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worth. Expect that you still have many questions
to answer, and so have we. Be assured I will speak with you again
as soon as the vote is taken this afternoon, and that others will
be in touch.
    “Farewell for now. Message ends.”
    Kastl and Shaloub are looking back at me like they’re
expecting me to pass judgment on this latest news. Matthew comes up
on my personal screen from his suite.
    “Almost makes sense,” he gives me his take. “She’s
still holding a lot back.”
    “I feel like a child with cancer,” Tru puts it.
“Nobody wants to tell me how bad it is.”
    “I think Secretary Satrapi gave us something at least
close to the truth,” I try hope, or at least a modicum of
acceptance. “We may never get the whole story.”
    “I’ll be happy just to get supplies flowing,” Lisa
comes on from Melas Three Ops. “You ready to tell the troops?”
    “Give me a wake-up chime and put me on PA,” I tell
Kastl. He proceeds to wake up First Shift at both sites with a
ready alarm. I rub my shaved head, find the words (and more
important: the tone), and break the much-awaited news:
    “All personnel, this is Colonel Ram. At just after
zero one hundred hours this morning, we finally began receiving
return transmissions from Earth. Since then we have sent and
received two more transmissions, the last from the current
Secretary General of the United Nations. I am releasing this
transmission to all of you to listen to in your own time. The news
isn’t all good—some of what happened that we didn’t know about is
hard to listen to—but Earth is still there, and they will be
sending material aid as soon as possible. I have sent out a
personnel roster and requested news of your families, as well as a
recap of the history we’ve missed. I will keep you all posted as we
receive further communications. Ram out.”
    I think I can hear cheering rumble through the
bunkers below me.
    “You want me to release the whole UN message?” Kastl
asks, apprehensive. I consider having him edit the end of Satrapi’s
speech, especially when she suggests that some on Earth may still
think our communication attempts are some elaborate trap created by
an evolved nano-intelligence, but
    “I think our people have earned it.”
     
    The rest of the day passes with brief transmissions
that are few and hours between. Since there seems to be no further
need of timeliness, I go for a light breakfast (all local-grown)
down in the Officers’ Mess, and then a few hours of sleep in my
rack.
    Richards call us back by lunchtime to repeat his
request for more information about the ETE. I have Rick compose
something about the current environmental conditions and the specs
on the atmosphere net, focused on “preparing” any relief for what
they’ll be operating in. Tru sends a similar report detailing her
horticultural research and a list of humanitarian requests for
equipment that the locals could benefit from (new environmental
gear is at the top). In turn, I ask to see their official reports
on the “Martian Tragedy” and the subsequent Disc attacks in Earth
orbit.
    A few hours later, an Ivan Chandry identifies himself
as being chairman of the “UN Committee Overseeing Research and
Technology” (UNCORT?). He’s urgent with questions about ETE
technology and resources, and wants to know specifics about how our
Hiber-Sleep was so unbelievably extended. He also asks a lot of
repetitive questions about our assurance that there is no sign of
nano-contamination. He’s a hawk-faced man who brings to mind the
Spanish Inquisition, Joseph McCarthy, and the Gitmo Extremist
Trials. I have Halley send him the specs from our Hiber systems and
add my politic explanation that we were discovered by ETE
technicians who could not decide on how and when to revive us, but
were able to adjust our systems to extend our sleep safely. I
suggest he could get better information directly from the ETE, but
warned him that they are very suspicious of Earth and