Susan Kendall pushed the heat resistant tile into the hole in the shuttle's underside, between its neighbours. To her satisfaction it fitted perfectly, without even enough of a gap to require filling cement. The glue squished silently aside as it slipped in, some of it oozing up to form little ridges between the new tile, two of the other three she'd just fitted and an original tile that hadn't been damaged by the cloud particle. She wiped it away with a rag, wondering as she did so whether the first astronauts, nearly a hundred years earlier, had ever imagined that there would one day be a use for a rag on a spacewalk.

She took a pocket light from her belt, pressed it sideways against the hull and shone a beam of light across the newly positioned tiles. There was no shadow cast by one tile across its neighbour, indicating that it was standing higher and would therefore disrupt the smooth flow of superheated air across the shuttle's belly during re-entry. She moved the pocket light, shining its beam across the repair in one direction after another. Still no shadow. Good. She smiled with satisfaction.

“I'm done here,” she said, tucking the pocket light back into her belt. “Twelve hours from now, when the glue's dry, we can go home, if we want to.”

“Any problems?” asked Paul.

“None at all. The guys back on the ground couldn't have done a better job.”

“We concur, Susan,” said Dimitri's voice in her helmet. A ground control engineer watching the operation through her helmet camera. “Great job! If you ever need to earn some extra money, my bathroom needs re-tiling.”

“Well, I could do with some new shoes.” She checked her equipment to make sure it was all safely stowed away, then pushed herself gently away from the shuttle to float freely in space. She took a small handheld control unit from its storage position on her left shoulder, held it in her fist and pressed the deploy button under her second finger. Her wings, a smaller, more compact version of the manned manoeuvring units used by previous generations of astronauts, deployed themselves, each of the long struts looking like the flight feathers of a bird as they arranged themselves across her back, some pointing forward at the tips, others pointing back, others outwards in all directions. Each strut had a small plasma rocket in its tip.

She used the joystick under her thumb to turn in space, small jets of incandescent light coming from the manoeuvring jets pointing in the right direction. Then, when she was aimed at the airlock, she pressed the button under her index finger. The jets pointing behind her fired up and she moved forward. “How you doing in there, Paul?”

“Just finishing up,” the deputy commander replied. Now the acting commander, with Lauren safely back on the ground along with the three Chinese crew members. “Another few minutes and we can re-pressurise the Heineman module. Then the station will be fully repaired and operational again.”

“But with dangerously low levels of spare air and only one operational re-entry vehicle,” said Benny. “We need resupply and replacement crew members. Will Lauren and the others be coming back up, or will we be getting someone else?”

“Perhaps they'll send up a whole new crew and we’ll be able to go home,” said Jayesh.

“I thought you liked it up here,” said Paul. “You fought like crazy to get into the space program.”

“Things have changed,” the Indian replied. “My family needs me now.”

“Yeah.” Paul thought of his own family. His wife lived in a small town in Lincolnshire, in a part of the country that was renowned for its flatness. His children and their families lived inland on higher ground, but not that much higher. They would all need to leave their homes before the first perigee tide washed them out. The children would take care of their mother, he knew. They wouldn't be any safer if he was there with them, but he knew that Maggie would be a lot happier with her husband back on the ground. He felt a desperate urgency to return to her, and the Colibri shuttle tempted him with its newly repaired heat shield. He couldn't return alone, though. Not with the Jinlong shuttle still without fuel and another refuelling mission looking unlikely. If he could persuade the others to go back with him, they could leave the space station empty until another crew was sent up to occupy it, if it ever was. The various governments of the world were likely to have other priorities for quite a long time into the future.

He packed his equipment away and went to the airlock to help Susan back inside. She was just squeezing her way in through the outer door when he arrived, and he watched through the window in the inner door as she closed it behind her and pushed the button to equalise the pressure. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to make another spacewalk for the rest of her stay on Harmony. Every time someone went out, they took an airlock full of air with them, and the space station no longer had very much air to spare.

