“My motivation was not entirely from pride,” he said, looking a little less animated now. “I have a favor to request of you.”

Still walking along the screen, feeling somehow oppressed by the massive spacecraft, almost threatened by it, Cardenas replied with, “A favor?”

Urbain hesitated, as if he didn’t know how to choose the right words. “It concerns Alpha’s self-repair capabilities.”

Cardenas glanced sharply at him.

“I was wondering,” Urbain said as they turned around the end of the screen, “if nanomachines might be able to repair Alpha while she is on the surface of Titan.”

Cardenas nodded, thinking, So that’s it. They’re all terrified of nanobugs until they come up against something where nanomachines can help them.

“I mean,” Urbain went on, “you yourself have nanomachines in your body, don’t you? They’re constantly repairing your tissues, aren’t they?”

With a slight laugh of relief, Cardenas answered, “And you’d like to have a nanotech immune system built into your spacecraft.”

“Nanomachines that could continuously repair any equipment failures or damage.”

“Or wear and tear,” Cardenas added.

“Yes! Precisely.”

She stopped at the open doorway, thinking swiftly. “It would take time, Dr. Urbain. When do you plan to send the spacecraft to Titan?”

“As soon as we establish orbit around Saturn. Within a few days of that, at the most.”

“I certainly can’t come up with a set of therapeutic nanos that soon.”

“But perhaps they could be sent to Alpha after she is on Titan, once you produce them.”

“Perhaps,” Cardenas conceded.

“Will you look into the possibilities?” he asked eagerly.

Cardenas saw in his eyes that he regarded this machine of his almost like a human being, a woman he loved and cherished and wanted to protect, keep from harm. A kind-hearted Dr. Frankenstein, she thought, worried about the creature he’s created. Then a sharp pang of memory hit her. How many times have you been called Frankenstein? she asked herself.

“Can you do it?” Urbain pressured.

“I can try.”

“Good! Excellent!”

“Under one condition,” she added.

His brows rose toward his receding hairline. “Condition? If you mean you want me to allow that… that stuntman to go down to the surface—”

Cardenas said, “But we’ve tested the decontamination procedure several times now. I’ve sent you the reports.”

“Tests in the airlock. Yes, I’ve scanned your reports.”

“So you know that we can clean his suit to your satisfaction.” Suddenly Cardenas got a new inspiration. “We can decon your spacecraft the same way.”

“Alphacan be decontaminated the normal way.”

“Yes, but if you use nanomachines you won’t have to subject the spacecraft to such high levels of radiation. Won’t that be better for its electronics systems?”

Urbain started to reply, stopped himself, then admitted, “Yes. Definitely.”

“I can set that up for you in a couple of days. By the time we’re in Saturn orbit I’ll be able to decon your craft as clean as new-fallen snow.”

“But that doesn’t mean that I can allow the stuntman to go down to the surface. The IAA forbids it. My hands are tied.”

Don’t push it any farther, Cardenas told herself. You’ve got a toe in the door. Let it rest there, for now.

Yet she heard herself say, “There is one other thing.”

Urbain’s brows went up again.

“It’s rather minor…”

“What is it?”

“One of your staff people, Dr. Wunderly—”

“Wunderly?”

“She needs some telescope time to study the rings.”

“Impossible. I’ve told her—”

“Surely you can spare some time at one of the telescopes for her,” Cardenas said, more as a declaration than a request. “After all, you’re going to have your spacecraft operating on Titan’s surface in a few weeks, won’t you?”

Urbain hesitated. “Yes, that’s true enough.”

“And you want to be able to use nanomachines to keep it in good shape.”

His face showed clearly that he understood Cardenas’s threat. “I see. Yes. Very well, I will attempt to get some time for Wunderly on one of the telescopes so she can study her wretched rings.”

“Fine,” said Cardenas. “And I’ll attempt to develop a set of nanomachines that can auto-repair your spacecraft while it’s on Titan.”

“And to decontaminate Alpha,” Urbain reminded her.

Cardenas nodded her agreement and started for the door. Then she turned back. “By the way, how is the political campaign going?”

Urbain took in a sharp breath, as if surprised by her sudden change of subject. Then he shrugged. “It takes too much of my time. I must give speeches, prepare position papers on everything from medical care to garbage recycling. Every person in the habitat feels free to ask me pointless questions and to give me their own vapid opinions.”

“That’s politics, I guess,” Cardenas said, chuckling.

“I fear it will be even worse after I am elected.”

“You expect to win?”

“Of course. This is a scientific mission, isn’t it? The whole purpose of our flight to Saturn is scientific.”

“But the scientists are only a small part of the population,” Cardenas pointed out.

“Yes, of course. But the others will vote for me. It is the only logical choice they can make. Eberly is the only other major candidate, and he has no scientific background at all.”

“What about the engineer, Timoshenko?”

Urbain made an unpleasant face. “He is nothing. A posturer. The engineers and technicians will vote for me, overwhelmingly.”

Cardenas held back the comment she wanted to make. Better not to disillusion the man, she thought. He’ll find out soon enough on election day. It’ll bruise his ego, but in the long run he’ll probably be relieved to get out of politics and give all his attention to his clunky Alpha.

SATURN ARRIVAL MINUS 45 DAYS

The three women met for breakfast in the cafeteria, so early that the place was hardly half filled. Holly thought the cafeteria seemed different this early in the morning: quieter, subdued, as if the people shuffling through the lines weren’t fully awake yet. She found Kris and Nadia Wunderly already at a table, heads leaning together, pleased grins on their faces.

Holly unloaded her tray of melon slices, bran cereal, soy milk, and faux coffee and sat down.

Wunderly looked happy, her big gray eyes sparkling. “I still can’t thank you enough for getting me some telescope time. You should see the dynamics of those rings! It’s … it’s…”

Cardenas laughed lightly. “Words fail you?”

A little embarrassed, Wunderly said, “I’d like you to see the imagery I’ve been getting.” Turning to Holly, Wunderly said, “You too, Holly.” Holly smiled at her. “Sure. I’d love to.”

Wunderly asked Cardenas, “I still can’t understand how you got Urbain to let me use the ’scope.”

Still grinning, Cardenas said, “Trickery and deceit. And a little blackmail.”

“Whatever works, I guess,” Holly said.

Wunderly dipped into her bowl of soy yogurt. “Thanks to you, Kris, I can feed Manny the data he needs.”

Holly’s innards twitched. “Manny?”

“He wants to dive through the rings,” Wunderly explained. “But he can’t do it without my help.”

Looking across the table to Cardenas, Holly said, “I haven’t seen Manny in weeks. How is he?”

Wunderly answered, “Terrific.”

Cardenas looked surprised. “Come to think of it, the last time I saw him was our final test of the decon nanos.”

Wunderly glanced from Holly to Cardenas and then back again. “I see him almost every day,” she said. A little smugly, Holly thought.

“Do you see him nights?” asked Cardenas, raising her teacup to her lips.

Wunderly said, “Sure. Sometimes.” Very smugly, as far as Holly was concerned.

“He’s pretty good, isn’t he?” said Cardenas.