Yuen-Mong's Revenge (18 page)

 
     
"No, just a few additional maneuvers. All respects to your father for
placing it so well."

 
     
"So we have to wait another sixteen hours before our next encounter."

 
     
He queried the AI unit. "Yes, 16 hours and 27 minutes." He made
another query. "About two hours before that we’ll start our orbit reversal
maneuver. There’s not much to do until then, except eat and sleep. I’m
hungry."

 
     
"Should we not keep a watch out for other objects?"

 
     
"Like what?"

 
     
"A meteor or another ship."

 
     
"I’ll redirect the radar again and set it on automatic. It’ll then beep if
any change in signals occurs." He quickly entered a few commands.

     
Then they both got out of their seats and moved to the catering area.

     
"Atun, please hold me. I am so nervous, I can hardly stand it."

 
     
He took her into his arms. "This isn’t like you," he murmured.

     
She only nodded, sensing his relative calm, drawing strength from
him. "It’s because I feel so helpless. There is nothing I can do but wait…
Will we make it?"

 
     
"So far, everything has gone according to plan… and we’ve enough
fuel to return to Aros if we have too."

 
     
"Dying is not what troubles me. Each day on Aros meant cheating
death. It is this inactivity."

 
     
"Not being in control?"

 
     
"Yes, that is a big part of it." She searched his eyes. "Thanks, Atun,
for being so understanding." She let go.

     
"It’s a new experience for me, you asking for my emotional support."

 
     
A shadow of a smile crossed her face. "I’m human too."

 
     
"Being human, maybe some food might help," he replied with a grin.

     
"I don’t know whether I can eat."

 
     
But she did anyway, slowly eating a sandwich of dried wader meat,
swamp spinach and timoru bread, and directed her energy inward.

* * *
 

Over the next twelve hours they took shifts resting, strapped to the one
bunk they had not removed. Yuen-mong could not find sleep, but she
meditated, restoring both her strength and her balance of mind.

     
Just prior to the appointed time, they reviewed the docking procedure
with the ship and then started the reversal of orbit by a series of lateral
adjustments of direction until they had the craft turned around, each time
gaining altitude. Atun used the AI unit to guide them for the manual
control. Once back in a parallel orbit to the ring, they were 5000
kilometers higher, traveling about 600 kilometers per hour more slowly
than the edge of the ring. The ship in its lower orbit would therefore
slowly gain ground on them. The radar scan showed that it would be
exactly below them in 24 minutes. The middle screen indicated the
preferred trajectory to rendezvous with it. They pitched the shuttle to the
required angle. It took several tries to achieve it. Eight minutes later,
Atun engaged the main engine for a short period, accelerated the craft at
a shallow angle and less than an hour later the radar picture revealed they
were approaching their target rapidly. Another short maneuver and their
craft was in an orbit less than a kilometer from the ship. They rolled the
shuttle 180 degrees and, using the directional thrusters, Atun slowly went
closer until the ship was about a hundred feet to their left.

     
In the glare of the sun, the craft looked sleek, its surface a dull gray,
not the shiny polish she had expected, but she thought it was beautiful.
Will it receive us?

     
"This is it … definitely a PA4. Shall I summon it?"

 
     
She only nodded, unable to speak. She saw him enter the command.
They waited. Nothing happened.

     
"Are we on the right side?" Her voice sounded hoarse.

     
"Yes. Can’t you see the faint outlines of the airlock door toward the
back?"

 
     
It was there, there was no question.

     
"I’ll try again." He repeated the procedure. Still nothing. He brought
up the access code. "Is this the right sequence of the characters?"

 
     
"Yes."

 
     
"The T is not a D? or the one an I?"

 
     
"No." It had been eight years ago that her father had her memorize the
code. Had her memory failed her? No, she was sure it was correct.

     
"Maybe it responds to a different transmission frequency," he observed, "I’ll try the common frequencies, although the one I chose has
been the standard for over fifty years."

     
He systematically went through the frequencies without getting a
response. Her high spirits of getting that far sank. Would a simple thing
like this thwart their plan?
It cannot!
cried her mind. She sensed Atun’s
growing frustration.

     
"Is there no other way to gain entry?" she asked.

     
"Not into the shuttle airlock."

 
     
"But is there not another airlock for space walks?"

 
     
"Yes, but that’s controlled from the pilot station."

 
     
"And there is no emergency button at the outside?"

 
     
"Yes, there usually is, but you’re not serious in thinking to go across
and try that?"

 
     
"Do we have a choice, except to give up and return to Aros? We took
the space suit along, rather than discard it. So it is an option."

 
     
She saw the consternation on his face.

     
"I volunteer and, if I get in, bring back a second space suit for you."

 
     
He looked at her for a while and then said: "I should know by now
that when things look impossible you come up with the wildest ideas."

