Trikon.
To the human eye, space should be serene. Trikon station floated in its orbit on the sunlit side of the Earth, passing across the radiantly intense blue of the wide Pacific, adorned with clouds of brilliant, purest white.
The station shuddered. Like a giant sail suddenly caught in a crosswind. Like a man startled by danger.
Alarms screeched in every laboratory and living module, Klaxons hooted along the lengths of its passageways, and a computer-synthesized woman’s voice called from every intercom speaker in the station with maddening mechanical calm:
“Emergency. Emergency. Major malfunction. All personnel to CERV stations. All personnel to CERV stations. Prepare to abandon the station.”
No one cared. No one heeded the alarms. No one moved toward the Crew Emergency Reentry Vehicles.
From the astronomical observatory at the uppermost corner of Trikon Station two space-suited figures emerged, one of them encased in the “armchair” rig of a manned maneuvering unit, MMU.
Dan Tighe, commander of Trikon Station, fought back murderous fury and a terrible fear that clawed at his chest as he watched the space station begin to wobble and sway. Through the heavily tinted visor of his helmet he saw the bulbous burnt-orange structure of the Mars module detach itself from the station and begin to drift away, like a rudderless ship caught by an evil tide. The broad wings of the solar panels were swaying, undulating visibly. Dan knew they would break up within minutes.
We’re all going to die, said a voice inside his head. We’re going to die and it’s my fault. All my own goddamned stupid fault.
15 AUGUST 1998
TRIKON STATION
Names are important. When we hammered together this consortium of major industrial corporations I insisted upon a name that would reflect its spirit of international cooperation, a name that would not offend any of the sensitive egos among the various boards of directors, or in the governments to whom they paid taxes. The corporations were based in Europe, North America, and Japan. Three continents: Trikon.