A moment later she opened the inner door and floated clumsily through into the Rotterdam module, her wings once again folded neatly against her back. Paul helped her to remove her helmet and she gave a great breath of relief as she shook her hair out. “Damn, I hate spacewalks!” she said. “It's claustrophobic, and I have a fear of heights. Do you know what it’s like to be claustrophobic and afraid of heights at the same time?”

“So why did you get an EVA license?” asked Paul as he helped her remove her wings. He hung them on a rack and plugged in a fuel hose, so they would be ready for the next time they were needed. Then he helped her separate her spacesuit into its two halves. An upper torso unit, covering the body and arms, and a lower torso unit that covered the waist and legs. He hung the upper unit next to the wings and plugged in the air hose. Then he helped Susan climb out of the lower torso unit.

“I thought it would help me get into space,” she said. “Give me an edge over my competitors. I was desperate to get up here, the only place I could grow my crystals, and there was so much competition. Well, you know that. You had to beat the odds to get up here as well. And I thought I could take it. I mean, I’ve never liked confined spaces, or heights. I always knew that being cooped up in a tiny little spacesuit, surrounded by all that immensity, would be difficult, but I thought I could handle it.”

“Well, you were right,” said Paul as he held tight onto the legs of the spacesuit. Susan then reached up to a handle on the ceiling and pulled her legs out. Paul hung the lower torso unit up on a rack along with its other half while Susan began to peel off the cooling jumpsuit, a thick garment with water pipes running through it. “You did the job, you completed the mission.”

“Didn’t have much choice if I ever wanted to go home again.”

“If the shuttle was unrepairable they'd have sent the mule to refuel the Jinlong.”

“Maybe, but there were issues of personal pride as well.” She smiled as she stripped the thick material from her sweat sheened arms.

“I thought pride was a sin, according to the bible.”

“You love to tweak my tail about my Christian faith, don't you?”

“Just playful banter. I don't mean any disrespect.” She have him a doubtful look but chose not to challenge him on it.

Back in the early days of space flight it had taken hours to put on and take off a space suit, but Susan was floating in her bra and sanitary garment less than half an hour later. They were soaked with sweat, so Paul averted his eyes while she removed them and towelled the sweat from her body, then put on some fresh underclothes. She then reached for her jumpsuit, and Paul held it for her while she shimmied into it with a sigh of relief. “I sincerely hope that's the last time I ever have to wear that God awful thing,” she said as she did up the buttons.

“It should be. We can use the robot to repair the solar panels if we need more power, but they're still at seventy four percent capacity, more than I can see us needing. There's nothing for us to do now except routine housekeeping work until they tell us to come home.”

“Well, I hope that's soon. Out there, I kept wanting to look at the moon. It was very distracting. A constant reminder of what's going to happen.” Her eyes drifted to the nearest small window, but it was looking in the wrong direction and there was nothing visible through it except stars.

“You said you come from Oklahoma. There are no fault lines around there, are there? No earthquakes.”

“No, hardly ever.”

“And it’s pretty much as far from a coastline as it’s possible to get. I don't think your folks will have much to worry about. They'll be able to watch all the floods and earthquakes, all the calamities and disasters, on the telly, safe in their homes while drinking cold beers and eating chips. Out of all of us, you're the one with the least to worry about.”

“I'm not worried. I have faith that this is happening for a reason. There may be short term calamities, but in the long term this will benefit the human race. God would not have done it otherwise.”

“What kind of long term benefits?” asked Paul, intrigued.

“The human race has become too comfortable. There are no more wars to speak of. Not real wars, like in the old days. There are cures, or at least treatments, for pretty much all diseases and medical conditions. There are no more starving millions in the third world. Everyone, no matter how poor, can be sure of getting enough food to eat. If there's a draught or some other kind of natural disaster the world rallies around and sees that the victims are cared for.”

“That's a good thing, isn't it?”

