Juanita said, "Amelia can't find the station in Base's database. She's asking Earth -"
Three men groaned at once. It would take over thirty minutes for the radio signal to get to earth and back, even if Earthside replied immediately.
" - but she estimates the remains of the station at 2401 tons and says each cable should be 2325 meters long if we attach it to the rim and use the transport and cargo for weights."
Oh fun, thought Dan.
Everyone except Juanita got out of their five-point harness and started strapping on mobility packs - a harness with little thrust rockets pointing every which way.
"Now unstrap yourselves and get into the mobility packs," ordered Jim. He was the last one ready. "Get a move on, everyone," he barked. "Don't use the rockets inside the transport."
Dan knew better anyway. They pushed off from their seats, and climbed out.
The damaged ship had ladders along each of the six struts that joined the central sphere to the outer ring.
Ten minutes later Dan was moving along a ladder with Jim, playing out one of the thick carbon cables behind them. He stared at his feet and tried to ignore the stars whipping past below and to the sides. He still felt like an ant on a Frisbee. It was worse where the ladder had buckled. Beneath their feet, the explosion had torn large chunks off the outer skin of the space station, exposing pipework beneath. Dan concentrated on his tethers.
They welded the cable onto the station rim. It was hard work because the centrifugal force tried to fling everything into space.
Finally, Jim said, "That should do it. Juanita, we're heading back now."
As they retraced their steps down the strut, the launch flew past them, looping the cable round and round the station in the direction of spin. Meanwhile, Shuwundu attached a similar cable to the other side. His was attached to the launch, while Jim and Dan's was attached to the launch's cargo - mostly water.
"Right, lad," said Jim. "It works like this. The launch weighs the same as the cargo. We've got two weights, see, each fastened to a cable looped round this here station. Juanita kills her engines, and we blow the bolts, and the spin throws them both out, like, spinning the opposite way. Of course both weights together are a lot less than the station, but they're a lot further out, see? So if Base got their sums right, the angular whatsit should cancel out, and we stop the boy spinning. Even if they've screwed up again, it should be spinning a sight less."
"I know," said Dan. He didn't see how they could work with even a small residual spin, but he didn't bother to say so.Jim ignored him anyway. "Right, everybody get in."
They all got into the launch and strapped in.
Jim said, "Juanita, get ready to cut us free."
"Ready".
"Three…two…one…Now."
Now the station appeared to be moving, as well as the stars. Dan shut his eyes.
Shuwundu said, "Get ready for a little jolt when the cable's all paid out.
The little jolt nearly pulled Dan's arms out of their sockets. He kept his eyes shut until he heard a ragged cheer. The stars had stopped moving and Juanita cut the launch free.
Jim started giving orders again. "Right, let's get to the thrust point."
Juanita was already steering them there. Now that the station had stopped its wild tumbling, it was simple enough for Juanita to land on the outer ring, near the huge gash.
As they climbed out, Jim continued, "Shuwundu, take the generator. I'll take the gun. Dan, you don't know what you're doing. Stick with me."
Jim pointed to a section of the ship's hull. "This'll do. Come on, get a move on. We can't get this thing moving fast, so we've got to start it moving now. We've only got an hour left."
Dan held the gun down while Shuwundu taped it to the station. Then they adjusted it, using gyros, until it pointed at ninety degrees to the station's direction of travel.
Dan said, "Shame we can't use the ship's own engines."
Jim snorted. "Yeah right. Let's go spend half an hour finding out why this thing's abandoned and leave it too late to use the gun. Keep your mind on your work, you stupid git. That's miles out. Do it again."
It went much faster the second time, because they just lined up on the scratch marks Shuwundu made the first time. Then Jim said it was perfect.
They started connecting the generator.
Shuwundu said, "Come on Dan, let's get the ice."
They left the others connecting the generator, and went back to the transport. The ice was in six flexible bags, each a meter cubed. Although it was weightless, it still had a lot of inertia, so it took a good shove to get it moving. Shuwundu made it look easy, keeping it going in the right direction and stopping it dead, just as they got to the water gun.
The generator was already humming. Shuwundu connected the ice bag to its heater and the gun, and they were in business.
Everyone moved well back.
"Move back!" shouted Jim. "This gun can punch a hole through steel."
He switched on. The melting ice was pumped into the gun, converted to steam at a thousand degrees centigrade, and squirted out of a fine nozzle. There was no sound, and nothing to see unless something was behind the narrow, shimmering line of supersonic steam, but the space station began to change course very, very slowly.
Jim's voice sawed into the background of breathing.
"Juanita, get an update from Amelia."
"Collision time, one hour and twelve minutes. She'll contact us when she's got data on how the gun's working."
"I said get an update, not old data, you prat."
"I asked for the update when I saw the gun start. Amelia will give me fresh data when she's got it. She always does."
There was a pause while they floated around and listened to their breathing. Dan looked up. The shrunken sun was directly overhead.
Time passed. The water bag started to deflate. Dan wanted to look inside the ship, but he knew what Jim's reaction would be if he suggested it. Why did I come and work here?thought Dan. My old job at the coal mine wasn't so bad. Real sky and birds when you came up. At least my boss wasn't such an idiot.
