Jack Dann - Dangerous Games

“They timed it,” Evan said. “Perfect. They wait till we have the Ruiz team back safe and sound, then they spring this shit.”

But it was nothing, Jere thought. Just an incomplete ship. A bunch of nuts talking about open-source technology and crap like that. Who cared?

“They knew the ratings would die the instant everyone was back in the Can,” Evan said. “They knew it, and they are fucking taking it!”

“What are the ratings like?” Jere said.

Evan shook his head and clicked on the realtime feed. The downward spike was still small, but he could see it accelerating. As he watched, it clicked down a few pixels more.

“Do we have anyone down in Mexico?” Evan said. “Can we get a line on this colony crap, too?”

“No,” Jere said.

“Shit. Shit-shit.”

It’s just a news story, Jere thought. One they’ll forget as soon as they log off .

But Ron was watching the competitive feeds, his jaw set hard, his eyes bright and glassy. Intent. Hungry. Excited. Jere knew that look. He shivered.

“Get on camera,” Ron said, not looking away from the feeds.

“What?” Evan said.

“Get your butts down to the newsroom and get on camera now!” Ron said, finally looking at them. “Before they all tune out.”

“Why?” Jere said.

“Tell them this is what you wanted. Winning Mars wasn’t just a show. This is what you intended all along.”

“But we didn’t…”

“Yes,” Ron said. “You did.”

In the blue light of the monitors, Evan’s expression of confusion suddenly bloomed into an excited smile.

“Will it work?” Jere said, looking at Ron.

Evan made a disgusted noise. “You probably believed the one about Washington never telling any lies, didn’t you?”

In the monitors, another talking head, saying they wanted to launch sometime in the next twenty-four months. Looking scared.

They’ll never make it, Jere thought.

They’ll fucking die up there.

But if they do…

Ron, looking at the slice-and-dice, openly smiling now.

“Come on,” Evan said. “Let’s go make our legacy.”