 
     
"It’s not so wild. Wouldn’t you have taken the rock samples by doing
a space walk?"

 
     
"You’re right. But I should go. I may be able to open the shuttle
airlock from inside."

 
     
"Are you sure you want to do it? I offered."

 
     
"Yes, I’ve done space walks before."

 
     
"Thank you, Atun." She kissed his cheek.

     
He removed the suction boots and put on the space suit with its
breathing cylinders on his back. When he was ready to enter the small
airlock in the shuttle, she held him back.

     
"Atun, promise that you will not let me be stranded here."

 
     
"Oh Yuen-mong, how can you even think I would… I love you."

 
     
"One may even be tempted to abandon somebody one loves. You are
the only person I have."

 
     
"I promise."

 
     
She probed his mind and sensed his sincerity. "Thank you, Atun."

 
     
He inserted himself into the airlock and closed its inside door. Next
she heard a short whistling sound, as the air got sucked from the lock
when he opened its outside door. A few seconds later, she saw him float
across, connected to the shuttle airlock by a line. He propelled himself
along the ship’s wall, past the shuttle airlock. Suddenly, a small door slid
open and she cried out in joy. He disappeared inside, released the line,
and the door closed again. After an agonizing few minutes, the lights
came on inside the ship, and she could see him wave in the window. It
took another while before the shuttle airlock opened.

     
Ten minutes later he was back in the shuttle. When he came out of the
airlock, she embraced him in his space suit. She could hear his laugh
through the helmet.

     
After he got out of the suit, they maneuvered the shuttle closer to the
airlock opening. It took well over a dozen tries before they thought that
they were properly aligned.

     
"This looks awfully small," she remarked.

     
"Shuttle sizes have been standard for many years, so it should fit in.
Let’s try."

 
     
He gave a short burst of the right lateral thrusters. The shuttle drifted
closer and suddenly they felt a hard shock as its back hit the ship’s
outside wall, while the front just made it inside and the whole shuttle
began to drift slowly away from Vishnu. "It’s too long. That’s all we
need now."

 
     
"Could it fit it diagonally?"

 
     
"No, it’s too wide; the dimensions are too tight."

 
     
"Do we need the shuttle? Could we not just abandon it?"

 
     
"If the ship is operational, no. If not, we need it to get back to Aros."

 
     
"But it will just remain next to us, so we can always get back to it if
the ship does not work, and we float our luggage across."

 
     
They maneuvered the shuttle again parallel to the ship and Atun went
across once more, taking the gold along and returned with a second space
suit. She suited up too, while he went ahead again, taking their food with
him. Five minutes later, Vishnu’s little airlock reopened. She retracted
the line, closed the outside door of the shuttle airlock, and inserted
herself, taking only her flute and her father’s pocket watch along. She
closed the inside door from within the airlock, attached the line to her
suit, opened the outside one, and pushed off. Her eyes were drawn to the
ring below her, which covered the entire width of her vision and
completely hid Aros. She almost bumped into the hull of Vishnu, barely
able to slow her drift so as not to ricochet off it. With the help of the
rubbery surface of her gloves, she pulled herself to the airlock entrance.
Once inside, she knocked at the wall and a second later the external door
closed. She heard the sound of air rushing into the chamber, and then the
internal door opened and she entered into a narrow corridor, at the end of
which see saw Atun standing at the flight control console, visible through
the open door into the flight deck. He was already unsuited. She quickly
shed her own space suit and ran forward to him, aware of the pleasant
sense of gravity, less than on Aros. She almost fell into his arms, as he
met her partway.

     
"We made it, we made it." She hugged him. "Thank you, Atun."

 
     
He locked eyes with her, and she knew what was coming. She did not
mind. It felt right.

9

Atun’s lips brushed hers briefly. She hugged her body to his.

     
"Yuen-mong, this is your doing. You are the woman who makes
impossible dreams come true."

 
     
"That is what my name means — to make a dream come true." There
was a sparkle in her eyes.

     
"Will you also be my dream come true?"

 
     
"Would you like me to?"

 
     
"Don’t you know?"

 
     
"Yes, I know." She brushed his lips fleetingly, while disengaging
herself from his embrace. "What next, captain?"

 
     
"Now we check out everything."

 
     
They inspected the whole ship. They were standing in the spacious
day quarters with comfortable seating for half a dozen people and
entertainment facilities toward the front and a dining area with a table on
the right, behind which was a big catering unit. Everything looked lived-in. There were pictures on the walls and two books on a low table
between two soft seats. She picked one up almost reverently. It was
leather bound and had indeed gold lettering on its front and spine.
‘Whispers in the Wind — Poetry Collection’ read its title. She was
curious to study it, but that could wait.