Michael McCollum - The Clouds of Saturn

THE CLOUDS OFSATURN

A Novel By

Michael McCollum

Sci Fi - Arizona, Inc.

Third Millennium Publishing

An Online Cooperative of Writers and Resources

Prologue

The sun is a variable star. Changes in solar output have sent glaciers marching toward the

equator every fifty thousand years or so. The last such episode took place in late prehistoric times

and coincided with the displacement of Neanderthal Man by the Cro-Magnons. Nor has Modern

Man been immune to the effects of the sun’s variability. During the Little Ice Age of the Sixteenth

through Nineteenth Century, a minor reduction in solar output caused the harbors of Iceland and

Greenland to be blocked by ice for 6 months out of every year. At least one Viking colony starved

to death because of the climatic change.

It was not until the first decade of the Twenty Second Century, however, that humanity realized the true

extent of Sol’s variability. Beginning in 2102, the sun was wracked by a series of solar flares. As such,

outbursts grew more frequent and violent; astronomers began to reexamine their long held beliefs about

the nature of the sun. It was with understandable horror that they realized Sol was about to enter a period

of long term instability. Projections called for the sun’s output to increase gradually for several hundred

years. While minor on the scale of the universe, the change would render Earth uninhabitable within a

century. If nothing were done to stop it, the Mother of Men would become a twin to Venus -- a

hothouse planet on which liquid water no longer existed.

Faced with extinction, the human race directed its considerable resources toward saving the

home world. No possibility was overlooked. Many research efforts were launched in a period that

became known as the Golden Age of Pure Science. Despite their best efforts, the scientists could

find no practical method for bringing the errant star to heel. After decades of study, Earth’s

leaders reluctantly concluded that humankind would have to abandon its ancestral home. They

began to search the Solar System for a place of refuge.

The haven they chose was not one many would have guessed.

Chapter 1: The Battle of New Philadelphia

Larson Sands lay in his acceleration couch and watched the dawn asSparrowHawk raced eastward at a

thousand kilometers per hour. Dawn on Saturn was always spectacular, but never more so than on a

battle morning. As the sun climbed the sky, it quickly transformed the world from a black and silver

etching to a blue-white panorama of air and cloud. Lars watched as the rays of the sun chased azure

shadows from the deep cloud canyons, and turned The Arch overhead into a pale ghost of its former self.

“Message coming in fromDelphi .”

Sands glanced toward his copilot. Halley Trevanon was a brunette in her early twenties (Standard

Calendar). Halley possessed a wide mouth, full lips, green eyes, and a scar that bisected her left

eyebrow. She was scanning the sensor readouts that told them what ships were in their vicinity.

“Patch him through,” Lars said.

The communications screen on the instrument panel lit to show Dane Sands’s smiling face. Dane was

Lars’s younger brother, and Halley’s fiancé.

“Hello,SparrowHawk ,” Dane said. “Get enough sleep last night?”

“You know damned well we didn’t!” Lars muttered back. Dane was serving aboard the New

Philadelphia flagship,Delphi , some two hundred kilometers to their west. It was his task to act as liaison

betweenSparrowHawk and her New Philadelphia employers. Like them, he had been at his post since

just after Second Midnight when the first sighting reports had come in.

Five thousand kilometers to the east, a New Philadelphia scout had reported an unknown aircraft moving

west at high speed. Although there had been no positive identification, the commodore commanding the

New Philadelphia fleet had ordered his heavier-than-hydrogen craft launched. In the three hours since,

SparrowHawk and the other ships of the fleet had been on guard for an approaching enemy. Despite

their efforts, they had detected nothing.

“I’ve got some news for you,” Dane answered. “It looks like last night was a false alarm.Dakota may

have suffered a sensor glitch caused by atmospheric conditions.”

Lars nodded. Saturn’s thick atmosphere of closely packed hydrogen atoms did strange things to radar

performance. Eddy currents and vertical convection cells created ghosts that looked like the wake of a

fast moving aircraft. Such mistakes were common.

“What are our orders?”

Dane glanced at something out of camera range. “I show you two hundred kilometers east ofDelphi .”

“Correct.”

“Why don’t you work your way back in this direction? If nothing has shown up by the time you arrive,

we will take you back aboard. You should be here in time for breakfast.”

“Understood,” Lars said. “We’re turning now.”

He pulled his control to the left and back slightly, sendingSparrowHawk into a gentle turn. As he did so,

Dane Sands asked, “How’s my girl?”

