She led Brudnoy to her own quarters, where she uncovered her stash of ’rocket juice’ a gallon-sized thermos jug she kept under her bunk. She and Brudnoy had shared that bunk more than once; but that was years ago.

Now, as they sat on the springy wire chairs that Anson had made from scrap metal, Brudnoy sipped the homebrew thoughtfully.

“Is it legal?” he asked.

“The booze? Of course not. But as long as people don’t drink during their work shifts, there’s no sense trying to find the still and knock it apart. Damn little else to do for entertainment around here.”

Brudnoy shook his head. “I meant Lana’s request to be buried in the farm.”

Anson said, “As long as I’m in charge here we’ll honor her last request. There’s probably some relatives back Earthside; if they want her they’ll have to get a court order.”

I’ll see to the burial, then,” Brudnoy said.

“How soon?”

I’ll talk with the medical people. Tomorrow, I imagine, would be good enough.”

I’ll be there. I’ll get the word out, a lot of the old-timers will want to come.”

“Old-timers,” Brudnoy echoed. “Yes, that’s what we’ve become.”

Anson quickly changed the subject. “How’s the farm doing?”

“Lunar soil is very rich in nutrients,” Brudnoy said. “What we need is more earthworms and beetles.”

She took a sip of her drink, then replied slowly, “We’ve got to be very careful about introducing any kind of life forms here. That’s why I brought that team of biologists up here. I don’t want any runaway populations of any kind.”

Brudnoy sipped also. “Your biologists spend more time at my little farm than I do.”

“That’s what they’re paid to do.”

“All I wanted was to grow some beautiful flowers.”

“Yeah, but we should be growing more of our own food.”

“Someday.” He winked mischievously. “Once we have enough worms and beetles.”

“Ugh,” said Anson.

“How long will you be Earthside?” he asked.

Anson took a breath. “I don’t think I’ll be coming back, Lev.”

“No? Why not?”

“I’m going to get married,” she said. “Would you believe it?”

“You mean you’ve been carrying on a romance Earthside? For how long?”

Two years now.”

“Two years! And you never told me.”

“You’re the first one I have told,” Anson said. “It’s time for me to settle down. No more gypsying. He’s a university professor with two daughters from his first marriage. Very stable guy.”

“Well… good luck.” Brudnoy said it with enormous reluctance.

“Thanks.” She took a larger swallow from her cup. “I just wish this Brennart trip had started sooner. Hate to leave while they’re out on their own.”

“Who will your replacement be?”

She shook her head. “Should be O’Rourke.”

Brudnoy made a sour face.

“He’s good at his job,” Anson said.

“Yes,” Brudnoy said. “And about as much fun as a flat rock.”

Anson laughed. “He’s not a high-flier, that’s for sure.”

“Perhaps you should stay until the expedition returns,” Brudnoy suggested.

“No can do,” said Anson. I’ve got a husband to catch.”

“Ahhh,” Brudnoy sighed. “Too bad. We used to have such good times together.”

“Well,” she said, drawing the word out languidly, “we have two weeks before I have to leave.”

Brudnoy’s brows shot up. “But you’re about to be married!”

“For old times’ sake,” Anson said, leaning toward him. “Besides, I don’t want to be out of practice.”

It was more than an hour later when Brudnoy finally left her quarters. Out in the tunnel, blinking in the overhead lights, he smiled to himself. For an old dog you performed rather well. But then he saw that the people striding along the tunnel all looked so young. So fresh. When Jinny leaves I’ll be the only old dog left here. He realized that there were hardly any people left in Moonbase that he knew very well. All the old friends have gone, Brudnoy said to himself.

He felt very old and tired as he walked slowly toward the farm.

“We leave tomorrow,” Doug said happily.

Even from a quarter-million miles away, Joanna could see his excitement. She leaned back in her embracing leather chair and studied her young son’s smiling face.

“The expedition shouldn’t take longer than two weeks,” he was saying, not waiting for her to reply. “We’ve got the nanobugs all set, all the equipment’s checked out. Of course, we’re carrying supplies for a month, just in case. And we can always be resupplied by rocket Jobber.

As he prattled on eagerly, Joanna wondered if it would be wise to tell him about Greg now or wait until he was safely back from the polar expedition.

“… so this time tomorrow we’ll be at the south pole,” Doug finished.

“Your brother’s coming up to Moonbase,” Joanna heard herself say. “He’s going to be the new director when Anson leaves.”

Then she held her breath for three seconds until her words reached him.

Doug’s eyes widened slightly. “Greg? The new director?”

“Yes,” said Joanna. “He asked for the position and I think he’s earned it”

She could see the wheels spinning in Doug’s head. “He’s coming up here to close down Moonbase, isn’t he?”

No sense trying to lie to him, she thought. “He’s going to spend the coming year trying to find some way to make Moonbase truly profitable. But if he can’t, then, yes, we’ll have to shut it down.”

Doug’s smile had faded but not disappeared. He seemed to be mulling over the possibilities. “If we can come up with a profitable product, then he’ll keep the base open?”

“Yes, of course.”

In the three seconds it took for her reply to reach him, Doug seemed to brighten. “Clipperships are still the corporation’s most valuable product, aren’t they?”

“They’re just about our only profitable product,” Joanna admitted. “And the Windowalls, of course.”

But Doug didn’t wait for her answer. He went on, “Then why don’t we start to build the next generation of Clipperships here at Moonbase?”

“That’s foolishness, Doug,” she said. “Why build the ships on the Moon when we can build them perfectly well at our plants here in Texas and Georgia?”

He waited, grinning, as if he knew what she would say. Then he replied, “Because here we can build them out of pure diamond, using nanomachines.”

“Diamond?”

“Diamond is lighter, stronger than any metal alloy,” he said, without pausing. “We can build Clipperships that will outperform anything you can make on Earth, at a fraction of your manufacturing costs.”

“Using nanomachines,” Joanna murmured. Then she thought aloud, “But to make diamond you need carbon. There isn’t any carbon on the Moon, is there?”

“Not much,” Doug admitted. “Nowhere near enough. We’ll have to snag one of the Earth-crossing asteroids and mine it for carbon.”

“Mine an asteroid?”

Doug rolled right along, hardly drawing a breath. “We can convert one of the transfer ships to make a rendezvous with a carbon-bearing asteroid. There’s plenty of them in orbits that come close to the Earth/Moon system; no need to go out to the asteroid belt, that’s ’way out past Mars.”

“Do you really think you can build Clipperships out of diamond?” Joanna asked.

When her question reached him, Doug replied easily, “Why not? It’s just a matter of programming nanomachines.”

“And a diamond ship will be better than the ones we’re manufacturing now?”

Doug waited patiently, then answered, “They’ll be lighter, much stronger, capable of carrying heavier payloads with the same rocket thrust, safer, more durable. What else can you ask for?”

“Cheaper to manufacture,” Joanna replied.

He nodded once he heard her response. “Not only cheaper to manufacture, but the aerospace lines will be willing to pay more for them, since they’ll perform so much better than today’s ships.”

Despite herself, Joanna felt almost breathless at the sweep of Doug’s vision. “We could use nanomachines to manufacture other things, too, couldn’t we?”