THE PREACHERS DAUGHTER

w the conventions. This was her only private space in the station, just as an identical room on the opposite side of Level-1 was Basel's only private space. The two had a plan to h

-contained plant recycling air and 64 cubic meters of drinkable water. The technology for Level-0 had been adapted from the era of lunar bases. It was extremely tough and long-lasting, and Basel and Eliana had no expectation of ever having to service the machinery. Eliana turned on a light in her bedroom as she woke and smiled. She was dressed in just her thermal pajamas and thinking how easy it would be to live a decadent life here. By common agreement, she and Basel had decided to keep the station between 16C and 17C, and as she wiggled her bare feet under her single blanket, she found the mild coolness delightful. They had the power to keep the station at whatever temperature they liked. It was superbly insulated, and they had one megawatt of power at their disposal, 100 kW from their prime fusion pack, 600 kW from twin secondary packs, and 300 kW from the CAT, a versatile two-person rover with a self contained fusion engine that was currently plugged into central power. The Ranger station was extremely well constructed, meeting full lunar standards. Normal operating mode was to run completely sealed with the Level-0 machinery purifying the air. The outside could magically turn into a hard vacuum, and Eliana and Basel would still be fine anywhere in the station, including the adjacent CAT ga

CL3=32275 CL4=6488

hat, a population well over a hundred thousand. He really is your peer Eliana, a high-end achiever. Don't go snooty on him just because he's CL6 an