What happened to my Asteroid? Section 30:

Captain Calhoun stepped into the main sickbay.  This compartment was on the outer level of the large ring as performing serious medical procedures in zero G should be avoided for obvious reasons.  He walked up to commander Dickerson.

“Hi Kim, how is Gwen doing?” he was genuinely concerned.

“Still unconscious.” She turned to the captain “But they think she is just exhausted.  Her water system was damaged and she was hanging on to that hull section for a very long time.”

“Then we wait.”  He tried to be reassuring. “Any idea what happened to that survey team?” He changed the subject.

“We think the poor guy got across a couple of power contacts.”

“Power contacts?” The captain was puzzled “How could that be?”

“That’s what it looks like.” She shrugged “We found what looks like a mount point of some sort in the center of that circle of gold discs.”

“But wouldn’t the ice short out any power?”

“The inner ice layer is pure H2O, no ions.” She explained “That makes a nearly perfect insulator, which is why the probe deep scans couldn’t get more than a couple of meters in.”

“Pure ice would be ideal to replenish the station.”  The captain was now thinking of his station. “Have the miners haul back as much they can.”

“I launched the operation just before I left the lab.” She was quite proud of herself.

“Well done.” He took a quick glance at the monitor. “Tell them to let me know as soon as she is awake.” He looked at the commander “And get some rest yourself, they can wake you up too.”

“I’ll go to my quarters and strap into my bunk, but I doubt I’ll sleep much.”

“At least try.  I need you rested and ready to go next shift.” He looked to the monitor “We’ve got the best medical team in the fleet.  Gwen will be fine.” He turned to leave.

“I know” the commander responded “but I will still worry.” She said as the captain left the compartment.

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