“Excited, and a little scared,” Halley responded. Like Lars, she was encased in an environment suit, with

her helmet visor up. Should the ship be holed, she could seal her suit in a matter of seconds. The other

four crewmen aboardSparrowHawk were similarly attired.

“Don’t wear yourself out,” Dane said. “The high command here is still hoping our show of strength will

cause the Alliance to back off. We know their fleet left Cloudcroft three days ago, but we still have no

evidence that they are coming here.”

“Do you really think that, my love?”

Dane flashed her his most lopsided grin. “That’s the way we’ve been betting all along, isn’t it?”

Larson Sands said nothing. Over the past few weeks, he had started to wonder if their bet had been a

wise one. The Delphis were expert geneticists who had long pursued the dream of engineering a life form

that could live in the upper Saturnian atmosphere. Rumors that they had developed a viable organism had

reached the Northern Alliance, causing it to invite New Philadelphia to join them. The invitation had been

couched in terms that caused the Delphis to look to their defenses.

As was the case with most independent cities, New Philadelphia could not afford a full time navy to

challenge the larger, more powerful Saturnian “nations.” Rather, they maintained the core of a fighting

force that could be rapidly expanded in time of trouble. In addition to a few customs ships, they had

turned one of their large air freighters into a powerful flagship and mobile base. To supplement this fleet,

they had sent recruiters throughout the northern hemisphere looking for privateer ships and crews.

The Sands brothers and Halley Trevanon had met the Delphi recruiters in a bar aboard Pendragon City.

Lars still remembered the plump songstress who belted outThe Ballad of Lost Earth while the Delphi

recruiters made their pitch. Afterward, Dane Sands had argued in favor of taking the job. He had thought

it easy money, a simple show of force to convince the Alliance that their gain would not be worth the

cost.

It was an argument that had the benefit of history on its side. For if there was one thing all the cloud cities

of Saturn shared, it was their vulnerability to attack. When a single fanatic with a bomb could send an

entire population plummeting into the crushing pressure of the lower atmosphere, those who ruled thought

long and hard before challenging their neighbors. If faced with a large enough opposition force, the

Alliance would forego its claim on New Philadelphia lest they place their own cities at risk.

Larson Sands and Halley Trevanon had been less certain about the job, but neither had voiced a strong

objection to wearing the New Philadelphia livery. At the time,SparrowHawk ’s fusion reactors had been

more than a standard year past recommended overhaul. Worse, the ship’s half-dozen crewmen had not

been paid in months. They had needed the money too badly to say no.

That had been three months ago. For some time after their arrival aboard the Delphis’ capital city, it had

appeared the diplomats would resolve the dispute. A week earlier, however, the Alliance ambassador

had broken off negotiations. The New Philadelphia high command had also received reports that the

Alliance fleet had sortied.

New Philadelphia responded by launching their own fleet. They had sent ships east along the North

Temperate Belt flyway to interpose themselves between New Philadelphia’s three cities and the Alliance.

Their presence there was both a challenge and a warning. While it would be a simple matter for the

Alliance to bypass the Delphi flagship and her covey of fusion powered aircraft, to do so would leave

their own cities open to attack. If they were serious about annexing New Philadelphia, they would first

have to seek out the New Philadelphia fleet and destroy it. The Delphis hoped to inflict enough damage

that the Alliance would lose interest and go home.

AsSparrowHawk came westward, it did not take long for New Philadelphia’s massive flagship to

materialize out of the blue haze of distance.Delphi was an anachronism, a machine from out of another

time and place. It was a dirigible, a giant gasbag half-a-kilometer in length whose whale shape traced its

ancestry back to the earliest flying machines. Large stabilizers sprouted from the airship’s stern, while the

bow was a blunt curve that sliced the wind with minimum resistance. Behind the great dirigible roiled a

long streamer of disturbed air that marked the flagship’s exhaust. Where cargo hatches had once been,

there were now weapons locks, long-range sensors, and sally ports.

Heavier than hydrogen craft likeSparrowHawk had their uses, but eventually, they had to land. The giant

lighter-than-hydrogen dirigibles likeDelphi provided them with a place to set down. Like the ancient

aircraft carriers of Earth, they were the roving bases from which the smaller craft launched their attacks.

However, like those earlier behemoths, the flagship was a fragile construct. It depended on its squadrons

for protection.

“Attention, All Ships! Enemy craft sighted. Fifteen hundred kilometers at ninety degrees. All craft

form up onAvadon. Prepare to attack!”

