The Aftermath

manual command anyway, he said to himself.

“T minus ninety,” came the synthesized voice. “Hydrogen feed line open.”

A new green light winked on.

“Confirm feed line open,” Theo said, his own voice sounding slightly shaky in his ears.

“T minus sixty seconds. Automatic sequencer on.”

“Confirm automatic sequencer.”

New lights were springing up across the panel. All green, Theo saw. He could hear his mother’s rapid breathing. Something deep in the ship shuddered. Hydrogen’s flowing, Theo realized. Liquid hydrogen, at more than two hundred fifty degrees below zero. If anything’s going to go wrong, he thought, it’ll be now.

“T minus thirty seconds. Electric power activated. Magnetic field on.”

“Confirm mag field,” Theo said crisply. The liquid hydrogen seemed to be flowing smoothly: leakage rate minor, no damage to the insulated piping.

“Ten… nine… eight…”

Hydrogen was flowing from the propellant tank to the main engine’s thruster. The engine’s superconducting magnets were on at full strength. The ship’s fusion reactor was putting out its maximum power level.

“… three… two… one… engine thrusting.”

Theo pointed a finger at the central display screen. It showed a green line rising steadily. Thrust. The thrust they needed to slow the ship and get it looping back toward civilization eventually.

“It’s working!” Pauline exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

“I don’t feel anything,” said Angie, sounding disappointed.

“You won’t,” Theo said, feeling enormously relieved. “I told you, remember? You can’t blast this old bucket like some rocket ship in an adventure vid. We nudge her gently.”

Angie replied, “I know the thrust level’s real low, Thee, but I thought we’d feel something.”

He grinned up at her. “Watch yourself pouring liquids tonight. They’ll be skewed a little.”

“You did it, Theo,” his mother said, gripping his shoulder tighter. “You did it.”

“We did it,” he corrected. “Angie and me.”

His sister beamed at him.

It wasn’t until Theo tried to get up from the command chair that he realized he was soaked through with perspiration.

“You better take a shower, Thee,” Angie said, wrinkling her nose. “You smell pretty disgusting.”

Theo laughed. Back to normal, he said to himself.

* * *

That evening, while they were relaxing in the sitting room after a celebratory dinner of real frozen chicken, Theo mused, “If there was only some way to get the antennas working.”

“If there were only,” Angie corrected, sitting across the coffee table from him. “Subjunctive. Right, Ma?”

Pauline nodded. “After the conditional if.” She was on the sofa, to Theo’s right.

With a shrug, Theo said, “If we could get the antennas working we could call for help.”

“But you said we don’t have the materials you need to repair the antennas,” Angie pointed out.

“Yeah, that’s right. But I’m wondering if there isn’t some other way.”

“Like what?”

“Like … I don’t know.”

Before Angie could say anything, their mother asked, “Is there anything else on board that could be put to use as a beacon?”

“Or a comm system, so we could call for help.”

Theo shook his head. “We’ve got all the communications gear we need. It’s just that the godda… er, godforsaken antennas are gone. No antennas, no signals out. Or in.”

“Is there something else we can use for an antenna?” Angie asked.

“Not that I can figure out,” Theo answered. “I’ve looked all through every piece of equipment on the ship. Nothing usable.”

Pauline asked, “Don’t we have a radar system?”

“Collision avoidance radar,” said Theo. “That antenna’s a mess of melted goo, just like the rest.”

“You mean we’re flying blind?” Angie yipped. “We could run into an asteroid?”

“Yes, we’re flying blind. No, we won’t hit an asteroid big enough to do much damage. It’s empty out there, Angie.”

“For real?”

“For real. The chances of us getting hit by anything bigger than a dust flake are about the same as… well, it’s pretty blinking remote.”

Angela did not look relieved.

Pauline asked, “We are getting hit by micrometeoroids, though?”

“Yes’m. Every day. Nothing big enough to penetrate the hull, but sooner or later I’ll have to go out and replace some of the meteor bumpers.”

“Isn’t there anything we could use for an antenna, Thee?” Angie persisted. “I mean, we’ve got a whole ship’s worth of supplies. Can’t we jury-rig some wires or something?”

Theo didn’t answer for a long moment, his mind churning, his self-control tottering.

“I’ve tried,” he said at last. “I’ve really tried.”

“We know,” his mother said.

“I mean, I’ve gone through everything I can think of. I really have. I just don’t know enough. I’ve checked all the maintenance vids, all the logistics lists, everything. I can’t make it work. I just don’t know how to do it!”

They were both staring at him.

“I’ve failed,” Theo admitted, close to tears. “I can’t fix the antennas. I’ve tried and tried and tried and I can’t do it.”

“It’s all right, Thee,” Angie whispered.

His mother reached out and touched his shoulder. “You’ve done your best, Theo. No one can ask more than that.”

“I feel so damned stupid!” he blurted, banging the arm of his chair with his fist.

“You are not stupid,” said Pauline firmly. “No child of mine is stupid. You simply don’t have the materials you need to repair the antennas. That’s not your fault.”

“It’s not your fault, Thee,” Angie consoled. “It was the stupid designers. Why’d they have to put all the antennas on the same section of the hull? That was just plain stupid.”

“They weren’t designing a man-of-war,” Pauline said. “They never expected an ore carrier to be attacked.”

Fighting to hold back tears of frustration, Theo looked across the coffee table to his sister. “Maybe we could figure out some way to rig up an antenna, Angie.”

“You think so?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I can look through the maintenance vids again, I suppose.”

“Do you think there’s something in them?” Pauline asked softly.

“I’ll look. It’s better than doing nothing, I guess.”

“Good. That’s all we can ask of you.”

“I’ll go through the vids with you, Thee,” said Angie. “Two heads are better than one.”

Theo started to glare at her, but it melted into a grin. “Unless they’re on the same person,” he said tamely.

They all laughed together.