Dark Genesis: The Birth of the Psi Corps by J. Gregory Keyes Read Free Book Online Page A

space us?” Lee asked. “Heck, that won’t look suspicious at all, will it? `Senator and noted doctor take stroll on Moon without pressure suits.’ That’ll make a plausible headline. Grissom is a small place. We’ll be missed fast, and you’ll be found fast.”
    “Give me a little credit,” Piotr said. “That’s why the two of you are going hiking. Regrettable accident, of course, but then you were never known for your caution, Senator. And the record will say you reserved both of these early this morning.” He motioned at the two bright yellow sport-hiking pressure suits Hans was pulling from a nearby locker. “If you would now be so kind as to put them on. . : ‘
    Lee pursed his lips angrily, and then began unbuttoning his shirt. Blushing, Alice did the same. When she was down to her underwear , Hans gave an appreciative whistle. She slapped him, hard. He never saw it coming, but only reddened and frowned. Lee tensed, but Piotr’s gun never wavered from him.
    “Enough,” Piotr said, quietly. Grumbling, Hans began donning his own suit-heavy mining armor, much heavier than their lightweight climbing suits. As Alice Kimbrell put on her helmet, she shot Lee a small triumphant smile. He smiled back, to let her know he understood.
    “Put on your helmet, Senator,” Piotr said.
    “What’s the matter?” Lee asked. “Aren’t you comin’ along? Can’t stomach `hearing’ us die? Or will you hear it anyway?” He stepped toward the gun muzzle. “Look at me, boy. Look me in the eye.” Piotr had some difficulty doing that. “You tell me why I have to die, why Dr. Kimbrell has to die. We deserve that. And while you’re at it, why don’t you tell us what lab you were made in? Who created you? Just to satisfy my curiosity.”
    The young man’s dark eyes flashed with some anger, then.
    “I was born of man and woman just like you, Senator. I have no more idea why I can do this than you do, nor did I ask for it. And as for the rest-I don’t feel compelled to explain anything to you. Good day.” And then, to Hans, “We’ll wait for you here.”
    The big man nodded, and once they were suited and pressurized , motioned them into the lock. They cycled through it into a bowlful of night. The sky was ink sprinkled with powdered sugar, and the sickle Earth stuck up in the south like a blue horn. But of the Sun, there was no sign, nor would there ever be, day or night. Over a billion years, a lot of water had fallen on the Moon, ephemeral oceans of ice, but it only stayed where the Sun never came to lick it up. It was here, beneath his feet, the stuff of life-water, oxygen, hydrogen for fusion engines. A thin powder in the regolith at the Moon’s north pole. Hans flipped on his lamp and gestured toward the crater rim, maybe a mile away, visible thanks to light generated by Grissom colony. And they trudged in silence. The links had been disabled, of course. Hans stayed behind them, armed. And so the Earth pulled across the near horizon like God’s own plow, and after a while they began to climb, higher and higher. They would, Lee supposed, have a fall of some sort. The rim was nearly sheer toward the top-perhaps having shattered in some geologically recent moonquake. A trail had been worked up a talus slope, though, and they went up that. Hans’ light shone occasionally through Alice’s helmet and Lee saw her face. Not frightened, but determined, and he felt a hard knot of admiration form.
    They reached the ridge of the crater, which rose and fell in an irregular line around the mines. South, the jagged silhouettes of mountains rose, as if cut from the star field by a deranged god with a razor. North, more shadowed ranges, except that the summit of a single, high peak blazed in the light of the unseen Sun, giving the eerie impression of an island in low orbit. On the Moon, the line between light and dark was never blurred. Where would Hans do it? Would he shatter their faceplates with something first, or simply