The Forge of God by Greg Bear

Edward couldn't tell whether he was being serious or melodramatic.
    "Who's the oldest?" Edward asked, deliberately asserting leadership and moving them on to less timely subjects. "I'm thirty-three."
    "Thirty," Minelli said.
    "Twenty-nine," Reslaw said.
    "Then I'm the oldest," Stella said.
    "How old are you?" Edward asked.
    "None of your business."
    " They know," Reslaw said. "Let's ask."
    "Don't you dare," Morgan warned, laughing.
    All right , Edward thought, we're in good spirits, or as good as can be expected. We're not being tortured, beyond a few pinpricks. No sense learning everything about each other right away. We might be here for a long time .
    "Hey," Minelli shrieked. "Supervisor! Supervisor! My face… My face. There's something growing on it."
    Edward felt his pulse quicken. Nobody spoke.
    "Oh, thank God," Minelli said a few moments later, milking the situation for all it was worth. "Just a beard. Hey! I need my electric razor."
    "Mr. Minelli," the supervisor said, "no more of that, please."
    "We should have warned you about him," Reslaw said.
    "I'm known to be something of an asshole," Minelli explained. "Just in case you might be having second thoughts about keeping me here."
    PERSPECTIVE
    AAP/NBS WorldNet, Woomera, South Australia, October 6, 1996 (October 5, USA) : Despite Prime Minister Stanley Miller's decision to "go public" with news of extraterrestrial visitors in South Australia, scientists at the site have heretofore released very little information. What is known is this: The object discovered by opal prospectors in the Great Victoria Desert is less than eighty miles from Ayers Rock, just over the border into South Australia. It lies some 210 miles due south of Alice Springs. Its appearance has been disguised to resemble the three great granite tors of the region, Ayers Rock and the Olgas, although it is apparently smaller than these well-known formations. The Department of Defense has surrounded the site with some 90 miles of razor wire in three concentric circles. Current investigations are being carried out by scientists from the Ministry of Science and the Australian Academy of Science. Help has been offered by officials at the Australian Space Research Center at Woomera and NASA's Island Lagoon tracking facility, although scientific and military cooperation with other nations is by no means certain at present.
    The dark gray Mercedes bus took Arthur Gordon and Harry Feinman from the small Air Force passenger jet through a heavily guarded gate into the Vandenberg Space Operations Center. Through the window, over a concrete hill about a mile north, Arthur could see the top half of a space shuttle and its mated rust-orange external tank and white booster rockets poised beside a massive steel gantry.
    "I didn't know you were prepared for this sort of thing, I mean, to bring specimens here," Arthur said to the blue-uniformed officer sitting beside him, Colonel Morton Hall. Hall was about Arthur's age, slightly shorter, husky and trim, with a narrow mustache and an air of quiet patience.
    "We aren't, speaking frankly," Hall said.
    Harry, seated in front of them next to a black-haired lieutenant named Sanborn, turned and peered around the neck rest. Each member of the civilian group was accompanied by an officer. "Then why is everything here?" Harry asked.
    "Because we're the closest, and we can improvise," Hall said. "We have some isolation facilities here."
    "What are they used for, under normal circumstances?" Harry asked. He glanced at Arthur with an expression between roguishness and pique.
    "I'm not at liberty to discuss that," Hall said, smiling slightly.
    "It's what I thought," Harry said to Arthur. "Yes, indeed." He nodded and faced forward.
    "What were you thinking, Mr. Feinman?" Colonel Hall asked, still smiling, albeit more tightly.
    "We're moving biological weapons research into space," Harry said tersely. "Automated modules controlled from Earth. Bring them back here, and they'll have to be