Metafire

"I would think soon now. Maybe a few more days. We have to establish our safe exit now. I should be looking at the moon like this in about three weeks." Jane had long ago resigned herself to death in space. She was genuinely looking forward to seeing things others had never seen, and enjoying herself to the end. Her duty to stay by Erisa had been enjoyable. Erisa always seemed pleasant.

Frank brought up a communications window with Bluebird. Bluebird had stayed about five hundred yards away shadowing the movements of Metafire. Scooter rotated around the colony always keeping his distance. "Scooter, Jim, Jack?"

"This is Scooter. Jim and Jack are asleep right now."

"We want to establish communication with John. I'm having George wake up."

"Fine, I'll link you through." But when he tried, all he got was a station watch person in Washington DC. It was 3 A.M. in the morning Washington time. "Can we hold off for a few hours? John isn't in yet."

Frank responded, but with George now next to him, "Yes. We'll call back in four hours."