Fast Cars and Intergalactic Speed Dating

40: Repairing the Breach

Kavita stepped lightly off of the edge of the deck and floated up into the gravity-free void of space, one hand resting on the tether that attached her to the ship.

Richard would have stood there for ages contemplating the leap off of the deck of the spaceship like a mediocre swimmer staring down from his very first high dive, but he didn't have to jump: in the offloading area there was no gravity, so he simply floated up off of the deck and drifted slowly out into space with no effort whatsoever.

Kavita tilted her body, spinning gently, and then she extended one leg. She was pulled immediately to the spaceship, the bottom of her right foot clinking onto the hull. Her left foot followed.

"It works!" she said. Her voice came right into Richard's helmet. "Try it!"

Hesitantly, Richard extended one leg toward the ship, waving his arms in an effort to "swim" closer. He was afraid that he might be abruptly jerked toward the ship, but it was more of a gentle tug, a suggestion that he followed until he made contact. He felt a lot more secure with his feet on the ground, as it were.

"Okay," said Kavita. "They said it would be in this direction." She started to walk.

"The damage will be hard to miss. They weren't shooting marshmallows."

It was hard to miss indeed. They had only walked along the side of the ship for a minute or two when they saw jagged metal. As they approached, they could see the extent of the damage: it was a tear in the hull as long as Richard's leg and a couple of handspans wide.

"Good Lord," he muttered, kneeling down on one side of it. When he had lowered himself almost into a crouch, the magnets on his knees tugged him toward the ship and clicked into place, holding him secure.

Kavita knelt on the other side, pushing at one of the jagged edges. "This is worse than I thought it would be."

"Careful," he said. "It might slice your suit."

"Oh, good point." She drew her hand away, checked the palm, and then resumed her study more carefully, avoiding the sharp edges. "It's bending. We can fold these parts back into place, but I don't think it'll be clean."

Richard began to fold down the edges of his side of the tear, working in tandem with Kavita. It took an effort, but they were able to ease the tear back together; however, the metal wanted to retain some of its crumpled shape from the impact, so it wouldn't match up precisely. It was like aluminum foil that could be smoothed out but would never resume its original shape.

"Okay. The soldering kit will help with some of this, but we're definitely going to need fresh material to lay over it," Richard said.

"Get started on soldering what you can. I'll go ask Nen-Alaya if there's anything onboard we can use for the more extensive damage."

"Thank you. Be careful."

"I will. Don't go anywhere."

"Well, I didn't plan to, but now I'll be worried about being wiped off the side of the ship by passing space debris."

Kavita's soft laugh was audible, right next to Richard's ear, as if she were leaning over his shoulder. His stomach flipped, and he was glad she couldn't see his face.

Richard focused on the task at hand as Kavita headed back. He withdrew the soldering tools Nen-Alaya had given him from the kit at his waist. They were made specifically for doing repairs in circumstances like this, sized right and equipped with special straps to ensure that they would not slip away from him. He frowned down at his work, securing the edges of the tear to prevent the damage from extending.