Lars glanced once at Halley. The voice was that of Commodore Kraken, the Delphi commander. A

flurry of orders came over the command circuit from Dane as the battle center of the flagship came alive.

Lars loopedSparrowHawk well behindDelphi in order to take his place in the defensive line. There were

twenty-one New Philadelphia craft in all. Eighteen of these were assigned to intercept the intruders and to

drive them back.

“Everyone tied down?” he asked over his intercom.

SparrowHawk’s four crewmen checked in. Ross Crandall was attending the ship’s fire control

computer. Brent Garvich and Hume Bailey were at weapons stations, while Kelvor Reese monitored the

ship’s auxiliary systems.

When the squadron defendingDelphi had formed up, they accelerated to two thousand kilometers per

hour. Even at that speed, they had not exceeded sonic velocity in Saturn’s hydrogen-helium atmosphere.

The two fleets closed to maximum range and began their first cautious probings of one another’s

formations. In the thick atmosphere, lasers were limited to short range. Thus, the sky was filled with

missiles as ships launched at their distant adversaries. Within seconds, individual sparks of light began to

appear as enemy missiles came within laser range and were blotted from the sky.

The two dozen Alliance ships bored in to engage the mixed privateer/Delphi force. The two fleets

interpenetrated. Within seconds, the sky was filled with twisting, turning ships that stabbed at one another

in a deadly dance.

The Alliance drew first blood as they blasted the wing off one of the Delphi customs craft. Sands

watched as the small vessel healed over and began its long dive toward the invisible hydrogen sea two

thousand kilometers below. There was no fire because there is no oxygen in Saturn’s atmosphere to

support combustion. While he watched, a small object separated from the single seat fighter and grew

into a silver balloon with a tiny figure suspended beneath it.

Assured that the pilot had gotten out, Lars went back to the battle. The next two craft to take hits

belonged to the Alliance. One of their prowlers was struck amidships by a missile that exploded it. The

rain of parts was such that Sands doubted anyone had survived. The second ship, a larger destroyer,

took a missile in its reactor spaces. The results were less spectacular, but sufficient to cause it to

withdraw.

“We’re winning!” Halley exclaimed after she launched a missile that was destroyed by laser fire scant

meters from its target. Even though vaporized, the cloud of molten drops splattered across the wing

surfaces of its target, causing it to follow its wounded companion east.

“They’re not as strong as we were led to believe,” Lars said through gritted teeth.

Another Delphi ship died within the next few seconds, along with one of the larger Alliance craft. By now

the dogfight was spread across so much sky thatSparrowHawk appeared alone. The only nearby ship

was a single seat Alliance fighter. Sands bore in as his opponent attempted to flee. His concentration was

broken by a sudden cry for help.

“Attention All Ships! This isDelphi. We are under attack. The group you have engaged is a

diversion. The main fleet is here. All ships to us!

“Damn!” Sands exclaimed. A high gee turn transformed the curse into an unintelligible grunt. Once lined

up to the west, he advanced his throttles to emergency maximum and feltSparrowHawk leap forward.

“What’s your situation, Dane?” he asked over his private command circuit.

Dane’s face was wide eyed as he came on the screen. Lars did not know when he had seen his brother

so frightened.

“They came out of the cloud wall, Lars! Nearly thirty of them. They are boring in on the flagship. Our

combat air patrol has gone out to meet them. We are running west as fast as we can. I don’t think we’re

going to make it.”

“We’re on our way.”

“Hurry, damn it!”

“How many others are with us?” Lars asked Halley.

She made a quick sensor survey of the sky. She noted six other craft with the green New Philadelphia

icon. There were a dozen enemy vessels behind them. The rest of the Delphi fleet was still engaged and

unable to break free.

“We should have known something was wrong. No one sends a two dozen ships to attack a city.”

“Do you think Dane’s in danger?” Halley asked, horror suddenly creeping into her voice.

“I think we’reall in danger,” he replied grimly.

As they rocketed through the sky, Halley put up the long-range scanner display. What they saw sent a

chill through Sands. A swarm of red icons was being opposed by three green while the flagship symbol

attempted to flee. The defending New Philadelphia craft lasted only a few seconds before fluttering into

the depths. They left twenty-eight intact Alliance craft free to swarm aroundDelphi .

“That’s it,” he said as the Alliance fleet reached the flagship. “Kraken will have to surrender now.”

