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working on opposite edges of the shield, can be separated by the
whole width of the Earth. And we built it all.
The platform dipped, and Siobhan flew low over shimmering
prisms and glass struts, littered by small structures like shacks, and
vehicles like tractors that toiled patiently. One astronaut made her
S U N S T O R M " 2 1 3
cautious way across the surface bearing a huge strut of gossamer-
light lunar glass; she looked like an ant bearing a leaf many times its
own size.
And Siobhan made out what looked like flags, held out stiffly
by wire in the absence of any breeze. What are those?
Bud said bluntly, We don t have graves up here. We just push
you away, off into interplanetary space. But we give you a marker: a
flag of your country or your creed, or whatever you want. As we
build the shield we re working in a spiral, around and around the
center, moving farther out all the time. We just plant your flag at
the position of the leading edge, wherever it happens to be when
you die.
Now that she looked for them, she could see flags, dozens of
them within a single glance. Hundreds have died up here. She
hadn t known the numbers.
These are good people, Siobhan. Even without the direct risks
of the construction work, some of them have worked in zero G
without a break for two years or more. The medics say we are all
storing up problems with our bone structure and cardiovascular
systems and lymph systems and the rest. You know what the most
common surgery procedure is up here? For kidney stones, nodules
of calcium leached from your bones. And not to mention radiation
exposure. Everyone knows about the damage to DNA, the cancer
risks. But how about the brain? Your noggin is particularly vul-
nerable to cosmic radiation, and has a limited ability to repair itself.
Space makes you dumb, Siobhan.
I didn t know that
I bet you didn t, he said, a hardness under his even tone.
Medical studies on shield workers themselves have proved this.
Every year up here you shave ten years off your life. And yet these
people stay, and work themselves to death.
Oh, Bud Impulsively she grabbed his hands. I m not here
to attack your people; you know that. And I don t want us to fall
out.
He said heavily, But
But you know why I m here.
It was a question of corruption.
2 1 4 " C L A R K E & B A X T E R
Earthbound accountants, poring over their voluminous electronic
books, had found that a fraction of the funds and materials flowing
up into space had gone astray and that the decision making be-
hind that siphoning-off had to lie up here, on the shield itself.
Bud, the administration couldn t ignore it if they wanted to.
After all, if this goes on the whole project could be put at risk
He cut her short. Siobhan, get real. I m not going to deny the
skimming-off. But, Jesus, look out the window. This project is
soaking up a significant proportion of the GDP of the entire planet.
Croesus himself couldn t peel off enough to make a dent in that.
You ve got to get this in perspective. In percentage terms
That s not the point, Bud. You have to think about the psy-
chology. You say your people here are making sacrifices. Well, so
we are on Earth too, just as hard, to fund this thing. And if any of it
has been stolen
Stolen. He snorted and turned away from her. Siobhan,
you ve no idea how it is to work up here. Two million kilometers
from your home, your family. Yes, here I am saving the planet. But
I also want to save my own son.
She felt cold. He d never told her he had a son.
And she thought it through further. You re in on this, too.
You re doing your share of skimming, aren t you?
He wouldn t meet her gaze. Look, he said at last. There s a
firm in Montana. They bought up old nuclear weapon silos from
the USASF, long ago decommissioned. Those things were designed
to survive a nuclear strike, and to support their crews for weeks af-
terward. I ve seen the specs. It s possible that if you were stuck
down there, you might survive the sunstorm.
Even if the shield failed?
It s a chance, he said defiantly. But you can imagine the cost
of a ticket. Can t you see? Up here I can t do a thing for Todd and
his kids; I can t so much as dig a hole in the ground. But this way,
just by diverting a tiny fraction of one percent of one percent of the
shield budget
And everybody else up here is doing it too?
S U N S T O R M " 2 1 5
Not everybody. He was watching her. So now you know.
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