Garvin swept his empty wrapper off the table and onto the floor. "That's easy." he replied, after a moment's thought. "The path is station 2, 1, back, 3, 4, front."
Nancy and Dan followed the path in their minds and confirmed its optimality. "That's still 12 hours of travel." commented Dan. "What if I took a second car and performed half of the installations?"
"It would help a little," replied Garvin, "but not much. Whoever services the back station has to travel through 4 nodes, and that's 8 hours. We'd both be on the road for most of the day, instead of me on the road all day. And I'm more familiar with the devices. So thank you for the offer, but if it's all right with you," he turned to Nancy, "I'll install them all."
Nancy gave her assent. "If you're up for it, that will be fine."
"Don't worry, I'll probably snooze as the car travels from one station to the next. I'll be fine."
Two hours later Garvin arrived at station 2. The cam, strapped to his head, showed a solid connection to the relay station, and back to Earth. He went into the entryway and picked up the second relay station, which seemed heavier than he had remembered, thanks to the higher gravity, and the toll it was taking on all of them. A slip and fall could be catastrophic, and fatigue was setting in. The flight surgeon could see the writing on the wall, and NASA wanted the crew of Explorer 29 back aboard their ship, and back in space as soon as possible. Garvin was panting heavily as he reached the intersection. He placed the relay station on the road just below the com panel, shook his arms in relief, and called for a car, which arrived in short order. Summoning another burst of energy, he hoisted the station into the passenger seat, walked around the car, and slid into the driver's side. Manual driving was not his forte, but the radio beacon had to be situated at least 100 miles from the nearest station, for the signal to skirt the core and reach the stations on the far side. Thankfully, Dan talked him through the procedure, and soon the second relay station was in position, showing a solid connection to the first relay station, and back to the ship, and back to Earth if necessary.
"It's all automatic driving from here." reassured Dan. "you'll be fine."
"Yes." replied Garvin. "No problem. Do whatever it is you're going to do. Play cribbage I suppose."
"maybe," Dan chuckled, "but Nancy has a long list of chores before we can play. I'm going into the storage rooms to gather all the small, technologically interesting spare parts I can find, including some of their superconducting wire, as NASA requested. But that's just one example; there are a lot of interesting items in stock."
"You're not going to take them all the way back to the ship are you?"
"Oh no. We're not going to don space suits and open the hatch. We're just going to pile it all up in the entry way. Tomorrow we can carry all these goods up through the hatch and over to the ship in a hand to hand fashion - the reverse of the way we carried supplies from the ship down into the entryway. Although, there's no tossing supplies up to the ship, the way we were able to casually toss some of them down. We all better get some sleep tonight, because it's going to be a busy day tomorrow."
"I'm thrilled." mumbled Garvin. "Listen, you and Nancy should think about some kind of pulley system, to hoist items from the shell up into the ship. That would make my life, our lives, a lot easier. I'm mostly thinking about the dead Arcot. It's about 125 pounds, which feels more like 220 pounds under the high gravity. And it's all dead weight. All three of us, working together, couldn't lift that up into the ship."
"I see your point. I'll talk to her about it. She'll probably have to remove her space suit and go into the ship to find the necessary equipment. Then she'll have to put her suit back on and re-open the airlock. Maybe I'll go with her to set it up, while you get most of the stuff out of the entryway and onto the shell."
"Sounds like a plan." Garvin reached the intersection and pressed station 1, and the car turned 90 degrees.
"Hey, you're getting pretty good at that." said Dan.
"It's not rocket science. Just push the button and off you go."
"What about station 2?"
"I already installed that explosive, so I'm going on to station 1."
"Fair enough. I'll check in with you in a couple hours. Meantime, Nancy has a wish list, and I have to play the role of Santa Clause."
"Have fun."
"I will. I'm a generous guy."
They didn't speak again for 9 hours. Garvin had just installed the fifth explosive at station 4, and was ready to drive to front station and rejoin his companions. He stepped into his car and pressed the appropriate icon, and the familiar acceleration pulled him back into his seat. He was about to close his eyes when Nancy's voice appeared out of nowhere.
"How's it going?"
"Oh - fine."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."
"No problem. Five explosives are installed, and they all show a solid radio connection to the second relay station. I'll install the last explosive as soon as I get there."
"Great. We've been working hard too. We gathered a lot of technology and took it all back to station 2 in one trip. Dan figured out how to call for a transport vehicle, which looks a little like a flat bed truck. He also found some hand carts, to help carry things from the station to the truck. You know, the wheel is a wonderful invention."
