by Patty Jansen
Her heart thudded as the guard passed the device over her. It had to be a chip reader of some kind. She thought that the New Jakarta chip that she had received at birth would no longer show that she was from the station.
The woman seemed satisfied with her scan.
“The rest of the crew will stay on board.”
There were nods all around.
“We will attach power if you need. No opening door. No leaving ship. No computer connection. We will give you frequency for radio.” She addressed Hasegawa. For some reason she assumed he was the leader of the remaining crew.
“We understand.”
Everything in that list had already been covered by Cocaro.
The guards seemed satisfied. They left with formal bows. The airlock door closed, and then the outer door.
Phew.
Hasegawa let out a deep breath.
Kya pushed down the back of her chair. She ripped the packaging off an energy bar and took a big bite. She flicked her eyebrows at the looks the others gave her. “Didn’t think catering was part of the service, so I took my own.” Then she held the bar out to Hasegawa. “Want some?”
He refused.
There were rations on board to last the full crew three weeks, but they included nothing as fancy as energy bars. With apple, even.
Melati eyed the status screen. The Allion woman had said no computer connections, but in truth all the docking arms were computers and the opening of the airlock required that parameters of the outside air be fed to the ship.
Those computers might not be connected to the station’s systems, but they still contained data that could be important in one way or another.
Kya was busy feeding the information through the link to the Felicity.
“They’ve powered up the docks,” was Dixon’s reply. “The air quality is good and fresh.”
Melati didn’t know what to make of that, but didn’t like it.
Was this plea for help just a devious plot after all? The air had definitely been poor before. And the hypertechs had been trying to get their own recycling going because the central system was unreliable. If it was a plot, it was a very complicated one. But why was the air good all of a sudden?
She didn’t dare say anything.
Likely Allion was listening, waiting for these silly ISF people to figure out that they’d been tricked.
No one else said anything. Milo had put his feet up and leaned back in his seat, his eyes closed.
Maybe the problems with the station had been fixed already.
Ari set his PCD aside and rose from his seat. He gestured for Melati to come. He must have finished determining the best route to take to the B sector.
Melati followed him to the ship’s cargo compartment. It was cold and dark in there, and empty, except for a rack which held the two vacuum suits and all the related paraphernalia: the tanks, jackets, hoses.
They already wore the felt undersuits.
Melati took off her uniform overalls and stepped into the pressure suit’s legs. She pulled it up and over her shoulders. Melati was so nervous that she had trouble doing up the suit’s fastenings.
She hoped that the power to the outside of the hull would go off soon because she felt like they had been waiting too long already, and she was getting very hot in that suit. She didn’t want to run down the battery for the fan before they even left the ship.
When they came back into the cabin, Hasegawa had brought up something on the screen: a view of a passage with, a drop-off on one side and shopfronts on the other, seen from above. At least the gecko was doing its job.
This was the docking hall, but not in any way that she recognised it. There were only a few ships, no people, and the shops were all closed. Some doors stood open, some windows were broken, but the debris still lay on the floor as if this had happened yesterday instead of ten months ago.
A group of people walked past. There were two in light grey uniforms, and the others were in dark colours.
“Is that . . .”
Hasegawa nodded. He replayed the segment. Again the group came past. Melati could clearly make out Jas with the short hair and Nysa with the swinging ponytail.
Kya said, “I can’t see any sign that they’ve been forced.” They all spoke in low voices.
That, at least, was a good sign.
The rest of the dockside feed that the gecko had produced was boring. In fact, it was so boring that Melati wondered if there was anything at all going on in the station. The feed showed nothing except empty passages
“It’s very grainy,” Hasegawa said.
“The image is such poor quality because the light level is poor,” Kya said.
“Send it into the C sector,” Ari said. “See how far you can get before it goes out of range.”
Kya nodded and activated one of the screens before her. “Oh. Power’s gone off.”
They all turned to the live view of the outside of the station as seen from the camera at the very top of the ship. It showed a section of the station’s outer hull. They were currently in the shadow of the ring. The lights that had a moment ago illuminated the power boxes and other key spots on the outer hull were off.
Ari rose from his seat. “Let’s go.”
Melati followed him to the cargo section. There was still a lot of gear to be put on: earpieces, hoods, helmets, gloves. Majoa checked both of them and helped them put on the jackets and tanks. Oof, they were so heavy. Melati was already sweating in the suit.
Ari tested the microphone. “Can you hear me?”
“Yes. Hurry up, I’m hot.” The inside of her visor was fogging up.
“Turn the fan on.”
Of course. She did and a moment later a cool air stream stroked the skin on her face. The condensation on the visor dissipated.
“Ready?”
“Ready when you are.”
Ari went first to the door at the end of the cargo hold. This was normally for maintenance on the internal sections of the engine and would only open if the engine was not in operation.
