The Dying of the Light: Interval by Jason Kristopher Read Free Book Online Page B

closer to the phone. Taking the seat next to Shaw that she had vacated, the man put a comforting hand on Shaw’s shoulder. “She’s right, you know,” he whispered.
    Shaw nodded. “And she’s not done yet.”
    “Did you know about any of this?”
    “Not even a little. Shhh…”
    “I’m done pussy-footing around here, trying to be friends with everyone,” said Jennifer. “This ‘Antarctic Nations’ thing is a good idea in spirit, but the implementation is crap. There’s only a thousand of us left, and half of those don’t even get to participate in these discussions, even through representation by their department heads.”
    The Chinese delegate, Jiayi Sun, spoke up. “You’ve made your feelings clear on numerous occasions, Ms. Michaelson. However, you cannot tell us how to run our operations. As you said, our bases are sovereign lands.”
    “You’re right, Mr. Sun. We can’t. That’s why it’s time to forget our separate bases altogether.” There was a collective in-drawn breath from everyone at the table and, to Shaw’s ear, from the speakerphone as well.
    Has she gone too far this time? he wondered. Doesn’t matter. It’s not like I could stop her now .
    “Ms. Michaelson, that is quite enough,” said Burke. “I suggest that all the delegates adjourn—”
    “I’m not finished,” said Jennifer quietly, but in a tone that brooked no more interference.
    He couldn’t see the look she directed Burke’s way, but Shaw was amazed when the man fumbled to a stop and just stared at her. Like he’d seen a perfectly timid little rabbit turn into a tiger right in front of him. Shaw grinned from ear to ear, happy to see that she’d finally let her iron-clad self-control slip a bit.
    “Here’s what we’re going to do,” she said, directing her remarks once more towards the delegates listening on the call. “McMurdo Station officially recognizes the refugee request from Marambío Base, and will gladly take in their personnel. At the end of this call, I will personally arrange for immediate transportation from Marambío to McMurdo for personnel and limited effects only. We will have to work out some other way of getting your equipment and everything else usable from the base at a later time.”
    As she paused, everyone in the room could hear excited yelling, obviously from the Argentinians. Onevás returned to the line. “Thank you, Ms. Michaelson. You’ve saved us. Whatever we can do, we will.”
    Jennifer nodded, as though he could see her. “You’re welcome, Mr. Onevás. As for the rest of you, here’s the new plan: we’re going to consolidate everyone here, at McMurdo.”
    Shaw thought Burke’s eyes were about to pop out of his head when Jennifer granted Marambío’s request, but at this last idea, he stood up, red-faced and shouting. “You can’t do that! We don’t have enough room! We don’t have the security forces, or the supplies! What about our people here? Dammit, you can’t do that!” He began moving around the table towards Jennifer but stopped short at the sound of a round being chambered in the pistol Shaw was suddenly pointing at his head. “Major? What the hell are you doing? I’ll have your ass for this!”
    “No, sir, you won’t,” said Shaw, never glancing away from the colonel. He could see Jennifer looking at him out of the corner of his eye, and he smiled. “You see, she’s right. If any of us are going to survive, we’re going to have to work together. And the only thing standing in the way of that right now is you, and a few of the other folks on the line, there.”
    A new voice came onto the speaker, a woman speaking rapidly in Mandarin Chinese, then switching to broken English. “Hello, hello! This is Li Guo, Chief Scientist at Zhongshan Station. Speaking for people here, we accept. Yes, we will join.”
    Without taking her eyes off Burke and Shaw, Jennifer replied. “Ms. Guo, I’m glad to hear it. May I inquire about Mr. Sun?”
    “Mr. Sun is…