Almost as though the commodore had heard Sands’s comment, the call went out. The two privateers

listened gloomily as the New Philadelphia commander struck his colors. One part of Sands was

saddened by the loss, another part relieved. Dane would be interned for a while, but would eventually be

freed. There was no reason for the Alliance to harm captured privateers.

“Let’s get away from here,” he ordered Halley. “We don’t want to be interned, too.”

“Right.”

Ahead of them, the flagship was just coming out of the blue. It was still so distant that they could not see

the smaller Alliance ships darting around it. Lars was about to turn away when the first bright flash

appeared on the upper surface of the dirigible.

“What the hell?”

“They’re attacking!” Halley screamed. “They’re not accepting the surrender.”

“Stand by,” Lars ordered. “We’re going in.”

It was impossible forSparrowHawk to move any faster. Despite its headlong speed through the thick

atmosphere, it seemed they were barely moving as two more missiles impacted the flagship. Sands

watched in horror as the dirigible split open like a ripe grape. With the central gasbag holed and the hot

hydrogen spilled to the surrounding atmosphere, the ship was unable to support its own weight. It sagged

in the middle, then broke in two as its keel snapped. The stern section, burdened by heavy drive

reactors, began immediately to drop toward the distant cloud floor of the flyway. Freed of the weight of

the stern, the bow bounced upward as men and machinery tumbled out through the gaping hole in the

midsection.

It was then that Sands realized the attack had been no mistake. The bow section was obviously helpless

as it rose out of control. Yet, the Alliance ships pressed their attack. More explosions rent the forward

gasbags and the bow lost its lift. It, too, foundered and then started on a long downward spiral.

Larson Sands screamed in rage as he watched the calculated cold bloodedness of the attack. Dane was

in the forward combat center. Every missile hit was like a knife into his own ribs. No longer was the

Alliance shooting at a dangerous enemy craft. Honest battle had been transformed into the murder of

helpless men and women.

SparrowHawkreached the Alliance fleet and launched every missile in her depleted magazines. The

desperation attack took the Alliance by surprise. Three ships that had been vectored to intercept the

surviving New Philadelphia craft were smashed. The resulting gap allowedSparrowHawk free passage

through their defense line. The arrival of the rest of the New Philadelphia fleet kept the other Alliance

ships too busy to pursue.

Sands dove for the falling flagship remnant, heedless of the pain in his ears as cabin pressure increased

with each kilometer of altitude lost. It began to grow warm as well. By the timeSparrowHawk overtook

the bow section,Delphi had plunged twenty kilometers, yet was still under attack. With no missiles in his

magazines, Sands ordered his weapons crews to slash at the marauders with defensive lasers.

The initial attack onDelphi had been centered on the dirigible’s upper surface in order to dump the hot

hydrogen that buoyed the ship. Since most ofDelphi ’s lifeboats were housed atop the gasbag, these

were destroyed in the first seconds. Still, there was the possibility that individual crewmen might yet bail

out. Sands keptSparrowHawk in a tight circle around the falling bow as he watched intently for the silver

balloons of survivors. As the pressure and temperature continued to mount, the Alliance ships broke off

the fight and climbed for the safety of the upper atmosphere.SparrowHawk continued its plunge

alongside the doomed flagship.

“Come on, Dane! Get out!” Sands muttered to himself through clenched teeth as he kept one eye on the

dirigible and another on the pressure readout. Beside him, Halley sobbed quietly. Sands’s universe

narrowed to exclude everything but the falling airship until Ross Crandall’s growl came over the intercom.

“For God’s sake, Lars, break off! Cooking us won’t help Dane.”

Lars glanced once more at the outside temperature readout. Then, with his own sob, he pulled back on

his controller and sent the ship into a flat circle. They did not gain altitude, but they were not losing any

either. For the next minute, he watched asDelphi ’s remains sank lower and lower. Finally, it

disappeared into the cloud floor of the North Temperate Belt. As Sands scanned the sky, nowhere could

he see the silver sphere of a rescue balloon.

He looked at Halley, who was staring at him. There was horror behind the glistening tears in her eyes.

Suddenly, Sands felt an emptiness greater than any he had ever known.

“I’m sorry, Halley. He’s gone.”

His comment was answered by nothing save the rushing hydrogen wind beyond the hull.

#

Chapter 2: Port Gregson

The Alouette Bar was on the outer rim of the Port Gregson support truss, beyond the protective

enclosure of the gasbag, with picture windows overlooking the abyss. At one time, the place had boasted

a balcony where patrons could step outside -- suitably bundled up against the cold and wearing a nose

breather, of course. It had been the custom for drinkers to lean over the waist high railing and spit into the

wind. The balcony had been closed when one expectorator had let go with too much enthusiasm, and

had nearly followed his saliva into the misty depths.

