Forbidden the Stars Read Online Free PDF Page A

nucleus of a complex atom.
    Orbiting that nucleus, a number of spherical objects formed what looked like an electron cloud, hovering in the space around the monument without any visible tethers or supports.
    An alien chill walked icy fingers up Justine’s spine.
    Humankind was not alone in the universe…
     

__________
     
    St. Lawrence Charity Hall :
    Ottawa :
    Canada Corp. :
     
    Michael Sanderson , vice-president of Canada Corp.’s Space Mining Division had his best smile on for Stall Henderson, the Mayor of Ottawa, and Ian Pocatello, the National Minister of Finance.
    Sharing innate pleasantries over triangular glasses of champagne at the St. Lawrence Charity Hall, Michael groaned inwardly at the need for such a cosmetic facade.
    Michael had lost track of how many of these functions he had attended over the past thirty-two years of his career, both in and out of the corporate government. Since his appointment to the VP of SMD five years previous, his attendance to these functions had tripled. They wore thin on him.
    His smile, however, never faded.
    “I don’t usually drink, but after tasting this excellent champagne, I’m considering changing my views.” He took a sip to punctuate his opinion.
    “My wife spends hundreds of hours finding and sampling new labels, and buys it by the case when she finds one she likes. I’ll tell her to send you and Melanie a bottle for Christmas,” offered Stall Henderson.
    “Wonderful. I’ll be looking forward to it.”
    Mayor Stall Henderson was an open, jovial man, well suited to public office. Short in stature, he had a balding pate and an expanding waistline; a sign of the good times he had brought to the city. Everybody’s friend, he had a quick mind, but suffered from a dry sense of humor, which some people found condescending.
    Michael genuinely liked him for his personality, and for his integrity and political acumen. He was a politician’s politician.
    “So how is the asteroid business?” Stall segued not so casually. He kept his eyes from glancing at the Minister of Finance. Stall Henderson was well into his sixties, and had been mayor of the country’s capital city for twenty years.
    In the past century, Ottawa had grown from merely the legislative capital of Canada to a major international city that attracted investors and researchers from all over the globe. Canada Corp. had resisted the worldwide corporate trend of diversification, and had located all its divisional headquarters in Ottawa and its environs; a major stroke of good fortune for Stall’s political repute.
    Michael smiled and set his empty glass on a tray carried by a servochine, exchanging it for a full one.
    “Oh, we’re doing about as well as can be expected,” Michael said equivocally. “We have a few more prospects in development, as you’ve no doubt read in yesterday’s press release. If the preliminary surveys are correct, I can see a day in the future when Earth’s natural resources will no longer be extirpated. All mining for the globe will be done off-planet. It’s quite exciting.”
    “Fascinating, I would hasten to add,” the mayor said. “Anything to do with outer space has my interest piqued. I have a son in post-grad studying the geothermal anomalies of Mars.”
    “Sted Henderson.” Michael searched his mind, and was pleased with his recall. “Yes, I read his graduate thesis on it; published in Sol Weekly’s last issue, I believe. Since finding those microbes last century, experts have been arguing about life having once existed on Mars. Sted’s thesis points out that the evidence might suggest, instead, that life will exist one day in the future on Mars, that the planet is preparing itself for some kind of evolutionary burst. A boon for the naturalist movement. There was talk of degrading orbits or something along those lines. Increased temperatures and so forth.”
    “Yes! He’ll be delighted to hear you’ve taken an interest.”
    Ian piped in. “I caught that