"Update," said Juanita. "The space station's starting to spin. We need to adjust the gun by twenty-six arc minutes east. Apart from that, the space station's lighter than she first thought, and we won't need all the ice."
Shuwundu switched off the gun, to adjust it.
"Shuwundu, switch it off and adjust it," said Jim.
They had it going again in under a minute.
Dan thought, If I "accidentally" caught the jet, my suit would deflate. It would all be over in a second. I'd never have to put up with Jim again. Hell, I'd never have to put up with my nightmares again.
"Update," said Juanita. "We're bang on. We should only need a few liters of the second bag, but Ameilia says to fire half to be sure. Evacuation canceled."
"Dan, get another bag," ordered Jim.
Dan did. On his own, it was much harder to control the ice. It went shooting off sideways. He'd chase it and try to stop it, only to have it careen off again. The short distance to the gun turned into a drunkard's walk. It was so difficult he almost forgot his troubles, briefly.
He was close now. He gave the water bag a cautious nudge, and it spun into the gun, knocking it sideways. Once the gun wasn't pushing solidly into the hull of the station, the force of the jet tore it free. As the gun flew off at high speed, the steam jet slashed through the bag of water that Dan had brought, then sliced a gash in the space station's hull.
Jim and Shuwundu jumped away. One ton of ice boiled and vanished in ten seconds.
Kylie de-pressurized the airlock. The tiny suit beside her flopped over immediately. It was still leaking like a sieve. She put more duct tape on the air hose and tried again. The suit still deflated. Thank goodness the collision alert was over. There was no way she could have taken Johnny to the spaceport for evacuation without his suit.
She re-pressurized and got out of her own suit, then immediately blew her
nose. She could hear the PA going in the main dome, but couldn't catch the words. Assuming it was the standard company trivia, she stayed in the airlock and kept hunting for the leak.
There was no way she was leaving Dan alone with his depression. The least bad option seemed to be Shuwundu. As soon as they got back from this other asteroid, she'd go see him and spill the beans. She started to plan what she'd say.
Three men held their breaths at once. The silence sounded loud behind the rapid thud of Dan's heart. He felt sick and cold.
"You idiot!" Jim called Dan every name in the book, and a few new ones too. Shuwundu tried to get a word in edgeways. When he failed he jetted back to the transport. Through his misery, Dan was vaguely aware of Shuwundu touching helmets with Juanita, so they could speak without the intercom.
Jim eventually paused for breath.
"STOP IT BOTH OF YOU!" roared Shuwundu. "We've got to THINK!"
"Update," said Juanita. "We're at least ten liters short. Collision time in thirty-four minutes."
Some time later, Kylie got the feeling that Johnny was far too quiet. She went back into the main dome, only to find he had escaped from the playpen. She looked all round the room; no Johnny, but the fridge was open. Finally, she remembered to check the walls and ceiling as well as the floor, and sure enough, Johnny was hiding at the top of the dome. She could see his face and chest were covered with something red. Her chest tightened with fear.
When she spotted him, he giggled and waved. "Bye-bye Mummy," meaning hello. "Bye-bye." He didn't seem hurt, thank goodness.
Kylie climbed one of the metal struts on all fours. She hated heights, and seeing the floor at that crazy angle made her feel sick. She shut her eyes and reminded herself that in micro-gravity, down was whichever way you felt like, and falling wouldn't hurt. Then she opened her eyes, forced herself to stand upright, and carried on.
Johnny waited until she was just two meters away, then scampered off, giggling, leaving a few red blobs in the air behind him.
Kylie caught one and sniffed it. "Tomato!" The little horror must have squirted an entire tube of precious ketchup over himself. She didn't know whether to laugh with relief or cry with frustration. Whatever else, she had to clean him up, and she couldn't stay here, upside down at the top of the dome. "Stay there, Johnny. Mummy's coming." She started edging down, forcing herself to breathe slowly and deeply.
Johnny waited at the base of the strut, chuckling, until Kylie got within two meters of him. Then he scampered off again.
The intercom said, "Evacuation. Evacuation. Collision in fourteen minutes. Remaining personnel report to the port immediately. Repeat immediately. Collision time in fourteen minutes."
For a moment Kylie froze in disbelief. Then she ran to the phone to call the help desk. No reply.
"Mummy!" called Johnny. "Bye-bye Mummy."
Kylie tried Juanita. No answer.
"Mummy!" repeated Johnny.
"Sorry darling, Mummy's busy."
She tried the smelters. No reply.
Amelia's voice came over the intercom again. "Evacuation. Evacuation. Collision in twelve minutes. Remaining personnel report to the port immediately. Repeat immediately. Collision time in twelve minutes."
She went through the whole short phone list as Johnny climbed back up to the top of the dome.
She tried the help desk again. No reply. Then she realized that Amelia must be busy on the intercom. She seemed to run the entire admin single-handed. Everyone else had gone to the port.
