jets on that side of the hull. The system won’t fire with one set of the jets out.”
“Can you override?”
“No, dammit. I’ll have to go outside and repair the circuit manually.
Immediately Angela said, “I’ll back you up.”
“Okay,” said Theo. “We’ll both get into suits but you come back here and take the command chair while I’m outside. If I get into trouble, you’ll be ready to come out and help.”
“Right,” Angela said. No argument.
As they clambered up the tube tunnel toward the living quarters and the main airlock, Theo felt the ship vibrating, a slight tremor that would only get worse, he knew, unless he could get the cold-gas jets to slow their spin back to normal.
“How’s Mom?” he shouted to Angela, a few rungs of the ladder above him.
“She sounded okay. She said she was working on the air filters when the collision hit.”
“She wasn’t hurt, was she?”
“You know Mom. She’d have to lose an arm or a leg before she’d admit she got hurt.”
Pauline was waiting for them at the hatch to the airlock. “I’ve pulled out your suits and checked their air tanks. Both suits are ready for use.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Theo said.
Pauline helped them into their suits, checked the seals, then sent Angela back toward the control pod. Once she reported on the intercom that she was safely at her post, Pauline started to pull her own suit out of its locker.
“What’re you doing, Mom?” Theo asked.
“I’ll be your backup. Help me into my suit, please.”
“But Angie—”
“Angie’s in the pod. If you get into trouble, I can be outside with you in three minutes, the time it takes to cycle the airlock. Angie’s fifteen minutes away.”
Theo recognized the tone of his mother’s voice. All that arguing would do was delay the repairs he needed to make. It would never change his mother’s mind, or blunt her determination.
“Okay,” he said, with a defeated sigh. Yet inwardly he knew his mother was right, and he appreciated her wisdom.
Once outside, Theo used his suit’s maneuvering jets to skim halfway around the ship’s rim.
“How does it look?” Pauline’s voice sounded calm enough, but he thought he detected just a trace of anxiety in it.
Shaking his head inside the suit’s glassteel helmet, Theo replied, “Like some giant robot ripped the whole section apart.”
“That bad?”
“Could’ve been a lot worse. The rock must’ve come in at a flat angle. It grazed the hull, just plowed along this one section and then went on its way.”
Angela’s voice cut in. “Can you fix the circuitry?”
“Yeah, sure. But it’s going to take time.”
And air. Theo knew his mother had filled his suit’s tanks, but every breath he took sucked up precious oxygen. Then there’s the maneuvering jet propellant. Cold nitrogen, same as the ship’s rim jets use. How much more do we have in store? We can take nitrogen out of the air we breathe, but that ups the oxy percentage, which can start its own cascade of problems.
He shook his head again, this time to clear away all the disturbing thoughts. No time for that, he told himself. Fix the problem at hand.
He didn’t realize how long he’d been at his task until Angela called. “You’ve got one hour of air left, Thee.”
Looking up from the welding job he’d been doing, he floated out to the limit of his safety tether with the welding laser in his gloved hand.
“Almost finished,” he said. He wished he could reach inside the helmet and scratch his nose. The headband he wore kept the sweat out of his eyes, but he could feel it trickling uncomfortably down his cheeks and soaking the collar of his shirt. No time for complaining, he told himself sternly. Get the job done.
At last he called to Angela, “Check the circuit schematic, Angie. It should be all green now.”
“It’s amb… no, it’s gone to green!” Her voice sounded jubilant.
“Okay. Fire the jets. One-second burst. Just see if they actually work.”
“Firing.”
Theo saw a puff glitter from the nearest jet: cold nitrogen gas immediately dissipating into the vacuum of space.
“Works fine!” Angela sang out.
“Okay,” said Theo. “Check the spin program and slave the jet controls to it. I’m heading in.”
Two years ago, even one year ago, he wouldn’t have trusted Angela to get it right. But she’s grown a lot, Theo thought. Then he grinned to himself. So have I, I guess.
He got as far as the open outer hatch of the airlock. Then his earphones crackled:
“Unidentified vessel, this is
At first Valker was disappointed that the ship on his main screen wasn’t his quarry,
“Is she a derelict?” Valker wondered aloud.
Nicco, sitting at the communications console, said, “I can hail her.”
Valker thought it over for about a second, then replied, “Do that. Politely. According to the rules.”
Nicco grinned as he pressed his transmission key. “Unidentified vessel,” he called, his voice light and sweet. “This is
No answer. Only the crackle of interference from the natural background emissions of the Sun and stars. Then:
“This is ore ship
“Put them on screen,” Valker commanded.
Nicco made an elaborate shrug. “No visual. Only voice. And it’s kinda weak, like it’s a suit radio, not the ship’s comm system.”
Valker leaned on the comm key built into his command chair’s armrest. “
“Yessir. We’ve been on a powerless trajectory for almost four years now, ever since we were attacked.”
“Attacked? By who?”
“We don’t know. The attacker slagged our antennas so we couldn’t call for help. I’m talking to you through a suit radio.”
Nicco half stood at his console and took a little bow. The other crewmen razzed him.
“We’ll rendezvous with you,” said Valker, waving to the crew to be quiet. “How many aboard your vessel?”
“Rendezvous will be tricky, sir. Our radar’s out. We’re blind as well as deaf and dumb.”
“That’s all right. We’ll match vectors and board you. How many in your crew?”
“There’s just my mother, my sister and me.”
Valker’s smile showed almost all his teeth.
“Hold tight. I’ll come aboard myself.”
“That’s great! That’s wonderful!”
Valker cut the connection and his crew whooped with glee.
