The shuttle turned. She was maundering; she had almost forgotten where she was. She peered out of her window, concentrating on a remarkable, and familiar, view.

Shining in raw sunlight, Aurora 2 was ungainly, fragile-looking. She looked something like a drum majorettes baton, a slim spine two hundred meters long connecting propulsion units and habitable compartments. The ship was badly scarred, paint peeling, solar-cell arrays blackened and curled up, and in one place the hull of the crew dome had burned and wrinkled back, exposing struts and partitions. Aurora had visibly withstood a terrible fire. But she had achieved what had been asked of her.

Aurora had been the second manned ship to Mars. She had been intended to pick up Bob Paxton and his crew, who would have sailed home to their heroes welcome. But the sunstorm had put paid to those plans, and Aurora 2, one of the largest spacecraft of its day, was needed for other purposes than exploration, and she was brought back to Earth. L1, a stationary point between sun and Earth, was the logical place to hang a shield intended to shelter the Earth from the raging of the sunstorm. So it was here that Aurora had been stationed, to serve as a shack for the construction crews.

The shield was gone now. The storm had left it a monumental wreck, that had then been cannibalized to build new stations in space and on the Moon. But the Aurora herself remained here at L1, a permanent memorial to those astonishing days, and a stub of the shield had been kept in place around the ship, its glistening surface spiralling out from the embedded hull like a spiderweb.

Bella glanced at her fellow passengers. Bill Carel, frail, trembling slightly, his face full of anger at the betrayal by his son, barely seemed able to see the approaching ship.

Bob Paxtons expression was harder to read.

Bella herself had served on the shield during the sunstorm, and had been up here many times since, for memorials, dedication services, museum openings, anniversaries. But for Bob Paxton it was different. As soon as he got back to Earth after the storm, he had gotten through the medals-and-presidents stuff as quickly as possible. Then he had thrown himself back into his military career, and had ultimately devoted his life to the issue of how to deal with the future Firstborn threat. Paxton had never visited L1, and probably hadnt even seen Aurora 2 since he glimpsed her from the surface of Mars, sliding through the sky on its flyby pass, abandoning him and his crew. Now the old sky warriors face was creased, clamped, and she couldnt tell what he was thinking.

The shuttle turned with a remote clatter of attitude thrusters and nestled belly-down on the curving hull of Auroras habitable compartment. The sun was directly below Bella now, casting vertical shadows, and through a small window set over her head she saw the Earth, a blue lantern hanging directly opposite the position of the sun. Earth was full, of course; it always was, as seen from L1. She wished she could see it more clearly.

With the docking complete, the shuttle closed its systems down.

Welcome to Aurora 2, and the Shield Memorial Station.

The soft female voice sent a shiver of familiarity through Bella. This was different from all her previous visits. Hello, Athena. Welcome home.

Bella. Its good to speak to you again. Please come aboard. A hatch opened in the floor. Bella released her seat restraint and floated into the air.

Alexei Carel and Lyla Neal were waiting for them on the bridge of Aurora.

This was the ships single most prestigious site, the location where Bud Tooke had once masterminded the salvation of the Earth. Now it was a museum, and the antique-looking softscreen displays, headsets, clipboards, and other bits of detritus from the days of crisis had been lovingly preserved under layers of transparent plastic. It always made Bella feel old to come back here.

Bill Carel was the last to come through onto the bridge. Clumsy in microgravity, evidently feeble, he looked oddly comical in his orange jumpsuit. But when he faced his son his expression was twisted. You bloody little fool. And you, Lyla. You betrayed me.

Alexei and Lyla clung to each other, drifting a little in the microgravity, nervous, defiant. Alexei was a skinny kid, only twenty-seven, and Lyla looked even younger. But then, reflected Bella, all true Spacers were just kids.

Alexei said, We dont see it like that, Dad. We did what we had to do. What we thought was best.

