Chapter 16.3

Tom quietly moved over to the porthole to stand behind Sally, entranced by her enthusiasm and wanting to share in her awe. After a few moments, Sally spun back around saying, “There must be bil… oh!” She found herself face-to-face, and nearly nose-to-nose, with Tom, and stammered out, “billions of dollars in… just a few of those piles…” Tom noticed Sally was feeling flustered at their close proximity and a similar shyness almost overwhelmed him.

He took a large step back, clearing his throat and saying, “Billions, that’s great. Ten or twelve of those piles would pay for the whole damn trip, then. Right?”

Averting her eyes from Tom’s features, Sally replied in an uneven voice, “Yes. I imagine the value of this find is most likely the reason why we have been waylaid and our fuel station attacked, to try to prevent us from finding the stones and/or keep us from acquiring them.” She glanced up through her lashes to perceive Tom’s eyes still on her. She turned away and began to pace the small area, her voice steadying. “The Chinese must have discovered the stones quite some time ago. They’ve been working against us all along… to keep us from getting here first. I suppose it may have just been a coincidence that this landing site was selected for our mission. Maybe they thought we knew about the diamonds all along and they were just trying to stop us.”

This time, when she turned back to face him, Tom smiled and his eyes crinkled. “But we did get here and there’s nothing they can do about it, now. If that rover had been about two feet taller, it might have done some real damage to the FP1, but boring into the landing gear and the outer hull didn’t have any effect on the fuel supply. Even with Commander Lewis feeding them information, they apparently just didn’t have the means to affect any real or lasting damage.”

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