Metafire

Jack then followed Erisa, "I'm going with Erisa. Frank and Angela may want proof that a craft is on its way to their location. In less than an hour we will have missed the window on effecting a rescue. If Angela and Jane have lied and New Boston blows up, we can still destroy Metafire with the laser attached to Scooter's tug."

Scooter agreed, "I can get one of my friends to take his tug for Jim." Scooter had already talked that day with Greg Woodside, one of his friends from Los Angeles. Greg was looking for work, and Scooter knew he could handle a tug well. "I want four million dollars for all this, John. It'll barely cover our costs." Scooter had also decided he wanted a second cavern in Boston Bay.

Ferguson didn't like this. He said, "Go. Go before I change my mind."

Scooter directed Erisa and Jack to collect some food, while he went to take care of checking out his tug. It had been refueled, and readied for another week of work. The NSP calculations had shown it could catch the Metafire colony and then revolve around, now using the moon's gravity to speed back to Earth, like the Metafire colony was using the moon's gravity to speed out into the solar system. With his tug's acceleration, and the willingness to use up fuel, it would take two days to catch up with the Metafire colony's three week's travel.