"I always thought so."
Nancy continued in an excited chatter. "Speaking of modern technology, and no offense to Archimedes, I think we can do better then pulleys when we get back to the ship. Since I'm going to get undressed and go inside, I may as well get one of those all -purpose motors, and some rope, and a basket. If I can anchor it to the floor, it can hoist a ton of supplies in one go."
"I'm in favor of that. Drill holes in the floor if you have to, and bolt it in place. I have no desire to lift all that stuff into the ship by hand, even with mechanical advantage."
"Right. The last piece of cargo is going to be the body. Dan placed a hand cart next to the freezer. Tomorrow morning we'll put the body in the cart, wheel it out to the road, and take it back to station 2 with us. Then it's out the hatch, in to our ship, and back to Earth."
"Nancy, I really want to get out of here."
"Me too."
Garvin stepped into Front Station with the last explosive in hand. The lounge was empty, so he went back into the hallway and called out. "Anybody home?"
Nancy's mouth was full, so Dan replied. "We're here in the kitchen, having a snack."
Garvin joined them at the table. "Give me two of those disgusting bars, maybe three. I just realized I haven't eaten all day." He opened a bar and bit off the end. "And if you've got any more chocolate, I could sure use a square for dessert."
Nancy pulled the wrapper away from the precious confectionery, broke off two squares, and slid them across the table. "Any trouble?" she asked.
"No. All five explosives are in place, and show a solid link to the second relay station. I'll attach the last one," he held it up for all to see, "and then I'm done. Then, if you don't mind," he looked towards Nancy and rubbed his back at the same time, "I'd like to borrow your long couch for an hour or two."
"You can have it for the night. You've earned it."
They ate the rest of their dinner in silence, then brushed the wrappers onto the kitchen floor and walked to the power room at the end of the hall. The D26 fit neatly in the palm of Garvin's hand, with a backlit display and a keypad that was a bit too small for his large fingers. While the others watched, Garvin dabbed a generous amount of glue on the back, and affixed the explosive to the cable, where it entered the gray power converter. A clip held the explosive in place while the glue dried. Garvin tapped a few keys, specifying frequency and activation code, and a light in the upper left corner of the display showed green. "We have a clear signal from the relay station." he announced, straightening up slowly. "The detonation code is 141421."
"That's vaguely familiar." Nancy mused.
"The square root of 2."
"Of course." She waved her arm in a half circle, indicating the return path around the giant antimatter tank. "Let's call it a day, eh?"
Having relinquished the couch, Nancy stretched out on Garvin's bed, her feet hanging off the end. She turned on her side and curled her legs, but that wasn't much better. A half hour went by, and then an hour. Silence seemed to press in on her from all sides. What if another trio of Arcots was frozen somewhere on the ship, coming to life at this very moment. Her mind imagined a green form, darting into the room, laser in hand. The central yellow eye glared at her over the round pig snout. Nancy sat up and looked through the blackness towards the door, her heart pounding in her chest. Something was moving, something green. "I have no laser," she thought, "no weapon at all." Her hand fumbled about on the control panel, trying to find the lightswitch. Flecks of yellow and green danced about in the darkness, and the smell of decaying plants, the Arcot version of halitoses, was unmistakable. She snapped on the lights and blinked several times. Her bedroom was empty.
"Damnit!" She flopped back down in her short bed, while Dan turned over in the next room. "Did I wake him, simply by turning on the light?" That seemed unlikely. She got dressed, went out into the hall, and peered into Dan's open door. He saw her shadow and sat bolt upright, eyes wide open.
"It's just me."
"Sweet Mary Magdalene."
"Sorry about that. Couldn't sleep."
"Me neither."
"If Garvin's asleep, let's leave him be; he's had a long day. But if he's awake, I say we get out of here."
"I'm with you."
They walked to the lounge and opened the door. Garvin looked up, as if they were expected. "Can't sleep?" he asked. They merely nodded. "Me too. We might do better if we were in the same room together."
"Or we could get out of here, and sleep in zero G."
"That's a good ten hours work, six of those hours in space suits, but I'm game if you are. Adrenaline will probably compensate for lack of sleep."
Nancy motioned back towards the hall. "The only unfinished business here is the body. Let's go."
They walked to the kitchen, opened the freezer door, and rolled the hand cart into position. "We should probably wear gloves." Nancy cautioned.
