focus of his murderous fury had abated, did she allow him to return to the real world. Greg learned to control himself, learned to calm the bitter tides that surged through him, learned even to accept the fact that he had to share his mother with his younger half-brother.

In time, Joanna allowed him to return to the corporation. Gradually, slowly, the leash on which she kept her son grew longer, more flexible, until now he lived thousands of miles away and directed an important new operation of the corporation.

Yet despite his outward calm Joanna always felt the volcano seething beneath Greg’s surface. Even in the tropical tranquility of this Pacific atoll he was all tension and wary-eyed pain. Even in the relaxed mores of Micronesia he had not taken a lover; as far as Joanna could determine he did not even have a steady girlfriend, neither native nor corporate. He doesn’t even have a tan, she realized. He’s in his office all the time, driving himself constantly. The only time he gets to the beach is in VR simulations for meetings with me.

Joanna had kept Greg and his half-brother Douglas separated as much as possible. Over the years it began to seem almost normal that Doug would be away when Greg visited home, and Greg would not be there when Doug was. It was as if she had two different families, one son in each. There were holidays when the three of them were together, briefly, but they were always filled with tension and the fear that Greg might suddenly explode.

He never did. And Doug learned to get along with his older half-brother. It was difficult to dislike Doug; he had his father’s charm. Greg could even laugh with Doug, on rare occasions.

Now, as Joanna and Greg walked ankle-deep in the gentle virtual surf of the lagoon, with the dying sun painting the towering cumulus clouds fabulous shades of pink and orange, Greg seemed lost in thought.

“What’s the matter?” she asked, looking up into his somber eyes.

Greg let out a sigh, like a man in pain.

“What is it, dear?” Joanna repeated.

He stopped and turned to face her, his back to the glorious sunset. “Have I done an adequate job here?”

Joanna had to shade her eyes to look up at him. “More than adequate, Greg. You’ve made me proud of you.”

“All right,” he said. “Then I want to move up to the next challenge.”

“The next…?”

“Moonbase,” Greg said.

For a moment Joanna wasn’t certain that she had heard him correctly.

“I want to be put in charge of Moonbase,” he said, his voice calm. But she could sense the depth of his desire, even through the virtual reality interface.

“Moonbase,” she repeated, stalling for time to think.

“Anson’s due to rotate back to Savannah when her tour is finished,” Greg said. “I’d like to be named to replace her for the next year.”

Doug is on the Moon, Joanna thought swiftly. But he’ll be coming back once Brennart’s expedition establishes an operational facility at the south pole.

“Mom? Did you hear me?”

“Yes, of course I heard you. It’s just… unexpected. You’ve caught me by surprise, Greg.”

He broke into a cheerless smile. “That’s the first time that’s happened!”

“I never thought you’d want to go to Moonbase,” she said.

“It’s the next logical step, isn’t it? A year at Moonbase and then I can move up to head the entire space operations division.”

Joanna made herself smile back at him. “Director of Moonbase is a big responsibility.”

His smile evaporated. “You don’t trust me.”

“Of course I trust you!” she blurted.

“But not enough.”

“Oh, Greg—”

“I know. You’ve got every reason not to trust me. But it’s not like I’m looking to be made CEO, or even asking for my old seat on the board of directors.”

“There’s going to be a vacancy on the board next year,” Joanna said. “I was planning to nominate you.”

If that pleased him, Greg did not show it ’Mom, I want to earn my way. Moonbase is always tottering on the brink of collapse. I want to spend a year there and make the tough decision.”

“The tough decision?”

“To close it down, once and for all.”

“You, can’t do that!”

“Somebody has to,” he snapped. “We can’t let Moonbase keep draining the corporation, year after year.”

“But it’s making a profit…”

Greg’s expression turned sour. “You know that’s not true, Mom. Oh, sure, the bookkeeping shows a small profit, but when you figure in all the seed money we’ve put in for research that’s off the bqpks and all the other hidden costs, Moonbase is an expense we can’t afford.”

Joanna drew in her breath. That’s what he’s really after. He wants to kill Moonbase. He wants to put an end to Paul’s dream.

“Let me put in a year up there,” Greg insisted. “I’ll do my best to find a way to make the base really profitable, without bookkeeping tricks. But if I can’t, after a whole year, then I’ll recommend we close the operation for good.”

“Do you think you can make that decision?”

“After a year of hands-on management up there, yes.”

“What do you see as a potential profit-maker?” Joanna asked. “If anything.”

“I don’t know!” he said, agitated. “They’ve been using nanotechnology up there. Maybe we can turn Moonbase into a nanotech research center.”

“We’ve been through this before, Greg,” Joanna objected. “The public resistance to nanotechnology is too strong. People are frightened of it. The San Jose labs were trashed. We even had to close down the nanofactory in Austin because of the public pressure.”

“Yes, yes, I know,” Greg said impatiently. “And I heard the Vice President’s speech last week, too.”

“He’s asking for a U.N. treaty to ban all nanotechnology all over the world!” Joanna said.

“He’ll be president after November,” said Greg gloomily. “He’s certain to win!”

“A man like that in the White House.”

With a sardonic smile, Greg said, “He won’t be the first ignoramus to get there.”

“But he’s violently opposed to nanotechnology; he’s making it a religious issue.”

Joanna did not add that the deaths on the Moon caused by ’runaway’ nanomachines were still prime ammunition for the anti-nanotech Luddites. She did not have to.

“Ambitious politicians always play to the peoples’ fears,” Greg replied impatiently. “Since when do we let that determine corporate policy?”

Joanna shook her head. “It’s like the fear the public had of the old nuclear power plants. It’s irrational, but it’s very real. It generates political power, more power than we can challenge.”

“I don’t agree.”

“We can’t invest major resources in nanomanufacturing, Greg. We haven’t even been able to put medical nanoproducts on the market, and they’ve been proved to save lives. The government, the public, the media — they’ve stopped us every time we’ve tried.”