Tim helped
Sam finish sealing up her suit and ran the enviro-pack systems check. “You sure you want to set the cables?” he
looked a little worried “I’d be glad to do it.”
“I’ll take
it.” She smiled. “You’re the better pilot and you’ll be able to keep the
shuttle closer so we’ll get this done quicker.”
“Alright,
just don’t take any chances.” He blew her a kiss through their helmets since
they were both fully suited up now for safety reasons.
The radio
lit up “Shuttle 2, Albatross station.” Commander Dickerson’s voice rang out.
Tim checked
his comm link and activated the radio “Go ahead Albatross.”
“I need a
status report, I’m showing you should be on station now.”
“We are on
station over the first anchor.” He checked the probe status. “Sam is about to
set out to hook up the first cable. The
last two anchors will be set by the probe in 10 and 15 minutes respectively. We should be able to start towing in 30 to 40
minutes, maybe sooner.”
“Why is Sam
hooking up the cables?” The commander sounded concerned.
“She wanted
to do it.” He looked over and saw Sam closing the airlock door and activating
it. “She doesn’t like flying these things close to asteroids.” He verified the airlock was operating
properly. “And she likes surfing the hull when moving between the anchors.” He
chuckled.
“I nearly
forgot she was a rigger on her first tours out here.” The commander chuckled herself. “I’ll bet she’s gonna’ love skimming that
thing.”
“I’m
planning to give her the best ride I can.” He saw the outer airlock hatch open indicator
light up and activated the observation camera on the display just as Sam was
exiting the hatch. “Sam is leaving the
airlock right now so I’m going to get busy now. I’ll report back when we are hooked up and
start towing.”
“Acknowledged
Shuttle 2, we’ll talk to you when you start towing.”
Tim turned
his attention to the control console and fed out the tow cable for Sam to take
to the anchor point.
Sam closed
the airlock and activated her EVA pack.
She navigated over to the end of the tow cable, attached a line to it
and headed for the anchor. Tim had the
shuttle positioned a little less than a kilometer away and she could see her
target without having to have it illuminated.
“You could
have got us a lot closer.” She jibbed Tim.
“I wanted to
be careful on the first run.” He was only mildly annoyed “I’ll move within 300
meters by the time you head back.”
“You can do
better than that.” She scanned around the area.
The asteroid was over two kilometers in diameter and over twenty
kilometers long so, as close as they were, it created its own horizons. “This
thing is smooth as a bowling ball, make it 100 meters.”
“100 meters
it is.” He knew she just wanted the
thrill of standing on the hull that close to the asteroid as the ship
maneuvered to the next anchor, but he was willing to indulge her.
Sam wasted
no time getting to the anchor, locked the cable to it with all of the speed and
competency of the master rigger she was, and launched herself back toward the
shuttle. She navigated herself to the
front of the shuttle. She set her
magnetic boots right behind the observation port of the cockpit on the asteroid
side, leaned forward so she could look in at Tim and waved to him. “Hit it baby!” she exclaimed.
Tim
activated the thrusters and punched up “Born To Be Wild” through the radio for
her.
Sam
straightened up as the ship lurched forward and she shouted into the radio on
the broadcast channel “YEEEEEEHHHAAAAAAAWWWWW!!!” with a huge grin on her face.
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