Garvin shook his head. "We're only touching the cloth of the body bag, and we need a good grip. Twenty seconds and we're done. Let's just do it."
They each grabbed handfuls of the ultra cold material and strained against the dead weight and the high gravity. Garvin gave a final heave and the body rose, and flipped into the cart. All three stepped back and rubbed their hands together, as Nancy closed the freezer with her foot. "Let's go."
Heat poured in as they opened the door to the outside. Nancy and Garvin stepped through, then Dan, pulling the hand cart, which rolled easily along the catwalk. The door closed behind them as they walked along in surreal silence. Four minutes later they reached the intersection, and Garvin called for a car, while Nancy peered over the side at the swirling red monster below, its edges waving in and out. She wore the head cam, so Earth would get one last look at its mortal enemy. The illusion of life, of malevolent consciousness, was compelling. The Arcots had created a living breathing Shiva, intent on destroying the Earth. Garvin kept a watchful eye, but Nancy was merely transfixed. Finally he tapped her on the shoulder.
"The car is here."
She turned around; Dan was already wheeling the cart up to the side door. Together Dan and Garvin wrestled the body into the back seat.
"I'm the smallest," noted Dan, "I'll sit next to our cold companion in the back."
Nancy slipped into the driver seat, and when the doors were closed, she pressed station 2, and off they went. There wasn't much to say, so the next two hours were spent in near silence. Nancy played a couple of messages from NASA, which were little more than pep talks, with a little motherly advice thrown in.
"Don't forget to bring everything with you - everything you're going to need - before you cut power." Julie said with a grin. "The hatch will be closed, and you won't be able to get back inside."
"Got your toothbrush?" Nancy asked, turning towards Garvin.
"Nope." he joked. "Guess we'll have to go back in and get it."
"Ok Julie," Nancy said, putting the cam back on her head, "thanks for the obvious."
When they arrived at station 2, a hand cart stood next to the intersection. Garvin had placed it there, ready and waiting for the body, the last piece of cargo. They rolled the ice cold Arcot out of the back seat and into the cart, and Nancy grabbed the handle, as if to say, "It's my turn." The cart rolled easily as they walked a steady pace through the heat towards the entrance. The air conditioning felt good as they stumbled into the small laundry room and closed the door for the last time. After a quick stop at the bathroom, they walked on to the entryway, and Garvin couldn't believe his eyes.
"What's all this shit?"
"Just a few things we couldn't do without." replied Dan dryly. "Superconducting wire, integrated circuits, cryogenic spare parts, lasers, an ultraknife, a portable fusion generator that fits under one arm, a medical kit,"
"What's an ultraknife?" Garvin interrupted.
"I forgot, you were on the road when we gathered all this stuff. I demonstrated it for Nancy." Dan pulled a knife out of its sheath, revealing a silver blade about ten inches long. With only a modest effort, he pushed the blade through the metal wall of the entryway. Then, like carving a pumpkin, he cut a small circular hole in the wall. The disk dropped away as diffuse red light filtered in from outside. "The edge of the blade is one molecule thick. It cuts through metal as easily as a paring knife cuts an apple."
"Where was that when I was cutting sections of the road?" Nancy asked.
"It would have been a lot easier than the laser." commented Garvin. "You probably could have cut across in 2 minutes flat."
"All right, put your toy away. We don't have much time." Nancy surveyed the pile on the floor. "If I can get the electric hoist working, we'll take all this stuff - otherwise most of it will have to stay behind."
"Including the body." said Garvin. "All three of us working together couldn't possibly lift that thing up the ladder and into the ship."
"Including the body." agreed Nancy. "But even if I get my hoist working, we still have to get this stuff out of the entryway and over to the ship. By our own strength, and working in space suits, we have to get the body from here," she pointed to the floor, "to here." She pointed to the hatch overhead.
"It's only ten feet, give or take, and I brought some ropes to help us." Dan pointed to a coil of rope on the floor. "I think we can do it." He immediately sat down next to the body and began tying ropes around the bundle.
"Ok, but I'm not going to break my back hauling a dead Arcot." Nancy reached behind her and rubbed her lower back. "If he doesn't come up easily, we're leaving him right here in the entryway."
"Fair enough." said Garvin, as he slid his legs into his space suit. Then a thought occurred to him. "Dan, that was really stupid. No offense, but that was really stupid." He pointed to the circular hole in the wall. "You compromised the integrity of our airlock."
Dan's face was as red as the light streaming in through the hole. "Sorry, I guess I'm short on sleep."
