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"What a e and opened the asphalt drain; the three of thean to sweep the residuum toward it The terees; the sas raining off the their faceplates Once they’d cleared the worst of it, they dumped the solvent, hooked up their wands, and co down the walls and floor

Inside their suits, with the roar of the compressor, conversation was just about i the job and getting out They’d been at it for only a couple of minutes when Michael felt a tap on his shoulder He turned to see Ceps pointing at Ed Thethe wall like a statue, his wand held loosely at his side While Michael watched, it slipped fro’s wrong with him!" Ceps yelled over the racket

Michael stepped forward and turned Ed by the shoulders All he got was a blank stare

"Ed, you okay?"

The man’s face startled to life "Oh, hey, Michael," he said, too brightly "Hey-hey, hey-hey Woo-woo"

"What’s he saying?" Ceps called out

Michael drew a finger over his throat to tell Ceps to cut the compressor He looked at Ed squarely "Talk to me, buddy"

A girlish giggle escaped thetoward his faceplate "Ashblass Minfuth Minfuth!"

Michael saas about to happen As Ed reached for his mask, Michael seized hi either He wriggled fiercely in Michael’s grasp, trying to break free, his face blue with panic Not panic, Michael realized: hypoxia His body convulsed with a ht crashing into Michael’s arrabbed the ether they carried him to the port

"Somebody take him!" Michael yelled

Hands appeared to pull froh Michael scraloves theface-up on the hardpan; someone had stripped off his mask and backpack Michael dropped to his knees beside the body An o Michael placed the heel of his right hand at the center of Ed’s chest, positioned the left on top, laced his fingers together, and pushed Nothing Again and again he pushed, counting to thirty, as he had learned to do, then slipped one hand behind Ed’s neck to tip his airway open, pinched his nose, and pressed his mouth over the man’s blue lips One breath, two breaths, three Michael’s ular purpose Just as all see in a volu and coughing

Michael rocked back on his heels, landing ass-down in the dust, his pulse pounding with adrenaline Somebody handed him a canteen: Ceps

"You okay, pal?"

The question didn’t eventhe water inside his mouth, and spat it away "Yeah"

Eventually somebody helped Ed to his feet Michael and Ceps escorted him into the hut and sat hi?" Michael asked

A bit of color had flowed back into Ed’s cheeks, though his skin was da He shook his head miserably "I don’t knohat happened I could have sworn I checked en"

Michael had already looked; the bottles were empty "Maybe it’s tithere’s no disgrace in calling it a day" When Ed ht I’ll back you, whatever you want to do You want a ride to the barracks?"

Ed was staring disconsolately into space Michael could read the truth in his face: theelse

"I think I’ll sit here a while Get th back"

Michael stepped fro by the door "What the hell are you all standing around for?"

"The shift’s over, Chief"

Michael checked his watch: so it was

"Not for us it isn’t Show’s over, everybody Get your lazy asses back to work"

It was past , about Ed"

The two of them were curled in Michael’s berth Despite Lore’s best efforts, his mind had been unable towhen he closed his eyes was the look on Ed’s face in the hut, like soallows

"What do youyou did"

"It wasn’t anything"

"Yes, it was The man could have died How did you kno to do that?"

The past looht me," said Michael "She was a nurse"

Chapter 30

THE CITY

Kerrville, Texas

They arrived behind the rain First the fields, sodden with moisture, the air rich with the smell of dirt, then, as they ascended out of the valley, the walls of the city, looainst the brown Texas hills At the gate they found themselves in a line of traffic-transports, heavy mechanicals, DS pickups croith men in their thick pads Peter climbed out, asked the driver to deposit his locker at the barracks, and showed his orders to the guard at the pedestrian tunnel, aved hih

"Welcome home, sir"

After sixteen months in the territories, Peter’s senses were instantly assaulted by the vast, overwhel humanness of the place He’d spent little tih to adjust to its claustrophobic density of sounds and s faces The Colony had never numbered more than a hundred souls; here there were over forty thousand

Peter made his way to the quarterotten used to the idea ofeconomic unit of the Colony, had made sense to him You had your share, and you used it how you liked, but it was the same as everybody else’s, never less or more How could these slips of inked paper-Austins they were called, after the h, doe, adorned each bill-actually correspond to the value of a person’s labor?

The clerk, a civilian, doled out the scrip fro the bills onto the counter, and shoved a clipboard toward hin here"