"Evacuation. Evacuation. Collision in ten minutes. Remaining personnel report to the port immediately. Repeat immediately. Collision time in ten minutes. Ship leaves in five. Signing off."
Kylie looked around in panic. Then she ran to her suit and switched on the intercom. She heard Amelia talking.
"Base to nudge team. Evacuate. You have nine minutes to get clear. Take-off in one. Rendezvous with Buzz Aldrinafter collision."
She heard a crackle of static in reply. The ordinary intercom couldn't reach Dan's team.
"Base! Amelia! Help! Help!"
"Who's calling?"
"This is Kylie Gaunt. Johnny's broken his suit. We can't leave the dome. We-"
The radio squawked as Amelia cut her connection. Kylie couldn't believe it. As soon as she stopped shouting, the squawking stopped, and she heard Amelia again. "- Do you copy?"
The reply was barely more than a whisper, but it still shook.
"Message received. No airtight transport available. I think she'll just have to leave the kid."
"What?" screamed Kylie. The intercom squawked back, silencing her. Amelia wasn't going to let her interrupt.
"- serious?" said Base.
"I know, I know! But I can't do anything. There isn't a bus. We can't fit a shuttle into the airlock. And if we don't leave in four minutes we'll alldie."
Amelia said, "Do you copy, Kylie?"
Kylie tried to reply, but got a squawk.
"Try again Kylie," said Amelia.
Kylie sobbed. "I'm not leaving Johnny. I'm not."
She heard Amelia take a deep, deep breath. "Kylie, I'm so sorry. But you can't help Johnny. You can only save yourself. Get to the port. It won't help Johnny to stay behind. Get to the port. You've only got three minutes."
"No! " cried Kylie. "No!"
The Buzz Aldrinanswered, "Look you stupid woman. You've got three minutes. Get to the port."
"Kylie, please!" said Amelia.
"No!"
She collapsed, shaken by sobs and gasping for breath.
Amelia said, "Kylie - Kylie - are you there? Listen, I'm coming over with an adult suit. Maybe we can get Johnny in it. Then we'll jump off Paycheck and hope the ship can pick us up afterwards."
The Buzz Aldrinsaid, "The collision's due that side. If the crunch doesn't squash you, the shrapnel will punch you full of holes."
"Kylie, have the airlock open, ready. And get into your own suit."
"Bloody women!" said the Buzz Aldrin. "Go ahead and commit suicide!"
Kylie ripped the intercom speaker off her suit.
Paycheck filled the sky on the space station. The computer back at Base predicted that the space station would hit close to the spaceport. Paycheck probably wouldn't disintegrate, but the living offices and domes would certainly be destroyed.
Nobody had said anything to Dan since Shuwundu had shouted at them to think. Dan himself had said nothing. It made very little difference, since the screaming carried on inside his head.
By now, the space station was so close to Paycheck that they could hear Base direct, instead of having to go through Juanita.
"Base to nudge team. Evacuate. You have nine minutes to get clear. Take-off in one. Rendezvous with Buzz Aldrinafter collision."
Two defeated men flew back to the transport.
"For God's sake Dan, hurry up or we'll leave you!" snapped Jim in his ears.
Dan went the other way. He was no use to anybody.
"Dan, don't be a fool! Everybody makes mistakes," yelled Shuwundu.
Dan ducked into the ring of the space station. They wouldn't hang around to look for him for long, and in a few minutes Kylie would be free to find a decent father for Johnny. He got just twenty paces inside when he stopped in astonishment.
The walls were covered in Arabic.
Filled with curiosity, he turned into one of the rooms off the corridor.
It was a workshop. He recognized a lathe and a drill. One wall held shelves, empty now, their contents floating around. He vaguely remembered some fundamentalists setting off to start a new colony. Like the Pilgrim Fathers, only Islamic. Looked like they hadn't got far.
His intercom crackled faintly, the signal broken up by the hull of the space station. "Base to nudge team. Evacuate. Time's up."
"Right, everyone split up. We've got to find the silly sod fast!"
Dan switched his lights off. He huddled deeper into the shadow as he watched a human figure fly past the door.
"Chris
t! It's useless. He can hide for hours, if he wants to."
One minute after their limit, the others left, swearing. Dan felt relieved. No more waking up in the night, dreading the coming day. No more acting normal when he felt anything but. He was committed now, and he could relax.
A burst of static whispered on the intercom - somebody on Paycheck talking to Amelia.
"Who's calling?"
Another whisper of static.
"Amelia to Buzz Aldrin. Child without a spacesuit in dome six. They need assistance, do you copy?"
Shock knifed through Dan. Johnny in danger? He couldn't believe it until he heard Buzz Aldrinreply.
"Message received. No airtight transport available. I think she'll just have to leave the kid."
"No!" It was several seconds before he realized that the scream was his own.
“Leave the kid?" said Amelia. "Buzz Aldrin, are you serious?"
"I know, I know! But I can't do anything. There isn't a bus. We can't fit a shuttle into the airlock. And if we don't leave in four minutes we'll alldie."
Something Wicked Anthology, Vol. One Page 36
