THE FALL OF ROSENROT STATION

LOST

NOT FOUND

He looked at it. Then he tapped out of the notification and tried again this time typing in the permanent node address of the Perdigo.

RESOURCE OR DEVICE IS NOT AVAILABLE

QUERY; WHY

POSS OUT OF RANGE OR POWERED DOWN

He had been trying to uplink to The Perdigo for thirty minutes now and all attempts ended in failure. It was like the ship wasn't even there.

Abruptly he looked around and then walked down the corridor to one of the viewing windows. He searched around on the wall until he found the contact stud and he touched it. Immediately there was a vibration through the deck plates as the radiation shield slid up into its recessed holdings. A slat of red light appeared on his legs and expanded up his body until it was gathering in his cupped hands. Then it was up to his face and exploding out into his eyes.

Outside was a red bowl of sky and at the center of that red burned a crimson ball, the star Rosenrot. He was not interested in the star. He was looking at the moorings where his ship had been. It was gone. The ledge to which it had grappled was bare.

He scanned the sky for his ship and miraculously found it. It was tiny from this distance like a tear drop of silver against the red background. His eyes picked out the silvery ovoid shape of silver and the flared nuclear drive behind it. It was at rest relative to the station and not moving. It was far enough away to make it seem small.

He tapped some equations into his palmcoder. The apparent size. It's real dimensions known to him. Shortly it spat out an answer. 50 kiloms give or take ten either side.

He stood there with the red sun in his face and looking at the ovoid of his ship. There was no expression on his face.

He left the window behind then and he walked slowly down the corridor. He saw that bathroom again the one he had passed by earlier and now he turned aside and went over to the door. It was closed but slid open immediately when he touched the contact diode. It was almost soundless but for a low hiss of escaping gas from the puematics. He went inside.

There were three stalls. The walls made of some shiny membranous plastic. No urinal. Two handbasins with mirrors. The first two stalls were empty and the last one was closed and locked with darkness clotting in the opening between the door and floor. He entered the first stall. After he was done he came out and stood at the sink. He washed his hands. Then he removed his glasses and put them on the bench beside the tap. Finally he ran the water and splashed it onto his face. He stood up looking at himself in the mirror. Droplets of water dampened his dark-red turtleneck. He wiped his hands down the thighs of his black pants.

He stood in there for a bit and worked on a new log entry

MET 06-20 ship left dock without instruction now holding 50 kiloms out. Comms lost. Preceding with mission for now.

He put on his glasses again. He looked at himself in the mirror. The glasses served no function besides aesthetics.

After a bit he bent and retrieved his kit and then he went back out into the concourse