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ONE “ANYBODY OUT THERE? OVER.” Static, not a human voice, cackles back through my earpiece
TWO “YOU COULD BLEED TO DEATH!” I swiveled my head from the obstetrics instruction holo flick
THREE ON THE MORNING OF OUR 224TH DAY on Ganymede, measured in Earth days, Jude Metzger celeb
FOUR TWO DAYS LATER Howard and I again stood side by side on the Ganymede plains watching a V
FIVE V-STAR TROOP BAYS LACK WINDOWS but the troop bay technician had duct-taped a cheap plasm
SIX A MONTH AFTER EXCALIBUR BOOSTED OUT of Jupiter’s orbit, Jude Metzger learned to roll over
SEVEN ONE TROOP I DIDN’T HAVE TO KEEP busy was Howard Hibble’s. Not when his Spooks had more
EIGHT IF THERE WAS ONE THING Atwater Nimitz Brace valued more highly than his own reflection,
NINE THE VISITOR WHO SIDESTEPPED through the hatch was Ord. He hadn’t been at Captain’s Br
TEN BRUMBY’S TRIAL STARTED A WEEK LATER, in the converted operating room that was being used
ELEVEN I FOUND ORD TWENTY DECKS AFT of the court-martial, on a busman’s holiday from his divi
TWELVE TWO WEEKS AFTER EXCALIBUR RETURNED to lunar orbit, Howard and I stepped through Excali
THIRTEEN AFTER THE PRESIDENT LEFT, Tway handed me my new orders as I climbed into a limousine
FOURTEEN AT SIX HUNDRED HOURS the next morning, during my post-ten-K-run shave, our infirmary
FIFTEEN TWAY SCRUBBED THE REST of the morning talk shows. Forty-five minutes later, an Air Fo
SIXTEEN HOWARD HAD TOURED ME THROUGH LABS, collection rooms where catalogued Projectile fragm
SEVENTEEN MY RITZ SUITE WAS BIG ENOUGH for me, my hangover, and Jeeb. Most important, it had
EIGHTEEN THE NEXT MORNING Tway stood on the gravel path that split the Capitol Mall in front
NINETEEN “JASON, CAN YOU SPARE A MOMENT?” I had to lean farther into the limo to understan
TWENTY THE NEXT MORNING I LAY IN BED while pale light filtered through my bedroom’s curtains.
TWENTY-ONE I SAT UP, swung my pajamaed legs over the bedside, nudged Jeeb off the morning pap
TWENTY-TWO THE PSEUDOCEPHALOPOD TECHNOLOGY RECOVERY CENTER at Canaveral employed six thousand
TWENTY-THREE I LAY ON SOMETHING SHARP, stabbing the small of my back. Red-light bursts, crack
TWENTY-FOUR I SCREAMED AND CLUTCHED MY FREED HAND in the other, eyes still squeezed shut. I c
TWENTY-FIVE WATERY SUNLIGHT BATHED ME. Thok-thok-thok. Above me drifted orange eme
TWENTY-SIX THE NEXT MORNING I was one of forty senior officers who climbed down from a bus, d
TWENTY-SEVEN THE SCREEN BESIDE HOWARD DISSOLVED into a new picture. Howard said, “Visible-lig
TWENTY-EIGHT WE REASSEMBLED AFTER OUR BREAK. Earth’s military brain trust hid and plotted in
TWENTY-NINE I STARED AT THE CLOSED DOOR for twenty seconds, trying to figure out what Howard
THIRTY THE FIRST THING HOWARD’S PLAN REQUIRED was that I assemble a combat team. Well, an ass
THIRTY-ONE I WATCHED THE COP, or rather his dull reflection, in the polished-metal mirror abo
THIRTY-TWO AT ELEVEN P.M. TWO WEEKS LATER, I buttoned up my gear, including Jeeb, and punched
THIRTY-THREE MY HEART THUMPED as the fifty of us walked across the Mall to the V-Star’s now-d
THIRTY-FOUR THREE DAYS LATER Howard, Brumby, and I sat in Excalibur’s officers’ mess sipping
THIRTY-FIVE LATER THAT DAY Howard, Brumby, Mimi Ozawa, and I huddled around a holotank in a c
THIRTY-SIX TWO HOURS LATER I lay in the dark on my bunk when Howard rapped on my cabin’s hatc
THIRTY-SEVEN WE SLIPPED OUR GEAR ABOARD Mimi’s V-Star, then I went back to my cabin to sleep.
THIRTY-EIGHT I HELD MY BREATH and waited to relive my nightmare, tumbling through frozen vacu
THIRTY-NINE TEN MINUTES LATER, Mimi twisted and rolled our V-Star among maneuvering Firewitch
FORTY TWO MINUTES LATER, I floated in the docking bridge that Howard’s Spooks had designed an
FORTY-ONE JEEB FLEW FIRST DOWN the docking bridge and I floated right behind him, into the pu
FORTY-TWO HOWARD AND I KNELT CLOSEST to the door, so the explosion flattened us. Air whooshed
FORTY-THREE THE SLUG CATWALK curved along the chamber’s wall and descended. With our headligh
FORTY-FOUR THE CHAMBER FLOOR rushed up at me as I fell head first the one hundred feet toward
FORTY-FIVE I DISPATCHED JEEB TO PATROL so we could circle our wagons. The three of us sat
FORTY-SIX HOWARD JUMPED UP AND DANCED, arms waving over his head. Brumby blinked furiously
FORTY-SEVEN I LOOKED FROM THE WALL to Howard to Brumby. “Looks like the Slugs brought their o
FORTY-EIGHT I STARED INTO DARKNESS, the space before me empty. The wet thud as Brumby fell
FORTY-NINE I KNELT AND PICKED UP A SQUARE of paper a bit bigger than an old postage stamp, bu
FIFTY “HUH?” Mimi scrambled down from the observation blister and dog-paddled along handho
FIFTY-ONE “GENERAL?” My command sergeant major knocks on the hatch frame of my stateroom as h
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