“It means that people are forgetting about God. Belief in God worldwide has been dropping for nearly a century and is now at an all time low. We're so obsessed with out material benefits that we’re forgetting our spiritual well being.”

“But so long as everyone is safe, healthy and happy...”

“The world is forgetting that this life is only the prelude to our real existence, in the next life. We’re like children in school, congratulating ourselves on having fashionable trainers and telling each other how well we’re doing on the latest computer game while forgetting that the real reason we’re in school is to prepare us for adult life. We're not here, in this life, to be wealthy and comfortable. We're supposed to be preparing ourselves for our real lives, in the next world.”

“So God wants us to be starving and miserable because it’s good for our souls?”

“God doesn't want us to be starving and miserable. If we could be wealthy and comfortable and still draw close to God, that would please Him more than anything, but if it’s a choice between what’s good for our material selves and what's good for our souls, it has to be our souls because our souls are what we really are.”

Paul stared at her, trying to tell himself that she was ridiculing her own beliefs to poke fun at him, but there was an earnestness in her face as she did up the buttons of her jumpsuit that sent a chill up his spine. She's shocked by what's happening, he told himself. She'd had a scientific education, she knows better than most what's about to happen to Earth and mankind, and she’s desperately trying to think of a reason why God, her loving, compassionate God, would do such a thing. He tried to make himself believe it, but he couldn't quite drive away the suspicion that she was glad this was happening. Mankind would soon be driven back into suffering and poverty, and those were conditions in which religion flourished. Within a couple of weeks, belief in God was likely to soar worldwide and the power and influence of the church would be restored to levels it hadn't known since the middle ages. To Susan and people like her, the world was about to enter a new golden age.

He tried to think of something to say that would make her realise how crazy this was, but nothing came to him and in the end he could only stare after her as she swam away towards the hatch into Node Three. He waited until she was out of sight and out of earshot before finally speaking, muttering to himself under his breath. “Damn. Religion is scary.”

☆☆☆

Benny and Jayesh were also removing their spacesuits. Modern spacesuits were much lighter and agile than they had once been, the two astronauts were able to move around in them almost as though they were dressed in normal clothing, but it was still hot inside them and, like Susan, their underpants were soaked with sweat, so they stripped right off and had body washes before dressing. They had long since stopped bothering with the modesty curtains, except when there was a woman around, and so just squeezed liquid soap onto their bodies and rubbed it off with towels. Then they washed their hair with rinseless shampoo.

“How you doing, you two?” said Paul's voice from the speakers.

“We're done,” replied Benny as he wiped the soap from his legs, his feet strapped to the floor to stop himself floating around in the bathroom space. “We’ve put fifty millibars of air in the module. If there's no drop in pressure over the next twenty four hours we'll re-pressurise fully.”

“What's the plan then?” asked Jayesh. “Are we returning to Earth?”

“I don't know. I hope so. I wouldn't be surprised if they left the station empty for a while. It’s sad to think but, with what's about to happen down on Earth, this might be the end of manned spaceflight for the foreseeable future.”

“You think they’ll let the station re-enter and burn up?” said Benny in outrage. “They could have told us before we patched her up.”

“You know what it costs every time they launch a shuttle. I very much doubt they’ll have that kind of money to throw around once the moon's made its first close pass. Looking after refugees is going to take every penny they've got, and twice as much besides.”

Paul's voice was abruptly cut off as another voice came from the speakers. George Martell, their flight control officer. “Harmony, this is Canberra. You up there, guys?”

“Hi George,” said Benny, unstrapping his feet and reaching for some clean underwear. “How you doing?”

“Fine, Benny. Just wanted to let you know that Lauren and the others all made it down safely. They landed in Ningxia and are being flown to Beijing where Lauren will catch a flight home as soon as the doctors have looked her over. The others will be staying in China.”

“Great news,” said Jayesh, also getting dressed. “So what happens now? Are we coming home too?”

