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"Interesting"

"Food for thought," Russell said "Fro up, Platz just wants to , like he has been his whole life"

"And what do you want, Russell?"

To be top dog Not the best thing to voice, he knew "I want to see a little a as we’re all trapped, sucking at the Elevator’s teat, we should shift focus tolife enjoyable For everyone"

Alex Warthen, his face a ht, was good enough

The seed, planted

Chapter Thirteen

Anchor Station

23JAN2283

At 7 praed hue to a soft silver tone Moonlight mode Air circulators adjusted thermal controls to create a subtle chill in the air

The staff transitioned, too Research projects and other duties gave way to dinner, then recreation Casablanca played in the cafeteria Idle processors rendered virtual worlds to be explored in the sensory chaue held its championship in front of a small, if raucous, crowd

Three of Anchor’s crew remained in the infirmary A fourth, one of the scientists, fell into a coma and was evacuated to Gatehich had the best ht, most had retired to their quarters, alone or in pairs More, in a few cases

Anchor Station slept

Tania walked the e shoes for a pair of warh Black Level At one point an eruption of a on her coat, and the data cubes nestled beneath

Through the connection tube to Gray Level, then White, Tania encountered nobody Even the observation room that looked out on the Shell was deserted at this hour

At the bulkhead to Green Level, she used her ID card to pass through the security doors A night guard at the desk beyond waved her by with passive interest, a dog-eared paperback open on his lap Tania thought Anchor Stationthe Orbital security ranks

Support trusses spaced along the walls and ceiling were cast in blue-green hues, re her of moonlit trees she’d seen in old fil a door marked General Compute Lab A quick swipe of her ID card unlocked it, and she entered

The chilled air inside had a bite, her thin coat unable to repel it She shivered, and moved between the rows of co late, hunched in front of a terrossed in their work they hardly registered her entry Tania reed here at this hour

Past rows of ter servers, at the very back of the roo for three in front of a grid of o bounced merrily around in vivid resolution on the display

She closed the door quietly behind her and sat down in the center seat in front of the console From her lab coat she removed the four data cubes and a notepad

After a deep breath, she typed her passphrase into the waiting systened itself to present Tania’s preferred view Station status, personal es froht’s telescope activity donored it all Instead she inserted the data cubes into waiting slots Options blooan the data transfer

The systee to those used in the observatory, re her fears about compatibility The facility must have been outfitted around the sahly six years ago SUBS disease had begun soon after, and across the planet the technical renaissance brought on by the Elevator’s arrival all but stopped Everyone shifted focus to survival, to reaching Darwin before the disease reached theht She’d been in orbit at the ti, and her parents had insisted she stay in space until "the situation was under control" She never saw either of theain

Before tears could come, she shook her head and refocused on the task at hand

The first task for the co the information in a layout that she could understand The data set rolled through a linguistics program She placed an to take shape

A progressbut haste Tania began to drift off She leaned on her elbows, rested her chin on the backs of her hands, and tried to iine the observatory where the data had been found Snow-covered peaks, trees from one horizon to the other A telescope nestled in a valley between the e of sleep, Tania heard the delicate sound of the door opening She realized she had concocted no cover story, had no plausible reason to be there Mind racing, she turned to the door

Natalie stood there She looked tired, roused fro here?" Tania asked The words sounded ridiculous even as she said the in the scene Her i through her mind Then she looked once over her shoulder before fully entering the roo the door closed "My co and Marcus off the syste a sample from that subhuman, and called me, rather irritated"

Tania realized that the array of screens behind her were full of teleery, but nothing happened

Natalie took a tentative step into the roo on?" She sounded like a child

"I just," Tania said, then stopped What could she do? Lying noould be too much of a betrayal "Nat, I’m sorry"

Natalie came to stand at Tania’s side She focused on the enormous monitor, where a visualization of the database continued to take shape

"What is this?" Her voice was barely a whisper "Tania?"

"Listen," Tania said "I’ve been given a special project So I need to work on alone I didn’t think anyone would notice" She spoke in rapid spurts

"What kind of project?"

"I can’t tell you," Tania said "You should leave"

Natalie studied the screen, as if she hadn’t heard "That would go a lot faster if you turned off vis and error-checking"

"Nat, please I ot to flag an index field It will take forever to search the data later"

Tania glanced at the screen, then back to her assistant

"Sure you want me to leave?" Natalie asked, a confident sh Tania’scould change, again That knowledge carried with it the extraordinary potential to disrupt the already fragile state of hue that

Yet Tania knew she could not do this alone Natalie had proven her aptitude for infor on Anchor Station a year ago She’d become Tania’s best friend, as well The perfect confidante, Tania decided

Besides, Nat already stood here, on the brink of uncovering her extracurricular research Neil will understand, Tania told herself "No," she ado"

Natalie sat down "Good, that’s settled A secret project, huh? I love it I’estion of data With Natalie’s expertise, the process would take a quarter of the time now

"You’ll have to keep this to yourself," Tania said as they waited

"Moi, gossip?"

Tania shot her a stern look