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Paul saw that Greg was still gone. Unable to face the music, Paul wondered, or too torn up by his mother’s betrayal?
    He knew about us, Paul told himself as he went back to his chair. He knew that I was fucking his mother. And if he knew, his father did, too.
    Eighteen board members took their places around the long table. Arnold called for discussion of the nominations. The board members shifted uneasily in their chairs, looked at one another. No one wanted to be first.
    “I presume,” Arnold said, seizing the initiative, “that you are still in favor of keeping Moonbase going, Paul?”
    Nodding solemnly, Paul replied, “The future of this corporationis in space, and Moonbase holds the key to profitable space commerce.”
    “But the government’s backed away from it,” Arnold pointed out. “If they won’t do it, why should we? After all, they can print money; we have to
earn
it.” He made a rictus of a smile to indicate humor.
    Paul hesitated, as if carefully considering his answer, even though he knew exactly what he wanted to say. After a couple of heartbeats he began, “Washington is giving us an opportunity to develop this new frontier without a lot of government red tape tying our hands. The politicians have finally realized that they can’t run anything at a profit. But we can! And we will—eventually.”
    “How long is eventually?” one of the older board members asked. “I don’t have all that much time to wait.”
    Paul smiled patiently. “Several years, at least. We’re talking about developing a new frontier here. How long did it take Pittsburgh to become the steel center of the world? How long did it take to make air travel profitable?”
    “It’s still not profitable!”
    “The Clipperships are profitable,” Paul pointed out.
    No one contradicted him.
    “I know it’s asking a lot to back Moonbase on our own, but believe me, this is the key to our future. I believe that as firmly as I believed that the Clipperships would make money for us.”
    Joanna asked, “Isn’t the government willing to pay whoever operates Moonbase to keep the scientific work going?”
    Nodding, Paul replied, “That’s right. Washington’s willing to support six scientists at Moonbase. It’s not very much money, but it’s a baseline commitment.”
    “And if we decide
not
to continue with Moonbase,” one of the other directors asked, “what happens to those scientists?”
    “Moonbase operations will be offered to any other corporation that wants to bid on the base. If nobody bids, the base is shut down and all work on the Moon comes to an end.”
    “You’re fully committed to keeping Moonbase open?” Joanna asked him.
    “Totally,” said Paul. “Take me, take Moonbase with me. One and inseparable.”
    “Now and forever,” muttered a voice further down the table.
    The vote was an anticlimax. Arnold claimed that he had Greg’s proxy. The only other vote for Greg came from Melissa Hart. Paul Stavenger was elected president and chief executive officer of Masterson Aerospace Corporation by a vote of sixteen to three.
    “Congratulations.” The comptroller smiled. “Now when is the wedding going to take place?”

MARE NUBIUM
    Some wedding, Paul said to himself as he sweated across the lunar regolith. Like another pissing board meeting, only bigger. The biggest society bash in Savannah. They all came out of curiosity. Too soon after Gregory’s death, they all whispered. Bad taste. But they all came and sipped the champagne and ogled at the daughter of one of the oldest families in Georgia actually marrying a black man. Lawdy, lawdy, what would Miz Scarlett say?
    The whole board of directors showed up for the wedding. All except Greg. And Melissa. Joanna planned every detail, even picked the comptroller to be my best man. So what? I had enough on my dish. Pissing company was in even worse shape than I’d thought. I could see right at the outset that saving Moonbase was going to be a bitch and a