“Thanks Angelique,” croaked Ryann, taking it with a shaking hand. She pulled him up into a sitting position and he swayed drunkenly as the cabin span.
“How’s the state of the Ibis?” he managed at last. “Any sign of the crew?”
Angelique shrugged.
“Not yet. The pilot of that Patroller blew open the outer-airlock door and then opened the inner one — looks like he depressurised some of the ship — maybe that killed them? I didn’t go any further than the airlock but it looks as though the Ibis has taken less structural damage than I first thought — Jeez Ryann, you’ve gone green now — are you sure you’re okay?” she asked in concern.
He nodded slowly; he could feel a film of cold sweat all over his face, and thought he might black out again at any moment.
“Stay here a while if you need to,” she said matter-of-factly, pulling on her helmet. “I’ll go and see if I can get some power back to the Ibis. Like I say, it all looks pretty lifeless.”
Ryann grabbed her arm as she went to stand. He tried shutting his eyes for a moment but his head span even more.
“Hold up a minute,” he gasped. “We don’t know who was aboard that ship or what they were doing. Give me a second, we’ll go together.”
“I can handle myself,” muttered Angelique defensively.
“Just give me a second,” he repeated, pulling himself shakily to his feet, holding on to the back of his chair. “There’s every chance that someone could be sealed off in another part of the ship. We go together.” He pulled his helmet over his head, locking it in place. “Helmet comms seem good,” he said, tapping the earpiece on his helmet. “It should be safe enough to use them if we set the range to a minimum. We got any guns?”
“Nope,” replied Angelique, steadying him as they walked over to the hatchway. “Not that I can find. The Raven’s a mess — anything that wasn’t bolted down got sucked out through the big holes all over our hull.”
“Let’s just hope that there’s nobody waiting for us aboard the Ibis then.”
“Well, look on the bright-side,” muttered Angelique as she swung open the hatch. “At least we don’t have anything left on the ship that’s worth stealing.”
Ryann laughed weakly, the sound quickly degenerating into a racking cough. He leant heavily against wall as Angelique closed the hatch behind them, sealing them into the narrow passage. The corridor was in chaos, with wires and pipes hanging down from the low ceiling. The weak illumination from his helmet’s light cast crazy shadows all about. He stooped beneath a tangle of fallen cables, moving down to the far end of the corridor. Their inner airlock door hung open, and together the two of them squeezed through the gap and into the airlock.
“We can’t get the inner door sealed then?” asked Ryann, inspecting the controls. Angelique shook her head and sighed.
“Something’s jamming the manual override,” she muttered. “Took me ages just to prise it open.” She reached over to the manual release on the outer doors.
“I managed to get a tether to the Ibis, but she’s still a little way off, so don’t fall out,” she said with a grin as she purged the air from the corridor. She went to open the outer doors and then stopped, holding on to the wall as she swayed. “I’m okay, just a little dizzy still,” she mumbled, straightening up as Ryann went to help her.
“You took quite a knock back there,” he replied in concern.
“Let’s face it — we’re both a mess,” she said, smiling shakily. “Give me a hand to get this open, it’s jammed again.”
They heaved on the door release and it slid open with a jolt. Ryann almost lost his balance and stumbled forwards, catching himself upon the wall just in time. For a second he had an overwhelming shot of vertigo as he swayed upon the edge of the airlock.
He was staring down into the vastness of space, and far, far below him luminous banks of green mist and ice shone out — the impenetrable wall of the Halion Belt.
He pulled himself back from the edge with a start.
“I told you,” drawled Angelique. “Here, clip on to the tether line — we’ll have to pull ourselves across — unless you fancy jumping.”
He glanced back out across the emptiness to the corroded hull of the Ibis. The old colony ship dwarfed their vessel, its sheer sides rising up beyond his view. The dark circle of the open airlock looked like some ominous cave. Nothing moved, but the stillness seemed foreboding.
For a moment Ryann felt a deep sense of unease as he stared across the gulf and into that dark entrance.
After he had landed the Raven upon the Ibis’ airlock, it must have drifted away again, for they were now about ten metres from its hull. A string of cables and air-lines bridged the gap from a panel beside the airlock door and across to the silent ship.
“Here,” repeated Angelique, making Ryann jump. “Clip yourself on.” She held out a short tether-line, fastening one end to an anchor point on his flight-suit and then up to one of the steel hawsers that linked the ships together.
“Can’t we pull her any closer?” asked Ryann, looking mistrustfully across the gap; he hated looking down into space, he always felt as though he was going
