Red Thunder

“Negative, Alicia,” Travis said. “She’s dead now. Her suit would have run out of air a long time ago.”

“God, that’s awful. What a horrible way to die.”

“Actually, Alicia, a few people have accidentally drifted away from a space station, thought they were dead, then got rescued. All of them said the same thing. After a short time of panic and fear, they achieved a feeling of peace. I wouldn’t know about that, but let’s hope that’s what happened to Smith.”

“Amen.”

“So what’s the situation in there? Four survivors?”

“Three. They have the body of Marston, the M.D. Why couldn’t she have survived? She could have handled this so much better than me.”

“Don’t think that way. So you’ve got injuries?”

“Just minor bruises and abrasions on Holly and Cliff Raddison. Cliff might have a fractured arm. Have to x-ray him to be sure.

“Things are a real mess in there. Captain Aquino smashed his head and got his leg caught somehow. He’s got a compound fracture of the left femur, real bad. He lost a lot of blood. Holly and Cliff stopped the bleeding. He’s delirious most of the time. I only stuck around long enough to give him a shot of morphine-and I’ve got to be sure to thank Salty for getting that for us. Then I came out here so you guys wouldn’t worry.”

“What do you need, Alicia?” Travis asked her.

“Okay. First, space suits. Three of them. I think we can use the empty suit we saw next to Vasarov’s body. But we’ll need two more.”

There was a short silence as the three of us in the ship worked it out. Like that old logic problem: You have a fox and a goose and a bag of grain to get across a river …

[375] “They can have mine,” Dak said bitterly. “All the use I’m getting out of it…”

“We’re short a suit,” Travis said.

“You’re forgetting, Travis. Ma

“Jubal’s suit is aboard?”

“Kelly told me she stowed it in a locker. The problem is… can Jubal’s suit fit on Holly, or Cliff, or Aquino?”

“We’ll make it fit, by God,” Travis said. “Dak, go get it ready.”

“Captain, it’s cold in there,” Alicia said. “About ten below zero, and falling. Is there any way we can heat the place?”

“Is there any power available?”

“That went out completely not long before we arrived. Cliff and Holly have been sitting in there in the dark, wrapped up in what clothes they could salvage. They were conserving the one flashlight they found, using their little bit of power to run a heating element. They’re in danger of frostbite.”

“Just a minute, Alicia. Guys, any ideas?”

I didn’t have one. We’d backed up the heating system on Red Thunder, just like we’d backed up everything. I could have torn out a heater, but there was no power on the wreck to run it. A simple catalytic tent heater would do the job. We hadn’t brought one.

“A long extension cord?” Dak suggested.

“We don’t have anything that long,” I said.

“The only thing we can do is to hurry, then,” Travis said. “But we’ve got to hurry slowly, okay? I mean, think before you move. I’m not going to lose you, any of you, including the Ares survivors.”

“Roger. The wreck is leaking, and we don’t like the looks of that lock window.”

“So what do you need?”

“Jubal’s suit, and Dak’s. A big bottle of air. Flashlights, the more the better. Some whole blood, a couple pints. I can’t recall Aquino’s type, but it’s in my medical file. And patching material, lots of it.”

“Roger,” I said, and took off.

[376] SOMEHOW I WRESTLED all that stuff out of Red Thunder’s air lock, all tied together.

Along with everything else I’d brought enough yellow poly rope to outfit a Boy Scout Jamboree. I got everything tied to an eyebolt so it wouldn’t drift, and started casting. I figured it would take a few false starts before I got the hang of it. I was right. But on the fourth try, just as Kelly was coming out of the lock, I got the weighted end of the line dead center. Kelly only had to reach out and grab it. She tied it off, and I attached the bundle of junk to it. She pulled it across, hand over hand at first but then just letting it drift, because though it was weightless, it still had considerable mass, something you could never forget out there or you could get crushed.

When she had the stuff I pulled the rope back, tied it down, then pulled myself along it. First you take the goose across the river because the fox won’t eat the sack of grain…

It took me three minutes to cross, but in only one minute I experienced what Travis had talked about. At first I was scared. Dear Lord, it was empty out there! Just two little specks tied by a thin cord, and me in the middle. But very quickly I experienced something like rapture. Somehow, in all this vastness, my fear was so insignificant, so primitive and unworthy an emotion for this starry cathedral, that it just went away. So be it, I thought. Amen. This place is inimical to life, tries every second to snuff it out… and I didn’t mind. Oh, I wasn’t eager to die, but for the first time I could remember, I wasn’t afraid to die, either. I smiled, then I laughed.

“Ma

“None, Trav. Kelly, did I tell you I love you?”

“Not today,” she laughed, “but it’s been a busy day.”

“I love you. Will you marry me?”

“Yes. Yes, Ma

“Duly witnessed and recorded,” Travis said. “Dak, have a cigar.” I could hear Dak laughing in the background. I drifted along the rope [377] and into Kelly’s arms. You can’t kiss in a space suit, and even hugs leave a lot to be desired, but we did the best we could.

AFTER WE’D CYCLED Jubal’s and Dak’s suits through the lock Kelly got in and I shoved everything else in with her. She knocked on the wall with a wrench and the barrel of the lock began to turn. She smiled and waved at me, then she was gone, and the cracked window rotated into my view. I could see why they were worried. What Alicia had described as little icicles had grown into white starbursts a foot long, what I guess you’d call free-fall icicles. I had to knock them away with my glove before I could get to work.

Anybody in Florida knows what to do when there’s a hurricane alert. I’d lived through two near misses. Each time Mom and Maria and me had taped up the windows. This won’t stop them from breaking, but it stops them from shattering in such a spectacular way. This window was about to get a total taping with our alternative patching material, duct tape.

We’d tested, and found that ordinary gray duct tape stood up to cold and vacuum for something between six and eight hours, after which it could turn brittle and lose its gumminess, or adhesive qualities, whatever you want to call it. I had a big roll of it tied to my belt. I started peeling off three-foot strips and pasting them over the window.

Not a fun job. If you’ve ever been frustrated trying to lift up the end of a roll of sticky tape, try it wearing mittens. If I ever order another space suit, I’ll be sure it has something that can be used as a thumbnail.

I struggled for ten minutes, strips of crumpled duct tape clinging to my suit, feeling like Br’er Rabbit fighting with the Tar Baby. I covered the whole surface of the window with long strips, much longer than needed to cover the one-foot diameter circle. Then I put on another layer, at right angles to the first, and for good measure, a third layer, diagonally. Then I knocked on the metal of the hull and the lock rotated. I got in, and repeated the process on the inside of the window. When I was satisfied I knocked again, and the i