You spied on me, Carel snapped. You stole my work. You were a brilliant student, Lyla. Brilliant. And youve come to this.

Lyla was cooler than her lover. We were forced into it by your own actions, sir. You kept secrets. You wouldnt tell people what they needed to know. You lied! If we were at fault, so were you.

And that, Bella broke in, is the first sensible thing anybodys said.

I agree, Athena said dryly. Perhaps you should all sit down. A small educational area has been set aside at the rear of the bridge...

It was a plastic table, its top drenched with kid-friendly sunstorm info, with small seats set around it with microgravity bars to hook your feet onto. The five of them sat here, over the glimmering primary colors of the table, glowering.

Well, Im glad to be here, at any rate, Athena said. Bella looked up. Was that a joke, Athena? You remember me, Bella. I always was a joker.

You thought you were. So youre pleased we brought you home from Cyclops. If a distributed intelligence like Athena could be said to be anywhere, she, or rather her most complete definition, was now lodged in a secure memory store in one of Auroras abandoned engine rooms.

Athena said, I was made welcome at Cyclops. I was protected there. But I was born to run the shield, born to be here. Of course I, this copy of me, have no memory of the sunstorm itself. It is actually educational for me to be here, to access the data stores. To learn what happened that day, as if I were any other visitor. It is humbling.

And may I humbly ask, Bob Paxton asked sourly, why the fuck you have dragged us all up here? It was the first time he had spoken since coming aboard.

Bella laid her hand flat on the table, a gentle gesture that nevertheless commanded their attention. Because this is neutral ground for Earthborn and Spacers, or as near as I could come up with. Somehow we seem to have gotten through the Q-bomb crisis, though we fought like cats in a sack in the process. Well, now we need a new way of getting along.

Alexei said, I heard youre standing down after Christmas.

More than that, Paxton growled. Madam Chair here is probably going to face a war crimes tribunal. As, in fact, am I.

Lyla frowned. But what of the attacks on the elevators? Whos going to be held responsible for that?

I am happy to stand trial, Athena said firmly, if it will protect those whose actions I influenced.

Alexei laughed. They cant put an AI on trial.

Of course they can, Bella said. Athena has rights. She is a Legal Person (Non-Human). But with rights come responsibilities. She can be tried, just as much as I can be. Though I dont think anybody has worked out what her sentence might be, if shes found guilty...

Athena said, These trials will be played out in full public view, before courts representing both Earth and Spacer communities. Whatever the outcome I hope it will be part of the reconciliation process. The healing.

Bella said, We all did what we thought we had to do. But thats all in the past. The Q-bomb changed everything. Its all different now.

Lyla studied her curiously. Different how?

For one thing, the politics...

The species-wide debate forced by Athena on the decision to deflect the bomb had been a brief, traumatic shock to the political system. Perhaps it was a culmination of tensions that had been building up for decades among an increasingly interconnected mankind. Afterward, it hadnt proven possible to shut down the debate.

Everything is fluid, since the vote. There are new factions, new interest and protest groups, new sorts of lobbies. On Earth the last barriers between the old nations are being kicked down. Across the system people are ignoring the old categories, and are uniting with others with whom they find common cause, whichever world they happen to live on. An interconnected democracy is taking over, a mass, self-correcting wisdom, whether we like it or not. Maybe it was good that our first great exercise in using our collective voice was over something we could pretty much unite aroundin the end, perhaps, the Firstborn have done us a favor. But that voice hasnt been stilled.

Alexei faced his father. Look, Dad. Things have got to change in space, too. I mean the relationship between Spacers and Earth.

Between you and me, you mean, said Bill Carel.

That too. The idea that Earth can impose its will on space is a fantasy, no matter how many antimatter warships you build.

In December 2070, there had been no declaration of independence; there were no Spacer nations, and at present all Spacers were colonists, formally owing their allegiance to one of Earths old nations or another. The Spacers had their own internal rivalries, of course. But as they looked back to an Earth reduced to a blue lamp in the sky, if they could see it at all, it was increasingly difficult for them to think of themselves as American Spacers versus Albanian, British Spacers versus Belgian...

