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him. Middle-aged, with a pronounced aquiline nose and a
balding pate, the doctor smiled at Alex.
    “Ah, I see our patients are starting to wake up.”
    Alex tried to rise, but couldn’t even prop himself up on his
elbows. Thick restraints around his arms and ankles held him to the bed.
    “Oh, you mustn’t try to move around until we can be sure you
haven’t suffered any muscle damage from your trip.” The doctor removed the
oxygen mask.
    Alex tried to speak. With his dry throat, the words came out
as a croak. He moved his tongue around to moisten his mouth, and tried again.
“How long have we been in stasis?”
    The doctor waited patiently for Alex to finish the question
before answering. “Two weeks, my boy.”
    “Two…?”
    The doctor smiled wider as he went to the other three
patients and removed their masks as well. “Yes. We’ve made a few advances since
you were last among us.”
    Kenny had come fully awake, and seemed to have overcome his
reaction to the stasis. “Who are you?” the physicist asked.
    “Pardon my manners. I am Doctor Naysmith.” He went over to
the diagnostic computer beside Kenny and looked over the readout. “Ah, good. It
looks as if you are making a full recovery. Your ribs will still feel tender
for a while, but give it another week or two, and you’ll be right as rain.”
    “I think he meant, who are all of you?” came the question
from Michael. “Who are you people? Where are we?”
    “As I said,” the doctor replied, a cheery note to his voice,
“quite a bit has changed in the past four years, and my job is not to
bring you up to speed. I’m just here to make sure you will be fit for an
audience.”
    “An audience?” Alex asked. “With who?”
    “With the Emperor, of course.”
    “Emperor?” Alex realized he was simply repeating everything
as a question, and felt completely in the dark.
    “Rest assured,” Doctor Naysmith said, “all your questions
will be answered in time. For now, if you’ll permit me, I will go over your
diagnostics and ensure you are all healthy. Do not stress about things which
are beyond your control.”
    As if by unspoken consensus, the four of them pressed the
doctor no further, and let him go about his business, reading scans and
interpreting the output from the diagnostic computers. When he was finished, the
doctor offered a bright smile to all of them, as if he’d accomplished a great
feat.
    “I will inform His Majesty of your full recovery. Have a
pleasant day.”
    With that, the doctor left the four of them alone in the
room. The overhead lights dimmed, leaving them in semi-darkness.
    “What the hell is going on?” Kenny asked.
    Michael said, “We’ve obviously stumbled into the middle of
something big. We need more information. Alex, do you know where we are?”
    Alex nodded, then realized that the others might not be able
to see him. “Yes. We’re on an asteroid mining and processing station. I’m not
sure which station, though—it could be Chinese; I don’t know their characters.
It’s in a solar orbit inside the inner belt.”
    Michael asked, “In line with Mars’ orbit?”
    “Yes.”
    “It’s the Qin Station, named after the first Emperor of
China, the one who initiated construction of the Great Wall.”
    Kenny said, “Emperors! Do you think there’s been a civil war
in China? Did they overthrow the communist party and resurrect the imperial
dynasties?”
    “It’s a possibility,” Michael said. “What concerns me is
that they’ve apparently managed to supplant USA, Inc.’s presence on Pluto. I
know, when we left, things were dicey back home, but how bad could it have
gotten?”
    “So what’s the plan?”
    “For the moment,” Michael said, “it looks as if we have to
take the doctor’s advice. It’s out of our hands. Once we’ve met this Emperor,
whoever he is, then we’ll know more.” He added in a lower voice, “I would
suggest that we all continue to be extremely discreet. When we meet