Eric Flint - Threshold

The larger image of Ceres on the main screen suddenly ballooned upward as thoughNobel were plummeting straight toward the surface of the miniature planet, then halted. A pattern of little circles in bright green suddenly appeared in the center of the screen, with a brilliant red X to the left and below the middle of the pattern. "X marks the spot I think you'd best land at… Looks to have slightly higher, um… what the hell is it, I can't think… Oh, higher water readings." He's practically dead on his feet, Jackie thought, and moved forward. "That's it, A.J., you're going to bed. Jesus, you're going to make yourself sick. You're not twenty anymore. In fact, you've seen the other side of thirty already." "Not thirty, refuse to believe it." Helen helped A.J., still mumbling in a disjointed way, out of the control room, while the others watched. "Right," said Bruce as the doors closed. "Time to plan the landing." Jackie nodded. The reason that they hadn't landed anyone on Ceres yet was simple: they wanted there to be absolutely no chance of any creative interpretation of the Buckley Addendum that would remove the Cererian Bemmie base from the control of the joint IRI-Ares mission. Unless the Addendum was interpreted very broadly, they wouldn't be awarded the leasehold on the entire miniature planet, any more than Ares had gotten all, or even a majority, of Mars. The Addendum and its current interpretation, of course, was very clear: the claim would be based on the location of the firstperson to "set foot"-i.e., land and leave the landing vehicle-on the object in question. Thus, they had to wait until they could determine exactly where the Bemmie base was, and landdirectly above it. If another ship, likeNike, Amaterasu, orOdin had gotten close, the crew ofNobel might have had to just go for it anyway. But now, fortunately, it wouldn't be necessary. "A.J. won't be available for a while, obviously," Bruce said. "Still, I don't see it should be a problem. I'll be flyin', of course, so me, you, Larry, Jane, and Jake are doing the landing." "You sure you want to send both the top pilot and chief engineer down?" Jackie asked, startled. She'd already resigned herself to waiting until later. "Sure am, luv. Let's face it, this old wheel of tuna cans and duct tape is doing just fine, and if they have to coast home without us, well, that doesn't take fancy flying, and they're none of them stupid, so if they have to fix something they'll figure it out. LandingFeynman on a new rockball, that's not quite so simple. And A.J., Helen, and Rich all got their chance to land on a brand-new world, so I think they can wait for trip two." She hadn't realized how much she'd wanted to be "in" on that first landing until she found she was giving Bruce an emphatic hug.

"Thankyou, Bruce!" She kissed him on the cheek. "Hold on with that stuff, mate-Tammy might not approve," Bruce said, grinning. "Not that I mind, mind." "How does she put up with it?" "Knowing me, wouldn't you wonder how she'd put up with me if I was there all the time?"

Bruce answered lightly. "No, really. How can you both stay married and so far apart?" Bruce grimaced, seeing she was serious. "It's been a fair dinkum problem, or was. See, she knew I was a pilot and I'd be going off for weeks at a time, but months-that was pushin' it.

Speakin' honestly, we damn near didn't stay married. But Tammy, she's the practical sort, too. My pay's good, an' being out here I don't spend much of it, and little Stevie loves seein' her daddy on TV. Very proud of me, she is." Jackie could hear the affection in his voice, the rough edge that was like a tiny hint of tears. "Stevie was sorta an accident, but the best kind." "Still… how? I mean, I know you send them long letters, video, things like that, but…" "Oh, no doubt it's tough. But that's why we've made the decision that it ain't going to be that way anymore-thanks to Nick." This was something new.

"Director Glendale?" "Yeah. You remember he called me aside a little before we left? We had a long talk. Well, actually, he did a lot of talking, and I did a lot of listening. If the IRI were a regular military or government agency, things'd be different. But Nick basically told me that there was a better way to do things. He's authorized it all. Tammy and Stevie are coming to stay." "Here? You mean, on boardNobel?" Jackie demanded incredulously. "Well, not right this minute. But yeah, after we get back to Phobos Station, from then on they stay with me when they want to. And if I'm taking a long trip, like something to the outer part of the system might need, they get to come with me." Jackie knew her face reflected her astonishment. It wasn't the idea that Nicholas Glendale might have thought that far ahead for the welfare of his most important employees; that was characteristic of the charismatic and razor-sharp former paleontologist. The real issue was expense. On Earth, it was much easier to give the family of critical employees appropriate living quarters; but in space, where every ton of food, water, or air cost someonesomething… and that issue was ten times more important on an interplanetary ship. And there were other problems, too. "Bruce, you know that at least some people can't take weightlessness at all, even for short periods." "Right, which is why ol' Nicky didn't even call me over until the family'd passed preliminaries. Tammy kept the whole thing a secret from me, too. Coulda knocked me over with a feather when I found out. Tammy wasn't too keen on it to start, but after these years seein' each other for a couple weeks at a time, and knowing how there just ain't going to beany jobs like this anywhere, ever again, she changed her mind. Because, funny thing, I still love her-more'n I did when I married her, strewth!-and hard as it is to believe, she loves me." "Not hard at all." Jackie said, smiling wistfully. "She's a lucky girl." "I'm the lucky one." He saw her half-sad smile. "Don't you fret, Jackie. There's plenty of guys out there for you." "Yeah," she said, turning to the console to start making up the manifest for the landing. "That's the problem. They're outthere, while I'm outhere. "

"… and that is why, Director Glendale, I want to assure you that the European Union is not only going to back Ares' claim along with you, but also, asOdin is now fully operational and tested, we would be happy to assist you in maintaining supply lines for both the Martian and Ceres operations." After he completed the sentence, Vice-President Bitteschell studied the impeccably dressed yet exhausted-looking figure across from him carefully. Bitteschell was one of the twenty-seven commissioners who made up the European Union's executive body, the European Commission. In addition to his largely formal post as one of the vice-presidents of the Commission, Bitteschell also held the portfolio of Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry. Since the European Space Agency had been absorbed by the E.U. some years earlier, that made him the effective head of Europe's space program. He could see Glendale's face relax slightly as he gave his famously brilliant smile. "Commissioner, I won't conceal from you that this is a considerable relief. The current American administration is… somewhat less happy with the situation." How very unsurprising, he thought to himself. Aloud, he said "I would be less than honest, Director, if I were to say that everyone in the Union is preciselyhappy. Naturally there is some jealousy. But if we were to push in a manner that might limit your rights, we simply make it less likely that we could benefit from any discoveries we might make in the future. And there are few enough vessels in space that I believe that we should all be helping one another. In return, I would hope that we might be able to arrange some cooperation in the dissemination of research results?" Glendale's nod and smile were slightly… off. Too heavy, Bitteschell decided. The director had spent most of his time in the past year in one-third gravity. He'd clearly kept up on his exercise, but still there was a major difference between spending an hour or three in a centrifuge each day or two, and spending days in a gravity field three times greater than you'd become accustomed to. "I am sure something can be arranged.