Before either of the other candidates could say anything, Eberly stepped in. “Nanotechnology can be very helpful to us, and I have every confidence in Dr. Cardenas’s ability to develop nanomachines safely.”

“I too,” said Urbain.

They all turned to Timoshenko. He grimaced, then said, “With all respect to the admired Dr. Cardenas, I believe nanomachines can be very dangerous in a closed environment such as ours. They should be banned.”

Eberly seized the moment. “Most of us are here in this habitat,” he said, “because of laws and regulations that stifled our lives. Most of us are educated, knowledgeable, unafraid of new ideas and new capabilities. We have all suffered under governments that restricted our freedoms.”

He saw several heads nodding agreement.

“All right then,” he asked the audience, “how many of you are in favor of banning nanotechnology altogether?”

The people hesitated, glanced at each other. A few hands went up. Very few. Down on the floor, Kris Cardenas looked around, smiled, and sat down.

Eberly nodded, satisfied. Turning to Timoshenko, he said, “There you are. Vox populi, vox dei.”

SATURN ARRIVAL MINUS 20 DAYS

Holly saw that it would be senseless to try to talk with Malcolm after the debate ended. He was immediately surrounded by admirers, including Morgenthau and that dark little man, Vyborg. Kris Cardenas pushed her way through the departing throng, a bright grin on her face. “I think we might get you down to Titan after all,” she said to Gaeta.

He grinned back at her. “Maybe. If Eberly wins the election.”

Holly suddenly felt like a third wheel on a bicycle, standing between Kris and Manny. The crowd was thinning out, little knots of three or four people heading for home or one of the restaurants. Eberly came down from the stage, enveloped in well-wishers and sycophants. As he walked past Holly he nodded to her and smiled, but he did not invite her to join his group.

Before she could feel any reaction, Gaeta said, “Come on, Holly, we’ll walk you home.”

Surprised, Holly glanced at Cardenas. She arched one brow, as if to remind Holly of what they had learned about the stuntman’s activities.

Holly nodded back and the three of them started across the grass and up the lakeside path toward the village of Athens.

“I didn’t see Nadia here,” Cardenas said as they climbed toward the apartment buildings.

“She’s probably working,” Gaeta said. “Urbain’s given her some time on a telescope; she’s always up in the observatory now.”

“I thought she’d come with you,” said Holly.

He actually looked surprised. “With me?”

Holly let it pass. They reached Cardenas’s building and said goodnight, then Gaeta walked with Holly to the next building, where her apartment was.

“You’ve been seeing Nadia a lot, haven’t you?” she asked.

Gaeta nodded. “If this Titan gig falls through, I’ve got to do something to keep my investors happy. She’s helping me plan a jaunt through the rings.”

“Sure.”

The dawn of understanding finally shed its light on Gaeta’s face. “Ohh,” he said. “She told you, didn’t she?”

“It came up in conversation, yes,” said Holly.

They were at the door to her apartment building. As Gaeta stopped there, the habitat’s lighting flicked from its evening mode to the nighttime system. His face fell into shadow, but Holly could see him well enough.

“Okay,” he admitted, “it happened.”

“More than once.”

He grinned sheepishly. “Christ, you sound like a priest at confession: ‘How many times?’ ”

“It’s not funny, Manny.”

“You didn’t take our times together seriously, did you?”

She thought a moment, then half-lied, “No, not all that seriously, I guess.”

“I mean, I know I was supposed to look out for you, but, well… it just sort of happened.”

“It happens a lot with you.”

“You seemed to enjoy it at the time,” he said softly.

Holly suddenly realized what he had just said. “What do you mean, you were supposed to look out for me?”

He took a deep breath. “That’s why I’m here, Holly. Your sister wanted me to keep an eye on you.”

She felt her jaw drop open. “Pancho? Panch hired you?”

Shuffling from one foot to another like a little boy caught in a place where he shouldn’t have been, Gaeta said, “It’s not that simple, Holly. She didn’t exactly hire me.”

“She thought I needed a bodyguard,” Holly groused. “My big sister didn’t trust me out here on my own.”

“I was trying to raise the funding for the Titan gig,” he tried to explain, “and this guy from Astro Corporation came up with an offer.”

Suddenly the absurdity of it hit Holly like a bucketful of ice-cold water. She broke into laughter.

Perplexed, Gaeta asked, “What’s so funny?”

“You are. And my big sister. She hired you to protect me, and you pop me into bed. My faithful watchdog. When she finds out she’ll want to castrate you.”

“She wanted me to keep you away from Eberly and that’s what I did.”

Holly’s laughter choked off like a light switch being thrown. “Panch hired you to keep me away from Malcolm?”

He nodded sheepishly.

“And that’s why you took me to bed?”

“No! I didn’t plan that. You … I… it just—”

“Just sort of happened. I know.”

“I didn’t hurt you.”

“The hell you didn’t,” Holly snapped. “And then you go off and screw Kris, and then Nadia. You’ll be lucky if you live long enough to get to Titan.”

“Oh Christ. Does Kris know about all this?”

“Kris? Sure she knows. So does Nadia.”

“So my name’s mud with her, eh?”

“With Nadia?”

“With Kris.”

“Why don’t you ask her?”

In the shadowy lighting it was hard to make out the expression on Gaeta’s face, but the tone of his voice came through clearly enough. “Because I’d … mierda! I really like Kris.”

“More than Nadia?”

“More than anybody. I guess I hurt her feelings, didn’t I? I guess she’s pissed off at me.”

Holly couldn’t resist the opportunity. “I don’t think she’s really mad at you. Of course, she’s working up some nanobugs that eat testicles, but other than that I don’t think she’s sore at you at all.”

Gaeta mumbled, “Guess I can’t blame her.” Then he turned away and started walking down toward his own quarters, head hung low. Holly almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

They’re all trying to keep me away from Malcolm, Holly thought as she undressed for bed. Pancho, Manny, Morgenthau, they’re all trying to keep Malcolm and me apart.

As she slipped into bed and commanded the lights to turn off, she wondered if she still wanted Malcolm the way she did when she first came aboard the habitat. He’s been so bugging distant; he doesn’t care about me. He hardly even knows I’m alive. But he’s been so busy. This political stuff takes all his time. It was different when we first met, different when we started out in this habitat. I could see him all the time then, and he liked me, I know he did.

How can he like me, how can he even think about me, when he never sees me? He’s always surrounded by Morgenthau and that Vyborg snake. And Kananga, he scares me.

How can I get past them? How can I get to be alone with Malcolm, even for a few minutes?

Her thoughts drifted to her sister. She hired Manny. She’s paying him big bucks to keep me away from Malcolm. He made love to me for money, the dirty … Holly tried to think of the masculine equivalent of the word “whore.”

Lying in bed, staring into the darkness, she thought, So Pancho wants to keep me away from Malcolm, does she. I’ll show her. I’ll get to Malcolm. I’ll get past the Hippo and the Snake and even Kananga, the Panther.

And suddenly, like a bright light clicking on, she knew how to accomplish that.