1
Calm Before the Storm

Justin Cord drifted on his back, arms clasped loosely behind his head, admir-Jing the delicate mist moving slowly above. It was through these thin wisps of vapor and the eerily warm water .owing quietly beneath him that he would, on that rare occasion, .nd solace in a lake so big he would have called it a sea. He'd long gotten used to the fact that the horizon line curved upwards instead of down and that instead of a clear blue sky his vista was that of a magni.cent mountain range above. The inverse horizon was just one of the many oddities he'd had to struggle with by virtue of his forced exile to the belt. He couldn't help it. When he thought "asteroid", "small" came to mind. After all, Ceres was only a quarter the size of Earth's Moon. What he failed to realize was just how huge the Moon actually was. Of course Ceres had changed quite a bit as a result of the planetoid's .rst meddlesome settlers. Its orbit had been altered to match that of Mars in order to bring it into the elliptic plane along with all the other major bodies in the solar system. On top of that, the Cerians had dug down deep and were still digging. They'd hollowed out a two- mile- wide cylindrical hole through the center and then gave the rock spin for gravity. The early inhabitants had also taken abundant advantage of the fact that their home had miles of frozen water spread evenly beneath its surface. In fact, it had more H20 than all the freshwater on Earth. This meant that Ceres had lakes, lots of them, with some as big as oceans. And so drifting aimlessly a hundred meters from shore, staring down into the planet, Justin Cord could almost forget that there was a ceiling "behind" him holding in the massive body of water and that the power of centrifugal force ensured that it stayed that way. For most born in the belt and accustomed to subterranean life, the idea of a sky was unnerving to say the least. Justin had heard stories of some belt- born with agoraphobia so severe that they wouldn't dare venture outside on Earth unless they were safely con.ned within the sterile- aired, cumbersome embrace of a space suit. Since he'd never seen such a thing, he chalked it up to talk. Still, after being on Ceres for little over a year he could certainly relate. In space you weren't safe until you had a secure roof over your head, and even then you'd always check for leaks. For an off- worlder visiting Earth for the .rst time, the whole damned planet leaked.
With the new President of the Outer Alliance, the feeling was just the opposite. Try as he might, Justin couldn't help but feel closed in. He hid it as best he could and took long walks in the great city parks where the "roof " was far enough overhead that he wouldn't notice the absence of sky. Time permitting, he'd sometimes wander into the forest where the trees were so tall and crowns so thick that he could imagine he was in a forest somewhere on Earth. But the thing Justin best loved to do was swim. He could forget where he was, forget all his problems as well as everyone else's. Arm over arm, head back, Justin would sometimes think that if there were a heaven it had to be an endless ocean he could spend eternity swimming in.
But as usual, heaven would have to wait. Justin could make out the all- too-familiar hum of a hover disk approaching in the distance. It was a sound that elicited an almost Pavlovian response. The President sighed, continued his poor backstroke, and waited patiently to open his eyes until the craft was practically on top of him. It had gotten to the point that he no longer bothered to swim back to shore. He knew something would always happen that would necessitate a disk being sent out to get him. One day, he decided, there would be no emergency at all, no crisis, no feathers to be unruf.ed, and on that day he would probably drown. But that day was not today. After another hundred yards of backstroking to put off the inevitable, he gave up, stopped, and opened his eyes.
Omad was smiling down on him.
"You know I wouldn't have come out if—"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me guess," said Justin. "They found a monolith .oating around Jupiter. Alien contact perhaps, no, maybe Mars revolted and joined the Outer Alliance."
"No monoliths," answered Omad, "not for lack of looking, mind you, but none yet. And any aliens smart enough to get into this neck of the galaxy would probably be smart enough to get out. And if Mars decided to join us," Omad said, looking out into the distance, "it wouldn't make sense to call us the Outer Alliance then, would it?" He then looked back down to Justin."We would just be the Alliance, don't you think? Mars is a core world after all."
"Not in my day."
"You're a really old fart, Justin. Nothing is from your day."
Justin laughed. "OK, Omad," said the President, noticing his friend's pained expression. "What is it this time?"
"It's Eris, friend. Everyone's waiting back at Cliff House."
Justin was suddenly tired in a way that had nothing to do with the miles he'd just logged in swimming.
"Crap."
Omad nodded sympathetically and then extended his hand, .rst making sure to get a good grip on the strap in the center of the disk. The machine tilted slightly as Justin got on, but no more than three or four degrees. Omad tossed his friend a towel and without another word sped off toward the shore, where the world Justin had only recently created sat waiting.
"OK, listeners, this is The Clara Roberts Show coming to you live from Ceres for the .rst day of the provisional congress. By mutual agreement, no press or recording devices are allowed into the actual hall, but the delegates are always coming and going. Why, here's Tyler Sadma of the Eris colony about to enter the hall. Let me see if I can just ask him to talk to us....Mr. Sadma...Mr. Sadma! A few words for the... Mr. Sadma . . ."
"No comment."
"I am sorry, loyal listeners, but he pushed right past me. Seems his reputation is well deserved. Wait a minute . . . here comes Karen Cho of the Oberon colony. Miss Cho!"
"Hello, Clara, love your show. We listen to it on Saturn all the time."
"Thanks for the plug."
"Well sure, you guys always have a good slant about news from the
corporate core. Lots of facts without all the Terran propaganda."
"We try to keep the truth broadcasting for all to hear. You could help my listeners by telling me what's going on behind the closed doors of power."
"Clara, before we could have that power we'd all have to agree."
"Agree on what?"
"Anything; I'm not sure we can even order lunch as a congress with
out calling a committee of the whole, and by the time we do agree it would be time for breakfast!" "And I though my job was tough! Miss Cho, got time for another
question?" "Sure." "Any chance the First Free will show up on opening day?" "He says he doesn't want to interfere with the formation of the leg
islative branch until we're all settled in and invite him. And surely, Miss Roberts, you know the provisional President does not encourage the use of that nickname."
"It's what all my listeners call him. Who am I to argue?" "Well, just don't say it to his f