“We’re
gonna’ do WHAT?” Commander Dunst shouted
into the radio.
“The orders
and plans are clear and there is no real danger.” Commander Venkataraman tried to reassure
Commander Dunst.
“What do you
mean ‘no real danger’?” He demanded.
“Nothing
happened until we started fiddling with the first one.” She insisted.
“So we are
going to drag this one back home?” He really couldn’t believe what he was being
told.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“It is all
in the detailed orders I just sent you, but basically you hook up the cables to
the ships and guide it back. The experts
will take it from there.” Her tone was almost condescending.
“Alright,
we’ll get rigged up for it.” The commander got back to a professional attitude.
“Who is going to connect things up?”
“Our crew
will take care of it.” Commander Venkataraman checked the progress “They’ll be
hooking things up in about 15 minutes.”
“Alright,
we’ll be ready.” He was a bit uneasy but figured they would handle the
connection “What about the trip back? Do
we have enough data and instructions?”
“The rigging
crew is going back with you, and so are our experts on the subject so you will
be well staffed in case of problems.”
“Is that the
same team that launched the first one through the station?” He sounded a bit
sarcastic.
“The very
ones.” She tried to play with the other commander “At least they know what not
to do.”
“Well then
at least we have that going for us.” He wasn’t very confident. “We’ll contact
back when the ships are rigged.”
“Acknowledged
Reykjavik. Albatross out.”
Sam was back
outside, standing at the very aft end of the shuttle watching the approach to
the Reykjavik. She wasn’t even
completely dry but was thankful for the shower and being able to clean her
space suit. After 6 hours the suits get
pretty rank and she was going to have to spend several more hours in her suit
to get the cargo hooked up for transport back to base.
“Alright
Tim, that looks about right.” She was checking the distances and the
orientation between the ships. “Bring the probe up close to the back of the
Reykjavik so I don’t have to haul the cables too far.”
“Will do.”
He started maneuvering the probe “I’m going to drift the shuttle a little
closer to close the distance you have to travel.”
“I
appreciate it.” She raised the camera and focused on the probe “Don’t get too
close. If you crash it that will make
things difficult.”
“I won’t
crash it.” He was slightly annoyed “I want you back inside as quickly as
possible.”
“Don’t
forget you need to top off the fuel tanks.”
“Oh yeah, I
had almost forgotten” He quickly checked the cable orientations and the
location of fueling connections on the ship.
He had to plot carefully to avoid tangling the tow cables and shredding
Sam.
“I’ll get
that done while you are hooking up the tow lines.”
“I thought
you might need the reminder.” She smiled to herself as she launched off the
shuttle toward the probe. “Let’s get
this done and get underway.”
The shuttle
passed the asteroid and the two waved at each other as they set about their
tasks.
“I’ll see
you on the Albatross.” Tim blew a kiss to Sam through the observation port.
“That’s
right, we have to stop there next.” She
blew a kiss back.
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