Eric Flint: Threshold

"I'm okay, Joe. I… I just don't want to go. Even with you." "We don't have to. You can stay here. I know Ares isn't exactly in the best shape, but we don't have to leave just because you're not working here." That's true, she thought with a sudden moment of wonder and fear. She stared at Joe. "I don'thave to work for the HIA?" Joe knew why she phrased it as a question. "No. You don't have to go back and push papers. You can stay here-at least as long as Ares manages to keep operations running." He studied her sympathetically. "But I know it might be hard to do that with some other guy trying to play super-security man." She managed a slight laugh. "Oh, I think it would be at least as hard for my replacement, whoever he is. Remember, I happen to have a rather inflated reputation." She tried to sit next to Joe with her usual relaxed intimacy, but despite all her years of discipline and training, she suspected Joe could sense her tension.

She wondered if this was what a zoo animal would feel if someone just took away the cage. She'd always thought her attachment to the Homeland Investigation Authority was just loyalty on her part, but she now realized it had also been habit and psychological safety. "Can we drop this subject? Maybe… there was something you were going to tell me, I think, before the call came in?" As usual, Joe-bless him-didn't try to keep on the topic and press for a solution like ninety percent of the men she knew would have. He simply leaned back and smiled, almost naturally, as though nothing had happened. "Well, yeah, there was. You've been working so hard on the Mars Base-setting up stuff for the U.N. to take possession-and then running over here and helping A.J., me, Glenn, Reynolds, and the rest put up our own colony, that I think I've gotten a piece of political news ahead of you, while you were out there working." Thatwould be something of a little coup for Joe, given that Maddie usually paid far more attention to the news than he did. "Okay, give." "They've announced the director of the Interplanetary Research Institute." Maddie sat up. "You win, Joe. How'd you hear this before I did?" "Because I got it from Helen just a little bit before you came in, who got it in a private message from A.J., who I guess was at the U.N. for some reason." She laughed.

"Four degrees of separation? All right, tell me, who is it? Pelletier?

Markovny? Shah?" "Nope. Nope. Nope." Madeline raised an eyebrow. Those had been the three leading contenders. The remainder was a morass of a dozen names, none of them thought to be likely choices. "Okay, give."

"A very good friend of ours." She felt the grin start automatically.

"Not-" "Dr. Nicholas F. Glendale, yes-and from what A.J. said, Nick was as floored as the rest of us. He was sure he was way back in the pack of also-rans. And they'll be sending him out here as soon asNike can restock. He'll be here in, say, four months-and A.J. probably will be, too." Joe looked momentarily depressed. "Though it's anyone's guess as to how much longer we can stay here after that." Maddie knew exactly how difficult things were going to get for Ares. A year, two years, but if a solution wasn't found… Even if onewas found, it would likely take time to implement. They needed something that would give Ares more breathing space right now. Even just one more load, evenhalf a load onNike or one of the other similar vessels being constructed, and Ares could make three or four years-enough to probably get past the pinch. But half a load was over seven hundred tons, far beyond Ares' means… Suddenly she was on her feet, bouncing across the room to grab her uniform and pull it on. "Where are you going, Maddie?" Madeline smiled, all her momentary uncertainty gone. Hughes' overly genial communication had sent a message as clear as if he'd recorded it straight out: do whatever you have to. "Not far at all. Just got to send a few messages. But I have to look my best for the job interview."

"She can't do that!" Director Hughes had to restrain a rather unprofessional grin. Truth be told, he had been anticipating this moment ever since the president, through Jensen, had revealed their plan to perform a genteel railroading, followed by a private tar-and-feathering, of his best and favorite agent. "I'm afraid that's not true, Mr. Jensen. She's a free woman in a free country. There's nothing in her contract that requires that she accept a promotion to assistant director of the HIA. True, it's a hell of a career move, but if she wants to stay on that godforsaken rockball as a glorified security guard, there's nothing I can do to stop her." He was very deliberately exaggerating his sympathetic tones. Jensen was the National Security Advisor he had come to detest more than any other who'd held that post in twenty years. George P.D. Jensen's long, narrow features were twisted with sour anger. His eyes narrowed.

"Don't you get cute with me, Hughes! She knows way too much-" "It doesn't work that way, Mr. Jensen, and you know it perfectly well.

Americans don't give up their rights when they go to work on behalf of national security. They do accept certain practical limitations, but they are neither slaves nor indentured servants. Intelligence agents can quit or retire anytime. They just have to keep the secrets they've learned and return any government property they have. Which Madeline Fathom did. I have her letter of resignation, her Official Secrets certification, and all her equipment accounted for. She's now a private citizen and completely within her rights to take a job with anyone she likes." "But for a foreign power-" "The U.N. is not exactly a foreign power, in the normal sense of that term. Lots of Americans have worked for U.N. agencies over the decades. Besides, Nicholas Glendale is an American citizen. And he's the one who offered her the job." Jensen practically snarled. "Asecurity job-on Mars! Where she'll be on the inside of the U.N. installation and I'll bet will be doing her best to stonewall Keld-ah, our new agent." "Keldering, eh? A better choice than I might have expected, even if he is a major-league political ass-kisser. Madeline might actually have to think around him once in a while. But that's just as well. I wouldn't want her getting too bored out there." For a moment, as the implications sank in, Jensen just gaped at Hughes, open-mouthed. "You… youtold her to do this!" Hughes' expression became very lugubrious. "Mr. Jensen, how could you suggest such a thing? I've sent her just one message since that decision was made, and you were sitting right there with me when I sent it. In the most enthusiastic terms I could think of. Exactly, I will note, as you instructed me to." He managed to avoid the temptation to say anything further. Easily, even. Hughes was a veteran of decades of Washington's infighting and turf wars-a veritable Achilles, one might say-and he was far too smart to say openly what he felt. Thought they could jerk him and his top agents around, did they?

Damn fools. In their eagerness to get rid of Fathom, all they'd done was leave her right where they didn't want her, on Mars-and now with absolutely no control over her at all. For anyone who knew Madeline, that outcome had been a foregone conclusion. Still, it was hard not to let any traces of his gloating show openly. He turned his chair so he faced away from the National Security Advisor, as if admiring the view of the capital through his window. It was a fairly spectacular view, actually.

Chapter 3 Satya Gupta paused by the doors a moment, gathering his thoughts. A.J. Baker's hasty and intense conversation had indeed helped, but there was still resistance to be dealt with. He hoped that the new factors, however, would be enough to sway opinion in his favor. Then he nodded to the guards outside and strode in. The president of India, Goutam Gaurav, rose respectfully, as did the other men and women of the Space Development Committee. "Thank you for coming, Dr. Gupta." "The pleasure is entirely mine," Gupta said, aware of the atmosphere in the room. They were very doubtful. Yes, he had supporters, but most were afraid of the imponderables of perception as well as the practical difficulties of the project he proposed. "It has been some time since I initially made my proposal. I trust you have had the opportunity to consider it?" "We have," the president answered. "And it is a… very interesting idea, Dr. Gupta.