Summer has come to Niflheim. The lichens are growing, the six-winged bat-things are chirping, and much to his own surprise, Mickey Barnes is still alivethat last part thanks almost entirely to the fact that Commander Marshall believes that the colonys creeper neighbors are holding an antimatter bomb, and that Mickey is the only one whos keeping them from using it. Mickeys just another colonist now. Instead of cleaning out the reactor core, he spends his time these days cleaning out the rabbit hutches. Its not a bad life.