21. Round an’ round we go
What am I doing? Risking my family, my crew, my ship for strangers… Vince walked back to muster station, he needed muscle and the bridge crew wasn’t in a helpful mood after the XO left him in the conference room. He could not help himself, his mind putting the XO at fault, his hearth still knew that the people on this ship are innocent and suffering. He had the medicine on board Perseus Train, he could share it. If he can get it here.
Not going to risk the main dock, only one course of action left and it is not going to be easy. At the train station, hundreds sitting and waiting, when he arrived:
- “Attention please, I am Vince Pier, captain of the first responding ship, we have supplies to share, medicine, food rations, but I need help. Looking for experienced dock workers, is there anyone here willing?”
- “It’s not about will, more like ability.” — a nurse turned toward him from a row of laying people away — “You may not see, but most of them have internal bleeding or bruises, hardly able to move, yet alone packing under gravity.”
- “We can help.” — came from a guy standing between a few muscly workers wearing a space suit, only chest and above were free — “Call me Dan.”
- “Dan, nice to meet you, can any of you weld?”
- “Yeah, I worked in the docks for a year, these are a few of my old colleagues, they took care of me. But what for?”
- “My ship have to dock on the main hull while it is spinning, most ports are damaged but I have an idea. And everyone needs a space suit.”
- “Then I am dressed for the occasion. Not sure if we can get enough though, what is your plan?”
Vince and Dan lead the small group a few decks down in search of port that they could use, following Gopher’s instructions. As they crossed a once-were hotel’s reception hall, floor plating gave way and two men fell before they could react. A small luck the next floor was still pressurized, yet the team slowed down and progressed cautiously.
The structure of the ship is clearly damaged and anything can become a trap at this point. The dock workers stack up to lead the team instead, their experience between hazardous heavy machinery and loose cargo coming handy.
Took a better part of an hour to get to the indicated docking port, where Dan searched the lockers in hopes of at least a dozen space suit, yet he could find only half of that. The lockers were half empty, like the suits were never there. Still better than nothing, they sent the other half of the team to scavenge from nearby sections.
- “As Gopher told us, the port consoles are frozen. I want to secure the Perseus Train manually to the dock, need to weld the clamps to the structural beams. Then we can depressurize the area. We will attach the clamps onto my ship by hand and pull it in.”
- “This will take a while, we need at least four chains, we can cannibalize the nearest port and leave this one in tact, if only the console is broken, the computer still may react to proximity sensors.”
- “Good idea, let’s get to work!”
A few hours of grueling work, all in pressurized room, a heat of over forty-five degrees centigrade due to almost continuous welding, they managed to build the clamps themselves.
- “The last beam is cracked, weld up toward the center!” — Dan positioning the chain with three workers while one running the arc-welder around the seams.
- “Greg, how are you doing there?” — their vicinity to the outer hull and Gopher’s rerouting making comms available, at least for now.
- “Cap’, we are ready, Maria had a few unrepeatable words toward both of us but they are in the stern module, preparing to separate in a minute or so.”
- “Thanks Greg, proceed, we are almost ready.”
- “Greg, Dan here, the clamps won’t hold for long even if they work at all.”
- “Just don’t over-compensate. If it fails, let yourself fly away, that is the safest. We are ready here.”
- “Aye, cap’. We are separated, moving in position, and… thruster at max, should be on curve in ten… five sec more…” — a bit of strain heard from Greg as the few G force acted on him after days of zero gravity.
- “Just slowly…” — Vince aimed with one clamp in his hand, Dan was holding another on the opposite side, waiting for the Perseus to close in to a few dozen centimeters.
At the end of the chains that made their arms look like sticks they welded on meter long clamps that could grab and pull in a ship’s docking ring. The safest ports had a dozen of these put on a ring with multiple rubber and plastic seals going around and computer navigation positioned both ships down to the millimeters. They could not rely on these luxury at the moment, manually locking the heavy clamps and encased hydraulics onto a manually steered ship in working in vacuum but under almost full gravity.
Yet they were here, knowing how many people rely on these supplies, how important it is to hold out until a fleet arrives.
A few moments passed, first Dan, then Vince locked the clamp into place before the Perseus Train could drift away. Quickly switched to their second pair. In the vacuum they could not hear the otherwise loud clicks so they relied on the visual feedback the clamps provided, and their feel in their arm, resonating as hydraulics worked to pull the ship into place.
- “Locked and secured, start packing!” — Vince jumped down into his ship with two workers behind him. The hatch was large enough for all three to jump simultaneously.
Dan stayed on the Giant’s side and both knew they are where they belong at this moment. A minute passed by, then two, the heavy boxes were passed from men to men, piling up behind Dan. They maintained vacuum, had enough challenge with the centripetal forces, with the Perseus continuously wanting to fly away in a straight direction, pulling on the clamps.
As half the cargo made it through, nobody noticed the cracks growing under the welded metal. A moment later one chain gave way and the Perseus dangerously leaned to its side, near colliding with the Giant’s hull. That would tear holes to both ships, usually the smaller vessel pulling the short in such an exchange.
- “Correcting, thrusters on maximum.”
- “We need a few more minutes.” — Vince now threw the cargo with as much strength he could.
- “May not have that much.” — Dan unlocked the opposite of the failed clamp releasing some pressure on the Perseus.
The two dock workers climbed up with the last of the medicines when the last two clamps failed almost at the same moment. Only Greg’s quick reflexes to cut the thrusters saved the Perseus from being thrown into the Giant’s hull and pulled along for a ride as the last clamp spun them out of control. Tumbling over multiple axis, Greg reconnected the automatics just as almost lost consciousness, Perseus Train’s bow module finally rested a few kilometers from the Giant, floating peacefully as Vince closed the hatch and started pressurizing.
He floated inside, looking out to the stars, thinking it might be a good idea to stay on a planet for once.
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