“That's the main reason I’m calling, Jay. We've had a request from the Chinese government. They want to know if you'd mind staying up there for a while.”

“What for?” asked Paul, joining the conversation from the command module. “What's going on?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, Paul. They're being awfully cagey about it. All we know is they've asked that we prepare the station to assist in a possible long range manned mission.”

Benny and Jayesh stared at each other. One of the main functions the space station had been designed to carry out, while it was still being designed and assembled, was to act as a staging post for long range missions to the moon and beyond. The spaceships were to have been launched in the form of modules that would have been assembled in orbit using the space station as a construction shack. So far, though, no such spaceship had ever been constructed. The Chinese missions to the moon, the previous decade, had been in cheaper single piece spaceships, much like the Apollo missions before them, and the proposed European mission to a near earth asteroid kept being delayed as the various governments involved balked at the cost. Mars was still a distant dream, at least as far as humans were concerned, although the number of robots trundling across the surface and flying through the air continued to increase.

“Where do they want to go?” asked Benny incredulously. “The moon? Do they want to observe the moon's convulsions close up?”

“We'll need some proper engineers,” said Paul. “Susan and I aren't up to that kind of task.”

“We don’t know that anything's happening yet,” said George. “The impression I got is that the Chinese just want to keep their options open in case they decide to do something. They want there to be a functioning space station up there just in case they need it. Likely as not they'll tell us the mission's off in a few days and you'll be free to come home. In the meantime, just keep everything in good shape up there.”

“We’ll do that,” said Paul. “How long do you think we’re going to be up here? I'd really like to be with my family when it all hits the fan.”

“We'll take care of your family, Paul. All your families. We’ll make sure they’re safe, you have my word on that.”

Another voice came from the speaker. They recognised it as Philip Carver, the operations manager. The man in overall control of the space station, in space and on the ground. “If necessary we’ll have the army take them in,” he said. “We'll house them on an army base where they’ll have food, protection. It's really important to us that you guys are relaxed and stress free up there. We don't want anyone making mistakes because they’re worried for their families.”

Benny and Jayesh stared at each other. “You know what the Chinese are planning, don't you?” said the Indian.

“No, I don't, but the Chinese premiere spoke to the President of Europe, who then spoke to me in person and told me to make sure you were comfortable and happy up there. He told me we could count on the support of the military if that’s what it takes. That's all I know, I promise, but it comes right from the top.”

“Maybe things down there are going to be even worse than we thought,” said Benny, his eyes wide with shock. “You don't think... Could they be planning to create some kind of lifeboat in space? A place where the Chinese leadership can ride out the storm?”

“You can’t ride out the storm,” said Paul. “This isn't some one time disaster that'll blow over and the world can rebuild and recover. The moon isn't going to make just one close pass and then everything'll go back to normal. This is going to happen every twenty seven days. Forever. A lifeboat makes no sense.”

“Unless things are going to get really, really bad down there,” said Benny. “So bad that even getting away from it for a few weeks or months seems worthwhile. What's going on, Phil? What haven't you told us?”

“I've told you all I know, and that’s the truth.”

“Just how bad is it going to be down there?”

“Bad, but not end of the world had. The Chinese leadership will survive just fine without having to leave the planet. Whatever they’re thinking, it’s not that. As soon as I know more I'll let you know, I promise. In the meantime, just keep things in good order up there. Your families will be looked after, as I said.”

“Will we be getting replacement crew members?” asked Susan, joining the conversation from wherever she was in the space station.

“Not anytime soon I’m afraid. We haven’t got anything ready to launch and it’ll be weeks at least before we have. I'm afraid the four of you are on your own until then.”

“Copy that, Phil,” said Paul. “Can you get an unmanned pod up to us? We could really do with some resupply.”

“I'll see what I can do. Take care up there, guys.” The speakers fell silent as he cut the connection.

“You think he's telling the truth?” said Benny to Jayesh once they were sure they weren’t being overheard.

