sidebar image
Chapter 3 Chapter 5

A Moment's Inattention - Chapter 4

"The tow cables are attached, Beka," said Rev

"It took long enough," complained Vexpeg.

"Time spent doing a job correctly is not time wasted," said Rev totally unmoved by Vexpeg's complaint. "The Victorious suffered considerable structural damage. It could be awkward if a cable broke loose at an inopportune moment."

"Are you planning to tow the Victorious to New Caledonia, Captain Valentine?" asked Covas.

"Not if I can avoid it, Covas," answered Beka. "Towing a vessel in normal space is tricky enough. Towing a vessel through the slipstream almost guarantees both vessels will be damaged. What I'm hoping is that the Victorious' propulsion system is still functioning, or can be jerry rigged enough to enable the ship to follow the Maru's transponder beacon as we transit the stream. We'll need someone to program the Victorious' computer to follow the transponder. Harper could undoubtedly do it but he'll be working on your ship's engines so the job is going to fall to you."

"Then why did you attach the tow cables?"

"You saw how long it took to hook up the cables. If we detect a slipstream event. We're not going to wait around to find out if it's one of your ships or a Kolk 7 vessel. We're going to run as fast as we can in the opposite direction. I don't want to waste any time hooking up the tow cables so I'm connecting them now. If it turns out to be one of your ships we can always apologize for our bad manners."

"And if it turns out to be a Kolk ship?"

"In that case," said Beka, "If it gets close enough to be dangerous I cut the Victorious loose and let them have it. I'm not about to let the Maru get shot up or my crew killed because of someone else's war."

"It's a good thing the undersecretary is confined to quarters," said Covas, a touch of a smile on her lips. "He would be screaming treason if he heard you say that."

"And what would you say, Petty Officer Covas?" asked Rev.

"I'd say we wouldn't be able to defeat a Kolk warship. It's better to run away than get killed fighting a hopeless battle especially when you always have the opportunity to capture one of their ships later."

"You sound like a member of the Salvager's Guild," said Beka. She turned to the intra-ship communication panel and keyed the mike. "Harper," she said, "meet us in the airlock. It's time to suit up."

The crew, minus Beckenworth who was still confined to the ship's berthing compartment, assembled in the Maru's airlock. Rev and Vexpeg began to don their pressure suits while Beka, Harper and Covas began to strip down to bare skin.

The human's spacesuits were basically a set of elastic long underwear with gloves and booties and a helmet and air pack.. Rather than attempting to protect the wearer from the effects of vacuum with pressurized air, they adhered to the wearer like a second skin providing a mechanical counter pressure of about 1/3 atmosphere, which a human body could tolerate quite well. They were more comfortable than a pressurized suit and safer as well, since a tear in the suit would not lead to dangerous decompression. On the other hand since they needed to tightly conform to the wearers body they had to be worn next to the skin which which made them as revealing as if the wearer was dressed only in a coat of paint. Additionally since they did not compress the wearers body at full atmospheric pressure, when the wearer went out into vacuum they were stricken by an extreme case of flatulence.

Harper's eyes passed appreciatively over Covas once than moved on. Covas in turn ignored Harper's glance. Body modesty among spacers was virtually non existent and stripping down in an airlock was considered no more erotic than putting on a jacket. A quick glance an an attractive individual was considered socially acceptable, long hard looks however were not.

While the MCP suits worked well for Beka, Covas, and Harper, Rev and Vexpeg were unable to wear them. In Rev's case he was simply too hairy. His fur prevented the suit from confirming to his body. Vexpeg had a different problem. His species was sensitive to sudden drops in pressure. What would simply give Beka or Harper gas would give the Umbrite an incapacitating case of the bends. As a result both Rev and Vexpeg were forced to wear pressure suits.

"Final suit checks, everyone,"said Beka over her suit's radio when everyone was suited up. Each person checked their own suit then checked the suit of the person on their right. "You didn't check your emergency pressure seal, Vex," chided Beka.

"It was fine last EVA sortie, Beka," said Vexpeg. "It will be OK now."

"Making assumptions like that can get you killed Vex," said Beka. " I want you to check it before every EVA expedition. That's not a request by the way, that's an order." She turned her attention to Covas. "Have you ever done an EVA maneuver before? "

"We did drills when I was in basic training," answered Covas.

"This isn't going to be anything like basic training," said Beka. "You're not going to be walking on the hull of a nice smooth undamaged ship. You're going to be walking over and around bent and twisted metal. These MCP suits are tough but they're not Lancer battle armor. A rip in one of them probably won't kill you from depressurization but if you cut yourself deeply enough you'll bleed like a fountain. You'll end up just as dead as if you were trying to breathe vacuum. So watch where you step."

"Everyone hook up," said Beka after the checks were completed. She hooked her safety line to Covas' suit. "I'll take the lead. Rev you'll take the rear. Vex, Harper, you'll follow Covas and keep an eye on her."

Beka removed another safety line from the rack on the wall and showed it to Covas. "Here's another reason for attaching the the tow cables," she explained as she hooked one end to her equipment belt. "We can hook up to a tow cable and make our way to the Victorious without having to worry about drifting off into space." She tapped a code into the computer terminal located by the airlock door then lifted the protective cover off a push-button. "Commencing depressurization sequence," she said as she pushed the button.

Chapter 3 Chapter 5