Traveler in the Dark

44

"Okay." Rebecca checked her toolkit once more. She looked up at Issk'ath. She wished she could warn it, tell it what she meant to do. She tapped its chassis and its eyes followed the slow movement of her hand. She waved it over to the side.

"Are you certain, Emery? Your system is still rapid."

She nodded and Issk'ath retracted its antenna. It moved down the Wolfinger's hull. She followed it and clipped her tether back into the guide rail. She maneuvered around Issk'ath and waved for it to follow. It seemed to process for a moment and then glided carefully along the rail after her. The hull was thick and she worried for a moment that the small welder would not be enough. "Never going to know until you try," she told herself. They circled to the spot where Rebecca and Al Jahi had been working, her fingers bumping over the welded sheets she'd finished shortly before. The remaining two holes were small, less than a hand's width. Rebecca intended to make them bigger. It wouldn't solve everything. They'd get inside, but the lab was sealed and all the air gone, until and unless she could patch the remaining hole and the door she was about to create and get the environmental system working again. But they'd be inside, at least. Out of the cold and the radiation that had to be bombarding Issk'ath. And she might find a way to warn the others. They could hardly ignore her if she were in the ship. If anyone remained.

"Enough stalling." She set the welder to its maximum setting and tapped the feed to dim her vision. "Galactic Void," she swore, realizing that it was still not functioning. She fumbled with her helmet pulling the old, scratched solar guard down. It wasn't great, but it would protect her vision at least a little. Rebecca took a shaky breath and flipped the torch on. The spark flared as the welder met the thick metal of the Wolfinger's hull. She imagined the cracking fizz and the sharp smell of burning metal that had constantly lingered in her father's clothes. It slowly ate through the outer shell, but she was careful to go no further. She expected several layers of insulating material, but she didn't want to pierce any of the essential lines that ran throughout the ship. She made thin, careful lines in a large rectangle, trying to guess at Issk'ath's size once it compressed itself. They'd have to reseal it once inside, and she had little to work with if she made a mistake. The first corner turned and she stopped to move down the hull. Her father would have tutted at the messy line, but Rebecca was just grateful the welder had managed it. "Halfway there," she told herself, but pushed away thoughts of what would happen after she got back inside. Getting through was problem enough for now.

But worry crept back as she watched the metal dissolve beneath the torch. She'd known Alice her entire life. They'd been in the same classes. Lived in the same habitation ring. Even dated the same boy once. Rebecca knew Alice's parents, knew her friends and her personality. She knew her friend's entire life arc almost as if it were her own. How had this happened? She'd been hesitant, was still hesitant, about what would happen if they colonized a planet. And she'd been vocal about it. But killing her colleagues, sacrificing her friends to keep the planet secret— it was too far. Had her own doubts pushed Alice into this insanity? Was this Rebecca's fault?

The square was complete. Rebecca turned the welder off and clipped it carefully to her suit. She stared at the cut panel, only half concentrating on it. If it was her fault, if Rebecca had convinced Alice that this was the only way to protect humanity, then maybe she could find a way to stop her. She hoped Alice hadn't gone farther than locking her out of the ship. Maybe there was still time. She gripped the edge of the guide rail and pulled herself into as tight a ball as the suit would allow. She aimed her feet at the cut panel and kicked it. The panel shuddered and shifted slightly. It took two more kicks before it slid enough to get her fingers into the gap. She floated closer, intending to push it, but Issk'ath tapped her helmet and once again plugged into her suit's port.