"We all are." said Nancy. "I'll cut a larger circle from another wall and weld it over top of this hole with a laser. I have some experience with the laser, I think I can do it. The patch won't be 100% air tight, but it should hold for a few hours. You guys get into your suits - I won't be long."
"I'll stay out and help." offered Dan. "There's a freeze gun in here somewhere." He began rummaging about in the stash. "It's kind of an inverse laser. After you've melted the metal, and put the two pieces together, you use this gun, and it cools the metal down in a hurry. If you set it for quench, it can make the weld a lot stronger, and it saves time." He found what he was looking for, a pistol shaped tool, much smaller than the laser. "Naturally I don't know how it works, but I thought the engineers back home would want to study it."
"Well I'm glad you brought it along." said Nancy as she stepped into the hallway, knife in hand. Five minutes later she returned with a circle of metal, somewhat larger than the hole. "Ok Dan, let's get to work." It took a few tries to get the technique down, but pretty soon they got the hang of it. Nancy melted the metal in the wall until it was soft and pliable, then she placed the patch against it and held it in place while Dan ran around the perimeter with his freeze gun.
"Looks good." complemented Garvin from inside his space suit. The helmet muffled his voice, but Nancy understood, and nodded. She and Dan got into their suits, and activated the radio communications system.
"How do you read?" Nancy called out.
"Loud and clear." was the joint response.
"Let's see if our patch holds." She closed the door and pressed the evacuate button. Pumps pulled the air out of the entryway, and the three space suits stiffened like taut balloons.
"I think we're good to go." said Dan as the pressure gauge on the wall dropped to zero. He pressed open, and the hatch obeyed. Nothing stood between them and the bright stars overhead.
"Let's lift the body first, while we still have some energy." suggested Garvin as he climbed up out of the hole and onto the surface of the probe. The others followed, ropes in hand. They sat down next to the hatch and pulled, with Garvin doing most of the heavy lifting. The body bumped against the rungs of the ladder as it rose toward the hatch. It got stuck a couple of times, and Nancy almost let it fall, but Garvin managed to wiggle it free. "Almost there." he called out to his team. "One more good yank and it's up." True to his words, the body rose up out of the hatch and onto the surface. Nancy fell backwards onto the unyielding shell, her heart racing. Dan and Garvin were also panting, as their space suits worked overtime to shed the excess heat.
"Ok." said Nancy, trying to catch her breath. "Let's rest for five minutes, then I'm going to go aboard ship and set up the electric hoist. You guys get all that stuff out of the hole and over to the ship. If you get done first, close the hatch and cut the power. You don't have to wait for me."
"Yes Captain."
Free of her space suit, Nancy was thrilled to be back aboard ship. She felt like she was home, home at last. There were no Arcots lurking in the shadows - nothing to fear. She almost danced about, but that was an unnecessary risk. After all, she was still subject to 1.8 G's. The bathroom was another source of relief, something her colleagues would not have access to for another three hours at best. As she washed her hands, she studied her reflection in the mirror over the sink. Gravity had taken its toll. Her entire face was stretched, her cheeks sagging around her mouth. Her breasts, pulled down against her chest, suggested a woman twice her age. Glassy eyes stared back at her, calling for sleep. "Not yet." Nancy whispered to her reflection. "Just a few more hours, and you'll be floating in zero G, far from this nightmare. And don't start thinking about PTSD, I'm not in the mood."
Although Dan was not speaking to her directly, his voice could be heard through the cam that she wore on her head. "Ok Garvin, I'm in position - you can start handing me stuff and I'll toss it up through the hatch and onto the shell."
"Any particular order?" asked Garvin.
"Doesn't matter."
"Ok, here's the first thing, whatever it is."
"Got it."
They continued to coordinate their activities as Nancy opened the door to supply room 4. She wrestled with the all purpose motor, and realized she was not strong enough to carry it across the ship. Back to supply room 1 for a hand cart - another delay. Finally Nancy had the motor in the main airlock of the ship, but she needed tools to bolt the unit to the floor. Back to supply room 4 for a drill, some bolts, and some quick dry ceramic. Dan had already compromised the integrity of the Arcotian airlock by cutting a hole in the wall; Nancy didn't want to make the same mistake in her own ship. After the holes were drilled, and the bolts set in place, she covered each hole with a generous dollop of LQC34. The blue-gray ooze hardened into a strong ceramic in just a few minutes. "That should make an air tight seal." she mumbled too herself.
"Say again."
"Oh, I was just talking to myself."