Spacer is an absurd label, really. A negative one that actually means not of Earth. Were all different, and we all have our own opinions.

You got that right, Bob Paxton growled. More opinions than fucking Spacers.

My point is, you cant control us anymore. We cant even control ourselvesand wouldnt want to. Were on a new road, Dad, and even we dont know where it will lead.

Or what you will become, said Carel. But I have to let you go come what may, dont I?

Alexei smiled. Im afraid so.

And there, Bella knew, was the subtext in the conversation between Earth and Spacers. If the mother world released her grip, she would lose her children forever.

Bob Paxton grunted. Christ, I feel like blubbing.

All right, Bob, Bella said. Look, its a serious point. One of my last executive orders will be to initiate a new constitutional convention for all of usEarth and the whole solar systembased on recognized human rights precedents. We do not want a world government, I dont think. What we do need are new mechanisms, new political forms to recognize the new fluidity. No more power centers, she said. No more secrets. We still need mechanisms to unify us, to ensure justice and equality of resource and opportunityand fast-response agencies when crises hit.

Such as when the Firstborn take another swipe, Paxton said.

Yes. But we need ways to cope with threats without sacrificing our liberties. She looked around at their faces, open or cynical. We have no precedent for how a civilization spanning several worlds is supposed to run itself. Maybe the Firstborn know; if they do they arent telling. I like to think that this is the next stage in our maturity as a culture.

Maturity? That sounds utopian, Bill Carel said cautiously.

Bob Paxton grunted. Yeah. And lets just remember that however many heads you Spacer mutants grow, were all going to continue to be united by one thing.

The Firstborn, Lyla said. Damn right, Paxton said. Yes, said Bella. So take us through the new proposals, Bob. The next phase of Fortress Sol. He looked at her, alarmed. You sure about that, Madam Chair?

Openness, Bob. Thats the watchword now. She smiled at the others. Bob and his Committee of Patriots have been working on priorities. Even though their own legal status is under review, following events.

Alexei smiled. Cant keep you old sky warriors down, eh, Admiral Paxton?

Paxton looked ready to murder him. Bella laid a hand on his arm until he had calmed.

Very well. Priority one. We need to act now. Between the sunstorm and the Q-bomb we had a generation to prepare. Granted we didnt know what was coming. But in retrospect we didnt do enough, and we cant make that mistake again. The one good thing about the Q-bomb is the way its going to mobilize public opinion and support for such measures.

Priority two. Earth. A lot of us were shaken up when you ragged-ass Spacers snipped the space elevators. We always knew how vulnerable you were in your domes and butterfly spaceships. We didnt know how vulnerable Earth was, though. The fact is were interconnected to a spaceborne economy. So were talking about robustifying Earth.

Lyla grinned. Nice word.

Homes like bunkers. Ground-based power sources, comms links, via secure optic-fiber cables. That kind of thing. Enough to withstand a planetary siege. Parameters to be defined.

Priority three. And heres the key, Paxton said now, leaning forward, intent. We got to disperse. Weve got significant colonies off Earth already. But the wargamers say that if Earth had been taken out by the Q-bomb, its unlikely the Spacer colonies could have survived into the long term. Just too few of you, a gene pool too small, your fake ecologies too fragile, all of that.

So we have to beef you up. Make the species invulnerable even to the loss of Earth. He grinned at the young Spacers. Im talking massive, aggressive migration. To the Moon, the outer planet moons, space habs if we can put them up fast enough. Even Venus, which was so fucked over by the sunstorm it might be possible to live there. Maybe we can even start flinging a few ships to the stars, go chase those Chinese.

But it wont work, Alexei said. Not even if you have a million people on Venus, say, under domes, and breathing machine air. Theyll be just as vulnerable as we are now.

