What happened to my Asteroid? Section 64:

Sam stood at the edge of the aft end of the shuttle hull.  Her magnetic boots were firmly locked to clean pads on the hull.  She had two safety lines connected:  a long one attached at the airlock and a shorter one secured to a structural beam a couple of meters behind her.  She looked out over the glow of the thrusters slowing the ship and its cargo to gaze toward the station and the missile headed straight for it.  She positioned the camera to zoom in on the region between the station and the Reykjavik.

“The Reykjavik is clear and away,” Sam told Tim “She should be safe now.”

“That’s good to hear.” Tim idly responded since he was quite busy with the deceleration procedure “How long do you expect before impact?”

“No more than 5 minutes.” She shifted the camera back to the station “It is only going to hit the rings, the main body is safe for now.”

“There are more people in the rings than the main body most of the time.” Tim was clearly only partially thinking about that.

“I am aware of that,” Sam sounded a bit annoyed “I expect the captain has figured that out too.”

“I’m sure he has.”

“How long until we can cut loose from this thing?” Sam wanted to get into the rescue effort as soon as they could.

“We just did.” Tim was relieved in one sense but tense in another “Watch for the cables as I reel them in and get us spun around.”  He paused for a moment “You know we have to rescue the miners first, right?”

“Yes, I know.” Sam was worried about the station “So let’s go get them while I record the station.”

“I’m going to need your help in finding those people.” Tim insisted.

“Then let me know when we get close and I’ll help out.” She was annoyed.

“Ok.” Tim went back to pilot mode “We’re coming around so hang on.”

“Will do.” Sam looked around and adjusted as the ship changed attitude.

The shuttle swung around toward the ice cloud left by the asteroid as the tow cables were retracted.  Beacon strobes signaled in front of the shuttle as the craft carefully navigated through the debris.

 
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