For the past twenty minutes, Larson Sands had been eyeing the graphite railing through the

floor-to-ceiling plastic window and thinking how easy it would be to end his problems forever. All that

was required of him was to get up from the table, walk casually to the hydrogen lock, and step through.

It would then be three long strides to the city’s outer edge. Once over the railing, Lars would have two

thousand kilometers of empty sky in which to soar before plunging into the hydrogen sea that had

swallowed Dane. Without a breather, he would pass out from asphyxiation long before the temperature

or pressure rose to fatal levels. All things considered, not a bad way to go.

“Ready for another, Lars?”

His drinking partner’s question shook him out of his reverie. Ross Crandall was an old man for a

privateer. At 45 standard years, he had been a hired mercenary for more than two decades. He had

once had a ship of his own, but had lost it in a brushfire war five years earlier. After bouncing from ship

to ship, he had joinedSparrowHawk as a weapons specialist. It had been Crandall’s marksmanship that

had cleared the way for them to go to the aid of the strickenDelphi .

“Sure, Ross.”

Crandall signaled for the waitress’s attention. She sauntered over to the table. She was a typical

Gregsonite, a fact made obvious by a costume that left little to the imagination. Had Lars been in a better

mood, he might have been interested in the wares she was so forthrightly advertising. As it was, Crandall

ordered two more scotches while Lars stared off into space.

The bar was on the starboard side of the city, which meant that it faced south. The Arch was a pale

rainbow of soft white light barely visible in the royal blue sky. From this latitude, it climbed nearly

one-third to the zenith. The sun was low to the right, casting darkening shadows over the cloud canyons.

In only a few minutes it would dip below the horizon and First Night would begin.

“Stop torturing yourself,” Crandall said. “Dane’s death wasn’t your fault.”

“It should have been me,” he muttered, his voice breaking with emotion. “Fleet liaison is my job. If I’d

done my job, Dane wouldn’t have been aboardDelphi when she went down.”

“No, but you would have! You would now be dead and Dane and I would be having this conversation.

Dane was a privateer. He knew what he was doing. In our line of work, people get killed.”

“But damn it, they’d surrendered!”

Crandall nodded. “And the Alliance shot them down anyway. Not too difficult to figure their motives, is

it? Most of the New Philadelphia brass were aboard that ship. Better for the Alliance that they not be

around to cause problems during the assimilation. Dane was just one of the poor bastards unlucky

enough to be aboard the ship when the Alliance assassinated it.”

Sands did not answer. One part of him could see the logic of Ross’s words even though most of him

burned with rage at the injustice of it all. Then there was the corner of his brain that remembered how he

had always laughed at people who mentioned war and justice in the same breath.

Following the disappearance ofDelphi into the mist, Sands had evaded the Alliance fleet by heading

directly for the nearest cloud wall. In so doing, he had adopted the tactic that the Alliance had used to set

up their ambush.

Unlike Earth, which is largely heated by the sun, Saturn derives most of its heat from internal processes.

The predominant mechanism is the formation of helium droplets under high pressure. Once formed, the

droplets fall as helium rain into the vast hydrogen sea that covers Saturn to a depth of several thousand

kilometers. As the helium droplets sink, they generate heat. As the lower atmosphere is heated, vast

columns of rising hydrogen form and produce convection cells that cover many thousands of kilometers.

The cells are then smeared along the lines of latitude by the planet’s high rate of rotation, forming globe

girdling linear storms that give the planet its characteristic banded appearance.

The rising legs of the convection cells are called Zones, and are characterized by dense clouds and

unstable conditions. As the organic-molecule-laden hydrogen rises, it cools, causing its load of chemicals

to condense out to form multihued clouds at various altitudes. Blue clouds of water vapor form a layer

500 kilometers deep in the atmosphere, while a layer of brown ammonia hydrosulfide mist forms a

hundred kilometers higher still. A third cloud layer, this one composed of white ammonia ice, forms at a

depth of 320 kilometers from the arbitrary line that marks the edge of the planetary atmosphere.

Non-condensing particulates are carried above the ammonia cloud layer by the rising convection cells.

There they form the high thin haze that softens the planet’s outlines and mutes its colors when viewed

from space.