“I don't know,” the Indian replied. “Planning a long range space mission at a time like this... It's crazy! It has to be something to do with the moon.”

“Maybe the moon's going to break up. What the moon's gravity will do to us is nothing compared to what the Earth’s gravity will do to the moon. Maybe someone down there thinks the moon will break up, bombard the Earth with debris. Maybe the Earth will be rendered completely uninhabitable!”

“The moon's coming nowhere near the Roche limit.”

“Maybe the Scatter Cloud did something to the moon. All that energy it dumped deep below the moon's surface, it must be trying to get out, like a balloon filled almost to bursting point. Maybe someone did some calculations and found that the tidal stress at perigee will make the moon burst open and let all that energy out.”

“It'll be nothing compared to the moon's gravitational binding energy, surely.”

“It doesn't have to be. All it would take was one geyser shooting lava high enough for the Earth’s gravity to steal it away and make it fall on Earth instead of back on the moon. Imagine thousands of cubic kilometres of magma raining down on the Earth from a height of a hundred thousand kilometres.”

“The equi-gravitational point, even that close...”

“Maybe the magma will be shot with enough force to reach that point. All that energy escaping as the moon’s stretched by the Earth’s gravity like a prisoner on the rack. A dinosaur killer asteroid would be nothing in comparison. Maybe the chinese see no alternative but to leave the planet.”

“And go where? Just float around in space until they run out of food?”

“The Chinese have been working on closed ecologies, ready for their space colony. Maybe they've cracked it, figured out how to keep a closed ecology going for years. Maybe the magma fall will only happen once, the first time the moon makes perigee. Maybe after that the Earth will recover. Wracked by the moon's gravity once every couple of weeks, but habitable nonetheless, and empty because everyone else will have died in the magma fall. The Chinese leadership will be able to colonise an empty planet.”

“You can't seriously believe that!”

“What other explanation is there? Why do you think the Chinese want to engage in a deep space mission now, of all times?”

“I don't know, but I can't believe things will be as bad as you say! And even if it was, what would you want to do about it? Sabotage it? Stop the lifeboat being built?”

“No, of course not! If it’s the end for the rest of us, I think it would be great if someone found a way to survive, even if it is the Chinese. No, good luck to them. But if it really is the end, for you, for me, for our families down on Earth, then I want to be with them when it happens. I have a wife, a son. I want to be with them when the end comes.”

The Indian stared into the other man's eyes and saw the thoughts behind them. “You want to take the shuttle,” he said, his voice hushed with shock. “Take the shuttle and go home.”

“Obviously I wouldn’t go alone,” the Swede replied. “I wouldn’t leave the rest of you stranded up here. No, I want us all to go home.” He stared the Indian straight in the eye. “What do you say? If we can convince the others, are you in?” Jayesh just stared at him. “I know you have family back in India. If it really is the end, you'd want to be with them, wouldn't you?”

“It's not the end. You're just working yourself into hysteria. It'll just be some high tides, some extra earthquakes. The world will survive.”

“But what if we found out it’ll be worse then that? What if we found out it really is the end?”

“And how would you find that out?”

“If we did. If we did find out it was the end, and if we could persuade the others to come with us. Would you be in? Are you with me?”

Jayesh stared at him. The Sweden’s fear was infectious. He could feel it taking root inside him, growing. Could it be true? he wondered. Were they being lied to? Did the Chinese know something they weren't telling anyone? They were such a secretive people, even in the middle of the twenty first century, even with all the international projects they were involved with. It was so easy to be suspicious, to question their motives. What if Benny was right? Was it possible?

“Are you with me?” The Swede insisted.

“If we find out something concrete,” Jayesh reluctantly conceded. “I don’t see how we will, how we possibly could, but if we somehow do...”

“Then you'd be with me!” Benny insisted. “The four of us together, we'd take the shuttle and go home. Back to our families.”

Jayesh hesitated once more, but then he nodded. “Yes,” he said. “I'll be with you.”