Sure. So we go further. Paxtons grin widened. He seemed to be enjoying shocking them. Nice to know an old fart like me is still capable of thinking bigger than you kids. Whats the most robust hab we know? A planet.

Lyla stared at him. Youre talking of terraforming.

Making the Moon or Venus into worlds enough like Earth that you could walk around in the open, more or less unprotected. Where you could grow crops in the open air. Where humans could survive, even if civilization fell, even if they forgot who they were and how they got there in the first place.

Theyve been thinking about this on Mars, Lyla said. Of course now Well lose Mars, but Mars wasnt the only option. In the very long term its the only robust survival solution, Paxton said.

Alexei looked skeptical. This is the kind of program space advocates have been pressing for since the days of Armstrong and Aldrin, and never got close to. Its going to mean a massive transfer of resources.

Oh, yes, Bella said. In fact Bobs view is already widely accepted. And its going to start soon. What is? Lyla asked, curious. Youll see. Leave me one last surprise...

Were serious about this, Bob Paxton said, challenging, authoritative. As serious as Ive been about anything in my entire life. To gain access to the future, we have to secure the present. Thats the bottom line.

They fell back to talking over details of Paxtons vision, arguing, fleshing out some aspects, rejecting others. Soon Paxton cleared the tabletop of its colorful sunstorm factoids and started to make notes.

Bella murmured to Athena, Looks like it worked. I would never have thought Id see the likes of Bob Paxton and Alexei Carel working together.

We live in strange times.

That we do, Athena. And they get stranger all the time. Anyhow its a start. She glanced at her watch. I hate to do it, but I ought to go check through my messages. Athena, will you bring them coffee? Anything they want.

Of course.

She pushed herself out of her chair and drifted off the bridge, heading for the shuttle and her secure softscreens. Behind her the conversation continued, animated. She heard Alexei say, half-seriously, I tell you what will unite us all. Sol Invictus. A new god for a new age...

54: Q-DAY.

December 15, 2070 The shuttle landed Bella at Cape Canaveral.

Thales spoke to her. Welcome home, Bella.

Bella, bent over her softscreen, was startled to find she was down. All the way from L1 she had been working her messages, and monitoring the progress of the two great events that were due to take place today: the switching-on of the Bimini, the new space elevator system in the Atlantic, and the closest approach of the Q-bomb to the Earth. Both were on schedule, as best anybody knew. But it was hard not to keep checking.

The wheels stopped rolling, and the shuttles systems sighed to silence.

She shut down her softscreen and folded it up. Thank you, Thales. Nice to be back. Athena sends her regards.

Ive spoken to her several times.

That made Bella oddly uneasy. She had often wondered what conversations went on between the great artificial intelligences, all above the heads of mankind. Even in her role as Council Chair, she had never fully found out.

Theres a car waiting for you outside, Bella. Ready to take you to the VAB, where your family is waiting. Be careful when you stand up.

It still hurt to be returned to a full gravity. It gets tougher every damn time. Thales, remind me to order an exoskeleton.

I will, Bella.

She clambered down to the runway. The day was bright, the sun low, the air fresh and full of salt. She checked her watch, which had corrected itself to local time; she had landed a little before ten A.M. on this crisp December morning.

She glanced out to sea, where a fine vertical thread climbed into the sky.

Thales murmured, Just an hour to the Q-bomb pass, Bella. The astronomers report no change in its trajectory.

Orbital-mechanics analyses are all very well. People have to see it.

Ive encountered the phenomenon before, Thales said calmly. I do understand, Bella.

She grunted. Im not sure if you do. Not if you call it a phenomenon. But we all love you anyhow.

Thank you, Bella.

A car rolled up, a bubble of glass, smart and friendly. It whisked her away from the cooling hulk of her shuttle, straight toward the looming bulk of the Vehicle Assembly Building.

At the VAB she was met by a security guard, a woman, good humored but heavily armed, who shadowed her from then on.