The passage was dark and narrow and cold. It was hard to navigate past the tubes and metal struts when wearing a bulky suit with heavy tanks. At the end of the passage, there was a tiny space that was just big enough for two people to stand and check each other’s equipment. The trolley with the equipment that they needed to take stood here, too.
The airlock was only big enough for one person at a time. Ari went in first with the trolley and could only just close the door. That hatch made a squeaking sound when he turned it.
The airlock took about two minutes to pump out the air during which the light on the panel changed from green to yellow to red. Ari opened the outer door. She looked out the tiny window but what little moisture was in the air had frozen onto the glass. It was quickly sublimating, but still prevented her seeing much.
The outer door shut again. Melati operated the panel next to the door with an awkward gloved hand.
“You’re all right?” came Ari’s tinny voice through the loudspeaker.
“Yeah.”
Melati wormed herself into the narrow space of the airlock and turned the hatch door behind her. She pressed the “operate” button. If only she weren’t so nervous.
The tricky part of working in vacuum was that the suit was so snug that you didn’t notice a difference in outside air pressure.
The green light flashed on the outer door. Melati turned the hatch handle and opened the door into space.
Chapter 21
* * *
THE FIRST THING she saw was the blinding brightness of the part of the station in the sun. The ring of the station arced way overhead and came down on both sides to join the part where she stood.
The docking area was on the side of the ring so that getting to the inside of the station’s habitat ring involved climbing up a near-vertical wall and the only thing that stopped you from falling into space was a set of gantries along the side of the tube.
Ari had
already climbed from the ship; he’d hoisted up the trolley and was on the side of the soft dock tube, pushing the trolley across a foldout gantry that seemed designed for ship maintenance crews.
A tether railing led from the airlock where Melati stood along the outer side of the ship, and Melati attached her tether to it. Getting to the docking tube involved using U-shaped pieces of metal set in the hull at regular intervals. Melati started out, but was sweating and breathing hard only a few metres out. The vastness of space yawned below her feet, millions of stars in ink darkness. God, it was not a good idea to look at it.
“Climb to the top of the ship,” Ari said in her helmet. He sounded matter-of-fact.
She did, and it was easier to move around with solid ground underneath her feet.
She stepped off the ship and onto the gantry that stretched over the top of the docking tube. Ari joined her on the other side and they proceeded over the walkway with the trolley between them.
From there on, it was easier, if still hard work. They climbed up the ladders, attached the winch, guided up the trolley, and wheeled it down uneven walkways where the gaps in the metal grate underfoot were dangerously close to the size of the trolley’s wheels. Ari had to stop every now and then to check their position.
“Why don’t we climb straight to the top?” Melati asked, panting. “Then we only have to attach the winch once.”
“I prefer to stay in the shade for as long as we can. If they have cameras operating, they won’t be able to see us. And believe me, while the darkness is annoying, the sunlight is even more annoying.”
But the station kept turning and the sunlight reached their position anyway.
Melati had to stop, because the sudden glare stopped her seeing anything. The surface of the station reflected brightly.
All she could see were harsh shadows of protrusions on the station’s hull and bright spots that were too brightly-lit to resolve into recognisable shapes. Where was Ari?
“Melati?” someone said in the helmet cam.
Phew.
“Yes. Where are you?”
“Here.” Something moved a bit further ahead. “Turn your visor up a little.”
Melati did and could now see a suited figure waving at her.
The figure clambered down a narrow ladder and came over the gantry to her.
“You all right?”
“Think so.” Her legs ached. The trolley was awkward. The gear was so heavy, and the noise made by the fan annoyed her. And she was still feeling hot.
“Wait here in the shade for a bit. Calm down. We got time. It’s not far.”
He pulled her by the outside of her suit until she stood in the shade of some kind of protrusion on the ship. The sunlight reflecting off the other side of the station provided the only source of light. “Where is our airlock?”
“Over there.” He jerked his head.
Melati leaned against the metal behind her.
The fan inside her suit jumped to a higher setting. They had only just started and she was already hot.
“Come, let’s keep going, before the power comes back.”
Melati trudged after him. First along the side and then further up. She pushed the trolley, and Ari pulled it.
“I can see the B sector sign,” Ari said after a while. “How are you doing?”
“I need to walk on a solid surface. My legs are sore.”
“You need more time in the gym, madam soldier.”
But now they finally went over the curve of the station to the top of the tube.
He’d been right. It was open and exposed here. Melati was sweating in her suit. She couldn’t feel her hands and she couldn’t feel where she was putting her feet because the suit was so thick. Her breath sounded so ridiculously loud inside that mask that it made her feel like ripping it off her face.
The surface here wasn’t free of obstacles either. Because the inside of the ring was deemed safer in terms of micrometeorite damage, most of the station’s delicate functions resided here. A narrow raised pathway led over a field of cables and other electrical stuff.