"Well," Garvin continued, "talk to us and tell us what's going on."
"I just finished bolting the motor to the floor, and I'm using liquid ceramic to seal the connections. I still have to get some rope, and some kind of basket."
"Sounds good. We've got everything up out of the entryway and onto the shell. We're ready to close the hatch, cut power, and move all this stuff to the base of the ship, ready to load into your basket."
"Ok - let me know when you're ready to kill the power."
"Will do." Garvin climbed up through the hatch and onto the surface, and Dan was just beginning his ascent when Nancy's patch failed. The round metal disk flew across the room, missing Dan's head by a few inches. It slammed against the far wall, making a tremendous clang that vibrated the entire room. Dan could hear the sound, albeit muffled, through his space suit, which was in contact with the ladder on the wall. "What was that?"
"Come up quickly." Garvin shouted. "The patch failed, and air is rushing in."
Dan scrambled up and out. "I've got to close the hatch right away." He pressed the appropriate button and the hatch closed slowly, as if there was no hurry. The large circular window swung towards the surface, like a clam closing its shell, but when it was nearly flush, with just a crack remaining, it stopped, as though it were stuck on something. Dan looked at the buttons and gauges on the control panel, his agitation growing with each passing minute. "What's wrong?"
Garvin placed his hand next to the hatch and felt the air pressing against it, pushing his arm away. "The air pressure won't let it close. It wasn't built for that. If it weren't for the vacuum of space, we'd hear a tremendous hissing sound as the air rushes through that crack."
At this point Nancy chimed in. "Gentlemen, I don't mean to put you on the spot, but if you can't close that hatch, there won't be enough air to serve as propellant when Explorer 43 arrives next month. We won't be able to divert the core, and Earth will be destroyed."
Dan simply stared at the hatch that would not close. Because of his impulsive act, Earth was once again on borrowed time. One mistake, and all life comes to an end. Garvin also seemed to be at a loss. Finally Nancy spoke, bringing them out of their shared trance.
"Stand on it!"
"What?"
"Stand on the hatch. You have 2 G's, plus the weight of your space suit. The glass is designed to hold 25PSI, it will hold your weight. Go for it!"
Garvin stepped onto the center of the hatch and the crack became a paper thin slit. "Come on Dan."
Dan stepped onto the hatch next to Garvin, and it closed. They could almost hear the pins locking into position through the boots in their space suits. Cautiously, slowly, they stepped off the hatch, and it held. After a long silence, Dan was the first to speak.
"Captain, it's closed. Standing on it did the trick."
"Good." That was an understatement. Nancy sat down on the floor next to the motor, rope in hand. "Dan, you should probably repressurize the entryway, if you can do it from outside. Otherwise it will keep pulling air out of the room, while air rushes in through the hole. I don't want to burn out any motors, or start a fire or something."
"Yes, I can do that." He pressed the pressurize button, and in almost no time the corresponding light turned green. "That's it. The entryway is pressurized."
"Apparently it didn't have far to go." They all chuckled at that, though the laughter was a bit forced. After a brief pause Garvin spoke.
"Nans, we can cut power, or we can slide the Arcotian artifacts over to the ship. What do you want us to do first?"
"Move the stuff. I'm almost done here, and I want to be with you when the lights go out."
"Right. The ants are on the move."
An hour later the items were gathered around the base of the ladder leading up to the ship, and Nancy was dressed and on the surface. "Let's bring down the curtain on this performance." she said, walking towards the hatch. "What was it again? 1414 something."
"141421." Garvin reminded.
She pressed the buttons methodically, as they peered down through the glass hatch. With the last digit, the entryway dimmed, but it was not dark. A soft red glow filled the room.
"It didn't work." cried Nancy.
"Yes it did." Garvin reassured. "The red glow is the radiant light from the core, streaming in through the hole in the wall. There's no power down there." Indeed, the displays and indicators next to the hatch were dark.
"Of course." said Nancy, as her heart slowly returned to a natural rhythm. "Let's get this stuff aboard and get out of here. We won't transfer it to the supply rooms until we're in zero G. Then we can push it around with our fingertips."
All three of them had to work together to get the Arcot body into the basket, and the effort seemed to drain away the last of their strength. "I'm glad you got the hoist working." said Garvin as he sat down on the hard shell. "Otherwise we'd be leaving Mr. Spinouzo behind." He pointed to the dead Arcot, who had rolled conveniently into the center of the basket.