By the time the rising column of hydrogen reaches the top of its arc, it is cold and largely devoid of

impurities. As the column falls back toward the depths, it sweeps away the clouds and creates vast

canyons of clear, stable air. The astronomers dubbed these canyons “belts” because of their dark color.

It is the alternating pattern of the broad light zones and narrow dark belts that form Saturn’s bands. By

diving into the cloud wall, Sands had sent his ship across the zone - belt interface and into hiding.

Once he had won free of the battle area, Sands sought safety for his ship and crew in Port Gregson. He

would have preferred a sanctuary farther from the Alliance, but the long dive into the thick, hot

atmosphere near the bottom of the flyway had causedSparrowHawk ’s reactor to overheat. By the time

they regained the heights, Port Gregson had been one of the few independent cities within range of their

stricken craft.

Port Gregson was a trading city that made its living by tacking back and forth across the six thousand

kilometer wide North Temperate Belt and trading with the other cities as they sailed past. Because of

their need to stay on good terms with everyone, they were neutral in the various rivalries of North

Saturnian politics. They had a tradition of offering sanctuary to the vanquished so long as the refugees

could pay their way. Sands used the last of his crew’s funds for the city’s mandatory docking and port

fees.

In the past two weeks, he had contracted with the port authorities to repair and reprovision

SparrowHawk . The work was nearly done and payment due. Unfortunately, Sands was broke. If he

were lucky, the Port Gregson authorities would only throw him into jail when they realized the truth.

Otherwise, they might decide to drop him over the side. On Saturn, the disposal of inconvenient corpses

was a matter of the utmost simplicity.

#

“You’re Larson Sands, aren’t you?”

Sands looked up bleary eyed at the speaker. His first impression was of an egg. When he focused his

eyes, he saw that his interrogator was bald to the point where he lacked even eyebrows. Even though

tall, the stranger was obviously not from Port Gregson. His clothes were conservative, but expensive, as

was the gold bracelet he wore on one wrist. A diamond stickpin held his cravat in place. The stone dated

from the time before Earth’s evacuation. It was priceless for that reason.

“Yes,” Sands answered warily.

“I am interested in hiring your ship. May I buy each of you a drink while we discuss it?”

“Sure,” Crandall replied for Sands. The mention of possible business sobered the old warrior faster than

a cold needle shower.

The bald stranger sat down and made a show of taking off his leather gloves. These alone would have

cost Lars his previous year’s earnings.

“Might we know your name?”

“Certainly. I am Micah Bolin.”

“Of what city?”

“That is not important at the moment. Let us just say that I am a citizen of Saturn.”

“Very well. You wish to hire our ship?”

“I do if you own that Air Shark Mark III down in the landing bay.”

“We do.”

“She’s beautiful,” Bolin said. “What power plant?”

“Twin Saturn Industries hundred megawatt drive reactors.”

“Range?”

“Enough for ten times around the planet,” Sands lied. When she had been new,SparrowHawk could

have done it easily. In her present condition, once around would be risky. Still, at 375,000 kilometers in

circumference, Saturn was a big world.

“Armament?”

“Up to one hundred air-to-air missiles with mixed seekers, full circumambient fire control, and two heavy

turret mounted lasers.”

“I take it that you are between engagements,” Bolin said.

“You would have to be very ill informed not to know that,” Crandall replied.

“Your last employer?”

“New Philadelphia.”

“Ah, yes. The ill fated defense of those poor foolish cities,” Bolin said. “I thought as much. In fact, it was

New Philadelphia’s loss that spurred me to come here in search of privateers. I figured at least some of

you would put into Port Gregson to reprovision.”

“What’s the job?” Lars asked.

“The job is confidential. If you are free, I would like to discuss it at some length. If not, I don’t want to

waste your time ... or mine.”

“We’ll always listen, Citizen Bolin.”

“Excellent.” Bolin fished in an inside pocket, retrieved a card -- of real paper -- and wrote a note on the

back. He handed it to Sands. “Please meet me at this address at Second Dusk this evening. We’ll talk

more fully then.”

Sands glanced at the address. It was in the warehouse district on the underside of the support truss. It

was not the sort of neighborhood he would have expected someone who dressed as well as Bolin to

visit.

“We’ll be there.”

“Not ‘we’, Captain. I want you to come alone. What I have to say requires the utmost discretion.”

“My crew will have to agree to whatever deal we make.”

“I understand that. However, I must insist that we keep our business quiet. Once you know the job, you

will understand the need. Tonight at dusk?”

“Tonight at dusk,” Sands agreed.

Michael McCollum - The Clouds of Saturn

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