The going wasn’t as quick as she’d hoped. There was no continuous tether railing so she had to keep shifting her tether from one side to the other. Ari was a lot faster at this than she was.
She could now see the B sector as well, rising up before them. It increased in size as they struggled closer.
A few more steps, a few more steps . . .
She was so hot and tired.
All of a sudden, Ari said a word he would never have said before he joined the flight crew. He stopped so suddenly that Melati, on automatic pilot, bumped into him.
“Get under cover. Someone is out here.”
“What do you mean ‘someone out here’?”
“I just saw someone walking over there. I hope they haven’t seen us, but we have to assume that they have and this is the reception party.” He unclipped his gun from his belt. “I guess they’ll be coming this way soon.”
They stood like this for a while, not daring to move either back or forward.
Ari pointed to where he’d seen this person, but Melati peered for all she was worth, but saw nothing.
No, wait . . .
Something had moved on the top of the taller B sector. But it was not someone in a light-coloured suit. It wasn’t even someone in a bulky suit.
“There’s two of them,” Ari said. “They’re not wearing suits at all.”
“They’re aggregates,” Melati said. She still couldn’t see much. Possibly Ari had better eyes, or his visor was not as badly scratched as hers.
She also unclipped her gun. It felt small and poorly controlled in her gloves. Was there a hope that she would hit anyone with it while in this clumsy suit?
They crouched on the walkway. Their location was quite exposed, and the trolley kind of stood out, but the section of shadow was coming around again.
“Team, request backup,” Melati said into her microphone.
“Copy,” said Hasegawa. His voice sounded strong and confident through the earpiece.
Melati asked Ari to send through the coordinates. “There are at least two aggregates working at that position. Can someone check out what they’re doing there?”
“Hang on while I ask.”
Melati waited. She guessed he was speaking to one of the pilots of the shadow craft who were keeping an eye on the mission.
Then his voice came back. “He was just about to warn you about these guys.”
“What are they doing?”
“I don’t know. Maintenance?”
“Do they look like they know that we’re here?”
“Couldn’t tell you.”
Great. Now what?
The station moved and shadow slowly crept over the side of the station. Then they were completely in shadow and the edge of the station was only visible as a bright crescent. The power tether stretched from the outside of the ring into space. Little arcs of lightning crept along its length.
Then the intermittent power came back on, and with it, a string of lights along the walkway. She could see how it led all the way to that big B marked on the fatter part of the tube. She judged the distance to be about fifty metres, but all of it was brightly-lit.
Ari said, “Shit.”
“You can say that again.” Melati normally disapproved of swearing, but it seemed the only appropriate thing to do in the situation. Not only were aggregates out there, but they could now see what was going on in the shadowed part of the station.
“What now, madam soldier?”
Melati looked back across the station’s hull. The idea of returning to the shuttle filled her with despair. Now that they were out here, she wanted to get to the B sector. Her heart thudded loudly, and she was getting cold standing here doing nothing.
“We wait until they’re not looking and then we run.”
“I asked for a plan, not a crazy scheme.”
“Well, if they come this way, we shoot.”
<
br /> “They’re aggregates. They can stay outside forever if they need to.”
“I don’t think that’s quite true. They have limits to their stays outside, just like we do.”
“Theirs are much longer than ours.”
Melati checked her tank. There was more than a third left. They had only fifty metres to go. It should be more than enough.
“It’s a crazy plan. If they notice us running, they’ll just pick us off,” Ari said.
“I have no intention of that happening. Hasegawa, are you still there?”
“Copy. Coming in clear.”
“We’re going to make a run for it. Can you check with Mech 1 and Mech 2 if they can do something about the previous issue?”
Those broadcasts would all go out in code.
“They prefer not to break cover this early in the piece,” Hasegawa said.
“Understood.”
Melati cut the transmission. Something was now happening on the edge of the B sector. A person was climbing down.
“Shit,” Ari said again. There was a little maintenance platform a few paces back. He pushed the trolley in there, so that it looked as if it normally stood there.
Melati asked, “Do you think they’ve seen us?”
“Maybe. Come.” He lifted his leg and let himself fall over the railing—and his tether cut in before he hit the ground. He swung and hit the bottom of the walkway with a thud that made the walkway reverberate.
“Ari!” Would the aggregates have felt the vibrations?
Ari groaned.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah. I’m about a hand’s width short of the deck. Can you undo the clip up there?”
Melati unclipped the tether and let him down. Then she unclipped her own, climbed over the railing and jumped. The gear was so heavy that her legs wouldn’t support her. She landed with an inelegant tumble.
Ouch and oof.
Ari crawled underneath the walkway. Melati followed him, noticing that he walked stiffly on one leg.
The aggregates were still coming down the ladder. Melati said, “They’re going to find the trolley.”
Ari said, “They will. But if they get to the shuttle, they’re going to find the gantry walkway that I’ve put down from the ship. They’ll know that the shuttle crew has been outside.”