"I quite agree." said Dan, tossing a nearby artifact into the basket. Nancy summoned the last of her strength and began to climb the ladder towards the open door and the electric motor above. Garvin casually tossed an electronics box into the basket, and Dan added a spool of superconducting wire. Soon Nancy was at the top, and the basket below was full. "Stand back boys." she called out as she engaged the motor. The rope strained under the weight, but it held, and the basket climbed to the top of the ladder, where it tipped most (though not all) of its contents into the open doorway. Nancy swept everything to the back of the room to make space for the next load.
"Nothing broke." announced Dan. "You just dropped the freeze gun and a few spare parts that were still in their boxes. Captain I think the next load will be the last. There aren't that many items left."
"Good." replied Nancy as the basket made its way back down the ladder. It reached the shell, and the two men hastily tossed the remaining items into the basket. Then Garvin did something he would not ordinarily do - but he was short on sleep, and the close of this long, stressful mission drew him like a magnet.
"I'm going for a ride." he called out like a young boy. Without looking, he turned around and fell backwards into the basket, which was only half full, and could easily accommodate both men. Under normal circumstances, this would be safer than climbing the ladder, but if he had looked behind him, he would have noticed the ultraknife that Dan had tossed in a few minutes earlier. It fell out of its sheath and was lodged between two boxes, blade side up. The point pierced Garvin's space suit and sliced deep into his liver, severing the hepatic artery. At first there was no pain. The blade was so keen, Arcots could perform minor medical procedures without anesthetics. But then the air rushed out of the space suit, and Garvin's scream turned into a choking gasp, followed by silence as the vacuum smothered all sound. Blood poured out of the torn fabric and spilled onto the floor of the basket, where it bubbled like a carbonated beverage. The growing red stain was easily visible under the ship's floodlights.
"Garvin!" Nancy shrieked.
"Stay there." Dan warned, as he jumped into the basket. "Please don't slip and fall racing down the ladder." He inspected the body and confirmed the worst. "He's dead Nancy. Looks like the ultraknife tore through his space suit. It was in its sheath when I put it in the basket." He deliberately use the verb "put", rather than "threw", because he didn't want to admit he made yet another careless mistake - a mistake that took the life of his crewmate and his friend. He wanted to hide, hide from Nancy, hide from everyone - But the show must go on. They wouldn't be safe until they were off this cursed probe and back into space. "Nancy I," he didn't know what to say, but he had to say something, so he settled for a statement that hung halfway between truth and fiction. "I don't know how the knife came out of its sheath." He carefully slid the blood stained blade back into its holder. "I just don't understand it."
"Not your fault." Nancy consoled. "It's that damn alien technology. It's a wonder we're here at all. Stay in the basket; I'll bring you up."
Once again, half a dozen small items fell as the basket was pulled into the ship. Nancy went down to retrieve them while Dan moved the remaining items to the back of the room. He opened one of the larger boxes, placed the knife inside, and closed the lid. "Damned if I'm going to let you float around the ship."
Nancy returned with three items under one arm. "There are two more things below, but I don't care." She placed the items on top of the growing pile at the back of the room. "Where's the knife?" she asked, surveying the mess.
"It's in that box." Dan pointed to a large box at the bottom of the pile.
"Good." She pushed a button and the ladder retracted back into the ship. Another button closed the door, and a third button pressurized the airlock. They scrambled out of their suits and raced up to the bridge. Nancy activated the ion engines, and the ship rose, trembling against the pull of the core. After a week of 1.8 G's, the extra G of acceleration seemed oppressive. "Almost there." Nancy encouraged as she watched the displays. A light turned green, indicating escape velocity, and Nancy cut power.
"Jesus!" shouted Dan as he floated up from his seat.
"Isn't that heaven?" asked Nancy as she drifted out of the confines of the bridge and into the adjacent hallway. She stretched her limbs and gently twisted her back this way and that. "Do you still have an open mike to Earth?"
"Yes." Dan replied.
Nancy poked her head back into the bridge, where Dan was still floating above the seats. "Houston, this is better than sex. We're free, finally free." The weight of the excess gravity, and the mission, was off her shoulders. But there was still a few housekeeping chores. Her voice grew quiet as she turned to Dan. "I really need to be alone for a while, and with any luck, I'll get some sleep. Can you put the two bodies in the lower freezer? And maybe clean up some of the blood. I just can't look at it."
Dan knew they had been close, more than just crewmates on a mission together. "I'll take care of it Nans." He touched her gently on the hand. "Go to your room - get some sleep."